Manawa - Taco Ride

I got fixed

After riding the Soho for about 6 months I finally flipped my hub and made it a fixed gear bike. I rode to High Gear last night and Grace today. Amazingly I only forgot twice that I couldn't coast. Not sure what I think about the whole fixed gear craze. It wasn't as hard as I thought, but I am not sure what the big thrill is. I'll probably keep it like this for awhile and see if the craze grows on me.
On another note, I think this was the coldest day I have ridden to work. It was 43 when I left home. I am guessing in about a month we will be praying for it to be that warm.
I don't know how or when but the Goatheads need one more group ride this season. Actually we just need one group ride period.

More 7 Oaks pictures

7 Oaks

After not traveling East for a couple years, Lumpy and I rode 7 Oaks this weekend. Iowa received lots of rain this summer (maybe you heard about it), so a couple sections of the trail washed away. I am not sure if their repairs are IMBA certified, BUT they are fun. Now, having never been to Sugar Bottom I can't argue with MOD. However, I have to believe 7 oaks can give it a run for the title of "best trail in Iowa".
Oh and check out Lumpy's double decker fire.

Sorry, no little people...

...But I took a couple new guys out to Tranquility on Sunday.

(One's new to the area, the other's new to biking)

Good times were had.

Code for Free Song!

I rode Saturday Friday and realized how out of shape I've become. The biking scene has been less than climactic for me for a number of reasons this season. So to celebrate, I'm giving something away!


Pizza Hut convinced me to feed 4 kids for $1 for some "from Hunger to Hope" thing, and as a reward I got a code for a free Mariah Carey song. I'm so excited!!!!! I have enough room on my Zune, but since I'm an official T.H.O.R. member I'm obligated to give back to the community.

Here is the code for the song "Love Story" - first come, first serve!

rzd7dR677Y

Claim at this web site: http://www.fromhungertohope.com/

Just post back saying thanks and three sentences about how Mariah Carey changed your life.

Cinnamon-Bacon Roll

It's been 2 weeks since I've been on a trail, so the only contributions I can make to this blog are bacon related posts........ I present, The Cinnamon-Bacon Roll.



Link

Next up . . . Whistler

So, my wife finally let me buy her a mtn. bike. While I don't think she wants to enter the Psycowpath series anytime soon, she did have at Manawa yesterday.

Crappy phone pics from the Stop to Stop ride

Speed Vest

Brady Clark and Mykle Hansen created a vest that lets bicycle riders show off how fast they’re pedaling:

How does the vest work?
In a nutshell, it uses a sensor on your wheel to send a signal to a microcontroller that then turns the numbers on and off on the vest.

Why did you invent this?
Have you ever outpaced cars and been honked at? Had a car almost wipe you out while making a turn? The Speed Vest was invented because we were curious to know if putting more information in front of drivers might change their awareness of bicyclists. That, and we suspect a lot of people don’t realize that an average person can bike 10-15 mph (15-25 km/h).

Here's a link with a video

Stop To Stop Update

It's still on for this Friday night, with a small change from what I posted earlier. Instead of meeting at the UNO clocktower, we're meeting at the intersection of Keystone Trail and Pacific. We'll probably be in the Khol's parking lot. The plan is to depart for Wing Stop at 6:30.
Save yourself from a life of regret.....be there.

A question we all must ask ourselves....

I could survive for 1 minute, 25 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds Pedia

Stop to Stop Ride

PLUS

= Stop to Stop Ride

Friday, September 19th could end up being the day that changes your life forever. It'll be the day you first realize that donuts and wings can be eaten in tandem as long as you included a bike ride in between.
Come join some Goatheads for the Stop to Stop ride. Wing stop is located at 120th and Blondo. Donut Stop is located at 13th and Pierce. If you'd like to join us, you can hook up at any point depending on where you live. The tentative plan is to meet at the UNO clock tower Friday night at 6:30. We'll head west and get to Wing Stop around 7. We'll ingest a small mountain of tiny fried bird wings before we head to Donut Stop. I'm thinking it'll probably be around 9 before we start cramming eclairs in our pie holes.
If that doesn't sound like a good time to you, then we won't get along......ever.

Press Release:

I would like to take this opportunity to announce to all of my loyal fans and to the media that as of September 9th I am officially out of retirement. I will return to professional mountain biking for the 2009 season. This is in part due to my strong showing at the Dakota 5-0 and also due to my love of fame and fortune. At the moment, I'm tentatively planning on doing 5 Psycowpath races next season and I'm open to the possibility of competing in the State Championship Race. I have already taken steps to re-enroll in the U.S. Anti-Doping agency. I plan to post results for all blood work here at MTBGoatheads.com in an attempt at complete transparency. I sincerely hope to regain the trust of the American people.

Thank you for your continued support!
-Lumpy

5-0 pics

Lumpy's race recap:

Mile 8: My back tightened up so bad that I thought I had fire ants in my jersey.

Mile 15: I clipped a log on my downstroke and crashed hard.

Mile 21: While passing someone on the grass, a fire ant flew into my jersey and bit me three times

Mile 24: I blasted through a fresh cow pie splattering "pie" all over my legs and into the mouth of the guy behind me.

Mile 30: I got leg cramps in places I didn't think you could get cramps.

Mile 39: As I pushed my bike up the "Widow Maker", I was trying to think if I had enough tools in my backpack to disassemble my bike and bury it in the woods, and then hike out, forgetting that this ever happened.

Mile 48: I crossed the finish line 3 hours behind the winners and proceeded to puke my guts out........ twice.

48 hours later: I'm ready to do it again!

Good times, Goatheads! Good Times!

"It went in my mouth!!!!!!

The best way to describe what went down last Sunday was a multi-round fight. The Goatheads decided to challenge the Dakota 5 0 to a duel. The first body blow to handle was bike problems. Tires, center pivots, brakes, shifting, and frames all had issues in the weeks, days, and even hours leading up to the start. However, shops in Omaha and Council Bluffs were up to the challenge and helped the bikes get ready. Lumpy and J.A. even enjoyed the service of a local Spearfish shop. A personal thanks from me goes out to Andy and Bryson from Highgear. Andy, my bike performed great and you’re the reason. Bryson was working on J.A.’s bike at about 9:00 pm Saturday night.

The course, in Goathead terms was like connecting/riding Dakota Ridge, Apex, and Larry the Bear all at once. To non-Goatheads it was like “Dr. Seuss’s worst nightmare.” We at least got to ride about ¾ of a mile on flat ground before the first hill. Climbing all the way up to the single track REALLY spread out the field and took a nice chunk of our energy. Once on the single track, the key was pace. Which wasn’t hard because we were going up. The first part of the trail was not super technical, but it went up and up and up. I happened to crash twice in the first 15 minutes of the single track. Meeting up with J.A. at the first aide station was a huge blessing. Between miles 16-21 I had a near meltdown mentally. I was secretly wanting a mechanical issue to call it a day. Keeping my mind occupied through conversation J.A. and I made it to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, Aid station number 2!!!!.

The Second part of the course contained one of the longest downhills I have ever ridden, at least 8 minutes of just going down. Of course the second half of the course also contained: some very technical riding, a downhill that me and some other competitors walked, the climb known as “the widowmaker”, and a climb up a fire rode that went on forever.

After riding back on the single track we started on, we descended back into Spearfish on the gravel and paved roads that took us out of town. You can imagined how relieved we were to see the end of the single track.

Goathead times were(roughly)- 6:24, 6:34, 7:20, 8:30

Lumpy gets the “good Samaritan” award for helping a cyclist dealing with cramps. He also gets the “cow pie award” for causing a person behind him to swallow some after Casey rode through it. J-mac will be selling videos next year called “Less is More”, he rode his bike less than 20 times this season before tackling the 5 0. I trust my fellow Goatheads will help fill in the parts I missed.

We're off......

Unfortunately, only 4 Goatheads will be heading up to Spearfish..




Check back next week for race reports.

Santa's got a brand new sleigh.....

I finally got my bike back after my frame break. I put in a ton of miles on pavement while I waited, but there's nothing like dirt. It was a long wait, but well worth it. Big thanks to Andy at High Gear for taking care of me.

Here's a picture of my new rig. The frame's completely different, but they tell me it's an upgrade. I guess I'll take their word for it. Supposedly it's some super secret experimental frame and eventually everyone will be on one..... Thanks guys!!!!

Since commuting is all the rage these days...

...I decided to give it a shot. I figured, "It's Saturday, traffic won't be bad, it won't matter if I'm late, it won't matter if I have a catastrophic failure and don't make it at all. If I do make it, it's just extra OT." It's probably not a big deal for those of you who commute by bicycle every day, but I've always figured I lived too far away from work to ride (omahorn, or elkaha, or whatever to downtown)


So, I got up, ate breakfast, packed my gear, applied a liberal helping of MonkeyButt, and left the house in the dark this morning. I headed east on Maple to 90th, south to Dodge, and east to downtown. Nice sunrise, but I didn't get any pictures until I got downtown because my phone camera doesn't take very good low-light pictures.

1 block from the office

Fantom Cyclist

I got a garment bag too (clothes rolled up in a Target bag and shoved in bottle cage)

Total mileage: 14.72 miles in 1 hour

Total footage: 77,721.60' in 60 minutes

Total inchage: 932,659.20" in 3600 seconds

Total # of wheel rotations: 10,237.08

Total # of crank rotations (if I were pedaling the entire time): 5,758.38

Don't even get me started on how much more work it would've been on a 26"er.........just messing with you guys!

Theft Deterrence

There's something wrong with two of these pictures...... There's absolutely nothing wrong with the third. Guess which is which.

Passenger Side Rage

The Professor's post reminded me that I was going to post something about commuting....... Commuting is the only kind of riding I've been doing lately. I was going to post something about the increased number of bike commuters I've seen on the road this summer. Then I was going to say something about the increase in courtesy I've seen from drivers. When I first started commuting about a year and a half ago, I could usually count on a horn, a finger, a "SIDEWALK A-HOLE!" or a combination of the three on every other ride. However, I'm pretty sure I've gone about 2-3 months without any angry gestures directed at me (excluding my wife). That is, until yesterday's commute. Just when my faith in the good people of Omaha was being restored, a white contractor's van full of anger buzzed my head around 72nd and Blondo.
I was reading a post on another bike blog a while back that made the observation that if you're going to get yelled at, it's always from somebody in a truck. I've found that to be about 75% true, but what's been 100% true for me is that if I'm going to be yelled at, there's always two people in the car/truck/van. I guess the extra body in the vehicle makes people feel a little more bold. Plus, I get the impression that they're trying to show of for their buddy. I don't know if that was the case for this guy in the white contractors van or if he just had really low self-esteem and rage issues. Whatever it was, he let it all out at once as he passed. I couldn't tell exactly what he was saying as he hung out the passenger side window (I had my headphones in), but it appeared that he said something to the effect of:
"I'M SHAKING MY FIST AT YOU IN ORDER TO VISUALLY SHOW HOW UPSET I AM ABOUT THE SLIGHT INCONVENIENCE YOUR PRESENCE ON THE ROAD HAS CAUSED ME AND MY FRIEND!!!!!!"
I responded with my usual friendly wave, but in this case instead of diffusing the situation, it made him even more belligerent. Going up the next hill, the van slowed down so that he could hang half way out the window and give me the bird while shouting:
"MY WIFE AND KIDS HATE ME BECAUSE OF MY EXPLOSIVE ANGER...BUT IT'S HARD TO LOVE MYSELF WHEN MY FATHER NEVER LOVED ME!!!!" (my headphones were still in)
Again, I just waved. I assumed he would drive off and I would never see him again, other than perhaps his mugshot on the news. However, as we got to the bottom of the hill, he pulled into the left turn lane as I went through the intersection. As I passed, I gave a "What was that?" gesture to him. Again this might have been a mistake. I'm pretty sure he thought I was taunting him. This prompted him to get out of the van and stand in the street and continue screaming as I road up the next hill. I'm pretty sure he said something about his wife having hamburger helper in the oven if I wanted to stop over for a bite. I was in a hurry to get home so I kept rolling.
I notice the same cars passing me on a daily basis. There's a very good chance I'll run into Mr. Sunshine again. In the meantime, I hope he gets a chance to read this blog entry from Lincoln's police chief. In fact it would be awesome the entire city of Omaha could read it......... Probably not though, I guess I'll just keep hugging the curb and making new friends.

PROBLEM SOLVED

Last spring I wrote about planning to commute on my new Soho S. Well, during the late spring and summer it was easy to commute to work because I could just fold up my jeans and polo shirt and put them in my backpack. Jeans don't wrinkle that easy. However, what about when school starts and I want to wear a button down shirt, slacks, and a tie. This handy pannier/garment bag does the trick.

Life's too busy

My students come back to campus this weekend. That means summer is nearing an end and that we are in the last stages of the mountain bike season. Trying to rate how the season has gone is proving difficult. Going by miles, I have been able to ride more at this point in the season than all of last year. However, a lot of those miles have been as a solo Goathead. I bough my first (and ONLY) single speed bike this year and love it. But the very wet June we had meant that I rode 90% of my miles on that and hardly any on my Fuel. Rode Landhal for the first time and it is a great course. Unfortunately not all our bikes made it out in one piece and not all the Goatheads could go. In fact I don't think we have had a single ride where all Goatheads were present and that sucks.
So with this seasons rating in flux I am focusing all my attention on the 5 0. If all four Goatheads particpants come through with their bike still together and their body in one piece I believe the season will be considered a success.

Other season highs
-J.A.'s new bike (from HighGear)
-Lumpy's new commuter (I forgot where he bought that)
-J-macs new carbon fiber rear triangle
-night ride at Indian Cave

Other season lows
-JC4300 having fork issues
-few A.B. sightings
-Lumpy's frame snapping
-the cancellation of the 3 2 1 cycling challenge
-manawa being closed almost all summer

Colorado downhilling

I am already itching to ride again.
I have a free place to stay if we want to take a two day trip
to Keystone to ride. Of course it will have to be a few weeks.
Right click to chose HIGH QUALITY video. Or go to Youtube for full
screen HIgh Quality.

Protect your junk

I'll see your "Monkey Butt", and I'll raise you "impaired testicular function"..
(don't worry, there aren't any pictures)

According to Dr. Mercola, "96 percent of male mountain bikers have scrotal abnormalities"......

Who's up for a ride this weekend?

Monkey Butt

And all this time I thought it was a birth defect I was stuck with!


So I mixed it in with some chocolate milk in my camelback and headed off for a 35 mile ride. I found out that is an inproper application method. Doesn't taste good either. Next time I'll dump a pile of it on my saddle and then sit on it. Hmm, I could use some "Country Crock" to hold it on there.
I'll let you know how that turns out...

Innovation

What direction will the Mountain Bike Industry go next? Are we ready for Suction-cup tires? Remember the first rule of industry, if you're not innovating, you're imitating.