techie pics

this evening i was in the garage catchin' up on stuff, listening to a new Tom Wait's 3-disc set, and putting the hurt on a pack of Mirror Pond Pale Ale. i'd tried to wash the schmegma off the fixie after its traverse of the Rockies in a show storm, stuck on the roof. temps were cold enough tonight to have the hoses and bibs outside all froze up. HOT water in a bucket, dish soap, and a down jacket and i had the tall crust off, but the suds were frozen in place. the water on the concrete was a bit slick too... had to take the garden hose into the bathtub for a hot soak to get the ice out, then hook it to the water heater and plumb it out to the driveway to finish the job. once rinsed and in the garage, i closed the door and cranked up the heat - nice. drying off the fixed gear bike, a.k.a. "Harlan" and possibly to become known as "the Bullish Dude bike," i detected a bit of lateral wamble in the cranks. hmm, funny looking cones on the bb, but let's go fer it. i spread a towel below the bike stand (learned my lesson with the loose bearings in the headset), disected the bb and found 22 loose ball bearings pasted in what looked like 20+ year old grease and a mild pit on the nondrive side of the spindle's cone... spent some time thinking about this, listened to ol' Wait's lecture on "Army Ants" and decided to give McGuiness a call. haven't talked at him in a while, and hey, i had some beta for him...the pics are of some contemporary WTB Dirt Drops. McG of Calavera Cycles is going to help me fit them to my Coconino trail touring rig for less techy rides. he's cookin' up a steel and brass brazed stem to fit to the oversized bar, with just right rise and reach. can't wait to see what he's done, and mainly, to ride the Hell outta it! i'm slowly warming to dd's, definately aided by time on the fixed gear townie with it's Midge bars, and appreciate the variety of positions. when it comes to just plain trail riding, it'll be a while before i'm as comfortable as with some 2" Protaper risers and Oury's. ahh, trail riding...

pumpkin time. happy dreams, readers. it's tomorrow and i have to be up early to partake in the last day ever that the Deux Gros Nez will be open. more on that later!

Japhy rider

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12/05/06 Update...
Sean sent me this mid-fab pic of the stem. Way cool! Thanks for the shot, Sean, and the great work. Can't wait to build it up and get gone.

as ever, thanks for watching.

J. rider

ps- I spent some time lookin' at the pics and dig vid of the farewell adeau, Duex party. that was nuts. I didn't feel "normal" again till Sunday, just lookin' at the pictures pulls stuff from the margins of memory... ragin' fiddles, lotsa beer, a hunerd or more peeps (?), bag pipes, Mexican wrestler masks?! closing after 21 years in business, what else would you expect? hope to get some kinda something together soon and post it for your viewing pleasure. till then, fly that freak flag.

pss- Sean McG will be MFEM-side tomorrow for some early winter night riding - Peavine style. can't wait to show him our homegrown 1-track. too cold to see scorpions out there, but should be fun under the full moon.

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01/30/07 - Update, Calavera stem installed and tested, it Rocks!!!

these pics don't do it justice, but the fillet brazed oversized clamp double pinch bolts and skull detail are all excellent. thanks Sean McG, lookin' forward to doing more riding with you and spinning my touring rig all over tarnation.

Turkey Day in the Ozarks

A 30 hour road rally last weekend got us out to the parents' place in SW Missouri, from here on known as "Ssura," for the Thanksgiving holiday. Man, it's a big country, and the Basin and Range is still my fav landscape, but the few bits of intact prarie we could see from the highway were beautiful! Flatlands yielded to the hills of the Ozarks, with all kinds of oak trees and cedar (?) replacing the grasses. Time catching up with the parents has been occupied by helping with a construction project on the house, "mowing" the fields...

Amanda was happy to drive the Ford tractor!

"does this tractor make my butt look big?"

as well as walking around in the property's stands of oaks, eating, playing pool, tending fires, eating, drinking, eating, and RIDING! I've gotten in 2 rides on the fixed bike, the bike of choice for this trip, shredding the state highways and dirt back roads all over the place. Yesterday, Ace motor paced me on Harley Davidson MT500, my parent's farm bike. We rode about 20 miles, maybe a 3rd of which was dirt and all of which was Hilly. The remainder was up or down on the asphault state roads... nowhere to hide on the fixed gear! Ace clocked me going over 40mph on a sustained downhill, wheeeew...

"did you hear a banjo?"

Today is the day, lots of cooking to do this morning, then the feast. With any luck, we'll get a kitchen pass to go start flagging trail in the trees behind the house. This place should support a fun cloverleaf trail network, kinda hilly, maybe some logstacles, slippery limestones too. If we can get it marked and start roughing it in, it'll be fun to see how much Mom and Dad accomplish before our next visit.

"All fine here, hope same there"

Pueblo Viejo

whup, whoa! Epic Rides has cashed my registration check, so I'm guessing it's a done deal. block off the Presidents' Day weekend in February for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. this will be my 3rd 24 hour race, all solo so far, and the 2nd one on a single speed. now the skitch is to carry some of the summer fitness into the dead of winter so i can really enjoy being out there. hopefully lots of backcountry skiing will help with that, and time on the fixed townie when the trails are muddy. speaking of, it's been a lot like fall here lately with scattered rain and overcast skies. i suited up for a drizzly road commute this morning. riding in the rain isn't soo bad, as long as you don't have to sit in wet jeans and socks all morning at werk...

happy Tuesday,
Japhy rider

Outlaw X

I wasn't riding a fixed gear or a single speed, but it was a first for me. This morning I did a cyclocross race. The good folks in Truckee and a handful of Reno-ans have been rallyin' for Thursday morning "outlaw" cross races this fall. I don't know who came up with the name, but these things definately are not legit. They are fun, they seem to move from venue to venue every week, and the good times roll for an hour straight. Grizz put this one together, utilizing the levees, dead trees, dirt piles, boulders, and lawns at the Mayberry Park to lay out a fun course. There were flat out fast spots for the fast guys, lots of chicanes for the good guys, and some rockstacles and logstacles for the mountain bikers (me) to make up time on. I think 20 something riders showed up and a half a dozen spectators lined the course. I took a dog lap to run the hound and see what I was in for, then cued up in the back of the pack. Lap 1 I stayed in the way back. Then started riding a bit harder, trailing peeps until it was safe to pass, or just attack at an obstacle, riding away while they ran, or whatever. When it ended I was in 4th and having fun.
The apres ride donut feed was nice way to round it out. Thanks a 10^6, Grizz! Now let's go do a few more trial rides before the snow season takes hold.

J. rider

Election Day

i have an excuse for being late to work today, and it's not that i was ride-jacked out on the trails (used that one too many times already). today is election day and i chose to do my civic duty prior to working. they told me i was voter #100 in our precinct to hit the polls. good deal, hope a few hundred more make it out before 7pm. other than elections for state offices, we've a few important questions up. smoking in some public places, restaurants, bars, etc? legalizing marijuana? raising taxes to fund more police officers? funding schools first? this is all pertinent - do the right thing. get out there and cast your vote... "be the change you want to see in the world."

J.r.

got grit?

It's pouring down an early November rain, Friday afternoon. There's supposed to be some kinda Critical Mass ride in downtown this evening. I've never participated in one - and generally avoid groups of strangers of any size - but thought I'd see what's it's all about, how motivated these "bicycle activists" are. It should be dark about then too. The HID and a rain jacket, some leather work gloves and jeans, Sidi's and a fixed gear townie sounds sketchy on wet and oily pavement during a Friday evening rush hour, but first, another hour crunchin' numbers in the lab then a few errands to run. Gotta get to the USFS office in Sparks (about a 25 minute spin across town) to pickup a firewood gathering permit for this weekend, then jet back to downtown by 1700 (?) for Mass. If I'm not hypothermic by then, maybe a session at the Tap House to close out the lab week. Stay tuned for some pics of this evening's goings ons.

Happy Friday,
J. rider

UPDATE- Monday, Nov. 6
i blew outta work last Friday at 3:50 and shot east from the Lab down that 13% (?) grade to Clearacre, whosh! made it across town in time to get the permits i'd need for the weekend's work, then back to downtown by 5:20 for that evenings Critical Mass ride. feet and backside were soaked, but at least the rain stopped.

props to the riders that showed up for some wet pavement rush hour/happy hour bicycle activism. we had an old Schwinn tandem cruiser, about a half a dozen fixies, and about as many geared road and mountain bikes in the ranks. it was probably a subcritical mass, but a few laps were had around downtown with only minor exposure to aggravated booger eaters. i'd say riders and drivers were relatively tolerant, or that the flash of lots of bike lights and reflective swatches in a drenched landscape disarmed most drivers. the apre party and Quicksilver viewing was entertaining. thanks for the hospitality, fellas.

see you in the mountains,
Japhy rider