Saturday, October 4, 2008

Saturday Update


So today wer were busy at the shop again. What else is new?? I sold another Gunnar Crosshairs and Pizza sold a 3k Cannondale frameset that we will build up with the new Campagnolo Super Record 11 speed with SRM cranks. Go figure.

I was glad to have help today as Japanese boy was there along with Pizza, Billabong, Franny and the boss. I did have some frost on the car this morning and I suspect that the evil allergens will start to die and I will once again come alive.

I have been waking up very tired in the morning, like I was run over by a truck style. I think this sickness really got me good this time. I hope to start riding lightly tomorrow again. I did ride a trainer at work for 10 minutes the other day and it felt good.

Tomorrow is the race in Dekalb which is race #2 in the Chicago Cross Cup. I will be there at some point and hope to see lots of you there.

I have been riding the Ira Ryan everyday to pick up the wife at school and to go to the restaurant. I really love that bike and the more I ride it the more I like it. I want to put some pimp fenders on it and change out the seatpost for a thomson and upgrade the brake to Paul.

The bike is Divine in its manners, comfort, looks, everything. At this point I am considering to sell off bikes I don't ride and order up another one.

Billabong and I have been very big fans of Moosemitts for riding in the winter. No glove will keep you as warm and dry as a pair of these. Most riders don't use them because they look dorky.

Last winter I left home on a cloudy day and rode out to the middle of nowhere. I had taken the crossbike with the dropbars and had left home with a good pair of gloves on. I had my wool undershirt , wool Merino sweater and my Showers Pass Elite 2.0 jacket. I was feeling good.

On my return, with 25 miles to go it started to snow. Within a couple of miles my gloves started to soak through, then they started to get wet, then the wetness started to get cold. After a few more miles my hands started to freeze and after that my hands went numb and I had really bad pain. My jacket had no warming pockets and I had nothing and nowhere to hide my hands.

I kept riding and saw nothing but snow and old corn stalks. Then by some miracle I saw a large piece of plastic that had snagged on a sign. I jumped off my bike and went for it. I tore the plastic in half and went on to wrap my hands with the dirty plastic.

After a couple of miles I felt the warmth being trapped in the contraption. I arrived home and my wife unwrapped my hands as she shook her hands. I had gotten a bit of frostbite on all my digits and my fingertips were chalk white.

The moral of the story is to protect yourself in the coming months. Three days ago I discovered a site that makes moosemitts for road bikes. I could not for the life of me remember the site but today I found it:::: http://barmitts.com/


Off to the races tomorrow!!!!


Ari

3 comments:

  1. Well it's good that you found them as I've never seen the drop bar version. Thing is, now that I've seen them they kind of defeat the drop part of a drop bar, don't they? I guess if you just have to ride the bike with drop bars....

    Or you could use a set of RBH trig mitts.

    DG

    ReplyDelete
  2. I ride the flat bar ones all winter. Sometimes you get a warm day and you want to bust out the cross bike and I thought these would come in handy.
    ari

    ReplyDelete
  3. those look pretty sweet.

    how'd the cx races go?

    ReplyDelete