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My recent blog activity has matched my recent riding activity: not much at all. You know the usual excuses: a stretch of cooler, rainy weather, busy with work, and getting ready to move. I've shipped off most of my bikes to my parent's garage, leaving just two in my ready fleet:

The Jones is now single:

Riding buddy Chris converted his full sus 29er to single speed this spring, and he has an idea to tackle Mochican State Park on single speeds this year. Perhaps he doesn't recall this trail starts with an eight mile climb. But, it's nice to have a stupid goal, so I single-ated my Jones to ride along with him.

You may notice a few other changes to Jonsie:

- I shortened my stem from 100mm to 70mm, and added a set back post. Just riding around the neighborhood, I'm not sure I like this. My weight feels pretty rearward, with a light front end. I need to get it out on the trail to see.

- I removed my seat bag. I had an idea to ride this year without a Camelback. I like the light feeling on my back, but the rattling from my seat bag was bugging me. Plus, I crashed and lost my pump that was clipped to my bottle cage. Back to the Camelback.

I've lately started wondering what the normal Jones feels like. Just as confident, but more flickable? Good thing my bike fund is still underwater at the moment.

The other bike in the garage is my New Albion Privateer:

It's a pretty good compromise of utility and fun solo riding. I took the Carradice off the rear, mostly because I don't like the way it looks. It's like my bike has a saggy diaper or something. No pictures, but the other day I took one of Kate's friends home after soccer practice: two trail-a-bikes tethered to the end of my low trail NAP. I almost crashed at least twice. That was not a happy combination, but the girls seemed to enjoy it.

I still like the Albastache bars, though I think the Jones Loop bar might be a better all around bar these days:

Kate decided she was ready for a bigger bike, so I brought Henry's old 24" Hotrock back from my dad's garage. She was ready to go:

I was a little worried about her hand strength for braking--no more coaster brakes--but she's shown me she can stop fine. And she likes that the bigger wheels are faster!

Sam is still his happy on his 20" Hotrock:

We took a surprisingly chilly ride this morning around to the lightning tree:

I also sold Henry's Giant--he mostly rides Jodi's bike these days, and I want to get him something a little nicer for someday mountain biking. Vicarious bike shopping!