NO TROUBLE IN PARADISE

This morning, I pulled out the enik track frame back from the dead. Wich means out of the basement... I bought this frame a couple months ago online and only realized when it arrived at my door that it was horribly bent around the headtube area. The toptube and downtube did get a good beating at some point. Riding it didn't seem like a good idea to me, so I decided to not follow this project and just store it far away. Out of sight, out of mind...

what a beauty...

here you can clearly see the deformation in the top- and down-tube.

lugs everywhere...

campy dropouts.

Some time later now I thought I could at least safe the wonderful NJS Dura Ace headset and pull it out of the frame.

quintessential ball bearings are peak low tech.

NJS japan.

...always use proper tools when pressing out headset cups.

We'll see what will happen to this frame in the future...

...

This past weekend I had the first proper test ride with the Rivendell! You can catch a couple of vibes on my YouTube channel HERE

After writing a lot about the contact points stuff, it was finally time to re-adjust my own ride. I ended up lowering the stem about 2 to 3cm!! Again, less pressure on the buttock felt way better!

Then, on the first longer ride at the weekend, something happend... After working my way down from only pacing around and looking for numbers to having a romantic bicycle, a simple bicycle to sort of find the joy of cycling again, I found the joy in pacing again!! Going all in, screaming muscles, racing against strangers that you meet on the way and the most beautiful feeling... EMPTY MIND. There's just something highly spiritual to me, when pushing my body to it's limits. So now, that's that, but this did confront me with another problem.

You already guessed it... contact points!!! Pedaling hard with supple barefoot shoes and flat pedals is simply just no fun at all. And also the fact, that you don't have a defined placement of your feet on your bike, something always feels a little bit of. Maybe it's only me, but I'm constantly moving my feet on the pedals. Only mini-adjustments. Right foot 3mm out. Left foot 4mm to the front, then back to where I started and so on. Nothing you wanna do while pedaling, while simply riding a bicycle! When you're sitting on your couch while watching netflix, you're too not willing to change up your position on your couch all of the time!! Don't you?

There was only one logical consequence. Going back to clipless pedals! And what a joy it was to take a little spin this morning, clipped in! I had to adjust the saddle and stem exactly 2cm higher then with my flat pedals/ barefoot shoe setup. It felt like a huge relieve to simply clip in and be in place and ready to pedal. Plus the hard soles of the clipless shoes make for a way way better power transmission. It almost felt like accelerating on an e-bike. Crazy!

found these pedals in the basement, too.

So for now, clipless on a riv to the moon! This bike never felt better. This bike never rode better. And it was already the best riding bike I did ever ride before all of the changes.

Find what you love, and let it control all of your thoughts (lol),

xoxo,

Alex