Getaway

 Jennifer and I went to the coast again to do our thing. We went to the aquarium:

Took long walks along the beach:

Enjoyed the wildlife:

Went for bike rides:

And had a beer (or two) of course:

Good times, as always.

Later.

June 1 Weigh In

Over the course of Bike Month I lost 4.5 pounds. Not bad.

Later.

Mayo

I ended up with 507 miles in May, barely eclipsing my goal of 500. This put me into the top ten at work for the first time ever, which isn't saying much because participation by "real cyclists" is way down. In the past we would have a few guys with over 2000 miles, but this year I think only one guy went over 1000.

Later.

Failure

Well, Bike Month didn't start too well. Yesterday I had my first flat with a tubeless tire ever. I cut the tire on a rock and the hole was just too big to seal. She bled out and died right here:

I put in my spare tube, which has been in my seat bag for years, and it was no good. I had to stop and pump it up numerous times before it finally failed altogether.

I called the sag wagon and Jenn picked me up. Mileage total after day one: a whopping seven miles. It was a sticky, gooey, failure of an evening.

Later.

Weigh In

Bike Month is here and it's time to weigh in. One year I lost almost 10 pounds in the course of riding 825 miles. I only pledged 500 miles this year, but it would be nice to drop a few pounds in the process. This is more than I should weigh.

Later.

Coasting

A break in the baseball schedule allowed us to make a trip to the coast. We arrived first and then Roger joined us later. A great time was had by all.

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Later.

RIP Nine Speed

Jennifer had the last bike in the house with a nine-speed drivetrain. She also had the last bike with a front derailleur. It was only fair that she now has the first 12-speed drivetrain in the house.

The parts are Sram Eagle GX except for the cassette, which is NX due to the compatibility with her Shimano hub.

I went with Sram over Shimano because she needs the extra low-end Eagle provides over Deore XT 11-speed—it's very hilly around here. To use the new XTR 12-speed I would have to build a new rear wheel. I would also need to sell a kidney to afford it.

I found the setup to be pretty routine and not much different than Shimano, unlike with the road components. Shifting is pretty damn good right out of the box. I found that Deore XT shifters need a little break-in before they feel good, but these Eagle shifters are smooth already.

One benefit to going with a one-by-twelve system is losing the clunky fat bike front derailleur clamp. It was so thick that it required a bunch of washers under the water bottle cage. This pushed the cage out so far it overlapped the frame. If you tried to put a bottle in the cage it bottomed out on the frame. Consequently, this bike has never had a second cage until now.

Jenn will get plenty of time to test it out during our upcoming trip to Monterey. I am curious what she will think about the new setup.

Later.