Yesterday I finished up my third season racing track. Today I am not exerting myself physically.

Friend showed the group chat this video today. Gimbals are sik

enjoy.

Also, building wheels isn't as hard as I thought they would be. Having my first build be a low spoke count, high tension wheelset didn't do me any favors, but I figured it out eventually. The wheels came out super round and very true with pretty even spoke tension.

Manager might have me start to build wheels to keep in stock at the shop, and those are going to be 32h box section wheels so probably much much easier to build.

Neutrogena makes great products.

For real. I don't mind slathering cheapo sunscreen all over my legs, because my leg sweat doesn't run into my eyes. But when it comes to the neck up, I need something a little nicer.

Today I PR'ed on Mt. Hollywood by two minutes and almost did the climb without stopping for any breaks. Had to pull over once because my heart rate was going bonkers and I thought I was going to pass out. Getting in shape is fun.

My experience has been the opposite. I am starting to dislike even lacing them up which all I do right now. Spoke prep and myself are not getting along at all. Today I laced up a front Archetype, and every time a customer came in, I gladly put it down and helped them out.

Have you gone up to the Hollywood sign yet?

Not yet. It's on my list, just haven't figured out the route.

edit - And actually, funny aside, every time I do the climbs at Griffith, someone always asks me how to get to the Hollywood sign. This time, a girl started walking over to me as I was just getting over the final crest. I just shook my head and said "I don't know" and kept going.

Im down to ride up there some time. The best way to get on to Mt Lee dr is by Lake Hollywood dr or Beachwood. You can get there from Mt Hollywood but you have to go across a horse trail and they dont even like us walking bikes through it.

Yeeeeah let's do it. I'm sure people who ride horses don't like dirty bicycles mucking up their trails because they're a bunch of

Try boiled linseed oil. It's what many old school guys use. Very user friendly during and after the build. Dip them all and let sit for a couple minutes on paper towel. It dries to a waxy state. No runs like oil and not messy like grease.

This is what the owner uses, and the only thing he uses. So this is what we use.



You do not want to get this on your clothing. It doesn't come out. I end up sitting in a chair with a bed sheet on my lap to lace them.

Cleaned my chain and ripped off my rear brake

Oh man, this stuff brings me back to the first Ti bike I owned. Every frame contacting part had this applied to prevent seizing.

Today I saw a guy crash his bike. Was pretty intense.

No damage to rider and minimal damage to the bike.

Bike was a Tribe Knox with drop bars, no brakes. He ramped up his cadence to get over a hill, passed everyone in the group, pulled back in, put the front wheel in the gutter and lost it. Guy was a skateboarder, tucked and rolled perfectly on soft grass, so it turned out to be really entertaining.




Real

I was thinking about you an hour ago while I was replacing a damaged spoke. That stuff looks nasty.

Was he using clipless shoes? I use clipless and I dont think I could unclip fast enough. I would probably break every limb on my body if it was me.

lateral forces from crashes or near-crash scenarios can often make you unclip

Yeah, clipless.

His drive side crank hit the curb on the forward/down stroke, lifted the bike and he launched straight up like superman. He separated from the pedals but I don't think it was on purpose. Said it was only his third time out on clipless.

So the guy is on pure adrenaline. He immediately gets up, picks up the bike from the road and starts to mount it. I roll up and say, "Whoa! You just crashed. It's probably a good idea to check your bike, take a minute to catch your breath." He says, "Is my wheel straight?" and it went on from there.

I was telling him what it looked like from behind as we rode and we had a pretty good laugh.

This should be a Valentine's Day card.

Today I am cutting 16mm off of a rear axle, grinding and polishing that end to match the factory end, replacing the retainer balls with loose balls, and repacking the hub with the new magic clear grease.