So this morning I woke up when my alarm went off at 5:00, I then grabbed my phone and I was surprised to see that I won the Black market contraband 24 bike with my original bit so that was a good start to the day 🙂 Looking better at the pictures it is basically a full bike other than a brake so I may ride it as it is for a bit and just put the Avid BB5 I bought last night on it!
I paid for the bike so that it arrives sooner and then went to the bathroom and did my weigh-in where I got less happy as I was back up to 107.1kgs even though I look and feel like I have lost weight again! Go figure!
I then got showered and dressed and then did some work until 6am then I got the weight vest on and went out for a ruck in the daylight for a change along the 2 tunnels. On the way back I went past the park and took a look at the jumps and they are in a bad way at the moment but hopefully the council will let us dig there and get them running again!
So while rucking I was thinking about my progress and about my training and I think I need to rail back a bit and get back to rucking for a bit longer before starting riding skateparks a lot! I may add skateparks on Monday morning before work once the Black Market arrives and is working properly on the way to the office to start on it slowly then slowly add more mornings during the year!
I really think that rucking every morning is a really good idea and I need to add more hills to the ruck as I really felt a difference this morning walking up hill compared to on the flat so by the time I got home my legs were burning even though I had only rucked 5676 steps! Which is about 3000 less than my usual walk to the office and back but was much harder!
I can really feel the difference in my legs and especially my core which is burning like mad at the moment! I think keep rucking first thing will be a good idea to build leg and core strength as well as kick start fat burning in the morning first thing that will last most of the day and hopefully lead to a lot more fat burning over time!
I am really looking forward to trying the Black Market Contraband 24 frame out as they get really good reviews online and all the reviews that I saw said they are basically the perfect frame other than being a bit heavy! Looking at the pictures the frame is in a bit of a state and has been spray canned grey over its original red or orangey paint so at some point in the future I will strip it down and get take it to be powder coated but I will ride it as is for now! Once the Halo wheels are built up I will then rebuild the bike with all the parts from my Jump bike but I think I will tide it as is for now! I may swap the tyres out for Tioga Power Blocks but I’m not sure yet! I may ride it as is to see how it rides! I may also try lowering the stem, swapping it with a front load S&M Longneck stem and putting on my S&M 5″ rise race bars on it as it will basically be same height as the current bar setup so should ride OK. I also have some Cult Vans grips in the parts box so I stick them on as well so the bike feels the same as my other bikes which mostly have Vans Grips on them. I may also put the RST Dirt forks that I found in the spares box on as well to see if they work as I paid £30 for them ages ago and I never got to fit them on a bike to test them so may as well do it now! Once the new wheels are built I will fit my Manitou Circus comp forks on the bike as they will work with the new front wheel as they are 20mm axle so I can’t use them with the current wheel but the dirt forks will work as they are 10mm forks! I am not sure if I will ride the bike brake-less or put the Avid BB5 on there but I think that as I will be riding it on the track a fair bit adding a brake makes sense!
I have been thinking about cranks and I think that I will use the blank ones that come with the bike and then maybe get some profile cranks and a 37t sprocket when my wheels are built so that I can run a 37 x 16 on the Black Market so its the same as the Curtis so both bikes will feel roughly the same to ride 🙂
As I said before I am not sure what I am doing this afternoon as I have a bunch of deliveries arriving today so I need to be near home to accept the deliveries 🙂
I have just seen a photo online of the original colour of the Black Market and it was nice! The bike I saw also had 24 x 2.10 Tioga Power clocks on it and they look good too so I am going to try the bike with the 2.10 powerblocks that I have in the garage that I had no use for before 🙂 if they feel too big then I can get some 24 x 1.75’s next month! The 2.10’s would probably save my wrist a bit more too so it may be a good call 🙂 I also like the blue colour that the frame used to come in too:
The new Halo Sub4 24″ Rims have just been delivered so parcel 1 of 3 that is arriving today has been delivered 🙂 I have just put the Rear hub in the box with the rims ready to take to the track tomorrow to give them to my friend to build them up to go on the Black Market when they are built up 🙂
So I have re-read the add and it seems that the auction is not for the complete bike 🙁 its just for the frame, forks, bars ans a seat and post! so not as such a great deal but it is still worth it for just the frame I guess! Its a bit naughty as ALL of the photo’s are of a complete bike but there you go! It was in the description that it was just the parts so its my fault for falling for the scam I guess and not reading the description fully! I really want to try the frame anyway so its not a massive deal I guess! This does however change what I am going to do when it arrives now as I will have to wait until the wheels are built up before I can build the bike up 🙁
As its going to take a while before the wheels are ready I may break down all my bikes and start selling them to try and get some money together to pay to get the new frame powder coated before I build it up and build the bike properly as a project bike and then it will be 100% when done. I am taking parts off of my GT Pro Series 24″ at the moment to get it on the web sites to sell and I will also get the Sunday Wave C in from the garage as well and break that down and get the parts that I want to sell on ebay! Even if I just build the bike to ride now I will need to get extra money together to buy all the extra parts that I need now anyway so I may as well get everything broken down and up for sale. I will also break down my jump bike and get all the parts that I am selling onto ebay as well.
So to make my day even better I have had waited in all day for no reason as the couriers had no intention of delivering the stuff today but put it down as out for delivery to tick the boxes on their delivery agreement I guess 🙁