Crappy weather update

So the weather here in St. Johns turned foul on Monday of last week and it's been raining ever since. Even had a bit of snow thrown in there for good measure. Today we had a bit of a break in the early evening with some sun peaking through and a pause in the rain. So I decided to take some pics of my new Arkel GT-54 panniers, and also take my beater around the yard for a quick spin to see how it fit with the new stem and seat post.

But first I should talk about what happened last week. I had that group ride to Outer Cove on Sunday, my first ride on the Brooks B17 saddle. I feared the worst upon mounting the saddle, but strangely it felt alright. The whole 20km group ride I was more comfortable than I have ever been on any other saddle. I had to adjust the tilt upwards a little more, but I never felt any discomfort what-so-ever until 10km-ish into my ride home. I was blown away. SO I guess I must have a "Brooks Arse" as they call it. Looking forward to molding my but print more when the sun is back out.

On to more recent matters.
I've started working in the bike shop part time. Last Saturday I found myself with nothing to do and Harold, my LBS, had no one to work for him on what he suspected was going to be a busy day. So I worked. And again this Saturday! I haven't been doing any major repairs or tune ups myself, but I've been doing some minor stuff and cleaning up the bikes too. It's a great way to learn bike repair and make a couple of extra bucks on Saturday mornings. The employee discounts don't hurt either!

Speaking of discounts, I got my new Arkel GT-54 Panniers!


Just seeing her with bags on front and back, looking like she's ready to take on the world is getting me all excited for my vacation this summer not to mention my trip from Vancouver to St. Johns next summer! I'll probably try to do a review of the GT-54's once I actually use them.

After I put my Brooks on my Surly LHT, I noticed I had a few parts lying around. So I took the stock saddle from the LHT and some platform pedals I had lying around and put them on my Orange Beater bike that I resurrected this winter. I hadn't ridden it since replacing the seat post and getting a longer quill stem for it. I took it for a spin around the yard, and with the longer stem and the decent amount of seat back that the post has, it's not a bad fit!

I was going to race this puppy in the Alley Cat Race hosted by Ordinary Spokes in downtown St. Johns tomorrow. It is not your typical race. It is like a treasure hunt through all the nooks and alleys of downtown. You get a list of clues to checkpoints and an hour to plan your route. The one who gets the checkpoints and to the end the fastest wins, be it through alleys, sidewalks, or down flights of stairs. I was going to take this as I wanted to get crazy and not beat up my Surly. But it is calling for rain and snow tomorrow evening, the race is still a go I just don't want to get pneumonia.

There was no group ride yesterday due to weather, but hopefully we catch a break this coming Sunday (doubt it). And I'll try to remember to bring a camera this week.

Speaking of cameras, here is a little something off topic for the camera junkies. My dad has an old 1982 Canon AL-1 film SLR sitting in his closet with a 50mm fast lens and a 300mm telephoto lens (I think that's what it's called).

I know nothing about cameras, and I don't have the urge to start learning. All I know is it would be nice to have something that takes decent photos. The little experience I've had with my friends DSLR and his fast lens showed me that I love how the pics come out, and even looking through the viewfinder I can tell this setup will give similar effect. The camera is supposedly not working. The story goes that it started making red streaks appear on the pictures, and then they just stopped coming out all together. It has sat in the closet untouched since then. I took it to a camera shop and after a thorough inspection by the owner it seems to be in perfect working condition. But just in case I shot a test roll on all the different shutter and aperture settings with the fast lens. I get the negatives tomorrow, so I guess we'll see how it turns out.

If they turn out good, I will probably use this camera for my day trips and for any nice pics I want to take. For any quick and dirty pics I want to take, I will just borrow my sisters Canon point and shoot. My old samsung digital camera sucks the big one and is almost unusable.

Anyway! That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get out and do some more riding soon on the Surly and maybe even the Beater! When I do I'll be sure to get some pics.

Oh, btw. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking about selling my Giant FCR2. :o

Later!