In my previous post I was pretty damn sure of myself. Over the last couple days, after comparing those numbers with bikes I already have I’m a little less sure. The top tube length, specifically, is giving me pause. So while I may be able to stand over the bike, I’m not entirely sure my hands are going to hit the bars once I’m in the saddle.

I ended up back at the tape measure today and fine tuned a couple variances I found. A few mm here, a few cm there and I got some new numbers. These numbers give me a top tube closer to what I think is realistic. Maybe I should stop screwing around with this.

The above is what I’ve managed to come up with as a basic blueprint of my frame. This is based off 8 measurements I did in AccuFit and various other calculations I did from some existing bikes I have. AccuFit spits out some solid numbers around seat tube angles, top tube length and seat tube length. From those 3 it’s fairly easy to figure out the rest in BikeCAD. There was a lot of trial and error, I did around 2 or 3 frames before I figured out where I was making some math mistakes. The above frame is pretty close being correct. When you’re done the stand-over height is a good indicator as to whether you did all of your calculations right. Even a few cm off in key areas will throw the whole thing off. My initial design came out with a stand-over of around 36″ which was clearly wrong and sent me back to AccuFit and the tape measure.

I’ll probably fuss around with this a bit more, but I’m pretty confident the above is close enough that I’ll only need to do some fine tuning once out at UBI with the help of the instructors.

I’m a few weeks away from the trip and still am a little unsure what I’m doing. I’ve considered a road bike, another mountain bike, a cx bike, the list goes on. Today I’m pretty set on a CX style bike, something good for long gravel rides or places maybe a full blown mountain bike is overkill, something I could also slap some skinny tires on and do some epic touring on.

I bought AccuFit today to help figure out some measurements and frame geometry stuff. I’d like to go into UBI with a pretty solid idea that just needs fine tuning and a final set of drawings. Plan on using it to fine tune the fit on a couple other bikes as well.

Component wise I’m also pretty unsure, pretty much SRAM vs Campy. I love my Campy setup on the Traitor, but Greg at Reser was also selling me on SRAM today. Thinking Chris King hubs laced to some HED C2′s as a wheel-set. I’d like to keep the weight down on it, even though its going to be a steel frame.

Logged the pre-ride on my Garmin

pushing myself a bit harder this weekend when it comes to avg speed. usually if i chug along close to 15mph i’m happy, this week trying to push it up to around 20+ and also sustain that in climbs.

some observations -

• i’m probably just as absurd on my steel bike and rapha jersey as the guys in full team garmin kit are on their cf wonder bikes
• the high humidity was actually nice this weekend, ask me again when temps hit 90+
•  the traitor is in dire need of an overhaul/tune-up, especially after the soaking it took on the way home
• the headwinds make up for the lack of challenge the flat terrain is along the shores of lake erie

Other notes-

• road endurance does not equal trail endurance, by any stretch of the imagination.
• the Yeti can be a lot of bike and at times I feel like the 29″ wheels are a little too large for some of the more technical trails I ride. pretty awesome on long rolling singletrack
• I got around 5 miles in today (forgot to start the gps during one ride). 5 tough miles with a couple breaks, which makes me wonder how I’ll handle 9 miles in Nashville

1. a windy 35 degrees is cold no matter how sunny it is
2. i still have some weak spots in my cold weather riding wardrobe
3. my lack of regular riding over the winter has worn away whatever endurance i had
4. i find a 9 mile mtb race somewhat intimidating (see #3)
5. city riding probably doesn’t prepare you for much