Road Fixie

I have no clue why I do these things. But, if it’s there, I’ll climb it. I need to prepare a bit for the Azami Hill climb. And since I have a biz trip planned – I needed to get at least a decen recon of the route beforehand. I’m just that way. So – the only weekend available, I took the chance.

Well, unfortunately or otherwise , it was raining. Well, not quite raining, but pouring , and a little more than that it was a friggin spring Typhoon. Oh well, how bad could it be in the mountains? Yeah – it was pretty bad.

So – off I went with my family for a pleasant day trip to the mountains. My goal – ride the course and plot my strategy. My family’s goal – find a nice onsen and wait my finish. Not all things work out as planned.

Pleasant day – negative.
Course – farther away than I thought.
Weather – totally sucked.
Onsen – closed.

However – adversity breeds innovation and action:

1) Me: HTFU and <enjoy> the climb in whatever conditions God has given you. This build character and stamina.
2) Family: He’s a friggin’ idiot – there is no onsen and we’re going home.

Result:

1) I AM a friggin idiot for doing this climbing route – especially alone. The weather is insane, there is NO ONE on the road except some deer. If I crash I will die of hypothermia and who knows what else.

2) Family takes the smarter route and goes home, finds a nice Onsen bath close by. They are much smarter.

I finish the climb – totally burnt out. But, my sag bag is still at the station so I have some dry clothes. Change in the rain, grab a train beer and go home. Family is there. Dinner is on me this time.

Family asks: ‘Why do you enjoy suffering like this?’

I answer: ‘It’s not suffering, it’s a challenge. It keeps us in touch with life. ‘

Family: ‘You’re crazy’

Feeling a bit cramped on the smallish 535mm frame, I finally found a good choice of parts to upgrade my stem and bar and give me a little breathing room. Wanting to keep in the original era of the bike, I had to scrounge up a 22mm stem and 26mm bars. Also, since I want at least a 110mm stem to get the reach, I wanted a good stem. Luckily I found an old(er) Cinelli stem and decent Fuji bars that fit the match exactly.

Now I’ve got more breathing room to stretch out and gain a little more comfortable aero position. Next step is to find some proper tandem ‘stoker hoods’ so I get good upper grip supports. Here’s the final profile. Starting to look like a proper bike now.

Small side note to this – since I’m only using leftside brake lever – I am now getting some asymmetric stress on while climbing or sprinting hard. So, its time to fit a rightside tandem stoker stubby – or just get the same thing on both sides. For the hills I really like the brake lever supports as it does give me another position to change to while climbing or on long rides. Single side support is not recommended.