I Can't Get No Satisfaction (Trek Stache 9+ Demo)

With money burning a hole in my bike fund, I was eager to hit the Trek factory demo this morning at Alum Creek. I've been looking forward to try the much ballyhooed Trek Stache 9+ models, and they were well represented in the demo fleet. The Trek Store had everything set up at the P2 parking lot:

I filled out the iPad form, and quickly had a Stache 9 29+ in my gloved hands:

The May Massacre

It's been an eventful month for my bike fleet. Early in the month, I sold the ERB to a fellow in Arizona. The spring concept was interesting, and maybe faster, but it finally wasn't significant enough that I was willing to compromise and go back to 26" wheels for it.

Goodbye ERB:

I sold the ERB as a complete bike, mostly to help clear out some space in my parts bin, but also to get these super swanky Bontrager scandium wheels out of the garage. As long as they were around, it was too tempting to pick up a 26er frame to go with them... only to realize I'm a 29er guy these days... but the wheels are soooo light.... Now, no more temptation.

The ERB was just the beginning.

New Bike Parts and Ice Cream

When I got my new blingy wheels for my Mukluk, I realized they didn't come with skewers. Coincidentally, a fellow COMBO member had a pair of Hope fat bike skewers for sale for just $20. He lived in nearby Powell, so I arranged to meet him up there on Friday evening.

Because I try to be a good dad, I arranged the meeting at Graeter's ice cream:

Work Free Wednesday

I've been trying to take a three day weekend for a few weeks now, but things always kept popping up at work until I last I ended up taking Wednesday off this week. So instead of a three day weekend, I only have to deal with a pair of two day work weeks--not a bad trade! In the end, Wednesday was a great day to head out riding.

I started my day off with some pre-breakfast comparo riding between the Surly:

and ye Olde Trek:

My intention was to do four laps of my Avery Park extended loop, two miles each, alternating between bikes. My hope was that it would help me decide which of these two very similar bikes I liked better. But that wasn't quite what happened.

Trek: Fixed, and 650B

I was getting closer to selling off my 650B wheelset, but decided to give it one last go. If I'm riding solo on the road, that usually means I'm on a fixed gear, or want to be on a fixed gear, so even my previous Trek single speed conversions haven't really given me a fair comparison to my ever faithful Cross Check. This time, it would be different: earlier in the week, I pulled the welded freehub off my beater 700c rear wheel, and fixified my 650B wheelset. I don't usually enjoy cracking into hubs, so I had been putting this job off, but it was actually pretty easy and satisfying to do. It was a good excuse to break out my cone wrenches, at least.

6:30 this morning, I was ready to hit the road to get a ride in before the soccer games started:

There's really not much to see here, but this freehub is welded shut. No longer free then, I guess... I shall deem it the fixedhub henceforth:

2015's First S24O, and a Carmargue Update

Sam has been asking me for weeks, if not months, when we can go camping ("Sam, it's snowing outside...") Finally, we had a beautiful forecast for this weekend. I asked Sam if he would like to go camping, and he was so excited he ran right over and gave me a big, long hug. This made my restless, allergy filled night worthwhile.

We had some dinner, threw some gear in the trailer, and hit the road. Sam was happy to be out: