All's weld that ends weld

Got the Rockfish back from Quality Welding yesterday.

 Before:

 After:

Gotta love the rose knot in the center.

The weld isn't too pretty, but I'm sure it'll be fine for a lightweight rider like me. It's in a hard to reach area and it's on hollow tubing. I'm glad handed it over to a professional for this one as I would have just mucked it up if I tried repairing it with my gas-less mig welder. Quality welding only charged me $30 for it, so I feel like I got a deal. I'd rate the overall customer experience a B/B+.

Brian contacted me about getting him decals when I order some. Maybe I'll get a deal by ordering multiple sets at once.

RIDING MY BIKE TO WORK TODAY.

Vote for Will

Will Canup is in the running for Cockpit of the year on Bike Snob NYC. Prelimnary voting is over.

Too much driving = feeling bad.

Today will be the third consecutive day in which I will have driven to and from work. On Monday I drove my Rockfish frame to Quality Welding in Charlottesville on the way to work. I'm having them repair the crack on the seat tube, just above the bottom bracket. They gave me an estimate of $30-$50  and a 1-2 day wait time. Excited to hear from them. I also bought a 1" threaded fork with cantilever mounts and a 9" steerer for the Rockfish on ebay. Pretty costly: $70 including shipping, but those things are super hard to find.


It is supposed to rain and thunderstorm all day. After work I'm heading to Community Bikes to build up bikes so they are 100% ready to sell at the shop or on craigslist. I've emailed the list to see if there are any mechanics out there that want to do the same. I hope that I can turn this into a regular thing. Maybe 1st & 3rd Wednesdays, 6-8pm? Wednesday's Wechanics.


Being off the bike since Friday has left me feeling really crappy physically. It's my main form of exercise and stress relief, regardless of how slow and stressful traffic can be. I feel pent-up, sore, exhausted, and almost sick. Gotta get back on the bike.


Listening to: Bomb the Music Industry! - Bike Test 1 2 3
Full speed along the North Oconee River.
I can feel it in my forehead and while that always fails, my lungs are getting clearer.
I see trucks racing by on the roof above my trail, cops are waiting to ticket anyone with out-of-state plates.
I'm not missing anything.


Swore off all prescribed medication and rode two miles through nowhere to a water fountain spitting out hot water. 
I sit at a bench at a compost heap and I'm about to pedal up a sixty degree slope.


At the top of a hill at a very rapidspeed there's only one place to go.
At the top of a hill at a very high speed there's nowhere to go but down.


And it gets easier as I ascend my bike uphill on foot 'cause last time I kicked it into first I broke a gear by going too hard.


And it gets easier as I pass the Edward Scissorhands village where privileged white kids date rape girls and taunt me in their SUV's.


And it gets easier as I see the double vans in our driveways, I'm glistening but I know that some day I won't even break a sweat.


And it gets easier, as time goes things can only get better.
R-I-D-E. I wanna ride.

Change of plans

So I pulled out of the Paranormal race at the last moment. I had already paid my registration fee, but realized that I had been neglecting the third, and most important, "B." Beer. Bikes. Babe.

Instead, Rachel and I carved a pumpkin:

and did a Edgar Allen Poe hike in the Ragged Mountain Natural Area at 7:30pm. It was dark and spooky along the peninsula trail, which we had never hiked despite having been to Ragged Mountains a handful of time. We were led to an old chimney where a Poe-ish actor read Poe poems and stories by firelight. I'll never forget the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells.

Today I finished up removing the paint from the Rockfish:

Gotta get this welding done. Bike polo is destroying my commuter.

123 Polo

Played some bike polo on Thursday night. It's exactly the release that I needed after a shitty long day at work. I always end up breaking the shifting cable for my commuter when I play because it extends out of the rear axle and bike polo is a very contact-oriented game. That's why the Rockfish needs to be built as a polo bike. It can serve as a bike I can wreck without commuting consequences.

I'm definitely getting better at polo... the practice and confidence really helps. Will Canup showed up to polo and it sounds like I'll see him tonight at the Paranormal.

Roll out

The bike is ready. Always is. I'm not. Never am.

Matt Lockaby was kind enough to invite me to watch him brew with his full grain setup next time. He has a reputation of being quite good at brewing, so I'm excited to get the chance to see his process. I stopped by "The Lodge" last night to drop off a wheel for a bike he and Adam are building for a friend, and I got a peak at some of Matt's equipment at the same time. Pretty amazing stuff. Who knew you could secondary in a keg?

Spent some time at the shop last night stripping junk bikes to prepare them for recycling. We are supposedly receiving 40-50 broken bikes from UVA Parking & Transportation on Friday in exchange for a few working bikes for their employees to use. That's one way to recycle. I'm struggling to get a program together where mechanically-oriented volunteers can meet weekly for a few hours to assemble nice bikes and sell them on craigslist for shop rent. Contact me if interested. Free pizza likely.