Wednesday Night Ride

Had a pretty big group show up last night for the ride. Ten of us in total. I was amazed and surprised. Jake, Don, Joel, Kory and his friend Tom, Ray, Keith, and Dave appeared for a pretty sloppy ride. Another cool thing to see was, that out of 10 bikes, seven were 29ers, one was a 69er, and the other two were tiny little 26ers. 26er's in the minority? Wake up, local bike shops!

Due to the soft conditions, it was pretty much a constant-tension workout. Hard work, all the time, to go anywhere. Kinda like riding in snow, but brown and dirty. Should dry out a bit by the weekend and be better, especially with the wind.

Donna had her Soma out for its maiden voyage and everything went well! Wow, I must be good. She really liked the bike and even rode some logs, in the wet, that she always had issues with on her 26er FS Trek. Big wheels rule. We might shorten her stem a bit but that's about the only adjustment to make to the bike. She's happy, I'm happy, the bike's happy. Happy, happy.

One downer note of the evening was the evidence of Trail Vandals. Chainsaw-happy, no-talent, lazy chits that cut ALL the logs off a certain awesome trail that wends along by a creek. Yes, a section that included no fewer than six sweet, sweet log-overs in the space of less than a tenth of a mile.

Totally razed.
Anesthetized.
Morphine-o-fied.
Ride it in your sleep now.

Not just sections cut out of logs, but then those sections bucked into foot-long pieces and rolled into the woods. I was so angry I could spit. Why? Why? For the love of God, why do people do this? There were already go-arounds cut through the biggest logs. Why wasn't that enough? Why does someone think a woodland trail needs to be as easy as the Pine Grove Rail Trail? What's wrong with people? Maybe they should stick to Wii riding or hiking in their livingrooms. Why do people think they are the only people in the universe? Why can't they think of other people, other trail users? I don't get it. I really don't.

Okay, enough of that. Other than that, the rest of the ride was phun. Hard, but phun. It was great seeing that many people show up. Chalk it up to cabin fever? Spring fever? Dunno, but if they keep coming, I'll have to up my game to stay in it. Which isn't a bad thing, really.

Thanks for the ride, everybody.

PSA #1

No one reads my shit, but if you're no one, check out Tomi's blog and help send a local to the Breck Epic in July.

Help a brutha out.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

More Soma for Your Viewing Pleasure

Finished the first iteration of the Juice this weekend. Still a couple tweaks here and there to do, but it's SS for now and maybe gears later. Hopefully the maiden voyage will be tonight after tweaking the fork pressure and the cockpit measurements!

It's a Fine Day

I can't complain today. Sure I'm at work...but...

My LBS of Choice is coming through for me--they are chasing and facing the BB and facing the headtube of Sweetie's new frame this afternoon. We should be able to build most of it tomorrow!

Stopped by the best local brewery around and had a sample or two while shooting the bike BS with two of the employees. Made a new connection in the apparently tiny bike world with this guy. Turns out one of the Troegs guys is from the same neck of the woods and moved up here a year or so ago. He wants to ride Michaux. I'll have to oblige him. Gee, poor, poor me. I never tire of showing deserving individuals the wealth.

Picked up a case of Scratch 17 while I was there--because it's good, of course. Description below:

Scratch #17-2009, Glacier Pils, will be available starting Wednesday, January 14, in cases, six-packs and growlers.Full tasting notes will be available once we taste the beer, but here’s the brewer’s log on Scratch #17-2009:
O.G.: 12.7
PlatoA.B.V.: 5.6%
IBU: 43
Malt: Pils
Yeast: Augustiner
Hops: Select, Tradition, Spalt, Glacier

After work we get see our niece and nephew and present her with her birthday loot. This evening we'll be hitting up a birthday dinner par-tay for a long-time friend and co-conspirator.

Then I get to go home with my beautiful wife.

What could be better?

View From the House Last Night

Pretty much nothing in the valley, but gain a few hundred feet of elevation and here's the view down the driveway....

Might be rideable in a day or two...

Soma......

Snow Night Ride

Back to phun stuff.

Went out for a very short jaunt last night. It was strange to be doing a snow night ride with no Zach to be found.

Yep, just three of us. Kory, Donna and me.