Down the road more commonly traveled

I got my Industry Nine Trail 245 wheels on Friday, so there was no reason to not get a geared bike together (again).  Updated design on the rims BTW.  Wider.  More tubelessable. 

The bike weighs 26.35 pounds, which puts it... I don't know where in the world of 150mm travel steel 1X11 bikes.  The tire/goop/air compressor set up was smooth.  Putting on gears and measuring chain length and such?  More efforts.

I'm not terribly mechanically inept, it's just been awhile.  I am happy that my Endless The 1 Ring finally has a true sense of purpose, what with its narrow/wide chain-keeping profile.  Had to find tiny bolts to stick in my Paragon slider holes to keep them muck-free.  Ended up with 16.25" chain stays.  Tight.  Pretty sure I got the chain length right.

Cable routing was ugly (since I had Steve grind off all cable routing enablers).

Complete bike built.  Initial wheelie test confirms:

16.25" chain stays + very low gears + 50mm stem + slack as fuck HTA = wheelie machine

Things are looking up for Wheelie Master School '16.  Steep technical climbs, not so much.

It rained all day Saturday.  No rides.  Woke up early to help clear limbs/logs/trees off the Backyard Trails in the drizzles and downpours.  Did little else all day... other than disappoint some out of town friends who were in Charlotte for a show at the Milestone where another friend was playing... because... rain.  Is it strange that at the age of 46, I can't imagine going out to do something at night and not riding my bike to get there?  I don't think so, but I also think that Steve Buscemi is sorta handsome, in his own way.

So, the only place people in Charlotte can go when they don't have all day to go to the mountains but all the trails in Mecklenburg County are closed... Uwharrie.  Oldest mountains on the continent or something. 

Went out with Bill Nye who happens to also have a bike that's plagued with dangly bits. 

Out the lollipop stick of Wood Run to the main loops.

There's one rock garden worthy of consternation on the way out.  I hit it, confident that with my gears, it will be easier than ever.  I roll it like it's nothing.

Wondering what gear I was in, I stop and check.

32X19?

You gotta be shitting me.  The same gear I run at Uwharrie unless I'm too lazy to swap out my 18 tooth because the few hills that I suffer on aren't worth the ten minutes of flip-flopping back and forth.

WTFE.

We ride on.  I find the laziness of gears to be an odd concept.  Hills still hurt.  Could be the extra ten pounds of bike and me I'm pushing (compared to my SS Vertigo Meatplow V.7 and a lighter me).  One minute I can see why people use these things.  The next five, I am confuse.

Rode this after many attempts... despite the fact that I've ridden it many times before... despite the fact that I had gears so everything should be easier or at least better by a factor of eleven.

Twenty something of miles and Bill Nye was out of food (brought none) and water (brought 24oz), so we finished our ride and went home.  No burritos.  I'm still trying to make internal peace with that.  That might never happen.

I saw a voicemail pop up on my phone on the way home.  Didn't check it until I was washing my bike (gotta keep all those moving parts clean).

It was Buck.  2005 Single Speed World Champ Buck.  He has long ago embraced gears, albeit in the most dirt bag and spectacular manner.  He wanted to see how things went, offer advice for figuring out how things work, and give me manscaping advice.

I called him back while I continued to wash my bike and tell myself that this whole thing has to last at least until March.  Because... Tour de Burg... road stages?

I question my own logic every fucking day.  This is going to be a long off "season."