I've gotten some new bike stuff and it has me all giddy. First, through the generosity of Jeff (read: pity), I have a new to me commuter bike. A couple of weeks ago, Jeff jumped on my commuter bike and immediately said,"what is wrong with this thing?!?!" My commuter bike was extremely noodly as you could easily move the front of the bike and the back of the bike in startlingly different directions while riding. He switched out his Globe Live 2 for my Globe Daily 2 and I have been rocking it ever since. The benefit has come from the aluminum frame of the Live being much stiffer than the steel frame of the Daily. Gone are the odd twistings of the head tube moving left as the right crank arm goes down pushing the seat tube to the right. I really liked the Daily, but heavy load commuter bike it isn't.
Oddly enough, this is the perfect segue to my other new bike. I am going back to my beloved steel as the frame material for my new mountain bike. After much deep thought, I decided that the inherent flex of steel would add just enough give to the full rigid 29" wheeled mountain bike equation to make the ultimate in mountain bikes. Sure, aluminum is light and stiff, scandium has a nice flex profile like steel with the lightness of aluminum and carbon is all of the above, but steel just seems right. Now to get the thing built up in time to race this Saturday...
I managed to get up early yesterday, make coffee AND remember that Gent-Wevelgem was on, all within a reasonable time period of each other. It is the first classic I've watched live this year and it was exciting to the end. Small breaks looked destined to hold off the chasing peloton, but a final catch within sight of the finish line led to a completely anonymous Tom Boonen popping out of the group to take the sprint for the win. I watched Sporza coverage (the Belgian sports channel) and not once did I hear the name or nickname of their beloved Tommeke once until he crossed the line with his arms in the air. After the massacre that Cancellara layed down on the way to a decisve solo win of the E3 Prijs Vlanderen the day before, the first major shots of the Spring Classics have been fired. With the hors-d'oeuvres consumed, the real meaty races are still to come with De Ronde de Van Vlaandren and Paris-Roubaix being the two standouts.
A cold and rainy commute awaits today. Don't ge too wet and keep thinking all those cycling thoughts because the season is now!
Oddly enough, this is the perfect segue to my other new bike. I am going back to my beloved steel as the frame material for my new mountain bike. After much deep thought, I decided that the inherent flex of steel would add just enough give to the full rigid 29" wheeled mountain bike equation to make the ultimate in mountain bikes. Sure, aluminum is light and stiff, scandium has a nice flex profile like steel with the lightness of aluminum and carbon is all of the above, but steel just seems right. Now to get the thing built up in time to race this Saturday...
I managed to get up early yesterday, make coffee AND remember that Gent-Wevelgem was on, all within a reasonable time period of each other. It is the first classic I've watched live this year and it was exciting to the end. Small breaks looked destined to hold off the chasing peloton, but a final catch within sight of the finish line led to a completely anonymous Tom Boonen popping out of the group to take the sprint for the win. I watched Sporza coverage (the Belgian sports channel) and not once did I hear the name or nickname of their beloved Tommeke once until he crossed the line with his arms in the air. After the massacre that Cancellara layed down on the way to a decisve solo win of the E3 Prijs Vlanderen the day before, the first major shots of the Spring Classics have been fired. With the hors-d'oeuvres consumed, the real meaty races are still to come with De Ronde de Van Vlaandren and Paris-Roubaix being the two standouts.
A cold and rainy commute awaits today. Don't ge too wet and keep thinking all those cycling thoughts because the season is now!
