Le Tour

The Tour finished up it's ninth stage yesterday and these photos pretty much tell the story.  Chris Froome dominated stage 8, which was the first mountain stage of this year's race.  He had a lot of people saying that the tour was over and it kind of looked like it however with all the experienced racer's this year there is no way they'll give it in to him that easy. Sure enough, just as soon as stage 9 started the peloton started firing bullets and busted Team Sky all up.  I don't think they really hurt Froome however they let him know there is lots of racing to come.  Nobody expected to see Contador struggle like he did, especially when the climbs suited him, but maybe it was just a bad day.  My man Kreuziger had to tow him to the finish.  Kreuziger is one of those guys that rides really well when there is no pressure on him. Valverde looks better than I expected.  He's definitely a great rider but he hasn't really been that impressive at the Tour over the past years.  Lots of racers only race good in their own country and I think that its pretty common with the Spanish.  However it never bothered Indurain and it doesn't seem to bother Contador too much either, but who wouldn't rather be in their own country, especially if its Spain.  Most people in the world would rather be in Spain.  Valverde has won stages of the Tour but he always seemed to falter sooner or later in the mountains and he's never that good in the time trial. I've often wondered why because I would think he'd be strong in it.  He appears to have a good team and if he can tap into the Valverde of last year's Vuelta then he could be dangerous.  I would imagine that he and Contador will collaborate to break Froome.  I'm gonna shut up now because I feel like this post isn't telling you anything more than you already know.  I probably should have just posted something more along these lines:

Froome looked unbeatable.  Contador looked terrible. Valverde has a team and a plan.  Andy Schleck will try to get a stage win. There is still lots of racing to go.  There, thats better.

I hope Contador finds his legs to make it a more interesting race, or Valverde, or even and outsider.  That would really make it fun.  Chris Froome seems to be a likeable enough guy so if he wins I'll be happy for him but I know Contador is brewing inside.  Froome has been riding at 100% all year long.  Is it possible that he could get a little tired going into the last week of this race?  Hmmm.

I'm gonna try to get myself a road bike built up in the next couple of weeks.  Its my old S3 frame and I'm giving it a makeover.  Also Anthony Moat's frame is getting close to being finished as well. I'm just waiting on some seat lugs to get here and then it'll be ready to paint. I have a bear picture.  "What?" Yeah, just as soon as I can figure out this friggin scanner.  I'm miserable with computers.  Sometimes I can't even believe I have a blog.  Thanks for stopping by.

Skewer on Contador's Tour de France Specialized

The coolest thing about the skewers on Contador's bike is that they double as a toothpick.

Mad Fiber Wheel Test

Mad Fiber wheels have been out for quite a while now and i've watched a couple of videos regarding them.  They always appear to be very well built, almost bullet-proof wheels however you don't see them being used much.  What's up?  Might be the $3000 price tag.

Helpful Bike Tips from Velonews

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/06/video/ask-a-mechanic-cleaning-and-lubing-shifters_292385

I'm amazed and ashamed that in all the years, not to mention the grungy weather and muck, that I have been riding with brake/shifter levers I have never once lubed them.  Hey, what can I say, they're Campy.

1905 Roberts Inboard

Alright, finally got the video uploaded.  Its short but sweet.  Enjoy!

1905 Roberts Inboard Motor Restored by Bob Davis

This is a 1905 Roberts inboard motor that my friend Bob Davis has fully restored for someone.  He just finished it up the other day and while I was at his shop the other day he did a trial run to make sure everything was working.  It works.  He primed it with a little gas and using an air drill gave the flywheel (if thats what it is?) a couple of turns and it fired right up.  It has this really deep slow idle that just sounds really cool.  Not sure if its supposed to have a muffler on it or not.  I got a really cool video clip of the whole thing however for some reason I can't get it to upload onto Blogger.  There may be another way so I'll keep trying.  Anyway, I know this blog is mainly about bicycles but when I get the chance to show something interesting I'll take it.  Bob Davis is one of those people that you're lucky if you meet in a lifetime.  His depth and knowledge of a lifetime of work in machining metals is second to none.  His machine shop is practically a museum.  To prove it I took these photos.  Every once in a while you meet a man...well, just check out the pics.

This be Bob Davis.  Probably the most famous person in Mountain Home but also known all over the world for his motorcycle building skills.

This is a 1930 Aerial.  Ever seen anything like this?  I doubt it.  This is really hard to comprehend however Bob just told me yesterday that there are only two, yeah 2, of these in the world.  One is in England and the other is right here.  Is that possible?  Its still hard for me to grasp.

This would be your view if you were so lucky as to ride or even sit on such a bike.  I have never touched it.  He wouldn't mind if I did however I have no business touching a bike like this as I don't even fully understand all of its beauty, but I try.  I'm a motocrosser.  That little Aerial trademark/head badge reminds me of Don Quixote.

I've posted a pic of this one before.  I think maybe this is an Indian.  I forget. Yes, it says it right on the gas tank.  

Moto Guzzi.  Gotta love anything with the name Moto in it.

One of his old passtimes.

I would imagine these posters are pretty rare.

This is not Bob here but it is the guy that he bought the Aerial from.  Now the guy keeps calling Bob wanting to buy it back but Bob keeps saying, "No, no, no."  Bob told me what the guy was offering and what he thought he could get however I'm gonna keep that silent because its not my business to be sharing.

"Hit the road Jack, and don't you come back, no more, no more, no more, no more..."

Just a few awards that he's received over the years.

This is his shop.  I probably should've taken some more pictures of some of his older machinery but I didn't want to look like a picture-taking fool, but there is alot of stuff in this shop.  If you enlarge the photo and just sort of scan around you can get an idea of what it looks like on every square foot of this shop.  Stuff is everywhere up to the ceiling.  I think he told me once that there is like 80 tons of machines and tools in this little shop.

This is just a milling machine but it has cut some really unique parts for people all over the world. It has made quite a few MEECH custom parts along with the lathe sitting next to it.  People come to Bob from all over asking him to make BMW motorcycle parts and any others that they can't find.  Most of the stuff that he shows me I really have no idea of how original it is but its more original that a one-off custom bicycle frame.  It hurts me to say that but sometimes the truth hurts.  Did I mention that Bob plays the bagpipes?

I really wish I could get the video uploaded.  It only ran for a few seconds but it was really cool to see something run that had basically been pulled out of the grave and completely rebuilt to its original state from 108 years ago, it was probably even better.  I'll keep trying to get it on here.  I may post it on YouTube.  

Thanks for checking things out.

Tour de France Contenders

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/10144509/Tour-de-France-2013-the-incredible-rise-of-Chris-Froome-and-how-he-was-almost-killed-by-a-hippo.html

Chris Froome has won just about everything so far this year but its the Tour that he wants.  After reading the story above he appears to be a pretty tough dude.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/exclusive-alberto-contador--i-can-foil-chris-froome-on-tour-de-france-8673812.html

You can bet your gonna see alot of this in the mountains.

It appears as though Little Al has something on his mind here. I just included this photo to show how determined Alberto Contador can be.  If both of these guys can stay upright and avoid accidents, Contador and Froome that is, this could be one of the hardest fought tours ever.  Sounds like both of these guys have really strong teams and thats what is gonna make these guys rise above the others.

Even though Contador and Froome are considered the main protagonists in this year's race its only fair to say there are many rider's that are gonna win stages and its not fair to just omit them.  I'm guessing the main contenders aren't gonna let Rodriguez or Valverde get too far up the road and it wouldn't be too hard to imagine Cadel Evans on the podium either.  Andy's back.  I don't figure he'll be a threat to the overall but with some good legs he could mess things all up in the mountains, afterall he's got nothing to lose.  Get ready for the 100th edition of the Tour de France.  Hope its a good one. Enjoy!

meech

Anthony Moat's Custom Cross Frame

Here are a couple of pics of Anthony's frame cut and in place waiting on a little tack.  Most all this work has been done for a while however I had to do an emergency paint job for Jonathan Ruiz,a friend/customer, in order to get him back on the road race scene.  Anyway, Anthony has been super-patient and I'm not gonna touch another frame until this one is finished up for him.  Anthony had one of my earlier frames that was displayed in a Poppa Wheelies Bike Shop in Russelville, Arkansas.  Its a very nice frame but it was just a bit too large for Anthony and after contemplating making some changes to it we just worked out a custom deal and I'm gonna build him one made especially for him.  Its a cross between a cross frame and a gravel road racer, basically a cross frame with straight stays.  Hopefully I'll be getting the torch out here in a couple of hours and tacking this thing together and then I can finish it up and get ready to paint again. Thanks for checking things out.  

This is Anthony hard at play.  This was a race here last fall in I believe Little Rock.  I think they may have a gotten a few unexpected inches of rain.  

Thanks for all the patience Anthony.

Bicycle Tour of Colorado

This is Scott Taylor, an old riding buddy of mine that I met way back when we were in college.  He and I and a couple of roommates of his were always hanging out on our bikes.  We were notorious for doing nighttime rides, no lights either.  Despite moving and getting married and all those things that can change your life we're both still riding pretty regular, and Scoot (nickname because he's fast) is an avid rider of the annual Bicycle Tour of Colorado. I went with him about 3-4 years ago and it was a bicycle trip of a lifetime.  We've had some good ones in the past.  One of the most memorable was roughly 10 years ago when he called me up out of the blue and wanted to take a road trip to Taos, New Mexico.  When we arrived, Scoot had booked us a stay at an out of town hostel/campground called the Abominable Snow Mansion.  So we walk in the front door and a cloud of "freakin weird" just slaps us in the face.  Couldn't really put your finger on it but it just felt weird.  There were a handful of people just sort of laying around all over the place and it was kinda dark and dingy.  If you've ever seen the movie "A River Runs Through It" and you remember that scene where Brad Pitt, his brother, and their dates walk into that old card shack/bar and everyone just sort of stops what they're doing and starts staring at them, well it sort of felt like that.  So no big deal, we get our key and go to our room.  Everyone that we'd meet would tell us they had been there a couple of months.  They would all hang out outside under tents and canopies, some dude would be rolling up little bails of incense to sell, and another dude was making a pair of gloves out of yarn, and just stuff like that all day long.  The dude that was making gloves told me that he had been living there for, yeah you guessed it, a couple of months, and that he was just making gloves and selling them to get by.  So I asked him how much they sold for and he kindly told me around $50, so then I asked him how long it'd take him to make me a pair and he told me about a month.  "What? A month?"  Do the math on that one and see what you come up with.  Something is funny here.  Oh well, its interesting to meet all kinds but there was one morning that I didn't much care for.  I was walking out to the truck one morning and in the backyard of this place it had all these tipis that you can rent.  I noticed out back behind one of them there is this fat little indian-looking boy with a bow and arrow and he's chasing this cat around and then he took a shot at it.  He missed it luckily but then he ran and grabbed his arrow and started trying to sneak up on it again.  I could tell the cat was sketched out by this freaky little indian and so I picked up a rock and right about the time he was taking aim I hurled the rock at these garbage cans close by and rattled his nerves a little. He never even saw me and that was good because I wanted him to know what it felt like to have someone  hunting you.  Hopefully the cat made a clean get away.  You know if an indian is fat that is strike one right there.  Whoever heard of a fat indian?  Anyway, the trip was interesting and we got a couple of good rides in not to mention we climbed some mountain out there, on foot that is. Nightmare!

Check this farm out and see what you think.   Check out the video.

http://www.snowmansion.com/Lodging.html

So back to the photo.  The photo above is Scott at the top of Independence pass I do believe.  I rode up this one the year I went with him.  I believe this is the one that they did in the Tour of Colorado, or the Pro Tour Challenge I think is what they call it, a couple of years ago and it turns into hardpack dirt for the last few miles.  I posted a pic with Andy Schleck and some others laying it down.  Its a killer climb.  Scoot has been riding a MEECH for 2-3 years now and you can see he's sporting some Team MEECH colors.  Thanks for the photo Scott!  Wish I was there with you guys.

This is Scoot's frame.  Is that green or what?  This frame has about three Bicycle Tours of Colorado on it.  Scoot has been a MEECH supporter since the beginning and he's a blast to hang out with.  Thanks for riding a MEECH!

Here is another photo of Scoot from a couple of years ago.  Sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate to well in the mountains.  This photo won't enlarge for some reason.  Enjoy.

Check These Out

http://caw-designs.com/