Avast! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrrgh.

Ahoy, me hearties. In celebratin' it bein' Pirate Day, I'll be doin' up this blarg post in one a' tha many forms a' Piratespeak. So gather 'round, down ye' some rum, an' I be tellin' ye dogs a tale a' me ride taday.

I be gettin' ready for tha Taylor House ride, an' in doin' so, that means I be ridin longer distances, so's I be ready. Taday after finishin' me framin' duties, I threw a leg over me trusty skiff, Bi, an' we sailed off east. Soon, we finds us at the rim a' Walnut Canyon, east even a' the park. On purpose this was, as I been tryin' ta find a particular spot here. Me sense a' directions paid off, an' we find tha spot.

Bi, anchored on tha rim.

Lookin' up stream.

This be what I been seekin'.

A bit a' history for ya lot: That dam was built back in the ninteenth century, ta hold back tha Walnut Creek, ta form a reservoir for fillin' up tha steam engines on tha steam engines o' tha' Santa Fe Railroads. It fell inta disuse after a flood.

Lookin' downstream.

On tha way back. Those louds look like they's a' brewin'.

Turns out they was a' brewin' a sunset.

After watchin' tha sun sink below tha horizon, I let the wind in me sails, an' drifted on home. All said an' done, I be callin' this me last trainin' ride a'fore tha century ride this weekend.

Mileage: 31.1 nautical miles

The Best Time of Year to Ride

Well, it's getting to be that time of year again.

It's dark enough in the morning that I need full lights on to feel safe on my ride to work, I'm on the lookout for colorful trees, and I need to start thinking about re-studding Bi's winter tires.

Fall sneaks up on me every year, but this year is especially sudden, with how little riding I've done, in comparison to years past. I'm left wondering where the summer riding season has gone, and why the Peaks have a thin layer of snow on them already?

I've been doing a lot of trail work the past couple weeks, enough so that I decided to get my own hard hat, instead of using my bike helmet.

Something ain't right...

But then I installed the actual headband and suspension and it fit properly. I think the hard hat will take a blow from a pick or a McCloud better than my bike helmet. Needs stickers, though.

Coming up in the near future: I build stuff, (It's almost done!) and the Taylor House Century ride. (Oh snap, that's next weekend!)

Mileage: 12.4

Aww hail.

Phrase of the day: "What timing! What finesse!"

I raced a thunderstorm to work today. I watched lightning all the way in from the house to the shop, and it only started raining on me about 200 yards away from the shop. By the time it started hailing, I was already inside, with my camera at the ready.

It starts. Mostly rain, a little hail.

After a while. Hard to tell, but at this point, it's quarter sized hailstones that are falling.

The end.

Sunrise.

Pretty intense little storm. It stripped a lot of leaves and needles from trees around town. I could not have timed my arrival at work any better.

I love it when that happens.

Mileage: 15.2

Race Day!

So yeah. Today was the Absolute Bikes Old Fashioned Mountain Bike Race, to benefit the St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance.

Exe was nice enough to be my transport to and from the race, and hung out while I was pedaling to watch. Before the race, I asked if he had any bets as to what I would break today... frame, fork, taco a wheel, maybe. He said I'd taco the frame pump. Wouldn't that be interesting...

So, after getting all registered, and waiting an hour and a half, (We got there good and early) which gave plenty of time for the nerves to set in, the race started, and everyone bolted. I quickly fell back through the field, and settled into my own pace, which was significantly slower than everyone else.

The first lap went fairly well. No one passed me, and I even managed to pass a couple people. I paced myself, and spent some more time figuring out the new suspension fork, which settings would be best for climbing, flats, downhill, technical, et cetera.

I have to stop here, and just say how awesome having a suspension fork is. I never realized how much the rigid fork was beating me up. I'd have some pretty good fatigue going in my arms and shoulders about 20 miles into a good ride, but with the suspension fork, riding over 30 miles in a race, I had none of that. Not to mention how much faster I was on the downhills.

Lap two started off well, as well. I had a second wind for the climb up the road, and managed that fairly well. I ended up getting passed by a couple people, but they were in the teen race. Never mind that even if they were doing the full race, they'd still wipe the floor with me. But oh well. About half way into the second lap, I had my first new-fork related crash. (Woo!)

I came around a turn, and planted the front wheel against a rock. I wasn't leaning back far enough, so the fork squished all the way, and pivoted bike and rider over the wheel, neatly depositing us on the trail. I don't know how, but I came off it completely unscathed. I didn't even get my jersey dirty. I just remember the crash, then immediately picking up the bike and riding on, as the guy behind me shouted "That was impressive!" The rest of the second lap was spent building my confidence back up.

The third lap was a long hard struggle. It was long, it was hard, and it was a struggle. The road felt steeper, the singletrack climb was brutal and longer, and the downhill left me with shaking legs that wanted to bounce off the pedals like a sewing machine needle. Never mind I had already ridden it twice today, it felt like a completely different and foreign trail. It was a grind. I didn't see many people. I finished the lap with not much left in me. I was glad it was my last lap.

I finished the race!

My plan was to take it easy on the first two laps, and give the last lap everything I had. I did just that, but when it came to the third lap, I didn't have much left to give. But I finished! That was my main goal. My soft goal was to finish in three hours and 30 minutes, but I didn't care so much about that as just finishing.

So, Exegete and I packed up the bike and went home. I showered, hydrated, and had a soda, and felt good enough to hop on STeve and ride to the awards party downtown.

Cool clouds on the way to. First chance I'd had all day to look up, really.

I hung out with the real racers, ate pizza, watched trophies get handed out, and talked. Unfortunately I didn't get my race time there, due to a bit of a snafu. It didn't matter. I might have been last, (I was sure of it.) but I finished!

So imagine my surprise when I got home, and looked up the race results online?

Specifically, the class I was in?

9   837 KEVIN OKON            99    3 3:23:42

9th place, out of 11. I wasn't last! and I finished in 3:23! Faster than my 3:30 goal.

I'm tired, I know I'll be sore tomorrow, but I feel good. I gave it my best, and finished a race. I feel strangely accomplished for having ridden around in circles. Very tough, challenging circles.

And I didn't even taco my frame pump.

Mileage: 42.2 (33.8 raced on Tri, 8.4 moseyed on STeve.)

Concessions to Modern Technology.

I like to think that I like to keep things simple. Though, sometimes in my quest for simplicity, I overcomplicate things, but that's beside the point. I like simplicity.

Take, for instance, my mountain bike. One gear, no suspension. Much like how bicycles were 100 years ago. Dependable. Very little to go wrong. Good stuff. Tri was much like bikes of yore, only a little lighter.

Was? What did I do to Tri?

Examine this artistic picture of Tri I took earlier this evening:

Can you see it?

Yep, you are correct. I added a disc brake. I figure, I have these nice wheels I built with disc ready hubs, why not put a disc brake on Tri? Of course, this does deviate from the simplicity of rim brakes, but I still have one on the rear, so if the disc up front eats itself, I still have my old reliable rim brake in the back to stop me.

Of course... to add this disc brake, I had to replace the fork, as Tri's original fork didn't accept discs. So, why not replace it with a suspension fork?

A little more of my treasured simplicity flutters out the window.

So, what's with all this, then?

Well, you may remember last year around this time, I signed up for a little mountain bike race, and proceeded to bash in a pedal. Well, I'm signed up again this year, in what is sure to be a fail of epic proportions. Once again, as it was last year, my only goal is to finish. I'm in no way prepared for this, but I'm better prepared this year than I was last year. Last year, I signed up the day before the race. This year, I'm two weeks early. Last year, I had never ridden on the trails the race takes place on. This year, I've already pre-ridden the course, and have a strategy to try to maintain my awareness. Last year I only did two laps before breaking my ride. This year... we'll see.

All of this doesn't mean I plan on doing well. My mantra last year was "Hey, I already know I'll finish last. I just don't want to slow your race!" This year, my mantra is "Well, someone's gotta bring up the rear. Might as well be me!"

Feel free to come laugh at me at the race. It's this coming Saturday, the 20'th.

So! Having updated Tri a bit this afternoon, I took him out for a test ride around Soldier's Loop, at Fort Tuthill. A test ride I decided to do at race pace. Mostly. I did stop to take some pictures of the sunset-lit clouds.

By the time I put my camera away, the color was gone.

Learning to ride with suspension is going to take some getting used to. I have a lot of habits to change. However... the disc brakes? They feel smoother, but that's about it. Other than that, I can't tell a difference.

Mileage: probably around 12 or so. (Tri's speedometer wire broke in the fork swap.)

The bikes wait.

If the lack of bloggery has been any indication, I've been slacking some in my riding. This'll happen, especially when you couple overtime with moving. That's not to say I haven't been riding my bikes, just not as much as I'd like. That's one thing about my bikes... as Big Jonny over at DC said, the bike will wait for you.

So what have I been doing?

Well...

I gave Bi a bath, which consisted of wheeling him outside the shop at work when a thunderstorm packing some driving rain rolled through.

"Zest-fully clean!"

Then Henry and I went shopping, and brought home a ladder. I always seem to get the same cashier at Home Depot, who always asks me "You're on a bike, right? How are you going to get this home?" There's only one answer for that...

"I have a really cool bike."

Earlier this week, I tempted the weather and played "Dodge the Thunderstorms" with STeve. Though oddly, I found myself riding towards them more often than not. It was hot out, I wanted the rain!

But that's where home is!

Sorta ominous looking...

Southern end of Upper Lake Mary.

Not so ominous now, eh?

This brings us to today, and the last bike that I hadn't ridden yet. So this morning, I woke up, ate breakfast, then pulled Tri off the wall. A little work, some grease, some oil, and we rolled out for a mountain bike ride. I hadn't been on my Walnut Canyon/Arizona Trail loop since the last time I wrote about it, and I had decided it was about time. It's been a month short of a year, almost. Time flies.

It didn't take long for me to get to the parts that remind me why I love these trails as much as I do:

Rolling out of Skunk Canyon.

Awww!

Lots of paintbrush this time.

Pull!

Trailblock.

Usually this field is yellow with sunflowers... today it was red. Awesome.

I ended up bailing early on the ride. The lack of substantial riding has really kicked my endurance, so I decided to point my bike towards home while I was still enjoying the ride. I think it was a good call. I got home, and put Tri up on the wall, where he will wait patiently until next time.

And I will look forward to it.

Mileage: 33.3 (in 3 hours and 33 minutes moving time. No joke!)

How to move by bike:

First, you build a trailer, and name it Scrappy. This is somewhat optional, as if you have a rockin' cargo bike, like a Big Dummy, Madsen, Bakfiets, or a Yuba Mundo, to name a few, (And their variants) the bike can haul quite a bit on its own. But a trailer behind a Big Dummy is nice for the big and heavy stuff.

Obviously, step two is to pile stuff on it:

First load! Wood lathe!

It's looking like a garage in here.
As I said, trailer optional.

There was another one of these just like it.

No load is too irregularly shaped!

The Captain's chair.

The last Scrappy load!

There are 4 or 5 trailer loads that aren't pictured, most of which could be similar to the above. The most impressive was the queen-sized bed. Mattress, box spring, and bedframe on the trailer. Also not pictured are the few Henry-only loads.

In all, the trailer did better than I expected it to. No matter what I put on it, nothing creaked, broke, flexed, or complained... except me. It is half a mile from the house to the apartment, and the house is on a hill. I was panting and sweating every time I rolled in the garage at the house with a load on the trailer, but taking the time to wind tie-down straps gave me enough time to recover and do it again. The blast back downhill made it easier, too. The weakest link in the system was the rider.

In the end, I probably have more than 20 miles in the move, and got 80-85% of everything over by bike. The comments from other people made it worth it, too. Kids loved it and thought it was awesome, a lot of adults thought it was neat, and asked if it was heavy for me to pull with a load. Though, most adults ignored it. That said, moving by bike will really convince you that you have too much stuff. I have WAY too much stuff.

But, with moving completed, apartment cleaned, and nothing left to do but unpack, (Yes, the bike rack is already up in the Garage, yay!)I decided to meet up with some Absolute folks for a Sunday ride this morning.

I left a little later than I'd have liked, but powered up to the Schultz Creek trailhead at 8:59. Roll out time was 9:00. And there was no one there. I also realized I forgot my frame pump.

When life hands you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am?! I'm the guy who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get the engineers to invent a combustible lemon that I'm gonna use to burn your house down!

Umm, yeah. Sorry, lost my train of thought.

While I didn't throw any incendiary lemons around, and my legs are still fairly beat up from moving, I did manage to get a great ride in. Up Rocky Ridge from Schultz Creek, up Elden Lookout Road to Onion, Onion up to Sunset.

Errrrt!

At the top of Sunset on the way to Schultz Pass, I realized my rear wheel was wobbling, because the wheel bearings were way out of adjustment. This will not do, with the rockin' descent before me. After some fiddling, (And realizing Shimano installed the drive-side locknut backwards...) I had the bearings in adjustment. Mechanical disaster averted!

Resuming my ride, I rode up to Sunset Peak, and by coincidence, right up to the very edge of the Schultz Fire burn. turning around, I flew down Sunset, Blazed down Schultz Creek, and took the Urban Trail through town to get home. Which involved going up a hill to get home. I'm going to have to plan my rides accordingly, now.

I can see my house from here!

Columbine.

The Onion trail. This one's for Josh. I miss riding with ya, man, and your trash-talking at me over the technical stuff.

Wait, wasn't I supposed to be relaxing today?

Mileage: 27.5

And now for something completely the same:

Wherein I ride a bike, work on bikes, and other general bikery.

I managed to rip a soleplate out of one of my shoes the other day, which of course meant a trip to Absolute for new shoes. I also thought about how I use my biking shoes, with cleats that clip into the pedals to keep my clodstompers in place on the pedal. Over a third of the miles I put on them per year are general commuting/errand type miles, where being attached to the pedal isn't very important, and maybe I can extend the life of the shoes and cleats if I start using regular platform pedals, maybe with straps.

The straps didn't work out too well, my feet are too wide for the setup, but I'm pretty sure I can build something myself that will work. However...

I've never ridden in sandals before. What an incredible feeling, especially with how hot it was today.

It is odd to be back on platforms after riding Clipless for so long. I keep instinctively twisting my heel outward as if to disengage my foot from the pedal. At the moment, Henry's the only one with platforms, but Bi will be getting them soon as well, one I figure out some foot retention. (Fixed gear + platforms with no straps = suicide)

However, I did put in some miles today, re-acquainting myself with regular pedals.

Greenery!

After which I came home, intending to do some packing and prep work for the impending move. However, it was decided that I should build a wheel instead. Because building wheels is much more fun than packing and cleaning.

No, I'm not being sarcastic. It really is enjoyable to me.

The manager at Absolute disagrees with me on that point.

I find it relaxing.

He thinks I'm insane.

I think he's right.

Yeah.

The parts: One WTB Dual Duty XC 700c rim, one Surly New Front Hub, 32 Wheelsmith straight gauge spokes and nipples, and some rim plugs.

Fast forward about 3/4's of the way through Tron Legacy:

Bi's new front wheel.

Being able to read the hub label through the valve hole in the rim is a mark of quality.

This was the 8'th rim I've built so far, and it was the fastest and truest build I've done yet. I think I'm getting the hang of this wheelbuilding thing.

Reason for the new wheel is that Bi's current front wheel is in the process of eating it's bearings. It was a cheep wheel to begin with, came with Bi when I bought him, and has more miles on it than any other wheel in the apartment. It's not dead yet, but after ~4 thousand low maintenance miles, it's earned a dignified trip to the dumpster.

Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to build a wheel.

Mileage: 17.1