Last night's Spinning was not too hard for a first class of the year but it was still a good workout. There was plenty of sweat to prove I worked.
Today I got a new chain tool to replace the broken one. I got home and went to work. Everything went well or so it seemed. When it was time to put the wheel on though, the chain was shorter than I liked. The setup would have worked I think but the axle was just barely completely in the dropout.and only half the bolt was making contact. Nonetheless I was anxious and had to take it for a little spin around the neighborhood. Here is the result of my handiwork. It needs some adjustments in saddle height and position and needs to be cleaned up but it is rideable.
The fixed gear will take some getting used to. Sitting in the driveway my foot was near the bottom of the pedal stroke. I wasn't happy with that and was going to spin backwards to a one or two o'clock position. WRONG! No spinning without the wheels moving Jim. I rolled out to the street, down to the corner and was going to make a right hand turn. Out of habit I was going to coast through the turn. WRONG! My legs stopped, the pedals didn't and I was lifted out of the saddle. Luckily, I was going slow. The same thing happened a couple more times. This old dog will have to learn some new tricks.
At dinner I thought about the chain and decided to try and add a link to chain. Buying another chain would have probably been the preferred (and safer) method but I am cheap. I spent the next couple hours in a titanic battle of wills with the chain. The problems were too numerous to mention but in the end everything seems good. I took it for another spin and remembered to pedal this time.
After only a couple minutes I see why people can get hooked on a fixed gear. It's a clean and elegantly simple ride. I can't wait to do a longer ride on the bike
News Item of the Day: Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin has, along with 19 others, been put on trial in the Italian town of Este, Padova, accused of receiving prohibited pharmaceutical substances, and violating the Italian anti-doping and sporting fraud laws. The trial commenced on Wednesday morning, November 10, and most of the accused are cyclists: Dario Acquaroli, Filippo Baldo, Ramon Bianchi, Mauro Busato, Matteo Cacco, Davide Casarotto, Nadia Dandolo (athletics), Gianni Faresin, Andrea Ferrigato, Marco Fincato, Martin Hvastija, Petr Klasa, Fabio Marchesin, Mirco Marini, Selina Martinello (Rebellin's wife), Uros Murn, Gorazd Stangelj, Marco Villa and Matteo Zendron.
The trial was initiated on the basis of phone tapping and video surveillance on the riders in question. During May, 2001, Rebellin was allegedly filmed receiving a syringe containing a banned substance, while at the end of the month, he was allegedly videoed injecting himself with EPO in his hotel room in Bassano del Grappa. Rebellin has always maintained his innocence.
Viewpoint: Having actual video is very damning but how do they know that it was EPO or another banned substance that was being injected? It probably was, but the question remains.
Today I got a new chain tool to replace the broken one. I got home and went to work. Everything went well or so it seemed. When it was time to put the wheel on though, the chain was shorter than I liked. The setup would have worked I think but the axle was just barely completely in the dropout.and only half the bolt was making contact. Nonetheless I was anxious and had to take it for a little spin around the neighborhood. Here is the result of my handiwork. It needs some adjustments in saddle height and position and needs to be cleaned up but it is rideable.
The fixed gear will take some getting used to. Sitting in the driveway my foot was near the bottom of the pedal stroke. I wasn't happy with that and was going to spin backwards to a one or two o'clock position. WRONG! No spinning without the wheels moving Jim. I rolled out to the street, down to the corner and was going to make a right hand turn. Out of habit I was going to coast through the turn. WRONG! My legs stopped, the pedals didn't and I was lifted out of the saddle. Luckily, I was going slow. The same thing happened a couple more times. This old dog will have to learn some new tricks.
At dinner I thought about the chain and decided to try and add a link to chain. Buying another chain would have probably been the preferred (and safer) method but I am cheap. I spent the next couple hours in a titanic battle of wills with the chain. The problems were too numerous to mention but in the end everything seems good. I took it for another spin and remembered to pedal this time.
After only a couple minutes I see why people can get hooked on a fixed gear. It's a clean and elegantly simple ride. I can't wait to do a longer ride on the bike
News Item of the Day: Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin has, along with 19 others, been put on trial in the Italian town of Este, Padova, accused of receiving prohibited pharmaceutical substances, and violating the Italian anti-doping and sporting fraud laws. The trial commenced on Wednesday morning, November 10, and most of the accused are cyclists: Dario Acquaroli, Filippo Baldo, Ramon Bianchi, Mauro Busato, Matteo Cacco, Davide Casarotto, Nadia Dandolo (athletics), Gianni Faresin, Andrea Ferrigato, Marco Fincato, Martin Hvastija, Petr Klasa, Fabio Marchesin, Mirco Marini, Selina Martinello (Rebellin's wife), Uros Murn, Gorazd Stangelj, Marco Villa and Matteo Zendron.
The trial was initiated on the basis of phone tapping and video surveillance on the riders in question. During May, 2001, Rebellin was allegedly filmed receiving a syringe containing a banned substance, while at the end of the month, he was allegedly videoed injecting himself with EPO in his hotel room in Bassano del Grappa. Rebellin has always maintained his innocence.
Viewpoint: Having actual video is very damning but how do they know that it was EPO or another banned substance that was being injected? It probably was, but the question remains.
2 Comments:
Good deal on the fixed gear. I suppose you good use it at Penrose if it ever gets functional.
One thing I have heard which came up with the book against Armstrong is that EPO is injected in a different spot than say a vitamin injection. But still, when the press gets ahold of some syringes (or in this case, some video of them injecting), they think they have found the holy doping grail. It's not necessarily so. These guys get IV drips and vitamin injections all the time during big races (from what I have heard).
Yeah. I'm the only one I knew with that model bike. I got mine in 87 I think. It is in decent shape. Needs a good cleaning and there is one paint ding that should be touched up but its not in bad shape. Im running a 42x14 fixed gear.
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