[929] Happiness

This may sound real strange but now that I'm another year older, I also realize that the things I seek for happiness are becoming less material stuff and more intangible stuff. So what makes me happy?

• Family. Specifically my immediate family, my parents, wife, and daughter. Some relatives. I enjoy spending time with them and making memories.
• Memories. In the end that is one of the things I can always take with me, great memories with people I love.
• Travel. Haven't been able to do too much of this lately but I'm hoping I can start travelling again.
• Food. I love eating food, it doesn't have to be the expensive kind, it just has to taste good and hit the right buttons.

Those, off the top of my head, are things that make me happy.

Out.

[928] Dream Gravel Bikes

Here's my current top dream gravel bikes. Not in order of preference.

Why them? Well they've got mounting points, they look nice, and they're not as expensive as the more famous gravel bikes I keep hearing about. I'm just looking at the entry level models of these bikes, not even the top of the line. Also I realized that there are many different kinds of gravel bikes and maybe the "right" one for me is the gravel bike built for adventure. Hopefully that means the frame isn't as stiff and will be comfortable for long rides, I honestly don't know. It could all be marketing jargon for all I know.

• Kona Bikes Rove NRB. I'm a big fan of US cyclocross athlete Kerry Werner and he's currently sponsored by Kona Bikes. I used to be a fan of the Kona Jake but the Rove NRB seems like a more forgiving bike, plus the mounting points.
• Cannondale Topstone 4. I kept getting Canyon and Cannondale mixed up, and which company sponsored EF Education-EasyPost. Then I discovered both of them had gravel bikes I liked.
• Canyon Grizl AL. This was actually the first gravel bike I was checking out online that I realized was the "right" type of gravel bike for me, hence it makes the list.

I'd also like to note that despite this being fully built bikes of course I'd want to customize them a bit. Specifically with dynamo hub wheels, old school fender flares, and of course dynamo head and tail lights to name a few. Maybe even a new paint job if possible.

These are my dream bikes anyway, I honestly doubt I can afford one any time soon.

Out.

[927] Bike Thoughts

Ideally if I had any guts I would have been riding around Metro Manila already, and probably going on some long trips to the nearby provinces. However since I'm still too scared to consistently ride outside the village, I will have to keep blogging about stuff I wish I could have on my bike,

Today's setup is still based around a gravel bike. Ideally a frame built for bikepacking, meaning it has mounting points galore. Steel sadly is not the preferred material, maybe aluminum. Slightly lighter to offset more weight for other components. Something like the Canyon Grizl AL. Now whatever happened to other dream gravel bike, the Kona Jake? Well, the Grizl looks like it was actually designed for long rides with all the mounting points.

The groupset will still be 1x, most likely similar to my 42T chainring with either an 11-42 cassette or 11-46 cassette if ever I do end up going on climbs with a loaded bike.

Brakes will still be the hybrid cable actuated, hydraulic brake calipers. Of course we will be going with more well known and hopefully better brands.

For the wheels honestly I'd rather have tubed wheels as long as they're Tubolito Tubo-CX/Gravel-All. It's getting annoying and sort of costly to be refilling my tubeless tires with sealant every two to three months, and I'm seriously considering not buying more sealant and just using the two inner tubes I got once I finish all remaining sealant. Aside from having an inner tube, I think I'll be happy with thinner 35mm gravel tires. I like my Panaracer Gravel King SS tires, but also wouldn't mind slightly more knobbly tires since in "this timeline" I'm riding on long rides and possibly rough roads.

Additionally I'd want the front wheel to have a dynamo hub that can power front and rear lights, as well as hopefully charge a USB powerbank so that I can recharge other stuff with said powerbank. I'm choosing Shimano's DH-UR700 because I read on this article from Cycling About how that specific hub had the most power output at speeds between 5kmh and 15kmh. Knowing that dynamo hubs do slow you down, and knowing how my pace is I won't be surprise if that is the range of speed I'll be averaging on long rides while the hub is being used.

To round things off I would also want some old school looking fenders/mud guards for my bike. Something that looks like this set from Velo Orange. Then to round things off a bike fork mounted headlamp from Busch + Muller like the MYC, and of course Busch + Muller dynamo rear lights.

Of course I'd still need a bike rear mounted rack and bags but those are things I can choose to remove from the bike or not. The things I wrote above are things that would always be on my bike.

Out.

[926] Older

I'm now another year older. I hope that the experiences I've had in the past few months have helped mold me to become a better person, and I hope I can use those experiences as learning lessons on how to deal with life in general.

Yes, I did not make a blog post about a birthday wishlist. I'm too jaded/realistic about the fact that whatever I write down there will just be that, wishes.

So here's to yet another year, may I continue my journey searching for happiness and maturity.

Out.

[925] Stress

Not going to lie, it has been a really stressful past few weeks. One good thing I got out of it was a sort of direction for myself moving forward.

That's all I have to say. I'm looking forward to hopefully de-stressing myself these next few days, because I really, really need it.

Out.