Man, I keep waiting for this cold to break and for the temperatures to head back upward. It ain't happening. This is what I was afraid of: not being prepared for winter here in the midwest. I haven't experienced a full winter here in eight years. That's a long time. I've visited every year since I left, but the experience was different. I knew it would be cold the moment I stepped off the plane at the airport. What's getting me now is the transition from Fall to Winter. In Fall, there were some chilly days, but they seemed to always give way to spring-like temperatures in days that followed. But now, there is no giving way to warmer temperatures.
Relatively speaking, today was warmer than yesterday, but it's certainly not 60 degrees and sunny. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this. I'm imagining snow in the driveway; I don't have a shovel, or a snowblower. I guess I should get one or the other. I'm also imagining cars covered in 14 inches of snow, which I'm sure will fall all at once at least one time this winter. Then what? I think I'm getting scared.
I can't wait for spring.
28 November, 2010
22 November, 2010
A Day Dream Turned Goal?
As someone who love bicycles and, of course, riding them, I always thought it would be cool to build one from scratch. I don't mean buying a frame, and some parts and putting it all together. I mean, actually building the frame, out of steel, from scratch. It's something I've often had a hankering to do, but had never really given any serious thought. A google search here and there, and some day dreams is all I ever really put into it. But after getting back into the bike industry last spring, I've started thinking about it more and more.
A month or so ago, I started looking into frame-building classes; they're all the rage at the moment, it seems. It's as if every frame builder and his brother - no matter how successful or qualified - offers a class. The problem for me, though, is that these classes are all either A) too expensive; B) too far away, or C) both. However, one thing nearly all of them have in common is that they use the Paterek Manual as a guiding text. The book itself is of course much, much cheaper than the class. So, I sold a few bike things on the eBay that were collecting dust, and used the funds to send for the manual and some supplemental instructional DVDs. It wasn't cheap, but it only cost me some stuff I wasn't go to use anyway. And really, I suppose if you consider it a text book, it was down right reasonably priced.
I still don't know if I will ever actually get to the point where I build a frame, but I figure this is a good first step. Maybe I'll end up taking a frame-building class down the road, maybe not. But in that case, I already have the manual. And in any case, I'd like to build a nice, simple, solid, lugged road bike frame. The next step is to peruse the manual, watch the DVD's, start gathering tools and what-have-yous, and see where this goes. I have no time frame, really, other than "spare time." Not that I have a ton of that, but I'm kinda excited.
A month or so ago, I started looking into frame-building classes; they're all the rage at the moment, it seems. It's as if every frame builder and his brother - no matter how successful or qualified - offers a class. The problem for me, though, is that these classes are all either A) too expensive; B) too far away, or C) both. However, one thing nearly all of them have in common is that they use the Paterek Manual as a guiding text. The book itself is of course much, much cheaper than the class. So, I sold a few bike things on the eBay that were collecting dust, and used the funds to send for the manual and some supplemental instructional DVDs. It wasn't cheap, but it only cost me some stuff I wasn't go to use anyway. And really, I suppose if you consider it a text book, it was down right reasonably priced.
I still don't know if I will ever actually get to the point where I build a frame, but I figure this is a good first step. Maybe I'll end up taking a frame-building class down the road, maybe not. But in that case, I already have the manual. And in any case, I'd like to build a nice, simple, solid, lugged road bike frame. The next step is to peruse the manual, watch the DVD's, start gathering tools and what-have-yous, and see where this goes. I have no time frame, really, other than "spare time." Not that I have a ton of that, but I'm kinda excited.
14 November, 2010
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