Wonders of the Night and Pugsley Frustration and Fun

I'm so happy the weekend is here, but the only problem is that they are so short. I've been sick for the past two weeks now and it is really getting irritating. This cough and congestion that I have just doesn't want to go away and any exercise just aggravates it even more. That being said I did have a wonderful ride up in the park the other night.

I really don't know what it is but I love being out in the woods on the trails at night. Bright lights blazing a trail for you through the forest. There is something surrealistic about the whole experience. Along with that is the feeling of peace and tranquility. It's generally absolutely silent and you basically feel as if you have the entire forest to yourself even though you are not alone. There is always that occasional deer waiting around a corner or the fox or coyote. Wednesday night I saw a couple of owls whose large eyes glowed in the light of my headlamp.

Today is forecast to be another beautiful day so I am planning a nice long ride. Not sure where as of yet, but I would like to go someplace different. We'll see what happens. The rest of the day will have to be spent gettting some work done around the house maybe even putting up the Christmas lights and sprucing things up before Thanksgiving. Plus the weather is predicted to bottom out in the coming week. I can't imagine that we will be getting many more 54 degree days.
On another front...the Pugsley frame arrived in the mail Wednesday afternoon. Normally I would have taken the time to rip into the box immediately, but I was in a hurry to get up into the park for some night riding. I didn't unpack the box until after I arrived home at about 9 p.m.

I'm really loving the Metallic Thunderhead Grey paint job. One thing I did notice is that the decals that are supposed to adorn the chainstays are not there. I may have to give Surly a call about that and see if they can send me a couple of those "Fatties Fit Fine" decals.

The majority of what I need to build the bike has been ordered and I decided to flash it up a bit with some red anodized accents. Blue was my first thought, but for some reason red just struck me as looking kind of cool. Maybe not...who knows. I think sometimes it's the Italian in me that loves the red. Maybe I'll even go with the red nipples on the wheel build. Whatever...

The one huge frustration right now is that the essential ingredients for building this bike are not available. After all, what's a fat bike without fat wheels and tires. According to most people I talk to the Large Marge rims will not be available until mid-December. Sorry, but I am not that patient and really don't want to wait that long. Vicious Cycles "Graceful Fat Sheba" rims will be available on the twenty third, which is Monday. Guess what I'll be ordering up Monday night. These rims are 80 mm wide compared to the 65 mm wide Surly rims. Speedway Cycles in Anchorage may also have some of their 70 mm rims available and I may call them today just to find out. I always wanted a reason to call someone up in Alaska. Unfortunately, it isn't Jill :) Ha!

Also, the availability of the tires has also caused me some frustration, but I was able to find some at Choppers USA. Other big ticket items that I'm still up in the air about are hubs, crank, and bottom bracket. I'll need to make those decisions quickly if I want to get this thing done and on the trails sometime soon. There is snow in the forecast!!

This is an exciting time and I think that this winter will be a wonderful experience with a new Pugsley in the stable.