Yep! Cramps everywhere! :D
Woke up all excited! Warmed up a bit and then rode my bike, it's been a while since the last time I had the heat of the morning sun touched my face. The welcoming sound of broomstick brushing against the pavement and cocks greeting everyone a good morning. Wow my bike is light, first thing I realized. Followed my usual 30 minute paved-uphill-dirt-uphill-beatenuproaddownhill-paved route just to test my bike. Last stretch home, calves and fingers in my feet started to cramp, arms, palms and butt cheeks sore. No gears to switch, no springs to absorb the shocks and to quote a fellow biker, you get punished immediately for every wrong lines chosen. I missed this feeling. :D
After almost a year of planning and building my project bike bits by bits it's finally done! Well not really done because after my maiden ride I realized I need to replace some parts.
I had all the parts ready and just had the time to assemble them this week. No problem during the build part, assembled it all by my self except for the Disc Rotors and Cogs since I do not have the tools to tighten them in place. Bought my self a non series Shimano Hydraulic Disc Brake Set, and coming from a bike with a V Brake installed before this is one upgrade that I really felt the difference.
My cousin once said that Shimano's Zee is jinxed because of all the troubles I had with it, I was really expecting it to fail on me during my ride hahaha. But that did not happen, I still need to tension my chain and replace my cogs with lesser teeth. My current setup (38T Chainring and 18T Cogs) helps on uphills but a killer on flats, feels like my leg will explode when pedaling on flats. Chain line is on the spot thanks to the spacers included in the A2Z singulator. Currently brewing a DIY chain tensioner and will be replacing my 18T with a 16T.
You get what you pay for. That's the only thing that I could say to my self pedaling on my home with my palms sore and butt cheeks aching. I bought a cheap lock on grips and a generic saddle just to complete my bike and I am regretting it. Saddle is literally a pain in the butt and the knobs on the grips feels soft at first but not so in the long run, will definitely be replacing these parts next. Aside from the saddle and the grips I realized that my handle bar is a bit wide for me, thinking of going to a machine shop to have it cut. My stem is a bit longer as well but I am still not sure if I will be replacing it though.
I was thrilled, I was happy, I was satisfied and my body is sore right now because of that 45 minute ride. Not much I know, but it made me realize how lazy and inactive I have become because of my work. Will take a long time for me to get used to this again but I am sure I will be able to ride with the regular riders again one of these days.
