Shouldn't the term "waterproof" mean that the particular item designated as "waterproof" will have an indefinable resistance to water? Today was my first really long day riding out in a raining North Bay area. It was also the first day to try-out some of my new foul-weather clothing. My Pearl Izumi AmFib booties and Castelli rain jacket.
After about an hour into riding in the storm I was soaked to the bone. I would have been just as well off wearing a big cotton sweatshirt and had scarves wrapped around my feet. How much fucking my money do I have to spend to stay dry and still be able to breath through my clothing? Where is that technology? Can't science spare a few of the AIDS and Cancer researchers and put them to work keeping me dry for 4 hours?
My Fondriest has been decommissioned. After riding it for about 6 months, I believe I am ready to sell it. It was a great frame, but it never seemed to "do" anything special for me. It was as if I never noticed the bike was underneath me. It cornered on rails, was extra plush on my butt and had a rock solid bottom bracket. However I never felt any personal connection to the frame. It was like this foreign thing that I would ride on for hours a day. All the while, it didn't like me and I didn't like it. I sound insane but the Fondriest just didn't have any love. Or it could be that my stem was too long, cranks to short and saddle to gimmicky to ever enjoy the ride. Whatever the reason; the frame, stem, cranks and saddle have either sold or will be sold on eBay very soon. I am now looking forward to a new Sycip road frame for the 2004 season.
What does this all mean!? That ole' ''Morte Nero" (my CX bike) is now doing duty as my full time road bike. I spent almost 9 months training and racing on it this season, and now it is back. Just in time for some serious miles! Morte Nero is a bicylce frame that has love. Strangely enough, it cost about 1/4 of the Fondriest, is made entirely of bone jarring aluminum (even the damn fork), fits me a little small and handles pretty slow. But for some reason I really love riding it.
I don't like driving my car, so I commute almost everywhere by bicycle. I ride to the grocery store, to work, to the movies, and just about anywhere within a reasonable radius. As such, I end up riding home in the dark quite a bit. So to keep myself visible to traffic, I have this "hot-shit" expensive lighting system on my bike. The headlamp puts out a ridiculous amount of white light. I often have other cars flash their brights on me - as if I am blinding them. My taillight is rated to be even brighter than what you would find on an automobile. Both of these wonders of technology are connected to a single battery strapped to my downtube.
This all worked fine until I lost the adapter that links the taillight to the battery. It fell off during a ride or was stolen by a magical gnome, I have no fucking clue. But it has been gone for a month. I emailed the company to have them send me another one. Much to my surprise a part showed up in the mail, however it was the wrong adapter. So I emailed again to get the correct part. Apparently that wasn't OK. I somehow made the "shit-list" at the bicycle lighting factory.
