January | 2009 | Arleigh Jenkins

Pea Soup

Boy was it foggy yesterday. Thankfully I only had a two mile commute into the foggy morning as Kimberlee had an interview right down the street from work. Someone needs to invent windshield wipers for glasses, as my glasses were the only thing that made me think “oh shit I REALLY can’t see” only to realize it was my glasses not the fog.

Speaking about riding. My legs are actually sore today for turning over the fixed gear for the past three days. I haven’t felt sore legs in many months due to the lack of riding and the gym. Hopefully in the next couple weeks here I’ll nail down my schedule a bit better and be able to find time to ride.

Skunked

Daily my commute takes me down 115 (Old Statesville Rd) from Mooresville to Davidson. That’s a twice a day ride on this certain stretch of road. Yesterday morning I smelled something that didn’t really need to be smelled – SKUNK. Crap, did he just spray me? Am I about to get sprayed, crap crap crap. 15 feet down the road I see it. A dead SKUNK on the road right in my path. It’s striped carcass laid between the white line and the dirt hill, the 3 feet of pavement that was my riding path. I quickly dodge the stinking bullet and kept on riding. Thinking about what the person who ran over the SKUNK most of thought of. “Oh fuck, this is going to hurt” or “Oh SKUNK, you stink.”

Last night while riding home I was quickly reminded of the stench as I rode through that section of my commute. The most suprising is the smell kept lingering, and then got stronger again. There was another SKUNK on the side of the road. Thankfully it was out of my riding path this time.

I guess Davidson, NC is full of SKUNK, who would of known?

Short Track Time #2

Race Dos of the 2009 Short Track Series in the books. It seemed to be a bit warmer this week, or maybe it was the fact my body wasn’t fighting off some cold/flu/nastiness. I did my best to venture into the woods this week and cheer, take photos and roll around in the leaves. The walking and woods added to my warmth I believe. Doing my fair share of cheering for my team and hopefully encouraging those on the long grind up.

That’s Sir Dick to you

One of the more enjoyable moments was watching the single speed class adorned with Team Dicky. Watching the Sir Dick bang his head against his handlebars as he rode around in circles with this look of pain and Gollum look on his face. “My precious moots, oh my precious…” Could be heard through the woods if you listened closely. Yes Sir Dick was infact loosing his mind as he chased behind the leaders. Even the doubled up sleeveless jerseys couldn’t keep this cold heart warm.

After being motivated by a bunch of single speed riders yesterday I rode my fixie to the bus for the first time since making the switch back to fixed. Quickly I remembered why for the longest time I only owned a Bianchi Pista. The rhythm and response of a fixed gear is hard to explain but a beauty when you part of it. Now I’m looking forward to my commute home tonight to get back on the bike!

Really Not as Planned

5 hours after my last post I was keeled over in the bathroom. For the past 40 hours I’ve either been in bed or in some shape over the toilet. I’ve been told that I have a virus. Finally on the tail end of it I can keep something in my system. I was off work, unexpectedly, an extra two days. This means tons of catching up to do.

Thankfully my trusty laptop has come in handy & I’ve been working on the shops website from the comfort of my bed. Below is a few of the rotating banners I’m working on for the main page of the site. Tomorrow is the short track series, I only hope that it is as nice tomorrow as it was today.

Not as Planned

Today didn’t go exactly as planned. No bike ride, only some finishing of the bike and very little picture taking. Tomorrow is back to work for a normal schedule. The few days off were refreshing even though I was pretty stuffed up and sick during them. I’m going back with a good idea of the next couple months under my feet. Next week will bring some crucial planning for 2009 cycling events and the store. Who, how, when & what events we are sponsoring. This will help me schedule my time accordingly.

The Cough is Still There

The crud from my sinus canals has transfered itself down to my chest and throat. Laughing causes coughing and choking. I feel like a 30 year veteran of smoking. The hack is better than what it’s been, I’m happy for that.

Several things, but not everything, was completed today. We cleaned up the garage, organized a quasi-desk for me and I even got out to the pier to take some photos of the Casseroll and her new shoes.

Velo Orange Zeppelin Fenders, initial thoughts coming soon on CommuteByBike.com

Sexy metal fenders

I’m needing new tires. These haven’t been used much <100 miles on them, but boy they must be 5 years old. They corner like crap, and the little nobs left over from the mold (pokers sticking out) make an awful racket on the metal fenders. Sure I could hand trim then, but the fact they corner like crap and the wire bead is about to pull out from dry rot leads me to desire a new pair of tires. Any recomendations?

The Casseroll went fixed last night. I went down a tooth in the back from the freewheel. I think I’m running 48x17t, that’s me going off the Salsa website for chainring sizing.

Tomorrow I hope to tune in the fenders (the struts need cut and fenders clamped down a bit under the brakes), trim the brake cables, pretty up the light cable routing and get a few miles spin to double check gearing. Tomorrow also brings Kimberlee’s sister, from Oklahoma, in for a visit. She’s here through the weekend and we most likely will all find trouble one night or another.

Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do. -Liz Smith

Tuesday Mental Dump

Another one of those mental dumps.. don’t read past here because this is a random blurb of things I need to get out.

Casseroll :
Remove fenders, tires and lights.
Reinstall Velo Orange fenders and smaller tires.
Install fixie cog
Nicer routing of Light & Motion lights

Raleigh :
Install…
cranks, wheels, tires, front brake, Velo Orange handlebar, grips and Planet Bike Cascadaia fenders

Trek Steel :
Research front dyno hub and long pull brakes

Random :
Find desk
Get filing cabinet
List of review parts

Alive but Sick

Took 4 days off from work (two scheduled and two vacation) to catch up on life. Then life hit me with a new sack of bricks and I’m sick again in bed.

List of cleaning, organizing and bike rebuilding are building up. Hopefully I’ll kick this thing good enough to watch the inauguration this morning and fix one bike.

Grippy Grips

This past week I received a care package signed and sealed with Ergon love. A couple pairs of grips were gracing my door step, the first pair in standard black are the GX-1 which I’ve been using for a good while on my mountain bike and now Xtracycle. The second pair are the GP-1, they quickly were installed on the Casseroll for commuting and dubious single speed time.

After a few days of commuting I’m really enjoying the feel of the GP-1. I will say it gives my bars more leverage to rotate. What’s that Arleigh, you’re bars are rotating, isn’t that super stupid? Yes, but I’m runing a carbon 25.4mm bar on a sexy Salsa 26mm stem. I can’t over tighten the bar as it may crack, and I haven’t gotten around to drink a good bruski in order to use the fine metal “shim” that I can get from a good bruski can.

The one thing about Ergon is the color is addicting and it doesn’t go with anything but black or white. My pink and mustard bikes simply clash. The urge to repaint all my bikes white, black or Ergon green is there. Fortunately for me I do not bleed Ergon green like Mr. 24. I’ll stick with clashing everything in my closet, and garage with my grips.

Tad Bit Nipply Out

Turtle Shell

Tomorrow mornings mountain bike ride with Kimberlee should be interesting. The prediction is that temperatures will be in the 20′s. Kimber doesn’t even do well in the 60′s. So the plan is to lay out clothes tonight, layers, wool and thermals.

This post will be lame as I’m off to drool on American Idol’s newest judge, hello ta ta’s. (Reference subject line above.)