DanBailey.net

• Observed this weekend: a white Toyota Prius with a “carrying handle” spoiler (much like the WRX STi, circa 2005), ground effects, expensive rims, and red-orange flames down the side. The lesson learned here is: if you’re going to go dorky, go big. Also learned: I need a quick-draw holster for my camera (and to carry it at all times).
   
• Got a good ride in last night after the bike shop. On the outbound leg, I kept noticing that I was slowing down and feeling shitty. This of course called my form into question — and rightfully so, as I haven’t been riding much. Well, turns out it wasn’t that so much as it was the loss of pressure in the rear tire — I hit a small bump and got a nice pinch flat out of it. Replaced the tube and turned for home. The inbound route was headwind the whole way. Go figure.
   
• Had a nice time hanging out with Kate, Matt, Jenni, Wendy, Cindi, Wendy’s girl, and others, on Friday night. Matt and Kate both sang at karaoke. I refused to humiliate myself. (I couldn’t hit one note in twenty, even if you held a gun to my head.) Kate and I bailed on going out to the 90’s on Saturday night because we were both exhausted and not in the mood for crowds. One of these years, maybe.
   
• Have discovered some issues with the Fontosaurus payment gateway and e-commerce engine not liking each other very much, so I will probably be making the switch to Paypal (*gag*) for the immediate future.
   
• Finished reading Mirrored Heavens this morning before work. Pretty enjoyable — it has a very cyberpunk feel to it, but it makes Gibson’s characters look like a bunch of pussies. I’ve got a whole stack of new books sitting on my desk that I’ve been dying to get at…the hard part is going to be choosing what to read next.

So it’s only installed on the back brake right now, but last night I installed the combination of Nokon housing and TRP CR950 carbon cantilever arms on the cyclocross rig. This is an upgrade from Avid Shorty 6 arms with just cheap/generic Bontrager cable housing.

The change is amazing. I barely even have to brush the cross-top lever to get the rear brakes to engage, and they do so in a smooth, predictable way, and deliver enough power to stop the bike quickly.

I’m really going to have to remain cognizant of the fact that my Las Cruces is moto-wired (ie.: the brake levers are wired opposite of usual — left hand now controls the rear brake), or I’m going to eat dirt/pavement.

Seriously, this might be the most awesome movie I’ve ever seen. When I’m at the shop tonight, doing my usual shift, I’m buying one for the commuter bike, and one for the road bike. (Not that I don’t already have enough shit on the handlebars of the latter.)

A few things I noticed over the weekend:

1. Shimano really needs to make the Alfine parts group available for purchase in this country. I don’t want to have to buy an entire Civia just so I can tear the crankset off of it.

2. Bontrager Racelite Hardcase puncture-resistant tires? Aren’t.

On the same subject, I spent a good chunk of yesterday editing some video of the build — I chopped out all the sections where I was doing things like talking to people out-of-frame and so on. Then I sped it up drastically. I managed to cram an hour and 35 minutes of video into three minutes and 43 seconds. Not too shabby. I’m creating some intro, an explanation of what you’re seeing, and an outro. Maybe tonight it’ll be done? We’ll see.

Last night, as we were falling asleep, Kate admonished me for not updating here since last week. I retorted by rubbing my stubbly legs on her and then admitting that it had been awhile. So here’s what’s up:

Writing. Not much time for it these days. But I did have two cool ideas for books yesterday. The first is a non-fiction work, and the second is a sci-fi re-telling of a modern history story. Both would be a lot of fun to write.

Cycling. If I don’t have to work at the shop tomorrow, I’m going to get the Surly out for a shakedown cruise. Work the kinks out, so I can make with the commuting. Johnny Surprise and I are going to try to get out and hammer this weekend, too. Haven’t seen the dude in a dog’s age.

Fonts. Also stalled. Need to get re-focused on getting the e-commerce engine running, converting some of my old fonts to OpenType and getting them back online for sale. I can always use more money.

Social Life. Picking up a bit. Going to have Jenni and the Cashbox, and some other peeps over for poker night this coming Wednesday. Liz is back in town for, like, a week or something before she heads off to her medical residency in Buffalo, NY, so there’s some drinking, maybe some biking, and some Rock Band in the immediate future.

Moblog. I’m working on a version of this blog for the iPhone/iPod Touch — one that will fill the screen nicely so you don’t have to zoom around like mad to make things quasi-readable. I’ll probably release the Wordpress theme as a free download, too.

Videoblog. I’m working on the first videoblog, and it’s coming along. Hopefully finished this weekend. I need ideas from you guys for topics on upcoming blogs — what sorts of stuff do you want to see?

Warm-Up Phase:
“This Language” - Stateless
“Whispering Wind” - Moby

Work Phase:
“UNKLE Reconstruction” - Michael Giacchino & UNKLE
“Five Four” - The Gorillaz
“Weapons of Mass Distortion” - The Crystal Method
“Genetic Blueprint” - Fear Factory
“Somewhere I Belong” - Linkin Park
“One Man Army” - The Prodigy and Tom Morello
“Ladies and Gentlemen” - Saliva
“She Builds Quick Machines” - Velvet Revolver

Cool-Down Phase:
“Loui” - Ronald Jenkees
“Warning Shots” - Gunjan, Sleeping Wonder & Thievery Corporation

This will be my final “update” post before the actual building of the commuter bike, as the final part has been ordered: the wheels. Rather than giving Tom, our service manager, $50 and a case of beer to build them, I’m using QBP’s Wheel Builder service. Don’t get me wrong, Tom’s wheel building is nothing short of stellar, it’s just that I’m trying to keep costs down on the bike. (Nevermind my choice of hubs and derailleur.)

So the wheels? Shimano XT hubs, DT Swiss Competition spokes, and Salsa Delgado Cross rims.

As soon as they’re here, I’ll have everything I need to build the commuter rig. That will probably be the subject for my first videoblog post here.

So I’m almost to the completion-point on the commuter bike. Yesterday while at the shop, I ordered the rear shifter and the front brake cable hanger. This leaves me with one thing left to order: the wheels! That happens this Wednesday.

I’ve been getting prepped for the videoblog entries for this site. I now have, in my grubby little paws, a Flip Video Ultra, and I’m going to start video blogging. I’m going to try for a twice-a-month schedule, and hopefully get to a point where I do that, along with a special feature once or twice a month.

What do these two have to do with each other? When it comes time to assemble the bike, I’ll be setting up the camera, filming it, and then doing a high-speed feature so you’ll see the whole bike come together in a five-minute span, rather than the ~1 hour it’ll take.

This coming Saturday, I’m going to take it for a shakedown cruise and ride from home to the office and back, just to check out the route and make sure that everything will go smoothly for future rides.

My planned route: Read the rest of this entry »

The commuter inches closer to completion. I’ve taken the brake calipers — Avid Shorty 6s — off my ‘cross bike and installed them on the commuter. They’ll be fine on a commuter rig, but I wasn’t very happy with them in competition last year. The ‘cross bike will be receiving a set of the Paul Components calipers later this summer.

This will leave me with just the STI brake/shift lever and the wheelset to order, and the commuter bike will be functionally-complete.

So the cyclocross bike plans? Some minor upgrades before the start of ‘cross season: Paul Components Touring Canti brakes with the Moon Unit bridges. Also, replacing my crappy Cane Creek cross-top levers with Paul’s re-issue of their levers. Some blue Nokon cable housing for the brakes, and a longer cable hanger for the front end. A new seat — the SLR is a comfy seat, but I kept bruising the hell out of my ass and thighs during the dismount. Maybe — and that’s a big maybe — a carbon seatpost and stem to increase the ride comfort.

The novel is still in the outlining/gestating period of things. Last week, while driving to work in the rain, I wish some evil upon the more tentative (”wussy”) drivers out there. Those wishes were not fulfilled, but they did lead to the idea of an interesting environment. I filed it under “Neat Place to Set a Sci-Fi Novel”…and did nothing more with it until Sunday. I realized that it will work into the currently book quite nicely, and be even more useful if/when I write follow-up pieces.

On the bike side of the equation, I already went ahead and blew my entire next bike shop paycheck on parts for the commuter rig, which is getting close to done. Acquired: Shimano XT rear derailleur (the cool “Shadow” model), bottom bracket, crankset, chainring (42-tooth), fenders, and a few other minor items.

On order: handlebar, bashguard, and some other cheap part I can’t remember.

Still remaining: wheelset, STI 9-speed shifter, front brake cable hanger (using cantilevers), brake calipers (front and rear), and then I have a ridable bike. To make it commuter worthy, I’ll still need to get panniers,

Can’t wait to have this done and start commuting.