Ploafmaster General

Valerie’s turn to take the kids to swimming, so am I going on another bike ride? You bet your hindquarters!

And now it seems my old rear wheel won’t hold air either. Sealant lightly burbling out of two spoke nipples, making me think they weren’t taped well when the shop set them up a couple years ago 😐

Related: I have the worst luck with tires.

Using a GRTC bike rack for the first time time since I caught an unpluggable slit in my rear tire on the way back into the city 🤦‍♂️

Trampoline parks, especially for kids’ parties, are overwhelming.

Some seriously loud bangs in the Northside a few minutes ago, like…shotgun blasts? Backfiring car? Seemed louder than a gunshot, but not sure what it is/was.

Ugh, is there really no bike route out to/past Mechanicsville that doesn’t put me on a 4 lane road for a segment or two?

Trying to string together something like Northside > Mechanicsville > RIC > Cap Trail back into the city, and all options look kinda crummy.

Not me trying to play it cool standing behind my congressional representative while waiting for a Girl Scouts event to start 😜

I’ve always enjoyed James Hoffmann’s videos for their information and instruction, delivered with enthusiasm, entertainment, and no judgement. His latest is quite different—an artful, visual contemplation of what makes a “great” cup of coffee: youtu.be/IkssYHTSp…

Slowly, sporadically formulating a working theory in my head about how our perceived bright spots in creative media mask and/or distract from things we normally dislike.

E.g. instrumental skill covering up Ben Folds’ off-pitch vocals.

I know I’ve somewhat cartoonishly become a local “bike guy”, but in reality I feel like I’m becoming somethingng worse, something darker.

I’m becoming outdoorsy.

Rode a little on the new contra-flow bike lane on Norfolk Ave. in Scott’s Addition this afternoon. So glad to have that, but would be much happier if it at least had pylons or better, given the high speed one-way traffic in the other direction.

How am I a magnet for local media? Just had to politely decline an RTD reporter who knocked on my door asking about traffic on Chamberlayne.

I’ve been in the paper for comments on Scott’s Addition, CBS6 talking about my council person, and several other times in the past for a variety of reasons :-P

Man, I’m glad I have an indoor trainer so I can keep up my riding fitness/saddle toughness, but this rain has me starting to haaaaaaate indoor riding. No amount of variety in Zwift can replace even the most mundane route around town.

If you look really close, you’ll notice a li’l skelly riding in the back.

I figure I should start posting some of my ride photos on here, too.

So…turns out there’s overwhelming support for the Richmond Ivy women’s soccer team on its opening night. I’m super happy to see this level of enthusiasm, but kinda bummed I underestimated it because we couldn’t get in 🙃

Crossed 3000 miles for the year (so far) on the ol’ bike this week.

Thinking of riding up to/beyond Ashland tomorrow morning.

Okay, I know I only just posted about it, but here’s the result. So what the heck am I up to?

Basically, I’ve had this 2015 Fairdale Coaster sitting around in storage at home since I was hit by a truck in 2022. I was fully compensated, got my current bike to replace it, and after $35 to Wheel Simple, the frame and fork were fixed. So now I have a backup bike, but it had no front wheel and still only a single speed in the rear. I’m happy it got me back into bikes, but I want more than one speed for this hilly city of mine if the bike is to have any utility.

I picture this bike one day serving as a comfy errand/grocery bike. I have a number of spare parts as I’ve tinkered with my Space Horse, learning what’s comfortable and useful to me over the past year and a half. Most of what’s still on the Fairdale is plenty useful, including some cheap but effective rim brakes and cruiser-style bars. As long as I get some kinda derailleur hanger adapter I can throw some cheap rear mech on it with a friction shifter up front and I’ll be good to go!

Well the thing is, the Fairdale has track fork ends since it was designed for that single speed. That also means the rear spacing was pretty narrow: around 110mm. So I took a bike axle and nuts, and little by little cranked the nuts until the rear spacing was spread out to around 130mm after spring-back. The picture you see at the top of this post shows the rear wheel from my wife’s bike fit into the Fairdale! This whole process, for those unfamiliar, is called cold setting, and I was only willing to risk it because the bike was essentially a write-off. But no cracks! Not too much strain! Gotta love a steel frame (even if this one is high-tensile instead of something nicer)!

I still need to wait until I have a shed before I can really build this up into something rideable, but it was so rewarding to try something new and have it work out. The geared wheel spins perfectly right in the center of the frame - so I kind of got lucky there with the frame and dropout alignment. Or perhaps that’s just the advantage of working slowly with an axle and nuts, alternating sides. Can’t wait until I can take the next steps with this thing!

P.S. I know when they’re horizontal fork ends on a track bike/single speed they’re not technically “dropouts”, but I couldn’t resist a dumb play on lyrics in the post’s title.

Trying to get to do something a little extreme here this afternoon…

Today is my younger kid’s 8th birthday! He’s goofy, a video game addict, and the sweetest, most sensitive kid I know.

Happy birthday little dude. I love you so much.

I feel like Dragon Prince’s writing went downhill in S4, and S5 isn’t really changing my mind.

One final elementary school bike-to-school day for my daughter, and a first for my son.

I kinda want to make a bike check video with everything I’ve done to my Space Horse, but I don’t want to be a whole bike YouTuber guy. I worry too much about what other people think, but I should probably just do it.

I’ve got electric guitar, I play my stupid songs I write these stupid words, and I love every one Waiting there for me, yes I do, I do