All things Vacuous and Pertinent

It's my usual partial disappearance act, as I am wont to do in Spring. My boys (team) lost a playoff last night for the Regional title and soon thereafter I had an Afib. I'm not convinced they're directly related...well, they are in their own way. The schedule has been busy and I've not been taking care of myself as well- missing pills, occasionally not on the mask- and that's what gave me a "moment". I went to bed at 9.45 on a Friday night, something I thought was impressive in its own non-special, non-eventful way. Old Age, you now.

So the unveiling is awfully near, but the Quickbeam is in the house and is more or less rideable.  My fine wife stayed out of the shower until afternoon so she wouldn't miss the UPS man, as he had tried Monday while she was either at work or picking the kids up.  I got home after the first day of the Regional tennis tournament at something like 8.30, but the fam was watching Dancing with the Stars so I took the opportunity to go out in the garage and fiddle.

I like the nice touch that the box had the frame name in its own font.  Nice.  Below are accoutrements that I purchased back a ways but intended for the new ride:  Mark's Rack, Lil' Loafer, inside Chris King bottle cages and a new patch kit.  The pic is buttugly, but what do you expect at almost 9.00 at night?

And finally below is a "before" shot of the QB in my wacked-out garage.  Boy is it gonna get a cleaning this summer.  I was impressed how tidy the packing job was.  To get going, I had to:

• take off all wrap
• cut off about 5 zipties, mostly holding wheels in place
• gingerly separate handlebar/stem from front wheel
• insert stem
• from separate small box, take out seat post and insert
• front separate small box take out front wheel quick release and mount front wheel
• install front brake hanger cable and thread front cable into front brake
• thread rear cable along stops
• install my own pedals (original MKS touring from Bleriot) and honey B-17 (from somewhere)

The build is not complete, but I put it together enough for a quick ride Tuesday night and another yesterday morning.  It's tournament time of the year for tennis so the best I can do is quickie bike jogs.  I won't wax poetic or profane, but they're observations on two sides of the coin.  Firstly it seems to be a very, very rock solid design.  It's smooth, corners well, tracks well and is generally a very stable bike.  I'm very encouraged.  On the other, I have some concerns about whether it's too big a frame (58), but I've re-read the RBW manifesto twice and I'm well within their parameters.  RBW likes big frames and that's what I have.  To be fair, after tweaking the saddle just a bit- not a lot- I'm comfy, but it feels weird to be on a pretty big frame.  So, the I have a feeling it'll go really well in the long run, but it's that "new feel" kinda feel.  The build isn't complete until I mount the Mark's rack and grease everything.  I couldn't find my good grease so the stem and post are there temporarily (like today).  More to come and certainly more pics of finished product.  It's a good looking bike.

On different news, Louisville had a pretty big to-do about Bike-To-Work yesterday.  The city/BikeLouisville (blog) sponsored rides beginning at three differnent parks:  Seneca, Iroquois and Shawnee.  There was also coverage in the CJ and a video report- with local media hog/star Dave C- on WLKY.  At least with the CJ and WKLY report I was pleased to see them as very positive, with no shenanigans of "rebel cyclists breaking laws!!!".  Admist this B2W coverage is the lame fact that I didn't bike to work.  I drove *again* with my bike bucket o'balls and my big cooler o' drinks, but that is coming to a close.  We play the State tournament next Thurs and Fri, so bike freedom is soon to return, in time for some May miles too.  I *am* 440 miles ahead of last year's total and I'm 70 miles up just in May so far.  It'll happen soon enough, and this time with an extra mount, the QB.