cycling ⁽⁴¹⁾

I now have three sets of Rotor aluminum Aldhu cranks, or four counting the carbon version on my Ritte. My Marauder uses an older pair of Rex 1.2, and my Stooge sports a current set of aluminum Kapic cranks. Out of seven bikes, six are equipped with Rotor cranks. I love the modularity of Rotor’s cranks with the availability of various axle lengths, different spiders, and a wide selection of round or oval direct mount rings. I wish they would only offer Kapic axles for fat bikes.

Three weeks ago, the Swiss news portal 20 Minutes reported that instead of doing a traditional apprenticeship, young people dream about getting rich with drop shipping, a business model where one runs a customer-facing online store without keeping an inventory and without handling the shipping process. So basically, these kids are hoping to make a living selling cheap goods without doing much work. Why would anyone want to buy something at an inflated price from a drop shipper when you can get the same on AliExpress at the lowest cost and often with free shipping? Whenever I see something unbranded or from an unfamiliar brand, I check AliExpress. Most of the time, I find the same item for a fraction of the price. I bought a tiny Windows 11 mini PC and often buy computer accessories there. It’s also a great site to search for cases in all shapes and sizes.

In the last couple of months, I have put 543 kilometers onto my Stooge MK5. For the last two years, I wasn’t able to mountain bike as much. Now that I have spent more time on trails again, something strange has been happening with regular frequency. Hikers comment about the fact that I’m riding with my muscle-power only. I have been mountain biking since the mid-eighties, and while I rarely had a negative encounter with a hiker, most of the time I met a hiker, we briefly exchanged a quick "hello" or "good day." That was usually it. Now, I’m regularly applauded for riding without the assistance of a motor. Yesterday, for instance, someone remarked: “Oh great, someone still riding a real bike!”

Cycling hasn’t been the same for me for the last three years. From 2016 through 2018, I used to ride over 8’000 kilometers. When we moved in 2019, my mileage dropped considerably before, during, and after the move. In 2020, and 2021, my riding dropped even further. Not because of the pandemic, but because one of our kitties was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. Her sister’s kidneys were in slightly better shape. This dramatically changed our lives. From then on, at least one of us had to be home. Taking care of our cats to provide them with the best possible quality of life became a 24/7 job. My wife usually worked the late-night shift, and we would switch around 3-4 AM. Our palliative care included feeding both kitties every two hours or more frequently if they didn’t eat well enough. Cats with chronic kidney disease lose appetite. The sicker of the two, Chic Chic, was also given sub-Qs by us once a week. Besides both of us working full-time jobs, such care-taking left both of us often exhausted. I tried to maintain a regular riding schedule but rode locally and much shorter. In 2020, I managed to ride over 5’200, mostly road kilometers. In 2021, that dropped to 4’200 km. Our Chic Chic was a brave cookie. She got weaker, but she was happy that we were taking care of her. She far outlived our vet’s prognosis but sadly had to be euthanized in the afternoon of Friday, March 11th. She had been with us for 17 years. Palliative care now continues for her smaller sister, Chou Chou. She is still stronger than her sister was, but she may not be the fighter that her sister was.

I bought my first 29er in 2006 when most were still riding 26-inch wheels and stuck with that wheel size for all things mountain biking, which in my world was rigid and single-speed. After we moved into a region where most of the trails are too steep for a bike without a derailleur, I had to consider adding a geared MTB to my bike fleet. At the time, the knobby side of the fleet consisted of my 29er 44 Marauder, the 26" 44 Big Boy, and the 27.5" 44 Snakedriver fat-bikes. I did a bit of reconnaissance on the old Big Boy and quickly realized that the new trails I loved required more traction than a regular 2.2-2.4" tire can put on the ground. The Big Boy with its tractor-sized tires climbed wonderfully, but the snow-only I9 wheels were too delicate for the rocky descents, and the bike, in general, was more at home on gentler terrain.