...Or perhaps not.
I tried a different route to work today, hoping to snag a little extra distance. It actually turned out to be shorter than my usual route from Willow Ave. Oops!
I'm debating whether going whole-hog and swapping the flat bars on Swift for drops within a span of 2 weeks is possible (if I can get the parts locally, I'm sure it is; if I can't ... ummm...). If not, I might just toss on a pair of Origin8's drop bar ends, wrap 'em, and call it done. It depends whether or not they're illegal under USAC and UCI regulations — bar ends in general are banned, but I think it's due to the 'no pointy bits' clause for mass-start races, so these might be okay. I've queried the Rogue peeps to find out what they think.
(Sidebar: the concept of rogue peeps is kind of funny. Makes me picture those little marshmallow chicks with ... like ... pirate gear, or something.)
I've decided to go with a single 48t chainring in a 1x7 configuration coupled with a 12-32 cluster (I was going to do 11 - 34, but I think 12 - 32 will do fine and is easier to find, apparently). This combo should give me enough speed for my Cat4 'cross ambitions without making the bike too mashy for less experienced folks who might right it from time to time.
I plan to replace the gripshift system with something less likely to invite disaster, and the RD with ... well, something decent. Fortunately, RDs aren't insanely expensive.
I'm guessing I'll probably have the build done at Bike Couriers', since they got to answer all my, "It this totally insane?" questions — but I think I'm going to stop by parkside and see if they have a reasonbly good-quality crankset and 48t or 50t chainring they'd be willing to sell me. Quicksilver is due for a tuneup, anyway.
Class tonight. I'm behind on my homework, so no 'cross practice for me tonight — probably Friday instead.
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