Brass nipples, spitters, and flow

I was able to get out to Tranquility last night and ride a couple laps. It was one of those rides where all the insignificant details disappear. Parts, new and old, clothing, accessories, tire pressures (well, for a little while), they all molded together to what I can only describe with my finite mind as flow. I'm sure everyone has their own opinion as to what the flow is, but I think we can all agree that the flow is good.

That's not to say I didn't have my share of sidetracks. On the first lap I landed a bunny hop on an off-camber portion of the trail, blowing the tire bead off the rim and causing the wheel to become untrue. I flipped my bike over, deflated the tire, adjusted spoke tension, reseated the bead, and re-inflated and was back on the trial in about 13 minutes. Finished out the lap and the smile never left my face.

During that lap, however, I did come across a bunch of trash on the long uphill (counterclockwise) portion of the trail.

Apparently a pack of wild hyenas stole someone's precious tobacco spitter collection and scattered them all over the trail. I grabbed a trash bag out of my vehicle and started lap two. I encountered a nice fellow on a blue RIP9 (lucky!) who rode with me until we got to the clean-up site and then carried the trash bag out to the parking lot since he was leaving. Thanks buddy! Finished out the second lap, same big smile on my face. Ended up riding two of my fastest laps there ever, subtracting the duration of the stops on each lap. I hope you all took advantage of the beautiful night, too.

Log Smack Down

If you would like to see the correct way to execute a log-roll-over, go here.

Now, if you would like to see everything that could possibly go wrong, press play.





via

Hoverbike

Unfortunately,I never made it to Manawa this weekend. The times just didn't work out. I did get to Jewell on Saturday evening with the Professor. The trail was loose and a bit slick in spots. It made the steep sections that much more difficult. The lactic-acids really made their presence known. On Saturday Afternoon, I rode a couple laps at Tranquility. The trails were pretty crowded with riders going in both directions. I think a trail sign that designates clockwise and counter clockwise directions on an every other day basis would be a good thing. There's more than a few blind corners with disastrous potential.
I think a few Goatheads will be at Swanson tonight around 7. Maybe we'll see ya out there.

Jim Flowers - 0 Goatheads - 1

Jim Flowers, I admit you are a worthy adversary, but victory belongs to me........You may have prevented me from riding all week, but the weekend belongs to the Goatheads!!!

4 rode in / 2 walked out

This has been the worst start to a mtn bike season for me. First it was the weather and lately it has been my bike. I was going to celebrate the risen Savior by enjoying His creation (in other words I was going to squeeze in a ride at swanson with Lumpy). We got there and met up with the official Goathead mechanic (Skinny D) and his buddy from the Trek store. The weather wasn't too bad and the trail was pretty good. A mile into the ride somebody got a flat, a half mile later I caught a little air (very little) came down and could tell something didn't sound right. I looked and couldn't see anything. I thought my wheel was bent, it wasn't. I rode some more and the sound persisted. After looking more closely at my bike I realized my chainstay broke!!!! I thought that only happened on Haros at Tranquility. Oh well. Hey, anybody have a Magma I can borrow????

Great ride last night!

Met JC4300 at Tranquility last night. It felt really good to be out on such a nice night. I don't think we could've asked for any better conditions. The trail was perfect with the exception of a couple greasy spots, one of which is pretty much unavoidable (Dale, what's the best way to handle that spot: to just blast through it, or to slow down and creep through?). After JC left, Lumpy showed up with his brand new drivetrain, courtesy of the folks over at the Trek Store. We rode a lap, and he showed me no mercy. It's all good though, I'm trying to lose about 20 pounds this season. I'm starting to grow into the new gearing , I rode my first nonstop, no walking, lap last night with it. It may be more difficult, but I like getting the climbs done faster.
Still riding on a bent seatpost. It forces me to stand more to avoid reaching a new level of intimacy with my bike. The Bike Way is hooking up the warranty replacement from Redline for the original post, and then when that one comes in, I will send in the Sette post for warranty. I need to start riding with a little more finnesse.

Not bad

So, it is April 2nd and that represents the amount of days I have spent on a mtn. bike trail (2). Great weather yesterday, would loved to have been at Swanson, Lewis & Clark, or Tranquility. Oh well . . . had a great road ride with JC and Lumpy. Since I have not been able to ride on the trails I am stuck looking at pictures of other people enjoying mtn. bike trails.

Dang!!!

Met Lumpy yesterday for some laps at Tranquility. I got there early, so I decided to do a half lap warm-up. In that short period of time, I managed to convert my straight seatpost into a layback seatpost. Why me?!?! I was bunny hopping and my left foot came unclipped. I managed to ride it out, but when I came down on the seat, it very smoothly moved back on me. At first, I thought that it just slipped and rotated back a little bit, but then I remembered that this particular post has a bolt in the front and one in the back for angle adjustment. If it had rotated, one of those would've been broken. Then I thought I bent the rails on my seat. When I arrived at the trailhead, I got off the bike and saw this: Are you serious? This is the second seatpost I've broken on this bike since I got it in May. Who are they trying to kid? A 26.8 diameter post on a 28 lb steel bike? Did they really think this was a good place to save weight?

Well, now I'm in the market for a clyde-worthy seatpost. If anyone has any good leads on a Thompsen, let me know.

Next order of business

I just bought new shoes. Nothing fancy, just Specialized BG Sport. The thing I was thinking about is whether or not it would be helpful to give my old ones away or loan them out to people who are thinking about getting clipless pedals. I know it is a big commitment to buy your first pair of pedals and shoes, so I thought maybe having a tester pair available would be nice. They are size 43 (size 10.5, I think) Adidas Pingora's, pretty dirty, the soles are cracked, sounds really enticing, right? I have pictures if someone wants to look at them. Anyways, they're there if anyone needs them.

Jerseys riding high on 72nd St.

Who was the crew riding on 72nd street a little before 6pm? There were about 8 of you guys, all jersey'd up. I followed you until about Blair High Road, when I headed East. I'm assuming you guys were heading up West?

Dangerboy Levers

Wow!

A.B.'s new bike

Hey BrownOne, Is this the new gear set-up on your bike?



If you would like to read the story of this bike, and see lots of other crazy pictures of old bikes, check this out

BitterSweet

Since the first week in January I have been training with J.A. for the Lincoln Marathon. Two weeks ago, I got pain in my knee that made it nearly impossible to run. Long story short, marathon training is over. That really stinks. I have never run a marathon and was looking forward to it. J.A. and I ran in some horrible conditions: freezing temps, blowing snow, rain, etc. Was all that for naught? On Wednesday I tried running and couldn't make it 1.5 miles. Does this mean no adventure race? That would be more disappointing than missing the marathon.
On the bright side, all those running miles will help with mtn. biking endurance (I hope). Also, it freed up a lot more time for riding. Yesterday was my first trail ride of the year (wow it is already March 23rd).

Art-Bike

What happens when the world of Art collides with a bike builder?



It's a hybrid - it can either be peddled or run on a small gas or electric motor.
Read more here.

On a totally different note, I have a small growth under the skin on my tricep that's been there for years. I think it's harmless, but whenever I show it to people, they say "eeewww! you should get that removed". After reading about this guy, I think I might.

TNR

J.A. and I finally made it out to a TNR. Tranquility was perfect. No mud at all.

J.A. and I rode the first lap with Dale. We started the second lap just before everyone else started, so I'm pretty sure everyone got a chance to pass me at least once. J.A. rode the climbs of the second lap in one gear to simulate a single speed. I think he could do really well with one gear. He had no problem dropping me. After he left, I stuck around and did one more lap for good measure. By the third lap, I was actually able to ride everything (slowly) taking breaks on the climbs. I switched from a 32:20 gear combo to 32:18 this week. Man, that hurts. Hopefully I can stick it out and be in better shape this year.

New Santa Cruz Superlight

I don't usually lust after full squish geared bikes, but this thing is looking hot!

Spotted on the Bike Way's blog

price $1600

Un-Tranquil Tranquility I

I think the Bike Masters group increased the incline on the Tranquility climb this year. It couldn't possibly be that I'm out of shape.


The Bike Masters guys were out working the trail today - thanks for all your hard work guys! We owe you some labor time on some upcoming trail days if you want it.

Got some vice-grips?

Well, the Urban II ride pushed me over the edge to buy this:


Hopefully I can figure out how to make minor adjustments and keep riding, so that I only have to take my bike in for more major stuff.

The post title is for Skinny D.

Urban II

Alright, so I added the lens flare to the last one. I usually think that's cheesy, but I liked it on this one.

Trails Rideable Today?

Are the local trails rideable today? Tranquility? I'm thinking about calling Bike Masters later in the day to see what their take is.

Let's make this official

I think we can safely say that the '07 Biking season has finally arrived. If the weather cooperates, I think we should be on the trails in another week or two. Until then, the pavement belongs to the Goatheads. I say we do an official '07 kick off ride and post ride BBQ this Saturday. I haven't asked the women that holds the keys to my heart and my house, but I think we can do it a mi casa. I know that the Goathead marathon team is in the midst of their prime training days, but they should have thought about that before they decided to run a marathon during riding season.

I'm thinking late afternon departure time. Let me know if that works.

Expedition pulls semi out of snow

Alright, this has nothing to do with bikes, but it does have to do with things on wheels. Some of my co-workers caught footage of a Ford Expedition pulling a stuck semi out of the snow on an on-ramp across from our office building.

<a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4882475992116162880"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5039383783782330306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXNoEpbi1yQHANH2cT5IANSH_oxSMKVbRU7t_x0bMARWiweIWwrUbhNfy0Redvv4mz02NlTuo8sFDSLXPGshxJorE7fvJ5_ILte9fNcb-X882czmJuKnQtaMEbKZWoa3tdf_-V/s400/expedition.jpg" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a>

Giddy-up

This reminds me of an incident I had while riding at Swanson once.....actually it was nothing like this, but there was a horse involved.

Getting ready for 07

36er

This is a 36er standing next to a 29er. Pretty cool engineering going on here.

The wheels and tires are already in existence.

Wish I were riding instead of looking at bikes online

Since a majority of the Goatheads ride one of these overtechnologized puny-wheeled contraptions (just kidding guys, don't beat me up), here's a way to make yours stand out. (photo jacked from the FFL Blog)

And this is just a sweet picture of our mascot.

Pump Track

If we are ever going to experience The Professor's airborn greatness to its fullest extent, we are going to have to step it up a notch. I think building this would be a good start. Each member can plead his case to me as to why we should build this in his back yard. Once I select the lucky winner, I will supervise as he (along with neighborhood children) builds it to my specifications. Upon completion, said winner will fill the gaps between the doubles with cottonballs, quantity to be determined by me, and I will make the first several runs to ensure the safety of my precious fellow Goathead members. Isn't this all so generous of me? I wonder if we can make a test version out of snow...

Soft Landing

Typically, when I see insane ski videos of guys launching themselves off cliffs, they are usually attempting to land it and ride it out. I don't think these guys have any intention of landing anything.......I know snow is soft, but stopping this abruptly has to hurt just a little bit.

Fat freeride
Uploaded by mowgli26100

Caption time

"I wonder how an all rigid bike will take the landing?"

Don't try this at home

Competition makes us stronger!

I've been reading about a winter riding competition on some of the other Omaha area MTB blogs. Participants receive points by logging their rides and submitting them to their leader to be tallied. They get more points based on how cold it is and how long you ride. Plus bonus points for riding with friends. I love this idea, It just needs to be tweaked a little bit for us to have a Goathead version of the competition. This should tide us over till spring.

Here's the point system I've come up with so far:

Thinking about going for ride = 20 points
(10 Bonus points for talking about a potential ride with a friend)
Watching a mountain bike video = 20 points
(40 bonus points for inviting friends over to watch a video)
Reading a mountain bike magazine = 20 points
(-10 points for reading a MTB mag with a friend, that's kinda gay)
Buying gear to be used when it warms up = 20 points
Posting on a MTB blog = 50 points
Deciding to stay on the couch and play Madden instead of riding = 100 points
(40 bonus points for playing Madden with friends, another 20 if you feed them)
Actually going for a ride = 0 points
(the ride itself should be enough reward)

I'm open for suggestions if you think I need to include points for any other activities.
Start tallying your points and email them to me. The winner will be announced in March. First place gets a pair of sunglasses from Bucky's Amoco. Second place gets a Papoosa (sp?) from Costa El Sol.
Good Luck!

Hang up and ride...

Cell Phone Ban

Having solved the welfare crisis, gang violence and global warming, The New Jersey legislature plans to crack down on bicyclists talking on cell phones.

Would you like your giblets toasted or fried?

Here's a novel idea for staying warm on your bike....It looks too high-tech for me, I'll just continue to stuff a Hot Pocket, fresh from the microwave , down my pants.


 

When Bicycle Helmets Make No Sense

This was forwarded to me by a work colleague. Forget the other places you guys have posted, what about a trip here??

Midget on a bike

Check out this midget on a bike.....He's not actually a midget, he's simply a miniature human being??????........Would it be more impressive if he was a midget?

Loose Nipple!!!

There were 2 of these rattling around inside my front rim. I found them while changing tires. Apparently it is not uncommon among machine-built wheels.

All put together

Yes, I am a geek.

PARTS!!!

Look what brown brought!


















29er knobbage













Big sweep salsa bar













17 degrees to be exact














...And that should do it for a while.

A little late, but . . .

Here are my thoughts about the 2006 mtn bike season.

LOWS
-missing out on riding the opening race at Tranquility with my fellow Goatheads
-no JC in Colorado
-no A.B. at 7 0aks
-only three rides at Platte
-Lumpy's near catastrophe at Jewell
-a course marshal sending Lumpy on another loop at the CSG adventure race
-my flat at the CSG adventure race
-racing through the mud at Swanson

HIGHS
-our biggest attended road trips ever / 5 to CO & 7 to 7 Oaks
-the addition of Jewell to the mtn bike circuit in Omaha
-the addition of Donnie to the world of Mtn. biking
-Team Lunch Buttet's performance at CSG adventure race
-Team Goathead overcoming mishaps to finish in the top third at CSG adventure race
-entering the world of dual suspension bikes (I love my Trek Fuel 80)
-riding "real" hills out in Denver
-connecting Lumpy's dwelling to my casa with a bike ride (oh yeah with stops at L & C and Manawa)
-being able to share the thrills of mtn. biking with the best set of men in the world

If we could get some snow...

Maybe this would be fun.
Go to "flix & pix" to see a video.

Maybe we should head east

I know we have talked of heading to CO or Moab next summer/fall, but what about visiting this trail in North Carolina?

The perfect December weekend

Well, we had 2 days of weather designed specifically for riding, I'm pretty sure, and the Goatheads spent both of them at Manawa. We were comfortable wearing shorts, the logs were super sticky, and honey-do's were completed throughout the week. Now if we could just get some sort of image capturing device that allowed us to show everyone what we're talking about! This is the only picture I have to show for the whole weekend, and it was taken at warpspeed on my journey home at sunset last night.
(Oh, and two goatheads conquered the TTF last night. Discuss.)

Goatheads meet pop art

A + B = C

A = Cold Weather
B = High School Basketball season
C = Lack of riding time

But I do have time to wonder what Team Goathead would look like if Andy Warhol took us on...........




You too can Warholize your friends and family by going here