Xcal on the trail and a new project.

I have been doing a lot more riding these days and a lot less posting but if you are reading along you know this, The weather has been incredible and what I would call perfect riding weather. The Adams trail a bike has been getting a ton of use with my daughter, I may just make a cyclist out of her yet! I have almost completed that Motobecane that I am working on and took it for a test ride, something unexpected happened while out on the ride in that I don't think that I am a road bike kind of guy. The bike felt uncomfortable to me and I am unsure why but I think that the bars are too narrow for my large frame and I just didn't feel comfy while riding down the street so I am not sure if I will keep the bike which is a shame after all of the work that I put into it.

Took a quick shot while we stopped for a break during Saturday's ride.

The Xcaliber next to my buddies Jamis Exile 1

I did get out this past Saturday with my riding buddy and we did just under 20 miles on the rail trail and I got a chance to take the Xcal out. The trail that I ride goes past the LBS that I use and the front brakes were feeling weak so we did make a pit stop and the mechanic had the brakes all fixed up and we were on our way pretty quick but I always like looking around at the bikes so I didn't mind stopping. I have to say that over all I am very happy with the Trek and my decision to go with this bike, it fits me great and is the smoothest bike that I own as far as function goes.

I mentioned that I was almost finished with the Motobecane and I like having something in the stand getting worked on so I decided that I would oblige my fathers interest in riding and put something together for him. My father has expressed interest in having a bicycle a few times to me "You should find me a bike" he keeps saying so as his birthday approaches I thought it would be nice to get something together for him, enter the Raleigh Rampar. I went into my Pile O bikes and found that I had a large framed Raleigh Rampar back there which was complete minus all of the cables had been cut by someone (before I took possession) so it was a good candidate for a clean up for pops. I am not going to chronicle the build but I will post a photo of the final product when it is done, the only things I needed to buy was a cable set, bar tape and I might need tires but may have a set of tires put away somewhere so this will be a decently cheap bike to get going.

Over all things are going good on the weight loss, I am down about 15 pounds in the last month and I think that the warmer weather with the added riding and walks that I have been doing are contributing a lot to those losses.

Keep on riding!

First ride on the new wheels.

Yesterday was such an awesome day and I couldn't let it go without getting outside for some exercise, early in the day I packed the tiniest kiddo into the stroller and went for a walk around the lake which was awesome! Later in the day I asked my daughter if she would like to try the Adams trail a bike that I picked up last year for the first time and though she was a tad hesitant she agreed so off we went.

A quick stop next to the lake so that my daughter could play on one of the beaches.

Getting out for a ride allowed me to take a spin on the new wheelset too and I must admit that I really liked the way the smoother street tires rolled and they were silent compared to the Kenda Klaws that I had on there last year. I do need to adjust the brakes to the new Avid Clean Sweeps though, I did have brakes but I really had to squeeze down to get the back brake to grab good so this afternoon I will be making adjustments because my daughter asked if we could go for another ride today and I want the bike to be set up correct before we start riding around on a regular basis. I have a new stem and set of bars for the K2 as well that I need to install but I may just wait until I decide on whether I will be doing a rigid fork or not before I make that change and once that is done there will be not much stock on this bike.

That ride ended a great day where I got out for a nice walk with my youngest daughter and a ride with my eldest daughter, the sun was starting to set while we were stopped and above you can see the view across the lake that we had.

I have a feeling this year will be a good one when looking at things from on top of my bicycles.

Until next time...