IT'S ALIVE!

FrankenBike lives. It's already tried to kill me. But first the inventory of parts:

• My wife's old Open Pro 3X training wheels
• Ultegra brifters (left over from an upgrade)
• Deore LX Vbrakes (new) with rollamajigs
• Scattante XRL Cross frame/fork
• Old FSA Energy compact crank
• Ultegra long throw rear deraileur (again from an upgrade on another bike)
• Crank Bros EggBeaters (new)
• Ritchey WCS Bars
  
• 12-32 SRAM Cassette
• Beat up, scratched dented Thompson SP (I believe I crashed on it sometime in the past)
• Kenda Kwick 30c tires

OK, I couldn't wait so after yesterday's shakedown ride and some adjustments I went up to the saddle below Brown Mountain. On the way up I was thinking this was the best thing ever! After adjusting to the high center of mass, cyclo tires and slow steering I got to experience the best it had to offer - charging uphill on a dirt road on a cyclocross bike. Now, it's not that I don't like hills it's that they don't like me. Seem offended at my mass. So making the process a lot more fun gives me hope I can work more on my climbing.

It's a cliche, but what goes up must come down. Off camber, sandy corners which aren't so bad on a mountain bike become quite scary to the first-time crosser. But that's not where the attempted rider-cide was committed. I got to the bottom and was flying along the paved part when I came to the bridge. One of the design parameters appears to be the placement of boards along the axis of the roadbed at a separation of around 31mm. 2.1 inch mountain bike tires roll over this just fine. Luckily, instead of washing out the front wheel I was able to lean back and yank it out of the slot designed to consume it. It seems that I've got a learning curve ahead.