40dollarfatty

Hello, 40dollarfatty here, introducing myself from Madison, WI!

I've lurked on the forum on and off for about a decade, while also being a member of the now defunct local Madisonbiking.com forum, from back when i was in college and had just discovered the joy of riding a fast road bike. as the decade progressed, and i graduated college, had kids ( now 4 of them), and moved 8 times in 5 years, i road less and less, and generally lost the joy of rolling along on 2 wheels. this spring, on a whim, i picked up a super cheap (hence $40 in my name) Walmart Mongoose Beast Fat Bike to do a "ride the drive" event while towing my kids, and though i loath to admit that a big box bike could do such a thing, it rekindled my love of riding.

I've since dusted off and tuned up my road bike and have been riding it all summer, along with beginning a teardown of the $40 fatty to rebuild it for fun winter riding, and training for my first ever charity bike century in October. It was that teardown that brought me back to lurking here, and i thought to myself, " why don't you just register, and maybe get some good advice as well as maybe finding community?".

So hello out there from Madison, WI. hopefully i'll get my fat bike built up to ride when the white stuff flies, and until then, i'll keep rolling on my road bike!

eastbay71

Welcome Fatty. I grew up cycling around Wisconsin around Lake Marshall, the Kettle Morraine area west of Milwaukee and Door Co. where my parents settled. I think the fat bike is going to be a good choice for you when the flakes start flying! Good luck with your winter project.

cb400bill

Welcome to Bike Forums 40.

What kind of road bike are you riding?

Lacumo

Welcome to BF!

linnefaulk

Welcome.

BR46

Hi

bruised

Howdy 40dollarfatty from a fellow Wisconsinite...

I'm wondering if your October Century is an organized event? I've been looking around online and all I could find is the Tyranena event on Oct 4th, but max length is a 70.

Welcome along...I'm new here too!

Mark Stone

Hi 40dollarfatty, welcome to the community! Make yourself at home.

40dollarfatty

thanks for the welcome everybody, and I apologize for the month-long space between posts. having 4 kids, assembling a fatbike and training/riding a solo century combined with my mother fracturing her ankle in 3 places and overtime at work meant that the last month has been absolutely crazy. my solos century went off pretty much without a hitch, and I raised a lot of money and awareness along with proving to myself that I could do it. i'm thinking of doing the same route next year with perhaps more of a nsacar theme, seeing as how it is called "The Circle Park 500".

cb400bill, my road bike is a is an AL Dolan Cyclocross frame/carbon fork bike built up with some throwaway campy components. the previous owner used it for cross racing for 3 years before upgrading and taking the good drivetrain with him. he replaced it with stuff that was old but semi functional(triple shifter/double chainring, rear cassette is very finicky), and with the help of a LBS, I got it sorted out so it works well enough. it's not the nicest bike, and it's starting to show it's age, but I've had it for close to 4 years, and I'll probably keep it until it falls apart, or I find a deal I can't pass up. cycling's not always cheap, but so far I've kept myself in check enough to not build something far beyond my skills.

I still have some tweaks to work out with the winter $40 fatbike project, but it went together well enough that I was able to log about 10 miles on it while towing my daughter to the park and around town, and the satin lagoon spray paint job definitely makes it stand out. To date I have approximately $100 into the build on top of the $40 I spent on it, and I sold a solid but ugly ss commuter to a college kid for $150 to clear a stall in the garage when I got it, so I'm still at a wash expense-wise.

cb400bill

Thanks for the follow up.

Post up some pics of your bikes. We like pics!