Lollipop

I've been told it's called that because the route looks like a lollipop.

I mean, sorta

A few awesome coworkers and I set out on this ride since we had some nice weather this weekend, and it was such a beautiful ride that I'm aching to do it again!

Winding through the rolling hills, redwood forests and oyster laden shoreline, this 63 mile ride is truly some of the best that the north bay has to offer.  We started out bright and early in Fairfax, the birthplace of mountain biking, and began by climbing out of town to be greeted by miles of rollers through California redwoods.  The smell of the trees was just as refreshing as the cool air, and this was definitely my favorite part of the ride.

Just as we were coming out to the Point Reyes area, we stopped to fix a flat.  Something managed to hack all the way through a Gatorskin, so we did a quick fix until we could get some change to get a dollar bill patch.

While we were here, 16 Ferraris passed by.

Point Reyes Station is the first third mark for this ride, and also the location of a killer little coffee shop (and apparently some kind of Ferrari party).  I enjoyed a ginger scone with some local chai while the aforementioned dollar bill patch was successfully installed.

All local ingredients too!  I need to explore this town more.

Point Reyes gave way to a gorgeous winding coastline that went almost all of the way to Tomales Bay - we did pass a great little oyster bar that smelled amazing.  

Turning back inland, a climb known as Marshall Wall was my next challenge.  It's a tough climb, but there is a bit of a break in the middle to allow for a minute or two of rest before continuing up.  The views on the way up are worth it, and I had cows mooing at me along the way, which is not something I've ever encountered before on a ride. 

At the top!

We stopped briefly at the top to enjoy the view and shed some layers.

Some of the best riding buddies.

Dropping back down towards Novato, rolling hills and open farmland surrounded us.  Fields full of yellow flowers, roads with wide shoulders and few cars, lots of other friendly riders, and perfect weather - it was a picaresque, perfect way to see this part of the bay.  I kept wanting to stop and take pictures, but was too busy enjoying the ride.  

Eventually the route rejoined with the redwoods, and we rode the last few miles back to Fairfax.  

This ride has really sparked my desire to explore more of the north bay.  I think next time a pit stop at that oyster bar is definitely mandatory.

Booooooring

The past few weeks have been full of bicycle related goodness, but frankly it's been quite, well, boring.

Seriously - no nifty parts, no neat ride photos, not really much of anything other than paperwork and some phone calls.  My apologies for the lack of interesting content.  

Sometimes the boring stuff leads to something really good.  That's where it's going, I promise - it just takes some time to get there.   

"Snow"

I keep seeing all of these awesome looking wintry adventures on fat bikes, and admittedly, I'm pretty jealous.  

While I don't have any real snow to go riding through, I was greeted by a different sort of white covered ground on a ride this weekend.

If you squint it kinda looks like it could be snow.

Not only was the ground covered in petals, any sudden gust of wind made it seem like a blizzard was coming through.  It was very pretty, and only lasts for a short time each year, so I was glad to get out and enjoy it! 

I'm still trying to see if there's a way I could get up to Tahoe for the weekend to actually get a legitimate fat bike experience before the season is over.  It just looks like so much fun! 

Another Takhion for Sale

I'm a bit late to the game, but it's still available!

Link to the eBay listing.

Rear disc sadly not included.

If I recall correctly, I've seen this bike posted before with the BB cutout and the serial number.  What a beautiful color, too! 

Tapped Out

It was a bit of a chore, but after a good re-tapping and facing this Takhion finally got the bottom bracket installed!

A great BB on a beautiful BB shell. 

It seemed like the issue was just too much paint gummed up in the threads, which was no problem for Tom at Velotech to tackle with his Campy Italian taps.  I also got to see a really cool bottom bracket tool that I'd only ever seen online:

This one is made by Stein.  I definitely have to find one of these.

The Vintage Suntour Superbe Pro BB feels great, and now that it's been successfully installed the next step is the wheelset.  Looks like I've got some lacing ahead of me...

In Pursuit of Pursuits

For as rare as handlebar-attached-to-fork style bikes are, I often feel as if the specialized pursuit handlebars made for them are even rarer.  I've seen a few Takhion, Rossin, and Textima frames, but I'd guess for every three frames I've come across online or in person, I've only seen one pair of these bars.  

That silhouette.

At first glance they look like normal pursuit bars, but then you realize the angles don't quite match - instead of a drop there's a rise that gives a distinct silhouette to the beautiful bikes that adorned them.  

This set of 3TTT Moscow bars is in impeccable shape - not NOS, but perhaps only used in a race or two before being shelved somewhere.  My guess would be they were mounted on a Rossin pursuit frame like this one at some point in time, though the lack of marks on the clamp area makes me wonder if they were ever mounted at all.  

Москва!

Even more interesting is that 3TTT Moscow bars came in two styles - the typical pursuit and the rarer pursuit style pictured above.  3TTT's style is much more angular than the Takhion bars, and with a dark grey anodizing gives a bit of a harsher look to whatever bike it is mounted on.  

Better get those bar ends made...

It is a bit puzzling that in my experience the bars have been so much more rare than their respective bikes, and I have to wonder why.  Were these as custom as each of the bikes they were paired with, like the Takhion bars?  Were they difficult to produce for whatever reason?  Could they not be ordered in just any bike shop? 

Either way, they're a fascinating piece of cycling history, and another item on my list of what I'm always seeking!