King Cage Titanium Tire Levers

I'm not very gentle on tire levers. A couple of weeks ago, I was swapping out tires on my 5 year old's butterfly bike (yes, I said butterfly bike) and snapped my last lever. That makes about 1/2 dozen levers snapped in the last year or so. After I was done pulling the old tire off (used tin snips to cut through the bead) and mounting the new tire, I hopped online to look for some levers that might be a bit more durable.  I eventually came across King Cages out of Durango, Co.  They make steel and titanium bottle cages as well as titanium tire levers. Hmmm, titanium tire levers sound pretty durable. At $8.00 dollars, they are pretty affordable as well. A quick interweb transaction and less than a week shipping time and I had a brand new pair of titanium tire levers in my hands.

Like all things titanium, they are extremely light, weighing in at 10 grams for the pair. They are also pretty small in size (120mm). I tested them on an older Kenda tire which has a notoriously difficult wire bead to remove. The tire was no match for the levers. Getting underneath the bead and popping it over the sidewall was effortless. There was no moment of panic I usually experience with plastic levers when they start to bend. On the contrary, I probably was a bit more rough with the lever than normal. Pretty cool addition to the tool kit and the added bonus of supporting a US craftsman. I see a couple of titanium bottle cages in my future.

New brake levers & tape

Took the steamroller to Fat Frogs on Wednesday to have new levers put on. The guys in there are always super cool and do great work. This time was no exception. Matt, A++ bike mechanic, had a pair of levers in the parts bin & suggested I use those instead of a brand new pair. The fact that he even offered them up first over a brand new pair shows how much they value loyal customers over a quick buck. Got a new roll of fizik bar tape to go with the levers as well. I picked the bike up this afternoon. Managed to get in about 8 miles this evening, just around the hood. HUGE difference in hand position and comfort! I can't wait to get in a decent ride with them.



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Oceanfront ride

Took the morning off to get a few miles in. Parked at 1st street and rode north on the boardwalk to seashore state park, through the park to the boat ramp and then back the same route. I did 13+ miles in about 55 minutes.  Even though it wasn't very far, it felt great to get out and ride.They were setting up for the Shamrock Marathon/1/2 Marathon along the boardwalk, so there was lots of traffic and people moving around.  I might have been a little faster with less activity to watch out for, at least that is what I'll keep telling myself.

A few mental notes about the surly steamroller; I definitely want to swap my flat top brakes for hoods. I find myself riding with my hands along the outside of the drops more than across. Also, I think I'm going to have to swap out my freewheel sooner than I thought.  At slower rpms there is a constant clicking sound. I knew I should have bought a white industries eno freewheel from the start instead of the shimano dx. You get what you pay for.

Crap is rolling in

  Starting to get a sense of what I want (need) for the trip in July and have started accumulating a lot of the smaller stuff. Making their way via UPS as I type; some fuel for my esbit stove, a titanium spork, and a couple water proof stuff sacks. On the "to order soon" list is a seat bag and frame bag compliments of Revelate Designs.  I decided to go this route instead of a trailer or racks/panniers for several reasons, but the the main reason is that I will pack to capacity whatever vessel I use. If I go as minimalist as possible, I won't be tempted to take along a lot of crap that I wont ever use. This is a little lesson learned compliments of backpacking along the AT. Yes, I was "that" guy lugging a loaded 5600 cu3 backpack on weekend excursions. 
  As far as actual training, I did a quick 10 mile out and back Sunday morning, you can see the track and details here. I've been using MotionX GPS on my iphone for about a year and half now and am totally sold on the app. I don't even use a bike computer anymore. The only issue I have is with the battery life on longer rides. I wont be able to let the app run all the way from Pittsburgh to DC, but I should be able to periodically mark way points along the route.

New Bike

I knew that I wasn't going to ride the Allegheny and C&O this summer on any of the bikes I currently own. My fixie track bike (that I converted to single speed w/coaster brakes) would have been too uncomfortable and there's not a lot of room for tires bigger than 700x25. My Cannondale 1fg ss with 26" wheels is suffering from a severe case of cannibalization. My Redline Monocog Flight 29er ss would be a perfect choice, but I am doing a 12 hour race in May and hopefully a couple of other local races and switching tires, chain rings, and various other parts back and forth do not seem that appealing.   So, in my typical (ir)rationalization fashion, I purchased a Surly Steamroller. Jenson was selling the 2009 model for $599. Not too bad of a price, I've seen the 2011 frames alone in the $400 range.  I did make some upgrades using parts I had on hand (salsa stem, salsa seat post, salsa poco drops, fizik arione saddle and ritchey speedmax 700x32 cross wheels with slime tubes). I bought a shimano dx freewheel on the cheap compliments of ebay to use with the flip flop hub. I am running it as a single speed bike at the moment, but like the option to go fixie at any time. I've only ridden it three times so far, a total of about 50 miles, but so far I am super pleased. There's no denying the feel of 4130 steel. I like the road bike geometry and the ritchey speedmax tires do equally well on pavement as well as dirt. Not sure about the 47:19 gearing, but will have to do some longer rides to see how it feels. Riding here in Virginia Beach, I would much rather gear towards a slower start and faster cruising than the other way around.  Not sure what I am going to do about the Allegheny and C&O, although from what Ive read, the grade is only 1.5%-2%. More on that later.