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On Sunday I was in a ‘cross race in Redding with the rest of the team. The first half of the course was on a BMX dirt track, full of sweet tabletops and banked turns. This was followed by three water crossings and the most mud I’ve seen so far. It only took one lap to get completely soaked through and stained.

On my third lap I got a pretty fast start into the BMX course, but only made it over the first ramp before crashing into the ground. I remembered the rear of my bike lifting up behind me as I started the descend from the first riser, and then the ground came rushing up into my face.

I say I remembered because I do not anymore. I know I told the people around me about what happened, but right now my memory from the moment of impact to maybe 10-15 minutes after is kind of, well, absent. I’m pretty sure I didn’t black out at any point.

My helmet was pretty thoroughly smashed, and I’ve got some healthy road rash along my right flank. I’ve been told that after I dragged myself out from under my bike and off the course I started saying “my head feels really loud”. My brain and my skull had a little fight.

When I got home a few hours later my head felt a lot better, but it still seemed as if my skull was one or two sizes too small. I took a shower to wash the dirt out of my cuts and scrapes, and found them to hurt something awful. I’ve never had to scrub out such a large abrasion before, and I hope I never have to again.

When she heard that I was experiencing memory loss Xue, being a neuroscientist who likes me, told me that I needed to go to the hospital. I checked myself in and within an hour or two I was being carted down to Radiology for a CT scan.

MY BRAIN IS FINE THANKS

Now I just need to get myself a new helmet and for this damned road rash to heal up.

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Last Wednesday I got back from a week on the East coast with Xue. This was technically our third date.

I left Chico before the sun had fully risen, and touched down after it finished setting in Boston, where it was bitterly wickedly cold. When I got to Xue’s apartment I was rewarded for braving the airports and the cold with a blindfold, sparkly party hat and the best belated birthday (pan)cake I’ve ever tasted. Also, kisses.

The next day we rode through the city on fendered and salty bikes. We went to museums and gawked at robots that ran, stuffed mammals, machines that moved like birds, and plants made of glass. We both got into MIT and Harvard, but only because they leave their doors unlocked.

When Xue had work I slept. Occasionally I would get up to eat or play with her tiny nylon-stringed guitar, only to fall back into blankets. Eventually I rose to explore the city a little, and to meet her at work.

Part of her job includes performing a variety of tests on patients, and for fun, I had her test me for color blindness. I’ve known for years that I see some deep blues and purples irregularly, but not how else my vision might be divergent from the norm. It turns out that I have common deutan color blindness, which mostly affects my perception of greens. Xue was very entertained “Hey Jono, what color is this?”

We spent most of Friday in bed reading sci-fi eating delicious bread and baked sweet potatoes. In the evening we rode to a potluck and enjoyed even more food and good company.

We took the Chinatown bus to New York on Saturday. All of the bare trees on the side of the highway that we passed were very familiar. and walked across the Manhattan bridge to my cousin’s apartment in Brooklyn.

As a late celebration of my cousin Alden’s birthday we went out with a group to a really fancy restaurant. I tried bacon and pork and steak, and they were all delicious, but I decided to continue my vegetarianism.

The next day my dad and Karen came up from Pennsylvania and we went out to breakfast. The place where we ate had a photo booth, but it stubbornly refused to accept our dollars. So, more iPhone photos of X & I.

That night Xue went to another birthday party in Williamsburg while my dad, Karen, Alden and I went to the home of one of my dad’s old friends from when he was young. More good food was eaten, and stories were told. Afterward I spend about three hours making what should have been a half hour trip to meet up with Xue. I still really don’t know how subways work, but I didn’t die. We made pancakes, danced and sang.

Xue took the bus back to Boston on Monday afternoon, and I flew out of JFK on Tuesday morning, arriving in a rain-soaked Chico in the early afternoon.

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The past two Sundays I raced with Team Paul in Folsom and Sacramento, both times in the singlespeed category.

I did about as well as I expected in Folsom, just barely keeping up and only crashing once (dismounting in front of the very first barrier, of course). Lau also raced SS, instead of the B Masters category, and it was really encouraging to make my way around the course just in front of him or on his rear wheel. I ended up taking 7th place and Lau took 8th, owing to one of his brake levers slipping loose and grabbing his rim on the second to last lap.

Last Sunday’s race was at Disco Park in Sac., and was put on by Sacramento Cyclocross. The course was really flat and grass, featuring only one set of barriers and no runups. Of course I managed to crash again, I was coasting in to the corner on one pedal, ready to dismount, when I decided to burn off some speed and grabbed a handful of front brake. Ass over elbows.

(Photo by Jeff.)

I’m not really sure how it happened, but after 45 minutes and I don’t know how many laps, I came in 4th place. Team Paul had a pretty good showing with Paul, Lau, Jeff, Scott and myself racing. Scott and Jeff were racing B Masters, and put on a good show.

Jeff’s set up a Flickr group for Team Paul race photos, so I’ve dumped the rest of my shots from the past two races there.

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Tomorrow is Saturday, & I relish my Saturdays. Next to my bed I’ve placed a list for tomorrow’s morning. it reads as follows:

In addition, there are some other things I’d like to do this weekend.

I’ve borrowed the fancy DSLR from work and hope to take as many photos with it as I can between now and Monday. I also hope to take some more polaroids.

I’m giving one of my bike to my brother, and I need to nail down what work needs to be done to it before I can send it off. I know the rear wheel needs to be brought into line every so slightly, but I’m sure there’s other things that wouldn’t hurt to fix.

On Sunday there’s a CX race in Folsom that I’m heading down to with two other members of “Team” Paul. It’s going to be my fourth race, and looks to be the largest and most legit thus far. I am very excited/intimidated. I hope I don’t fall over too embarassingly.

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Galland Halloween Cyclocross cross 2009

Last Sunday first CX race, and first time cross dressing. There’s a second or two of me exhausted out of my mind around 3:35. I’m the one in the yellow tank top with the tan skirt, striped socks, and shit-eating grin.

The first lap was terrible fun. I thought if I just held onto the rear wheel in front of me I’d probably be alright, and maybe I could pass some people. The third lap felt like I’d made a huge mistake. I thought if I just sat down and put my head between my knees I wouldn’t pass out, and maybe I wouldn’t vomit. The 4th and 5th lap actually felt alright. Then the 6th lap was finished and it was over. So soon?

I finished somewhere between 2nd and 4th from dead fucking last, which I consider quite a success. The Raleigh rode great for its inaugural ‘cross ride, and the wheels I finished building the night before didn’t explode underneath me. One issue was my gearing though. 46t in the front and 18t in the back is fine for riding around town, but is insufferable on the dirt and damn near impossible on run-ups. I guess that’s why they call them run-ups.

There’s a “TEAM” Paul meeting tomorrow. We’ll be discussing strategies for the rest of the season, and which races we’re going to be heading out to. My main strategy is to swap out to a more reasonable gearing, maybe something like 39tx16t.

Also, Xue’s coming to visit tomorrow. Whoah.

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This seatcam video is pretty rad, me thinks.

Catamount Cyclocross Day 2 Lap 1 from colin reuter on Vimeo.

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I sent Xue a Polaroid camera in the mail with a handful of film, and she found it when she came home from work tonight.

I also got some film for myself. Pic related.

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It’s way too late, and I have homework that I need to do for class tomorrow, but I almost have an excuse. Tonight I put the finishing touches on a little gift and wrapped it all up to mail out tomorrow.

A little late night arts & crafts is okay from time to time, but one mustn’t make a habit of it.

Halfway through the evening I was confronted with this little alien, who somehow found its way into my home.

I placed it under a glass and watched it pace for a few minutes, before it settled into a shifting three-legged pose.

I tried to feed it a little bit of a medjool date, but it wouldn’t even look at it so I let it go outside.

Now I really need to start my homework. Good morning all.

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The other night, feeling all wrapped in words, I pined over the telephone to Xue.
“I wish I had a diary.”
“But you do,” she replied, “it’s online.”

So here we are. The last couple of months I’ve felt like I haven’t had the time to write here, but the things I’ve wanted to write about continue to flow in from one side and out of the other. For example, over Labor Day weekend Brad, Ryan and I rode north from Chico to Lassen National Park and back. We left Friday night after nine and weren’t back in town until at least ten on Monday night.

The first night we rode up to Inskip, taking full advantage of the full moon. It was bright enough that lights were rarely necessary to see the road. We climbed until maybe 2 or 3 in the morning, when I decided to quit. We pulled off the main road onto a small dirt stretch, made some dinner, and slept as the sun started to lighten the sky.

Saturday we hit the dirt seconday roads leading that wind between Inskip and Butte meadows. I was happy to be running 35c tires, but wish the Panaracers had a bit of shoulder tread to them.

We arrived by lunch, and happened upon a BBQ rib cook-off at the Bambi Inn clamper bar. Free meat, potatoes, and bread for all. Beers were bought for us. We rode on through the afternoon and another moonlit night until we reached a campground just south of the park entrance. Big fire that night, plenty of fuel.

We spent Sunday in the park, climbing, swimming, descending, eating.

It’s a beautiful stretch of road that snakes up and over those mountains. Traffic was forgiving on the way up, and completely absent from our descent to the Manzanita Lake campgrounds. We almost got booted from our unreserved campsite though, and I nearly froze to death, but we made it through the night.

The next day was long, fast, hot, downhill, and long. From the North entrance to the park on 44, we rode all the way back to Chico. There were some amazing views coming back into the valley, some wicked 15% grade descents followed immediately by 10mph turns, and a handful of flat tires. It was thrilling to wake up at the base of a mountain and watch it fade beyond view by late afternoon. What’s more exciting is the notion that this kind of trip is so easy to embark upon. I want more.

See the whole photo set here.

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So last week I brazed some brake bosses to the fork of the new/old Raleigh. Brazing is a process of joining metal in which two pieces of a certain material (in this case steel) are held together by a joint of a different metal with a lower melting temperature (in this case brass). Before the steel fork leg and the steel brake boss could be joined, they both had to be cleaned to avoid contaminating the brass fillet. This was achieved by sanding them down to bare metal, and by applying an acidic flux that also serves to draw the flow of molten brass.

After prepping the parts and holding them in place with a temporary fixture, the oxy-acetlyn torch comes out. By mindfully heating both steel elements to roughly the same red-hot temperature, you can ensure that the brass rod will melt and meld to both of them easily. What needs to be kept in mind are the different properties of the parts to be joined that will affect how quickly they heat up, how long they hold their heat, and how the blazing jet of flame will push the molten brass along their juncture.

Once the joint is brazed, the fork is functionally done. However, it is æsthetically far from perfect. (An aside, I just really wanted to use the ‘æ’ character, even if it’s not entirely correct. Æ!)

The torched flux becomes very hard, but is easily removed by soaking in water. After sitting in a bucket for a day or two, Paul brought the (only somewhat) cleaner fork to me at the bike shop where I spent several hours after closing filing, riffling, sanding, and smoothing out the fillets. The brass looks much better now, and I’ve a much higher appreciation for masterful brazing that requires only the minimum of cleanup.

Brazing for the first time was very satisfying, and the process of juggling multiple metal and mental pieces was no more difficult than I imagined. That is to say, I believe this is something I could come to do well with practice. Loose plans have been made among like-minded cohorts to work in tandem on some initial frame building this summer. That is to say, we have most of the tools and materials, and we have enthusiasm.

Tomorrow I’m bringing the rest of the frame over to Paul’s shop so I can braze some brake bosses to the rear as well. Hopefully I’ll remember to take some photos of the finished fork bosses, and maybe some shots of me wearing wicked cool welding glasses as well.

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