* what we really want and why we don't get it

A new bike opens up all kinds of possibilities for reconfiguration of the current bikepile.

I think the Kamped out Karate Monkey will see a Pugsley fork soon, so as to experiment on the cheap with the 135mm front hubbed wheel. (I checked the measures, and it'll fit a 29" wheel.) I have seen a lot more flex in my 29er wheels than I care to on occasion; most notably with big fat tires. I have plenty of rear wheels to serve as fronts for the duration of seeing how the ~20mm difference in height affects (head tube angle) handling. If it sticks, then the possibilities are legion...a dingle on the front and geared in the rear camping bike would be formidable. And I would then be in the position to purchase a front specific hub for actually testing the stiffness thereof.

*EDIT: I see now, the Paul Components Whub 135mm front hub will not work with the Pugsley fork since it (the fork) is designed around rear disc spacing. Kinda puts a damper on the whole thing.



I am also thinking hard about SSWC09, and logistics. Who wants to ride Telluride-Durango on one of the days immediately preceding? I may or may not ride a mini-tour across southern Utah. I may or may not swap out the SS dropout on the Black Cat singlespeed for a hangered dropout to use gears for that pursuit.

Of course, Interbike is to follow, so best start training now, suckas.




No camera=no pictures=no proof, but I was in SC riding with some Santa Cruzers on Wed., which was a laugh a lot type of Good Time. They do got the good trails. I will slip in here the observation that chasing trail-wise speedy flat-barred local-types down their own playground whilst drunk aboard a drop-barred v-braked rig in the dark can lead to a whitening of the knuckles. The work I'd planned to do on Thurs. did not end up materializing, and as I'd committed to spending the night to do it (and face it- driving home after the ride on Wed would have been a baaaaaad idea) I was all of a sudden cleared to ride all day in the hills. With the shady redwooded trails and the twisty turny roads and that.

Out the door (thanks for hosting me T___, and I mean that however it strikes your ear) and on dirt for the climb up westSIDE ridgeSIDE and _offman's _istoric. Up some more and it was Ridge to Braille (which rides like it sounds at first and then steepens dramatically) to road. Summit Store to pay for water, a cold tallboy, and the freshest ripest biggest juiciest most wonderful peach ever. Ride on to the top of that one road that can only be mentioned in a whisper on account of it's superlativity up and down for a brief rest- to drink the tallboy, a wee snort of the whiskey I'd promoted from the kitchen of my hostbody ( I just laughed when I saw the selection in the pantry- 'extensive' and 'portable' come to mind), and a safety break.

down. Fast as hell, crappy one-laned pavement twisting and swooping. I especially love that. No one can do it better.

I made all the right turns to end up at the trail entrance to _enry C_____, and made adequate choices there in terms of tight twisty singletrack to reach the RRtracks. Softly, I rode them down into town to pick up the race van and head home. Tired. Feeling good.

if monkeys could type

Those of y'all doing this right (i.e. keeping up with even my smallest needs and taking/recording careful inventories of my bikepile) will have gathered that I will soon be riding a new cross bike. It is definite, I have seen the frame, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Mining the vein of thinking in a serious way about bike parts and spec, there are several inneresting thoughts here.

anatomy of a commute

accomplished designer of over the top interiors

On the other hand, we were able to make yet another bike based trip to the swimmin hole. The bicycle breakdown went a little something like this: N on her townie with a knobbie swapped in and a fender swapped out on the front end (it looks so tough) D on the 24"mtb (ostensibly his now I guess) my brother on the kamped out Karate Monkey and T (niece) , J and my ownself aboard the Big Dummy (hauler of gear and asses).





The kids were by turns happy to jump off cliffs, snack, lounge hole-side, and swim. There was sunscreen. We brought our own beers so we did not have to pilfer from the coolers of others. There was no one else there anyway.



Backcountry bikepile. Who's punker?



I love that bike. The daughter is ok, too. There can be a lot of drama/fussing these days. 12 is the new 18.



Walking them...


and walking us. Hot.



At the top of that climb, my brother swapped rides with me and took off with the kid-laden longbike. He wobbled a little, but not for long.

I check my pulse and the pulse of my friend

Living in the shadow of groovy times. My brother and niece came to town for a week's worth of Goodness.

One night I invited him to accompany me on a pub crawl via bicycles and he reluctantly agreed. I did not tell him we were going to see Lyle Lovett and his large band play at the Golden State Theatre (est. 1927, bicthes), and when we pulled up he was suitably floored. He told me then he had thought I was just being a Bike Nazi (his term) again. I have dragged him on some dubious outings in the past, but still. Anyways, if Lance Armstrong's life is detailed in a movie (you know, prior to his presidential run) well, Lyle oughta play him. Later, we were asked to leave Alfredo's Cantina- ok, given the choice between that or having the police escort us from the premises.

One of the other things we did was to take that bicycle surrey




and ride it out to Marina to the beach. Those things are singlespeed like you read about, and the seats do not adjust... Shut up, strap a Chrome messenger back pack full of iced beers and juice boxes (on account of the waterproof truck tarp construction, see) on the back, hang a few tens of more lbs of picnic goods, towels, toys and several sporadic-at-best-pedaling freeloaders off it and ride.


We parked it out on top of the dunes and hiked down. I'd guess it is about 11 miles out to this spot. The sharp eyed among you will recognize this venue from previous velocache! action.


Hike down.




Raw and uncut footage here.



...attack.


etc.





Hike up.





The surrey, just where we'd left it.


Everone looks real enthused on the way back. We checked the brakes on the way out prior to hitting this section of trafficked mall/bikepath interface. They worked. But barely.

It was a hot sweaty Good Time in the sun.

soundtrack to your life

surrey ride.




details to follow...

Full Sturgeon Moon

Now hear this:

Full Sturgeon Moon going down tonight-er, coming up I guess. You in?

I have no idea about the sturgeon backstory. Meet up at dark time, Parker Flats Cutoff. Dirt and beers await us...