Today I completed my last full week of Spanish classes in Ecuador (I am still not a confident Spanish speaker) and I realized I could have bought a complete new set of ski gear, or a new bike (what could I get for $4,000?), for the amount I spent to come here for less than a month. Opportunity cost is a *****.

Exactly, that's what I expected. Even BikesDirect would just replace the dang fork and be done with it. Maybe after I scream enough at them they'll figure it out. It doesn't look like I'll be buying anything else from them, though. At least it's only $279, so I'm not going bankrupt over this and still have plenty of bikes to ride. Today I rode 25 miles on the Rush in beautiful 70+ degree weather, so I'm in a better mood now.

Today it snowed, and I cannot wait to ride to class tomorrow morning :p

Wait, aren't you just recovering from surgery on a broken collarbone ? Ever heard of the Greek word "hubris" ?

But you got madd representatives all over the U.S.


Yup. A lot of the stuff on RG is more expensive there when it's "on sale". The way their Black Friday sale went down was complete buffoonery too.

TT - I know first hand that ASI (Fuji/SE/Breezer) has outstanding customer service and are very easy going regarding damage claims/warranty issues. It may be in your best interest to find a local dealer to help you out.

FWIW - I've seen a lot of forks like that. The damage occurred during shipping - either from the factory to CG or from CG to you.

fixed.

Scrod - I'm 99% sure that the dropout was not damaged during shipping, but was most likely a faulty casting that was made that way. As far as local dealers, I don't know of any, but CG said they've reported this to SE so perhaps when they see the actual issue then the problem will be resolved. I think the CG customer support guy is pretty clueless, since he obviously did not grasp the nature of the problem. Regardless, thanks for trying to help.

i rode through the snow on my dirt jumper and it wasn't really very fun.

I definitely thing CG should handle this but let me know if you don't get anywhere with them. I'll put you directly in touch with ASI.

Thanks. I'll keep you posted.

Today I put in 130 miles.

:thumb:!!!

I would drown in my own bodily fluids if I rode that far in one day.

Actually, back when I was in my 30s, I did a lot of double centuries (200 miles) with only one 10 minute stop every 50 miles in about 10 hours total time. Granted, I was riding most of the time drafting in a paceline, so it really wasn't all that hard. The main problem was a sore butt, and I'd be too fatigued to ride the next day. Now, I'm pretty much limited to metric centuries, although I'm riding them solo.

when i left the house this morning before my ride, i put about a pound and half of hamburger out to defrost. got home, went to school, got home from san jose around 7ish. No one was home to eat, so i made the fattest assed cheeseburger...... twas amazing.

For the record, we'd be okay with you employing some agents.
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pu...ry_as_bond.jpg

You also train for track racing and are unaccustomed to the kind of saddle time involved with long distance riding, right? That happened to a friend of mine that went trackie

after riding the dirt jumper in the snow (not fun!) i rode my snowboard around capitol hill. fun!

today I went out for a friend's birthday. she got stupid drunk way too quick and we had to carry her out of the bar. then another girl with us got drunk and puked on my dishes in the sink. now they're both sleeping in my living room (one kept insisting on sharing the bed but I wasn't falling for that one) and I'm on bikeforums :o

Do you two have a close, brother-sister relationship?

I broke my collar bone last may, I'm all healed up now.

I wouldn't really ride around in the snow just for fun, but it does make the ride to class more exciting

Back when I was doing long road rides I was primarily a road racer and tourer, and was quite used to extended saddle time. It was only much more recently that I transitioned to track, and the longest road ride I've done in the last 5 years is 80 miles. However, this year I may do some longer non-competitive road rides or even camp touring, but it will be with a Brooks Pro saddle.

Today I'm doing a 16 hour day getting ready to open the restaurant (we open Sunday!) while hungover and running on 3 hours of sleep. Gonna be fun.