Re-Purposing an Old PC for Streaming TV

AS the Mac conversion moves forward, it is time to figure out what to do with an old desktop PC that is not stable enough to handle certain critical functions.  Dilemma, dilemma....

The idea crossed my mind a while back about trying to make the PC a stand alone unit for streaming Internet content from certain sites.  We have a Wii which is great for being able to stream Netflix but unfortunately, there seems to be some  proprietary issues with not being able to access Hulu via the Wii.  I looked at other options like Apple TV, or Boxee, etc...The issues was that each product has some sort of arrangement with certain content providers, and not with others.  The only way around any of this was to handle the streaming via a computer.

The big picture is to get rid of cable TV and use Netflix, Hulu, etc to watch what interests us and consequently save $$ from having to pay DirecTV each month.

Step 1 was to make sure the hardware could handle the streaming to the TV...we had to upgrade and install a graphics card on the PC, and then add a USB Network adapter so that the re-purposed PC that now sits next to the TV in the living room, can talk to the wireless network.  With the new graphics card, it was super easy to hook the PC straight to the TV via a HDMI cable.  Once it was all hooked up, it was time to install drivers and then connect to the secure wireless network...then came the true test:  turn everything on and try to stream something and see what the picture quality was like.

We were pleasantly surprised, the content streamed via Hulu was good quality (not as good as straight HD broadcast but still good).  The other pleasant surprise was that there was no drop in network while streaming - so the content was able to be watched without the start/stop that I was originally concerned about...

At first glance, it looks like it might be a viable option in being able to move from traditional cable TV options to TV via the Internet...here is to being cautiously optimistic.....

Moving Foreward - I just wanna' ride

Admittedly, I had some Butte rage going on a couple of days ago and there is nothing like a little time and venting to put it behind me (until the next threat to my well being pops up that is).

Apparently today was the royal wedding day?  The UK officially called it a public holiday so I can only imagine how the country must have come to a stop to watch the telly/tv/tube ...lorries/trucks...taps/faucets...track suits/sweats...bonnet/hood   blah blah blah

To be honest, I just don't get how a whole country (or countries) stop(s) to watch a wedding...am I happy for the prince?  sure...do I care?  NO....and I don't get why everyone else seems to care so much either...(the inner cynic in me wakes up today)

as for riding - it appears as the only riding to be had might be of the indoor variety as mother nature is reminding us of who the Boss is...and no don't you dare tempt me to post a clip of that horrible show in the 80's...

There is a  cycling club in town and I have hmmmm'd and haaaaaaa'd about whether to renew membership this year.  I have come to the conclusion that I am not really a 'club' type guy.  I just want to get out and ride - KISS - keep it simple stoooopid.  Clubs can get a tad 'clique-y' for me and sometimes it defeats the purpose of just getting out and enjoying what I want to do - which in this case is ride....and unfortunately that outdoor riding will just have to wait a wee bit longer.

I Got 99 Problems and Butte's #1

Thanks Jay-Z!

There are days where you just shake your head at just how bass-ackwards this town is...and today has to rank right up there.  Today was finally the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back...

It wasn't the stolen car hitting our car in the driveway and sending it through our garage causing over $8K of damage,
it wasn't even the utter SHOCK of finding that this town of around 30,000 people has over 80 registered sex offenders!!!!!! 26 registered sex offenders living within a 1 mile radius of our house...
it wasn't the un-friendliness of this town - ohh but everyone is so friendly...ummm NOT...smile to your face as they pick your pocket...BEWARE!
it wasn't our realtor and realtor company attacking my personal character because the seller of the home we purchased lied and  KNOWINGLY did not disclose over  $15K of water damage in the basement - despite the city records of water damage and leaks, it was apparently something we had caused...hmmmm..instead they opted to choose to protect the seller to take are of their own

it wasn't the neighbors driving over our front yard

it wasn't the neighbor kids egging our house and car on different occasions, 

it wasn't the neighbors' dogs keeping us up at all hours barking all day, all night, every day, every night

it wasn't the close-mindedness of this town

it wasn't the lack of places to eat in this town

it wasn't the lack of culture in this town

it wasn't the beer bottle I got thrown at me while riding my bike,

it wasn't the guy going 80 miles an hour swerving over while going the opposite direct into my lane to throw a water bottle at me while minding my own business riding a bike,

it wasn't someone trying to run me over on a 4 wheeler while riding my bike on a NON-MOTORIZED greenway,
it wasn't that we did not come up here with an open mind....

despite all this any many other fun little episodes, we have tried to stay positive...but a turd is a turd is a turd no matter how much you try to shine it it still comes out of a Butte...you can put lipstick on a pig, but that pig is still Butte

the straw was today....I was at a stop sign while a Butte SilverBow truck hauled ass through the stop sign almost causing a wreck and hitting me...I followed them back to their office so I could file a complaint.  The person I talked to did not want to hear ot if.  He asked if I got the truck number - which obviously is close to impossible to do when someone is driving like an a-hole almost causing wrecks.  Not to mention I knew they had just pulled in, but apparently walking 40 steps to look for the truck was too much of a bother...

I told him it did not look good to have a truck with BSB plastered all over it driving around almost causing accidents.  He kept trying to make excuses for them and I called him on it and said it was not appropriate to be defending them when I had a complaint to lodge.  He said give me your name and number and I will tell my boss - YEAH RIGHT...first, I don't trust ANYONE with my info in this town, second of all I knew full well that he was not going to do a thing with it - especially the way he kept telling me he did not know what happened since he was not there.

At this point I understood it was a futile battle and he was more interested in getting back to his card game in the break room that I had interrupted (gotta love a sweet union gig).  I went back to the car and that is when I saw the offenders hauling ass back out the parking lot.  I stopped them (and card break asshole guy was still there) and he looked at them, then looked at me, told them to keep going and looks at me saying 'I will take care of it'...considering I was not born yesterday I told him I knew he was not going to do a thing about it and called him on it.  At that point he says 'well I have tried to help you, so Fuck Off'...he started walking towards me as he said this like he wanted to have more than just words.  It was obvious there was nothing to gain by trying to reason with an insane person...arguments such as 'ohh, you are OK nothing happened, so what is the big deal?'

It is AMAZING to me that a 50+ yr old man who represents a company (paid by our taxes mind you) has that type of an attitude with someone who comes in to file a complaint.  There are so many things wrong with all this but at the end of the day, if you argue with a crazy person, you are letting them bring you to their level.

and this is the straw that finally broke the camel's back of how there is NO WAY IN HELL I will stay in this hole of a town any longer than contractually obligated....16 more months of purgatory - but who is counting?

MagicShine Recall

Apparently the MagicShine bike lights are not so magical - or at least, the battery appears to be a wee bit faulty.

GeoManGear sent out a recall notice on the lightset indicating there is a fire hazard with the battery pack.  The lithium-ion battery cells can cause the batteries to overheat.  It is a good thing we were using them late in the year when it was cold outside...hmmm

Regardless, mucho thanks to GeoManGear for the notice and I will be spending a little time today trying to figure out how to mail back the batteries back, etc.  GeoManGear has even offered (as per their recall letter) to replace the batteries with US-made replacements.  Apparently it (and we) is/are yet another victim of cheapie Chinese goods that don't meet safety specs.  Such is the cost of cheap goods and off-shoring...they are ummm, well, cheap and sub-standard...

Spring Window

Mother Nature decided to give us a break from our recent wet weather and gifted us a spring like weekend!  It was downright overdue and in need!  It was a blue-bird weekend that had us in the high 50's for both days with seemingly everyone getting a case of spring fever.

I snuck up to Helena on Saturday to pick up my handlebars for the bike and get in a ride.  There had been some precip the prior couple of days and I was curious to see how dry the trails were.  Reports were that the lower elevation trails were all in good shape.  As seems to be the norm lately, there was some mud....I was one of the first people out on the trails which meant that it was early enough that the trails had not had a chance to totally dry.  Most of the north facing aspects were pretty wet while everything that was south facing was dry and in good shape!  In order to avoid the wet slopes, I stayed on south facing trails, roads for link ups, and also did not stray up into the upper elevations (packed snow and wet).

There was not a ton of riding but still more than enough to whet the appetite and get my fix.

It ended up being a good productive weekend where I got caught up on bike maintenance.  I managed to re-do the tubeless wheelsets for the single speed and the gearie.  I removed the rubber from the wheels, cleaned the rims, installed new tires, re-sealed with stan's, and re-inflated - all systems GO.  Now, if only the weather would break - the aforementioned spring like weather window has closed and we are back to cold, rain, overcast...

One Bad Dude

This guy is not only re-setting the bar, but he is raising it so high that sofa climbers like me just can't even begin to fathom the skill, fitness, and mental toughness....great footage to boot.  Apparently it is not enough of a challenge since he is now taking on the Himalayas in the same style.  Wow....Wow...this is one BAD dude!

Ueli Steck - The Swiss Machine from Mountain Hardwear on Vimeo.

BC BIke Race

Giddyup!  I signed up for the BC Bike Race this summer which should be a really fun event.  I have heard amazing reports about the local riding in the area and equally positive reviews about the race.  The race starts in Vancouver and works its way north to Squamish and then to Whistler.

It is a multi-day stage race (or event) that starts on July 2nd and runs through July 9th.  It looks like most days are somewhere around 50 km with a fair amount of climbing each day.  The big question is whether to singlespeed the race or go full squish.  My first reaction is to singlespeed but the trails are so fun and the descents include big time fun that could be had on a full suspension bike.  Taking the singlespeed would mean riding fully rigid for 7 days and I just don't know whether that it would take some of the fun factor out of it.  It is time to do more research and see  just how technical the trails are going to be.

I was having a difficult time trying to find events that I had not done before, or that I could still get into (everything seems to be selling out fast these days), or that just jumped out at me.  The BC Bike race had been on my radar for the last 3 years but it one of the requirements was doing it as a team.  This past year, they opened up the race to solo's so that you no longer required a team member.  Finding a team member was proving difficult due to a combination of timing, location, cost, etc so the solo option is really a perfect fit.

time to get psyched, time to research gear ratios for the event, time to train....

Old Man Winter

Apparently Old Man Winter has a vice grips on our local weather and he did not get the memo from Spring that it should be getting warmer.  Old Man Winter is starting to make Mid-Life Man grumpy.  I thought last spring was rough when it continued to stay wet for months on end.  This winter just rolled right into spring.  We continue to get snow on a daily basis and my ohh my do I need some warmer temps to go out in and play in!

It was a nice and toasty 14 degrees F this morning when I woke up....BRRRR!

I guesss mother nature is just going to lay it on a little longer- - we are supposed to get some respite today although we shall see how it all works out.  

White Pipestone

At this time of year in this neck of the woods, there is only one area that is rideable on the fatty.  Pipestone is usually compliant in the spring with trails that are dry and begging to be ridden.  Weekly rides are starting back up and it was game on for Monday.  I was noncommittal all day as I watched fluffy white stuff fall out of the skies.  The temps never got above the mid 30's but the theory was that Pipestone would be warmer (usually 5-10 degrees warmer).

As we headed over the pass, the snow continued to fall and even accumulate on the side of the road.  At this point in the day the temps were also starting to drop.  At this point we were committed and still hopeful that conditions would improve when we pulled into the little banana belt of SW Montana.  Wrong-O-Rama! It continued to dump....not only was it snowing but there was more accumulation in Pipestone than there was on the other side of the Cont Divide in Butte.  

 

At this time of year, desperate itches call for desperate solutions and sometimes that is more cow-bell, other times it is riding in inclement weather...Monday night called for riding in sleet/snow.

Once we got moving it got better...the body warmed up, but the hands, feet, and face started to get cold...after a while you just learned to ignore the blocks of wood that were your feet...it was all good, rubber tire was on dirt so all was well!

The conditions did not let up for a good couple of hours though - it continued to sleet and snow sideways right into our faces.  The trails somehow managed to stay visible since snow did not seem to be accumulating, but everything else was a thick blanket of white.

All the white stuff was new (was not there on Saturday) and it made for somewhat of a peaceful postcard image (if you could ignore the frozen digits).  

Riding conditions kept us focused as the combination of some slick wet rock and loose dirt (from the recent moto races) kept a guy fully engaged.

I did manage to eat dirt once when descending.  My front wheel got gobbled up by a deep rut that made a sharp right turn and "hello, body meet dirt".  Here is to hoping this is the last snowy ride of the season.....

Full Timer Conversion to Mac Underway

I have been grumbling about MicroSuck and PC's for the last few years and kept wondering what kind of limitations a full time move to the world of Mac would impose.  The idea was to fully convert without creating a drive for a PC-like environment on the Mac.  

Now that tax day is behind us (that was my mental to-do before being able to 'play' with the Mac), it is time to fully embrace change!  Unlike the government promises of Hope and Change (or the myriad of other promises by either party - after all I am an equal opportunity indie launcher of criticisms), this is going to be real change (and still some hoping that data is not lost or mis-placed).  By my calcs, this still puts me way ahead of any bureaucratic entity that calls itself 'government'.

back to my converting....Microsuck slowly started to corrupt applications one by one.  It started with QuickBooks - so all of the financial data that we had been tracking diligently for taxes was subsequently lost. Not only was QuickBooks corrupted, but so were our data files.  Next on the hit list was HP Document Mgr....next was iTunes...and OHHH that hurt!  Fortunately the music files were still intact, but unfortunately the libraries and folders that we built for playlists were 'gonners'.  The tickie tockie of the clock was at volume 11 (Spinal Tap theft) while we tried to get our taxes completed before TurboTax was impacted.  Fortunately we were able to cross the finish line with our taxes submitted - it was close as the PC did have a few blue screen moments!

The craziness is that this desktop is about 18 months old so apparently shelf life for PC's is limited - mostly due to SW issues (thank you MicroSuck).  

We bought a Mac-mini and I ordered a memory upgrade on-line via a 3rd party and subsequently saved myself about $150 compared to if that would have been ordered via Apple.  The memory upgrade was very very easy and took no more than about 3 minutes.  Me thinks I have transferred most of the data over to the Mac but there are a couple of gaps I am trying to figure out (most notably GPS and workout data from rides).  

I am curious to see the impact on my professional life...all of my work is usually done via PC apps so it is a bridge yet to be crossed.

Once everything is done, it will be time to figure out what to do with the old desktop that is exponentially larger than the mini mac - Apple surely does not how to make their product sassy and ergonomic!  More to come but for now, it is time to think about how to retire the desktop anchor...maybe a file server...maybe just a rebuild with a new OS like UNIX?  hmmm....will have to noodle on it...

okay, now I feel better...btw - did I mention I am not impressed with MicroSuck?

Tracking Trail

The weather for Saturday looked a little dubious with a forecast of low 50's with clouds and rain.  The plan was to head out to Pipestone early and try to avoid the cloud buildup during the early afternoon.

After stopping at McD's drive through for a quickie egg McMuff, it was time to go ver the pass and descend into the little banana belt that is Whitehall.  That area always seems to be a little warmer and tends to dry out much faster than everywhere else..  The approach drive was promising (the roads were completely dry).  On arriving at the parking lot, I saw these signs for a race.  As it turns out there are moto races all weekend.  Fortunately they were in one designated area so it was easy to avoid the ruckus.

The trails were relatively dry with a rare section of 5-10 ft where there was still some snow.  I did not venture to any of the higher elevation trails knowing that they would still be snow-packed.  The big bummer was the discovery that the motos found and disregarded the non-motorized trails.  Unfortunately they are tracking out what used to be nice smooth singletrack.  The topper is that they removed the signs that indicate they are not open to motos...

I did find some new trail that was fun to explore and will be good to explore further once the trails dry up a little more.  I am hoping they will link into some of the other trails further west so that the road can be completely avoided.  

It ended up being about a 3 hour ride and a little over 20 miles of trail/road that included familiar trails with the obligatory views of old homesteads/shacks and also some newly discovered action...the best part was the weather held out too!  

What To Make Of It?

Some things defy explanation....

I just have no idea what to think...is it funny?  is it disturbing?  is it sarcasm?  just exactly what  what what what is this?

Whacky link #1

and if you are still as equally confused as I am, there is much much more where that came from:
Whacky link #2

and if you STILL remain utterly conflicted, check out the rest of her weirdness and video action on YouTube...

HUH?

Staying Motivated for the Bike

More snow here in Montanny and as it moves further into April, the itch continues to get bigger to get out and ride...alas, no dice...Mother Nature is not cooperating which means any saddle time has to be indoor trainer time which can zap motivation quickly!

As a result we are constantly trying to find ways to trick the mind and body to stay psyched.  I came across these links/trailers from the Race Across the Sky 2009 and 2010.  The movies capture some of the excitement around the race with all the pros and others like the rest of us who get to share the trails for the day!  What is cool is there are very few events where a rec rider gets to ride with the big boys/girls!  It is definitely a reality check of just how mutant these athletes are that contend to win these events.

It quickly brought back memories of 2008 and all the training going into getting prepped for the Leadville 100...that was a great day...the elements were definitely part of the variables to manage.  When you get close to 13,000 ft, anything can happen!

Watching these definitely gave me goosebumps all over again and brought back some suffering going up the Columbine climb and the return up Power-Line.


Race Across The Sky 2010 from Citizen Pictures on Vimeo.

a longer trailer from 2009:
2009 Race Across the Sky trailer

Riding this bad boy on the bike is definitely a good challenge, but to think that there is a Leadville 100 for runners?  now that is truly impressive!

Pretty Hate Machine - Why Singlespeed?

People often wonder and ask why on earth would you choose to ride a single speed mountain bike?

Below are some of the reasons I have convinced myself to like singlespeeding:

• It is just so simple and therefore, beautimous!
• less gears, more beers
• or is that less gears, less brains?
• It is hard 
• It is easy - you have NO options when things get steep...ride or hike...
• It helps you build some intestinal / mental fortitude (or is that derangement?).
• You become a better rider - you learn to use what the trail gives you and take advantage of it.  If you see an upcoming hill, you try to leverage any and all momentum from the preceding flat or downhill to carry into that hill
• Fewer moving parts - you have one gear, no deraileurs, shifters, blah blah blah
• as a result, fewer things to fix/replace
• Because it is a small brotherhood - or in some cases, sista'hood
• Because it is sweet to pass people on the up-hills
• It is even better to pass people on the downhills if you can!
• It is even mo' better (or that would be 'bestest') if you can clean tekkie sections that gearies can't - ahhh pure sweet NECTAR!
• Because you can ask people if they found your lost derailleur on the trail
• Because people accuse you of being crazy and it just prevents you from having to explain all the OTHER reasons they could call you that
• You have a built in excuse for just about everything if you need...
• Back to the basics
• You can shed weight of excess parts
• You become more dialed with the trail
• Because in all likelihood people will NOT want to steal your bike!
• You can talk gear ratios with other singler's - "Dude, what are you running today?"
• Because people give you props when riding 100 miles on your own little 'pretty hate machine' (for you NIN fans!)

Better yet is if you can run a fully rigid singlespeed set up!  ohh Daddy!  no cushiness anywhere!  I have converted to this option for this year...not sure how long it will last but right now, me likey!

Cycling Knee Pain

It has been a long road in trying to unlock the source of my knee pain.  The pain started after our vacation we took in the Tetons where we rode every day for 4 days (this after I did the Pierre's Hole 50).  I was a little concerned, but not enough to be worried because I had never had knee pain from cycling, despite being a masher (pushing big gears, slow cadence) and also being a single-speeder.

The big mystery was that I had not changed (to my knowledge) seat position or geometry on the bike for a couple of years.  This is why it was so mind-boggling

When we got back to Butte, my knee was downright grumpy!  It did not like walking downstairs, and remained tender throughout the winter (when my only mileage on the bike was an occasional spin on the trainer).  This was enough to think that either something chronic was happening due to use over the years, or my bike measurements were way off.  I kept trying tweaks to saddle height, seat for/aft position, as well as cleat position on the shoes relative to the pedals.

I took the measurements from my last official bike fit and applied them to the trainer.  Somewhere along the line, I overcompensated for saddle height.  My theory was that it was better to err on the side of the saddle being too high, as opposed to too low.

It ends up that the following adjustments were critical in significantly reducing (close to eliminating) my knee pain:

1. Lowering seat position by an inch - most feedback is that knee pain comes from a saddle being too low.  The opposite can also happen.  Unfortunately I must have made an adjustment on seat height on my singlespeed without realizing how off I was.  I have since taken to using tape on my seat post to also mark my mountain bike height.  My seat height is now the exact same for both my road and mountain bikes.
2. Moving cleat on shoe back about 3/4 inch.  Based on where the bone on the inside of my feet aligned with the pedals - in order to try to mimic my road cleat/pedal metrics.
3. Aligning fore/aft saddle position to align with bike fit done 4 yrs ago.  Making sure alignment from my knee to the foot at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions was also in synch with the bike fit measurements.

These 3 things really resolved my knee pain.  The crazy part was the time span - within a week of making these adjustments, I could tell there was significant progress - almost full progress!

I had read many articles on cycling and knee pain and intuitively knew and understood the criticality of the 3 items above.  Unfortunately for me, I did not take the time to confirm and re-confirm geometry.  

The lesson learned for me is that even though you currently have your bike dialed in, continue to check it occasionally as things do tend to shift based on how you transport your bike (removing a seat post, etc) or possible maintenance, or just riding your bike will sometimes move seat height or saddle position.  As for thinking that the geometry had not changed in a couple of yrs as stated above, I now realize that not only did the things move/change, but my original measurements might have been off.

sorta' like they say in construction 'Measure twice, cut once'

Tax Man Cometh

The week of inevitability has arrived....The over-reaching hand of big brother has been with hand extended to us and that dark cloud Uncle Sam has been brooding over-head like a bad flu that just won't go away.  Why the gloom and doom?  The thing is we owe Uncle Sammy some $ for taxes so our time is coming due to pay the piper.

We have been planning on it, so it is not a surprise but it still hurts to fork over checks to our wonderfully efficient government who will no doubt be putting our hard earned tax dollars to good use by doing things such as putting cones and signs on freeways for many a mile indicating 'construction'.  My observation on these 'construction zones' is that no work has been done or will be done (at least on 9 of 10 of the zones I see).  Some greedy little bureaucrat's pockets are getting fuller and fuller while everyone else is none the wiser.

OK, rant over...time to suck it up and take a deep breath before that uber sticky band aid gets yanked off the open sore of the checks made out to "US Treasury Dept"

On a different note, our local trails are starting to dry up...and I use the word 'starting' very generously.  The only area for potential riding at the moment is Pipestone.  All other areas just recently got hit with snow.  I can't bring myself to take out the new bike to Pipestone yet because there will no doubt be snow/mud.  I got pseudo motivated to take my old bike out there yesterday but got quickly thwarted when I went to load it up and saw there were no pedals on it, and I was missing a brake pad (have no idea how that happened) and the seat post and saddle were on the new bike....all very manageable and quick fixes but it was just enough to erase the ounce of motivation I had to go ride the mud.  I will be monitoring MTBR to see if there are any condition updates for the area - hopefully we are on the cusp!

Snowing On My Parade - weah

Yesterday's veil of snow has quickly turned into a nice thick blanket today.  Here is to hoping it does not turn into duvet...

The dogs and I were putting in first tracks in the hills during our walk yesterday.  There were places where there was 4-5 inches of snow, and that was prior to last evening's addition.  There is nothing like these shoulder seasons when it can snow at anytime.  Fortunately it usually melts pretty quickly too.

until the bigger melt happens, this will just have to keep me day-dreaming of warmer temps...this one is for the climbers:

"Blankety-Blank" - Snow Blankie

We woke up to a blanket (albeit thin) of snow - maybe it is a veil of snow then?

Regardless, the snow veiled blankie has us singing the blues here in Big Sky considering we are in a week into April already.  The mind tease is that our days our now longer with daylight well into the 8 o'clock hour but no dice on being able to get out and enjoy the extra daylight quite yet.

It is great if you play in the snow but our local mountain has shut down and my mindset is in spring mode after the roadie to Southern Utah.  It just means yet another week or two being added on to the sum total of weeks left until our trails are ready to ride (the good stash looks like it is probably at least a month out - most likely longer) -assuming we don't get much more of the white stuff.

everyone do their sunshine dance...

Gooseberry Gander Vid

Here is my latest video edit from the recent road trip down to Gooseberry:

Desert MTB: Gooseberry Mesa - Gander Trail from Tiago on Vimeo.

TopoFusion

I have been using topofusion for the last year or so to 'map my rides' (not to be confused with pimping my ride) and have really enjoyed downloading ride info and then creating a topo via the software to see the terrain and surrounding areas.

My formula usually involves downloading the Garmin Forerunner 305 info into the SportTracks software and then exporting the ride info into TopoFusion to generate a ride topo.  A couple of recent ride topos from Zion look like:
The Gander ride on Gooseberry Mesa:

 The road ride around Squall Hollow Rez by Hurricane, UT

You can also generate elevation profiles based on the GPS coordinates uploaded into TopoFusion that look a little something like:

Additional data points are provided like total elevation gain/loss, etc  The actual elevation gain info seems to usually be over-stated but I am not sure if that is a smoothing factor that I need to select within the SW.  None the less, the profile is usually on the money in the sense that you can see how a trail climbs/descends.

What is super cool about the TopoFusion SW is that you can click on a 3D image (like the first two images above) and you can manipulate the view like you were in Google Earth - such that you can move any direction on the compass and also up/down.  It allows you to zoom in/out as you want too.  The free version of the SW usually means there will be a couple of squares on the grid that say 'Demo' but you can usually find a view that does not show those squares as much.  You can see those Demo squares in both topos above (for the first topo above, the logo is in the upper right corner and left hand side of the topo).

The two dimensional view is just like a satellite view from above the earth - the 3D flavor is definitely more fun to play around in though.

As you can tell from the ongoing vacation references, I am still basking in the sun...my mind still dreaming of the 70's desert sun!

Gooseberry Bliss

This past Tuesday marked the last day of vacation and riding in the desert spring weather before heading back to the land of Big Sky.  Having ridden the Gander trail the day before, it was time to head over to Goose...after all, what is good for the gander, is good for the goose - little bass-ackwards but close enough!

The Gooseberry trails are as easy or as difficult as you want to make them.  Since this was the 4th straight day on for riding, I was keeping an open mind regarding just how long I was going to ride depending on the energy level of the legs.  Fortunately for me, my legs bounced back well after a nice long night of sleeping and camping (not to mention the therapy for the mind).

I ended up riding 80-90% of the Gooseberry trail system and was in awe once again of the super fun riding and the phenominal views.  You definitely had to be on your game while riding as there was a lot of slickrock with quick steep climbs with sharp turns, etc...just what you expect from riding on rock...it be FUN!

The trails were super well marked with little splats of white on the rock to mark the trails.  Look at the corkscrew action below - follow the white dots as they exit down below.  It was super fun - it reminded me a little bit of being in a climbing mentality where you had to think 2-3 moves ahead so you did not climb yourself into a place without an exit!

I started on the Windmill trail and hooked into the north rim trail and rode it to 'the point'.  The point is a part of the mesa that sticks out and gives you 360 views of incredible country:

at the point:

exiting the point below:

topo of Gooseberry and my ride where you can see 'the point'.  The north rim trail goes along the left side and the south rim along the right side of this topo (my ride is the red/yellow line):

On leaving the point, I hooked into the South Rim trail.  I thought the trail marker was funny and could not resist taking a picture.  The South Rim was definitely the most technical portion but it was all still very rideable (even on a fully rigid singlespeed).  I did run into a guy on the trail who stopped me and asked me to take a look at his chin.  His face had a meeting with either his bike or the ground and subsequently cut his chin (which is what he wanted me to look at and let him know how bad it was - as it turns out, not all that bad) and he actually knocked out a couple of teeth!  

There were a couple of places where you had to pay attention as the trail meandered along the rim and getting too close to the rim and making a mistake could have some serious consequences:

Once I finished the South Rim trail, it was time to link up a couple of trails back to the starting point.  All in all it was a great way to wrap up the road trip with incredible riding and scenery.  Unfortunately these rides will have to serve as reference and memory jogs until our local weather warms up enough to get some riding in locally....

Gooseberry Mesa - Gander Trail

The grand master plan for taking days off for the True Grit was to head over to Hurricane and do some trail exploration around Hurricane.  Multiple folks told me about the 'must do' trails in the area and when researching the area a couple of months ago, everything I read and heard was along the same lines.

More than anything else, it was a good excuse to get out of the Montana cold and bask in the desert sunshine (well, after the two day deluge in St George).

I hit up Over The Edge bike shop in Hurricane to get some beta on trail conditions (given the recent downpours) and have them point me in the right direction.  They quickly pointed out the trails that were out of the question due to wet conditions.  They were also nice enough to draw in a trail that was not on the map but was a recent addition to the trail system up on the Mesa.

With the time tick tocking away, it was time to hit the Mesa, find a camp-site, do a little bike maintenance, and ride the fatty!

Camp site overlooking Zion:

Bike Maint - the brakepads needed replacing after 1 day of use on the True Grit course:

Rear tire tape for the tubeless was a goner too - did not seal - had to put in a tube!  ohh the horror!  Part of my upcoming to-do's is to re-tape the wheels so they can run as tubeless again.

The ride was pretty amazing.  The views were spectacular at just about every turn.  The trail snaked along the east side of the mesa rim so that anytime you turned toward the rim you were treated with amazing views of Zion.  There were times when you had to pay some attention or else there could be some serious consequences. (although not nearly as potentially sketch as the following day's ride on the South Rim trail of Gooseberry - ride report to follow).

After replacing my brake pads, I had some brake rub that I thought would go away after riding a little bit.  On the contrary, the brake rub got worse due to heating up.  I did not realize just how bad it was until I got back to the camp site and spun my wheels and they would not even turn a 1/2 turn before promptly stopping.  Apparently my ride was more difficult than it needed to be with the extra resistance training included...DOH!  Fortunately it was a quick an easy fix in prep for the following day

The ride (pix from the trail):

The trail followed the rim in the above pic for about 9 miles one way - I did the trail as an out and back.

great views of Zion everywhere on the trail

even some slickrock action:

and wrapping up the day, settling in watching the sunset with a campfire