Thursday, January 04, 2007

Brand new treads

Date: Jan. 3
Mileage: 21.2
January mileage: 49.5
Temperature upon departure: 36

The latest piece of Snaux bike arrived this week, via USPS parcel post (every single purchase I make on eBay, I beg the sellers not to ship parcel post. I tell them I will pay them the 38 cents they'll save. I tell them I live in Juneau %@$#! Alaska, the end of the line, the black hole of post-office shipping. And every time, they send parcel post and I have to wait six weeks for packages.) This package had the WTB Timberwolf tires I bought in early December. I got a little greedy and went for the 2.7" tires. It's finally starting to look just a little like those big-wheeled bikes I dream about. Unfortunately, the rear tire doesn't fit the rim ... but it could, if I shaved down the outer knobs a little. Has anyone ever tried doing that? If so, what kind of results have you had? And what do you use to cut away the rubber?

Today I rode alongside the beach I biked across the other day. An unusually high tide had devoured nearly all of the sand, and I noticed that several of the shipwrecked boats were missing. They were just gone. Floated away, I imagine. But there was something disheartening about the scene. I find comfort in the rotting permanence of junkyards. They're almost like graveyards - places where you can go to mourn the remnants of forgotten histories. I liked to believe that those boats had washed up after long, fulfilling lives as sportfishing rigs full of shooters and salmon nets and wide-eyed tourists, but in old age and neglect had broken loose of their mooring and washed up on the shore to die. It seemed fitting to me to imagine that they had been there for years ... decades even. Now I realize that these scenes change in a matter of days.

I need to start putting in some longer hours on the bike. What I do now doesn't even really register on the training scale. It's been a while since I've done a ride that really floored me. I need to do one of those. But, man, it's going to be a psychological miracle of I succeed.

7 comments:

  1. Cheap steak knifes work well (target or wallyworld cheap)

    Hacksaw blades work well. keep your tire inflated and put something rythemic on the radio and spend an hour going around slow =)

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  2. Use a Dremel tool cutting wheel and trim a tiny amount at a time. It's easy using the Dremel to screw up the tire.

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  3. I like cutting with a knife vs the dremel. Dremels always melt stuff like rubber/plastic for me.

    Chop those knobs and make it fit. Don't forget to check the clearance when you air down the tires too.

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  4. Use a razor knife.

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  5. a dremel, a knife, they all sound 2 easy and quick. try gnawing at it with yer teeth.

    ~db

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  6. considered putting your training schedule on a calendar?

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  7. You could also use a large pair of wire cutters. I did this on one of my rear tires once (same problem-a tad to wide) and it only took 20 minutes or so.

    If you use a razor blade -cut away- not towards you.

    I learned that the hard way:-(

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Feedback is always appreciated!