Death Trap

[us56456712]

It’s 7F with the wind chill and snowing so I’m sitting by the fire. It’s going to get warmer starting tomorrow so I’ll try and string cables and mount the under bb cable guides.

21 F and it snowed all night and it’s still snowing. The ground is white again. It’s windy. I don’t feel like working outside on this bike today. I’ll go for a bike ride on my trails to see how many fallen trees I have to cut out. It’s been 11 degrees below average the last few days.

 

[us56456712]

21 F and it snowed all night and it’s still snowing. The ground is white again. It’s windy. I don’t feel like working outside on this bike today. I’ll go for a bike ride on my trails to see how many fallen trees I have to cut out. It’s been 11 degrees below average the last few days.

I couldn’t believe how much new snow was on the woods roads. There are still patches of crusty ice. My riding friend and I went 11.4 miles on fat bikes. At the start it was bitter cold. It got warmer when the sun came out and the woods blocked most of the wind. Very few trees were down as we had almost no snow last winter. A day on the 4 wheeler with the chain saw and brush trimmer will open it up so you won’t have to get off the bike. Way, way better woods old trails riding than I expected.

 

[us56456712]

More shims these are so the brake cable barrels fit into the motorcycle levers they are made from small brass tubing.

 

[us56456712]

It’s ready for a test ride, if it ever stops raining.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Looks great, bud!

 

[us56456712]

Test ride is done (in the rain). I have to lower the cantilever posts on the front, put on new down tube cable guides (the ones on it bent) and lace on a new rear hoop. The motorcycle levers really put force on the rim. The front cable pulled out of the centering triangle and the cable frayed. I got it tighter but I’m not sure it will stay. I might have to have my stronger son torque on them. It’s snowing now and they say snow for about 20 more hours. All the original snow here is gone for a week and my yard is green. I looked at the net and last year at this time we had 6 foot snow banks and had a blizzard on April 12 that snowed us in for a day. All the woods trails are rideable but the single tracks are still soft. I’m sponsoring a 15 mile ride on bush trails Saturday. They are predicting 45 F, cloudy but no rain. Ten people have committed to ride. We took out all the deadfalls and did some brush trimming. It’s the woods and waters ride, early, right after most of the snow melts and before the black flies.

 

[us56456712]

Right now it’s 4 F wind chill and snowing. Fire, coffee and staring into space are today’s plan. I’m on bike strike until it warms up. I’m chomping at the bit to work on Death Trap but mounting the cable stops requires too much manual dexterity for this kind of cold. Nuts.

 

[us56456712]

29F right now and dropping, howling north wind, snow showers and the snow is sticking to the ground. I don’t feel like hauling dirt in my ATV trailer for my landscaping project or working on bikes. It’s 14 F with the wind chill. Way too windy for a pleasant bike ride. I’m bored as all I can do is suck coffee and stare at the fire.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Ugh. We gots the s-word in the forecast tonight, my fire is burning too.

 

[JA331]

Really nice work.

 

[us56456712]

Snowed all day, about 4-5 inches. 33 F so it’s a sloppy melting mess. No work on bikes for awhile as it has been like this a lot lately, either that or 55 F. Transition weather.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

False spring is over, we're back to winter. Expecting second (or third) spring any time now

 

[us56456712]

False spring is over, we're back to winter. Expecting second (or third) spring any time now

I’m not motivated to finish death trap. It’s been 30s F at night and 40s F during the day with constant blustery north winds. 27 F wind chill yesterday, lots of rain and a few hours of decent weather over the last two weeks. I haven’t even been riding. I’m still burning wood. At least it’s much better than last year, we still had snow on the ground the last week of May. Hiawatha’s Revenge gravel ride is on Memorial Day weekend and there are often still snow banks from the winter plowing. No snowbanks this spring as we hardly had any snow last winter. Oh, and the black flies are out whenever it gets to 50 F, yeah. I’m going to have to get my butt in gear and finish the mock up and start test beating it before it gets warm because you won’t be able to go outside for a few weeks because of the black flies and mosquitos.

 

[Couch tater]

I've been watching the jet stream maps and they look like a roller coaster. At least it is a helpful tool to plan ahead for painting days when it bends back north. Looks like it will be another year of a cool wet spring straight into uncomfortable hot & humid.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I’m not motivated to finish death trap. It’s been 30s F at night and 40s F during the day with constant blustery north winds. 27 F wind chill yesterday, lots of rain and a few hours of decent weather over the last two weeks. I haven’t even been riding. I’m still burning wood. At least it’s much better than last year, we still had snow on the ground the last week of May. Hiawatha’s Revenge gravel ride is on Memorial Day weekend and there are often still snow banks from the winter plowing. No snowbanks this spring as we hardly had any snow last winter. Oh, and the black flies are out whenever it gets to 50 F, yeah. I’m going to have to get my butt in gear and finish the mock up and start test beating it before it gets warm because you won’t be able to go outside for a few weeks because of the black flies and mosquitos.

Thanks for the update, I saw the bike peeking out of the corner in your hitch stand thread, was wondering what the situation was.

 

[us56456712]

I've been watching the jet stream maps and they look like a roller coaster. At least it is a helpful tool to plan ahead for painting days when it bends back north. Looks like it will be another year of a cool wet spring straight into uncomfortable hot & humid.

So that’s what’s been going on. We have a day of spring, then cold again. Just a taste of nice then bad.

 

[us56456712]

Today it’s 35 F, windy and raining. I’m workin on Death Trap in spurts. My hands and feet are very cold so I’m doing an inside coffee break right now. My new strategy is to work in short bursts. It was nicer in early winter when I did the bulk of the work outside. The -20 F week slowed me down too, but I did manage to work on it. Cold rain and damp are uncomfortable.

 

[us56456712]

Today it’s 35 F, windy and raining. I’m workin on Death Trap in spurts. My hands and feet are very cold so I’m doing an inside coffee break right now. My new strategy is to work in short bursts. It was nicer in early winter when I did the bulk of the work outside. The -20 F week slowed me down too, but I did manage to work on it. Cold rain and damp are uncomfortable.

High of 39F predicted for tomorrow with 20 m

 

[us56456712]

35F with 20 mph winds today. I got cold walking to my shop as my heavy jackets are locked away. It’s too cold to do much bike work yet. Yesterday I put my winter cloths and snowblower in the storage unit. I’m hoping that good spring karma will happen now that I did this. I cant work on death trap in the house as I have more welding and sanding to do. The misses is very forgiving letting me use our bed for a work bench but she won’t tolerate welding and frame sanding in the house. I need to build a new rear wheel that doesn’t hop but I’m planning to use the bad one for awhile while I sort it out. I put the Brooks badge on the bogus Brooks saddle I cobbled together.

 

[us56456712]

I’m officially angry because there have been snow showers all afternoon At least it’s not sticking. This is ignoxious. A real defacle. The wind is roaring. Every time a cloud goes buy and blocks the sun it snows. Bah! I’m going to Asheville soon for biking. It’s been in the 70s there, can’t wait. Looks like Death Trap will not be ridden in Hiawatha’s Revenge gravel grinder in early June as it probably won’t get done in time.