Because it's Friday

The Dark ages are nearly over

I rode to and from work today on my road bike, which I was excited about because it was the first time I have got to do that this year. Normally when it gets dark out, before I can leave the office I take the buss home. Yes, I could ride in the dark. But I do not for several reasons. One of the foremost being the buss if free (it's free for anyone who works within the city limits of Laguna Beach). There are several others as well. Ridding on PCH is exceeding dangerous to begin with. It's a narrow, winding, hilly road with mostly no bike lane. Ridding at night on PCH for me is just not realistic, but ridding a buss and taking my bike along with me is. Then I can still ride to work in the morning, and return on the bus. Which is the primary purpose of my commuter bike. My fixie is good for this purpose as well, but I use the buss to get me over some of the big ups and downs. I would not easily be able to ride my fixie to work without the buss because there are several hills between my house and office, which I consider prohibitively difficult for pre office work ridding on a fixie.
Where was I going with this? Oh, yess I rode my road bike today, which felt great. Especially after a long spell of only ridding it on the weekend. I won't allow that bike to get put up on the front of the buss, because well its just to damned expensive to being putting out on the front of a buss. The commuter and the fixie are the sacrificial lambs. It all boils down to, the days are finally gradually starting to get long enough for lots of ridding again.
I'll probably ride my fixed gear tomorrow morning though, as on my return trip I was lucky enough to get a flat. I was right at the bottom of the last hill, about half a mile from home with the apartment complex in sight. I walked until I found a nice patch of grass to fix my flat, only to then find out (at the expense of a CO2 cartridge) that my valve stem was too short for my rims.
I then happily walked home barefoot on the grass, carrying my road shoes in one hand and walking the bike with other. I traversed the newly created park on the hill leading up to my apartment complex. It's still even got that new grass smell, fresh from the carpet rolls. The funny thing is, as much as that sounds like it sucked, it didn't it was great actually. I watched the sunset, as I was happy about the fact that, I was neither in the office, on a buss, or driving. Simply bueatifull realy.

barely

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Blue is the new awesome

Road to Roubaix

Showing in SoCal during the Tour of California!- February 21, Pasadena -Vosloh Forum Hall - 7:00 PM

The movie is showing at the Pasadena City College the day the Tour of California swings into town (Feb.21). Between now and January 24th everyone gets two tickets for the price of one! Go here for tickets and information. Link

the bike is a Cento Uno

It has come to my attention recently that people are in fact reading my blog. I now even have (update) 9 followers. I use the term, “Reading” loosely because that would imply that I actually write something, on a regular basis with some level of competence above that of a high school freshmen. But thats ok, I know when people say, “I enjoyed reading a post today on k-wall blog” (and yes someone has actually said it) they really mean, “I liked looking at the pretty pictures of the really expensive bikes”. However I do realize, dear reader that you must have many questions. Questions like, “what’s the deal with all the expensive bikes? where do they come from?, what’s the point of this blog? why is there a seal driving a boat? I’d like to day I could provide you with answers, but I really can’t. The blog is what it is, and Im kind of just along for the ride. I can reveal to you however, that the steady stream of high end bikes is made possible by a good relationship I have, with two dudes who build and sell absurdly nice bikes. In many ways blogging is like many things in life, where 70% of it is just showing up and looking the part. You can pretty much fudge the rest.

A Few Random Photos from the Weekend

In the interest of fairness

Here's some Dura Ace 7900 for your consideration, enjoy & have a good weekend.

Sense is overated anyways

Bright & Shiny

Went to Big Bear this past weekend, and there was a free Burton Demo. Overall an awesome day

Oh, Hells Yes We Can

GWB I will not miss you and

I couldn't be more happy to see you go.

Bike Demo Part 3

I want to start out by clarifying an earlier statement I made about the braking capabilities of this bike due to the "carbon rims", which even caused one commenter to ask if the bike was properly equipped with carbon fiber specif braking pads. When I said the braking on this bike sucks, I was just comparing it to all other bikes in general that I have ever ridden. Even with proper brake pads stopping power on carbon fiber is just not good, it inherently sucks. That being said, the breaking on this bike is good when compared to other overpriced lightweight road bikes rolling around on carbon fiber wheels. Once you squeeze the levers really hard, the bike readily comes to a stop. Light and feathery pulls on lever, like I would use on my Ksyrium equipped* bike, felt more like suggestion than commands.

*"Ksyrium equipped" does not mean I am ridding a Ksyrium Equipe wheel set. I am in fact ridding a on set of Ksyrium SL Supperlight Premiums, one the most redundant product names in of all of road cycling.
So now that we know the brakes actually do work. So what about the shifting and the hoods themselves? The front shifting was excellent, up shifts felt noticeably easier complemented by the short throw required to execute an up shift. Plus, despite my best efforts I was completely un able to drop the chain.
The rear shifting I was slightly less impressed with. First off I didn't like the new feel of the thumb lever. To me it felt cheep and tinny, and way to easy to click down. I'm a fan of the stiffer feeling springs, like the ones featured on the astronomically overpriced Campy Record Red series. I've even considered upgrading to those springs in my shifter (you can by the springs for like $10, which was the only difference other than the red paint job on the front) On top of that the shifting just didn't feel amazing, but I think it need some adjustment anyways so I won't judge it completely based off this test. I didn't however ever really notice the extra gear, it just felt like the same old low gear to me. It just takes you longer to get there. I should point out that this bike was equipped with standard gearing and I normally ride a compact. If the bike had had a compact crank and an 11/25 cassette, then I certainly would have noticed a difference with the lower gear ( I ride an 11/23).
As for the hoods and levers themselves I'm still not a huge fan. They felt really weird at first, and I slowly got used to it as I was ridding. The bend in the top of the lever did seem to give you a good grip when breaking. But at the same time the shifter lever for your index finger, seemed to be now just out of reach of my finger. I could just barely get to it. The thumb lever seems the same, except for its new whimpy feel. But for me what it all comes down to is, after I was done ridding and the bike was returned to the shop I got back on my trusty old bike and road home on my Chours 10 speed levers and they felt just right. So I guess I'll just have to come to terms with it, I am now officially a "retrogrouch" Which brings me to my next point, why the hell does Campy Record 10 spd cost more than Campy Record 11 spd??? It kind like when Apple started doing those glossy screens as optional. At first nobody seemed to like them so, they made them standard. Now they charge an upcharge to get the regular plane old screen on your new computer, fucking marketing.