Happy New Years, I'm a fat fuck!

216 lbs! I hate the holidays. So many cookies, and cakes and I don't have any damn will power. So I've dusted off the trainer and I'll see how it does me.

The Twenty Project Begins

Well, I've torn down the twenty to the bare frame. Only the fixed side bottom bracket cup remains. Now the hard part. PARTS! Everything on this bike weighs a ton. Plus most parts are goofy sizes or have obsolete threading.

Frame mods planned...
Pump pegs removed
Kick stand removed and replaced with lighter unit
Bottom bracket faced to 73mm or 68mm and rethreaded to 24 tpi
New fork (if I can find one)
Canti bosses brazed on stock fork (if I can't find one)

New parts...
Aluminum rims
Seatpost
Sturmey Archer S3X hub (when it becomes available)
Headset (Probably will be used as a new fork is a long shot)
Stem riser
Stem
Handle bars
Breaks
Crankset (If I can find a shop brave enough to tackle my bottom bracket mods)

It's going to snow tomorrow...

Brrrr. I should miss the snow in the morning and the rain in the evening. But what the hell. It's the first snow of the year.

Fixedgear Gallery Post

http://fixedgeargallery.com/2008/oct/3/TaylorLewin.htm
#8272

The Twenty

This is the original state of the bike. The paint looks like it was done with a brush. It's chipped up and awful looking. The bike may have been brown at one time. I'm not really sure. It is a tank, weighing in at about 37lbs. I decided to tear off some "unnecessary" parts to try to liven it up a bit. I removed the fenders and rack. Also removed the chainguard and took a dremel to the kickstand. It took four cutoff wheels to liberate it from the frame. I also replaced the tires. I still need to scrounge up a new seatpost and saddle and maybe change the bars. All things done I shaved 5lbs off it and with the other parts planed it could get as low as 25lbs maybe. It should make a fine winter beater or downtown cruiser.

The competition

I just submitted this bike to the fixed gear gallery.

Been a minute

Well I sorta forgot about this whole blogging thing. It doesn't matter too much because it is just me here at the moment. I found a few new bikes to play with. A 1985 Raleigh Competition frame in beautiful condition. All chrome and top quality steel! I pieced it together with some old parts and some new ones. It turned out great! I'll have some pictures up real soon I'm sure. When I found the Competition on craigslist the seller threw in a Schwinn World frame too. It's pretty dinged up so if anything it will make a good winter beater. A guy I work with hooked me up with a 67ish Raleigh sport 3 speed that I quickly fixed for downtown errand running. It lives permanently at work. God what an ugly fucking bike! And today I picked up a 72 Raleigh Twenty folding bike!!!!! I have been wanting one of these for a while and feel quite lucky to have found one in total disrepair! I hate anything that I can't work on immediately. I will post some picture of the new fleet soon. I seems that I am collecting quite a few raleigh bikes. I have what? 4 now!

Ok, the camping trip was good. It had a lot of rough spots but Autumn and I had fun and that made it all worth it. We went to John Bryan state park which is about 20 miles from home.

Since we went out by bicycle we had to take an indirect route for safety reasons. My total bike weight was about 550lbs including me, Autumn, and the gear. It was an extremely slow trip out. It took about four and a half hours to travel the 35 mile route. I discovered quickly that I wasn't nearly strong enough to handle the weight well but we made it and thats all that matters.

South west Ohio is loaded with very scenic bike trails that for the most part are well maintained. I'm not normally one for bike paths, I prefer street riding because its safer. But at 9 mph average speed loaded I figured the path would be better.

We got to the campsite just in time to make camp and get dinner cooked before it rained like a son of a bitch. Friday night we spent all our time in the tent talking and poking at each other. I was extremely dehydrated and couldn't seem to get enough water down. We both ended up going to bed quite early that night.

We had some asshat drunks camping next to us that nigh. They where so fucking loud and didn't call it a night until somewhere between 4 and 5 in the morning. I could hardly sleep. Also that night a fucking raccoon or groundhog got into my cooler and stole all my food. I left it by the table duct taped up with bungie cords wrapped around it but it seems that the animals are quite familiar with those.

Tiffany came out saturday afternoon and set us up with more supplies. Which was really cool. Thank you babe!

Autumn made friends with a couple of boys on saturday. From that point on it was impossible to get her to spend more than five minutes with me. That pretty much sucked but it gave me lots of time to just relax. We made chili that night and Autumn ate so much it made her sick. She passed out in the tent and took a little food nap. After that it seemed that she came down with a bit of a cold. So we took it easy that night. Made some smores and watched the raccoon sneak around at the tree line.

Sunday I had Tiffany come and pick up Autumn and the gear. I didn't think either one of us was up for the trip back under full load. I rode the bike home. It took just over 2 hours back.

Shocking moment drunk driver ploughs into group of cyclists

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER



A cyclist was killed and 10 others were injured yesterday when a car ploughed into a bike race in Mexico.

The terrified sportsmen were hurled high into the air as a 28-year-old driver, apparently drunk and asleep at the wheel, crashed into the race near the US-Mexico border.

A photograph taken by a city official shows cyclists and equipment being thrown skywards like rag dolls by the collision.

Police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez said Juan Campos was charged with killing Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of Monterrey.

Authorities said the wreck happened 15 minutes into the 34km race on Sunday along a highway between Playa Bagdad and Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.

End of month May

Bike 275 miles
Truck 56 miles

The Department of Transportation show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded.

(CNN) -- At a time when gas prices are at an all-time high, Americans have curtailed their driving at a historic rate.

The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded.

Compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 percent less -- that's 11 billion fewer miles, the DOT's Federal Highway Administration said Monday, calling it "the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history." Records have been kept since 1942.

According to AAA, for the first time since 2002, Americans said they were planning to drive less over the Memorial Day weekend than they did the year before.

Tracy and Adam Crews posted on iReport that their annual Memorial Day weekend has traditionally involved camping and fishing.

"Well, due to the continual rise in gas, we felt our only recourse was to nix the idea this year and stay home" in Jacksonville, Florida, they wrote.

Instead, the couple said they "decided to camp out in the backyard. We set the tent up, just finished installing our above ground pool, and cleaned up the grill. ... We have ourselves a campsite! It's been a blast!"

Nakeisha Easterwood of Smyrna, Georgia, said with gas prices on the rise, she sometimes catches rides with friends, and doesn't drive into town more than once a day. "It's crazy," she said.

According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to a record $3.936. That compares with an average price per gallon of $3.23 last Memorial Day.

"With it being near $4 a gallon, you definitely have to drive slower and pick and choose when you're going to do it," said Steve Kahn of Roswell, Georgia, at a Memorial Day festival in Atlanta.

Some Americans have turned to public transportation. Ridership increased by 2.1 percent in 2007, in part because of rising gas prices, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

Americans took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation in 2007, the highest level in 50 years, the group said.

The Energy Information Administration says gas consumption for the first three months of 2008 is estimated to be down about 0.6 percent from the same time period in 2007.

For the summer season, gas consumption is expected to be down 0.4 percent from last year.

Burdphil track stand.

Update of the week

Bike 223

Truck 56  It's getting lonely

I managed to only have to drive the truck once this week.  I had to pick up a dresser for my daughter.  I thought about trying to load it on the xtracycle but figured that it may be a bad idea.  

Monday I got hit by a truck.  I think it was intentional.  The passenger seemed quite amused by me flying over a curb and crashing into a fence.  I lucked out though.  No injury or damage to the bike.  So if anyone sees a couple of rednecks riding around Dayton in a piece of shit late 70's ford F series kill them for me.

Saturday I picked Autumn up at her grandpa's, she spent the night.  So I loaded her, and all her sleep over stuff onto the xtracycle and pushed off towards the house.  It was quite amazing how well it handles loaded.  The frame felt a little noodly, but it was stable.  I definitely need to look into some stronger brakes though.  The rim brakes just aren't going to cut it.  Autumn really enjoyed the ten mile trip, much more than I did.  Dragging an extra 60lbs uphill for 10 miles is less than pleasant.  She said that most of the drivers waved at her and she liked waving back.

More miles

Bikes 153

Truck 52

The weather sucked this week, bad.  It rained every day except for today.  Today it was so windy you could hardly stand outside.  I did all my riding on my Fuji that I just converted to an xtracycle.  I'm really getting attached to this bike.  The versatility is amazing!  It seems that you can haul just about anything you could imagine on this thing.  I plan to write a full review on it after I complete my bike camping trip with my kiddo on fathers day weekend.

May Miles.....

Truck 52

Bikes 75

Goals

My primary goal is to ride more than I drive.  I'll be logging my miles on here weekly.  Both ridden and driven.  I also plan to bitch about bad roadside encounters and idiot drivers.  Any products I try that are related to cycling I'll be sure to comment about as well.  Over the winter I managed to put on an unacceptable amount of weight.....   Don't let me lie to you.....  I've been putting this on for about a year now.  I discovered at the beginning of this month that I have ballooned to 209 lb.  Most of my friends and family tell me that it is perfectly normal for some one of my height (6'3") to weigh that much.  I'm not having it!  So I guess my other goal is to lose weight and feel better.

About me

My name is Taylor.  I live in Dayton, OH.  I'm 26 years old.  I work on cars for a living.  I have a beautiful 5 year old daughter.  And I'm engaged to an incredible woman.

I am disgusted with the price of gasoline so instead of bitching about it like everyone else I know, I have decided to do something about it.  I'm going to let my truck gather as much dust as possible.  I'm going to ride my bike to work and anywhere else I can.  I've never blogged about anything before but I figure I may as well give it a shot.