Three Days Ago, It Was 75 Degrees

Today, the forecast high is 38F (EDIT: It actually only got up to 30, today, according to the weatherman on the nine o:clock news) . That's November in Denver, though.

Obviously, the studded tires are back on the commuter. I am going back and forth, in my mind, as to whether or not I need to put the chains on. The last snow was deep enough that I really would have benefited more from the tire chains than the studs (which are really only effective on ice).

This snow seems much less out of place, more timely, than the storm that we had in October. It is a bit more normal to have a good snow in November. Winter is here, regardless of what the calendar says.

This is one of the bike racks at The University of Denver (DU). As much as it costs to go to school there ($45,000 per year, according to the DU website), you would think that they could at least provide covered bike parking...

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Took A Nice Little Ride, Today

Since the weather guessers were all predicting another 75 degree day, today, I took the day off and went for a ride. I figure that there probably aren't a whole lot more of these days in store, this year, so I wanted to take advantage of it.

At 7:15 A.M. I was at the post office, to send these two packages off, using the Automated Package Center. The top package, some drawings for my mom, was no problem. The tall one, however, was.

It is the Kinesis fork that I posted about yesterday, going back to Ben's Cycles for a refund. Unfortunately, it won't fit in the bin provided for the APC, so I had to wait until the P.O. opened at 8:00 so that I could mail it off at the counter.

So, I sat and read the Westword until 8:00, then went inside and mailed it off. Finally, I was able to get on my bike and ride.

I rode over the Cherry Creek Trail and headed south. I was supposed to meet Mark at Pablo's on Sixth, at 10:00, so I figured that if I rode down to Kennedy Golf Course, then turned around and headed back north, that I would be at Pablo's around 10:00.

I got to the top of the hill by the golf course at about 9:00. It was a little hazy toward the mountains, but a very pretty morning.

I took my jacket off, since the temperature was warming up. Then, I headed back north.

As I took off, I noticed that my front tire was a little low. As I rode, it seemed softer and softer. After about a quarter of a mile, I pulled over to take a look. Sure enough, I was having a flat.

No problem. I opened up the saddle bag to get a new tube and my pump. Hmmm. I didn't find a tube.

Oh, yeah, I gave it to someone else, a while back and forgot to replace it. So, I figured I could just air the tire up, ride until it went down again, and repeat as necessary until I got to Pablo's. From there, we could run over to Turin Bicycles and get a couple of tubes.

Unfortunately, my pump appeared to be broken. But, that was okay, as well. Like NASA, I adhere to the concept of redundant systems, and I had a CO2 inflator in the bag, along with 5 cartridges.

Five cartridges...four of which had already been used. Hmmm, again.

I aired the tire up and took off, as fast as I could, racing the leak. I made it to Colorado Blvd before it was unridable. I pulled out the CO2 inflator, and used the last gasp it had, hoping to avoid a hike. I got barely enough inflation out of it to be able to ride, slowly.

I knew I couldn't make it to Pablo's, so I detoured over to the Denver Bike Rip-off..er, Rack. It is a commuter-oriented annex of the bike shop I worked at, last. Buying stuff there is akin to throwing a party with the contents of your hotel mini-bar. But, it was too early for any other bike shop to be open, and I was stuck.

Pretty much, I was their dream customer.

Fifteen minutes later, with a $7.00 (!) tube in my tire (and a spare in my bag), I continued on toward Pablo's. I was there by 10 minutes past 10:00. I got my coffee and scone, snagged a patio table, and waited for Mark.

Mark showed up about 5 minutes after I sat down, and got his own coffee and something to eat. After sitting and enjoying the coffee, we decided to ride around North Denver/Highlands for a bit.

Eventually, we decided it was time for lunch. As we rode along, discussing where to eat, we approached Little Man Ice Cream. I had never even heard of it, so I wanted to stop and check it out.

It's sorta like Denver's version of the Brown Derby!

Turns out, they have food, as well as ice cream. I had creamy tomato soup and a grilled gorgonzolla sandwich. Darn good, I might add.

The location, right next to the old Ollinger Mortuary/Crematorium adds a bit of a twist. But, I didn't let it affect my appetite.



That's my dessert on the top of the cart. A scoop of Orange Creamsicle ice cream, in one of those papery cones. Delicious.

After lunch, we continued to aimlessly ride around Denver, with a stop at Mark's house, for a bit.

Eventually, we wended our way around to Cheesman Park, where we split, and each headed to our respective homes.

I stuck a cyclometer on the Red Rockhopper, last night, just because I wanted to see how far today's ride ended up.

At 4:30 P.M., I pulled into my driveway, with a bit over 50 miles on the clock and almost 9 hours of enjoying one of the nicest Indian Summer days that we've had here. Hard to beat, flat tire and all.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 40 degrees cooler and wet. I'm thinking it might be a nice day to just ride down to the coffee shop and hang, before doing my errands and grocery shopping.

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Hey, Noah: More Spider Pictures!

Tonight, one of my Circus Spiders decided to turn his back toward the floor, for awhile. Not only that, but he walked over a spot directly above my floor lamp and posed for photos.

"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille..."

Common House Spider seems like such a pedestrian name for spiders which are so cool. I have renamed them Circus Spiders, in order to show them some respect. Individually, I call them Archie and Veronica.

Noah, in KC wanted dorsal views. I am happy to oblige. And so is Archie. (Maybe it's Veronica...kinda hard to tell.)

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Kinesis Cyclocross Forks and 29er Tires (WARNING: If you are not a bike mechanic, this post is going to even more boring than most!)

Okay, this is one of those posts which I'm putting out there just in case someone needs the information I've gathered through trial and error. Trust me; you can't find this stuff out through the normal channels.

In the picture above, there are three different Kinesis cross forks. Two of them have a 1-1/8" steerer, the other has a 1" steerer. One of the 1-1/8" forks is disc and cantilever, the other two are canti-only.

These are the two 1-1/8" forks, the newer disc-compatible on the left.

Why do I have all of these? And, more to the point: Why am I showing them to you?

The black 1-1/8", canti-only fork has clearance for 29er mtb tires (2.2" width). We used it on Dan McGrady's bike until he bought a disc-compatible fork for his On-One.

Neither the canti-only 1" nor the newer design disc/canti 1-1/8" forks will run anything bigger than a 42c to 45c tire.

So, if you are trying to build a disc-equipped, non suspension-corrected 29er, the Kinesis fork will not work (although a Surly 26" mtb fork will work, and has the correct axle to crown length for non-suspension 29ers).

Yep, it's been a long hard row to hoe...

So, if anyone searches Kinesis fork 29er mtb on Google, I hope this comes up and saves them some aggravation, time and expense.

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Just Some Random Stuff

I know it's not Spring, but ...

First, to all of those who sent well-wishes after I had my steroidl injection, "Thank you." It went well, and the difference before and after was like night and day. The pain in my leg and hip is gone. I'll now return to trying to not complain about my "old-man problems" all the time.

I looked at a bunch of websites, the other day, after Noah asked me to get a shot of the backs of my spiders. I couldn't get them to flip over and pose, so I thought I'd try to i.d. them from the info and pictures on the sites. As near as I can tell, they are Common House Spiders. They meet all of the identifying criteria (although none of the websites mentioned them walking on top of their net-like webs).

I have decided to try to ride at least one Century ride per month, next year, with hopefully at least three being off-road, or a combo of pavement and dirt. I find that I am pretty much only riding for the commute and errands, lately. So, I'm hoping setting a goal like this will prompt me to just get out and ride for fun, again. I kinda miss that.

Later.

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Brad's New Bike, With My Old Wheels and Tires

Brad got a spankin' new Rivendell Bombadil frame and fork, and built it up last week. All of the time that he was considering ordering the frame, and then waiting on delivery we had an ongoing discussion about the maximum tire size that it would accept.

The Rivendell specs say that the 2.0 inch QuasiMoto tire is the maximum tire it will handle. Brad even went on the Rivendell Owners Bunch chat group and asked if anyone knew if the NeoMoto (2.3") would fit. No one ever gave a definitive answer.

Yesterday, upon seeing the bike for the first time, I was pretty confident that the bigger tire would work. So, I had Brad stop by the house on the way to Kaladi Brothers, in order to test fit my wheelset with the NeoMotos on it (the wheels and tires I had on the 650b Stumpy).

The bigger tires work, just fine. Plenty of clearance on the rear triangle...

and on the fork.
Granted, if you were riding in the Gumbo-style mud of the midwest, you might have some mud-packing problems. The thing is, any mountain bike, with any knobby tire, will pack up if the conditions are bad enough.

For normal conditions, I think it is safe to say that the Bombadil frame and fork has suffecient clearance for 2.3" NeoMotos. And, the big tires make it look extra-burley!

Glad to be of service.

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Hanging Out With the Guys

I have been dealing with a herniated disc since the middle of May. The herniation apparently impinges on the Sciatic Nerve, and causes constant leg pain.

Today I got an epidural cortico-steroid injection (they use a really long, scary-looking needle to stab your spine, by the way). It went smoothly, and was surprisingly a not too unpleasant experience.

Now, I am in the middle of 24 hours of doctor-prescribed sloth. So, the dogs and I are lying about listening to tunes and taking it easy.

I am cleared to ride the bike, tomorrow afternoon, and it's supposed to be in the mid-70s (F), here. So, I think I might actually do something kinda rare (for me) and actually go for a ride...as opposed to riding to a destination.

The leg/back already feels better, so I think I'll take advantage of the (also doctor-prescribed) sick day from work and actually enjoy myself a bit.

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I Have The Coolest Spiders in My House

They weave a web much like the safety net below the circus high-wire, parallel to the ceiling. The strands are so fine, that they are virtually invisible; difficult to see even up close, and impossible from a few feet away. As you can see, they walk on this web, with their backs to the ceiling.

From a distance, they appear to be walking on thin air.

I actually once saw one of these spiders grab a fly out of mid-air, as it flew by. It was like a trapdoor spider grabbing a bug, but it pounced from above, rather than from below. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen a spider (or any other bug, for that matter) do.

I get such a kick out of my air-walking arachnids that I just can't bring myself to sweep down their web and run them off.

I try to not walk directly underneath them, however, for fear that I'll end up bound by silk, to the ceiling!

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