Thursday, March 24, 2016

Packing, Shipping, Reassembly and Back on the trail

Hahaha... Pro pack job. (aka I did it myself.)
The 29er baaaarely fit.

Three cheers for Bike Flights, which made shipping my bike to and from Tucson affordable and painless. I met a few folks from Bike Flights at 24HOP the morning before the race, (they had a tent set up near registration), and ohmigosh they were soooo nice. Don't you just love it when you take a chance on something and it actually works? Shipping my bike to Fairwheel Bikes through Bike Flights -- (and later, home) -- was one of the easiest parts of my adventure.

I disassembled and packed the Kona myself -- (which Fairwheel Bikes reassembled and tuned on their end in Tucson) -- but reassembling it when it arrived home was a little harder. I lost a derailleur bolt in Tucson while I was packing the bike. It just simply disappeared into a black hole. Really! And I didn't pack the wheels very well, releasing too much pressure in one of the newly-converted tubeless tires -- which made a mess of the sealant in the bike case and difficult for me to re-inflate without an air compressor.**

I knew I needed to bring the bike to a shop -- and Lila suggested giving Josh at Western Cycles a call.

I still have issues with the bike fit  -- JRA Cycles really did me a disservice on that score -- which my race in Tucson only confirmed. On the outset, my seat hight, (and fore and aft position), needed adjustment and my bars were/are too wide. A few of the guys (MTB pros) at Old Pueblo tried to find a pipe cutter to cut the bars down for me before the race, but ultimately I decided to do the best I could with what I had and deal with it when I got home.

I brought the Kona to Western Cycles last week, and before I knew it, I was headed back there to pick it up. (Super quick.) I still need to work on the fit -- and may give Justin Cammarata a call -- (and Josh did say he could cut the bars down if I decide to go that way) -- but for now I'm riding it as is. My budget needs a little break from the bike.

Good to be back on the trails.

A stop at the pond on Wednesday. The ducks are back.

(** P.S. I've discovered we have an air compressor in the basement. Good to know.)