Not all flat...

Pretty nice riding out here. Here's the Greenbelt Reservoir between Clarendon and Pampa.  Taking a 50 mile recovery day.

from the road.

Highway 70 north. Heading to Pampa

from the road.

Pics I've taken, but couldn't post till now.

The thundercloud was racing me to Clarendon. I won. This time.

from the road.

11 am., Sunday

When the flag is standing straight out and pointed directly at you, you know it's going to be headwindy.
Riding on 287 isn't as pleasant as all those backroads yesterday, but the shoulder is wide and the traffic is light, and everybody's driving friendly. Found a lunch buffet in childress where I can charge the phone. No T-Mobile or wifi, tho, so I'll compose this and send it when I finally get signal bars. Till then I'm drinking tea and eating cobbler and charging the phone

from the road.

day 2, another hour or so...

Connectivity is awful, no phone, and weak, rest area wifi, 80 miles in. Making lousy time, with headwinds. I turned north, and so did they. Im doing well though - i knew the 1st week would sting abit. I'll post more when I find a bed and a tub for my tender bits - assuming I can find a comm link.

Childress city limits

You can't really see the flag because it's sticking straight out and pointing straight at me. Headwinds are keeping me to 11mph average.  Rain supposed to come in this evening.  I may call it a day around Memphis.  Ifound a buffet where I can charge the phone,  but no signal or wifi, so
I'll save this until I get some.
from the road.

"Up with the sun, gone with the wind...

...she always said I was crazy.
Daybreak at Copper Breaks. Headed for breakfast in Quanah.

from the road.

Day 1, check.

112 miles to Copper Breaks. Crazy sun kept me busy with sunblock. I mostly won that battle. No phone service here, but wifi at the ranger station lets me post. Higher than expected mileage because when I posted the dirt road pocket, I knocked my bike computer into said dirt road, then went a few miles before I noticed. Rolled back and found it, no problem.  Patty, I know what I left behind, but don't sweat it. I have substitutes for all of it.
Gotta scoot, the cowboy poetry show is about to start.

from the road.

Dear Saturday, hurry up!

Can we just get on with it?

David Hill's location@10:49am,5/27

David Hill's location@10:49am,5/27
4401 Cambridge Rd, Fort Worth, TX 76155, Fort Worth, TX
http://m.google.com/u/m/zURcSi

Testing again. Trying to display a map, rather than a link to the map.

David Hill's location@9:44am,5/25

Testing Google Latitude upload - David Hill's location@9:44am,5/25
Fort Worth, TX
http://m.google.com/u/m/dcXeM4

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Out with the Sanner, in with the Salsa

Lots of folks stepped up to help me get a new ride to use when the fork on the custom frameset Tim Sanner built failed on the second ride.  When a 58 cm Vaya frame couldn't be found anywhere, Doug from  Colonel's Bikes of Fort Worth, thought to ask if I was sure of my sizing. He thought I might fit better on a 57cm, which WAS available.
I compared the measurements Sanner used on his bike to the 57cm Vaya and found them nearly identical.  Doug ordered the 57 with 2-day shipping and I got the new frameset last night.
The next few hours were spent building my 2nd new bike in 9 days.  I hung pretty much everything I'll carry on it this morning to ride and climb with it for a few miles before work.  It feels and rides really great.
I think it looks pretty snazzy, too. What do you think?

What Plan am I on, now, Plan D? E?

Riding the new touring bike to work on Monday, I noticed that the front wheel wasn't centered in the fork. I suspected that since I'd swapped the Marathon Cross tires out for skinnier road tires, maybe I'd gotten the axle whompy in the frame. I stopped and loosened and retightened it, but that didn't fix it. Had that been the problem, the brake rotor would have been grinding on the caliper anyway.

Didn't touch it Tuesday because I was celebrating my Birthday with the ladies.

So last night, I was going to attach the fenders and front rack, and got started with that, but couldn't get the wheel straight. I was looking for a foreign object like powdercoat buildup in the dropout to blame for the crooked wheel, when I saw a series of cracks in the finish. I'll put up some pics when I have them.

What happened was that the fork leg gave and bent under braking as I was trying to get the brake pads set in. the flexing caused cracks in the paint.

I'm sure glad that happened while I was riding moderately at home and not screaming 45 mph down Rabbit Ears Pass, in a hailstorm.

So, 9 days to departure, and I'm trying to find a new frame to hang all these great parts on. Cross your fingers, I think I've found one.

Test

Another photo

Test 3

See a new bike in my office ? Testing...

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See a bird?

Test text

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