South Carolina Riding

Went to visit my dad in Beaufort, SC and did some riding around the area. Very cool roads, bike friendly, interesting scenery...threw in a couple other pictures taken on my dad's dock and also at the beach. Thanks to John at Low Country Bicycles for hooking me up with a route as well.

- JB

Vanilla and Chocolate

The new Gunnar Crosshairs!!!! Finally Here!!! Just built it up, vanilla milkshake paint, all brown Chris King bearing surfaces, 34/46 salsa chainrings, paul neo-retro brakes, thomson seatpost, brooks saddle, ITM stem, Nitto noodle bars, XT rear derailleur, Ultegra front der., 11-34 cassette in the back. Hope to put some serious miles on this bike and use it for the Trans Iowa race, tires are subject to change and I still need to dial my position, but I am so PUMPED to have this!!!!

- JB

Merry Christmas

Classic photo taken last year with Ari and Erico at the NCC holiday party.


Merry Christmas to everyone, don't eat too much (or do), travel safe, keep the legs fresh....and as the handsome fellow in the picture with the red sweater on would say..."Don't let your meat loaf", Happy Holidays everyone!

- JB

Cold Commutes

Weather started to warm up a bit, snow and ice melted the trail out, commuting still in progress.

- JB

Wheel Fast Christmas

Thanks to all that came out to the Wheel Fast Christmas party. Good food, good beer, good friends. Happy Holidays!

Its Winter...

Winter at Wheel Fast means: Overhauls and High End bike builds...

Holiday Party at the shop this saturday...come and join us in celebrating a great cycling and holiday season!

- JB

ARI - Snow bike master

NCC Stay Moving Clinic - Snowbikes with Ari from Tobie DePauw on Vimeo.

My good friend/colleague/mentor...Ari... has a very insightful presentation on the new snow bike craze (even though the pugsley has been around forever and no one noticed) and good ideas on how to stay moving at a presentation from NCC conveniently named "stay moving clinic". Enjoy.

Odds n' Ends

A must have if you are a mechanic...



Secret Trans Iowa V.7 map holder prototype



Rebuilding a Mavic R-Sys Wheel

Riding as of late....

We have not gotten any snow down in Springfield yet like my buddies up north have. But, we have had some bitter freezing temperatures....lows of 10-15, highs of 25...you get the idea. Been wearing fleece knickers under my thermal windproof bibs, with a regular jersey, thick wool jersey, and nike thermal jacket. Wool gloves with a thick wind shell over them, headsweats hat and neck/ear warmer, wool socks and thick neoprene shoe covers. This has been working for now but more bundling is probably to come as the temps continue to drop. Stay warm while riding!

- JB

The Rules

FOR REAL....READ THIS

http://www.velominati.com/blog/the-rules/

#6, and #58 are my favorites so far.....

- JB

Dave's 650B

Dave, who works at the shop, got a smoking deal on this Haro Beasley SS 650B'er. A couple custom upgrades including pedals, skewers, grips, lip lock, new bars (I scored the original and hard to find Mary bars) and some jagwire cables and housing make the bike look pretty badass. Congratulations David. Ride On.

- JB

Peloton

Was at Barnes and Noble on the day off and picked up a very classy magazine named Peloton. The cover was a shiny black with beautiful black and white pictures inside, classy layouts, rapha interviews, Sweetpea framebuilder interview, and a cool picture of a '49 Wilier. The magazine was pricey but worth having around, check it out if you ever see it....

- JB

Windy Weekend

Why temporary??

Went riding with Ari and Tobias on Friday morning. With the 30-40 mph wind gusts, my guess is that the temperature was below zero. Ari and I made 20 miles for the morning and hit some ideal gravel on the way home with a tailwind. Due to the cold temperatures my camera did not work so no pics from that. Sunday got up with intent to do a long ride. Started the ride with the Mack and Wheel Fast team members. Was riding the 26 lb monster casseroll. This might have been its last ride seeing as the new gunnar is coming and I am swapping parts for the Trans Iowa bike, so I had to take the salsa on a final long goodbye ride (it will be built up again next year as a touring bike). All the while riding I was singing...last dance with mary jane for the casserolls last long ride of this year. Also, bone thugs'n harmony kept repeating in my head and kept my legs moving. Rode to Virden area with the racers and as they turned I kept going south. The wind was 15-25 mph gusts out of the south, so having the racers to draft off of was nice but now I was on my own. I finished 17 more miles in the headwind to Raymond. This was 47 miles into a headwind for the day. I got some beef jerky, paydays, and gatorade at the gas station to refuel. Apparently the payday candy bar is the new nutrition for the slender fungus so I had to try it out. Rode back with an amazing tailwind and enjoyed the quiet and peaceful countryside. Saw a very cool cemetery dated to 1830 and also saw many country signs that were graffiti-ed, and a few hunters. Rarely passed by cars on the way home it was a nice ride. I finished the day in Washington park and did 5, 2-mile loops to add 10 miles to the ride. Overall, 100 miles for the day, legs felt great...heavy bike was awesome. Look forward to doing it again next weekend. Hope you enjoyed the 45 degree hot spell and got some riding in!

- JB