My bikes and I!

I've been resting my body for about a week now. No bike riding per doctors orders. Strep throat took me off my bike! Not a pulled muscle or broken bone but something that seemed so simple! Oh well, I hope to ride my bike to work the rest of this week while we still have spring like condtions!

Since I haven't been biking I've been thinking about all my bikes! So where do you draw the line as far as having too many bikes? For me I think it's coming down to my living space! I still feel the need for a different bike for every situation! Same thinking as the right tool for the right job! One day I might have a Jay Leno garage full of bikes and maybe cars too! I'd better stop dreaming now. For the time being I'm living in a studio surrounded by bikes and bike stuff! To create some kind of order from the chaos I have a Feedback Sports Velo Cache Bicycle Storage Stand http://www.feedbacksports.com/products/velo_cache_storage_stand_accessories.aspx

The next logical question you might have is how many bikes do I have! Here's the list...
1. 1996 Specialized Stumpjumper MTB (aka: Special ed! The letters "iz" started to coming off so I helped it). This bike sadly will be retired due to worn aluminum rear drop-outs.
2. Intense Tracer MTB
3. Surly Instigator MTB

Surly Instigator

4. Specialized Festina Road Bike
5. Mongoose Ritual (24" BMX)
6. Surly Long Haul Trucker Road Bike (build in progress. Hoping to finish but ran into many issues with this used bike frame)

If I ever have to narrow down my bike corral then I'll probably choose a hardtail mountain bike over a road bike. In my opinion you are kind of limited in the kind of riding you can do with a road bike. All you roadies... please prove me wrong! A CycleCross bike might be the exception like the Surly CrossCheck http://www.surlybikes.com/bikes/cross_check_complete/ or Kona Jake The Snake http://www.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=jake_the_snake.
Cycle Cross is not really a road bike, but it's not a mountain bike either. It's somewhere in the middle. Maybe this video will help describe it better than me.

Then again I'm partial to mountain bikes because that's what got me back into bicycle riding back in 1996! Ever since childhood I have always like getting some air. Not huge air like X-Games; but definitely getting both tires off the ground.

Some things that might be hard to do on a road bike...

NorthStar up and over

NorthStar teeter-toter

That was a fun day at NorthStart. But I crashed early on in the day attempting huge air off a jump. Nothing special, just got a little too comfortable with jumping. Then continued to ride and also did those obstacles at the end of day with a hurting wrist. I didn't realize how serious it was!

This is the next day...

Fractured Wrist @ NorthStar 2008

Yeah, I had some wrist pain. But my fingers could still move and I could still grip the bars okay. I went back to NorthStar the following summer but rode my Intense Tracer (full suspension bike). Here's a video of one of the jumps or more like a roll off drop.

That's if for now... Keep the rubber side down!

Car Free Happy Hour!

Today is Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition's Car Free Happy Hour at Trials Pub in San Jose. I hope I'm feeling well enough to check it out. http://bikesiliconvalley.org/content/1743

Looks the us West Coast'ers get to enjoy some sunshine this weekend. I feel sorry for all tho folks in the Mid-West and back East that are getting slammed with storms.

I ran into more issues on Sunday with my Surly Long Haul Trucker Bike. I need new brake levers now! The saga continues with this bike. I hope that's the last road block to get the bike in working condition. If not I might just scrap the bike and move on.

There's another bike I've been checking out... It's called a Torker KB2! http://www.torkerusa.com/bikes/commuter-life/2011-kb2- It looks like a fixie bike but has an internal 2-speed hub and a coaster brake! To switch gears you "kick back" on the cranks like you are apply the coaster brake. There's a sticker of a Karate guy doing a kick on the bike. So no cables gives it a clean look. The idea of a coaster brake reminds me of my childhood when I used to try to skid for days. Here's picture of the bike.

Torker KB2 "kick-back"

That's it for now... enjoy the sunshine and keep those wheels turning.