Friday, October 8, 2010

Six Straight Days In the Saddle So Far.

This week is an example of Nebraska weather. I got up to ride with Shane, Scott, Alfred, Chris and Chris on Sunday morning. It was 35 degrees, I wore fingerless gloves. Whoops.

Compare and contrast that temp with today's commute: 91 degrees. Someone forgot to tell the sun it's October.

I commuted every day this week for 94 miles, plus 59 for Sunday's group ride.

I also got some bike toys. I've never liked having a flat bar on my snow and gravel machine, so I started researching my options for an off-road drop bar. I settled on a Salsa Woodchipper based on Guitar Ted's observations at TwentyNineInches.

Especially this:
The Woodchipper leaves your levers in a more of a traditional position, so if you are seeking a more road bike-like set up for your levers, the Woodchipper will come closest of any of the available off road drops. From STI levers to levers like the Tektro RL 550, you can set up the Woodchipper to have a usable hood position, if you desire it, quite easily. Other off road drop bars will compromise this a bit.
I love me some brake hoods. Given the height of the existing flat bar in relation to the saddle, the Woodchipper drops should put my shoulders at the same height as my road bike hoods. I should be able to ride it all day long now.

I also copped some Tektro RL550s and Ultegra 8-speed bar end shifters to replace the MTB levers and trigger shifters.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to hook it up tomorrow.

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