Toe Clearance

I've never had an issue with toe clearance on a bike before. But the newest rendition of the Cross Check has lead to some problems. I've definitely got a set of "balloon" tires on it right now (700 x 47c). And you may have noticed that I'm not running a front fender. With these tires and a fender, it became a bit hazardous.

After playing with it all, I've decided I'll have to go with a smaller tire and fender or just ditch the fenders altogether. Solution? Both, really. I've got to leave it as is until I can afford a smaller tire.

It's kind of a bummer, but I'm guessing these tires will just go to waste. There's not much market for a street 29er out there. I'll hang them in the garage until another bike project comes my way.

Get out there.

Pretty Cool

My friend, Abby, wrote an article about me in today's Earth Day issue of Rails to Trails Magazine. It's pretty cool to see. Hop on over and give it a read.

Get out there.

Lawn Boy

Yesterday, I had to get my mower from my buddy, Justin. He had borrowed it last week and only lives a couple miles from my house. I knew this would be one of those scenarios where loading it into the car would be just as much work as pedaling over there on a bike.

The kid trailer folds flat and by eyeballing it, I could tell that it would seat the mower just fine. So I rode over and loaded it up. It took about three minutes to load it and strap it in. From the time I left to the time I came home was exactly 20 minutes. I'm not sure that the car would have been any faster at all.

Plus the weather is so nice, these days. It was cool but sunny, the exact combination the neighborhood kids like for fishing in the pond. I love seeing them out there. There's some type of "old man" notion in my brain that says that kids don't hang out outside anymore. These guys were loving it, though.

I love these quick evening rides and running errands is a great motivator for doing it. I'd highly recommend it.

Get out there.

Bike Date

The kids were away overnight this weekend, so Angie and I took the opportunity to do a little bit of bike date action. The original plan was to go camping or hit the mountain bike trails but weather didn't permit. Neither of us are opposed to camping in foul weather. But since time with just the two of us is so minimal, we didn't want to spend that the weekend fighting Mother Nature.

We still had a blast pedaling around our little town. We did a loop around Nicholasville and slowly made our way home. Cycling is a great way to spend time with your favorite person in the world.

Get out there.

Blown Away

This morning's cross wind was so strong that one gust blew me completely off the road. Fortunately, it was in a location that didn't cause any risk of a crash. To any viewing motorists, it probably just looked like I yanked my handlebars to the right and headed into a ditch.

I kept the tires in contact with the ground and casually pulled up next to a fence for an unplanned photo-op... hence the nice little farm scene above.

Later on the commute I was able to ride with that heavy wind. It was, literally, "smooth sailing" as they say. I had even left with enough time to take a minute and play with the auto-timer on my camera app again.

You'll see that I still haven't installed a rack on the new Cross Check build. I hate riding with a backpack. For now, it's a necessary evil. Even though my preferred rack is only $25, the bike budget has been bled try for the foreseeable future. No complaints, though. It's just nice to be out.

Get out there.

Thinking About Bike Commuting?

My friend Justin sent this to me. I agree with almost everything here. It's a great read.

Get out there.

Another Project

I've been considering an Adventure Race or mountain bike race this summer. The problem is I currently don't have a mountain bike. Solution? Get to work.

In all the nooks and crannies of my garage, I've stock piled parts on top of parts. I even had an old MTB frame waiting to be built up.

So that's my new project. The Xtracycle conversion is over and done with and I'm moving on to this MTB now. First thing's first... a new paint job. I've never painted a frame before and I'm absolutely positive that it doesn't fall into the category of "a great decision." But it will be fun to turn around and see something totally different. I'm looking forward to hitting the trails soon enough.

Get out there.