a dissolute man in fashionable society

And by now it's looking kinda shaky.


Not least because I recently strapped these All City double toe straps onto my fixed wheel bicycle in an attempt to be on the sharpest of cutting edges. It's humbling fumbling with these.
Full Strawberry Moon has not disappointed! 2 nights running of hottt moon on trail action. You wouldn't know about that. (Johann, I had some Ali Farka Toure going on the jukebox at the Caprock Bar and poured some beer out for you and the African posse)


Night #1: Tuesday night, the night before Full. I missed the birfday fun ride in Santa Cruz because we were super busy in the bike shop so I was unable to take off early to make the ride. Which led to local solo perfection. Cloudless sky, BRIGHT Moon. When I'm all by me onesie, I am hesitant to take certain trails. Call me chicken, but that's how it breaks down. Some trails are too closed in for me to feel comfortable rolling down potentially mountain lion laden alleys of poison oak. I know it's unlikely, but people do act funny when the wolfs bane blooms and the Autumn moon is bright. So...I stuck to the fire roads until Mudhen Express, which is too swoopy to be denied (and plus, it's wide open). Spent some time lounging under the moon, drinking beers ( which helped the closed-in, dark singletrack trails seem a lot more inviting on the return trip... so I hit them riding out to Eucalyptus), eating peanuts, listening to the wind or my musical phone. Good times.
On my way back down Military, I came across this kook:



What caught my eye was the (full suspension?!) Bob trailer on the roof. Then I noticed the rubbish laying around the car, the entry-level commuter bike, and the sleeping person wearing a surgical mask (?) amidst the detritus piled window level in every seat but the driver's. I desperately wanted to interact with this obviously unique bicycle enthusiast, but the possibility for a Lynchian vignette was not enough to offset the probable angry craziness...

So I enjoy a detour through the cemetery. It's dark, quiet, and offers an alternative to roads. As I was rolling through at 11pm, I saw shadowy figures standing at a grave...and candles at the headstone. I looked again, and they were still there. I rolled over there and it was your standard 3 young adults memorializing "Grandma" at 11pm. I can't help but think it was weirder than that. But these grave site squares were not talking, so I kept moving.


Night #2: Local yokels ride trails for fun. We took those trails. While malingering, this guy rolled up out of the semi-darkness and asked if one of us was named "___..._____?" And it turned out he was the fellow the kids and I had met out there weeks ago, and to whom I had mentioned our moonlight proclivities. So there he was, and he'd toted his own beers. Speaks well of him. Meeting new people can be hard. Fast trail riding out left my front wheel looking like this


the next morning. Looks like I rolled it sideways a little. That happens. 2 nights local loop has left my legs feeling real tired...More riding the trails tonight. We'll see how it goes. I sure do like milking these moons for all the fullness thereof.

Ride yo bike!

WTF is this?

County supervisors vote 4-1 to approve Monterey-Salinas Transit bus yard y thorough-fare.

Fuck. Us.

no Saviour for our sakes

Bicycle-wise I should have been born like 121 years ago. It gives me goosebumps on my self, the riding on the trails. With the no other people around. I really dig that.

As I cast my yellowed sclera around in these connected computer tubeways, I see talk talk talk talk. Like what you are seeing now, only not as mmmmmpacked with...uh...knowledge. Thinking specifically of bikepacking. I'm just as covetous of sano equipment as the crows are of the shiny ______. On account of this, in looking around at websites in search of the "perfect" gear, I've come upon so much hemming and so many hawings. I am reminded of the lady who thought she could not use a road bike helmet for her mountain biking.

So.

Here: it's not whether you have the perfect gear, it's whether you go out. If you already know that, then fuck yeah! and if you didn't , then now you do so fuck yeah! Seriously, you can stress about how much your toofbrush weighs and lament the weighty effects of this cumulative toting of sub-par gear over the course of your trip...if it makes you happy. Or, you can apply your mind and your 'magination to the task of finding the right mess of gear/bike to take you to the fun. If it's just right, you will forget about the "stuff" and be caught up in the riding. And if it's not just right, you aren't going to break; you can use that earned knowledge to refine yourself and your choices.

Again, nothing you don't already know.

I really think most of the forum jockeys don't actually ride at all. Don't worry about the "right" gear. Just ride the damn bike, maaaaan.

And, for the record, I can't get enough of a positive outlook:



You think Lee Williams gives a moment's thought to whether his kit is up to emerging standards?!
No. He just rides.

let that be

what it be.

Q- What is going on with the video format?
A- I don't know. It's for listening anyhow, so don't fret. Start it at 1:30 if you don't want to hear the intro.

Things happen. Other stuff seems important.





When I get the option, though, I do lik to take a little camping trip (on and with my bicycle).


It is not yet the Full Stawberry Moon- that's on Wednesday?! why yes. Yes it is- but yet it was a night to ride. My nameless associate and I embarked in the twilight and ended in the deep, dark woods. We rode up and stashed our packs in a privately owned sheltered meadow. There was plenty of time for more riding as there was no more daylight to waste. We know the nighttime is given over to dissolute pursuits so we did our best. Our best riding through the dark with minimal lights in search of beers which had been stashed behind trees and trails which have been hemmed in with Poison Oak, that is.



Did you receive this image via your mobile Friday night? Well then, you should have Xed, you should have Yed and you would have been hella Zed.


Q- How many Northern Californians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A- Hella.


Even if (especially because?) such trips are only over-nighters, they are worth our time. A) What are you doing that is funner? 2) How many other nights do you have the option to do that other thing that really isn't funner C) That's what it takes to be a winner.




I thought I'd save some effort and sleep out with my tarp folded over the top of me like a burrito. Perhaps more like a soft taco. This worked out terribly. I'm puzzled as to how the condensation could be so heavy on both the outer and inner surfaces of my tarp/bivy. The fog was well in, and so thick on that ridge that it was falling out of solution onto us all night. Like a gentle sprinkle. You could honestly say it wasn't raining, but you were just as wet. It didn't matter so much for one over-night (I was plenty warm), though if I'd been on a multi-day effort I'd have been muuuuuuuch better off pitching a tent. If packing wet gear is a drag, using wet gear the following night is miserable drag.

These Hilleberg tents look dry and useful, if a little heavy.


We awoke.




I seem to be making a habit of sleeping next to this bike while it gets drenched. Next time it's getting drenched on it's own and I'm staying dry.



Breakfast was instant grits and left-over tofu scramble. See the tiny Tabasco?



I can't find my trusty Esbit. Good thing my faceless companion had a fancy pantsy alcohol stove.



I lik coffee.



My stuff.


I thought I'd illustrate the amount of precipitate.



My identityless co-camper taking his (or her) sweet-assed time packing up even though we had a schedule to keep. Look at all that stuff...

...plus this bikepacking frame-bag type set-up. I believe that is a sleeping bag in the seat bag gizmo? And I don't know what in the gas tank apparatus. I think I'd lik some frame bags. Save me the weight of racks at the minimum. And my back pack was heavy! and not so comfortable. All this, plus more on the one hand.

On the other hand, I already have racks and a back pack.

I believe I'll look into using a down comforter instead of a sleeping bag. Seeing as how I have one of them, and it might pack up lighter enough and smaller enough to warrant.


I broke a spoke on the way to work that afternoon. I keep saying this, but: that was the last ride on my rattly death trap of a suspension bike until I get a new fork. There were some good creaks.

Whatever I ride, I'll ride the hell out of it.

extreme criminality

Fixed weal flatform fedals in the woods. Refleshing!


Church Access Only. (fact, not restriction)


It's real nice to simply climb on a bike and ride. No gearing up, no clipping in, no kitting out. Only getting on. Push the pedals. Feel the curve of the Earth, as it rolls away. Pavement and dirt.

burst your eyeballs in the vain attempt

In spite of all this talk of bikes that shift and bounce.






I loaned this bike out for the Sleaze Otter, and it came home changed. Flip flopped from fixed to free was enough to put me off riding it. Brazen indolence was enough to put off fixing it.



I had forgotten how effortless riding the fixed wheel can be.


Now I remember.

take no chances

Today at the bike shop.

I had a lady come in and return a $200(I know, neither would I) mountain bike helmet because she "already had a pink helmet" but had wanted a white one to match her other jersey, but upon reflection decided it was silly to spend that money on a helmet just for the color. I was with her so far. Then she wanted to know what the differences between helmets were (shape/ventilation/weight...they all- even (especially?) the kids' helmets have to pass the same impact tests) and which was lighter than the one she was returning. Well, none. That's a big part of why the helmet cost $200 (I know, neither would I). Soooo, X is close in weight but it has unattractive graphics, and Y is close in weight and comes in white- but it's a...a...road helmet.

Yes, but all helmets pass the same- yes, you can wear a road helmet to ride your mountain bike. People do. I prefer road helmets for their streamlined shape and visorless magnificence, and I ride the heck out of some trails. No, but you can wear a cycling cap under your helmet if you need a visor.

I almost laughed because my 1st reaction was: "Oh. Good one." But this poor gal was not joking, she was genuinely stressed.


I (I thought) talked her down and sold her a $60 road helmet (no visor), and credited her card the difference. Then she wanted to know if this helmet didn't actually come with a visor, and had I misplaced it, because the illustration on the box which showed how to properly position the helmet on one's head showed a visored helmet.

But: Even though "the last guy" (wha? I really don't see it) at our shop told her only a mountain bike helmet would suffice for mountain biking, and even though her father told her she "looked like a bug without the visor" causing her to try on the road helmet with 2 different pair of glasses to check for bug-like-itude and ultimately declare it OK, and even though I politely yet pointedly asked her if she were happy with her choice...20 minutes later I answered the call from our sister store where she was returning that helmet because her husband had told her that a road helmet would not work.




What the hell?

People. There is no wrong way to do it. Let yourself go!