Magic *and* Tragic

As a self confessed gear whore, I spend an inordinate amount of time mewling and hand-wringing over gear selection.  Two ways too.  Selection for purchase and selection per outing.


As such I thought I'd share a bit of magic and a bit of tragic of late.


The Magic:
Loeffler Colibri Überhose.


Really. read that twice if you need to.  Überhose.  With a name like that you just KNOW you're headed for the top box of the podium.  Ok, so you're probably not wearing rain pants if you're racing, but hell, we all need a little more umlaut in our lives.

I've had a pair of these Goretex cycling overpants for almost a decade, during which they've seen loads of saddle time on tours, long spring & fall rides and they're still going strong. They're getting a bit fuzzy beyond the edge of the reinforced seat where the saddle abrades the fabric a bit but so far they're still 100% intact, waterproof, breathable and THIS is were they excel over anything else I've seen.
They are really light and super packable,  like maybe it'll rain, I'll just throw them in a jersey pocket light.  Cause they are so packable they will actually fit in one jersey pocket without poking out the top.  At a little under 250g they're comparable weight to regular tights.


The legs are slightly long so they manage to cover the tops of shoes and keep them covered without bunching up around the cranks. The adjustable cuffs keep them from flapping around too much or getting hung up on anything and they're way comfortable.


Deadly magic.


Down side.  Nearest place I know to get them is Munich.  or München if you wanna get all Deutsch sprache over it.  They are aus Österreich after all.


Still, follow the link above through to the Loeffler  site and maybe it'll come up with something more local to you.


The Tragic:
Sidi mega dominators


I'm on my second pair of these shoes now.  The first were warrantied because the sole started peeling away from the upper.  ..or vice versa.  anyway.  I chose them initially because they have a great reputation, lots of people I know love them.  They fit me really well, comfortable and are reasonably stiff.
Pretty good mix of capabilities. (I have a hard foot to fit well so not too many shoes fit well)
The cons are that the buckles,  while they do make for a very secure fit that can be cinched up without losing so much as a pedal stroke can get fouled with debris and make getting the shoe off nearly impossible.
This can be really bothersome if you're fighting off leg cramps at the end of a ride and have to contort yourself to get the buckles to behave as they're supposed to.
Another down side is that the soles have really poor traction.  They look a mean game with an aggressive tread, but I swear they're made of congealed vaseline.   Slick like snot on a door knob.  Not so great around here where it's a lot of exposed Canadian shield and mud.


Still, so far the pros outweigh the listed cons for me.   Until this:




This is the second pair I've had this happen to.
Its not shown in the photo, but the retension plate for the screw in studs is floating around in there loose because it's opened up that far back.


poo.


This happened in a little over one year of riding mixed road and mtb.


Absolutely Tragic.

Magic or Tragic?

Its just come to my attention that the venerable Phil Wood bicycle co. has released a  limited edition track hub set.

24k gold plated.

Yeah. I'm not shitting you. real gold..  

on hubs.
for sale via a few select stores.

Holy crap.   Words barely convey how ridiculous I think this horror show is.  
(You're welcome to disagree via the little x to the right of the browser tab)
 I just lost some respect for Phil Wood bicycle co. **   for what appears to me as a vain, ego driven ploy to create a status symbol "collectible" by taking a mature fully developed product and making it stupid expensive and elitist simple by adding an expensive commodity as a coating.   The product is otherwise unchanged but for coming in a different colour is suddenly loads more expensive.

nice.

..this further offends my inner weight weenie, as gold is known for several things, and light isn't one of them.

**(not enough to prohibit me from selecting a Phil Woods Ti square taper bottom bracket, mind you, were I to be in the market for one but that decision is would be driven by a rational assessment of the equipment vs. any aesthetic or status symbol consideration)

note: currently there seems to be no information on the Phil Wood site regarding these. (perhaps they're embarrassed?) but they can be seen here,  and here.  ..is it too early for April fools?!

Winnie the pooh eats Salsa Dos Niner,

Last Thurs I stopped by Phat Moose just to see the boys.  Nothing really specific in mind but was in the area and hadn't seen the guys in forever.  Good times, of course we talked about bikes and bike stuff and whats new and more bike stuff etc.
I mentioned I was doing the Wakefield, Phillipe loop the next day and in a separate conversation later I was expressing an interest in the whole 29'r thing.  Before you know it without even asking I'm all kitted up with their super sweet Salsa Dos Niner for my ride!   Magic! Those guys are diamonds, the pair of em'.  Thanks guys!

So stoked!  The weather was calling for more cold and meh, and I was doing the ride just to get out and enjoy the rugged isolation of the parc before it gets all snowy and cushy likes.  (it's super beautiful now with all the leaves down, you get to see all the exposed ridges, ravines, outcroppings etc. that are usually obscured by leaves or snow. Striking difference)
And, having a chance to demo new equipment suddenly brought a whole new element of woo-hoo! to the ride.  Even better, it was set up with 1x9 which is something I've been considering as a destination when all my 8spd IG cassettes finally get pooched  (and are irreplaceable).

So, I got to run my first proper ride on a 29'r and also test out whether I dig the 1x9 as a next step from 2x8.
Awesome!

Unfortunately, with all the cool temps and rain we've been having the ground was mega saturated and really slow.  Some sections had a deep sopping wet carpet of leaves too so it was really mucky and slow.  The DosNiner did climb really really well though.  Even on thick matted soggy leaves on top of rock it never had any trouble hooking up.
The bike was set up with Continental Mountain King tires 2.4 front, and I think 2.2 on back running 28psi in both.  I would have liked to have run a higher volume tire in the back but Kent explained that the flattened stays of the Dos Niner softtail  was just a bit tight for the Mountain King 2.4 so it got the 2.2 as it was on hand.  Fair enough.   I'm pretty sure if it were mine to setup for my self I'd put something a little larger with low rolling resistance in the back.  ..but it was run watcha brung time so I got on with it as it was.

As said the bike hooked up on the climbs really well and when I picked bad lines up mossy rocks to test it out it would only rarely break loose, but in a really predictable way.  Nothing explosive so very manageable.
Really when it came down to it, the climbs and descents were the most enjoyable riding.  Anything approaching level ground was so sodden that it bogged down the tires with suction and made for loads more work and slower going than it should have been.
Descending on the Dos Niner was fantastic. Very confidence inspiring and despite the wet leaves on rocks and loose gravel  I was letting it run fast into sweeper corners without feeling like I was getting close to the limit.  That was nice.   The bike felt wonderfully stable and even on a couple occasions where it started to drift a bit it still felt safe.
I did have trouble with working the bike under me though.   Normally I move the bike around under me a lot and pop water bars without much thought or effort but I never got the timing or weight transfer sorted out for that sort of play on the Dos Niner.   Maybe just needs more time to acclimatise or maybe it's an inherent trade off for the stability and other aspects that the bike excels at.   Dunno. More time will tell I suppose, but I did miss being able to work the bike around under me.
The timing issue finally caught up to me on one of the downs closing in on Wakefield where I drove the rear wheel into the backside of a water bar and shredded the tube.  oops.

I only had a 26" tube with me too, but it stretched out ok with only a modicum of cursing and a couple pinched fingers.
This happened on the cleanest, fastest section of trail too.  oh, well. It wasn't raining and all went well.

The rest of the ride was uneventful in a peaceful, isolated kind of way.  I had the whole parc to myself it seemed, and added bonus the rain held off so it was really quite nice despite it being 2 degrees and overcast.
I did however run completely out of steam towards the end due to not being as diligent about taking in calories as my current fitness would warrant.  I used to be able to get away with being a bit lax on nutrition for a 4hr ride but these days, not so much.  not yet.
<- During happy engergetic
But, it felt great to spend the day on the Salsa turn myself inside out and leave it all on the trail.
Thanks again to the guys at the Moose for the loan of their ride and also mucho apologies for returning it in the state it was. Yucky mucky!   After happy dead ->

Winnie the poo day two.

The plans for this coming Friday were to do another Gats loop as per my last post.  ..a "gettem' while you can" kinda thing, but I'm thinking now maybe I'll do it a bit different.
I read up on the Tall Trees Rides Double Cross thingy that went down this past Sunday and while I was a bit envious, I was making a totally bitchin' Thomas the Train three level track system (!!) with the wee man so it was a day very well spent.   I don't have a cross bike anyway, and am slow as shit these days, haven't been getting out much and feel I need to hammer when I do, which I can't cause my fitness isn't there, and consequently don't pace myself and flame out too soon, so it's probably just as well I was otherwise engaged.
That said, a good chunk of that route I still consider as 'old stompin' grounds for me so while I was happy where I was, a part of me longed for the easy chat it up social ride that that route lends itself to as I've only done that loop once this season.  once.   Those aren't that isn't good numbers ..   That speaks volumes about my season.  One Wakefield loop.  :shakes head:  oh well, never too early & never too late to start riding.

so, this Friday I'm thinking me and meine kleine Klein are going to do the Wakefield Phillipe loop for what might be one last time this season.  ..maybe there'll be more opportunities (perhaps even Sat or Sun?)  but I'm not about to count on it and let this one get away.  I'm figuring on a solo affair (must remember the ipod) as its pretty long odds that anyone will be up for playing hooky to go for a 3.5hr ride in 2 degrees and rain weather**.  That said, if any of you Big Ringers, known, or unknown associates are itchin for some chilly wet pedal turns to earn Friday evening beers, i'll be launching from the O'Brien lot sometime around 10:00am.  Bring warm footwear. (I'm reminding myself here)
seriously, if anyone wants to join, drop me a line.

** It's typically a couple degrees cooler in the park.  so, 2 degrees and rain.  that's one bad crash or mechanical away from hypothermia.  Thats why I'll be chuffin along slow like.  ..nothing to do with fitness.  No sir.

Recovery ride - Winnie the poo day.

As the title suggests, on this blustery, rainy, cold day between meetings and such I found a window to ride. yay!

..is that silence because nobody cares or you're all just floored that soft-guy finally started his season?

Ostensibly this was a recovery ride from last weekends Del-shoes 'anti-race' but I suppose it's pushing it to call a six-day-later-ride a "recovery" ride. Still, if it's not recovery from the Anti-race, it's recovery from something..I had rather intended to mount the trainer sometime this past week, for those purposes but things being things, that didn't happen. So, with a busy schedule the only available window was Friday. Unfortunately the weather wasn't so super hot. Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be quite nice, but today was generally yechy.
no matter, it is what it is, and one has to take advantage of the opportunities presented as they present themselves.

Things started out quite well. Weather was cooperating with the rain holding off and it stayed

that way for 20min or so until I was behind the Parliment Bldgs. So, donning rain coat I continued on, as did the rain.Managed to get the clothing mostly right so while I was a little warm early on, the temps dropped up in the parc and I was pretty good. ..'cept for the feet.
I'd neglected to put on my goretex socks or booties so once the rain & spray had completely soaked my feet & ankles It got a bit chilly down there. My ankles felt like they had ice cream headaches!

Still, all was well and the park was understandably deserted. Only two cars in Gamelin lot with a pair of cyclist suiting up, and throughout the ride I saw one jogger, three small groups of walker/hikers and three cyclists besides myself.

Everyone was cheerful and offered smiles or waves. nice!
Noteably; two of the three cyclists offered purposeful and clearly discernible waves..
THAT my friend is 66% of roadies offering acknowledgment of a fellow cyclist on ONE ride!!
It just doesn't get better than that. ..granted three is a small n but I'm not going to get hung up on conditional considerations that dilute the importance of that stat.

66% of roadies waved. Now, if you want to get freaky and include me,(i waved also) that already impressive stat launches up to a stratospheric 75%!! But that might be greedy so even without me the 66% is positively massive.

I personally am going to consider that one item a positive harbinger of upcoming wonderfulness. ..two of three riders willing to remove a hand from the bars to acknowledge a fellow rider and spread some cheer on a blustery, wet, cold day.

I propose to you good people that those kind souls are spearheading the revolution. yep. Remember, you read it here first.

I also had the fortune to commune with nature for a moment when I came face to face with a young buck on ..wait for it..

Fortune.

woah, get it? see what I did there? oh, yeah I gots wordsmithing all locked up over here.
Heres young Buck himself.
(how do I know he's young? well, I don't. I'm totally clueless actually, but young buck sounds better than old buck to me and I felt I had to pick one.

Unfortunately I noticed while taking the snaps that my momentary comrade-in-climbing has an injured leg.

That saddened me.

Suddenly, trying to get a good snap to show all you good people seemed completely trivial. The consideration being that a deer with a bad leg in late November has some very serious challenges ahead of him.
The fates can be cruel bitches, and I fear that my new acquaintance had Lachesis measure out a shorter string than he deserves. ..bitch.
However, despite Bucks questionable future, it's not my place to interfere with the moira (unwise to tangle with the weird sisters) so I carried on my way wishing him the best and hoping that he stays clear of the predators long enough to heal up.

The actual climbing of fortune was pretty good as the slower pace and harder work managed to warm my feet a tiny bit.

At the top Champlain was totally deserted as would be expected. It was no day to daly about in the blustery cold rain so I snapped my evidence shots and carried on down blacks. Pretty

uneventful ride back. ..I think.

I actually got immersed in thought and when I was rounding the corner to the Raymond overpass I was thinking "have I gone down Pinks

yet?"

I was honestly oblivious to most of the descent for being immersed in thought. huh. ..hope i didn't miss anything.

Anyway it was all good back to home. I was pretty soaked but felt ok until I got in the shower to warm up and apparently my feet were colder than I thought. The shower felt like red hot pokers raining down! My thighs went beet red and my feet went all purple and blotchy while the nerves spazzed out like ..um, insert witty analogy here, I'm tired.

..but the nerve spaz was short lived and totally worth it.

How to turn a dreary old day into something better than it looks like through the windows.

late breaking news. Just checked the forecast and while it's apparently going to be swell through the early next week, it's calling for rain and snow for Thurs, Fri next week. That should make things interesting for next Fridays ride. ..oh yes. There will be a ride. This year I'm going to ride until I can ski. ..guess I better find those Goretex socks!

A Date with Ilsa?

Having my lack of fitness exposed (as in exhumed), dusted off, and shoved rudely in my face this past weekend, it has become incredibly apparent that this will not stand!

Changes need be made.

and change is a comin'!

So, facing the off season aka "dead zone" between cycling type weather and ski type weather the need for myself to seek out, plan, partake and effect some positive changes in fitness has been acknowledged, accepted and plans are being hatched.

The challenge is, that fitness for fitness sake is kindof um, ..boring. I'm not a gym type guy, and while I dig the spinning thing my favorite instructor (foreground in red) is doing his classes on Thurday evenings and that doesn't work so well for me.
Thursdays belong to the wee man himself;

and he will not be denied!

so, drastic measures are being employed. Home use of swiss ball, stretching, planks, pushups (!) and crunches are happening in my world for starters. It really is a love / hate thing for me though and I benefit from the motivation that a structured program provides. Holds my feet to the fire so to speak ..but as stated, the spinning program doesn't work for my schedule this season so apart from infrequent drop-ins I'm going to have to look further afield.

After much searching, interviews, (actually not), research (yeah, not really) and wondering what the hell to do about this, (I actually did do this) I've come across what I think will be a perfect solution..

Ilsa.

..not to be confused with Elsa who also keeps folks hoppin' but in a very different way

I don't know too much about Ilsa yet, but I've got a good feeling that she'll meet the divergent requirements of being cheap, flexible (with regards schedules) and provide an alterative to the standard mirrors, egos, narcissistic b.s.* that is a typical gym.

*"Puuush it!, It's all you! It's all you!!.."

It would even go so far as to say that a gym to me is like a torture chamber. So, if I'm going to sign up for torture I should at least be in surroundings conducive to torture and this Ilsa has seen to in spades!

Behold!

All that needs sorting is a quick visit to ensure that the change rooms provide a suitable environment for going from work mode to 'pump me up' mode, some scheduleing and we'll be good to go.

I've got a good feeling about this. yep, Ilsa's gonna make me her bitch and we'll both be better for it!

stay tuned for recon snaps of the changing facilities. giddy with excitement over here!

Anti-race weekend of get the hell outta dodge

The family truckster post Anti-race.

Not the first time OBR and myself have run with the same numbers on our plates, but this is the first time we shared that number with 25 other riders!

This past Friday after errands were run and money was hemmoraghed, yours truly packed the family truckster with one small, and one large hardtail
(one being my own and one belonging to the r-inginal Big Ring himself.) upon completing the packing** we (and by we, I mean me) headed off to Bobcaygeon to meet up with the the r-ignal Big Ring who was headed in from parts quite south of there.
Once clear of the cluster coitus that is traffic around Bank, Heron, Baseline etc, the drive was lovely. Tunes were cranked and karaoke was practiced to Morrisey, Jesus & Mary chain, Sonic youth and Jimmy Buffet among others. It was a textbook example of how to celebrate your own company without need of closed eyes, bitten lower lips and personal lubricant.
..anyway. The rendevous with the OBR went swimmingly and would have made a swiss watch look like a cereal box sundial on account of our timing. The touch-base "where-bouts-are-you?" phone call identifying that with 10min to the evenings destination, and us having started ~700km apart OBR had actually ended up right on my bumper for the last 15min into the evenings destination. ..go team! (infectious catch phrase used with apologies but without permission)

An evening of Bobcaygeon hospitality followed and the morning had us both in the family truckster on route to the Delstalk Anti-race in Collingwood. I do believe that there will be full reports and photos on the wondrous Jager fueled love-in that was Delstalk here & here among others. It was indeed wondrous, there was Jager to lubricate motivation, dull anxieties and generally provide a frivolous Anti-race atmosphere.
(I approved, I imbibed. ..Abide.)

A potentially freakish horror show** was narrowly avoided with the generosity, preparedness and good will of Del himself when I discovered that I'd left my shoes at home. ..(!!!)
I have few personal heroes beyond Winston Churchill, Lux Interior & Vinnie Jones but I can now add Del to the short list of thems' what are worthy.
The ride was awesome, the weather flawless, the company without peer and that first fucking hill drilled a hole in my soul the size of all the worlds problems.

Seriously. That mutherfuker hill made entire solar systems look like styrofoam science fair models. I can't remember sucking so hard for so long anytime in the last several years. Granted, my fitness and especially my cardio is total ass these days but the few rides that I have done this year lulled me into the belief that I could still fake it by employing my inherent willingness to suffer. sortof. Not so much on that climb. Perhaps the worst part (you know apart from ninety million miles of sustained vertical with no reprieve) was that you could see right from bottom to top, arrow straight all the way. That means you can watch the gap(s) widen as you fall off the back while riders tear you off their wheel one by one ..jeezus f'n heartbreak.
Anyway, the hill was climbed and I may or may not have been the only geared rider to dismount and walk part of it. ugh. I'm not a singlespeeder so I'm really not comfortable with the whole walking-bike up steep bits thing. ..I may have to build a singlespeed just to justify that kind of craptasticness.

The rest of the ride was brilliantly, magical, lovelyness though. Smooth flowy single track, a bit of woodsy hike-a-bike, a wee bit of gravel, and some really nice sections that felt like if Dupont Forest and Camp Fortune hooked up and had singletrack babies. Nice, flowy S-track through the woods with the odd bit of technical thrown in to keep things real and test (and illuminate) respective Jager levels.

The apre-ride (thats ski hill speak) was celebrated at Blue Mountains Fire Hall pizza joint. Blue Mountain is Intrawest so if you know what Intrawest is then you know exactly how contrived a reasonably genuine looking "fire hall" can be when you plop it at the bottom of a ski hill in a cookie-cutter pedestrian street village. But hey, they had beer so It's all good if you don't order the hot dog pizza like OBR did.
I approved, I imbibed. Abide.

So, that was my Anti-race. It was truly awesome.
Many thanks to Peter, Del, and the rest of the Misfit Psycles organizers. Good people were met, new friends were made existing friendships cemented.
Tomorrow (or some day soonish) we'll talk about what if anything the hell comes next!

**driving 550Km for a ride only to end up drinking myself legless alone in a bar instead of making badly needed pedal strokes would very probably put me in a truly apocolyptic mood for some time.

$100 Bike Challenge - Finale: Mission Accomplished!

When I last posted, the bike frame had been painted and clear-coated and was left to cure for a week. The final product turned out pretty nice and I was satisfied with it.

Reunited - frame and fork

Now the fun part, assembling the bike. First, the fork, headset, and quill which all went on easily. Next the bottom bracket and and crank set, went on fine but I notices the pedal were quite far out. Then I put on the rear wheel - I had removed the cassette and installed a freewheel - and quickly figured out that the chain line was not going to work at all. The free wheel was way too inboard and the crank too outboard! *&?%#@!! As you all know, the chain line is the key to a single-speed (SS); it has to be straight! So, I went out and checked with the experts. The guy at re-Rycles didn't know much about SS bikes but suggested that the bottom bracket (BB) spindle was too long. Next, I brought the frame in to the dudes at Tall Trees. They suggested a few things:

BB spindle too long,

• a mtb crank (which I was using) is further outboard because it has 3 rings compared to 2 on a road crank
• I could move the spacers on the rear hub to move it further out but that would require redishing the rear wheel

I have done 4 other SS builds, guess I had been lucky because I had never had any of these problems with the others. So, my option are: new BB, new crank, wheel rebuild or new wheel at that price.

Considering these options and my $100 budget, I decided to try one thing at a time starting with the cheapest. So, I started with the BB. I found one at Pecco's in Hull for $15! And not a really crappy one with plastic cups. I know it does not have great bearings, but it will do. This time I went with a 107mm spindle (the other was 113mm). Let's see what happens!

When I got home, I installed the new BB and then the crank. Well, what a difference! The cranks actually set totally flush with the spindle and gained about 1cm inboard on the drive side. Things were looking up. I put the rear wheel on and threw a chain on and 'shite'! Chain line still slightly off but not by just a couple of millimeters - slight bend in the chain. Now, how was I going to solve this bit. I put the bike away and decided to ponder this little puzzle.

See the bend in the chain at the top of the freewheel?

The next day I did a bit of research and do-it-yourself bike Guru Sheldon Brown (R.I.P.) had the solution - spacers between the crank bolts and spider. And, I just happened have 3mm spacers. I installed them as suggested and bingo! I got a straight chain line!! Pretty damn close anyway.

Spacers between the spider and chain-ring improved chain alignment

Straight chain line!!

I was finally ready to put the rest of the parts on, handlebars, brakes, seat and post, grips all went on with know. As I was adjusting the rear break, I notice something that almost made me want to throw the bike over the fence! The wheel was seriously out of true! @#$%&!!! I know that most shops charge a standard fee between $25 - $35 for truing wheel that would break my budget. So, I had to do it myself but I had never trued a wheel in my life.

So, where do you turn when you want to know how to do something? The Internet of course, and Youtube and plenty of video and I found one that I liked. I went ahead and put the bike on the stand, using the rear brake as guides and started tightening and loosening spokes as per the video I watched. After about 20mins, the wheel looked pretty good and wasn't rubbing the brake pads anymore. That's it, I can't believe it; I am finally done! The bike looks great and works great!

Grips matching the paint job

Our spokes-model shows off the new build!

This was my most rewarding build for many reasons: it was challenging, I learned a lot and it made Melissa happy!

Did I meet my objective of the challenge - under $100? Here are the details:

• Frame - $0 (from the trash)
• Paint materials $40
• wheel, tires, tubes $0 (already had those)
• Brakes, cables, housing, seat post, seat bolt $20 (Re-cycles)
• Brake levers, handlebar $0
• Grips $12
• Freewheel $10
• Bottom bracket $15
• Pedals $0
• Crankset $0
• Chain $0

Add it all up for a grand total of (drum roll...) $97! I should get a few stickers with leftover $3!

Now if you remember my very first post about this build (aka Part 1), I mentioned that I built myself a fixie. Well, take a look at the pics below. Took a few days to get use to riding fixed but I love it now and ride it every day.

Vintage Miele frame, Velocity Deep V rims - Nothing says Pimped-out like Purple!
Rides like a dream on 700 x 35 tires

Sweet chrome sweep-back handlebars with rim-matching purple grips

$100 Bike Challenge - Part 4: Paint job complete.

The painting of the frame is now done and I'm pretty happy with it. The final step, the clear coat, was the trickiest I thought. Few lessons I learned:
- Prep work is the key
- Never, ever touch clear coat before it dries
- Little mistakes can easily be fixed with low grit wet sandpaper
- Patience - don't rush it

I am allowing the clear coat to fully cure and won't build the bike until next Saturday. Hopefully for my next post, you will see the complete build. Here are some pics of the finished paint job.

$100 Bike Challenge - Part 3: Some Lessons Learned

So the frame has two coats of Ford Light Blue and is ready for the final step - the clear coat. I was keen to get the clear coat on and got set up quickly. I started applying the the clear coat and it went on very well. All was going smoothly until I noticed a glob of clear coat on the inside of one of the chain stays. I took the corner of a rag and very gently removed the offending glob - MISTAKE #1 - clear coat really sticks to paint! Touching it or trying to remove it will peel paint off!!! &%#@@!! Nothing I could do. Bike was still wet. Best to continue and deal with it after the frame dries. I also noticed a spot on the head tube where a tiny spot of paint had peeled.

Doesn't look so bad in this picture but I could not let that go...

I considered letting those blemishes go. But I couldn't. So, the next day I set out to fix them. I wet-sanded the offending spots then stood the frame on a drop-sheet in the garage and reapplied the blue paint. Took only few minutes and the frame was back like new. I placed at spotlight to help it dry quicker. I was pretty pleased with my job and went about cleaning up the garage. I opened the door to let some fresh air in (I don't know if you've been paying attention but I had been putting the frame on a stand to paint it - not this time though- MISTAKE #2). A gust of wind blew in which caused the frame to fall on the spotlight making a nice long gash in the paint, AAAARGH!!! Well, at least it was dry or it would have been worse. So, again I grabbed the wet sandpaper and smoothed out the gash, dried it and reapplied paint. Well, a disaster was averted and the frame looks fine. Although, it will need a bit more sanding and a few more coats of clear coat. So, stay tuned as I set out to apply what I hope will be last last coats of clear coat (I hope) and start the final assembly.