Weekend

As usual I don't have much going on right now except for work and the bike. This past weekend was a nice little break from the norm. "Summer Camp" opened up at a fellow employees house in my old neighborhood. Leyla and I cruised down there with a nice supply of New Glarus and some Salt Cod Fritters I cooked up for the event (the theme was small plates). Well, needless to say the party was a blast, but what happens when you get to many kitchen people together at a party? You got it, drinking games. The ChoBlo has a signature game we like to play called Flippy Cup and of course chaos ensued. I hate to brag but I have to say I haven't lost my touch! But one thing I did learn is that cycling has dropped my beer tolerance to almost nill. Leyla took over my spot and represented very well indeed. Check my Flickr page for more shots.

In motorcycle news, we are sooooo close to being done. I don't know why but nobody in this city has any oil lines in stock! Other than that I need to time the mag and mount the exhaust. I'm also waiting on a little expansion pin that holds the kicker arm in place. Monday I spent till 2am wiring the bike, hopefully right! We'll just have to wait and see on that one. If all goes as planed I should be able to kick it over next week!!!! Prepare to read a ton of posts on how the engine won't fire.

Bad Got Worse

So as most of you know I not been keeping up with this blog for a very simple reason..and here it is! Although as of this afternoon the whole thing has been torn down in order to re-weld the neck and add some brackets. I am literally on the home stretch and every waking hours is spent with my hands covered in grease and a big grin on my face. The transmission went together fairly smoothly (I hope) and I fixed the timing gears which was not done by the guy who rebuilt the engine. The exhaust is still an issue but I think I have it figured out. I also broke down and bought another magneto, since the old one was lost in the move up here. Depending on when I get the frame done I should have the bike together, plumbed and started by middle of next week. Having it run is a whole 'nother issue!

As I expressed in my last posts, due to all the time I've spent on the Triumph there has been little time for training and this weekend it showed! I drove up to Lake Geneva with Mike and was actually pretty excited about racing until I hit the first hill. My body pretty much shut down and I started to ride like I had no idea what was going on. Worst thing you can do on a mountain bike is ride "scared". The second you start to over think moves, that is when you get hurt. I rode the brakes on a hill and didn't make my moves when I should have. I got about 1/2 way through the course and took a nasty spill. Normally I would blame gnomes but frankly it was all my fault. I know better than to go over a wet log at an angle while trying to pass, at least now I do! I went down hard and hit my arm on said log. When I tried to get up and ride I could grip the bars with my right hand and ended up walking out. Thankfully WORS supplies an EMT post and they gave me sling, ice and a suggestion to drink some beers, thankfully we have a tasty sponsor! Check out Ben's Flikr page for pics of the sling (not sure how to get pics off his page). Also, props go out to Adrian for racing his first MTB event!!! He did great and enjoyed every second of it, I think he's hooked! All in all it was a fun race. We had a great team showing, good cheering section, and Ben and Mikes race was one of the best I've seen in a while.

Of course no trip to Wisc. is complete (at least for Mike and I) without a stop for delicious local beer!!! I picked up a nice sampler from New Glarus and a Porter from Central Waters. I haven't tried the Porter yet but it looks amazing. Mike went on a can kick and got some great beers in cans. Summertime just screams canned beers!


Now I have to go find my "game face" since I seem to have left it in last season.

Motivation

Ever since the start of spring my motivation to ride has steadily gone downhill. The biggest reason is simply my yearly allergy attacks. When the pollen comes out I literally go through 2 months of hell which no medication can curb. Even if I did get out and ride I would be at a major deficit because of how messed up my sinuses are. I feel another factor is that I rode so much through the winter my body has decided that this is break time and not go fast time, kinda sad. There is a WORS race this weekend but according to Ben it may not happen due to the weather. If it does I'm just going to ride it like a hard training ride, just kinda sit back and work on some things.

Not much visual progress on the bike yet. Spent last night working on the seat and headlight. I'm waiting on a small part to get the tranny back together and then I can pretty much button up the bottom end and concentrate on the frame and brackets. More pics will be posted once I get the tank on.

It's Here!

After 2 years of f'ing around with this project I finally have the financial means and space to get this sexy beast finished! It doesn't look like much in the picture but I pulled a bunch of pieces off to finalize the tranny and timing gears. I was lucky enough to meet some great guys through Pablo that offered me a space in their shop. It's an old gutted post office where about 8 guys build mostly brit bikes. They have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and help finish the project. Stuff that has taken me months to find was procured in 2 days with their help. I've been spending my days off just sitting in the shop staring at the bike and loving every minute I spend in that shop. I completely forgot how much I love working on that thing. I'll be posting pics as I move along.

A Good Sunday

Finally a nice day where I don't work! Unfortunately there was a race this weekend but due to the long drive and the fact I was still sore from the crash I decided against hitching a ride with Mike. My race being earlier then his would have required us to leave at 5am, and that's just not going to happen. That being said I ended up going out to Palos and just doing some nice base miles to get my sea legs back. It rained lightly the night before I was expecting a little mud, but it turned out to be pretty wet on the singletrack. I really don't like blazing through mud holes and destroying/eroding other peoples hard work so I did a fair bit of walking around the peanut buttery mud. All in all it was a good ride and perfect weather for it. The bike got pretty muddy so I found a local car wash (thank you iphone) and pressure washed it clean, smart move on my part.

I got a text on my way home from Gennaro (guy I'm splitting shop space with) that they were meeting up a the Matchbox. After a shower I rolled down there and they had already acquired a prime space outside in the sun. I ended up meeting some great new people (Gennaro knows everybody) and after plenty of Schlitz, fried chicken and general mayhem I gave Gennaro a ride home. There I had the pleasure to meet his two dogs, one of which is very famous in the motorcycle world. He is the dog that bit Russell Mitchell's leg while they were filming and episode of Biker Build Off for the Discovery Channel! This incident resulted in Russell falling off his bike and breaking his ankle (I believe)!! Needless to say I find Russell to be an arrogant prick and I gave the fat little dog a big hug for doing us all a favor!

Full Contact Commuting

I won't bother you with the details but I had nice little encounter with the side of a car on my way home today (yes, I was wearing a helmet). The girl turned into a parking lot with no signal while I was coming up the bike lane. Luckily I just bounced off the side of her car and lost control of the bike. I used my body to slow down after hitting the pavement and ended up with some nice road rash on my left arm and leg. I couldn't bring myself to get mad at the girl she parked the car and came running up literally offering to buy me a new bike! She was crying and kept apologizing offering to give me her info so she could pay for any damages. The Bridgestone appears to be ok except for the trashed bar tape. What made the situation worse was that she was carrying flowers on her way into the hospital! You just can't get angry at somebody in that situation. Oh well, I rode away; slowly. Now that I'm home and washed out the cuts the adrenaline is starting to wear off and its all starting to really hurt! Worst part is that it's a gorgeous day outside and I had a bunch of stuff planned. So much for a day off!