Yes, this morning’s ride was almost a perfect start to the week. Drop the wind gusts at the top of the hills (especially on Summit and Howe), and it would’ve been batting 100! Still, I had a good ride regardless of the wind.
I picked up yet another new tire this weekend for the rear. My Rocket Ron was quickly running out of tread and fast becoming a slick, but I still loved that tire. Being a light tire, it did, however, start getting in my bad books by getting me two flats in two weeks. Not to mention a sidewall tear that developed about a week and a half ago… So, I had limped it along long enough and I went into Spoke ‘N Motion to pick up a new rear tire. Telling the salesperson about my experience with the Rocket Ron and that I wanted something similarly fast rolling, grippy and yet stronger than the Ronny (and under $65!), he directed me to either a Maxxis Crossmark or Larsen TT. I looked at both of these tires, and suddenly realized I had just completed a full circle from when I started riding. My bike originally came with Kenda Small Block Eight's when I bought it. I removed those within about a month of riding (April 19th, actually), claiming they weren’t grippy enough. Funny how my riding style has changed so much to the point where now I want those type of tires again! The fast rolling style of these tires are excellent. And grip is still suburb, so I’m not sure what I was smoking… Maybe I’ve just come to realize that traction has just as much to do with my position, speed and stance as it does the tires? Anyways, I ended up buying the Larsen TT and I tried it out this morning for the first time. I will reserve my official review ‘till next week when I’ve had a chance to completely try it out. For now, I didn’t notice it much. Which I think is good, considering I loved the Rocket Ron so much, and I hadn’t found a fault with the Ronny as far as speed and traction. That must mean this tire lived up to the one it is replacing, which is a good thing! I’ll see how it does on the way home with higher cornering speeds and the final hill at Rose Hill as far as traction.
Overall, the week was OK. I’m still struggling to get back into shape and my Wednesday rides were painful, to the point where I felt like I was at the end of a 5 hour ride before I started! So Thursday I actually wussed out and got Corrie to drive me to work (although I did ride back in the evening at least). Hopefully I’ll make a complete week this week, but we’ll see how it goes! I’m starting to eat better again, and making sure I’m taking in what’s good and that’s helping with me being tired and feeling bloated like I did a couple of weeks ago.
One more thing before I sign off. I picked up a new-to-me frame this weekend. I found an older Cannondale F2000 (CAD9) mountain bike frame on Kijiji for $50. It came with a Truvative Isoflow crank (still in really good condition) and the Cannondale Fatty Headshock (although mine is much older than that link). The frame was well used, but I couldn’t see any cracks and the stays seemed to run true still. It is an older frame, and unfortunately doesn’t have any setup for disc brakes at all. However, other than shifters, I have enough to get this going as a 2nd bike right away. I will probably set it up as a spare for now, and later maybe as more of a ‘cyclocross’ setup or winter bike. With the lighter frame and fork (as compared to my current Cannondale F8). As this frame was originally on Cannondale’s higher end hardtails (prices probably starting around $2500 and up for the complete bike), I think I should be able to get a pretty decent secondary ride set up for cheap. Anyways, when these Fatty’s first came out, I was in high school and drooled over them… So buying this may have been just as much a nostalgia purchase as it was a “need”… 
With a bit of work, I will soon have my ‘spare’ bike, or maybe a winter setup? Either way, now when people come visit we can go riding together!
I will need to service the fork, but it does still work well, so it shouldn’t take too much to get this going and reliable again!
The teeth are still in pretty good shape, actually, so I maybe would even consider swapping this onto my bike this year? We’ll see how I like the original Shimano one I have on there now…
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