Shorts to spandex? Mud covered to shaved legs?

Allright.. here's the skinny... As ya know - I love mountain biking. No suprise.
Biking shorts, usually no shirt, hauling my keister (is that spelled right?) through some tight shrubbery - going home with bruises and scratches.

Rambling....Anywho....

A friend of mine said that I should ride in "the DALMAC".

Sidebar -

Well, for those of you that don't know about the DALMAC, it was founded in 1971 by former Michigan State Sen. Dick Allen. The DALMAC offers 2300 bicyclists a choice of five road routes beginning in East Lansing , and ending in either Mackinaw City or DeTour Village. It is basically 100 miles a day, for the duration of trip.

That's it for the history lesson on this post. Back to the action.

The DALMAC sounds like a good challenge, and its right up my alley. I would need to switch from technical, hill climbing of around 20 mile rides to 100 mile road coverage... The first problem to overcome was the only road bike I had was a Beacon Cornet bike.. This bike is awesome for ole school looks and hardware (I am looking for ANY info on this Beacon Coronet Bike - so if you can provide that, it would be GREATLY appreciated). I felt the need to upgrade. I also was also riding my mountain bike to work (~12 miles one way), and a road bike would cut a couple minutes off of my trek. I did some serious shopping, and ended up with a 2006 Giant TCR C1. Here is a pic.

I ended up putting some Crank Bros Candy C's on there to match up the color, and I love Crank Brothers pedals...

So... I end up giving proper respect to a pedal that I love.

I also was notorious for just cramming a couple of water bottles into the cages on my mountain bike frame. I was definately "forced" into switching to a higher OZ hyrdration source. I ended up purchasing a Camelback Siren pack -

This purchase ended up changing my hydration from bottles to packs.. I love the ability to fluidize and not lose focus or balance on the bike. Oh yeah, and its yellow to match the Giant!

All set on being fashionable and getting a bike worthy of the challenge! :)

Now, I only have my self to blame when I bonk after 20 miles on a 100 mile ride!

So - I have to admit that training for this rode ride has greatly improved my mountain biking. It seems like a 20 mile mountain bike ride seems so much easier on my lung capacity and stamina. I have also realized that mountain biking seems to make hill climbs for road riding seem easey. I am still not ready to throw on the spandex, but I have great respect and realize the value in combining road and mountain biking.

Waitin on pieces and parts!

Ok.... So it took waaaaaaaaaaaaay to long to decide on the three parts to purchase to allow me to sit my tush on my fancy Niner frame. Too bad I don't have any wheels spec'ed out yet. Here are the items I have purchased, and awaiting to arrive soooooooooooon....



Easton EC70 carbon seatpost... I love the silver look for the portion that attaches to the saddle. Come on Mr. Postman... bring me my seatpost please!!!!



Intense Sacred Heart Saddle with TI rails.... I love the look, shape, stitching, and colors of this sucker! It took me a long time to decide what saddle to go with. I know intense made the spider saddle, which was notorious for being uncomfortable - but light. I thought I would try this saddle out..


The final puchase awaiting arrival is my Hope seatpost clamp - Silver.... I Hope (pun intended - Hope clamp, get it?) to post assembled pics soon!

The revolution has begun

I finally did it... I made the commitment to puchase a bike frame, and build a bike the way I want to. I purchased a Medium Frame Niner Air 9 Bike.. Tang in color. I was considering Kermit Green, but the option was not available - so that made the decision easy. Here is the frame:







Lets see how that shows up in my blog... my first Picture input!

The medium frame weighs in at 3.24 pounds. I did ask Niner bikes for some technical advice, and they were very prompt and helpful. I have been extremely impressed with their customer service thus far. I will update this post as parts get installed.

Attempting to build a bike from ground up has been good for me. I have been riding for 3 years on a Trek 4500, and have not really been motivated to understand how to repair and install parts. This build up, has increased my knowledge of mountain bike repairs and building significantly! I also purchased Zenn and the art of mountain bike maintenance - and that has been the bible of mountain biking for me.

Thats all for now! Keep track - I will update with installations, actual weights, and pics!