Late Spring makeover

So every spring a addition of new parts to replace the old parts that have worn out is called for. Maybe in most sports gear is not as technical and does not require as much maintenance but this is cycling and we have to replace parts prior to them getting too old. New chain and cassette (so that they don't wear out the cranks), new tires (so they don't wear through and you get a bad flat), new handlebar tape (b/c the old stuff looks worn out). Same old drill as usual. I had been acquiring parts since Christmas and I was waiting to put them on.

New parts:
















My bike prior to the changes:

















It was the first time that I had tried to change my own cassette but I had seen it done and it was supposed to be easy. Well it would have been had my cassette not dug into the cassette body!!! Fortuatly thanks to Bluebonnet bikes for telling me what was going on and making me feel like I was not an idiot and then a trip to Bicycles Plus to pull off the cassette and put the new one on I was in business. Plus I got to drool on the wheels that I would love to have. After getting home and getting some real work done ( I am writing a paper) I was able to do a really good job cleaning my bike and getting the new stuff on.

The completed makeover:















So I had to get the grey/black tires b/c Performance was out of the red ones that look so much better with the bike but they were cheaper and I decided that for this year I could go with the grey/black ones!

Now the last of the makeover was completed by Sunday. Thanks to new hair clippers my hair is much shorter and the legs are back to looking like a real cyclist.


We did make it down to Dallas this last weekend to watch a few races at the Matrix crit. The races were very good and despite the heat the shaded sidewalks made watching the races a lot of fun. It did make me want to be out on the course racing myself! So now to work on getting back into racing shape and doing some real races!