this year I road a steel track bike for my 500km. Fixed gear, brakeless, geared at a respectable 49x15 I turned the cranks 73,188 times in 6 days to complete the challenge. My beautiful bike was built by an underground frame builder in 1998 named Joe Starck while he worked in Bill Holland's shop in east county. The best way to describe Joe is he is an Artesian. He only put out badass work. The frame is literally perfect. I purchased the frame from a riding buddy's son who had it custom made. The paint job matches his custom road bike and I have taken quite a liking to the Emerald Green track machine. The frame is made of three different varietys of Columbus steel. Selected for weight and strength; the top tube and downtube are oversized but also the thinnest tubes I've ever ridden and the chain stays are the most robust. There is 1mm of tire clearance on either side of the 700x24c Specialized Turbo Cotton Tyres that are mounted to a Miche Pistard TR wheels. Turning the wheels is a Miche Primato crankset and a gold KMC 710sl chain. The Deda Velocidad handlebars weigh a little less than the frame does, but gives the light frame some front end stability.
This is the third year I have done the Strava challenge : Rapha Festive 500. Two years ago I did most of the mileage in 3 big rides. Last year I got sick and didn't complete the mileage and this year I decided to just be consistent and chip at the distance everyday with my track bike. 73,000 pedal strokes, no brakes, on 49x15 ratio. I love this challenge and am looking forward to the next one too! Enjoy! I think that one of the best parts about this challenge is that it makes me my day off rides more of an adventure, I dedicate more hours this week to riding than most of my other training weeks. I quite enjoy pedaling without a destination. I've been caught thinking every afternoon about where exactly I am going to ride the next the morning. I always start by going north and go with the flow. At 347/500km I was planning my next day to crank out 80-100km (turned out to be 115km) leaving a little more mileage to squeak out Friday hoping to finish before the weekend. The forecast said rain so I layered up: base layer, jersey, bibs, leg warmers, wind shell, shoe covers, neck gaiter, loaded commuter backpack and commuted 33km in a downpour to get 495km/500km so leaving just 5k to go I finished easily with a wet commute home that afternoon but this time by taking the ferry instead of pedaling the 30km around the bay again the bike this year I road a steel track bike for my 500km. Fixed gear, brakeless, geared at a respectable 49x15 I turned the cranks 73,188 times in 6 days to complete the challenge. My beautiful bike was built by an underground frame builder in 1998 named Joe Starck while he worked in Bill Holland's shop in east county. The best way to describe Joe is he is an Artesian. He only put out badass work. The frame is literally perfect. I purchased the frame from a riding buddy's son who had it custom made. The paint job matches his custom road bike and I have taken quite a liking to the Emerald Green track machine. The frame is made of three different varietys of Columbus steel. Selected for weight and strength; the top tube and downtube are oversized but also the thinnest tubes I've ever ridden and the chain stays are the most robust. There is 1mm of tire clearance on either side of the 700x24c Specialized Turbo Cotton Tyres that are mounted to a Miche Pistard TR wheels. Turning the wheels is a Miche Primato crankset and a gold KMC 710sl chain. The Deda Velocidad handlebars weigh a little less than the frame does, but gives the light frame some front end stability. I noticed on day 3 of the challenge that the added mileage is starting to take a toll on my equipment. Riding in less than ideal conditions there was mud on the seattube and the chain was pretty grimey. On day 5 I had to ride in a downpour that cleaned all the dirt off my bike but made my drive train very sad and actually filled my back wheel completely with water. Water was bleeding out of the spoke nipples so I spun the wheel to hear a slosh sound, to let it all out faster I unmounted the tire and unleashed atleast 12oz of water. I have been taggin my pics with #fixed500 #raphafestive500 because I think I am the only one who did all 500km on a fixed gear trackbike without brakes. Thanks for reading!
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Who is bojac?My whole life revolves around the two wheeled human power multiplier that is the bicycle. My name is Jacob Abrantes, better known as Bojac (an anagram for Jacob) I am 27 years old and I ride bicycles in San Diego, California. I have been commuting, no joke, since I was 4 years old. Now as an adult, bicycles are my life. I try to ride as much as I can, my favorite place to train is Mount Soledad in La Jolla. I try to foster cycling in everyone that I meet, almost everyday I make another rider out of an ordinary person. Cycling is my therapy; my bike is my therapist. Bikes saved my life and gave me a purpose. Bicycles can save the world. blah blah blah lets ride! Archives
September 2018
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