Monday, December 26, 2011

Seatpost Bag



I finally sat down at the sewing machine this week. I was amazed that I spent a solid two+ hours making it.  Most of that time spent getting the zipper pull back on after pulling it too far. The zipper is sewn into a separate piece of fabric. I think next time the center portion will be one continuous piece. and I learned to cut the triangle bits with curved corners, I think it will sew easier and look better. I even added a bit of the grosgrain stuff over the seams.

I made a little gas tank earlier w/out much planning and learned a good bit.  I've applied those lessons to the tank you see now.  This I think is good enough for the TD, it will just hold my tools and tubes next to my seatpost.
I have a pattern ready for a frame bag for my commuter bike. Once I sew that I think I'll be ready to make small things to sell.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Why I do it

I was asked why I was going back to the Tour Divide for the third time, the best answer I could give was "why not".

I just went through all my TD photos today. Each one elicits a flood of emotions. I can look at each photo and tell you how I felt that day, what song was going through my head, what I was thinking, what body part ached, and what I smelled.
I couldn't all of that into words though(and not for a lack of writing skills).















To many of you these photos are just miles and miles of endless roads.
To me they represent hard earned memories.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

What a single cyclist does on a Saturday night


I have three wheels to build up. Front and rear for my cyclocross bike and a a singlespeed for my belt drive. All use Chris King hubs, DT Swiss revolution spokes, aluminum nipples, and Stan's Crest rims. And 3x lancing of course.


My wheel building kit is complete, and nice and tidy.
Nipple driver and starter in the lid
Spoke wrenches, spoke prep, tensiometer, and chart in the base(not pictured foam separator).