smaointe nua faoin frama bambu.

alright, made some new decisions on the bamboo bike. i'll be getting disk dropouts and an eccentric shell from nova cycles. i'll use the eccentric out of my rig till i upgrade that to a bushnell or something alse fancy. still not sure what to do about headset. with the fiber and epoxy wrap, i think the bamboo will be hard enough to just ream it to tolerance and press the headset directly into it. we'll find out. i wonder how difficult finding chain and seatstays with the right enough bend is going to be. i'm also considering making a bar/stem combo out of bamboo for the bike as well. just get something in 1" or slightly smaller and shim it where necessary.

tymor park xc race tomorrow. second race as an expert. i'll try not to overhydrate this time so that i have less excuses for my sure to be poor performance.... just kidding. i'm kick some ass. or at least try to.

rothar bambu

i've been inspired by calfee's bamboo 29er, and have decided to build one of my own for a winter project. i've ordered hemp twine for bonding the tubes. 8,000 feet of 1mm should do it. i've located a few local sources of bamboo and am going to go check them out over the next month. i'm amazed at how cheap the materials are looking to be. i'll probably use the bottom bracket, dropouts and maybe headtube off of my old 1x1. not sure what i'm gonna do about the seat clamp area yet. maybe ream the bamboo and cut a slot in it, then put on a seat collar? or i could use a seat collar out of an old frame. for the head tube i'll either use just a steel tube, or ream a bamboo pole and bond collars into the bottom and top. goal weight is 4.5 lbs, but i'll likely just be happy if it doesn't flex. for a jig, i'll just get an old, solid door, and make wooden frame blocks measured off one of my current frames(rig/karate monkey), and adjust accordingly. i might use regular vertical dropouts set up for my preffered magic gear, or use and eno hub. either way, it's getting done. i want one of these, without the goofy rack and fenders:

Photo ©: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com

m'fhocan chuisle iseal....

ggrrr. fucking hr. it's low again. means i need to rest before the race i think. but i still want to try out a few different setups on the bike. might actually run suspension for the race. 19t felt good, but i couldn't really tell if it was better than the 18 since i felt like shit. threw a 20 on there after the ride, and will test it lightly tomorrow at mahlon. also going to put the bonty xr on the back again, with slashes sewn, because the backwards exiwolf gets great traction, but feels like it get's too much traction, as in it grabs the ground and doesn't want to go anywhere...

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=4008883

rode around the neighborhood yesterday with the rigid and 18t. if you're really ambitious and for some reason care, you can find it on motionbased by clicking on my username there.

rothar mor

rode the jungle habitat course a couple of times today. it's really starting to bed in and get fast. not much more suck-the-life-out-of-singlespeeders-laomy-new-trail-ness. probably gonna switch out to rigid and a 19t for the race. currently riding 40-42 minute laps.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=3994723

thosaigh me rothar mor an tsaoil a leamh inniu. nil a fhios agam cupla na focail, ach tuig me an gist go maith.

ni maith liom mo jab.

woke up late, going to work late. stanhope municipal bldg is only open m-f, 9-3. really nice for us working folk... oh well. i get to sleep in and only use 3 hrs of my vacation time. probably ride the back ten at mahlon after work.

8:25 pm
nope. legs wanted to rest, so, legs rested.

epic-ish

33 miles. some stupidly steep climbing, some really fun descending, and some incredible views. great weather made it a great ride. with al.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3976743

amarach

tomorrow morning i undertake a mini-epic, i think. don't know how long it'll be, but i'll find out. more then, and from then on.