Something old, something new, something proto, something that goes in your shoe

I'm getting my shit straight before the Trans-Sylvania Epic. If I can't be prepared physically, I shall at least be prepared metaphysically.

Yesterday I mounted up something old... very old.

I bought this computer back in 2005... I think. The Trans Rockies promoters suggested that everybody have a computer on their bike. That way, everybody could be highly disappointed when they thought they were close to the finish (according to their computers), but were actually still many kilometers from the end. Brilliant.

This computer was designed long before 31.8 bars, and I got sorta creative with the mount. I zip-tied it to the right arm of my number plate mount. The Niner crabon frok also provided a bit of a challenge to my outdated shit, as did the Industry Nine aluminum spoke, but I found a way around that as well.

After the first stage that is more than three miles longer than advertised I will rip this thing off and throw it in the trash.

Something new showed up:

No, I'm not going to start eating Lebanese salami for breakfast like The Pflug.

I got this:

I know what you're thinking. "Didn't you just have a MOOTS post on there? Why get an Eriksen post?"

I think the Eriksen must be better. This is not based on pure fact, but a healthy dose of conjecture and hearsay.

Not only is it 20 grams lighter (to make up for the 20 gram hit I took when I mounted up the NiCro railed PMBAR schwag saddle) it also has one millimeter more setback than the MOOTS (20 VS 19). What difference can 1mm make? I would think that Nigel Tufnel's seatpost goes to 20mm.

Nigel Tufnel: This setback goes all the way to twenty. Look, right all the way back, twenty.

Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And doesn't the MOOTS post go to nineteen?

Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.

Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's better? Is it any better?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one better, isn't it? It's not nineteen. You see, most blokes, you know, will be riding on a nineteen. You're on twenty here, all the way back, all the way back, all the way back, you're on nineteen on your bike. Where can you go from there? Where?

Marty DiBergi: I don't know.

Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What I do is, if I need that extra push over the cliff, you know what I do?

Marty DiBergi: You could just scoot back on your saddle one millimeter?

Nigel Tufnel: Twenty. Exactly. One better.

Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just keep the MOOTS post and scoot back to twenty and make that a little better?

Nigel Tufnel: [pause] This goes to twenty.

Don't forget, Nigel Tufnel day is around the corner. Buy me something pretty.

Something proto?

Another prototype Tülbag (pronounced tūl-bahg) from the folks at Backcountry Research, this one with a mesh side (so you can see your shit) and a grippy side (so your shit doesn't fly outta your jersey pocket). What will it carry?

All that, and a small bag of chips.

Something that goes in your shoe?

This is the latest sock from Swiftwick. Yes, you can see my toes through the fabric, like foot lingerie. It could possibly be the lightest sock in the world, and it has no seams... using the Linked Toe technology. How light is it? Thad passed them along to me and said that they weigh as little as 28 grams. That's 28 small paperclips.

I put a sock on one foot and taped 14 small paperclips to the other, and I can say that not only did they feel no different weight-wise, the foot with the sock was way more comfortable and way less pokey.

Since I'm looking for ways to beat the heat at races that can be particularly hot'esque (like ORAMM) I'm gonna have to live with the non-four inch cuff to let a little heat escape from my feet.

Soon I will be done preparing to prepare and I will actually start preparing.