« August 2004 | Main | October 2004 »

September 29, 2004

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 NJS track
Headset: Ritchey Logic, threadless, 1 1/8"

I don't have a final total, but I do know that I spent less than I would have buying a Bianchi Pista, Fuji, or KHS track model complete. I could have saved a few more bucks if I would have had the time to install the headset at Kraynick's, but the extra $20 didn't break the bank.

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 if I've ever seen one.

September 28, 2004

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 sooo nice having track ends and a frame that's spaced for a track hub. Setting chain tension was really, really easy. Riding impressions? Very smooth. The geometry is a bit more aggressive than my previous frame, though not as aggressive as a full on track bike. I really want to flip the Bontranger stem too -- I feel like I'm riding a beach cruiser when I'm on the flats, even though, thanks to a long top tube, I'm not.

Sorry -- no photos yet -- it was too late last night, and I didn't want to take lame photos in our basement. Perhaps tonight.

September 26, 2004

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 together, so I brought the frame/fork/stem/headset to Biketek in Squirrel Hill, and they felt my pain and said they'd get it together by tomorrow night.

September 24, 2004

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 I will.

First thing I noticed when I pulled the frame from the box -- there wasn't a headset. Every stock photo of the frame and fork show it with a headset installed, and I planned everything around this. At first I thought this wouldn't be a problem, as I had a spare threadless headset in the basement, but it turns out that headset is 1", whereas the Steamroller needs 1 1/8". Hmmmm. Fortunately, Kraynick's is open til 6:00 tonight, and even more fortunately, Dave is slacking off today, so he can help me install one.

So without a bottom bracket (which should be delivered today) or a headset, there was precious little I could really do last night (especially since it was 10:30pm before I even started). So, I threaded the track cog/lockring on my new wheel (Mavic MA3 rim laced to a Suzue basic track hub), gazed at the new frame a bit more, then called it a night. Tonight should be much more productive, since I'll have all the parts. Perhaps there will be pics of the complete bike on Saturday!

September 22, 2004

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 a Surly cog. I thought I was going to be able to get the rim laced to a Surly New Track Hub, but alas, QBP didn't have them. The front wheel will be cannabilized from the old cyclocross bike -- a Mavic MA-3 rim laced to a Shimano hub.

Cranks: Still some hand-wringing going on here. It looks like I'll be using a set of Truvativ Elitas taking from the 'cross bike, with a new Truvativ ISIS drive bottom bracket. This is probably the cheapest option, as Gerry Kraynick doesn't have any road cranks in stock at the moment.

Handlebars/Stem: My Nitto track drops with a Bontrager stem. The new Steamrollers use a 1 1/8" threadless headset system, and I had the Bontrager lying around. It's not as old school as the Nitto stem on my current ride, but the stem is nice.

I should have all the parts by the weekend, so I could riding it as early as Monday. A few shout outs to people that have been really helpful:

* Steve, for getting me most of this stuff at pro-deal prices.
* Mean Todd at WebCyclery for helping out with chainline questions revolving around my choice of cranks.
* The boys at Surly for their help with the above issue as well.

September 19, 2004

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), it is a rally win, and it does keep the pressure up on Loeb for the remaining four events. Markko Martin finished a distance, distance third (nearly three minutes behind Loeb and Solberg), and while he's currently third in the points race, he's admitted that the Focus just can't keep pace.

The remainder of the points looked like this:

4. Carlos Sainz
5. Francois Duval
6. Harri Rovanpera
7. Mikko Hiroven
8. Manfred Stohl

A few observations:

* Loeb and Solberg have each won four rallies this season. Had Solberg not run into a streak of bad luck midseason, the championship race would be dead even. And Subaru has to be pleased with the pace of the Impreza, which hasn't been considered one of the fastest cars in the championship.
* While Martin has been incredibly consistent this season, he's only got a single win (Finland), and while he's made it to the podium a lot, he's really been off the pace.
* Marcus Gronholm may want to consider calling it quits right now. He was on pace during Leg 1, but, haunted by gearbox problems, he had an off on Leg 2 and didn't continue. He's clearly not pleased with the development of the 307, but there's little he can do about it.
* There looks to be quite a shakeup in the factory rostes next season, with both Martin and Francois Duval potentially on the open market. Subaru has reiterated that they are happy with their lineup of Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen, but with Citroen's Carlos Sainz considering retirement, and Peugeot looking for a steady drive to replace Harri Rovanpera, anything can happen (though I'd have a hard time seeing Gronholm signing off on Martin as a teammate).

September 17, 2004

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 was completely gridlocked from start to finish. Butler Street was the same. Fortunately on Butler Street traffic was stopped both ways, so i cruised on the yellow line, prompted a few thumbs-up and "that's the right idea" from motorists. Once I got to the 62nd Street bridge the fun began. Water was pouring in rivers down the hillside, and at several points I was literally up to my hubs in water. It was interesting, in a gee-i-hope-i-don't-hit-a-submerged-rock-fall-and-drown sort of way.

Update

We've gotten 5.30 inches of rain as of 10:23pm and it's still raining.

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 a third consecutive Rally GB win underway, and he finished the day taking the final three stages, including two of the rally's longest. Loeb goes into Leg 2 with a slim 8 second lead over Solberg, and a 16 second lead over Gronholm. Ford's Markko Martin is the only other driver within shouting distance of the leaders, and he's currently 35 seconds off the pace.

Loeb will no doubt lay off the throttle tomorrow and avoid any incidents, and this rally should come down to a battle between Gronholm and Solberg. Even a third place finish gives Loeb enough points to maintain a comfortable lead in the standings heading into two tarmac rallies. One other driver to keep an eye on -- Subaru's Mikko Hirvonen. If he can keep Peugeot's Harri Rovanpera behind him in the standings (Rovanpera is currently 1:45 off Hirvonen's pace) Subaru will move ahead of Peugeot in the maker's championship and take a good chunk out of Ford's second place cushion.

September 14, 2004

Rally News

I've been slacking with my duties posting WRC news and rally updates. I'll take the opportunity now since I'm actually ahead of schedule at work....

Petter Solberg won the inagural Rally Japan, leading the event from start to finish. While the win was important for Solberg and Subaru, it did little to affect the overall championship standings since leader Sebastien Loeb took second place. Loeb can afford to be cautious for the remainder of the season -- he basically just has to finish in the points for the remaining five rallies and he'll take the title. And this shouldn't be a problem, with two sealed surface rallies remaining with Loeb as the favorite to win.

This weekend's Rally Great Britain should provide for some entertaining strategy from the factory teams. Solberg and Subaru have admitted that they will be gunning to win rally from here on out. Solberg has the chance to get a hat trick of Rally GB wins this weekend, so that should provide extra motivation. Citroen has expressed some concern about the rally -- the race was moved from it's standard November date, and that means very changeable conditions. Add to the mix that the factory teams have to nominate their tyre choices today, and there's potential for a poor performance. I expect Loeb to run cautiously, though he'll still gun for a top four finish.

Peugeot has basically given up on competing for the driver's championship and the maker's championship, with another disappointing rally in Japan. The 307's new five speed gearbox has been buggy, and both Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera were lucky to finish in the points. But, with nothing to lose, there's not reason why Gronholm won't go flat-out this weekend, if, of course, his car allows him to.

There's been a major shakeup at Ford, with Francois Duval told he was free to sign with another team next year. The status of Markko Martin is also up in the air, since Ford has not decided if they will run a WRC programme next year. But, this isn't stopping Martin from trying hard, and despite staying out of the news, he is one point behind Solberg in third place in the overall standings. Again, with so much up in the air, there's no reason for Martin not to go flat out this weekend and go for the win.

Geeky

Can anyone tell me why I didn't download the Mozilla web developer toolbar sooner? Now I can get all of the HTML/CSS information for a webpage with a click of a button. Silly, silly me.

September 12, 2004

Confusing the Issue

If I read another editorial associating the war in Iraq with the greater war on terrorism....

The Bush administration propoganda machine has convinced far too many people that the occupation efforts in Iraq are a cornerstone to the war on terror despite the following facts:

1. The war has diverted military resources from Afghanistan (a very real source of terrorism) and moved them to Iraq.
2. The cost of the war in Iraq has taken money away from the homeland security budget. The Coast Guard, tasked with protecting our ports and waterways, has estimated that the upgrades mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act would cost roughly $7.5 billion. But they have received only $500 million. What's worse -- only 4 to 6 percent of all cargo coming through U.S. each day is properly screened.

The information above comes, in part, from this article.

Bush has successfully won over the majority of Republicans in the country, but he might be losing hardcore conservatives and libertarians who see through the smokescreen and understand that Iraq has more to do with nation-building than fighting a war against terror (don't believe me? Read the editorial of the Tribune Review, or if you dare, Pat Buchanan's website). What's worse? Military folks serving in Iraq have begun to wonder aloud why Americans are focusing on things like the Vietnam war while they are mired in a very West Bank-esque scenario.

September 09, 2004

Why Kerry Just Might Lose

A couple of royal screw-ups on the campaign trail, especially right after the opposing party's convention, aren't going to help matters. The first, his addition of the words "the war on terror" while talking about the casaulties in Iraq, won't complete doom Kerry, but the spin unleashed from his campaign afterwards only solidifies the image of Kerry as a flip-flopper. The second -- his wife's assertion that we really need is a Department of Wellness -- could really hurt. That sound you hear? That's thousands of centrist, undecided voters fleeing to George Bush to avoid yet another layer of bureaucracy telling us how to live our lives. This idea also provides civil libertarians with fodder to skewer Kerry, something they've typically avoided with a big government Republican currently in office. At this point, the Kerry campaign has to hope that the release and analysis of documents pertaining to George Bush's National Guard, uh, service does a lot of damage to the incumbent.

September 08, 2004

Wet

As the remains of Hurricane Frances hit the Mon Valley, we can expect lots and lots of rain for the next couple of days. Yesterday's ride home was an adventure, as I left just as it really started to pour. There was at least 2 inches of rain on most of the roads, and I got doused by a wave thanks to a lake that had formed on Smallman Street. The ride in today wasn't bad, and I wisely slapped on the rear fender so at least my butt was dry.

In other bike news, I've spied a good deal for a used track bike on eBay, so hopefully I'll have a new ride soon. I did my homework this time and contacted people who had bought from this seller before, and his references are good, so I'm going for it.

September 06, 2004

Back

After 1300 miles and five days away from home, we survived the East Coast tour. The trip, in a nutshell -- Philadelphia to Hartford to Ocean City NJ. Note to self -- if going to beach again, be sure to bring the bike. I did manage to find an open wifi node in Ocean City (somebody's wide open Linksys) but I was bit nervous using it since I hadn't installed an antivirus app, so there was no blogging from the ocean. I did manage to catch the Speedvision Rally Japan wrapup show last night, which was very cool (nice work Petter Solberg).

While there isn't much other news from trip, I've got a few entries brewing at the moment, so stay tuned....

September 03, 2004

More from the Road

The tour continues -- right now we're just outside Hartford CT staying with Jen's sister Jackie and family. This is a bit nicer than a hotel, as we don't have to go to bed when Seb does.

We actually watched GW Bush's nomination acceptance speech last night. I'll let William Saletan sum up what I think. I've been working on a longer essay outlining my disaffection with our version of democracy (basically I think our two party system is muzzling our political freedoms), but it could be weeks before that is finished....

September 01, 2004

Blogging on the Road

You've got to love hotels with free (I hope) broadband....

William Saletan has written an excellent review of Arh-nold's speech last night at the Republican National Convention.

On the Road

We'll be travelling the next five days, making a whirlwind East Coast Hemphill family tour. No climbing to be had this trip, however -- though I may have to do some track bike shopping in Philly. If all goes well there we'll find some wifi hotspots to check email and post up.