For that reason I made the journey to the 1st state to hang out and practice with the DCCoD instead of doing some local training on the road out in the cold, alone. That's for after 'cross. The DCCoD has a nice course setup at a middle school around Newark. I was up at 6:15, I don't get up that earlt to go to work! On the road by 7:15, get gas and coffee (but coffee shop not open, apparently never there that early either), and with a slight detour and a call to my GPS Gina Gina for some navigational assistance, I made it.
fatMarc, E-town, Tom, Paul and the rest of the DCCoD were out in full force for the last practice of the season. Auer showed up with a bunch of C3'ers to round out a good little mix of Mid-Atlantic 'crossers. With the freezing temps overnight, it felt like we were riding on the road, the ground was frozen and fast. After some hot laps and some barrier work, we all headed off to a local restaurant for some pizza and make predictions about nationals and how pimp the DCCoD setup will be.
After practice I anxiously drove home to see if the shifter I bought was in the mail. The mail hadn't come by the time I got home so all I could do was hope. The mail finally came and there was a little box, sweet, the missing link to completing my pit bike, well almost.
I love riding bikes, but almost as much as I like riding them, I lke working on them, sometimes. Tonight started out as one of those times, but quickly turned sour when I realized I bought two sets of brake cables, one Dura Ace and once XTR, the XTR was suppose to be shifter cable and housing. Shit, trip to the Bike Shop. That's ok as I still needed bar tape.
Finally get home, shift cable, housing and bar tape in hand I go back to work. I decided to work in the laundry/dog room as the garage is a bit chilly right now, the dogs were so confused. Everything was going along fine until I ran the front brake cable and realized the housing was too short, F@$%! Redo the housing, fumble with stupid cable noodle, spend next hour dialing in front brakes, again. I love Empella brakes but man they can be finickey. Bar tape, no one had white bar tape, so I went with blue, but it was Bontrager. I love Bontrager components, but some things they just shouldn't make, tires and bar tape are at the top of that list.
3 hours later, pit bike complete. Why build a pit bike now you ask? Because this is what we do, and if for no other reason, why would I travel 600 miles with only one bike? I could have spent the season with Frankenbike in the pits, but I decided Frankenbike and I just needed to part ways, a clean break, it was better that way, for both of us.
So a chance listing on eBay a few weeks back led me to purchase another Ridley Supercross. I'm really happy with this bike, so much so I'm probably going to ride it on the road this winter. Plus, it was a good deal and now I have a pit bike for next season, kill two birds with one stone.Number 2, ready for nats
No comments:
Post a Comment