The Surly Ogre: On the Trail

I finally got around to putting disc brakes on my Surly Ogre so I can run 29er mountain bike wheels/tires in addition to my 700c wheels.  The original set up was geared for commuting and I ran 700x45c tires which fit great and had plenty of clearance with the front derailleur.  This would also be true for single speed setup if you are into that kind of thing (I have decided I am not). 

I have been wanting to take the Olive Drab Roller for a spin in the woods so I borrowed the Avid BB7 disk brakes and Salsa Semi 29er wheels from the El Mar.  Adding these wheels with the larger tires required me to install Surly Monkey Nuts (included with the the frame) to get the additional spacing required for the tire to clear the front derailleur.  This meant that I had to get a new chain; I should have set it up with the Monkey Nuts in the first place as it would have made no real difference in performance and saved me $25 last week.  I am also considering dumping the 48 tooth chain ring if it gets in the way.

Live and learn I suppose.


Winston and I took it for ride and I was extremely pleased.  Again, it is based on the Karate Monkey and it is a tried and true frame design which I had considered buying when I was ultimately seduced by the beautiful El Mariachi.  I am not a professional bike review guy so I am not going to use fancy words "spry" or "nimble" or "fast" to describe how it handled, mainly because I am not so therefore the bike will never be.   I will say that I love the feel of a rigid steel bike and with the Jeff Jones Loop Bar, it made short order of climbs and technical spots on the trail.

I have some Maxxis 2.10 CrossMark tires on it now, but I am going to test the Surly "Fatties Fit Fine" with some out of production WTB Weirwolf tires that measure in at 2.55 (I don't know if that is actual or exaggerated as tires often are).  I love those tires, the came on the El Mar but there wasn't a lot of clearance in muddy situations.  I can run them with tubes at 20 psi and not flat.

I am pleased with the purchase, it served me well riding 500 miles across the state of Iowa with 700x32c Continental GatorSkins and it will serve me well on the trails.  As for reducing my bike fleet by one, I think I have a new plan for the El Mariachi to keep it fresh and relevant.  More on that later.

 

A Little Disapointment

I am a little disappointed. Not because I spent a birthday in Mississippi. Not because I spent two hours dealing with a flat tire in rural Mississippi. Not because I am sitting in a hotel watching Twins starring Danny Davito and Arnold Schwarzenegger (I am happy that Schwarzenegger is in the auto complete spelling).

No, I can deal with these issues. What is disappointing is that I have been waiting since December to order a Surly Ogre bike frame. I was told it would be available in December. Then February. Then March 6th. Then March 12th. But when I called to order it from my LBS I was informed that my size would not be available until mid June.

Household 6 authorized the use of hazardous duty pay to purchase the frame. I already have some parts. I even purchased a Jeff Jones Loop Bar and Porcelain Rocket handlebar bag to put on it.

This is disappointing to me because I planned on using it to ride the beautiful gravel farm roads of Iowa. I was strongly considering riding during RAGBRAI. Surly, consider the exposure you could have received with upwards of 15,000 riders a day!!!!

Fortunately for Surly, there are no alternatives from other companies and I will have to wait it out. In the mean time I will stare at my handle bars and bag.

I want to do something great

I am stuck in a rut. I suppose that is life. There are a lot of people out in the world doing amazing things. I did some great things on a few occasions.  I don't think I have ever done amazing things.  It seems as though I am past that though.

I get up early and go to work. I usually spend 10+ hours staring at a screen. I work in the middle of the building and some days 4 or more hours go by before I realize I haven't looked outside. I change the font, add a cloud or a gear shaped text box, push print and hope that someone will say "wow that is a really pretty power point slide."

Then I go home. Exhausted! I quickly get ready for the next day and entertain children. About 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. I can squeeze in an hour for myself. But let's face it, by then I can barely get the motivation breath, let alone think about going out and doing something great.

I guess I am like most people, I just want to do something great. Maybe even amazing (at least to my standard as I am not sponsored by RedbulI). I just lack the time thanks to the amount of effort it takes to be mediocre at work.

I have decided that this winter I am going to build a bike that represents my desire to do something great. I want to build a Surly Ogre, a touring bike capable of going places most touring bikes can't go. I will call it the "Dream" or something like that. I will pull out the thesaurus.

At a minimum it will be set up to face the challenge of Davenport and the Government bridge to the island.