A Harbinger Of Winter

Well... On the way home today, in the mostly lovely 35F degree temperature and with the wind blowing 15 to 20 out of the northwest coming across the river, I saw the first bald eagle of the winter. This was on the Rock Island Bike Path between the Cresent Bridge and the Centennial Bridge. I normally don't expect to see them this early. I am hoping that this is merely a fluke and not a sign of the next ice age dawning.

Recall Warning

Here's a recall warning that everyone that has purchased one of these should heed. Double click the Image to read the fine print.

It's Not Over Till I Say It's Over

Well.. Despite my statements that I would not obsess on the numbers, I find that I'm in complete denial. I now have just 858 more miles to get in this year to get to 10000. I haven't been at 10k miles since my racing days in the BH (Before House), BW (Before Wife), and BC (Before Children) days. It's looking like I can do it without any serious suffering or stupidity. Yesterday, I had to deal with a cut sidewall and a flat on the ride. Oh yeah... and then there was the little bit of snow and the closely related temperature. Nothing really hard. I'm not looking forward to the day I have to put the studs back on. That will make the commuting much, much harder.

In a semi-related note, when I stopped in at the Trek Store yesterday to change out the flat, I asked about the Tete de Course warranty replacement. Mr. Bill, indicated that the Trek road rep was there on Thursday and took more pictures. Trek has still not sent the pickup tag for the fork. I am starting to think that maybe Trek isn't going to make good. I am still optimistic.

Christening The New Room

I was lucky enough to be one of the folks that "christened", aka sweat, at Evan and Kelly's new yoga studio, Tapas Yoga Shala, today. This was the first practice at the studio. It was packed with total of twenty people. There was room for maybe two or three other folks, but as it was we were still very "friendly". It was a real hoot when we got to Garba Pindasana. I liken it to an Indiana Jones movie with many narrow escapes from utter disaster at every turn. It was a great practice today, the energy level in the room was amazing. I still have a smile on my face.

This wasn't the Grand Opening (see this link). That was last Thursday. Evan and Kelly were lucky enough to get Sri Narasimhan and Dr Jayashree of Mysore, India to lecture on the Yoga Sutras and Chanting. They were in the States doing a number of appearances at some of the larger, aka "name" yoga studios. As it turns out, it is looking like the numbers on Thursday night were in excess of anything that they had on the tour so far. The QC's were representing in the yoga world.

When They Pry It From My Cold Dead Hands

Wow... We had an interesting day at work last Friday and I wasn't even there to enjoy it. Work called me about a problem today and while I was dialed in looking at things I fired up the work email. That's where I found out about the problem.

A message was sent to everyone that there was a bike in the rack that needed to be removed ASAP so the maintenance folks could put the bike rack away for the winter. WTF? The story is that they needed to move so that they can remove snow. The other folks that ride managed to provide enough "feedback" that it will stay until / if it becomes a problem. The rack has been in place for years without things being a problem.

I'll have to buy the rest of the bike commuters coffee or a beer for taking care of this. I am the prime beneficiary of it since I am pretty much the only year round rider.

Ti Frame Update

I've been pleasantly surprised. The folks at Trek Corporate didn't bat an eye. The local Trek Store folks (Thank you Jeff and Bill) took a couple of pictures, made a couple of calls, and I'll be on a new frame in a couple of weeks. The thing that I find amazing is that there were a pair of bare metal Ti frames in 53cm available. That really has my head spinning since they haven't made these in about five years.

So... the only hard thing about the deal is picking a paint color. I decided to go with the Chi Red. I already have a yellow Lemond and I wasn't really sure about an orange bike. I really liked having the brushed metal frame, but I'm quite happy to have the Ti frame vs "plastic". The only real delay in getting this done is that I want the fork painted to match the frame. All things said, right now, I'm a happy camper.

I Was Just Riding Along - Again

Well... I went out for my normal post Ashtanga led class recovery ride today. I met Jen on the bike path and we headed out to the end of it to loop down to the river. We were just about to turn onto the road for the twisty descent to the river when I heard this noise. I told Jen that I needed to stop and check because that wasn't a good noise. I had changed a flat out on the front wheel the day before and I was thinking that I must not have gotten the front wheel in right, quick release having issues, etc. Didn't see anything wrong there. I rode another 50 feet and heard the noise again and stopped to look really closely. Now I could see the problem. A very nice crack in the down tube that is almost 80% around the tube. I was glad I stopped.

Now comes the fun. Trek and Lemond have severed their business relationship. I may be screwed with respect to the warrantee. Time will tell. I have a friend that had exactly the same issue with his Ti Tete de Course too and it wasn't a problem getting things fixed then. Now might be a different story. I'm hoping that they will still have a Ti 53cm frame in the warehouse. I don't want a plastic, aka carbon fiber frame. But that would be preferable to nothing.