International Women's Day

Adapted from a diagram originally produced by Craig Froehle https://goo.gl/a4DQ2Z

Quote of the Day

‘Your appetite grows based on what you are eating.’ 
- French saying

Badger Men's Hockey, Kohl Center, Madison, WI

A weekend with a sibling visiting Madison, plus 60-degree weather in February... well, I think it's high-time to take in a hockey match at the University of Wisconsin's Kohl Center.

We rode down to the Capitol areas well before the match, to see the sights, enjoy the sunshine and get ready for the game with some New Glarus Spotted Cow and tasty bar food from State Street Brats. It was a busy afternoon due to the weather and games happening that weekend at the Kohl Center (both men's hockey and basketball).

Once we made our way to the arena, it was clear this is a very nice, relatively new center of sporting events on campus, afterall, it handles the wood floor required for basketball and the ice required for hockey (much like our hometown United Center (Chicago Stadium of yore)).

They gave out free Wisconsin Hockey pom-poms, cha-ching!

They also have an excellent historical display for almost every UW sport in the spacious concourse in the arena. You can see much of the history of UW teams and athletes as you make your way around the concourse to your seats.

That's an old rowing sweater.

Even fine art is on display, like this below from known modern artist, Dale Chihuly... he's kind of hard to miss and not identify. I've mentioned him in previous posts too.

Finally, the seats were secured, the ice cream treat was in the tummy and we were ready for the game to begin...

This was a great rendition of our national anthem, helped very much by the UW Band and the crowd's own voices.

To that end, all game long, the crowd was more engaged than I've seen in most sporting events, especially at the college level. They had cheers and chants for all sorts of occurences (goals, penalties, etc), and we had them almost down pat by the end of the match. The team played their hearts out and garnered a 6-4 victory against their Big 10 opponent, the University of Michigan (boooo!).

We sped home on our trusty velocipedes in the much cooled night-time temps, but made it back around Monona without too much trouble... just icy cold hands for one of us.

Suds It Up Car Wash, Madison, WI

With an early spring seemingly already here in central WI, I had to get the winter grime off the car. I headed to one of my happy places - a local, family-owned business called, Suds It Up Car Wash. It's a better than average "touch" car wash.

"Touch" means it actually uses bristles and brushes that touch your car's finish and take the grit and grime off. They make "touchless" car washes now, but it's like paying some kid on the corner to spray your car with a strong hose. I tried to tell me Mom I washed something "touchless" once... she touched me alright, with the back of her hand!

Perhaps the best, and certainly most tactile, part is that once you're done with the exterior wash, they have 18 vacuum bays waiting for you to handle the interior.

"What's a vacuum bay?", you ask. Allow me to explain with pictures...

Long hoses of vacuuming suction just waiting for you to open your filthy car interior.

You get two attachment options, both literally "sucked" to their parking spots with suction power, either crevice or carpet/multi-surface. I prefer the latter for most of my car's interior. It does a fine job of all manner of debris, including all the salt from a winter of driving. And please, no loud music.

Option 1, or...

... Option 2. They stay stuck to their respective "parking spots" with the suction coming through the hoses from the master "canister". It's a pretty slick and simple set-up, imo.

I've never seen a car wash like this place before, but I think I'll be going back without question... maybe just to watch people clean their cars, or frankly, to volunteer to vacuum people's cars out for them. I mean, if you want something done right...

My First Fatbike, Part II, Madison, WI

This build has taken about a month in total, from getting most of the parts to finally riding the bike for a short spin to bed-in the brake system. I wanted to highlight the build process and some of the parts.

Everything went together just fine, with only some minor issues along the way. SunRingle MuleFut 80 SL wheelset and Bontrager/DT Swiss thru-axles mated well. The SRAM GX 11-speed Gripshift shifter and NX rear derailleur went together with no problem and shifted great from the first click. RaceFace's Cinch typer bottom bracket and Next SL Gen3 cranks were a treat to build up and install. 

The biggest issue would be that it doesn't appear that mechanical disc brakes will work well with the rear stays of this bike. I couldn't find a brake that would fit on the frame without having the actuator arm of the caliper find issue with the seatstay. So, I had to source some full hydraulic brakes instead (which also why you may notice the rear brake hose still needs to be trimmed down to size). I was lucky enough to source a set of SRAM Level Ultimate full hydraulic brakes and am very happy it all worked out. They installed without much fuss and bed-in well. 

Of course, now that it's in ride-able form, the snow has pretty much melted away here in Madison, So, unless we get some more in the next few weeks, it will likely be seeing more dirt than snow in its first 6 months of life.

and here's how the fork's paint job looks as installed on the bike...

My First Fatbike, Part I, Madison, WI

You know what a "fatbike" is, right? It's like this...

If I have my history correct, they were oroiginally thought up by and designed to run in Alaska's Iditarod race. A multi-modal, multi-weekend, multi-species race recreating the saving of a town from diptheria, crossing the snowy landacape from Knik to McGrath, AK.

The bikes designed for and now from this event needed to ride well on packed snow, so rims and tires kept getting bigger and bigger to handle the demands of the riders and terrain. I believe, a company in Minnesota, called Surly, was the first brand to commercialize or produce products for this market, including rims, tubes, tires, etc. And now you can go down to your local big box store and get a fatbike-like two-wheeled steed for your kids. Ah, progress.

I've wanted to own one for some time, maybe even years, so it was time to make it happen this winter. However, it was a bit bittersweet when I realized not too long into my project that if I wanted to own my very first fatbike, I would have to build it up myself. Bitter because it takes more time, effort, and usually money to build a bike up on your own. Sweet because it's a great winter project, I love working with my hands, and it usually lets one be more creative with the bikes they ride and own.

This is just the first post in a series highlighting the build of this bike. I started out with a Trek Farley Alloy frame and fork. I decided to upgrade the fork to a Trek Haru Pro carbon model, in order to run a 150mm front hub, and save a little weight with the carbon too.

Additionally, I was able to try some Duplicolor Custom Wrap coating and help the fork match the frame with some highlights of color. This coating is removable within 6 months of application and was quite a fun project.

I'll post once more with the final pics and some thoughts on the parts I used. Stay tuned...

Quote of the Day

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved more than you ever know."

- Winnie the Pooh