brakes, who needs em?

I've always used Avid brakes and not for really anymore reason than it's just whats came on most of my bikes. With several mountain bikes in the bike room, to start adding a different brand would just make things a hassle. I've ran pretty much Juicy's for years with no issues, just change the pads and go, never had to bleed them. Then along came the Elixers, I bought a set for Melinda and they worked pretty well for the first couple of years so when I ran across a used set for what I thought was a good deal from a local I went ahead and scooped them up. Right off the bat I had to bleed them just to get them to work. Since I've had them less than 6 months and I'm looking at a 3rd bleed I think it's time to send them to an early grave. Change the pads, bleed the brakes, that pretty much sums up what I do with these brakes.

Since I bought the used ones, Melinda's Elixers have joined in on the bleeding party. It's been ridiculous and I'm seriously considering buying stock in DOT 5.1 brake fluid. The newest Elixers are supposed to have fixed this problem but since they are still new I'm not ready to take that chance.

Not wanting to dump more money into brakes that don't work properly I went ahead and pulled the trigger on not one but two sets of Shimano XT's. I've heard nothing but good reviews about them and I'm not talking about what the local yay-hoos have to say either.

If you're looking for a set of used hydros don't ask me if I'm selling the Elixers, I'm not going to sell them to anyone I know, knowing they're not worth a crap. I found out after I bought them that there was SRAM memo sent out about the bleeding issue but that was a little too late.

work is good

I've been working overtime, at least that's what it feels like. Not just the job I get paid for but everything in between and even though most of the work I've been doing doesn't pay me in cash it pays me in other ways like that sweet feeling of riding your bike trough the woods on singletrack you've worked hard on. It's totally different than riding a trail that someone else built, trust me.

This has probably been the wettest winter we've ever seen, I'm not sure which is worse a cold winter or a wet one. I think we've been able to ride more but only if you've been lucky to be off when the skies are dry. Those days I've been torn between, "Should I ride or should I spend time trying to get this trail finished?" I've tried my damnest to do both but one eventually ends up falling short, in my case it's been the riding.  I did try to sneak in a ride a couple of hours before the club meeting this week but half way through the ride we pulled the plug and went home due to muddy conditions. Honestly I thought it would have been dryer but I guess the whole "freeze thaw" was in full effect and I hate the thought of damaging the trail. I was off three days this week and it rained 2 out of 3 of them. The one dry day was right between the two rainy ones so I opted to do trail work. Me and another guy put in a solid 4 hrs of work finally getting the trail open. It felt really good to get it rideable but I later found out some yay-hoo rode it in the rain the next day no doubtly screwing up the work we had done. Who rides a brand new trail in the rain knowing full well it's not ready for that kind of abuse?

These pics are a couple weeks old and alot of work has been done since.

A sweet natural berm.

It's kind of hard to see but there is a small drop here. We actually ended up putting in two. They were there almost naturally, I just merely sculpted them into something fun to ride.



A little more polishing work to do and maybe some rock armoring here and there and I hope we can call it good. I'm ready to move on to the next project which is more on the maintenance side of things and be done until next fall, my trail tools could use the rest.

After we finished Wednesday I could barely move but knowing it was going to rain the next day and I would be at work all weekend I had to ride. I went home ate lunch, popped a couple ibruprophens and grabbed my bike to see how my handy work rolled. It felt good, the trail that is, a bit soft and in need of packing in but good flow. Me on the other had, by that evening I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

trails and Madonna

It's been hella busy around these here parts, and the blog has suffered a bit. First things first, I finally figured out why the last 2 videos I posted would automatically start playing everytime I went to my blog. Two videos playing with two different songs at the same time can kinda be irritating I know and I apologize. The "auto play" button in the Vimeo settings got clicked on somehow, not sure why but it's been clicked off so no more annoying noise when you visit.

In trail related news, we've been hard at work trying to get all the necessary paperwork work filed for the many approvals we need to build new trails. Yeah sometimes you have to fill out applications and get letters of support just to build a trail. The trails in question are the additions we are trying to add on to Warriors Path. The land across the interstate is owned by TVA and was recently zoned by the TVA for recreational purposes. We have found a way to access this land via a small corridor under the I-81 bridge which is owned by TDOT. So basically we have to get permission by 3 different government organizations to build a couple of miles of trail. Imagine how slow moving and the amount of paperwork involved just to dig in the dirt, sheesh. It's worth it though, I just hope it happens in my lifetime.

There is more mountain bike club related going on lately but that's stuff I'll skip on discussing here in the blog. If you're interested in hearing, come to the club meeting next Monday. I'll fill you in on all the small details.

I'm trying to keep this post short as I've got a date with a bike shop mechanic. Melinda bought a Chris King headset for her BMC a few months ago but when she upgraded to the Niner it wouldn't transfer over because of the tapered headtube. Well I asked around and found I could order just the bottom portion of the headset to make everything work for her JET, yeah! I originally was supposed to have it installed last Friday but I managed to drive all the way over to JC with her bike leaving the necessary headset parts at home. I was too busy thinking about all the other crap I had going on and the other items I was taking with me that I walked out the door and forgot all about the headset. The good news is we finally sold most of the parts off her BMC, all we lack now is the frame. Know anyone looking for a high end women's specific frame?

I did watch the Super Bowl game last night, the first game I've watched since the last Super Bowl. It got exciting the last 10 minutes of the game. That's all I really have to say about it. Oh yeah and evidently MIA flipped off the camera during the halftime show upstaging an aging Madonna (if you caught it) who looked like she was going to fall down at any minute. It wasn't as bad as last year's Black Eye Peas performance but I did catch myself yawning during the show.

That's all for now........

my measly little Pisgah video

Here is the Pisgah footage I shot a few months ago, alot of it didn't turn out due to a CamelBak straw flopping right in front of the camera. Don't ask what trails we rode because I have no idea. The only one I'm sure of was the Black Mountain trail and most of it was ruined by that stupid CamelBak straw. I'll admit the Black Mountain trail was a bit disappointing, I'll admit some of it had to do with my lack of downhill skills. I do need to step up my game in that dept. I feel like we climbed for a really long time only to go straight freaking down the mountain. It was steep, rutted, rooty and rocky as hell. I have nothing against trails that are over my head technically, I need the challenge. I'm not one of those pansy riders who won't ride certain trails because they're too hard.

I'm totally ready to go back and explore some more, that place is just too much fun.

some long awaited video and a different TYPE of post

Today I writing my blog post from my "smarter than me" phone with my new handy dandy blogger app. I downloaded it but have yet to write with it until today. I have used it to add pics from my phone directly to my blog, something I've been struggling with on the iPhone but not anymore! The reason I'm writing with it today you ask? No I'm not globe trotting around the world. Our laptop here at the house bit the dust after 7+ years of service. I had just hit the save button on the video above when it went so the ending is a bit abrupt but what can you do. Luckily I've been backing up my stuff for a while so I don't think anything was lost, fingers crossed.
After alot of searching, review reading and penny counting I realized we couldn't afford a Mac so we opted for another PC but we did spring for an iPad, I'm calling it our early Valentines gift to each other.

So the video above, this was the triathlon I did last June, my first ever. Yes the turnout was low, mainly because of the nasty wet conditions, at least that's my story. Had the course been dry and free of rain I probably would have seen some stiffer competition and wouldn't have scored a 2nd place finish. I'll take it though, just showing up and running the race says something in my book, the guys who stayed at home while they might have been faster on dry ground are pansies in my mind. I'll be back this year for sure to tell them just that.

I apologize if my grammar is worse than normal, typing and editing is not that easy on my "smarter than me" phone.

non-riding post but yet still entertaining, I think

I'm sure most have you might have heard this already but I will give the short version for those who don't and who might actually be interested. Last summer we hired a roofer, who came recommended, to replace our roof. He came over with a younger guy, we agreed on a price, signed a contract and wrote him a check as a deposit. We had a couple of date changes due to this and that but the 3rd date we set that they were supposed to do the job came and passed without a word from the roofer. After 3-4 weeks of harassing phone calls and him promising us he would get someone out to our house we'd finally had enough. Once we threatened to call the police that finally got his attention and he stated he no longer worked for the company.

Fast forward a couple of months and some nasty phone calls.

The Kingsport police arrested him, and his mug shot in the newspaper was the first time I'd seen his face since the initial contract signing. Fast forward a couple more month's we were in court yesterday for the second time, the first time he said he had a witness, who wasn't there, that could prove he gave the $$ to his boss, the judge gave him a 30 day recess.

Yesterday the roofer showed up without his witness and the funny thing is, there was never any mention of it, I think his public defender was a little irritated. His P.D. proceeded to badger me on the witness stand trying to prove that I never allowed him to finish the job. I simply stated that I did finally request a refund after nearly two months for a couple of reasons. 1. He and the actual owner of the company both told me they no longer worked for the company nor did they know who owned the company. 2. They had never showed up to do any work nor had any materials been delivered. I think that was reasonable on my part and I guess the P.D. really didn't have anything left to say as he left me alone after that. Yesterday was basically just a preliminary hearing to decide whether or not to send him to a criminal trial which he is and I'm calling that a win for us. It won't be until March before he's back in court so it will probably be a long time before we ever see any of our money back. I've got my fingers crossed and a strong will to fight, fight, fight!

The only thing that kept us from going crazy sitting in the court room for 6 hours when we could have been out riding was the entertainment. Everyone in that court room had some sort of ridiculous story or excuse. Both times we were in attendance we witnessed people being arrested for showing up high or drunk, they always use the same excuse, "I'm on anything I'm just tired." We sat and listened to idiots all around us laugh about their DUI's, shoplifting arrests and what not. I clearly remember hearing one girl state she didn't understand why she got a DUI, she only had 4 shots? It was true redneck entertainment.

Ok enough of that, my hopes to get in a ride or two the last couple of days didn't happen due to rain and court hearings. Tuesday it was just too wet to ride so I mixed things up a bit and went for a trail run at Bays Mountain. I normally run at Warriors when hitting the trail but I felt the need to try Bays and I liked it alot. There are less roots and rocks to deal with which lowers the twisted or broken ankle chances by a mile.

Wednesday was the same, too wet for riding but just dry enough to work on the trails, talk about a full body workout, wow! We are getting closer and closer to finishing the upper section of the Chestnut trail. This section is a bit more challenging than the lower section. It's still a cakewalk compared to Warriors but it's going to have some really sweet swooping turns, berms and jumps.




This berm was pretty much there naturally, Jay just helped it along a bit with some shaping.




One of the first berms in a nice "S" turn.





A jump smack dab in the middle of the "S" turn. There wasn't a plan to build a jump it just kinda evolved. There was a nasty stump in the trail that could've been dangerous due to it's natural camouflage. It was going to be a huge chore to remove it so I decided to cover it making it rideable. As I covered it with dirt a small jump began to form so I said what the heck and kept building. It's the first jump I've ever built so I'll accept a little constructive criticism, I just hope it flows well.




The second berm in the "S" turn.

It's going to be an awesome trail and hopefully we'll be riding it soon. I was hoping to be done with it by the end of this month but I don't think it gonna happen unless we have a huge turnout this weekend. I think we might build another jump or two, who knows.

jonesing

All this cold wet weather is driving me crazy, I've only been able to ride once this year and with the new Bike "Bible" sitting around the house with all it's great photos of people riding doesn't help things.
Melinda and I visited the trails today with the dogs but we left the bikes at home, we do plan to ride tomorrow but it was pretty rough once we realized how nice a day for riding it was and how great of shape the trails were in.

The Whole Enchilada: Top to Bottom - Moab, Utah from Phil Shep on Vimeo.

Then I ran across this video of the "Whole Enchilada" in Moab Utah, a place we have made plans to go visit and ride but not until April. I think I might just explode soon. The video above I thought was really cool, 27 miles into an 11 minute video is pretty good, I'm sure they skipped alot of really good stuff but you can only show so much. I plan to find out for myself come April.

a review of the bike review

I've still yet to figure out why everything from pics to text is posting up centered in my blog, it only does this when I add photos via my blogger app on my "smarter than me" phone. I played around with the settings on my phone but they were very limited. The only thing it would let me really do was adjust pic size and translate my text to Pirate language but that crap's so yesterday.

Saturday I finally received the Holy Grail of bike reviews, Bike's "Bible". I've been waiting impatiently for this jewel ever since I found out that all the testing was done just over the hill from me in Western NC. My go to, road trip destination source of many many sweet trailheads. I'm not gonna lie that after scanning through the list of trail worthy machines from every category I was a wee bit disappointed that there were no Niner's listed. I wasn't expecting to see the whole fleet or even two or three but I figured the JET RDO would have at least graced the pages. Something else that was lacking were the hardtails, very few of them were shown.

There were several 29er's but a majority of the rides were full squish 26er's. The only thing I didn't miss, hardtail 26er's, not a single one.

The best part about the "Bible" review was what the Bike crew had to say about the Western NC trails, Pisgah, Dupont and Beech Mtn. They showcased many of the local trails with plenty of good things to say and lots of pretty glossy photos. They even did a nice little piece on the town of Brevard and the two local bikes shops. Although the review was not as entertaining as I'd hoped I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of the things on my Christmas wish list this year was a new Camelbak Mule. My old one was showing signs of wear, wreaking of stink and missing a few straps. The newish design in my opinion fits much nicer and stays in place better without that top heavy feel like my old one. I've been holding onto a Niner "Pedal Damnit" patch for several months just in case I scored a new pack and today I conned my Mom into sewing it one for me. Thanks Mom!

If it's been a while since you've ridden with us, Melinda and I, then you might wonder why I've been hawking all of Melinda's bike parts on Ebay. No she didn't give up riding, she finally pulled the trigger on a new Niner JET9. The wheelset she had on her BMC were the Mavic Crossmax SLR's, which came with two fancy canvas wheel bags. I never really understood the need for these bags. I understand their purpose but I seriously doubt that half of the folks who own these wheels ever used the bags. They layed around in our basement for several month's before Melinda found a use for them that blew away their original purpose by a mile. A couple of years ago Melinda bought a wreath bag to store the various wreaths we have that adorn our front and back door during the changing seasons/holidays. Not surprising we quickly ran out of room and the two Mavic wheel bags were brought into service. Held up side by side to the "wreath" bag, one might wonder if the idea of the bag was stolen? They are almost identical with the exception of color and the Mavic logos. Now we house all of our many, many wreaths securely in our basement, free from dust and bugs. I just hope the cat who bought the wheelset doesn't hit me up for the wheel bags, Melinda will definitely put up a fight.

re-evaluating my 2012 goals and some beer

So I think I may have a change of plans in my New Year resolutions, originally I stated that my goal was to achieve 1500 miles on my mountain bike with a hopeful goal of 2000. Well, I've had some time to think this over and I realized that by trying to achieve this goal, it might leave little time for other types of workouts that I really need to focus on like core and weight lifting. Two of definitely my most weaker points in my over all fitness and it shows. I'm constantly plagued with lower back fatigue and strain because of my lack of upper body & core strength. I know this does not make for a very interesting read so I'll try to keep this short but I felt like I needed to address this so that maybe I'll do a better job at other workouts than just riding my bike. While my mileage goal might suffer my overall fitness should be better making me a stronger and better rider. So far I've gotten off to a great start, partly due to the really nasty wet weather we've had. I've been mainly focusing on strength training and core workouts the past two weeks.

I'm really jonesing for a good hard ride.

One of my weaknesses with the changing seasons is the ever changing selection of seasonal beers on display at my local grocer. With 3 different grocery stores within a 5 min. drive from my house, all with different selections, I've been bringing home waaay too many six packs of high calorie beers to try out.

It all started with this little jewel I found in Asheville a couple of weeks ago, New Belgium's Belgo. We can't get it in TN so I had to buy it before we crossed back into hillbilly land. It's hoppy, like a punch to the mounth on the first sip.

Then if that wasn't bad enough I was walking past the beer isle last week on my way to get a gallon of milk when this tasty selection jumped into my buggy. How could I put it back? Thunderstruck Coffee Porter? With a name like that I had to make it mine. It was delicious!

And then it happened again earlier this week, I've seen this jewel before but I'd always passed it by for some odd reason. After sampling a couple of these that will prove to be very difficult in the future.

When it comes to my mountain bike shoes I tend to wear a pair long past their intended life span, why I do this I'm not sure. I guess since I don't wear them anywhere but while I'm riding I feel like they should last longer. The last pair I bought were the Shimano M-182's, a bit more racier and stiff than I probably needed but a definite upgrade to my previous pair. In the past few months I've been dealing with more foot numbness and fatigue that normal. I tried numerous cleat positions to try and remedy this but nothing seemed to help. Then a week or so ago I wore my winter shoes for the first time this year. They are less worn and not as stiff and surprisingly I experienced less numbness and fatigue which lead me to believe it might have just been a need to buy new shoes.

This time around I opted for more in the way of comfort and less racey. I scored a pair of 2012 Shimano M-162's, yeah they're a bit flashy and WHITE but it seems like everything is going with this trend. After a bit of research everything I read about these shoes was great including the durability of the white. I've been running a white WTB saddle for over a year and its had all kinds of mud and clay ground into it and with the help of a little simple green it still shines almost a brightly as the first day I mounted it up.

There was one big difference in my new kicks, the lack of toe spikes. I've always ran them and while they're great for muddy hike a bikes they suck at just about everything else. There are pre-drilled holes for them if I decide to add them later but for now I've decided to see if I like them better without. I'm all about trying new things lately so why not.

Speaking of new things, a while back I mentioned that had had downloaded the Blogger app for my "smarter than me" phone in an effort to increase my blogging. Well that hasn't exactly happened BUT I did realize it makes for adding photos taken by my phone super easy to add to my blog posts, hence all the fancy pics. I haven't figured it out just yet so if things look screwy it's my lack of tech savy. Please be patient.

what I plan to do this year

2011, what a great year it was! First off I would like to thank all of my sponsors who made this race season possible!

Oh wait, I don't have any sponsors? I'll put that on my list of things I need to get this year. I think I might have done a race or two? Did I? Yeah I'm pretty sure I did. I'm pretty sure a majority of them fell through the cracks due to other responsibilities and what not. Maybe better luck next year, I still call 2011 a win win.

Early in the beginning of the year I set the goal of 1000 mountain bike miles, I achieved it much faster than I anticipated and so I set another goal, 1500. I fell short of that one by 154.7 miles, meh. This year 1500 will be my minimum and I'll shoot to make 2000 and no I don't plan to be doing any hill repeats on gravel roads to boost my mileage.





As long as the Mayans are wrong 2012 should be even better. I try not too pay much attention to that crap, if they are correct I'll be ready. I know where I'm going to be. I think the Mayans just ran out of room when they made their calendar and December 2012 was just a coincidence.

Doesn't someone predict the end of the world every year? How's that working out so far?

This year Melinda and I will be heading out west for a much needed vacation. My Mom has graciously offered to come and dog sit for us while we're away. We rescued both our dogs from the pound and I can't bring myself to board them in a kennel. Thanks Mom, you're the greatest!

We plan to spend a few days riding in Colorado and a few days riding Utah with friends. I've been out west a few times but never to ride. I'm toying with the idea of buying a new GoPro HD for the trip but I can't decide if I want to spend the time and effort shooting video, editing and thinking about what would look cool rather than focusing on the "ride" itself. It's always cool to go back later, watch the footage and share it with friends but damn if it doesn't require alot of my free time. I'm struggling lately just to sit down and write something for this blog.

I don't think this year will be a year of weight loss goals or anything like that. My goal for 2012 will be to participate more in trail workdays with my local mountain bike club. That in itself should be a good fat burner. I'm not sure I'm going to set a specific number of days I want to attend, just that I plan to make an effort to attend more of them and hopefully encourage others to attend. I see alot of take and no give in our cycling community, it would be really cool to see some of that change.

Maybe I should set a goal for 2012 to be more bloggy bloggy? Hey yeah that sounds good. I did just download an app for my smarter than me phone so I can blog on the go. Hmm.....

Twofish

Now that night riding season has finally descended on us, well for those of you who work regular work hours that is. I typically don't do much night riding since my schedule allows for riding during the daylight hours but I still enjoy a good night ride here and there. My last night ride was back in Sept. during our local club camping trip to Wilkesboro. We snuck in a late ride on Friday evening and I decided to try out one of my new CREE LED flashlights strapped to my helmet. I wanted to see if I could ride with it alone and nothing else. I had loaned out the rest of my riding lights anyway. The LED flashlights aren't quite as bright as say the Magicshines but at $9 a piece I couldn't resist picking up a couple just for kicks.

My test ride with them was on the famous Warrior Creek trails and with all the twists, turns and berms I knew it was best to be mounted to my helmet. The little flashlight worked great, not necessary the brightest but certainly bright enough. I wouldn't hesitate to race with it but my Magicshine would be my preferred light. The thing about my LED flashlight I like is it's small size and the internal battery. No cords to route or batteries to stash the only drawback was the lack of mounting hardware. I opted for the zip tie route which worked but I went a bit too low and found myself having to ride with my head at a bit of an awkward angle to see further down the trail, once in place I couldn't adjust.

Recently I was looking around for a suitable mount that might work for my flashlight and ran across this site, Twofish. At $6 a piece I ordered a lockblock and a bicycle block hoping one of the two might serve my purpose.

Small, lightweight, cheap and simple in design. They're small rubber blocks with a durable velcro that will allow me to attach them just about anywhere. The feet are somewhat flexible and they both seem to hold strong to a helmet and or handle bar.

The Lockblock

The Bikeblock

I've yet to try them out on the trail but plan to do so soon.

moustaches and mountain bikes

Early in the year I set a goal for myself, 1000 off-road miles on my mountain bike. I achieved that earlier than I had anticipated so I set another goal, 1500 miles, which I have yet to meet. I don't think I will either but I think it could have been done had I really set my mind to it and had I not been off the bike for a solid 3 weeks during the shut-down we had at work. Starting January 1st, I plan to set my goal for a minimum of 1500 miles and try to reach 2000, I think it can be done. What really surprises me is the amount of miles I put on my full suspension vs. my hardtail. I never thought I would have put almost 100 miles more on the big squishy bike, it's just that much fun to ride and has made my backyard trails seem like a whole new playground to me this year.

I'm not sure I'll make much of an attempt to fix my road bike, at least not yet anyway. I don't really miss it but I'm not ready to part it out yet either. I think I'll let it just set as is until I get an itch I need to scratch. My plate is overflowing with trail building opportunities right in my own backyard and as long as that continues to be the case I don't see myself getting bored with riding local singletrack anytime soon. As it stands right now I'm struggling to find the time to make it to half the workdays we have scheduled and we've got another project up our sleeve that needs some scouting so that our new trail project looks good on paper to "the man".

A good month before Movember I grew out the trucker stache and let it get real thick and bushy before shaving it off and starting all over just before the first day of Movember. I decided to try a different style and even went as far as Googling "cool mustaches" on line for ideas. I saw some pretty interesting styles some that required much more than just a month to sculpt. I never really got a good photo of the Movember stache but it really wasn't that exciting. I ended up shaving it off a couple of weeks ago and now I'm thinking seriously about growing another.

I can't decide what I want so I'll probably stay clean shaven for a while longer and see if something speaks to me, Melinda seems to like me better clean shaven.

Sully

I wanted to post this pic up of the AIR9 with it's new rubber but I had my phone tied up doing an update for what seemed like hours with iTunes when I wrote the last post. Better late than never I guess.

I've had a plan for some time now to get a Warriors gnome, the idea stolen from "Samford the Pisgah gnome"

I searched high and low for a gnome but had a hard time finding one since most places only stock them during the spring. I had given up until I ran across what I guess was leftovers from last year's stock at Hobby Lobby and grabbed one, now know as Sully the Warriors gnome, Samford's long lost cousin. But unlike Samford's golf club swinging, beer swilling ways, Sully likes to build trails, hence the shovel. Don't get me wrong Sully can drink his weight in beer, I've got a pile of empties to prove it at home.

Samford the Pisgah gnome has become quite popular, even partying with the likes of the Bike Magazine crew when they descended upon Pisgah for their annual "Bible" test review.

After seeing Sully's beer swilling ways, Moonshine told me this morning it was time for Sully to head to the trails to live. She said this house was only big enough for one of them. I think she really just wanted to get in a ride, can you blame her?

Everyone was really fired up to ride, dogs and gnomes alike.

Sully really likes riding in Camelbaks, he says it gives a cool perspective of the trails and keeps the wind and bugs out of his face.

He thought long and hard about this bird house.

After looking around inside he decided against it for fear of becoming a snack.

Moonshine & Jackson helped him look high and low for a place to hide.

Sully really digs rooty & rocky trails, he brought along a shovel to help maintain and build trails.

He finally decided on this spot to hide, he said it had one of the best views of the lake. I can't blame him it is a nice view. He also said from this spot he could watch me really lay it into the turns in the next section (hint hint).

If you're out at Warriors and find Sully, take him for a ride, document the experience with your camera and post it up here with clues as where he might be found. Sully really likes Warriors so keep him there.

some much needed downtime

With the annual Christmas party behind us, Melinda and I finally had some down time yesterday and we opted for a ride. Actually the thought of down time and being lazy yesterday almost got the best of us. I was goofing around the house doing a whole lot of nothing trying to decide if I had made the right choice of skipping out on the big ride up on Iron Mountain when I realized we had almost waited too late to ride all together. We were about to miss our window of opportunity to hit Bays Mtn with the winter time schedule closing at 5:00 (one of the reasons I hate winter). I've been staring at my new GEAX tires for over a week wondering how well they were going to run and if they would bring back that smooth feeling I used to have on my hardtail that was lost with the introduction of racier tires. We did make it up to Bays in time to ride but just by a frog hair, we rolled out the gate at 5:00 on the money.

The conclusion? The tire felt great, so much smoother in fact I began to wonder if I was dreaming, then I started noticing a funny sound coming from what seemed to be the rear wheel. I stopped and had a look and I had lost a considerable amount of air from the rear tire, not good. I pulled out my mini pump and re inflated it only to have to do this again later down the trail. Upon further inspection this morning, the stem was leaking so I made sure to give the wheel a good shake and give the Stan's juice a chance to do it's thing. It's crap like this that makes me consider selling those Crossmax rims. For the 20 minutes or so that I had good air pressure the tires ran great, a much better improvement over the race tires so I guess I'm done with trying those for a while. With added traction and cush comes with added weight, I'm not sure how much but it is but probably around a half pound or more but I'm not too worried about that. I plan to upgrade the drivetrain with the XO parts off Melinda's BMC which will be much nicer than my aging mix of X7 and X9. Who knows I'll probably drop a few grams there to make up for the added rubber.

If you're asking to see Christmas Party pics I'm sorry, I was asked by all parties involved no Internet leaks. Oh yeah no pictures were taken as cameras were not allowed entry. After the party I started thinking how the vibe at the party was a bit more reserved that usual, I have a few thoughts on why this is but I'm not 100% sure which it was. Melinda and I went all out on decor, party favors and what not maybe our guests just didn't "bring it", maybe we're all just getting too old for really throwing down. Another thing that could've been the problem was a few key peeps weren't in attendance, some of the more colorful people you might say. Some might say they were saving themselves for the big Iron Mountain ride the next day but I'm not sure, that wouldn't be a legit excuse after the smack talk that went down via email, words I remember being used that rhymed with wussy. Not really a big deal I think we'll skip the Christmas shindig next year.

mud, tires, pizza and beer

I hate that I've been slacking on the blogger front lately but things have been so busy that finding time to blog has taken a backseat. Finding time to ride has even become difficult, well that and rain. The bike room has even gotten a bit out of control, I've been meaning to put a bunch of stuff on eBay and I finally got around to posting it up today. Alot of changes have taken place, we're purging the bike room of the kids wheels slowly but surely. Now if I can just find time to get the new drivetrain on the JET, I'll been doing good.

After having a ton of fun down at the Fall Festival, riding the "Dirty South", we've been looking for a good excuse to venture back down that way and ride it again. Last Sunday, Melinda and I took a crew of folks who missed it the last time and showed them around, unfortunately it was a bit muddier than before but we still had a blast.

The day before we had been out at Warriors adding some berms to a new section of Boneyard where we had to re-route a monster downed tree. Not only did we add more trail but we upped the fun factor a couple of notches.

The trails were in perfect condition, not muddy at all. I was really surprised at the condition of the D.S. trails after being at Warriors, especially since we got the same amount of rain.

After the ride we ventured over to the Tomato Head, this place is quickly become a staple for our road trips, the pizza rocks and there is always something new to try in the way of beer.

I sampled a fine brew by Marble City Brewing, the amber, "Dad's Dime", an excellent brew.

The semi muddy conditions weren't kind to my drivetrain, I've still yet to put the new parts on and I'd ran out of my preferred lube, Pro Link, which I've come to realize is hard to find in my local bike shops. I did manage to snag a bottle along with the biggest bottle of Stan's juice available, but I forgot to lube my chain before heading out and so by the end of the ride my drivetrain was making all kinds of awful racket.

With the number of tubeless tires we have in the bike room not to mention they ARE ALL now 29 inches we go through the Stan's like crazy. I add at least 2 scoops per tire on the big hoops and with all the tire swapping I've been doing I should probably by stock in the company.

Speaking of tires, earlier this summer I obtained a non-tubeless version of the GEAX Saguaro by chance. I threw it on the rear wheel of the JET9 ghetto tubeless style and it's been an awesome tire. I've been a bit disappointed in the the last 2 sets of tires I've tried on the AIR9. Giving the skinnier, lower profile, light as a feather racey tire a chance has not been the best idea for me. They ride rough and can't handle the trail when it turns rough. The Bontragers left me walking when I sliced the rear on a fireroad and the Conti's were a pain in my ass since day one. I've never been much of a racer type, I don't waste money on a trainer and I only enter races that the fun factor is really high so I'm really not surprised at my disappointment with the tires. Having enjoyed the Saguaro, I threw down my dough on a set for the AIR9. This set was a bit different though, I didn't realize GEAX made a tubeless version but that's what I got and man are they heavy. I think I added a pound, maybe a pound and a half to the AIR9. As sturdy as they are they should be able to handle anything I throw at them. I plan to find out this weekend.

Have a good one, I plan to!