thanks to ben witt, salsa cycles particularly joe and tim, and discover card!

I will have a new mamasita and vaya to ride this weekend! cheq 100 did in the '08 mamasita and the vaya seems like a good enough fit to replace the never completed custom. I shall ride the vaya to barneveld saturday/sunday am maybe (not sure where I will spend the night yet), meet laura there and then break in the new mamasita on the sharp rocks and technical climbs that are blue mounds! very grateful to hae both frames for a palatable sum of $$.


It's now about time for bed. I got everything done so far as converting the Kona to single speed. Swapped the carbon cranks to the Ultegra 9 speed cranks with a 52t ring, swapped the selle italia saddle for a devo, installed singlator, surly 20t cog and new chain, removed all the unneeded stuff. Just waiting on cane creek brake levers and it will be fully good to go. Took it for a quick spin around the neighborhood with no brakes... and I can see that it is going to have some awesome potential! It's going to take the "back-burner" here for a bit when the Vaya and the new Mamasita show up, but I certainly expect it to get used a lot. I would bet it gets as many miles on it the remainder of the year as either of those other bikes. I'm curious to see if I will wind up racing something like the Heck of the North on the Vaya or the Kona? I know the Vaya will be great for Dirty Kanza and Trans Wisconsin and a few long weekend trips too, but I am not sure what a Vaya with all my light/racy type cx parts will really be like. The only ones I've ridden have admittedly been a bit sluggish, but they've also had the stock salsa build on them and have not been set up for my tastes so far as the seating position etc. at all. I suppose I'll have a better idea soon.