The Bike Project — Complete

Components Frame/Fork: Surly Steamroller, 56cm Wheels: Mavic MA3 rims. Rear Suzue track hub. Front Shimano. Tires: Clemente Monzas Cranks: Truvativ Elita. 42 tooth chainring (generic) Bottom Bracket: Truvativ ISIS Drive IS, 68mm x 108mm Pedals: Shimano Downhill SPDs (old) Chain: Taya Track Cog/Lockring: Surly 16 tooth Seat/Seatpost: Selle Italia Nitrox/Generic Stem: Bontranger Race Handlebars: Nitto […]

The Secret History

Slate has a nice article pointing out the incredible stupidity of honoring Che Guevara as a freedom fighter. Just a few of the “freedoms” he brought to Cuba: * Labor camps used to “disappear” dissidents, gays, and AIDS victims. * Revolutionary firing squads. * A totalitarian regime. Yes, a shining example of a freedom fighter […]

Constitutional Democracy in Action

Presidential Candidates Badnarik and Cobb to debate in Miami. Cobb and Badnarik represent the Green and Libertarian parties, respectively, and they will hold a true, open debate the same night as the major party candidates. Note — Cobb and Badnarik will actually accept questions from the audience, who won’t be screened for their politcal views.

The Bike Project

I picked up the Steamroller, with a brand new headset, last night, and once we put the boy to bed and ate dinner, I went to work. About an hour later (including several handlebar switches — track drops? hmmm. TT bars? hmmm. Track drops, definitely track drops) I had a complete bike. First impressions? It’s […]

Saturday at Cooper’s Rock

Drew on the traverse Me on the traverse Seb on the traverse. Bike Project Update Thanks to a flat and lots of traffic, Dave and I didn’t make it to Kraynick’s on Friday, and due to the above activities on Saturday, the Steamroller didn’t get a headset. I was desperate to get the steering column […]

The Bike Project

The Steamroller came last night. w00t! Very nice, industrial-looking frame. I’m sorta psyched about the rear triangle, as the boys at Surly massage the chainstays to allow for fatter tyres, which should come in handy for the winter. Anyway, Eli had the bright idea that I should document this little building project, so I think […]

New Bike

After much hand-wringing, I finally settled on and ordered a new bike last week. Here’s a rundown of what I’m getting and what I’ll be running: Frame: 2004 Surly Steamroller. 56cm. Gray. That includes the Surly Steamroller fork as well. Wheels: Rear will be a Mavic MA-3 rim laced to a Suzue track hub with […]

Rally GB Wrapup — Make It Three

Petter Solberg completed his hat trick of Rally GB wins today by taking the lead from Sebastien Loeb on the penultimate stage. While Loeb held the rally lead from stage two, Solberg applied steady pressure and Loeb finally cracked. While the win does little for Solberg’s title defense (he only gained two points on Loeb), […]

Swimming, errr, Biking Home

The remains of Hurricane Ivan have dumped a record amount of rain on us today (over 4 inches of rain were recorded at Pittsburgh International Airport). Of course I rode my bike to work (like I ever don’t), and the ride home was, uh, interesting. Traffic was completely out of control. Total bedlam. Smallman Street […]

Rally GB Day One

Despite the shift to the earlier date, conditions in Wales are still damp and muddy. Sebastien Loeb found himself at an advantage early in Leg 1 running first on the roads, and he had a comfortable 30 second lead over Marcus Gronholm and Petter Solberg. It didn’t take Solberg long to get his bid for […]