Night Ride Video

The weekend is here!  Hot Dogggieee!  We finished up the week in fine form last night by hitting the Quarry Brewery and then heading up to The Hummingbird where there was a band and a variety of desserts spread out to gorge on.  We ran into lots of familiar faces and saw some very interesting costumes throughout the night.

The highlight might well have been listening to Keith weave a story about his recent haircut which included an ear wax and nose wax...OUCH!  I have not laughed that hard in a long time - classic!

During out recent evening ride, I took some footage and tried to put a quickie vid together:



It is hard to capture all the action at night given the light limitations but hopefully it catches the mood of our Thurs evening rides - although they usually don't involve costumes.

Tutu Night Riding

Night Riding Halloween style - woohoooo!

We took to the dirt trails last night in full Halloween regalia.  Some twisted soul (won't name any names but their initials are T.R.) suggested we ride in costumes to celebrate Halloween..the mention of Halloween always takes me back to Ashland, Oregon and having grown up in a town that fully embraced the day/evening and all the peripheral buffoonery (of which I was a part of) that usually ensued.  It has since become much calmer, but they used to close down Main street and just about all of the Rogue Valley would make their way to Ashland to show off their costumer, party, fight, etc.

All in all a good time for the po po to have to try to manage (which might just explain why it is a lot more subdued these days).  My favorite costume that I saw during that era was this dude who wore a trench coat and he would go around flashing people and saying 'Happy Halloweenie'.  When he flashed you, he had a fake donger about 2 ft long and he would proceed to stroke it and squeeze it, and whatever he filled his fake dong with would squirt on those unfortunate enough to be in the squirt zone....so to all, Happy Halloweenie

The sordid crew included the usual suspects for last night's ride and it started a little something like:

I must admit I was feeling especially sassy with my pink tutu, leg warmers, pink tank and long black hair...what the picture does not show is the cute panties underneath the tutu...Warren remembered to put the fig leaf in front but conveniently forgot about the fig leaf in the back while Sean rocked the Mormon Mullet, or Momo Mullet, or better yet the Mollet and Mike sported a killer fro'.  Bob and Gary were smart and did not partake in costumes or pictures that could  be used for blackmail at some point in the future.

The funny thing is that everyone thought I was wearing a costume....little do they know that working from home enables you to wear whatever the hell you want! 

We rode up Thompson Park, over to Drunken Indian trail and then back up to the Archery Range and down Black Tail...both climbs were short and punchy...or maybe it is the return of the winter legs....

I was on the wifer's bike since my bike is still out of action for the time being...I supposed it just all made sense, wearing the tutu and all...speaking of, where did I place that tutu.....

Halloween Night Ride & Country Hip Hop

We have a scheduled night ride this evening and each week we ride at night makes me wonder if this will be our last ride of the season on these trails before old man winter shuts us down....now to find an appropriate (or inappropriate) costume for the evening....We got some snow earlier this week and it feels like we are in extra time with being able to get out on these trails.

Another upside of this nocturnal riding action is the continued testing of the Magicshine light series.  The little brother of the Magicshine 1400 came in and the Magicshine 900 will be the perfect compliment mounted on the helmet and for a backup.  The last thing you want when riding at night is for your light system to go belly up and be stuck out in the dark.  While doing the 24 hours of Steamboat 3 yrs ago, this happened to me and it was a very very rough descent back down.  By the time I got back to the start/finish area, I was so motion sick that my day was o-v-e-r...It is a weird sensation to have your body moving one way while your mind sees something completely different.

speaking of weird sensations...this is just PRICELESS - wonder why it never caught on?

Hand Down Pants Workout

The NBA season started yesterday and  I debated whether or not to buy the NBA League Pass again this year. After thinking about it for a little bit, I folded and ordered the package - what else are you going to do mid-winter in chilly Montana??.  It is harder and harder to support pro sports every year.  Most of these guys act like spoiled kids who get paid millions to play a sport that at times seems manipulated by the league.  This little conspiracy theory of mine flows over into other sports too as there always appear to be some serious reffing calls that at times give certain teams a huge advantage (Pittsburgh Steelers, LA Lakers?).  There is always the argument of how the NBA does not want small market teams to succeed, etc...As a fan, it makes it hard to support a product that is sometimes difficult to believe in.

It could also just be a sign that I am getting older and ornerier as time passes?  At the end of the day, I bought the Kool Aid and drank my first sip last night as I watched the season kick off.

Given our recent weather, the bike of choice last night was the indoor trainer - while watching one of the NBA games.  The pedals spun for an hour and the workout was about trying to keep a steady power output for 30 minutes, then taking a quick light spin for a minute and holding steady power for another 15 minutes, then a 1 min off and another 5 minutes of steady power, 1 more light min, and the last 5 min hurrah.  Our indoor trainer tracks most of the critical data points like wattage, HR, speed, distance, cadence, etc.  The workout out looked a little something like:

The good thing about tracking power is it keeps you honest...it makes it hard to convince yourself you are working hard when the numbers tell you differently.

I also managed to hit the Y yesterday for a quick lifting session.  I have been trying to get into the gym a little bit as of late.  It is good to cross train - especially in the winter.  It was also good to get the upper body moving and working.  Biking does not really work the upper body so lifting helps in that department.  As I was at the Y I ran into this new phenomenon....

I saw three different dudes, who must have all learned from the same tutor, doing the same thing in the gym free weight area (at different times).  They were talking on their phones with the other hand buried in their pants.  I suppose they were either trying to imitate Ed O Neal in Married with Children (but they were much deeper than the surface fingers around the belt like Ed above) but it gave me the heebie jeebies as I realized that they were putting their hands on their junk and then working out, using the same weights and bars I was.  It became a game of trying to figure out which weights they did not 'touch'...sort of like one of those kids' memory games but with much higher stakes.  It was so bewildering and bizarre that I could not find the words to say anything.  Now that I have had time to process it all, me thinks I might have to remind them they are in a public place the next time around - unless they want me to tea-bag them to help explain that it is a little ummm...inappropriate.

Not sure whether to think it is a Butte thing  (not to be confused with butt, although their hands were buried deep enough in their pants that they might just have been trying to give themselves a prostate exam)?  Or is it a function of getting older and less tolerant again?  wow, it is a sad day when the expectations get lowered so far as to contemplate whether sticking your hand in your pants and fondling yourself between sets while working out becomes OK...

no vids today...the database in my head could not find a relevant song ...unless of course you bring up the whole 'pants on the ground' vid...can't bring myself to do it....

Bike Blues

My recent bike mis-fortune has had me consternating over the options of which route to go for the next chariot of choice...What is a girl to do?  I have read a lot of reviews and gotten on a few bikes and will continue to mull it over as there is no need for a quick decision - unless of course there is a deal to be had and then all bets are off the table as I am a sucka' for deals!

Another reason for the start of the bike blues is that our weather is changing and the outside options of riding are disappearing faster than the use of words 'honest' and 'politics' in the same sentence.  And since we know politicians are about as sincere as professional bike riders (in regards to doping that is), we connect the dots, throw our hands up in the air, and accept the unequivocal certainty like we do death and taxes...after all, what is a girl to do??

I did manage to get a indoor ride in last night on the trainer and the sad truth is the riding window will get shorter yet when the time changes and our days get shorter once again.  If you are pragmatist or engineer you will jump all over that because days are not really getting shorter...they remain 24 hrs, and the daylight is the same...it just shifts from p.m. to a.m. daylight but then again....what is a girl to do?? but to join the 'group think' and sheople nature of our mainstream phrase-ology...yes I just made that up, but I don't want to be a sheople!

and where exactly is all this going you ask?  I have but not a clue...so here be some old school  Mississippi John Hurt (what a cool and humble man) blues to close out this entry:

First In-Town Snow of the Season

We woke up to a light layer of snow this morning.  There is only about an inch on the deck right now and it will probably be gone within a couple of hours but it is a good reminder of just how nice the weather has been...The forecast looks like more of the same and it really does not bother me all that much considering I am still in the middle of trying to figure out what to do bike-wise.  The upside to the bike situation is that there is no rush to make a decision and it might work out if there is still a lot of 2010 inventory out there.

There is the single speed but I am not sure my knee is healed 100% to be able to get out and mash some big ratio...then again, it might all be a non-issue for the fatty tire since the trails are higher up and probably got a hit with more snow than what we got here in town.

This should be a good week.  There are a couple of loose ends that I am looking to get tied up this week which should bring some good closure to a couple of slow-resolving doors...Work wise, it should be a good week too.  A big chunk of the team is out in Vegas at a tech conference so it should allow me to get ahead on a couple of planning items....

not much to say yet this a.m...let the Boomtown Rats tell it like it is...

Bike Reviews: TallBoy, Blur LT, & Epic

We hustled up to Helena on Saturday and decided it would be a prime day to demo some bikes.  We went up to Great Divide Cyclery where Eric had three bikes on the menu for me to taste test...

Great Divide Cyclery was AWESOME!  They were very patient, answered all my questions and made the experience very enjoyable.  Eric really knows his stuff and it is great to get objective feedback based on what you are looking for.


29'er frames were not originally on the radar when all this looking at bikes came into being but my idea was to go in with an open mind in order to look at all options objectively.  Eric put me on the TallBoy and off to find some dirt...I did the same loop each time on each bike so that I would have something to compare the bikes to without having to think about how differently they would handle...so it was a good way to control the trail aspects of the demo.  The trail of choice was a nice long climb up to Mt Ascension and then taking the downhill to the Archery Range trail and back into town.  There was enough varying terrain to put the bikes through anywhere from technical climbs, to buff climbs, to tight switchies, to steep descents, to buff singletrack.  It would be a trail I would get to know very well by the end of my 3rd lap testing the 3rd bike...It was probably around a 5-7 mile loop with around 1500 ft of climbing from the shop (guesstimating seeing as if I did not take the Garmin with me).

Tall Boy review:

Pluses:
The first thing I noticed was that it was a good climber over technical terrain.  It soaked up the bumps and there was more wheel contact with the ground where it felt a lot more stable going through the rough than its 26 inch brothers...It climbed pretty well, was fairly responsive and not too bouncey when getting out of the saddle to pedal.  Switchbacks took a little extra caution but were still very doable in light of the bigger frame and wheels.  There was also more clearance from pedal to ground meaning you could pedal through some tech sections without worrying about scraping your pedals on rocks, etc...It did a nice job of making bumps that you would feel on a 26 inch wheel, feel like little pebbles.  It was extremely stable...to be honest, I have no idea how you would ever crash on one of these bad boys...they are that stable (even at slow speed - seemed easier to be able to track-stand, etc).  Santa Cruz seems to have really dialed in the geometry and in general this bike exceeded my expectations of being pretty responsive.

Minuses:
Even though it handled well, it still felt like I could not be quite as precise on my lines as the 26 inch bikes.  It was not nearly as easy to 'man-handle' the bike and the bike was generally less 'playful' than a 26 inch version.  It was a little more difficult to catch air on this set up but it might just be a function of dialing in the suspension, etc...It was almost the difference between being on a long-board skateboard vs a little trick deck.

Blur LT Review:

The 2nd bike to demo was the carbon Blur LT.  Wow - what a totally different feel after being on the TallBoy!
Pluses:
Whatever the TallBoy lacked in playfulness, this bike more than made up for it and excelled in this area.  It was extremely maneuverable and you could throw it around pretty easily.  It soaked up big bumps really well and the suspension and engineering on this bike were pretty amazing.  It handled switchbacks like big cruiser turns and you felt like you could keep motoring through tight sections.  It did well climbing in terms of not being too squishy while going up hill.

Minuses:
The geometry was too compact for me.  This was especially noticeable on climbs where my front wheel would bob off the ground while trying to put pressure on the pedals.  It was not noticeable on the downhills as much, but very noticeable on the climbs.  This bike is not nearly as stable as the TallBoy at slow speeds.  The bike had a lot of travel suspension wise which was great for bombing downhill, but it is not my preferred setup...like being in a limo.


Specialized Epic Review:

The last item on the menu was the Specialized carbon Epic with the brain set-up.  This was yet another totally different bike than the prior two.  It had the brain setup so it was good to get a feel for that option.

Pluses:
This bike climbed like a hard-tail.  Not once did I feel like there was any squish while getting up out of the saddle and laying down the hammer.  Being a single-speeder, it is nice to have that feel when getting up out of the saddle on climbs.  This bike was super responsive.  I felt like I could pick a line, point the bike and it would just nail it.  This is probably the most responsive bike I have been on.  The XC geometry seemed to fit me much better than the Blur LT.

Minuses:
I am not a big fan of the brain on the suspension.  You could definitely tell when the brain would engage the suspension as it would be a sudden movement (as opposed to the gradual, somewhat linear travel on most other bikes).  Since the bike was so responsive, the downside is that you felt most of the little bumps until the brain activated.

All in all, there is a lot of food for thought but I think I am ruling out the LT, and ruling out the 'brain' option on Specialized.  I would still like to ride the Blur XC since the geometry is not quite as compact as the Blur LT...The good news is that there is no urgency to buy a bike at this time of year considering we are approaching the cold time of year and riding options might be limited.

Bike Homework

After doing a little research and level-setting yesterday, I have come to the conclusion that the broken assembly link on my bike is an indicator of things to come....The bike is approaching 10 yrs of age and there have been enough improvements over the last 10 yrs that a new bike would make a lot of sense...The problem is that there are sooooo many options out there.   What makes this somewhat do-able is that we were thinking of taking my parts of the bike that needs replacing and putting them on the bike frame that the wifer wants (has been pining for a racing hard tail as of late).  It would definitely make for a pretty sweet hard tail bike that would be pretty light-weight.

and now back to the scheduled programming......The short list currently looks a little something like (although the color schemes will be different):

Santa Cruz Blur

Scott Spark 30:

Pivot Mach 4:

The things I am looking for are:

Rear Susp with around 4 inches of travel

Front Susp with 3-5 of travel

Tubeless set up for wheels

Drivetrain - looking at a 2 X 10 gearing combo...might be persuaded to a 1 X 9...still doing more due diligence....

starting to think I would like a hard-tail at some point (in the future since the missus wants a hard tail bike for her adventures next year) where the frame would be inter-changeable from a single speed to a 1X9 setup...sooo many good options...Niner sure does make a 'purdy' frame...but that would mean a 29'r set up...and considering I am a small dude, not sure it makes sense which is why it will be fun to ride a 29'r today to see what it is all about.  The one thing that does not get me psyched on the Niner set up is the EBB - I would prefer to have a horizontal dropout on the rear frame to adjust chain tension on the single-speed set up....ohhhh the agony!

It is definitely still in the early stages of collecting info and I look forward to doing a little demo action today on the Blur, a Tall Boy and even a Specialized or two.  Unfortunately we don't have Scott or Pivot dealers close by so it will have to wait a little for being able to throw a leg over the top tube of one of those.  

This is of course all subject change much like a change in wind direction but it is a starting point.  I look forward to seeing just how differently the bikes handle seeing as if the last time I went through all this was 10 yrs ago and there have been a few leaps in technology.

Thurs Night Ride & Busted Link Assembly

Friday is here and the week is wrapping up into a nice and tight little burrito!  We went up to Pipestone Pass last night and got our ride on in the full moon........hoooooowwwwwwwllllllllllllllllll.....or to quote Ozzie, Bark at the Moon....
Ride profile looked a little something like:

Around 10 miles, 2400 of climbing and lots of shots of the full moon.  There were no werewolf sightings but there was a little howling at the moon...

Early in the ride, something did not feel right on my bike.  My pedal motion felt squishy and uneven...my first thought was that my bottom bracket conked out...on closer inspection we noticed the link assembly on my bike completely broke (excuse the poor quality photo -little blurry - no pun intended considering the bike is called 'Blur')

This must have happened on Tuesday night's ride but I don't remember hitting anything that hard or catching big air, or ride through anything, or feeling anything strange happen....so the mystery remains and now the dilemma will be whether to replace the link assembly, or to look at a new frame.  The frame is close to 10 yrs old at this point so maybe it makes sense to replace the frame....will have to call to see how much it will be to replace the link assembly, see how common a problem it is, etc.  I spent the rest of the ride thinking of how many cool places this little contraption took me...
It was probably not a smart thing to do, but I decided to just finish the ride with the completely broken link assembly.  The uphills were strange...could not hammer on the pedals as my chain would start to skip or the frame would start to creak a little too much from the flex...the downhills were a little hairy at first but I just decided to go ahead and not think about it too much.  I did not ride with the usual reckless abandon but tried to still enjoy the fun.  The bike definitely felt different and in hindsight it was probably not the best idea to have hit some sections at speed.

Given the sequence of events from last night's ride, the magicshine review will have to wait for now...but I leave you with some Ozzie

Rollercoaster

That one legged man in the ass kicking contest is getting pretty tired going into day three of the contest.  Yesterday was another crazy day with some facets taking nice strides forward while others hovered and/or potentially regressed.  Such is life and that one legged man just got his legs re-charged for some more ass kicking today.

This is by no means a slight or intended insult to people who have lost their leg(s), as my pop lost his leg at one point and had to live the last 20+ yrs of his life with prosthetic leg and constantly dealt with pain.  I have to also mention I have never been so inspired as when I saw a stud on a bike in the front range in Denver riding up Mt Falcon with one leg.  What a BEAST!  Bear in mind that Mt Falcon is steep and not exactly an easy trail (or used to be that way until the nuked it and made it about 10 ft wide in some areas).  I saw that gentleman around the trails a couple of times and after I picked my jaw up off the ground, I realized how amazing and inspiring he is.  Whoever that mystery rider is, hats off to you SIR!

We are gearing up for another night ride this evening and I look forward to testing the night lights again...so far knock on wood as the lights have generally surpassed my expectations.

in light of the roller-coaster week, I tried to find Stevie Wonder's version of this song but apparently they were not making music vids that could be posted on You Tube back in the 70's...so we settle for the Chili Peppers (and settle might be a poor choice of words but Stevie is DA' MAN)....




ohh boy...Stevie got me going....and talk of inspiring!! Cool compilation of old school action...Sir Duke anyone?  might be my favorite Stevie track of all time..

CDT Night Ride & Baby's Got Sauce

After a long day of juggling multiple balls in the air (something about being as busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest...), it was great to get out on the bike and get the wheeled therapy in.  I met Sean O up at the Homestake CDT trailhead and we promptly hit the trails and rode.  It was my first ride with the Magicshine 1400 light setup and I was impressed...a fuller review will be forthcoming on Friday after I get the chance to ride on Thurs evening with the setup again.

It was a quick out and back ride from the trailhead up to the second lookout and back.  It was a 10 miler with a very enjoyable climb and descent of about 1700 ft...profile looked a little something like:

It was good to get out on the bike again.  It had been almost a week since spinning the legs and not only did the body need the excursion, but so did the mind.  All in all it was a fruitful quickie ride that made it all smiles at the end.  I got home with cold fingers and an ice-cream headache around the fore-head area from the chilliness of the temps while descending...not noticeable until after the fun was 'in the bag'.

and on being Saucey.....
Our quest for Tahini sauce in Butte has finally come to a close.  The wifer found the elusive Tahini at the only store that had it stocked (but was out of stock the past few weeks).  For some reason we seem to load up on sauces like one of those hoarder peeps...We recently loaded up on a great sauce from a restaurant we hit when we were out of town and are very anxious to put it to good use.  One of our shelves in our kitchen cabinets seems to be almost fully dedicated to sauces...it is probably a good idea for us to do a quickie date check to make sure the sauces are not way beyond their expiration dates and subsequently are extra Saucey!

and because we are on the subject of Sauces, I would be remiss if I did not mention G. Love & Special Sauce....

Facial Hair

Apparently my usual verbose meanderings must be reaching the dregs of the barrel when the title becomes 'Facial Hair'.  As the winter approaches, it is time to switch it up a little and grown a little sum'n sum'n....this year long sideburns, soul patch and horseshoe moustache are the bomb digiddy (self pro-claimed of course).  For those of you wondering just how hideous that is, here is a guide (for the full enchilada, check out this online guide:

so imagine one super-imposed on top of the other and there you have the full effect...As I look at the 'horseshoe', I start to realize that it looks a little 'George Michael-esque' circa the 90's.  GM is definitely the omni-facial-hair-guru-trendsetter dude.  Say what you will about his 'off the court' escapades (or sexcapades if you insist) but I admit to his music being a guilty pleasure sometimes.  Bear in mind my musical tastes vary from metal to indie to rap to fusion to just about anything except for country and opera so this should not be too surprising....and just for old time sakes here is some GM facial hair vid to remind you of why he is to be held in such esteem (I will spare everyone the 'wake me up before you go gooooooooo' nonsense)

MagicShine 1400 Lumen Bike Light

We got back into town in the late evening yesterday and it was nice to be out of the car and back around our creature comforts.  The dogs were happy to be home and out of the car.  Road trips are always fun but it is always good to sleep in your own bed again.  The saying goes that 'home is where the heart is'...I would tweak that a wee bit and say 'home is where your bed is'....Deep Thoughts....It reminds me of the SNL skits Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy.

moving along...

My night lights for my bike are now very out-dated and put out about as much light as a BIC lighter, so I thought it in my best interest to do some due diligence on light set ups.  Fortunately, MTBR has a great light review where they review multiple lights and give you some nice food for thought on what is out there.  I ended up going with the Chinese knockoff of a very well reviewed light.  It is about 1/3 the price at $129.  It charged up pretty quickly and there is a stark difference between these new wave of lights and the older lights.  At first glance, it puts out a much better spread of light (which is adjustable) and has multiple settings in order to be able to adjust your light for descending, climbing, etc...Those adjustments also allow you to get more duration out of the charge...so you can dim the light and get a longer use out of it as needed.  This is nice considering you don't need it on the 'high beams' when climbing, but definitely want to max it out when flying downhill.

The blue button above is a wired button that adjusts the brightness - there are 3 bulbs in this kit and the battery is surprisingly small and light relative to the old anchors of yesteryear...

I look forward to getting out and doing a hands on test with this new setup...it will be nice to be able to see where the bike is pointing....

Remote from Remoting

The wifer has Friday off so we got a little bit of a wild hair and busted out of town.  I am working remotely from my remote office (or to be a little clearer, my work is mobile so even though I work remotely from the normal 'home office', today I am remote...away from the remote office...).  If that is not some sort of double negative confusion wrapped up liked a pretzel then who knows what is...All I know is we are changing it up a little and it is all good!  Sometimes, technology is a really good thing and creates for some flexibility regarding quality of life...although there are other times where I feel a little burdened by technology in the sense that you are always available since work is somewhat portable.  It gets more difficult to disconnect, and the irony is that is probably is more critical unplug and be able to decompress.

As for adventure this week...looks like it might be low key and not on the radar, or in the cards, or on the menu, or whatever else smartie pants people can come up with...

back to remoting...speaking of... is that  conjugatable...just wrapped up in nonsensical words today...better move back to remoting while the remoting is good!

Love/Hate Relationship & Crisco???

The reality of our changing weather is slowly starting to sink in and unfortunately one of those consequences is the transition from outdoor riding to indoor riding....WEAH....hence the reference to having a love/hate relationship with the indoor bike.  I dig having the option to ride indoors when the opportunities to ride outdoors are limited.  With the days getting shorter (and colder), I find myself  spending a little more time on the trainer during the week.

The 'love' part is that it is an option....you can do it in a controlled environment...If you are uber motivated you can throw in a long movie (or a trilogy if you are that masochistic).  The longest I have been able to last on the indoor trainer is about 2 hours.  This is mostly due to boredom but somewhat to do with 60 minutes on a trainer being similar to 75-80 minutes outside.  The reason being that you are constantly applying pressure on the pedals indoors as opposed to outdoors where you are going downhill at certain times and don't have to 'work'.  Cycling indoors also means you have to watch your hydration a little better as you tend to have a higher sweat factor.  This is pretty much a non-issue for me as I never really spend enough time on the indoor trainer to run into those consequences.
It is also great to have a bike that tracks wattage, heart rate, cadence, mileage, time, etc...you can tweak one of the variables and train accordingly.  Ultimately, power output (wattage) is the constant where you can gauge how hard you are working.  This keeps you honest in the sense that there are days where it feels like you are putting out good wattage, only to look down and realize that you are fooling yourself and are indeed pushing with as much force as a mosquito...

The 'hate' part comes into play when your denial of your chances to ride outside are met with a reluctant acceptance and you walk to the indoor trainer with your head down and tail between your legs - ohh where have the good times gone...you even start to pine for how good the 'bad' outdoor rides were.  It is once again time to get re-acquainted with the already too familiar...pop in a vid, throw on some tunes, and find some internal fortitude to spinny spin spin.  No rider I know (in their right mind anyway) will admit to enjoying their time on and indoor trainer...I have not yet found a way to make it fun or all that interesting...the closest I have come is being motivated by fear of extra pain and suffering by not having a base for the long events.  The upside is that the riding hrs diminish and it is an opportune time to hit the gym and get some cross-training in...anywhere from weights, to plyometrics, to running (barf), or maybe even some speedo time (forehead slap).

I have managed to cowboy up this week and saddle up on the indoor trainer a few times...have even managed to get a couple of daily doubles in...very light spin for 30 mins in the a.m. to get the blood moving while never getting the heart rate up, and then a more intense spin in the evening...the current motivation is trying not to lose the fitness from the summer and fall....but it is a slippery slope and someone just greased the slope with a few tubs of Crisco...WEAHHH

Musings About Life 80's style

Typically, I try not to take life too seriously but there are moments that life demands you stop in your tracks and take stock in what it is trying to tell you.  During these moments, I tend to be over-analytical and each little thing takes on new meaning...every action has a consequence, or equal reaction, etc etc...not quite like chaos theory where a butterfly flapping its wings in Hong Kong causes a chain of events consequently causing a hurricane in S America somewhere (sarcasm intended).

Sometimes those consequences are evident all at once but they have a way of building up to paint a clearer picture...even if the picture is moving from a blank canvas to abstract form to hopefully a little something more understandable.  This seems to be the case for us at the moment.  Life is certainly becoming clearer for us based on all sorts of interesting things.  At first these 'things' seem over-whelming and crushing, but as time goes on we (the human we) have the ability to put them in better perspective and look at the big picture.  Fortunately the big picture is just that...BIG, full of awesome opportunities and lots of doors opening...but you might not be able to see any of that unless you are bold enough to take the chance on change.  Change is generally stressful for us humanoids but big picture it is good as it provides new sets of challenges should we be brave enough to take them on.

Suffice it to say that winds of change are in the air...and I ain't talkin' bout the sweet & cheesy 80's lullaby by Expose!  Now that I have turned soothsayer and weather forecaster I also say that it is mother nature's female prerogative (no no no, not referencing that Bobby Brown tune....is my my my my my prerogative) to change her mind and also change said winds in a different direction....wow, I have taken a musical journey into some 80's craziness!

well now that we went there....YES, I went there...it is Hump Day and I did reference Bobby Brown...which of course leads to:
Humpin' Around

and just because we are on the B Brown train...this spoof is hilarious (thanks John for sharing)...Mr Tyson don't got no rhythm:
Every Little Step Spoof

Globetrotter Updates

I finished the winterizing on the Airstream yesterday and it was just in time considering that we woke up to temps in the 20's this morning.  We had gotten some rain on Sunday night and I went in to check the Airstream on Monday morning to see how the paint and poly turned out after their second coats.  I ended up picking out a satin finish so that it would not be all shiny, etc....after two coats everything is starting to look better:

On the downside, I noticed a couple of spots where the floor was wet from the prior evening's rains.  Part of the reason we purchased this specific airstream was because there was NO water damage.  The work that the boys did up at Mintage did something to create these new leaks.  When I sent them an email asking them what they might have done to cause new leaks to appear, they of course said 'nothing' and tried to tell me that the leaks came from existing problems (despite have been in this airstream for a 3 day downpour last year while in Idaho and there were zero leaks).  It bugs the snot out of me when you pay someone to do something and they not only screw it up, but they refuse to take responsibility for what they did.  Our society seems to be on this path more and more where people fail to take responsibility for their actions or mistakes.  This is especially bothersome when you pay someone a fair amount of money and they essentially end up creating a new set of problems.

me thinks me may have found the source of the leaks though (at least 1).  When Mintange put in new vents for the fridge, they did not seal or caulk the vents:

I am hopeful that caulking both vents will sort out the source of one of the leaks.  Unfortunately I will have to fix these leaks on my own time and dime considering they are 2 hours away and refuse to take responsibility.   Ultimately I will have some feedback for them personally and hope that they take the high road and at some point admit that they either missed it because they were in a hurry, or made a mistake, etc.  They also removed an existing vent cover on the top and put in a patch.  It also appears as though they did not seal that patch either.  That will be a little trickier though since that particular patch has been riveted on.  I might try to see if I can somehow seal around it...It will be good to get the tin can back in the garage to start getting some of this done.  Unfortunately it will halt all other work on the Globetrotter until these leaks are fixed...

Looking back on this whole episode with Mintage, I think I might do it differently the next time around...I certainly would not recommend them as they are sloppy...what first looked like good work turned out to be some cut corners...the airstream was full of saw dust (in piles in some places) when I picked it up, etc.  Unfortunately it is an expensive lesson but sometimes that is the way things turn out.

The irony is that was just one of the frustrations of what appeared to be a ball buster of day on Monday.  Suffice it to say that it was a true Monday in all senses of the word.  Fortunately, today is Tuesday

Productive Weekend

This surely must be one of the last mild weather weekends before the upcoming winter...I have been fighting a low grade bug for several days and decided it would be best to stay off the bike and not do anything that might put the body under too much stress.  The good news is the low grade bug has not turned into a high grade bug...although it seems to just be lingering.

The most exerting thing I did was spin on the indoor bike for an hour yesterday.  It was fairly low key and I was not pushing too hard.  Since I rode all of 2 days last week, it will be time to step it up a notch or two this week if the weather cooperates, etc.  Soon enough it will be indoor trainer time pretty much full time (at least during the week) so lots of motivation to get out while we still can.  I have come to the conclusion that new night lights are in queue of things to upgrade...my lights are definitely old school (meaning heavy and dim) and they make me feel like I have motion sickness after riding at night since they don't really light up enough to see much further than directly in front of me.  I spent a fair amount of time researching on several sights and the best bang for the buck seem to be the Magicshine series...have not pulled the trigger yet since there is some debate as to just how much longer we will be able to night ride before we get snow and our season shuts down...and at that point it becomes a moot point for several months...dilemma dilemma....

On a different note, I was able to get a fair amount done on the airstream.  I got a couple of coats of poly on the new cabinets and was able to get a lot of additional painting done which included touch ups, the closet, & mdf painting.  The big chunks left that still involve a paintbrush include painting the bathroom area as well as one more section of mdf that is the under-side of the cabinets around the 'kitchen' area.  These areas will probably take a little more time since they are awkward spaces and you find yourself contorted in strange positions while trying to paint an area (and not get paint on other areas) and avoid bumping into too many things while you are wrapped around the various angles like a pretzel.

All in all, it was good to get a bunch of stuff done on the airstream as it gets us just a little closer to completion on it.  The other benny is that it will clear up the garage where I have laid out many of the parts that were pulled out of the tin can (reminds me a little of the scene in The Wall where Gedolf has a maze laid out on the floor with everything he smashed up - although I hope my maze a little more organized and a little less trashed - and that I look a little less strung out!).

Those parts will either be going to the trash or back into the silver bullet.  There are just a couple of quick things to do before officially winterizing the airstream and I hope to get that all done today - time is of the essence as it is supposed to drop into the 20's this evening.  Once those are done it will be time to try to back the beast up back into the garage and get our driveway back.

Blazing Weekend

Somehow this weekend is going by entirely too quickly and the saddest part is that it has been ride free so far.  I spent most of the day working on the Airstream yesterday...

The first thing on the agenda was to try and winterize the tin can.  I drained all the water out of the tanks and then  also drained the water heater.  The black tank is still full but that will just require a quick trip to the dump station somewhere.  I still need to blow out the remaining water in the lines and water pump and I am debating whether or not to run RV antifreeze through the system.  I have mixed thoughts about it as I have heard that it takes a while to get ride of that taste in the potable water.

It needed a quick cleaning before starting on the long to do list.  After vacuuming and a light sanding to the cabinets, it was time to apply a quick coat of poly.  I managed to get one coat of poly on as well as a coat of paint on stuff that needed to be touched up and a couple of areas where the cabinets are MDF.  Today will be about applying a second coat and trying to also apply touch ups to a few remaining areas.  It will probably be a week before all the painting is done.  Getting into tight spaces with lots of angles while trying not to get paint where it should not go is just plain time consuming.  Once that is all done, it will be time to start thinking about putting the floor down...hopefully sometime this week if I can get on a roll with the painting.

Meanwhile, the dogs are enjoying the last of our nice weather days.  They are having a killer week as they even got dinner twice on Friday.  A mix up between the missus' and I ended up in them getting dinner twice on Friday evening.  The funny thing is that they acted hungry when I got home just after they had their second dinner...you would think they were starved!
They seem to have a lot more energy and keep wanting to go outside to tire each other out.  It is good to see them rollicking in good times.  They would typically spar for a round then re-charge their batteries for the next round...

They got to the point where they were too tired to chase each other so they played from the lying down position:

They eventually tired themselves out:

it made for the happy dog smile:

East Ridge Night Ride & Airstream updates

Friday has rolled around and my to-do list is the only thing that seems to be getting my mind's focus this morning...first is the work to do list, then the home to-do list which might just well take up a big chunk of the weekend.

We went out for a night ride last night to the East Ridge CDT.  Night riding is always fun and always a different set of variables.  My legs and body did not feel good on the ride at all.  It was the first time in a long time that I felt so bad on a ride...the lungs were tight, the legs had no snap...although it might have also had to do with the blistering pace the boys were setting ahead of me.  I finally just opted to be dropped and go at my own pace.  It was a quickie ride but much needed considering I had not been out since Sunday's ride.  Last night's profile looked like:

I sure hope that was just an aberration last night in terms of how the body felt...It is always good to be able to get out and ride (especially this time of year, so thumbs up).

Of things Airstream....
I picked up the tin can from Mintage last week and one of the more pressing to-do's is to winterize it...I need to drain all the tanks, including the hot water heater and then move it into the garage where it will sit for the winter while we get things completed on it.

The boys up at Mintage did a nice job.  Here are some pics of the work they did:
front cabinets re-done, need stain though... installation of new lights - more contemporary and low profile but still staying true to the retro'ish feel......

Installation of  stove burners, countertop, sink & fixtures:

New cabinets and fridge.  I asked them to install a sheet of aluminum on the front walls to give it a more updated look and also lighten up the inside:

Those were the major cosmetic changes on the inside.  They also put in a new water heater, and put a stainless sheet on the bathroom sink and potty (and a new potty)...all in all we are really happy with how it turned out so far.  It was a bit of a leap of faith on how we picked the options and what we wanted them to  do.  They had never put in aluminum sheets on the walls, etc...were a little skeptical but then became believers once they saw it!  All the cabinets need staining and once the staining/painting finishes are done, it will be time to install the floor and then put in the remaining furniture.  I guess that list of to-do's just keeps growing and growing the more I think about it...and it is not getting done on its own so off to work to get the work day in motion...

You Know You Are In Butte When:

After living in Butte the last couple of years, I have realized that there are things that are just quintessential Butte...I have tried putting together a tongue in cheek peek-a-boo at Butte'isms'....

You know you are in Butte when:

• You are running errands, etc and you see people out & about in their PJ's
• You see people in short sleeves in sub-zero temps
• You are in the outskirts of town on trails and see a bear
• You are walking your dog in the outskirts of town and see a hunter armed & dangerous and realize that your dogs have the same coloring as some critters they are hunting & remind yourself to buy some bright orange vests for them
• You realize it is hunting season because everyone is wearing camo and orange
• You notice that the local sports store has 5X the space for hunting items as they do for everything else combined
• You consider buying a piece to protect your home
• "You are into the outdoors?  What to you hunt?  Why on earth would you ride a bike when you can ride a 4-wheeler or snow mobile?"
• You see an anti-meth billboard at every street corner
• You see medicinal marijuana shops on every other street corner (usually right next to anti-meth campaign billboard)
• You see mining headframes silhouetted against the skyline
• You see Our Lady lit up at night
• You see most of the population lit up at night
• You see more drunk drivers than sober drivers
• You don't see said drunk drivers early morning the next day
• You go to a bar and order a Moscow Muley....MMMM
• You realize someone drove a car through your garage!
• You see signs for pasty's everywhere...
• You realize it is pronounced 'pass-ty'  not 'pastie' (everyone will get a good laugh at your expense)
• You eat Chinese Food in a former brothel
• The booth you are eating in at said former brothel used to server a different kind of appetizer!
• You feel the earth rattle from blasts of mining up at the Pit
• You constantly live in fear of the Pit overflowing or breaking loose!
• You hear the siren going off at 9 p.m. every night.
• You catch yourself thinking "really? what is the difference between -20 and -30 temps?"
• You catch the awesomeness that is Evil Knievel Days
• You imbibe in St Paddy's shenanigans
• You see a fight break out on any given night in any given place
• You have heard the phrase 'Butte Tough' for the buzzillionth time
• You hear people say 'Crick' and realize they mean 'Creek'
• You see a dude relieving himself against a wall inside of a Subway sandwich store
• You find yourself at Wal-Mart after you held it in such disdain (your pride is swallowed and you eat crow as you find you come to depend on it for some things)
• You see a 4-wheeler or snowmobile parked outside a bar
• You realize you might have seen that same 4 wheeler on trails last week with the driver smoking a ciggy and a dog on the back-seat
• Shortly thereafter you see the same 4 wheeler upside down on a steep part of the trail
• You see someone 'walking' their dog via taking them to an open area, booting them out of the car and driving for a bit (while sucking on a ciggy) as the dog tries to keep up.
• You read newspaper headlines: 'Building XX Burned Down: Arson Suspected'
• You are on the phone with a Customer Service Rep and they read back your address as "Butt" - always solicits a juvenile laugh from me...although I always wait to see if the CSR can hold back from breaking out in hysterics too
• You realize just how hard the miners had it back in the day!
• You are at the Pit gift shop, pick up a copper item (which Butte is notorious for mining) and read 'Made in China' on the bottom
• You are afraid to order water (from the tap) at a restaurant because of the funny taste and smell
• You hear from friends of the new well they drilled because their old one is spewing purple water now
• You buy all your drinking water in 6 gallon jugs
• You almost get run over by a BIG truck (guilty as charged of owning BIG truck)
• You have eaten at the same 4 restaurants over and over and over again
• You have stray dogs leaving you gifts in your yard
• You read about the 500th reclamation project in your back-yard
• Every other house on your street has gotten a new roof due to 'hail damage' - covered by insurance of course...
• One of your neighbors has cars scattered around their house in various states of dis-repair
• You see the 20th 15yr old pregnant girl of the day
• You see motor homes and campers parked outside of people's homes that are worth more than the homes they live in
• That same camper passes you going uphill or downhill on the freeway (you notice you are going 75 mph so they must be HAULING)
• You realize who your true friends are because they come and visit you (despite the plethora of great terrain and activities, Butte is not exactly a destination location - Berkeley Pit notwithstanding)
• You have to drive an hour to get to the closest Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc...
• You see the umpteenth picket line
• You realize you have seen snow every month of the year
• You come to the realization that you have somehow intertwined yourself into the fabric of this quirky place!!!

Tin Can Return

So last week was a big week because I got to go to Missoula to pick up our '71 Globetrotter that Mintange had been working on.  We had them to a number of things to our old airstream which included putting in a fridge, new water heater, couple of new cabinets, and a number of other smaller things. 

It has turned out really well and it now means that there is a long to-do list to get the tin can finished.  The to-do list includes finishing painting, installing the floor, installing the curtains, installing the beds/couches, re-doing the upholstery, etc.  The return of the tin can coincides just in time with the colder weather meaning that we won't get to enjoy it this year - the upside is that we will have all winter to get it ready.  I plan on taking some pics today and posting them later in the week.  Unfortunately I need to winterize the Globetrotter since our evenings are getting cold and we don't want the lines to freeze and cause some serious damage...

Speaking of water....the city was doing work on one of the main water lines in town and conveniently forgot to notify anyone that they would be out of water all day yesterday.  Our little section of town was the only one impacted as they needed to turn a valve off upstream in order to install a new valve closer to our section of town.  It was a minor inconvenience but I felt bad for folks who really were impacted more than just a 'minor' factor...like people with infants that needed diaper changing, or restaurants, etc...

Otis decided that of all days, yesterday would be a great day to eat some fresh dog poo during our walk.  This was a first for him and I did not realize it until we got back in the car and it STUNK...Unfortunately there was no water to clean his mouth up when we got home so it lingered for a bit.

A couple of nights ago, I went out to check something on the tin can and caught one of the brightest rainbows I have ever seen...it was even a double!

I love this pic because it shows these awesome rainbows but if you scan to the lower part of the pic you get to see our neighbors yard sale of a house with the sordid collection of jalopies...notice how each car is totally beat up and not running, missing parts, etc -we get to live next to that - same crew who have egged our house twice, drove over our lawn, meandered through our yard, have 3 barking dogs who bark at all hours, on and on and on...

W Yellowstone Sunday Ride Report

Saturday's ride was just a pre-amble to the amble (ok, not so much of an amble but it was a 'pre' to whatever it is we did on Sunday).  Sunday's ride ranks right up there with Curly Lake in terms of both the physical nature (more climbing than Curly) and the scenic views.

Sunday's ride included over 25 miles of riding at elevation, peaking at 10,000 ft, gaining over 6,000ft in total elevation, and bushwhacking/trailfinding.  The diversity of the landscape we went through was pretty spectacular...it included typical drainage riding with birch, aspen, pine...some above tree line riding, some old growth riding, some meadow riding, some scary steep descent riding, some cow path riding, some creek crossings, some grizz country poop your pants riding, etc.....now that I think about it, it was just another day in the saddle in Montana country...buck up there cowboy!  The profile looked a little something like:

There were two major climbs for the day and the first came right off the bat, soon after you clipped into your pedals.  The trail worked its way up the mile creek drainage via a countless number of switchbacks (stopped counting at 20 - ok ok, truth be told that I ran out of fingers and toes after that) that eventually put you on the saddle where it also linked up with the CDT:

If you stepped to the right side of the sign you were officially in Idaho....if you stepped to the left, you were in Montana, if you straddled the line you were in Montaho (not to be confused with Mount a Ho') and yet I digress.....The grind up to the saddle did not mean the climbing was yet over as there was still another 800 ft of elevation gain to get to the Targhee Divide which sits right around 10,000 ft.  This junction in the picture above provided a great opportunity to see just where you started earlier in the day.  We started all the way down in the Valley almost 3,000 ft below - big views with amazing vista's (from the department of redundancy department)

The picture above is looking west into Montana.  The picture below is looking southwest into Idaho:

The trail snaked its way up to the Targhee Divide which opened up into guess what??? great views:

We were right at tree line which made for some open views looking north towards Hebgen Lake and the Targhee drainage (drainage heading from left to right in the pic).  The good news is that we were about to start a nice long hard earned descent.  What was amazing is that you could see all the way over to the Tetons and make out their distinct silhouette off in the distance...you could also see Yellowstone, the Gallatin Range (and probably a lot more if I knew what else I was looking at).

Looking back in the direction that we came from, it was neat to see the singletrack working its way up the mountain to the divide (might have to enlarge the pic below to see the trail working its way from the lower left of the pic to the upper right).

The start of the descent included multiple tight switchbacks through some very striated sandstone looking rock that reminded me a lot of Calico Basin in Red Rocks, Nevada - crazy that there was such a mixture of rock in that area...from this sandstone to limestone to granite

We descended for about 1500 ft before we came through this great meadow that made me think of old western movies (although I have to admit it felt a little like being grizzly bait on the proverbial fishing pole through some of these meadows)...

I did have my trusty bear spray just in case but continue to hold out hope that it will never have to be used...instead the I try the loud biker approach so as not to startle them if they are in the area...there had been some grizz action through this trail earlier in the year when the Forest Service shut the trail down for a bit...some dead cows that died naturally served as yummy appetizers for a hungry grizz and the Forest Service eventually went in and as the legend goes, they TNT'd (and I don't mean blaring the AC/DC tune) the carcasses...flying carcass notwithstanding, we did not see any bear (although I did see some bear scat).
I was hoping to catch the last of the fall foliage but it appeared as though the peak had come and gone, although there were a couple of spots where the aspen were in full effect:

This was partially up the last 2,500 ft climb of the day...which led you into a meadow up high where the trail totally disappeared and once again it felt like grizzly bait:

After following the gut up and through the meadow, it took a while to find the trail at the other side of the meadow that would eventually lead to the promised land that I like to call 'downhill'.  At this point the shadows were getting long and it was time to get moving...

The downhill was a little scary...it was STEEP, narrow, and off camber...the switchbacks were so tight that there was no way to ride them...at all!!!  For the next series of switchbacks I would ride to the switchback, have to dismount, turn my bike around and ride to the next one...it was super sketch...anyone in their right mind would have walked it considering if you accidentally fell off your bike, you would not stop rolling for about 100 ft.  The approach to the downhill was also a little eerie.  You came on it and it just dropped off the side of the mountain and all you saw immediately in front of you was what looked like a huge abyss - it was in part an optical illusion because that mountain on the other side of the valley was in the shade but it was definitely not a place for someone with agoraphobia.

Sheep Creek West Yellowstone Ride Report

Apparently mother nature decided to switch things up a little and dealt us a wet/cold spring/summer and has treated us to a little bit of an Indian Summer in the last 2-3 weeks.  I won't complain since we have been trying to take full advantage of the unusually warm weather here in Montana.

The missus' was buried in conferences most of the weekend so that meant I had a Hall Pass to get out...The plan for the weekend was to head down to Lionhead mountain which is just on the west side of Yellowstone and get a couple of rides in while the weather was cooperating and the trails are still open to bikers before the pending decision by our 'elected' officials to shut just about everything down to us under the guise of designating areas as Wilderness.

Saturday's objective was Sheep Creek Trail to Sheep Lake.  It is an out and back trail and it is pretty steep - requires constant pedaling and being on your game to clear long steep technical sections.  Good stuff!
The ride profile looked like:

It was over 3,000 ft of vertical gain in about 6 miles...Game On!  The views were tremendous and unfortunately I missed the peak fall foliage changing as most of the wildflowers, birch, and aspens were just past their peaking.  It was still an amazing ride with incredible vistas.  There multiple stream crossings where you had the option to use the bridge or the stream (depending on how deep it was I would sometimes option for the bridge.  Fortunately the bridges were nice and wide so you did not have to worry too much about falling off them as you rode across:

You worked your way up through the drainage climbing climbing climbing...In the distance you could see some limestone crags up high.

There was a mix of different stone all over the place...chunks of granite ins some spots, with limestone cliffs in other spots.  At the top of the trail you were treated to a beautiful alpine lake.  I was surprised at just how big the lake was...but probably not quite as surprised as the crew that was up there via horses.  They looked at me like some sort of alien and were in dis-belief of why people would make a conscious and sober decision to go through the turmoil of riding up the trail...for the rest of us who do this for fun, it is a no brainer when you come up on scenes like this:

The descent was SO much fun!  It was fast & technical in some spots.  You had to stop every once in a while just to take the views in.

Fortunately there were a handful of people, horses, and bikes on the trails that day so I did not feel the need to talk to the bears as I rode.  It is grizzly country and I had my bear spray but I really do wonder how effective bear spray would be in some situations...given that it is usually windy and so if you were to try to use the spray, the wind might just blow right back in your face....or more importantly would you have the wherewithal to stand and wait for a charging bear to come within 10-15 ft before applying the spray.  Fortunately there was no need to answer any of those questions as the grizz let me be...

After the ride, I headed over to Hebgen Lake and grabbed a burger at the Happy Hour Bar - I was tempted to take a pic or two of the inside since there were hundreds (maybe thousands) of polaroids of customers doing anything flashing various parts of the bodies (and I do mean ALL parts) to a great collection of dusty hats hanging...this place definitely had a lot of character.
On the way to Hebgen, you pass a lake called Earthquake Lake (pic below).  This lake was created by the earthquake that hit the area in the late 50's.  I had never stopped to take a look and inform myself of the details until this trip.  I had some extra time so it was nice to be able to stop and read a little about the events that transpired...long story short is that there was an earthquake, the side of a mountain collapsed which created a huge landslide that displaced boulders the size of houses on the opposite side of the canyon several hundred feet up!  You can still see a huge scar on the side of the mountain where everything gave way.  One of the impacts of the quake was a new lake formed.  As you can tell from the picture, you can tell it was fairly recent based on all the dead trees sticking up.  It is amazing to think of the magnitude of some of these events and how we are just mere blips in the grand scheme of things.

Saturday was just a prep ride for the bigger ride planned on Sunday.  More to come....