New (used) handlebars with a 68 cm width for the daily beater bike project arrived. The current ones are 53 cm wide on a 13.5 cm stem. That’s way too narrow and very stretched out. New 7 cm stem to arrive on Saturday probably. 🚲

Took possession of a roughly 25 years old MTB last week, to become my daily beater. Beautiful old piece of kit. What amuses me to no end, though, is how close the geometry resembles my modern gravel bike. Or rather the other way around. 🚲

Gah!
Setting up a bike to fit comfortably is so hard. Came away from a longer virtual ride with knee pain and two overly strained quadriceps. A bunch of research later I found out that my saddle was too low and that the “heel method” I always used doesn’t work for me. 🚲

🚲 This article definitely challenged my vague preconceptions about this region: North Caucasus: Bikepacking Russia’s Danger Zone

I’m preparing one of my bikes to be picked up by its new owner and I have to replace the bottom bracket. Once again I’m experiencing how much better and more precisely machined the basic ROTOR PressFit BB is, compared to even the mid-range SRAM and Shimano BBs. 🚲

🚲 Micro review of the SKS Speedrocker gravel bike clip-on mudguards:

• Inexpensive
• Not particularly pretty
• Easy and quick to put on after initial setup
• Very decent protection, side splash with 38 mm tyres is minimal
• Quiet and stay in place securely even on bumpy roads

Danny MacAskill is a madman. 🚲

BIKEPACKING reviewed the “Ratio 1×12 Upgrade Kit” and now I want to try it. ❤️ 🚲
It creates a true mechanical mullet drivetrain by converting mechanical SRAM 11-speed road brake/shifters to 12-speed, compatible with SRAM’s 12-speed MTB rear derailleurs and cassettes.

Some time in the future when we’re all allowed to travel again and trips by plane aren’t almost surefire ways to catch COVID-19, I’ll head over to Toronto again. When I do, I’ll bring my gravel bike because of stuff like this:

DISCOVERING BIKEPACKING IN ONTARIO’S ALGOMA COUNTRY

Today’s training. Oh boy. I’m going to be done for later. 🚲