brake update

Turns out that coaster brake hub was spaced for 120mm dropouts with a 150mm axel. My Surlys are 135mm. That's pretty funny if you understand dropout spacing. If you don't, here's a joke.

Two guys walk in to a bar. The third one ducked.

I am the alpha and the omega of comedy. All SRAM coaster brake hubs in the US are sold out through summer, so I'm eying one of these fellas. Next week is bike to work week!

Spring brake - or - the circle of bike

When I first learned how to ride a bike, it was on a steel-framed, single speed bike with a coaster brake. You know, the kind of brake kid's bikes have that engages when you pedal backwards.

I soon moved to a bmx bike with a coaster brake and hand brakes. Then it was a 10 speed roadie with a freewheel and hand brakes. Over the next twenty-odd years, I progressed through 12 speeds, 27 speeds, front suspension, full suspension, aluminum, carbon fiber and all sorts of other fancy crap only to arrive back at this:

That is a Shimano coaster brake hub that I'll be using on my steel-framed, single speed bike. Ahh... the circle of life.

It came with a 20 tooth cog, so I'll need to up my chainring size and add some links before I can use it. I'm very much looking forward to stopping in a timely manner.

But mostly, I'm looking forward to locking my rear wheel up and laying down some rad skids.

at last...

After breaking a rib, goofing up my back and spraining an ankle in rapid succession, I am finally back in action. I ran 3 miles pathetically slow last night, but that's three miles more than I've run in the last 4 weeks. Hopefully I'll get my fitness back quickly.

spring break... well, fracture technically

My St. Patty's day got off to an eventful start. I fractured a rib this morning! Luck of the (one quarter) Irish indeed.

I crashed my bike, and I didn't even make it off my block. My toe kicked my fender, which snagged a stud on my ice tire (which is bigger than a standard tire and has carbide studs sticking out of it) which locked the front wheel and sent me tumbling. I tried to tuck and roll, but I sort of tucked and went splat. I even knocked the wind out of myself for good measure.

So, I dusted myself off, drove to work, and by 10:00 it was clear I wasn't going to just walk this one off. Off to urgent care I went, where they took 3 x-rays. Tonight I'm sporting a new back brace from Target (the hospital version costs $70!) hiked up to my arm pits. It functions somewhat like a push-up bra. My ribs may hurt like hell, but I got a sexy rack to show for it.

I wish I could have at least cracked a rib in a cool way. Being run down by jewel thieves in a Audi S8 on the run from the cops would have been killer. Instead I was sabotaged by my own big feet. Lame

swell time

Long story short - yesterday it snowed while I was running, so I couldn't see the patches of ice on the path, so I fell. Hard.

I jacked up my left wrist pretty good. There is some nice purple coloration coming in. But the really weird thing is, it didn't swell up.

Normally when you get injured, all of your tissue & stuff swells up to immobilize and protect the injured area. Everything in my wrist has atrophied down to nothing, so nothing swelled up.

Its freakin' weird, man.

UPDATE!!

My GPS thingy knows exactly where I fell. Check it out.

snowball fight - with video!

It finally went down between me and the little neighbor kid. He really wasn't thinking clearly when he challenged me to a snowball fight last September. He had no idea what kind of merciless beatdown was heading his way. None.

Challenging me to a snowball fight is like opening the gates of hell and calling Satan a fairy. Its like stepping between a mother grizzly bear and her cub - only the mother bear has a bazooka that fires snowballs and the baby bear is actually another mother bear that is pissed off and hungry.

Here's video Marney shot of the snowball fight. You'll want to make some popcorn and dim the lights before viewing - 'cause this is epic.



Boom! I bring the pain in a snowball fight.

I removed the sound so you didn't have to listen to the wind screams of the child as he begged for mercy. Most people wouldn't pelt a kid while he tried to crawl to safety. Fortunately, I'm not most people. I'm a stone cold snowball warrior.

Did you notice a snowball hit me in the ass at the 11 second mark? That was thrown by the kid's mom. Sorry, junior, but your mom can't help you win.

I may have won the battle, but not the war. There's another month of winter ahead of us. I'm sure he'll start another snowball fight.

And I'll be ready to rain down icy doom.

i'm still alive

Pretty much swamped right now with the 9-5 and 3 freelance gigs going on simultaneously. Actually, 2 freelance projects and a volunteer thing (vote Doron) but at some point I'll get back to spewing my usual drivel about neurons and triathlons and what not. I do like to keep things fresh for all of my readers.

You two are great.