The Chopper v3.0? v4.0? I dont even know anymore

okay first a little history on 'The Chopper'. Arguably started as a Specialized FSR full suspension back in 2000 then changed out to a lighter Jamis Durango hardtail in '01. Many of the parts carried over to the new frame. Some, due to compatibility issues, did not. Hence the beginning of its hybrid, frankenstein, chopped up existence.

It had been upgraded over the years continuing the bastardization until finally after repeated manglings of my rear dérailleur i converted it to a jerry rigged single speed (many zipties were used).

It has been recently retired from regular MTB use when i 'upgraded' to a rigid 29er for my race bike. It has been hanging in my basement dormant ever since....and I'm not gonna let the Chopper go out like that. I have recently been introduced to a 'go anywhere, no terrain is unridable, cyclocross-ish' group ride that has the Chopper's name ALLLLLLL OVER IT.

ITS ALLLLIIIIIIIIVVVEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

EFTA #1 Glocester Grind

I came in last and finished 40 minutes behind the 'main group'.

BUUUUUT

I flatted twice and had to run the entire last lap because I was out of tubes. Translation: This race, all though it didnt go very well, demonstrated some promise for my title chances this year. The last lap alone took me 1 hour so I would have been right in the thick of things for sure.

First flat came about 2 miles into the first lap, I was sitting in about 5th or 6th( out of I think 10) having beaten some guys off the line. By that point I had put some time into them as well and I was feeling good. Adam had just caught me and I was going to try and hold his wheel as long as I could to put even more time into them and hopefully catch some people in front of me. Then my front tire went flat. probably took me 10 minutes to fix and i was passed by everyone.

Got back rolling and actually caught 2 of the SS'ers who had passed me while I was fixing my flat. which kind of amazed me because at that point I was sure i was screwed for the rest of the race. so mentally i was feeling pretty good, riding well. first lap took 40 minutes, second lap took 30 minutes, 3rd lap took about another 30-35 and right before the finish of my third lap my rear tire went flat. I was out of tubes and pretty pissed at this point because I was going so well, so in typical 'me' fashion i said screw it and started running. Running turned into walking and i pretty much ran/walked the entire last lap (5 miles). last lap took 1 whole hour and I finished in about 3 hours.

My main rival from last year came in 5th at 2h20m and if you do the math of my laps 40m - flat tire =30m + 30m + 35m + what im assuming probably would have been another 35-40m last lap - having to walk and im in at around 2h20m give or take. This is a dude who beat me by usually around 20 minutes last year.

so officially the race was shitty but promising.

Here is a pic of me I found on the interweb from the race (i believe its from my first lap right after my flat):

And the Huffy Sweepstake winner is....

Brian Moore! (aka Joseph Patrick Moore the Sixth)

There is no before picture because i didnt really change anything. Except for flipping the cruiser bars for that gnarly late 19th early 20th century look. Its an English built Huffy, probably mid to late 60's(?). I rebuilt the headset and the front hub because i think somewhere in this bikes past someone used glue instead of grease, but they are both working great now. This used to be a three speed (Sturmey-Archer rear hub) but it wasnt working right so I took the cable off and now it will just run as a single speed.

Brian will most likely get all the UNH girls while riding this around Durham, it is that bad ass.

SquamyBrew 1st Edition

In an effort to stay modern and relevant manarea.blogspot.com is diversifying. 'Custom' is the name of the game nowadays, I've applied it to bikes and now I'm giving it a try with beer. An epiphany at work turned into our first brew in about 2 weeks...pretty good turn around if I dont say so myself. Went with a basic starter kit and for the first brew we just bought a Pale Ale kit to get a feel for ingredients. ('we' = SquamyBrewing LLC. look for it on the NASDAQ under SQBR).

The actual 'first brew' went pretty well, i thought. Considering it was many of ours first foray back into chemistry/biology/cleanliness for a long while. No boil overs or other catastrophies. Transfering the wort to the carboy went well. Hopefully we were as 'clean' as we thought we were...only time will tell.

The picture below is brew day +21 hours.


Here we are at about brew day +45ish hours.

**UPDATE**
4/12 - Gina and I took another hydrometer reading and it came in at 1.010. I couldnt resist so I drank the beer we used to get the reading. Tasted like good beer gone warm, I was amazed.
alcohol content is a weird thing, the US does it different than everyone else (go figure). we do alcohol by weight and everyone else goes by volume. so right now our beer is 4.31% by weight and 5.49% by volume. typically yeast eating priming sugar will add another .5% during conditioning. which will put us around 4.8% by weight and 5.99% by volume all said and done.

SquamyBrew LLC has a bright future. c'mon

monoCOG

Finally finished my new race whip this weekend. I am 100% excited to find out how this thing rides. Built it up for just under $800 all said and done. I would spec it out like most people but nothing on this bike matches and much of it is custom rag tag 'frankenbike' built up stuff....The Chopper Reborn.

I think i might post race results and recaps here as well as my projects cause i think the 2-3 people who check this blog will probably enjoy my stories about trying to race a single speed bike (rigid no less) against guys who put, on average, 30-45 minutes into me last year.

Little do they know ive been watching a lot of MacGyver....


**UPDATE: So its been awhile and this bike has changed a bit. This pic sums up all the changes pretty well. Carbon bars and nice cushy Oury Grips to absorb more chatter while I was still riding rigid and the latest addition is a Marzocchi MX Comp 29er Fork....cause one season riding ironman is plenty believe you me. Already cant wait for next year.