What are you doing this weekend?

Day 1 of Skyrider Build - Tear Down

If only it were always that easy.....

First step was to disassemble it down to the frame and try not to ingest heaping servings of rust. The crank, wheels, and frame had large amounts of surface rust on it. Oh how there is a silver lining....I found a solution in the form of aluminum foil and coke which allowed me to remove the rust from chrome, the crank looks like the new and the sidewalls of the wheels look nicely polishedl but in need of a good truing. The best part is all but the seatpost collar was attached bike should only need a chain, tires and tubes, and some additional hardware like a saddle to make it right. Paint will need to be done to prevent tetanus shots from being a requirement upon riding this.

 (Can you tell which side got the coke/foil treatment?)

 (Before)

(After)

Lessons learned so far: rusted screws threaded onto rusted bolts call for a dremmel tool.  You will give yourself a headache if you think wd-40 and a socket/wrench is going to loosen it for you.

In case you were wondering what happend with my chicago schwinn varsity.  There is some welding and cutting going on right now....I did not appreciate the kickstand being part of the frame.  I also just recently accquired a Schwinn Continental (so i've been told) for $5 Can't wait to pick that up also I have a unidentified tandem from either the late 50's or early 60's.

That is all for now.

12 Hours of Northern Kettles

"The only way around is through"
~ Robert Frost

The quote above can sometimes be equally as dangerous as it is
inspirational. Allow me to explain.

Friday comes around and I am feeling light, had a good pre-ride, dinner
was excellent, bike was in working order and I was ready to rawwwkk. No
issues on the horizon....just yet.

Saturday morning comes, pit area is set up, I along with the rest of the
12 hour crazies zipped up and chamois'd up our super hero costumes and
took to the course. Race started off with a short run up a tubbing hill
and back down into the first section of singletrack. I took it really
easy but kept the others in eye sight and settled in behind Rich and Ty

sliding around on the slick rocks from the dampness left over from
Friday night's rain shower. It was clear myself along with Ty selected
wrong tires for the first two laps but conditions improved dramatically
by lap 3. Speaking of lap 3, that's when things began to go terribly
wrong. I started feeling a tight feeling in my knee and in turn I found
it hard to get up the climbs and that turned into a sharp pain. Then on
lap 4 I was having issues with descending. Lap 5 I started getting the
pain on the flats and really couldn't put any power down on the 6th and
would be final lap of the day. Typically I would normally find a way
through as that is usually the only way as the quote would suggest but,
I couldn't fight my way through this one....not this time....not like I
did at 12 hours of pitchblack where I only had 4 laps to go as I was
only 6 out of 12 hours into the race. I had to waive the white flag and
listen to my body if I wanted any shot of doing well at the wausau24
solo this year.

Sure, yeah, I was disappointed, dejected, and frustrated that I left
running because of this very same issue and has tracked me down again to
unleash a brutal attack on this bike racing hobby of mine. Despite
feeling great and poised to start backing down on lap times I physically
could not do a thing about it.

Next steps....re-do the fit. Sometimes we all have to undergo some
change in our lives everything from Work, life, and even physical
changes will happen it's just a matter of when and how you deal with
them. There is a great quote that gets me past all of this and reads
"The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese"
from the book Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson helped me realize
that the quicker I let go of my current fit, current injury, and other
issues the sooner I will find a new solution and move on and enjoy my
cheese (bike racing) once again.

Wausau Big Ring Classic? Sure I'll be there, but that could change
depending how I am feeling and I approach it from a weatherman's
prospective. I am predicting I'll be fine for the big ring, but there
is a 30% chance of nope. Should certainly be a go for the Southern
Kettles WEMS race though. Sunny skies ahead!

1960's AMF Roadmaster Skyrider Project

Okay, So a relative found this and another relic rotting away in barn (who hasn't heard that before).  This happens to be a 1960's AMF Roadmaster Skyrider (womens).  This will be a resoration project which I had started earlier last night.  My goal is to keep it as original as possible and only replace parts missing or inoperable.  Stay Tuned for updates!