19.11.05

Crossing it up!






My closet view above.


Okay--the cross bike is done.

Or maybe I should say that the "monster" is finally alive. I pieced this thing together from a variety of parts form Brian Smith, Paul Neilson, Fred "The Frosh", and my own road bike.

But its done. Witness the belated beauty:

The parts include:

  • Surley Cross frame and 1x1 rigid fork
  • Easton Velomax Circuit II rear wheel
  • Vittoria semi slick 27c rear tire
  • Old Mavic Reflex tubular front weel
  • Tufo 30c front tubular tire, with good side knobs
  • Surley 1x1 crank, 42t chainring
  • Shimano DA 9spd STI shifters, only rear deraileur cable attached
  • 12-23 Ultera 9spd cassette
  • Crank Brothers Candy pedals

Generally, the bike won't fall apart. I'm having some problems with the mtb shoes I borrowed from Fred, since they interfere with the Candy platform and are difficult to clip in. I suppose I can grind down the tread on his shoes....? Tubular tires are SWEET. I'm only running 32psi in the front Tufo tire and it is smooth as butter. I smacked it against as many curbs as I could to make sure it wouldn't pinch--nothing. I NEED a set of tubular wheels now for cross--they let me corner through mud out in the courtyard at 20mph no problem!

10:30am tommorow Kristen Wentworth is coming to pick me up to go to the race. 12:00 noon and the fight begins! My stratgey is going to be just like mountain biking--go all out from start to finish. My goal is to stay with Matt Brandt for as much of the race as possible, since he has a good record of being consistently in the top 3 in Men's B's race. But most of all, I want to have a blast! If things don't start out good, I'll just eat some mud on the barriers for the spectators!

A race report to follow rommorow evening.

No comments: