Inactivity is expensive!

It's an interesting paradox that the less time I spend actually riding my bikes the more money I spend on them! Not that I ever spend a lot of money but relatively my purchases recently (during a real period of inactivity) has been high.

First of all I used my cycling inactivity as an excuse to finally finish building up my old Specialized Rockhopper. This old beast is a classic! Biopace chain ring, rigid fork, spectacular - probably dates from late 80's. This was the bike I converted to a single speed when my transformation into a SSer was in it's infancy. With the purcahsee of my beloved Redline 29er Monocog the poor old Rockhopper was consigned to a roof hook in my garage - and there she lay abandonned for nearly a year now. But I always wanted to emulate the great John Tomac and the "drop bar" Yeti he rode in the 1990 MTB World championship.

John Tomac in daredevil mode in 1990 on his Yeti

With my free time off the bike now seemed like a good opportunity so I set to work assembling my homage to John Tomac.



And here she is! I must admit as soon as I finished her I realized what a terribly bad idea it probably was - she has the potential to be the mother of all endo's but I love her just the same. The final touch in getting this baby ride ready was the bar tape - so I sneaked down to my LBS and to my amazement who was I served by? Only Jon Posner himself! Trek team manager, best supporting actor for his role in 24 h solo (inexplicably overlooked at last nights Oscars) and now bar tape salesperson extraordinaire - is there no end to this man's talents. Having put the finishing touches to her on Friday pm (MLW ws out) I was icthing to take her for a test run. So Saturady afternoon when an unexpected "free" couple of hours cropped up I didn't need any persuading. On with the cold weather gear and I headed off from the "Bollux mansion" for a exploration ride around Columbia's bike trails. If you know where to look even in a suburban setting like Columbia there is a fair amount of unpaved trail you can hit. I managed around 15 miles of which perhaps 2 miles was on roads, 8 miles was on paved trails and the remaining 5 miles was on either single track or power line tracks. Fan-bloody-tastic! A few minor adjustments were made but on the whole I was very pleasantly surprised how she handled! The decision not to travel to patapsco was justified as sections of the trails had the consistency of overcooked rice pudding - the top layer moving over a soggy underneath. Finished tired, muddy but happy, especially as "the leg" held up and showed no adverse effects.

The going was a bit muddy on the inaugural ride!

Sunday, as the weather had not been cold enough to freeze the trilas that were still recovering from the winterstorm that hit the previous Friday, and Patapsco was still a no-go. However MLW has signed up for a ladies triathlon so needed some roadbike time. Having disposed of children #2 and #3 to a friend we had just over an hour to hit the road. As MLW does not have a road bike and to even things up, MLW took my roadbike and I tagged along on the Rockhopper! We were joined by one of MLW friends and so we heade off into the Maryland countryside. It is a reasonable undulating ride and it soon became very apparent that my 38/20 gear and 26 inch knobblies (oo er missus) were not really up to a roadride. MLW had a great time and soon disappeared into the distance whilst I span like a mad bugger just trying to break 16 mph.

Taking a break at half way on MLW's first Roadride of 2008

The whole ride was just 12 hilly miles but MLW and I were both suitably worn out by the end. She acquitted herself admirably for her first proper road ride and I was left pondering the prospect of switching out the 20 tooth cog for an 18 tooth on the Rockhopper to make her more "cross-friendly"







Cheers all







Dogzbollux