Redlands / New Bike / Crotch

Pretty late for me to post today. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ride Redlands without just going there next Sunday and ride a Cat. 1/2 criterium while the real race is going on up on the Sunset Loop. I sent a couple emails last week and finally tried to contact some teams individually to see if they have an extra slot on their roster, but so far, no luck.

So, waiting for replies, I put most of the finishing touches on my new Eriksen. It went together pretty flawlessly. I understand the “despise” some people have for electronic shifting, but let me tell you, it is so easy to adjust and works perfectly. I didn’t even have to adjust the rear derailleur at all.

I’m going to suit up and go for a ride and try to forget about the Redlands deal. First rides on new bikes are always a blast. Sometimes it takes a little tinkering, but I think I have this one pretty well dialed in. I don’t tape the bars until riding it, just in case I want to move the levers or something.

I’ve been riding pretty hard the last couple weeks and would like to do a bigger race to check out my form. Redlands would have been perfect. You have to ride on a team, but the there were too many teams for the number of entries. The Boneshaker Team, from Texas, didn’t get into the race. They have Heath Blackgrove and Logan Hutchings, plus a lot more good riders that deserve to race the event. I talked to Heath and he says he thought he had a shot at winning the race. If he said that, I believe it. I hope he found a ride on another team, it’s been a week since I heard from him.

Okay, below are some photos of the new Eriksen. Check out the welds. Crazy nice.

The welds are unmatched anywhere in the world.

I tired to bundle up the wires to look a little cleaner.

Just another shot of beauty.

I put the sprinter shifters on my bars. I don’t sprint much on the drops, but might have to start if the shifters are that much of an advantage.

I’ve been riding so much, I’ve got a small saddle sore issue. I had a jar of Donkey Label chamois cream with me, but can’t find it. So, I went with the next best thing.

13 thoughts on “Redlands / New Bike / Crotch”

Dog March 31, 2014 at 7:26 pm

I don’t know a damn thing about welding, but those welds look gorgeous.

Dan Hughes March 31, 2014 at 8:21 pm

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Shimano Junction A box mounted in that direction. Would it be cleaner routing if it was mounted with the ports facing forward?

SB March 31, 2014 at 8:50 pm

(1) glad to see you still geek out on new bike – itis after all these years.

(2) sprint shifters are the bomb… more than whether they are useful or not, they are great for psyching out opponents. And they’ve let me change the way I sprint. Not as big an impact as deep wheels or an aero helmet, but they definitely make a difference at certain moments.

fergie March 31, 2014 at 9:46 pm

What a shameless bike and component plug…It really bugs me coming here and see trick new bike parts 🙂
..maybe I’ll come back for some more..

Steve Tilford Post authorMarch 31, 2014 at 10:06 pm

Dan-I’ve never really put a mount on before. Last time I just put it on my brake cable. No matter what, one cable has to go past the box to mount back in. I have a mount for my BarFly( http://www.barflybike.com/bar-fly-20/) Garmin holder, but the downtube cable wasn’t long enough to allow me to use it.

Dan Hughes March 31, 2014 at 10:35 pm

Usually I run the two 350mm E Tubes from the shifters to the Junction A Box (while it’s facing frontwards), then I run the down tube cable out to the rear brake housing and kind of run them together until the get close to the down tube where the brake cable goes wherever, and the E tube goes to the hole in the frame. Having not seen your bike in person it’s tough to say…you’re routing is probably just as tidy.

Mostly curious that’s all.