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  • Brunch ride and the long road to build up stamina again

    😕 not happy with how many breaks I had to take on the climbs today.
    Yes, this particular route is a bit brutal and sure, I’ve cycled ever day the past three days but none of them were long or particularly strenuous. I’ve lost so much stamina through and in the pause after the Covid infection in September last year.
    Don’t get me wrong, the pause was necessary and sensible to reduce the chances of damaging my heart but it’s still disappointing and demotivating.

    Strava map of mountain bike ride on 19 Feb 2023 in the forest north of the town of Stegen, Germany.Front part of a mountain bike laying on the non-drive side looking down a descending forest path.View from a forest path overlooking the a few tree-strewn hillsides and the Dreisamtal in the direction of Freiburg-Ebnet. The air is fairly clear with white and grey clouds starting at around 900 m of elevation.

    → 13:37, 19 Feb 2023
  • 😍😍😍 Just how sexy is this bike!
    Onguza Original Gravel Model 1 🚲

    → 12:11, 18 Jan 2023
  • While researching tyres for a new bike project, I stumbled across the Vittoria Terreno Zero 700×47c. They’re not listed on Vittoria’s website but lots of retailers have them. Looking forward to giving them a spin. 🚲

    Upper fifth of a mixed surface tyre with a black semi-slick tread and grey sidewalls. The tyre is mounted on a high-flanged carbon rim by DT Swiss. The tube valve is visible. Outside of the center of the image, parts of the carbon for and the left drop and brake/shift lever of the handlebars is visible.

    → 11:53, 13 Jan 2023
  • It’s become too cold for riding in cycling shoes and thick socks alone and I hate the faff of overshoes, so I just ordered two pairs of insulated and waterproof clipless shoes: The Fizik Terra Artica X2 and the Shimano SH-MW702. Let see which one fits better. 🚲

    → 15:10, 28 Nov 2022
  • Out with the old, in with the new, I guess. Not happy about the fact that helmets essentially have an expiration date but 🤷‍♂️. Not going to risk it. The neon yellow Bell Zephyr is getting replaced with the dark grey and green Bell XR. 🚲

    Two cycling helmets laying on a sealed concrete floor. A dark grey and green helmet in the foreground and on the left and a neon yellow helmet diagonally behind it and on the right. Both helmets face the viewer at an angle. The green helmet has straighter lines and a cleaner design overall while the neon yellow helmet has a more fluid, organic design with bigger vents.

    → 08:32, 15 Nov 2022
  • So I spent a good amount of time today thoroughly degreasing and cleaning my gravel bike’s drivetrain. I’m switching lubricants again, this time to Squirt wax. Wolftooth’s lubricant didn’t hold up to the promises for me. Let’s see how it goes. 🚲

    → 19:07, 13 Nov 2022
  • Just how sexy is the “Wizard’s Potion” colourway (lavender & purple) for the new Ibis Hakka MX bicycle? 😍 🚲

    Purple- and lavender-coloured drop bar gravel bike in front of alavender brick wall.

    → 09:21, 8 Nov 2022
  • Cycled to the other side of Freiburg today to pick up two EXIT game puzzles. It was much colder than expected and I had to push hard to make the meeting with the seller. Bought some emergency cake to fuel for the ride back home.

    A piece of poppy seed cake ona rectangular paper plat held in the left hand of the photographer. in the background and slightly out of focus, a bike leans against a wall and fence.

    → 20:53, 6 Nov 2022
  • My new daily beater/commuter retro-mod bicycle is finished

    Late in summer of 2021 I stumbled across a 1996 Trek MultiTrack in almost mint condition on a classifieds site. The seller was running a small business on the side, finding really nice, old bikes in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, cleaning them, repairing what needs repairing and reselling them at a decent mark-up.

    The frame is aluminium made for Trek by Easton and welded in the USA. The fork is a CroMo fork with full-width reinforced rack eyelets. Both painted in a beautiful metallic bordeaux red. All original parts were from Trek’s in-house accessory brand (before Bontrager) and the groupset was full Shimano STX RC (including the wheels).

    I immediately fell in love with this bike and after I picked it up from the seller at Lake Constance, it was fitted with a pair of SKS Bluemels Long fenders and a period-appropriate rear rack.

    After riding it happily for a few months, I made some changes to my stable of bikes and with some inspiration from The Radavist and Bikepacking.com—typical cyclist, I know—I got it into my head that I could turn this into a retro mod that would be appropriate not only for really quick runs to the supermarket but also for day rides when I don’t need one of my more performance-oriented bikes. I checked what I had laying around in terms of componentry, made a list of stuff I’d need and got searching.
    I have to admit that it did feel like sacrilege swapping all of those perfectly good old components but I’m very happy with the result (and I’m not giving them away, so if I ever decide to sell the bike again, I’ll likely install them again).

    Retro-mod of a 1996 Trek MultiTrack rigid trekking MTB with a Croozer dog trailer attached. The bike and trailer are standing on a grassy path alongside a green field, in front of a slightly hazy mountain vista.

    List of changes:

    • 680 mm wide (25.4 mm clamp diametre) Reserve handlebars (new, stripped the logos)
    • Higher stem (bought used)
    • Spurcycle bell, black (new – none of my bikes feels complete without one)
    • SRAM GX Eagle group + NX Eagle HG cassette (bought used)
    • Rotor Aldhu cranks + Rotor oval 34t chainring (bought used and got it surprisingly cheap)
    • Magura HS33 hydro rim brakes (new)
    • Specialized Pizza Rack (bought used)
    • DT Swiss rims (32 spokes, 19 mm internal width) with Shimano XT hubs front and rear (bought used, almost mint condition and got them for a really good price)
    • Specialized Pathfinder Pro 700×38c (used) on Tubolito tubes (also used)

    The bike rides really well and with the very low gearing, lugging the doggy trailer up one of many hills in the area is quite doable. The rims are excellent and braking performance with the HS33 is incredible.

    → 11:32, 13 Oct 2022
  • Since the successor of my beloved clipless cycling shoes is a far cry from the fit and quality of the original, I‘ve decided to try something else and ordered some Specialized S-Works Recon Gravel shoes and a pair of Lake MX 238 X. Looking forward to trying them. 🚲

    → 19:24, 10 Sep 2022
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