Kücken

Visited my girlfriend today and had a great time talking about Porsches and ate Kücken. She owns an all-original 1965 Porsche 911 and used to race a 356 and even owned a legendary 550RS Spyder. Perfect girlfriend!

Still snowing...

Winter is here in Truckee. So again today I'm in the garage riding the stationary bike. My view while pedaling does allow me to see the 2004 Porsche Bike X though. I plan to begin working on it shortly, but with all the winter weather I haven't been in a hurry!

Turkey day

Thanksgiving morning training in Truckee, California. With three inches of new snow outside, I'm forced into the garage for stationary bike training. But with a view of a Porsche Boxster, Cayenne and three Porsche bicycles I can not complain!

More proof...

...I'm more than just a Porsche bicycle fan. Porsche cooking knifes!

Gears for the Death Ride

Reading up on the 129-mile Death Ride, I noticed the gearing experienced riders recommend happens to match the gearing on the 2004 Porsche Bike X. The web sites I read mentioned having a triple gear crank up front and at least 28 teeth in the back. The Bike X "granny gear" has 32 teeth - even better. I cleaned up the gears well, making them shiny for these photos.

Winter is here

It's raining and snowing in Truckee. This is the time of year when my bike training moves inside. Today I'm on the stationary bike in the garage. Only an hour today. And while I'm in the garage I tuned the brakes and gears on the 2004 Porsche Bike X that recently arrived from Germany. The first test ride a few days ago the brakes and shifting were good, but I thought I could dialed it in a bit. Can't wait for my next ride to see how it performs

PCA 718 Cayman S tech session

Just to prove I'm more than just a Porsche bicycle fan, here are a few photos from yesterday's Porsche Club of America, Sierra Nevada Region, 718 Cayman S tech session in Reno, Nevada.

I drove my 2006 Cayenne S down early and helped set up ... and looked over a Guards Red Carrera GT that was in the shop!

Porsche of Reno's lead tech, Jess Lattin, did an amazing job showing the group of 30 all the ins and outs of the new 2017 982 Porsche.

Porsche Bike X shakedown ride

Today I took the 2004 Porsche Bike X for it's first shakedown test ride after re-assembling it from the long trip from Germany to California. I rode a fun and uneventful 25 miles. The Bike X performed wonderfully. It was a huge contrast to the Bike S but I got used to get quickly. I rode along the Truckee River bike path out to Donner Lake and back. It was 45-50 degrees. Rather chilly but the sun helped. I didn't push my pace, just trying out the brakes, steering and gears for the first time. When I got home I cleaned up the bike. It looks great.

Porsche Bike X arrived

This afternoon a box from Germany arrived containing a 2004 Porsche Bike X. It was disassembled into many components for shipping across the globe. It didn't take me long to unpack and reassemble and take for a first spin around the driveway.

The Porsche Bike X is an extremely rare bicycle. In all my Porsche research, I have only run across this bike twice - both on the German eBay site. One of the Bike X for sale said only 250 bikes were made. I don't know if that's a fact, but I wouldn't be surprised since finding one is so rare.

The Porsche Bike X is a hybrid bike. It's part road bike and part mountain bike. It's built for touring or trekking - long distance cycling. My plan is to convert this Bike X closer to a road bike, with all German components, and ride it in the 2017 125-mile Death Ride next July.

Just as I shared my 1998 Porsche Bike S 100-mile riding adventure over the last year, I plan to post updates on my new bike and my new goal.

Follow along for the ride!

It is here!!!!

A box just arrived from Germany!

Porsche Bike X is getting close...

The 2004 Porsche Bike X I ordered from Germany is getting closer by the day. This evening USPS tracking shows it arrived, from across the world, in Richmond, California. Could be a matter of days before it shows up on my doorstep in Truckee. I can't wait to take a look at it.

Porsche Bike X Death Ride logo!

While I wait for the 2004 Porsche Bike X to arrive from Germany, I am having fun planning out my eight months of training building up until the big 2017 Death Ride. Setting up my training schedule and figuring out the work I'd like to do on the bike has led me to designing my own logo of the entire training and Death Ride effort. With the name of the bike "X" seems totally appropriate for the Death Ride "skull" logo. So, I combined the two in a skull and crossbones fashion. I tried to match the "X" with the same font as what's on the bike. And of course I added the Death Ride skull from their logo. The purple shadow behind the "X" is the Death Ride theme color from last year. Once they set the new color for 2017 I'll change my logo to match. Now I need to figure out what to do with this logo. I'll probably make another custom jersey for this ride like I did last year!

Oktoberfest doesn't end until I say it does

While I wait for the Porsche Bike X to arrive from Germany, I'm still enjoying my two Porsche automobiles and my other two Porsche bicycles. And of course a few German beers. I like to celebrate Oktoberfest from my birthday on August 2 all the way to Halloween. I know Oktoberfest is only two weeks long but I extend it a bit. Shouldn't everyone?

Porsche Bike X dreaming!

While the 2004 Porsche Bike X travels from Germany to the States, I am thinking through the changes I need to make to turn this bike into a mountain climbing monster.

This is what I'm planning so far:

Narrower and smoother tires for less rolling resistance (German-made Contintental Gatorskin 700c 25mm tires), new aluminum seat post to remove the "shock" seatpost (German-made Syntace P6), a 700c rigid hybrid fork to replace the front shocks (Sunlite Colmoly hybrid fork), new handlebar grip extensions (Ergon GP5) and seat post saddlebag and wire bottle cages (German-made SKS brand). I also bought a genuine Porsche crest for the front of the bike.

All of this will make the bike better for long distance uphill riding and able to tackle the 125-mile Death Ride in 2017. And also keeps the bike close to original and all German produced.