Saturday, my good friend Steve stopped by to show me his sweeet new Rally Car and drop off a set of his old cyclocross wheels so I could get my Cannondale back on the dirt. After it's previous job as my touring bike from SF to Santa Barbara, complete with Cari's Campy Chorus Triple, it was time to get back to "normal" and help me explore new trails I have been seeing on my road rides...
That same day spurred Cari to begin a search for a new bike. She focused on Surly and found her "dream bike" on good ol' eBay.
A custom painted (baby blue, just like my old Ventana-RIP) frame, fork headset and seatpost. She's a newbie to the eBay experience and I had to calm her down to NOT bid until the last 5 minutes if she hoped to get her new ride. She didn't listen. She popped a bid approx 8 minutes to go and was outbid. I calmed her and had her wait until the last 2 minutes and spring the most she would spend, in this case $305. The tension mounted, the clock ticked, 30 sec, 28 sec, 18 sec, 5 sec...SHE WON! Now the patented Prosser Rationalization™ stage sets in. You know, I'm not really spending money, I'm selling X, Y and Z to cover the costs. Ahhhh, how nice it is to see my young paduan learn from the master...
Sunday AM found Jake and I heading to Fairfax in Marin to pick up a trail-a-bike for Jake to ride with me and Cari. I had sold a lanyard and 2 pins we were given at Disneyland for $40 and used the cash to pick up a used trail-a-bike. I don't know who was more excited, Jake or me! I got home, cleaned it all up and bolted it to my SS. Cari, Jake and I headed to the river trail behind the college to try it out. With his Cannondale Jersey, Trek gloves and Bell helmet, Jake was stoked. He loved riding behind me, kept yelling "Faster" and then showing me how he could stand up while we rode. A proud moment for all involved!
Finally came the resurrection (Kirby, you will appreciate this). My beautiful black Kestrel 200Sci has re-emerged from the ashes like the great Phoenix. Having been successfully retired from it's glorious past as my primary road bike (replaced by a 2005 Indy Fab Crown Jewel SE), old Black Beauty was languishing in the rafters of my garage (not as far back in the attic as it's sibling, the MXZ mountain Bike) awaiting a call to duty. With the purchase of the trail-a-bike, the call was set forth. It was time to transform Ketrel, transform! Step one found my flat bars and a SS configuration. However, even after attaining a perfect chain length with a 16T King Kog and my modified FSA Carbon Cranks (single ring, 39T), I thought the gearing was a bit much, so a deraileaur was in order. I'm keeping her single ring in the front and 8-9 speed in the rear and am happy as hell to get her back on the road...
Jake and I are so "parking lot" (as my old friend Fish used to say).
The Captain (Jake) and his stoker (me)
Like a couple of Fonzi's, "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy"...
Mommy and Jake chillin' by the river
This is what Cari got. Can't wait to get her out on the trails!
Sweet child o' mine! The Kestrel reborn as my "Townie".
Cockpit shot of the "new" Kestrel
2 comments:
It was good seeing you and Cari! Hope the wheels worked out. Still taking it easy with the new car.....but dang that turbo lights it up!
What happened to the butt shot?
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