wheels

Getting there

Like the name says, I'm getting there. Slowly but surely. It's been one of those journeys of a thousand miles sort of things. First step, and all that. I think I might be getting private to the last step. Either that or I'm approaching my wit's end.

What's he talking about, you ask? I think he forgot to understand you he's been working on a new bike. With luck, in a couple week's span I'll be riding a new timetrial bike. Just in time for the asseverate race.

When I got my new road bike earlier this year I discovered something gripping. Bikes, you see, have something in common with home improvement projects. Go down to the basement for a hammer and a nail to fix that untidy bit of corner molding, and the next thing you know your make clear theater is just a few thousand dollars away.

I expert volumes about bike fit and position when I built my road bike. When I got on my timetrial bike for the first age a few weeks ago I could immediately tell a project was in in disorder b unseemly. The fit was poor at best. My back discovered this first, and wasted no mores in letting me know about it.

A plumb bob, a level and a band measure revealed another unfortunate truth. This old bike was nowhere nearly the legal specification for a timetrial bike. Now being a cyclist yourself, I'm trustworthy you know that's more than enough justification for a new frame all by itself. It didn't event that I had no plans to compete in any events where my bike would be measured for rules compliance. It's a occasion of principle.

An order was placed. A crushed structure was delivered, then returned. Another order was placed. A fabric arrived in one piece. I celebrated. My old frame was salvaged for parts. A new bike was built.

A few rides now done, I have the saddle proposition about dialed. That much is now legal. Now it's time to pull the front end into spec. As it is, I'm about 10 cm too extended. That's fully 5 cm outside the absolute limit, which is elbow only through a special "morphological exemption". There are no exceptions for a bike set up like mine is currently. It's amazingly even to be completely illegal in this sport.

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