Afternoon in the Shed

Gina's on a ladies afternoon/night out at a show down in Boston so I of course headed straight to the shed for some project time. I have a few things going right now and its been a while since I've spent some time tinkering. So I grabbed my little space heater, a homebrew, and set up shop!

Bikes, Skis, Homemade Beer, Win

I recently bought some 'dirt drop' bars for my old commuter bike in an attempt to turn it into a more viable off road/touring machine. Dirt drops are a little bit more swept and have less actual drop than road bars. The drops bars I had on previously were old school road bars and didn't really work that well with the geometry of the frame. Worked fine for commuting but I would like to take this bike more places now. I went with the Midge by On One. Dirt drops are surprisingly hard to find, even online. I ended up going with the Midge because its one of the first bars of its kind and it takes bar end shifters (something that a lot of the other bars don't, which I find odd).

I think this new setup is going to work pretty well...I haven't had a chance to really get a feel for the cockpit yet because I still need to get a new saddle but the various hand positions all feel like they will be pretty solid and useful just standing over the bike. I think this bike will turn into a solid/fun back up trail bike.

Tomac would be proud. Drops on dirt, no suspension.

I also decided to get back into actually tuning/taking care of my skis again. I was always on top of things back when I bashed gates and even through college but since I have just bought cheap skis, beat the crap out of them and moved on...wasn't really worth the time. But I like working in the shop and I spend a lot of time maintaining my bikes, might as well suck it up and show my boards the same love. So I stopped into Home Depot and outfitted myself somewhat ghetto and brought out some of my old tuning gear.

Bought a standard 10in bastard file, 1in spring clamp and a simple corner brace for a file guide for edging along with a whetstone for deburring. Granted, at the current time I am just polishing a turd with my current skis, they are basically beyond repair in the big picture but I have a big riding weekend coming up so why not throw whatever edge I can get on there and give em a hot wax?

Then I took quite possibly the funniest / most intense self portrait with a timer I have ever taken. Somehow it framed up in a very dramatic fashion and the look on my face is classic, so intent. It's almost as if I'm sharpening the edges just with my gaze. Enjoy.