After having sold my beloved Bianchi Reparto Corsa Veloce to a friend that I knew would appreciate it, I had space in my heart (although, not in my LES apartment) for a new bike. The road bike was a bit on the bumpy side on the roads around my old NYC Lower East Side apartment, so, a bike that could handle fatter tires and a rack and fenders seemed to be a good match for the terrain. After having lectured my old roommate on the virtues of cyclocross bikes (super sturdy, tour-able, an everything bike), I had my eyes set on a few steel steads: Surly Cross-check, Bianchi Volpe, and the Masi Speciale CX.

After having ridden the Cross-check, I wasn’t too sure about the friction shifters being that I was used to STI (AKA, brifters). It was about the same price as the other two, a bit heavy when purchased as a complete, I didn’t like the way the handlebars flared out at the bottom, and I couldn’t figure out which one fit me best since neither size in my range felt quite right “out of the box”. I really love the frame, though. Its very flexible in that you can choose to use it as a single speed or a fixed gear or whatever, it comes in a great beef gravy brown color or black, and its Surly, which is cool all on its own. Overall, I decided against it because I would have had to spend more money adjusting things when I could find the things I wanted in other bikes for about the same price. If I was looking to have built up a bike from scratch, though, I would have picked either this frame or, if I had the cash, the Surly Traveler’s Check.

I had swung by Panther City Bikes fully ready to shell over the cash to buy a Surly, but, after some discussion, I came to the conclusion for the aforementioned reasons that I should go with the Masi. They didn’t have one in stock, so, I though that, while in Austin, I could test ride on at Mellow Johnny’s when I stopped by to pick up a wool cycling jersey. They didn’t have a jersey in my size but they did have a Masi Speciale CX that fit. I test rode it back and forth on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway for about 30 minutes before setting out across some dirt on my way back to the shop. I loved it. After looking over everything and doing some math in my head, I figured that getting the bike from MJ’s would be about $100 cheaper than Panther City after shipping it up to NYC and getting it assembled and tuned at the shop there. (It was a good deal for me, but I really like to give PCB my business when I can.)

I didn’t get a chance to test ride the Bianchi Volpe because I couldn’t find on in my size in any of the NYC bike shops I came across. I was really just considering it because it fit the bill to what I was looking for and it was a Bianchi, the brand of roadbike I historically tend to favor.

So, now that I’m back in Austin and living downtown (above is the view of Lady Bird Lake from my balcony), I’m pretty happy with a 7 minute commute on a bike that has literally been all over the country with me. I’ve had my Masi Speciale CX for a few months now, and I’m loving it more than I expected. The transmission has been sturdy and smooth through all the jaunts on dirt and through rain. The stock tires hold their grip through the 4 levels slick parking garage to rainy downtown streets and mud. The seat has even proven to be comfortable throughout a 30 mile ride on the Trinity Trail in Fort Worth. My only complaint is that the brakes took a while to get sticky out of the box, but, now that the pads have gotten some wear, they are grabbing the wheels nice and tightly to ensure a timely stop.

As far as future upgrades go, I’m considering taking the Ultegra parts off of my commuter bike and swapping them with the Tiagra parts on the fancy new bike. As for addons, I installed my old Cateye trip computer, a waterproof under seat bag made by Ortlieb, and a pair of Wellgo DH Shimano SPD compatible platform pedals.

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i’m in the states now trying to get better while trying to get ready for my bestfriend’s wedding this saturday. i have toasts to write and people to see, so, i’ve not had much time to blog.  i’ll post what is good of the last bit of photos i have left over when i get a chance to edit them.

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“get to the airport early” they say, “make sure your not late”. i’m at DFW airport at 7:20 waiting for my 10:15 flight to Tokyo. 2.5 hours to hang out in the airport so i can spend 13 hours hanging out on an airplane. traveling is fun. i got the choice seat by the wall plug, though, so i can putz about on the internet this entire time.

i’m in terminal d, which is the newer of the four terminals at this airport. it feel more like a mall than all the others and i can see the sun rising in the large windows behind me. i’m going to be arriving in Tokyo around 1 pm tomorrow which will be 11 pm Central time. at some point during my flight, the sun will set and then rise. i’m still confused by this date line situation, but from what i understand, i will be speeding toward the morning side of the shadowed earth and fly through the darkness and then back out again into tomorrow afternoon Tokyo time. right now, it is 9 pm in Tokyo… so, hmm… wait, now i’m confused.

the sunlight that we are getting here, at dfw, now that its sunrise, is the same sunrise that they will be getting in about 8 hours except that it will be the 21st instead of the 20th. will i be trailing the sun the entire way? will it get dark as i suspected in the above paragraph? it might just be daylight the entire flight. i might experience daylight from now until what will be 11 pm central time.

anyway, so, yeah, i’m in the airport, and its boring.

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the following is from a letter to bryan:

lately i’ve been sharing awkward moments with strangers. i’ll be minding my own business, spacing out, and suddenly make eye contact with someone in a store or other random public space. i’ll stare at them a moment longer than is socially acceptable before i realize that yes i don’t know them and look away, shyly. i suppose it would be easily forgotten if i had just left it at that, but, when i look away i think “maybe i do know them and didn’t look hard enough” and look again. the 3 times i’ve done this in the past 2 days the people i’ve been sharing this experience with were still looking at me, so, in my shock of making a second round of eye contact i’ll actually say something to make the experience even more awkward and memorable like “hello” “good morning” or, the most embarrassing, “were you just sending me psychic vibes?”

one would think that i don’t have much contact with the outside world, but, really, i just need to take the advice of all my teachers and friend’s parents and not talk to strangers.

anyway, here are some recent black and white photos that my buddy ben just processed for me:

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A couple weeks ago, my dog was hit by a car and died.

We were just starting to get used to each other. I miss her everytime i come home. We buried her in the piney forest east of Austin.

I’ve been in Fort Worth a lot lately because of Christmas. A very close friend of mine is visiting from Japan, so i dropped everything in Austin to spend as much time with him as possible. We’ve been playing chess and i’ve been getting particularly interested in the game all over again. I’ve been craving new openings and have been wanting to study end games. Super nerdy.

I’m attempting to plan my year. I have destinations in mind and need to assign them to seasons.  It looks like i will be going to Japan, Chicago, New York City, and the Grand Tetons by way of New Mexico and Colorado.  I’m also trying to figure out if i want to go back to school and when and where.  Its time for a change, i just have to figure out what to do next.

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