As a Christmas present for my accomplice, I wanted to build up a generator front wheel for her Fuji Touring. I bought the Shimano LX generator hub from Germany for a pretty good price and got a Mavic A319 front wheel and DT Swiss Champion 2.0 290 mm spokes from my LBS. Last night I finally built up the wheel and it went pretty well. It’s definitely easier the second time, and my tensiometer helped a lot, too. Once I find a cheap Ultegra hub on ebay, I’ll build a new front wheel for Gunnar… ...

I ain’t no weight weenie but I nonetheless wanted to add the weight the previous post about Gunnar. With the addition of Shimano PD-M520 pedals, two bottle cages, and changing the tires to 23mm Michelin Krylions I ended up at about 10.3 kg (measured with bathroom scale). I had hoped to reach the 10 kg mark, but I suppose with a 62cm steel frame that’s not easy.

Surprise, surprise! It’s still friggin’ cold here. Nonetheless, I decided to ride out to Glenn’s in order to get the spokes for my accomplice’s generator front wheel and some parts for Gunnar. As usual on Monday, Glenn had invited people for a snowshoe outing and I thought I’d give it a try. Usually it takes me about 30 minutes to ride out there, and I estimated that the bad weather would maybe slow me down by 10 minutes max. Well, not so much. While in downtown all roads were cleared, up on the hill the roads got more and more snowy. Mt. Pleasant Road, low traffic and very steep, was completely covered in fresh snow and I had to walk a good deal of it. Just not enough traction with my Ritchey ‘cross tires. In the end it took me 50 minutes to ascend to the heights of Mt. Pleasant, and I arrived half an hour late for snowshoeing. The ride back was a bit faster, but actually much less pleasant. On the way up, my body had produced copious amounts of heat but on the way back I was freezing. My new MEC lobster gloves did not really cut it, probably exacerbated by the fact that I had to brake hard constantly while going down Mt. Pleasant. Purchased items: ...

Most definitely not:  ©Accuweather

Okay, I’ve finally finished building up Gunnar and have had a chance to take some pictures for your (and my) enjoyment. Isn’t he a beauty? Due to poor weather and salty roads I haven’t had a chance to take him for a ride but hopefully it’ll get better soon. Now the nerd facts: Gunnar Roadie 2002 62 cm frame Shimano 105 ST-5600 brifters Shimano Dura-Ace BR-7700 brakes Shimano 105 RD-5600 rear derailleur Shimano Ultegra FD-6500 front derailleur, clamp-on SRAM PG-1070 12-27 10 speed cassette SRAM 1050 chain Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow saddle Bontrager Select 27.2mm seat post Powerdrive BC1.37x24t 68mm shell bottom bracket FSA Gossamer 50/34 compact cranks 3T Forgie stem, aluminum, 120mm 3T Forgie bar, aluminum, 44cm Cane Creek S2 headset Mavic Cosmos 28 spoke rear wheel Alex DA-16/Shimano Deore front wheel Some of the components, like the front wheel will probably be replaced in the near future and I still need pedals, but my main goal was to get to a functional and affordable quality build ASAP. And in that I’ve certainly succeeded. ...

New Year’s resolutions are silly, ideas for the new year aren’t. So here they are: a 200k a metric century a month 2-day tour Ithaca-Lake Ontario-Ithaca (could also be done as a 200k) 7 or more day bike tour, location to be determined (Pacific coast? around Lake Ontario? Italian Alps?) higher annual kilometrage than last year (i.e. >3500 km) make into the second round at the 2010 Cascadilla Hill Climb (no, I'm not competitive at all!!) go on Sunday Rides with the FLCC find a way to prevent my numbness problems Odo Wolfgang: 2932 km Odo Gunnar: 10 m on the trainer (more details will follow shortly)

Two ride reports in one: As announced previously, there was the Tour de Solstice, the “shortest ride on the shortest day.” It was cold, but not insanely so, the roads were mostly clear, and it was great fun to ride around Ithaca with 30 or so other cyclists. BikeIt, the co-organizers have posted a ride report with a bunch of pictures. The next day my accomplice and her sister went to the spa and I thought I’d dial in a couple more kilometers for December. Following the Finger Lakes Cycling Club’s Newfield/Odessa sunday ride with some modifications, I went on a 105 km ride. It was really cold (about -5 C and windy), but my outfit more or less worked in keeping me warm. I wore wool socks and a plastic bag in my cycling shoes and neoprene booties on my feet, bib tights, old men thrift store wool pants, bike jersey, hooded sweater, rain jacket, and a balaclava. As expected, my feet and the freezing water bottles were the weak spots. I had pre-warmed the water bottles and they lasted for about 1.5 hours before becoming all slushy and finally freezing after 2 hours or so. At my first rest stop, the Alpine Junction Dandy Mini Mart, I refilled them with warm water and some coffee. Second rest stop was at the Trumansburg Gimme!Coffee, with a tasty coffee and a vegan date bar. Total ride time was about 6.5 hours, moving time 5 hours, moving average 21.2 km/h, overall distance 106 km. Last year, after a long and really miserable ride I had promised myself that I’d never do it again. But now, with improved equipment, I actually enjoyed the ride and would do it again. ...

Seems like I mounted my winter tires just in time. Next Sunday Ithaca’s Tour de Solstice, the “Shortest Ride on the Shortest Day, a celebration of cycling and friendship, an affirmation that every day is a good day for a ride” will take place. I’ll see y’all there!

We had quite a bit of snow during the last couple of days. This was a strong encouragement for me to finally replace Wolfgang’s 700x28c Conti Gatorskin slicks with my 700x32c ‘cross tires. I put them on yesterday (front) and today (back) and now should be ready for the coming snows of this season. A related side note: This summer I had ordered the Crank Brothers Speed Lever. I tend to misplace traditional tire levers and my disappointing experience with the Quik Stik led me to test a new solution. I must say that I’m really happy with the Speed Lever. Only one piece instead of three and it does indeed work fast. The downside: for really tight tire-rim combinations you’ll still need an additional lever to get the tire on and off. Odo Wolfgang: 2748 km ...

Quick ebay update: I’m now proud owner of a set of Dura Ace BR-7700 brakes. Still missing: Brifters, cassette, front derailleur. Frame scheduled for delivery tomorrow.