Powder and Lotion

Yes, it may be a referral to massage parlors and sauna baths (hmmm, that may be a good post-ride idea!)...but in my case, it was my bike that needed some post-ride pampering...

Earlier today, Polly, Jay and I rode in Sta. Rosa - and we all agreed on an early take off time of 730am. I woke up early enough, and had half a mind to wear tights, instead of my normal bib shorts, underneath my baggies. The weather's been pretty cool lately too. A quick peek outside my window for a weather check (ala groundhog), and spotted a glimmer of sunlight. Nah, real men don't wear tights hehe

The farther I drove south, the greyer the skies were. In fact, by the time I parked at Paseo, it was drizzling pretty strongly. Got out of the car to unrack Spanky, and darnit, it was chilly and breezy too! I should've worn tights.

Polly and Jay arrived soon after and we pushed off - the drizzle stopped and we had perfect riding conditions, that is, until we hit the 3nd climb of what they call "cardiac hill". It seems that land development has started to creep into the familiar trails here. What was once a dirt-road climb has now been widened by bulldozers - not a big problem really, but our concern is that since the construction company had NOT steamrollered the soil to compact it, it all turns into a muddy mess when it starts to rain. And so it did when we hit the third climb. I should've worn tights.

We took a breather at the bukohan and that's when the skies really opened up. We decided to just stick to the main trails as most of the plantation dirt roads would either be too muddy or rutted to ride through. We resumed riding when the rain stopped, whilst the fog came rolling in. Nice! (sorry no photos of that - too much moisture in the air ya know).

We bombed down the fire road, headed for Duck Trail, and I was all over the place for some strange reason. Steering wasn't as responsive as I remember and I was getting a free arm workout thanks to the rocky descent. Before cutting into duck trail I decreased my tire pressure a bit, which seemed to help my traction woes.




Yes, Jay, the sun is out.

Halfway through Duck I got stuck in a rut - literally. I had to bail to the left, slo-mo style. Got a bruised shin for my trouble and I was puzzled as to why the Monkey was going all squirrelly on me. Hmmm. Not even tights could've changed that bit.

After the ride I decide to do some maintenance on the bike:

1) swap tires from my Kenda Klaw XTs to my Maxxis Ignitors
Hence the powder - it helps stop the inner tube from sticking to the tire casing. Also:

2) Suss out that damn slow leak in my rear tire
Finally found the culprit - a smaller-than-a-needle sized sliver of something was causing the leak.

3) Take care of that dry saddle
Wet rides and getting sun dried is hell on leather saddles, and my old WTB still has a few years left on it. Hell, it's got titanium rails too. So I slather on some lotion to get it back to its softness, and add some leather conditioner for good measure. Decided to grease the seatpost too...but

4) Siezed seatpost!
It won't come off! Try as I might, it wouldn't budge. Good thing my bro has a spray that helps loosen siezed bolts and stuff. A spritz and a few minutes later, I got the bugger off. Note to self: never use lithium grease (the white stuff) anywhere on the bike.

5) Figure out handling gremlins
I think I got that sorted out too. It seems I over-compensated and rotated the bars downwards too much after my close encounter during the last ride - funny how a degree or two can affect a bike's handling.

So the bike's tip-top, well, mechanically at least. That's alright, coz tomorrow, I'm getting all intimate on it with some Bike Lust.