Zipped, Longest and fastest, Ugly but effective

On Friday night I worked on getting the Master V4 back together. It had been sitting on my workbench apart all week as I waited for a new inner tube to arrive to complete a tire swap. I used my zip tie method to make the tire installation a piece of cake. I documented the process quickly on my phone and shared it on the internet. Installing tires is generally seen universally as a pain in the ass so once others saw how much easier this was their eyes were opened.

After getting the new tire on I completed the rest of the wheel assembly and took it out on a quick test ride in the dark to make sure the wheel was functioning normally. It was. I then updated the wheel to the newest firmware which did not go as well. In total I did the exact same process three times until the upgrade worked 100% which ironically is sort of normal for these wheels. By the time I was done I didn’t have the motivation to clean up all the mess Friday night. I completed that Saturday morning.

Later Saturday morning I met up with my normal Saturday pickleball partner Sue for breakfast. She is also currently injured and has not been playing. It was nice to catch up with her as we chatted and ate for over an hour and a half. I would much rather be doing breakfast after playing a session of pickleball but you can’t always get what you want.

Saturday night I got out to see Den of Thieves 2. I had recently seen the original ironically which was several years old on HBO Max so when I found out a sequel was coming the timing was good. The movie features Gerard Butler whom I have always been a fan of since his 300 days. Unlike a lot of sequels I thought this one was on par with the original and I enjoyed it, a solid B+ for me.

Sunday morning I slept in until well after 8AM. After grabbing some coffee at DD I started working through my weekly bill pay session. I have some financial goals that I would like to get some movement on this year. These goals get focused on primarily when this weekly managing of my finances occur. The rest of the time they are fuzzy.

Early Sunday afternoon I got out on my freshly repaired V13. I wanted to put the new shocks to a more extended test. The air was on the cool side outside but the hoodie and jeans I was wearing was enough to keep me comfortable during the ride.

I rode in a bit of a random fashion, compiling my route as I went. I wound up hitting a number of spots including the beach, a location where the V13 never visited before. The work on the suspension seemed to have resulted in improvements in both the feel and noise level of the wheel when the suspension is engaged. This was also the first time I rode seated in 2025, something I could not do last time I tried because of the knee/IT band issues I have been having.

The ride was somewhere close to 25 miles and I topped 40MPH during one stretch. Both of these numbers represent new watermarks in both distance and speed since my crash in October. After that crash I did not feel like I was going to allow it to affect me significantly despite the very real possibility that I could have been killed during that incident. I have continued to ride since then but all of the rides have been shortish and mostly slower paced, rarely crossing over 30MPH. I think despite my intent I do have some lingering side effects from that day. Like anything time should lessen that impact.

I got home and edited the video I shot right up until the Eagles playoff game. The Eagles beat the Packers in a rather ugly win. The offense was on the anemic side and the Packers had a ton of injuries, turnovers and penalties that should have resulted in a blow out but the game remained close throughout. Hey a win is a win, especially in the playoffs. My expectations have been and continue to be guarded, at best.