Thursday, May 27, 2010

New Bike

Unfortunately the rear end of my blue Ziggurat is a little too flexy for my taste.
I bit the bullet and plunked down some cash for another bike.  Same frame, but newer.
Now I have a bunch of spare parts I need to get rid of.
Almost complete

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Mascot

The Howards have given me a mascot for the race.  It is Henry the Green Engine from the Thomas the Tank Engine show/books.  Paul's children are big fans of the show, and while the four of us(Paul, Per, and Trevor) were riding down an old railway bed we all pretended to be characters from the show.  I was Henry, Paul was Thomas, Per was Percy, and Trevor was.....drawing a blank here.  Let me consult the well written and hilarious Two Wheels On My Wagon.  Ah yes. Trevor was James.

Thanks to Paul and Catherine Howard.  And especially Molly, Benjamin, Thomas, and Freddie.

I will do my best to get Henry all the way to Antelope Wells

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Finished Product

The drive side has 5 layers by Jaques, and the left side has 4 by me.  I messed up a bit  so near the top the weave is a bit wonky, but I think over all they look great.


Monday, May 10, 2010

New Sponsor

Thanks Cane Creek for your awesome Thudbuster.


My butt also thanks you.

Carbon Repair

This turned out to be easier than I thought.  Especially with the skilled hands of Jaques.

Step 1: prep the surface, my little scratches with 600 grit paper were not enough. Jaques took it down to the first layer of carbon
Step 2: clean with acetone
Step 3: cut carbon, dacron, vacuum bag, and felt stuff.
Step 3: mix epoxy
Step 4: paint a bit onto the frame
Step 5: paint into the carbon fiber following the grain, not too much not too little
Step 6: fold over aluminum foil and cut the carbon fiber to fit the frame
Step 7: roll onto frame(no pictures because I was helping)
Step 8: roll on dacron
Step 9: roll on vacuum bag

Step 10: roll on felt

Step 11: wrap tightly with electrical tape
Step 12: let cure for at least 8 hours under heat prefered.


This past weekend I did the otherside myself, in order to stiff it up in relation to the drive side.
Hopefully it all holds up.

Knees are Fine!

Doc said to suck it up and stretch his way.
Sure 'nuff it worked.  Unfortunately I was too much of a pud to complete the Cohutta 100.
I had a blast hanging out with Cricket though.