Where the hell have you been?

Yes,  I've been very delinquent in my postings here.  Lots going on,  finished up my Post-Treatment Cancer stuff (more on that in a later post....),  and as expected it was all pretty good news,  so there was some Post-Treatment-celebrate-get-outta-town-vacation behavior as well.

My dear wife had planned a vacation for when we were "done" with the stupid Cancer thing again for this round.  We had a nice week in Puerto Rico to celebrate the end of that nonsense,  and in general get away from "real" life for a bit.

Puerto Rico turns out to be kind of strange place,  Very much "American",  but feels like Mexico at the same time.   Definitely has that "island Time" and Caribbean vibe,  VERY laid back.  Everything is in Spanish,  but most everyone speaks English,  and you use US Dollars.  One minute you feel like you are in a foreign country,  the next minute like you are in a Mexican Carnecheria here in Colorado.  Pretty strange contrast,  but all in all a cool and easy place to visit.

We spent a couple of days in Old San Juan,  a crazy old,  16th century walled city/fortress.  Neat old streets and buildings,  lots of cool dive bars and even a brewpub with kicking good beers.  Rest of our time was in Liquillo,  a VERY sleepy "surf" town on the N.E. coast.  Great beaches,  some wild and sparsely visited rain forest,  and by far the coolest and the strangest thing,  kayaking in some really cool glow in the dark water in a "Bio luminescent Lagoon" to round out the trip.


 Did note that bicycle culture is alive and thriving even in Puerto Rico.   Of all things,  they are having a full on boom in the urban,  Fixed Gear,  Hipster bike riding thing.  Lots of people skidding & fixed-gear humping their way around some crazy busy and narrow streets on brightly-painted,  matching aero rimed road & track bikes.

All of them acting like NYC messengers,  tweeting away on whistles clenched in their teeth while trying not to run into stuff with no brakes.  Course also see a lot of "cheaters" on single speeds with freewheels and the odd cheater brake.

It is so prevalent that you see people doing glamour photo shoots on the waterfront,  posing up their latest custom fixie.

While no big fan of riding around on converted road bikes with a fixed gear & no brakes in a traffic-filled city of 16th century cobblestones,  it is good to see that the "Bike Thing"  in one twisted form or another is taking off all over the world.  Urban Fixies may be a bit "out there",  but at least it's not Triathlon or Road Riding,  thank God.

De-Ranting

OK, guess I was in a bit of a "rant" mood for my last post. Bitching about lines at registration at races, not so hot courses and all that. Is it really that bad? A messed up registration line run by people taking their Sunday to put on a race is enough to start me whining?

Then I read a great post over on the Frites and Mayo site. A great story about what makes me love cross, and the atmosphere and people who do it. I seem to have lost my perspective a bit, and gotten lost in the little things. Thanks for sharing that story, Rich, and putting me back on a more positive thought track.

One thing I tried out on Sunday, bike wise, was a new front derailleur. Not the sexiest part on a bike, but for any cross bike with top tube cable routing, is a source of limited performance. I like a "clean" down tube, as I am kind of old school about carrying bikes, and pick up by the down tube a lot. Don't really like a cross bike with down tube cable routing. The downside to top tube routing has been no top pull road front derailleurs. The pulley method fo getting shifting never worked that hot. mushy and slow front shifting limited wanting to use the front shifter when it might have been more useful than not.

Shimano finally has a Top Pull front derailleur available. While I am all SRAM for my drivetrain, I went ahead and tried one of these Shimano top pulls when I did my mid-season rebuild. It looks to be a Cyclocross-inspired design, even being named a "CX-70"

Wow, what a difference. The new setup shifts like a dream. Crisp, fast shifts, no mushy feel, and gets rid of a lot of "stuff" on the back of the seat tube to pick up mud.

Anybody who is not a "Single-Ringer" and has top tube cables might want to look at "de-pulley-ing" you bike. The change is dramatic. So I now have a Shimano part on my bike after many years of 100% SRAMing. (Sorry, Shotty....)