preparing the thunder

Three days until dirty dozen time. I can not freaking wait.


With the big day in the paved hills so close at hand, yesterday I rode down to Probikes to put the finishing touches on the Poo Poo Thunder II.


I have the road tires mounted up, but sadly I could only use one of my checkered wheels. The front wheel had no braking surface, and while that never bothered me during cross races, I'm thinking that the ability to stop will be nice in the city. I might still throw a V brake on the front, but otherwise, the Thunder is ready for fixed gear domination:

From Drop Box

Wide bars, Ergons, huge bar ends, and half a roll of hokey tape. Whats not to love? I'm hoping that the massive amounts of leverage I get from this set up will delay the inevitable fatigue of my upper body.

From Drop Box

The brand new 20t cog is screwed on and the 39X20 feels easy spinning around my house. I doubt it will feel easy after a couple soul crushing hills.

But immeasurably more important than the gear ratio is the new chain:

From Drop Box

Tim has one of these beasts on his commuter, and he assured me that it was "SUPER freakin BOMBER!" I needed an 1/8" chain anyway, and with an endorsement like that, how could I resist? So even though it weighs over a pound, I exclaimed "Well what the hells I say!" and installed the 1/2" Extreme Duty BMX chain. If the Dirty Dozen isn't extreme duty, I'm not sure what is.

For comparisons sake, my dainty 8 speed chain next to the new hunk of linked steel:

From Drop Box

I'll admit that I've only broken one SS chain in my riding life, but pedaling a motorcycle chain should trick my scrawny legs into thinking they are more powerful than they actually are.

I know I should probably just sleep for the next few days, but I think I'm going to go run a Turkey day 5k tomorrow. After 6 run-free months I'm curious to see if my legs are still capable of doing something other than pedaling circles.