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The Bicycling thread

Just finished putting together ‘03 giant TCR elite 0, with ten speed DA. That’s a one year only TCR. 175 cranks. Last year for the 6000 Allixx main tubes, carbon forks front, rear and stays. Had to go with 451 long reach calipers. For some reason the lighter DAs couldn’t reach? Originally was a stock nine speed, so upgrade. Occasionally a nice frame pops up.
 
Nice bike, were brake mounts off for some reason? Is it a Team Once replica?

One of my daughters is looking at road bikes and is having sticker shock, even with a frame up possible build :laugh
 
No team TCR. Found a couple yellow early ONCE frames but were too rough to waste the cash. I mean beat up. Used stuff needs no dents, cracks, bends. Also, there was a recall on those early forks. Check interweb.

I ride only (mid 70s), for exercise, serenity, health; around 5000 acre paved park trails. Throw bike in the xB, up to park and bliss.

Winter is fun cleaning up the bikes in the front room. Big southern facing windows. Lots of Vitamin D.

Also transferring newer Ultegra set to ‘04 Alan Ultral that has carbon fork and seat stays. I’m hanging up the Giant OCR1 as it’s too stiff for me. For the street I ride Giant XTCNRS1. For cracks potholes and such.

This year the latest I rode was Dec. 10th. Days are getting longer since the 21st. Almost springtime. Gonna snow all night. Gotta shovel tomorrow. Exercise with a purpose.
 
About the brake caliper reach on the TCR. Tire clearance is deeper than regular road frame. Why? I have no clue. Original specs have 7700BR equipment. However, 105, Ultegra and DA, extend only to 49mm. The 451 extends to 57. With the OCR frame made for the street, accommodating wide tire/fenders etc., 451s are also needed. The difference in weight is a few grams. Which to me is irrelevant. I hogged out material on an old Ultegra caliper. There wasn’t enough material to cover the brake rim. 700x23 tires.

Haven’t found a Giant site discussing this. On the Alan forks front and rear, index finger doesn’t fit between tire and forks. With TCR same finger passes through. Again, go figure? Beside a strictly track/racing frame, the elite0 is supposed to be Giant’s top road frame? For 2003. Am getting an actual BR7700 from that era; however, they’re specified at 49 too. FWIW, whatever.
 
60 F and sunny so I got out for a short ride. First ride of the year.
Our snow is gone now except piles and drifts.

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The ice is getting thin. I saw water along the shore in a couple places.

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When I stopped at the above picture I saw nine deer run across the ice.
They all made it.

After that I saw two groups of 10 or 12 running across fields. Two almost ran into the side of a truck.

Also saw several thousand Geese. Canadian and Snow Geese.
A lady I know who lives on the edge of the park said the Snow Geese had just showed up today.
Pelicans should migrate through in a few weeks.
Most winters the Canadians stay all winter and are able to keep open water on one section of the lake.
Not sure what they did when we had that two weeks of really cold weather.
 
70F and sunny yesterday. Took the SUV out on an important errand. Two and a half 12-packs* of stout and a bottle of wine fit in those bags! Good ride- I'm ready for the next winter freeze. :beer
 

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We can get out and have, just a BREEZY month! Spring is close

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Thursday and gusts over 35mph... builds character!
 
I check in every once in awhile to see if anything is happening. I'm glad to see pictures start popping up now that riding season is almost here. Even Texas has snow! And $16000 electricity bills :). I kid...

Today was about 70 degrees here in central NY and it really felt like spring has sprung. It will be short lived but it has given us hope. Vaccines are being administered and restaurants are starting to open. This time of year is when we normally emerge from hibernation and shake off our cabin fever - this year we are shaking off an extra helping.

First, I'll add some pictures from last weekend. Michelle and I took our fat tire bikes up to a bay on Lake Ontario for some fun on the ice. As it turns out, the fat bikes didn't do all that great on the ice even with almost no air pressure. The ice had melted and then refroze and it was like a giant hockey rink. I wish I had skates.

My friend loves the adrenaline rush of being on two wheels (downhill MTB, flat track and motocross). He went full ATGATT for a ride on my fat bike. He could ride in a straight line for 10 or 20 feet before losing it. Turns weren't even a consideration:

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For his bike, he used an electric drill to screw a gazillion screws into some extremely knobby tires. In this case the POINT of the screw is sticking out! He doesn't mess around. It worked great - we all rode his bike and it worked fantastic. So well that Michelle wants studs on her fat tire bike so we can ride on glare ice.

Here, my buddy is going to tow one of our other friend's son. The youngster was excited - we gave him explicit instructions: if you start sliding toward the rear tire, let go of the rope! He has a frisbee under his butt as the sliding puck. Fun was had by all but ended when the youngster did have to let go of the rope, it got caught in the rear mech and ripped the derailleur hanger off the bike. No worries, my friend has a stock pile of hangers and rear derailleurs because this happens all the time. :)

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Michelle and I don't have motocross gear so our ATGATT consisted of our motorcycle jackets and some knee and hip pads:

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Yesterday was my first 'real' ride of the year. It got up to about 60 degrees. I didn't take any photos because I'm out of practice.

Today was even warmer - I think it hit 70 - and I was riding in summer kit! That made me forget that it is still winter and a lot of the roads that I ride are still under snow.

This is a shortcut through a park that takes me to the village. I was able to ride through this:

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But then I came on this section of road where I ended up walking the bike through the snow for half a mile. That really knocks your average speed down!

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Under that snow is a beautiful ribbon of asphalt. Even walking was a little bit slick and I received the occasional 'refreshing' shoe full of ice water.
 
Last year on a organized winter ride one couple had fat tire bikes with studs because they expected snow but the roads were fairly clear. They had theirs screwed in from the outside.
You could really hear them coming up behind you :)
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Good to see you posting again Kurt.
 
Thanks Lee!

Fat tire bikes are really an impractical contraption. But they sure are fun. Really only an advantage in soft stuff like snow and sand - but they just make it go from 'impossible' to 'really hard'. I like riding them off road if everyone else I'm riding with also has a fat bike. As soon as someone shows up with skinny tires and suspension, the dynamic changes a lot.
 
We've just started getting OK weather here in the northeast. Got 100 bicycle miles in between Sunday and Monday and took a few motorcycles out for a spin today. It just doesn't look great in photos: everything is brown and muddy. Even bright sunshine can't redeem my pictures.

My fingers are crossed that the national rally will happen this year. I really want to get out of NY. I haven't left the state since a year ago January. Now my dilemma is that I've developed some pretty good bike fitness over the last year and I'm going to lose it if I take a long motorcycle tour. Then I'll be starting from scratch. I really don't want to have to build up again.

Reminds me of a story: In 2003 Michelle and I took 2 weeks off from some serious training to go to the MOA national rally in WV. That rally site turned out to be the best motorcycle rally for triathletes - there was a pool located at the college! There was also some great running along the river. July is TdF time and I was really into watching it (before all of the Lance=doping stuff). In one of the common areas of the college somebody had set up a large screen TV and it was tuned on to the tour! So awesome. It was right next to the beer garden, too. I plopped down on a couch next to a couple of other guys who were equally enthralled with bike racing. We were the few fellas at a motorcycle rally with shaved legs. Sometimes I feel like PeeWee Herman in a biker bar but, hey, I gots to be me. Were any of you setting on a couch next to me in 2003?
 
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