this weather blows

Man this weather SUX, yeah you know it too. The last couple of winters here in the south have been warmish and dry, spoiling us and allowing us to pretty much ride comfortably all year round. Riding year round even in the cold is not unheard of, I do it every year and have plenty of cold weather gear to combat the temps but this cold, wet weather is really taking a toll on me. The trails are a soggy mess and are pretty much unrideable right now. With 100% chance of rain on Wednesday it doesn't look like much will change anytime soon. Too warm to snow and too cold to dry out before the next round of precipitation.

I've been very tempted to get back out there and start running again but I'm not gonna lie when I say I'm scared too. If I don't get in some sort of ride in the next 2 weeks I'll be forced to test the waters.

Even the past 2 trailwork days have been cancelled due to the sucky weather, we're getting behind on a ridiculously full work schedule and it's driving me crazy.

Alot of progress has been made in the way of trail sign production. Joe and Daniel have been cranking them out left & right from the dry confines of their garages. My end of the deal though, painting the signs, is starting to stack up.

In all my down time I was doing a bit of reading lately, bikes of course but a topic about beer cellars and aging beers caught my eye. After reading about where the best place to store beers that you're aging is a dark basement with a steady temp range of 50-65 degrees I realized the potential my basement has. A few days later I was strolling through the high gravity beer aisle at my local package store when I noticed a new shipment of Sam Adams brew specifically created for this aging process. I figured this must be a sign so I bought my first two and promptly deposited them in the basement hoping I won't be tempting to crack them open early.

Speaking of fine aging, Ocho is growing like a weed and becoming a fine dog. He's definitely a smart one, I wish I had the patience to train him properly. Unlike Moonshine when he does get to ride in the cab of my truck he sits very still and is calm. Moonshine can't and won't do this, even in her old age, riding up front is too muchexcitement for her, she whines and paces constantly. As soon as things dry up I plan to start teaching Ocho the way of trail riding.

With no opportunity to ride I have had plenty of time to do a bit of bike maintenance. Another new handle bar was ordered, this one for the FROG, a matchy matchy Niner Green one. I honestly wasn't planning to go with the green but there was a killer sale and the only color choices were green or orange. I thought hard for a minute about the orange but decided a little too much matchy matchy was better than the orange.

It's a sharp looking bar and I was really tempted to remove all the shifty bits from the handle bar space and make the FROG an SS again but again I held off with my lower back in mind. I'm pretty much pain free but I don't want to push my luck.

Our 2013 calendar is filling up quick, almost too quick, luckily it's all fun bike related trips and adventures. A recent invitation to join a local racing team was extended and while it was tempting I'm standing firm as of now with my decision to pass in favor of keeping my summer free to do rides that are all about the fun factor.

I may throw my hat into the racing ring later this year but as of now I have no race plans on my agenda.

spilling the beans

It's really no secret, I'm not good at keeping quiet when it comes to new bikes. I'm like a little kid at Christmas all giddy with excitement.

 

A few weeks back, at a ride I missed out on or some sort of adventure in the woods probably involving a couple of beers and idea was spawned to have a klunker build off and ride by this spring. An announcement was made of sort via the Facebox and I immediately jumped on the bandwagon.

 

About this same time Transition bikes debuted a new bike the "Klunker" an ode to the pioneers of mountain biking. 26" wheels, steel retro look frame, singlespeed, coaster brake and no suspension. All the newest, latest and greatest technology was throw out the window for a straight in your face good time the old school way.

 

Originally I had planned to build up a klunker like everyone else in the build off with a real old school frame salvaged from where ever you could find one. The more I thought about it the more I was leaning toward buying the Transition, even though I knew I would take some heat for it.

 

As I weighed out the pros and cons of the 2 different routes I realized I would probably spend on the higher end of the $200-$400 spectrum of building an old school bike. A bike I knew would only be ridden a handful of times and would likely break by the years end due to off-road riding it wasn't designed for. This happened back in the original klunker days hence the start of some of the most famous bike companies in history.

 

Enough of the history lesson, basically I decided to go ahead and buy the Transition because I knew it would last and in all honesty get ridden more. I don't fully expect to ride it every week but hey the complete bike it cost less than some wheelsets I've purchased in the past.

 

 

 

 

I almost missed the boat in scoring this one, I looked vigorously online for one and ended up grabbing one at the Hub in Brevard NC. The entire first run of these sold out before they hit the bike shops, I got very lucky.

 

 

 

I guess I'm a member now.

 

 

 

 

Buying a bike with 26" wheels was something I thought I would never do again. I've heard the argument made that 29" wheels make mountain biking too easy. The same argument could be said for gears, big suspension travel, hydraulic brakes, carbon fiber, seatpost droppers etc....

 

I know this bike won't quiet the naysayers, I didn't buy it too. I bought it because it's gonna be fun as hell to ride. I'm really not the anti 26er person everyone thinks I am. I might lead a few to believe that online but that's mainly for my own amusement. Call me an instigator if you want, I know I am.

 

Where will I ride it? I've got a few ideas, I doubt I'll be doing any big xc rides on it. Most of the rides this bike will see will consist of pushing up hill and riding down and a handful of urban assaults, CRAWL anyone?

 

It came with a 44x18 drivetrain but I knew that was silly for my taste and ability so I swapped the front chainring to a 36, still a bit steep for anything with much incline but I'll manage or push it.

 

For now my plans are to rock it with flat pedals and my old school bmx helmet, I never rode bmx but it made for a great snowboard helmet. Anything else just seems silly.

 

Oh yeah, I wasn't alone when I made this purchase, there might be another Tranny Klunker lurking in the Tri-Cities but I'll let that individual spill their own beans.

what do I plan to do with 2013?

1360 and some change, that was my off-road mileage for the year and as usual I have no idea what my road mileage was, those miles don't matter. At first I was certain that this was less than what I rode last year but after a bit of research I realized I beat my 2011 mileage of 1342. Hot damn I wasn't a slacker after all.

I set the goal of 1500 early in the year but then quickly decided I needed to focus on being more physically fit all around than just a stronger rider. With that I began lifting more weights, which obviously didn't stick once the warm weather kicked in and I also focused on running more which stopped all together once I started experiencing lower back pain again. After a couple months of ice & ibuprofen I decided it was time to let my body rest and start searching for an alternative to healing. Through a friend I found a book on how to make lower back pain a thing of the past, all without the help of doctors and modern medicine. Seven quick and easy exercises that I do regularly even when I'm not experiencing pain have help me become mostly pain free over the past couple of weeks. For a while I was living off of ibuprofen and I didn't like the idea of relying on medicine to help me get through the day, now I don't have to and I feel better about it.

So my goals for this year? To continue or should I say pick up where I left off in being more fit all around for one, I really have my work cut out for me. Will I start running again? I'm not sure. Also I plan to focus more on giving back to my local trails and cycling community. This year we have more opportunity to build and revamp existing trails than we have ever had, so much opportunity that I don't see us getting it all done in the next 2 years. That my friends is a good thing. Not getting it done won't be because of a lack of trying, we'll be working hard at it every month. The real question is, who will come out and join us?

In the past year we've really seen a growth in new fresh faces showing up to the trail workdays. Yeah we don't see huge numbers like some of the bigger cities but we are seeing double the amount of participants coming out to lend a hand. The cool thing is that most are excited about doing the work and some complain when we are forced to cancel a workday due to weather. That right there makes me smile and very proud of my fellow singletrack friends.

Am I satisfied with what we've accomplished? Yes but don't expect me to settle for it, I will continue to push for more, and I will continue to encourage people to come out and lend a hand in creating one of the best areas in TN for mountain biking. So here's to the new year, better health and new trails to ride, chock full of roots, rocks, berms and jumps!

See you at the next workday!