Curb Destroyer Chronicles: Psycho Cross

The StreetCred Series started this Saturday.
http://www.streetcredkc.blogspot.com/
-
The race Started at Volker Bicycles at 18th and Wyandotte
http://www.volkerbicycles.com/index.shtml
-
In the Cross Roads District.
http://www.kccrossroads.org/
-
With the conditions of the streets, and never knowing what to expect, I decided to ride my single/3 speed cross bike setup 3 Speed. Before for 3 speed mode I had STI levers to shift the gears, but now I don't.

What do they say, "Necessity is the mother of invention". This is an old Sutour Retro action MTB friction thumb shifter. If you go friction, you must go Suntour Retro Friction. They work like this.
Suntour Retro Friction Rebuild
My CX bars are over size so I needed a 31.8 clamp. I had a 32mm Gates clamp, but it was about 5mm too short, so I added another.
-

There you have it. It took about 10 minutes before I figured out where I needed to be for 2nd gear, but once I knew it worked flawless . . . at least for 3 speed. The problem I find . . . as well as other it turns out . . . with 3 speed hubs is that once you coast, it might take 1/8 turn before it become engaged again. This gives the feeling that it's not going to engage, there by engaging the Panic Reflex. (. . . and yes those are my old 80's wool "Fishnet"tights).
-
The solution is to plan ahead and always be engaged. Think of it as a single speed you can change gears on without using tools. Also after you coast, or change gears, re-engage the drive while seated.

We were penalized for each piece of carbon fiber we had. I had a carbon fiber fork. So after the race started I had to eat one beep before I could leave the start. I heard one guy had to stand there eating 5 peeps before he could leave.
-

The race consisted of 8 stops. Above is the completed manifest. I also took a picture of all the answers that I photoshoped on the picture of the manifest. In otherwords the manifest didn't have pictures on it.
-

OOOOOoooooooooooouuuuu! . . . Upon reaching the first stop, I found . . . or didn't find . . . my manifest. So I had to go back, lucky for me my old buddy, old pal, Bryce showed up 15 minutes late. I don't know, maybe it was written in the stars because he was singing Ice, Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, and I had just listen to Under Pressure by Queen. If you don't see the relationship between these two songs click here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Ice_Baby
-
First Stop: Shuttee Lumber
http://www.schuttelumber.com/
-
Second Stop: Union Station
http://www.unionstation.org/index2.php
-
Third Stop: Gem Theater in Jazz District
http://18thandvinedistrict.org/
-
Forth Stop: Statue of Ilus Winfield Davis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilus_W._Davis
-
Stop Five: River Market Pier
http://www.kansascityrivermarket.com/

To find the plaque for the Great Flood of 1844
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1844
The Missouri river was full of these ice lilly pads floating down the river.
-

I thought this park had some neat architecture.
-
Stop Six: Pacific House (About 4th & Delaware)
http://www.kc-lofts.com/bldgs/pachouse.htm
-

Stop Seven: Staute of lewis and Clark. Check it out! I didn't know Lewis and Clack had an I-Phone. I suspect they had the GPS application, and I thought they did the exploration using maps, compass, and the stars. The object here was to find the Dog's name, who is on the back side of this picture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaman_(dog)
-

This has to be one of the highest parts of kansas City looking over the lowest parts of Kansas City.
-
Stop Eight: Plaque for Father Donnelly
http://www.kcgolddome.org/page.php?ID=19
-

From stop eight it was a coast down hill. We had to go past the new Kauffman Center.
http://www.kauffmancenter.org/

-

Then back to the bike shop. The ride went to plan and nothing crazy happened. No I will say that I had an unusual amount of bad drivers to contend with.

There I met this guy. He was a nice guy.
http://www.somethingclassicinkc.blogspot.com/
I also met a few other people there, they were all real nice, if you have never come out to an Alley cat ride you should give it a go. It's all about having fun.

Then I went next door to YJ's for some Red beans & Rice. I like YJ's and eat there ever chance I get. They have lot of snacks and things, and a special. Today was Red Beans and Rice. It was very good as usual.
http://www.pitch.com/locations/yjs-snack-bar-12385/
-
Speaking of local. Here is a bakery who's goodies I'm going to check soon in Lee's Summit. They call themselves Be Free Bakery.
http://befreebakers.com/

Yea Plaza. The famous Plaza Fountain.

On the other side of the fountain I found this Orange Bicycle.

I know White Bikes (Ghost Bikes) are for "People" that got killed while riding their bicycle. I guess Orange bikes are for "People" that got hit on their bicycle.

On the brighter side, what's new?

Cane Creek Brake lever for my CycloCross bike. I got a set of their SCR-5 brake levers. They look like nice levers . . . and are nice for the price ($40)

The hoods are nice and big, they really give you something to hold on to. The hoods are also real tight so they will not roll around on you . . . or the lever.

Cane Creek is an American company. According to Cane Creek

Most major Cane Creek components are designed and assembled by us at our
headquarters, including shocks, wheels and high-end threadless headsets. The
hands-on workmanship assures us and you of the highest quality control and also
reduces the time between a component's date of manufacture and the day it's on
your bike. We have a great deal of pride in being a US company that maintains
the highest standards of manufacturing excellence. It's another reason we stand
behind what we make

The only thing I don't like about them is lever seems to have more slop on the pivot than I would like. It's not bad. All in all I say they are the best value going. The thing is most levers have a shifting mechanism in them. If you race SS you don't need it and have to find a set of brake levers without it.

There you have it. Fixed SS CX (Fixed Gear Single Speed Cyclo-Cross) Before you could just say Fixie and single speed was implied, now Sturmey archer is coming out with a 3 speed fixed gear hub that has changed.