Fixed Fight II and Upgrades

I went down to Tampa/St. Pete for Fixed Fight II this weekend. Unfortunately, I went down Hankless. It was a total bummer, but circumstances beyond our control were abundant. Before I headed down, I made some equipment changes. I made these last weekend before the Bikes to Rwanada race, but I had some trouble with my chainring and didn't clear it up in time to race. Anyway, I added some old drop bars Hank gave me and I got a new chainring from No Brakes.





Both the drop bars and chainring are kind of cheap filler parts till I get some dough for better parts. I'm looking to go with all black hardware. After this weekend seeing all the decked-out bikes down in St. Pete, I am excited to start working on my bike. I need a new wheelset, headset, crank, stem and bars. I stopped by 66 Fixed in St. Pete and picked up some Krog lights. The store has great gear, and the owners are super nice.



Alas, I came in 45th in the race, which was about as fast as I could go. I ended up sticking with Chris and Jen, whom I rode with in the Broken Hearts race up here. I couldn't believe I kept up with them. I'm glad I did, though. There was no way I would have found any of the check points without following them. I picked up my second spoke card.



There is an alleycat this weekend for Skid Row III. I'm planning on riding, but we will see how it all works out.

OP (better late then never)

So, like three weeks ago now we went to Orange Park, FL, for Easter family fun time. Orange Park being my grandmother's home and my birthplace. My grandmother has lived in the same house for about 50 years, and it was pretty cool having just about our entire family there for the weekend. Orange Park is also where I grew up. I lived there till I was 12 and then moved further south.

Since I have started riding bikes again, I thought it would be really cool to go back to OP and ride around the places I used to ride around as a little kid. Lori and I rode a little bit, and of course, I forgot the camera. But she got to see my elementary school and baseball park before I dropped her back off at the house. I then took off for a tour of the town. Riding on flat land is sooooo much different from up here. I rode about 15 miles without breaking a sweat. OP is small, heavily over-developed with the worst kind of generic crap megastores and fern bars, and the traffic is terrible. But, it is home and not without its charm. Mainly, the river area, which hasn't changed at all, ever. And this is where I took the only pictures of the trip.







You can see the Buckman Bridge in the background. That is Jacksonville across the river, which I am looking forward to riding sometime. Overall, it was a pretty good trip, and I'm glad we took our bikes. I definitely suggest riding your home town if you have since moved away. It is therapeutic.

I have done some work on my bike, more about that soon and the upcoming races!!!!