mangochutney

These two titanium Wolftooth Morse Cages just replaced the magnetic Fidlock bottles I had on there. When shouldering my bike, I’ve sometimes detached the Fidlock bottles in the most inexpedient moments. Moving the otherwise rock-solid Fidlock system to my road bike.

→ 11:11, 6 May 2020

Very enjoyable video by Jack and Joe of BikeRadar about “secrets of the bike industry”. I bet not all of them are obvious to many (new) cyclists. Particularly the Law of Diminishing Returns and the importance of good tyres.

→ 12:58, 16 Apr 2020

Hot damn! What a machine: Chiru Kegeti Gravel Bike
#bikeporn #WhatsAGravelBikeAnyway

→ 22:02, 14 Apr 2020

Both my bikes have been set up with e*thirteen cassettes.
11-speed 9–39 + 32-tooth chainring + Shimano GRX on the gravel bike and 12-speed 9–46 + 36-tooth + SRAM NX on the city bike/road bike.
This is going to be an interesting test of these cassettes over the long term.

→ 16:46, 8 Apr 2020

The switch to 1× is happening. New crankset and an e*thirteen XCX Plus 3-39 cassette have been ordered. Taking a bit of a gamble on the cassette since I haven’t found even one serious review of it online. Super curious how it’ll behave with a Shimano RD-RX800 derailleur.

→ 17:52, 3 Mar 2020

Ok, I didn’t think this would happen but I might go hydraulic/mechanical 1× on the gravel bike after all. Updates soon-ish.

→ 21:54, 28 Feb 2020

The first ride of 2020

Two weeks. Two weeks I couldn’t find a day with weather good enough to take Battle Cat out for a ride. Too much rain to ride in the woods, too windy to ride anywhere in the open without having to fight massive sidewinds and headwinds.

Yesterday was the first sunny day of this new year over here and I pounced on the chance to get even a short, mid-day ride in.

It took me longer than expected to get into the groove on this ride and for some reason my heart rate was higher than usual. So instead of overdoing it, I kept it short with a few good climbs.

I came home grinning, happy, and dirty; the way it should be.

→ 12:46, 16 Jan 2020

The last ride of 2019

With the weather as good as it was, I decided to get in one last ride this year. Nothing fancy just 40+ km on tarmac.

It was a good ride and I kept grinning riding along a road between the villages of Franzenheim and Kernscheid — at least on the inside because on the outside my expression was a bit pained from going uphill. I discovered this piece of asphalt a few weeks after my trip to Scotland in 2018 and it reminded me so much of the singletrack roads over there (the only thing missing are the passing places).

I was really lucky because while temperatures for most of the ride were below 0°C, it was dry and I only encountered a few spots of frozen ground.

And I have to say: I might not enjoy road cycling a lot but one distinct advantage to gravel cycling is not having to clean my bike after the ride.

→ 23:16, 31 Dec 2019

My first longer road ride in a while and I got caught in a heavy rain shower almost immediately. FML. I need to invest in some sort of easy to remove fenders for this bike. I’m happy that I finished the ride not feeling completely exhausted but the coffee stop was necessary.

→ 11:47, 13 Dec 2019

It’s rainy, it’s windy, and I can’t shake this tiredness today. Time to hop on the bike and go for a ride, then.

→ 11:50, 8 Dec 2019