Pedalasoreass (w)Rex

3 Sisters w/3 Brothers

2012-02-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Trails conditions improved over the week. 70% ride, 30% hike Monday afternoon at Green Mountain. Condition were almost the same for Thursday night T.I.T.S. ride, but the company & refreshments always made iffy conditions fun. We figured (hoped) the snow-shoers would be in force this week at 3 Sisters, so hit it up early.

This was not a good sign

Sean back at it

Kevin had very few issues with traction

Bobby's ghost-bike

Brothers Lookout

Bobby rocks the rocks

Kevin's 1 issue with traction

Sean all smiles

As for the single-digit weather....still no need for gloves since stitching together my pogies. Once we got moving & in the sun, it felt like it was at least 15°f. Good times!
This scouting ride showed us which trails to avoid, so back to it tomorrow with a better idea of a hike-free route.

February & coldness

2012-02-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

The blizzard of 2012: It came, it snowed, I shoveled.

15.875"

Roof art

Zeke diving in

Beautiful Sunday morning, so PBRMe! & I took a gamble . I thought Red Rocks would be the safest bet for some packed down snow, plus it's just out the back door.

We pedaled very little

Snow's still too soft, so this was the norm.

We decided to take in the view....

...and did get something worthwhile accomplished before noon!

Snowshoe-ers & XC skiiers, get out there & pack down my trails!!

Oh yeah, did you remember to celebrate 2-1-12?

明けましておめでとう

2012-01-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday's service was a repeat of last week's sermon....but conditions were a touch better in most places.
Followed up with party for a 1-yr old, then noodles for dinner to celebrate the New Year.

Took a backyard jaunt this afternoon to check on conditions....Stonehouse always makes me think of Jimi.

Mostly good to go

In search of Primanti's

Sun's getting low

Picked up a lil' mud

That's all you need to know.

"You need a fat-bike", they said.

2012-01-15T15:35:00.001-07:00

Mt Evergreen started out a bit rough, but ended all good.

Making snow angels

Condition got better right quick

I can dig it

It's gotta be noon somewhere

Not the best place for an ice-patch

3 Sisters was so good, we had to go back for 1 more.

In the backyard

2012-01-08T14:56:00.001-07:00

Stayed in the backyard today....Red Rocks & Morrison Slide.

Let's rock!

Dirt exists in CO!

Looking south toward Red Rock amphitheater.

That's who was leaving the Nate prints....never saw her though.

About to roll down Morrison Slide, south side.

It warmed up real quick today, rolled out at 10am & had to shed my jacket within 1/2 mile. Getting to the end, looked like there might be some sloppy conditions later in the day.

PBRMe! in action

2012-01-06T14:11:00.001-07:00

A pictorial essay.

Slickery out there.

Artful?

There be snow, but it were warm.

Steel

Sweaty palm syndrome

Pure concentration.

2nd time back down

Look, dirt!

It's getting hot in here..........

2012-01-04T13:25:00.000-07:00

Seeing scar ride bare-handed on Sunday got me motivated to do some sewing & update from my Homeless Guy Pogies V1.0 to a fashionable set of insulated bar mitts. Sliced up an old Goodwill-bound jacket the other day & started experimenting. Since it was getting warm down here, PBRMe! & I headed out to Meyer Ranch for a quickie this morning.

Looks almost acceptable

I put a kid's wheel on the back today.

Sunn Doublewide w/WTB Weirwolf 2.5" on the rear. Same 20t cog I push on my wagon wheel, so should be a touch easier, but factor in the more than 2# of extra weight added in the swap...it evened out on the climbs. I did end up with some really low pressure tho.

Stay on the hard-pack....or else.

I pulled a Superman when I came into a switchback way too hot and my front wheel the deep stuff, instantly stopping & catapulting me over the front.....good times!

Kevin enjoying the sunshine.

We're outta here.

It was in the high-40s, so today wasn't a good test. My bare hands were sweating pretty good, and I need to make some minor adjustments, but I believe I'm finally ready for the cold weather.

2012 = Apocalypse?

2012-01-01T15:43:00.004-07:00

Jan 1, time for the 3rd annual Beerdbelly ride (a PBRMe! production)

More than 3 riders this year..

Our fearless, aging leader

Decisions, decisions

We had 'normal' bikes...

...a converted fat tire...

...scar's toasty hands...

...a fat Salsa & a Waltworks...

...more custom SS...

...a really fat Surly...

...a brand-stinkin' new Entropy...

...a local garage build...

...another fat Salsa...

...some FS action...

...a touch of crabon...

...and most importantly, WHEELIES!!

Buried treasure?! Thanks to the Beer Fairy!

Beerds & Bellies!

Great 1st ride of 2012........ready & willing for more of the same with y'all!

The Bars

2011-12-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

Saw these last night & had to get'em.

'Harness the Gnarness' on the soles.

Wonder if Ray was contacted before putting these up for sale?
If not, could a lawsuit be in the works?

Good stuff, enjoy!

"It's (not) beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

2011-12-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

December 18: I was sweating in shorts & a short-sleeved shirt. Got word that a group was heading to Palmer Park Sunday, so hopped in with them to check out that trail system.

Snow on Pike's Peak, but not a drop down here.

Taking a breather after one of the many never-ending climbs.

I thought he was gonna launch off that rock!

Trying to climb with these 2 put the hurt on me!

Glad I went...rocks, rocks & more rocks, plus lots of sun & the mercury staying in the low-60s.
That's my kind of December!!!

Somewhat Heavy

2011-12-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

"Mean Man's Dream" LP....dig it!

Something else heavy........DirtRag's 22nd PunkBikeEnduro Stage1 winner.

pic by Jon Pratt

Good job Todd!

November in S. Lakewood

2011-11-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Steve's neighbor came walking over with this old beater: unfortunately for Steve, but fortunately for me it is a 62cm frame. Tubes, tires, grip tape & she's rocking.

1982 Ultratour 18, that means it's got a triple!

They loved skinny bars back in the 80's!! That, along with the raaaaaked-out fork made it a bit sketchy on the 1st few rides. At least it's motivation for me to get my frame finished & put together.

Thanksgiving 2011

I gave up trying to pedal up this section long ago.

Be heading up that service road on the left for a taste of rocks.

Posing

I can see the Audi from here.

Ho ho ho Easter Bunny!

Tofruky, doesn't that look appetizing? No need to answer.

My Black Friday: Pedaled to Avanza for dulce de leche, Novo for beans & REI to replace a broken pump with a mo' fancier one. Dealt with horrible wind in the face the entire way back from Platte river - the day started out cloudy, but thanks to the wind, it's back to its normal CO blue.

2011-10-23T19:34:00.000-06:00

Exterior is done......well, 98% or so as there's always something to do.

Desert Sand: looks 1,000x better than the original Baby Diaper Yellow.

Pedaled 3 Sisters Friday & could barely stay upright, went OTB on Morrison Slide yesterday. Was hoping 3rd time would be the charm. Rocked some fun trails from up near Echo Lake down into Idaho Springs today. Felt a bit better, but caught a flat for good measure.

Just lean back & go.

I reckon this'll be All White later this week.

From the cockpit.

Trent in action.

Art

Please Knock Before Entering Office

Snow's coming in 2 days.....time to say 'see ya next spring/summer' to most up-high riding. : (

Octobre

2011-10-11T18:58:00.001-06:00

Some more Pike's Peak pix from Boomer - here

Todd & I got out to pedal all but one day of his stay. Made a bad call on the way to 3 Sisters Thursday afternoon - as we got near Lair'o the Bear we saw Darkness ahead, and lots of it. I figured rain was rolling in for the night, so decided to hit LoB for a quickie to beat it.

Soaked pretty good about 1/2 mile in.

Then, after another 20 minutes, we were all dried off & pedaling towards the O'Fallon side.

The Mechanical Bull

Friday was our day off the bikes. We just rolled down the street to visit our friendly neighborhood distiller.

I'd be thrilled with just one of those.

Friday's breakfast

Some real freakin' good-old-timey punk rock Saturday night. Did I mention they played a really good set?

I sadly missed beanfeSSt VIII............although v8.2 may take place this weekend. Hope to work it into the schedule.

Much more sadly - Kibbe is still MIA. The entire household is missing her so much!

I could really handle a miraculous journey home by her right now.

America's Mountain

2011-10-04T09:05:00.000-06:00

Broken-down Boomer shuttled Jamie, Todd & me to 14,110' on Monday. 'Twas perfect weather.

What kind of fool rides a 29" HT down that trail?

Todd getting to the bottom.

Some colorful sights....when we slowed enough to see'em.

Damn, that was some good chunk!!!

I like bikes....

2011-09-16T06:40:00.000-06:00

The Story of the Bicycle

War in the Streets!

2011-09-15T09:24:00.000-06:00

Some drivers can't even wait for cyclists to get out on 'their' roads before trying to kill 'em.

We need to test drivers in this country, as well as re-test every several years. Reading about too much of this car-on-bike shit going down on a regular basis.

Reunion Summer

2011-09-01T22:19:00.000-06:00

This past year has been great for music...and I'm talking about the good stuff......you know, early-80s HC/punk....& it's a good thing.

C.O.C. came back w/their best line-up: Woody, Mike & Reed.

Scream played in their original status: Pete, Franz, Skeeter & Kent.

More old school sounds coming up October 8 when OFF! plays. (which will cap off a week of hanging out with my brother)

Just heard of more very interesting upcoming shows. Unfortunately, Denver ain't yet on the list.....keeping my fingers crossed.

...another that has played a few shows, none of which were local.

But this was the show that really bummed me out not being able to go.

It's still too hot.....

2011-08-28T20:54:00.000-06:00

Back in CO.

Ice climbing at the end of August.

Jerry summits.

Jeremy on his new ride.

Sean on his new ride.

Kevin blows right by me.

Some fast roadies were in town this week.

There weren't many people at 8a.m..

3rd pass through Golden before they blasted over to Denver.

Good times.
Next year, I hope to get to the ITT & a good pass stage.

Eastbound & Down.......

2011-08-19T21:16:00.001-06:00

5 days at 11' elevation

Start out with a nice base burn.

Chilled

Walking shoes

South Jersey delivered: we fressed at Crab Trap (w/a 2hr wait spent at the bar), Angelioni's (excellent,as always) & Phillip's (caught it on 50% off wine night). Rolled out of NJ to central PA for another 5 days at 400'. 1st stop in the 'burgh was for supplies, then to my sis's house to chill for a few days.

Todd decided to camp out on the porch after a long night of brews.

Experiencing Turkey Hill was extremely overrated.

The 'Chill Room'

Saw some exploited workers in Hershey.

Had a pie that easily put any I've tried in CO to shame, inhaled some of my favorite hometown treats, and hit up the Brew House for Tuesday night snow crab legs before returning to the grind.

Natsukashii

2011-07-13T21:30:00.004-06:00

9 days straight of afternoon/evening lightning & thunderstorms. Yesterday, I realized I hadn't seen monsoon-like deluges like this since Japan. Today's got a bit crazy. Heard about ping-pong sized hail warning for Weld county earlier, so didn't think it'd hit us...was expecting another bout of liquid precipitation, not the frozen variety.

Near the beginning of the storm.

Luckily, we only got mothball sized & not the larger ones expected up north or it woulda been much badderer.

It just kept increasing in size & intensity.

It even raged the compost bin & the cactus is in pain.

Wounded from battle....at least a squash & 2 zucchini
are still hanging tough.

We now have ventilated siding on the north & west sides.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature.

Oh look. Blue skies.

Z'avez fini?

'Twas a rough weekend

2011-07-11T15:43:00.001-06:00

Bad

Less than 1 ride!

Meanwhile, en France.....
Really Bad

Hoogerland after being catapulted into a barbed-wire fence.

Ass

He climbs out of fence. Lucky!?

Truly Badass!!

Hoogerland getting the polka-dot jersey AFTER getting run into above fence,
then continuing to pedal for another 35km.

Some roadies you don't fuck with.

GA Pass? It's doable.

2011-07-10T00:35:00.002-06:00

Spikefest 2011

Good times, despite the pain.

Thanks for a fun downhill run, spike!

Oooooh that smell.

2011-07-07T17:44:00.004-06:00

The veggies have begun. Lotsa salads have gnawed & I'm trying to come up with more ways to eat lettuce. Mally's garlic collection is coming along quite nicely.

That basement smells funky.

Wore out some stuff in the past few weeks, & got it all finalized last night. Got an unbelievable amount of time out of my WI chain ring - almost 18 months! Sure the SS chainline causes much less wear, but I found that there is a limit....especially if you as mass advantaged as me. Also had to replace a trashed rear tire & finally got it slapped on last night. Fresh meat looks so good!!

Stand back! I'm packing 2.4" in the rear.

And fortunately, it all came together just in time for the hippest, most- anticipated cycling event of the season. Car is packed, bikes are ready, rain's pouring down. Let's get gung ho!

Spikefest or bust!

Had a few good pedals up higher lately (4th of July spin & another w/PBR), so hopefully that helps lessen the inevitable pain.

Wheeeeelies!

Fresh Meat

2011-05-25T19:51:00.002-06:00

Made for a noisy ride, with all the boulders being flung into the frame..
Loved it!

Front...

...and rear.

Wish I had sharp brand-new edges on every ride.

Saw a troupe of beggars on top of Evergreen Mt.

...or he may have just been enamored with my camera.

Evergreen dirt is primo!

T.I.T.S. tomorrow? Yeah, I'll grab on.

Warranty frame is ready for a brakeset.
I entertained the idea of selling this Al frame, then buying a steel frame w/a Reba but instead decided to see how long this one will last.

Soon to be rolling over you on a local trail.

Generic

2011-05-19T23:01:00.000-06:00

We voyaged.

From NY....

...à Paris.

We looked at a bridge from atop 3.25 million yards³ of concrete.

After our encounter with Zeus on Olympus...

...we visited the Venetian canals.

My advice: if you see this, go in & eat a une pâtisserie.

Mystère? Freakin' sweet!

Back on the home front, it's raining.

Hope this thing works.

Looking for a warm, windy day tomorrow. We need drier mud.

35 x 370.....

2011-05-13T20:41:00.002-06:00

...as in 35 rides encompassing 370 days.

I knew there was a reason why I've always avoided cleaning the dirt off my bikes.
So, who put their money on 1 yr? *

Top tube @ Head tube.

Seat tube just above Top tube.

Back to WI with ya!

Al, it was fun while it lasted but I think I'll go back to my trusty pal, Steel.
Hope to be putting out an ad for a 2011 Rig w/Fox fork real soon.

*Spike wins with 13 months.
I'll decide what he wins when I next see him....a size 13 perhaps?

1st Timer

2011-05-03T10:33:00.001-06:00

Sort of 1st-timer:
135 days after my mishap, I took my first MTB pedal.....and it was GOOD.
Plans were made by Mally to visit friends in GJ/Fruita, which coincided with both FFTF & the time I felt almost comfortable to ride dirt. Hopped outta the car on top of the Ribbon & got picked up at the bottom. Saw 11 others, 7 of which were with in 100m of lower parking lot. Then on Sat, went to Loma & ran into Greg, so we rode some trails together. Fun times!!

The mornings consisted of dirt & the afternoons of wine, mead, port & restaurants. Bin707 had some tasty vittles for a great price. Went for a scenic drive on the way out of town.

1 of the 2 climbers we saw was just about to clear the top ledge. No freakin' way I'd ever do that!

Pipe Organ rock.

As for this, I am a true 1st-timer:

Bought some tubes...

...filed away till they fit together....

...burnt a bunch of metal till it stuck together....

...filed away as much crap as I could.

Finding my CS length so I could hack off the extra tubeage.

Precision equipment in use to calculate BB drop/height.

Just say no...

2011-04-16T10:17:00.001-06:00

...to vampires. No worries here.

49 Chesnok Red, 37 GA Crystal & 41 Rosewood.

By the Numbers

2011-03-28T09:06:00.000-06:00

XVelo #002

42t x 16t gearing

35c tires

32# fully loaded

moi

45yrs OLD

233# geared up to ride

14 weeks since clavicular mishap

Sunday

74.37 miles

Felt good , man!

Long-term test on #2 is going swimmingly well.

Since then...........

2011-03-21T12:50:00.000-06:00

Oh yeah, I've got this online thing.
OK, a week after my last post I landed hard on my left side & fractured my clavicle into 4 pieces, as well as cracking my ribs in about 4 places. Flying back to east for Xmas was a treat.
Leg 1 took us to Dulles for a 2.5hr layover (more than it takes to drive to PA) before our 29min hop up to the 'burg. As we were sitting around, we heard the flight was delayed a bit. A bit later, the time got pushed back even further.

Got to hang out with all the families - the main reason was to see the 4 newest additions.
First on the list was lunch at ABC, followed by a visit to the lovely Troeg's tap room.

On the day of the east coast Xmas blizzard, we drove to Richmond. Luckily, the bad weather kept to the east so no worries there. Next it was off to Charlottesville for a night. Hopped back on I-81 to roll back to Etters to crash for a few before our return flight.

Been to the doc a few times since & he said my old bones are healing up well. As for MTB, I'm shooting for May dirt. In lamer news, I've been getting on the road a few times. Yesterday I managed to pedal for a few hours up in Boulder & Larimer counties. [Rolling south on CR21, I watched an overhead glider for a few minutes, saw the news later & wondered if it was the same]

I think I survived the ride, still waiting for feeling to come back to my legs....the couch hasn't been kind to me. As we left I-25 & hopped on 6W on the way home, I noticed Golden looking a bit smokier than normal. Ruff stuff.......

"You don't say."

Diciembre?

2010-12-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

Feels good, man.

All 3 up & rolling at one time, that's a shock!

Pedal out of Sancerre on 'Route de Chavignol' & you'll pass by the hill where these grapes grew up, La Côte des Monts Damnés.

I did the quick cool method of spinning the bottle in ice & trashed the label....looks antiquey, eh?

Tasted good, man. Henri!!

Had to make/add slats for our 'new' latex mattress. Feels good, man.

Pint-to-Pint III

2010-11-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

I think I have rigor mortis. Yesterday's pedal hurt bad.

It didn't help matters that the temps were close to 80°f & about 90% of the ride was under the blazing sun.

Pint-to-Pint III was a major success - 97 people were counted exiting Ironworks at noon-ish!!

Getting hydrated pre-ride.

Trouble, with a capital 'T'

I'd guess about 15 of those were support & not riding, so we still packed the trails with about 80 riders on a perfect Saturday afternoon in early November on trails just outside city limits. The posse rolled to Green Mt & headed up to the top, via Hayden trail. However, the 1st group must have thought this was road ride as they stayed on the GM service road instead of taking the 'official' route, which was single-track, seeing that this was an MTB event.

Greg & I stop a bit before Hayden turnoff (which about 25 riders missed)

It was a nice hot grind up to the top - which is where we again saw those in front of us turning left on the service road instead of hanging a right to get on Summit Loop, my favorite little section on that hill. It turned out to be NOT my favorite trail that day, when I felt rock meet rim. I didn't go immediately flat, but felt the squish as we started to descend Rooney Valley trail. 20# in the rear tire felt real nice on RV, but had me on edge afraid of totally flatting, so I stopped at the bottom & topped up the pressure to my normal 60#.

Time to climb. Up Zorro, then a left on DR. After all riders going this way & that atop GM, the group was getting spread out by now. Only able to catch/pass about 4 riders down DR, then topped off my tire again before rolling thru RR/MW. The little grind up around the rocks on RR really put a hurting on me today, I walked over 1/2 of that bitch. Weak sauce! Felt better rolling MW until I came thru the 1 tricky-ish rock section there. The rock itself was no biggie, but the little step up following it took me out. Got the front end over & stood up to power the rear thru when the front tire came to an abrupt halt on another rock, sending me OTB to land firmly on my left cheekbone. Visions of WKD-RDRs incident earlier this summer flashed in my head as I smacked the ground. Luckily had just a tiny bit of swelling, no black eye or bruising.....yet.

Heritage Square parking, yay! Supplies & somewhere to lie flat on my back for a bit & recover before starting my walk of shame up Apex.

Mike refueling.

Lots of folks hung out refueling in the lot, then took off in lots of little groups, so Apex had a few jams on the way up. Somewhere around 1/2-way up is where all but 1 muscle in my legs started to cramp. Nearing the top, I would walk, try to pedal for about 100', start cramping, so I'd get off the bike to stretch, then hobble a bit more......I guess the espresso for b-fast, then beer at the start weren't enough fuel for my large mass. Here's some pix as I laid in a pitiful heap on the side the trail....

Ended up finishing up Apex with Andy & Mark, then I had to rest & stretch again before attempting even the road to get to entrance of CG. I was so relieved to finally get to CG since as spike occasionally says, 'it's all DH from here.' One last bit of rear tire pumping & it was time to coast to the bottom, then pedal along the path to arrive at GCB.

Freakin' Hallelujah!

It was hot, it was big, it was fun. Thanks Evan!!

Late Autumn?

2010-11-05T21:22:00.004-06:00

Cold weather showed up so I tore up the garden remains to see what I could salvage. I ended up canning about 12 jars of tomato sauce, 8 jars of salsa, 3 bags of dried tomatoes & 2 bags of frozen jalapeños, as well as eating as much okra, zucchini & yellow squash as I could keep up with.

The crop is unfortunately only unripened tomatoes.

XVelo #002 is hanging tough in the midst of its long-term clydesdale testing. It's been a fun bit of trial & error getting it set up just right, which is helping to give me a good idea of dos/don'ts for when I get my frame built. Despite its little intricacies, I have it pretty dialed in: I can completely attach or detach the fenders in under 5 minutes, or I can pull the rear tire in case of a flat or gear swap quite painlessly as well. The PlanetBike Hardcore fenders are OK, but wondering if I should have gone for the Cascadias, as they go down just below axle level........I'll find out soon enough I'm sure.

Fenders 93% attached (had to fab the 2 rear supports)

Depending on ride distance/difficulty, I have several gears ready to swap in an instant: 16t free(daily gear)/18t free, 18t free/17t fixed, or 18t/20t free/free for the big ones. Steve's Brooks saddle is off after several rides with no satisfaction....guess that model doesn't suit my fat ass. I do want to try another, but unsure of which to go for next. Enjoying the cockpit & brakes set-up lots: Woodchipper bar & Salsa gel tape, Tektro levers & Avid cantis. I had Steve's Paul cantis on at first, which were a PITA to set up, but these Shorty6s are a dream - both to maintain & their efficiency in slowing down my mass.
The frame feels good, but for my size, I need tubes that a touch bigger, as I can flex it a bit if I stand up & hammer. When I do get on it, the bike does go well. I'm still not completely comfortable with the feel that the bent setastays give, but I'm getting there.

Took it out for another spin last week: to GBP for the grand opening, then detoured thru Highlands before heading home. GBP was going on with a bunch of jumpin', hootin' & hollerin'. Great job to all involved!!

It's Nov 5 & it may hit close to 80°f tomorrow in Denver, CO.

Pint-to-Pinters, it's gonna be a hot one! Stay hydrated & hard.........

Let'em know what's up.

Oh yeah, there's word of some big roadie race next August. I'll be out there somewhere between Golden & Denver on the 28th - better find me some XXL speedos right quick.

Rawk!

2010-10-16T09:16:00.000-06:00

Read that they opened for Redd Kross & Scream.
Damn, that had to be an epic show!

Back in the Saddle?

2010-10-13T11:37:00.000-06:00

Blame it on Lance.

Lance came to town to announce the CO stage race for next year & then proceeded to do a little spin with a few thousand local yokels, Steve & I being 2 of them. In the evening, I headed down to IC to meet up for an evening ride with BadAndy, guacomole, ko, kedith & besoft. Miraculously skirted the rain all night, but I couldn't negotiate going just a few inches off trail & slammed myself real hard trying to countersteer. Being 1 of those w/out healthcare, I had to diagnose myself - a cracked rib or 2 & some other miscellaneous bumps. Lovely!

The next day, mom flew out for an extended weekend & had a bl'ast! We hit Mt Evans, Pikes Peak and some local sights. She's already wanting to come back & check out more. Now if I can somehow get a Denver mattress to PA, she'll be set. She fell in love with the office bed & is in search of an equal. We went up yonder way during her visit.......

Also saw some old punks back come back for another go. Warlock Pinchers for 2 nights w/Dale Crover on the drums....and for the icing on the cake, Melvins [lite] would play on the Saturday bill. Couldn't pass up this, so I off head to the Gothic, arriving as Buzz & Dale finish their set. Dammit!
Then, to add insult to injury, Warlock Pinchers thanked them for opening for'em at the Lion's Lair on Thursday night, of which I had no idea. Double drats!
WP ended up playing 4 days straight over the w/end, and Melvins [lite] 2x. Still turned out to be a great show despite missing Buzz & Dale.'Itchy-O Marching Band' appeared just before the Pinchers & rocked it!

Itchy-O Marching Band from Mixtec Media on Vimeo.

The in-laws arrived the following week, so it was time to be a touron for a bit again. Checked out Royal Gorge, good stuff.

The old-school punk continued as C.O.C. rolled through, back to their best line-up of Woody, Mike & Reed....and they were doing Animosity/Technocracy stuff, plus some new tunes. Good stuff, but lacking the intense, snarling vocals of the original Animosity tour.

Felt like my ribs were getting there, so I twisted Steve's arm for a road pedal w/me over Lookout, so we could bomb down Grapevine & back home thru Morrison. Didn't know road riding could make you hurt, guess that's what 6 weeks off does to the body. I ain't the only that hurt, b/c I found my beloved Peugeot now had a new crack on the left chainstay to match that on the right (repaired 4 yrs ago). R.I.P. (1985-2010)
Steve came to the rescue, XVelo #002 was passed to me to get built up so I could keep rolling. (Merci mille fois!!) It took some tinkering, parts swapping, a few new parts, & various minor mods, but #2 is finally resurrected.

As for MTB, I finally got the Rig back out to the local trail, GM/DR a few times, & was slowly getting back into it, even making it to a T.I.T.S. ride at BC, and feeling pretty good riding! Then, a few days later, I awoke to some horrible back spasms that put me out again for about another week. Damn!! Looks like I'll be heading to beanfeSSt totally out of shape, but not as drunk as last year at least.

Pedaling at beanfeSSt was good.........I'm think I'm finally back on it....fingers crossed.

Food & libations last night pleased us........

You can get with this........or you can get with that.

2010-08-01T18:05:00.006-06:00

Epic.
As in an epic day.
As in getting up too early on a day off work to sit in a car for 3hrs, do a big ride, & sit in a car again for 3hrs.

If this continues, I'll hafta get one of those big bikes again.

Tree

Guac, this is for you.

MGE brought this together....

...& is too fast for my shutter.

All naturious ahnat.

BadAndy & Jerry.

Big Mike & Ken.

Pay attention as Ken illustrates an example for us all:

When your eyes lock on an obstacle on trail, your front wheel will

always roll straight at said obstacle.

Charles & Jeremy.

Jerry, our local connection, was very pleased to be on trail.

Wetness from the recent daily downpours. (Hint, hint)

As we hit Silver Creek, things changed a bit.

Ken, Charles & Mike.

Those mud masks are much pricier at the salons....

...and not nearly as fun as our version!

Y'all just wait, things'll change.

It was real nice back at the lower car.

There was a little anxiety about a misplaced key.

There's the key for this car. We can head home!!

What'd that ad cost ya?

That was then, this is now.

Aug 11, 2007

July 31, 2010

07/31/10 10:50MST

07/31/10 14:05MST

...and I'm spent.

Keep track of those riders going from here-to-there via the CT over the next few days.

The Summer Doldrums

2010-07-25T20:45:00.002-06:00

Sun is out, temps have risen, plants are growing.

I think this one went into a casserole.

We used our corresponding days off to set up the tent for a night.

We supped.

Our 'backyard.'

We burned wood.

I don't need no tree hanging from my mirror.

Two weeks of no biking......finally got back on it today.

We went up high.

We climbed some icy snow.

There was even enough to pedal across - but only in this one spot.

We spent a bit of time up here.

Mother Nature showed us her good side.

Eventually, we had to start descending.

We saw some steepies during the day.

We passed above some lakes....

...and visited another.

This is the section that makes all the struggle worthwhile.

I don't read ASL. What're yinz trying to tell me?

We did some descending (only after another lil' climb.)

We 3 Stooges had a good'un!

Spikefest II

2010-07-11T15:30:00.000-06:00

Work was cancelled Friday, so packed up early & rolled to Como to set up camp & loosen up the legs. A few of us took Gold Dust up to Boreas Pass & back for a sample of what Saturday would bring.

I even stopped to smell the flowers coming down the top section of GD.

Sweet start to the w/end!

Saturday, 05:45
Spike, guac & I pedaled the bottom section of GD to meet up with PBRMe, MGE & canyonrat. Mateo, ThatGuy & Troy met us all in the big red truck & we loaded up & shuttled up to our starting point.

Shuttling is for long-travel bikes!

MGE starting out.

Canyonrat going for it.

Art is anything you can get away with.

This is the man to blame.

Sallie's machinery.

Just as we bottomed out in Breck, the thunder & darkening skies got us thinking. Fortunately, the brewpub was already in the plans. Minutes after stepping in & grabbing a table, the sky opened up. We pondered our options while waiting out the downpour. As calories were consumed, the blue sky opened up to us again. We split up into 2 groups at that point: MGE, PBR, Canyonrat & Troy took the quick route straight over Aurora Borealis Pass in order to make a quick exit: while spike, mateo, ffej & I followed the 'official' shorter route. This route didn't seem nearly as punishing the last time we did it, but today threw out many more miles & hours up to this climb.

You know he wants to take us up this.

Our fearless leader.

Mateo looks very pleased to almost be back at camp.

Rolling through the flumey zone of GD, I said to spike, "I love this section of trail, but damn, I'm ready for it to end."
That kinda sums up a spikefest in 1 sentence.

The 4 Rings

2010-07-04T09:14:00.003-06:00

Audis - it's a love-hate relationship with those cars.
Planned on getting up early Friday & rolling to G-town to hit up stuff we missed Thursday night, but once again the AT selector switch acted up, so by the time I got it corrected it was a bit to late to try for a long-ish ride. Got word Friday from MGE that he & PBRMe! were planning on a big Waterton-IC-Ringtail-CT ride starting at 5:30 the next morning. I wasn't happy about the pre-dawn conditions, but I said, 'Yeah, I'm in.' I had to pedal a bit more before SpikeFest next week.
Around 9:30, I got a call from MGE telling me he was out - another frame bit the dust.
So PBRMe! & guacomole peeled outta the lot at 7:10 & headed out. Rolling up through the canyon, we saw that MGE's spirit animal was watching over us from about 100' above. Very hard to see in the pic, but there is a goat standing on the rock surveying his domain.

Guac had just done a week in Texas, so he wasn't in the best shape & turned off for the Roxy loop, while PBR & I headed to the IC trailhead. We were chilling there & we noticed a biker coming up the road, pedaling with a SS cadence.....then we saw that Canyonrat was back on the bike after a big downtime w/back troubles. Good to see ya, rat!
PBRMe! & I headed out Ringtail after Rat telling us that we'd be regretting it while climbing back to 800. About 1/2-way down, I was thinking to myself that it would definitely be worth it, Ringtail was a Bl'ast!

Rolling along a fast, smooth section I was about to let PBR know this when I heard the nightmarish hiss of a rear flat. Sidewall cut, again....but there was nothing to cut it on right there!! Fixed that & continued with the fun-ness of Ringtail.

The climb back out was hot in the open sun, but well worth the enjoyment given by Ringtail.

Cruised back through the powerline & down the final section, which used to be my favorite, until I rode the wooded section of 800 before the powerline. Today, it fell another notch as Ringtail had me smiling from ear-to-ear, thus putting it up in one of the top spots.

PBRMe! impressed here by rolling straight down the rocky dropoff that most riders skip in favor of the easy cheater line to the left. Bravo!!

33.22 miles & 4,030' of climbing in 5hrs. It was hot & I was tired - good times!

Turn it up!
Here's the 1st set from Tuesday's Melvins show..........enjoy, or not.

You'll enjoy'em if you know what's good.
Happy Amerikka day!

Influence of Atmosphere

2010-07-02T00:30:00.001-06:00

Tuesday evening saw the heaviness of the load brought to Denver.
King Buzzo, Dale, Coady & Jared rocked Ogden Theater, playing 2 45-minute sets since previous headliner Isis was done with the tour. It was Melvins, so of course it was allgood!!

Videoed the 1st set & was pleased with the results: sound & visual were OK for a hand-held digicam.

Got out the bicycle machine Thursday evening for the T.I.T.S. ride - this week's plan was all about the silver: Silver Creek, through Silverthorne, then return via Silverdale.

Didn't turn out as expected. Thunder & lightning started as we were finishing up our 1st section of trail & heading back into Georgetown. Opted to get beers & pizza at BeauJo's. Off work tomorrow, so I think I'll head back that way & spend the day there hitting everything we didn't get to do.

Celebrity Sighting

2010-06-24T09:44:00.008-06:00

Spike had feeling back in his legs, so we did a laid-back cruise of BC w/Brian Tuesday morning. He also had his broked up Ground Up resurrected by Chris (Podium29ers). It looked real nice, with a bead blast & clear coat by Precision. (which helped me to decide on the upcoming Xvelo paint scheme). Spike was quite pleased to be back on his familiar steed.

CDR is on & racers are rolling through our way. I figured te one place I could get in a pedal & catch any of them would be to roll Como-Breck. So Wednesday morning saw me getting outta bed early & cruising to the mountains again. I saw that Matthew Lee had passed through Tuesday evening, but I thought I might have a chance to encounter either Blaine or Erik on Boreas Pass Rd. Unloaded in Como & dragged ass up Gold Dust, feeling the past week of riding in my legs, & the lower content of oxygen in my blood.

Spikefest 2010, here we come! Real nice dirt for the most part, with some little puddles in the flumey middle section, then a few more sections of running water on the top 1/3.

Popped out on the road & chilled on top for a few minutes looking at my map to figure out what I wanted to hit on the other side. Decided on just popping into Baker's Tank & following it down to the lower parking, then taking the easy back, grinding up the road. Had my plan, so started the 4 mile coast to the tank. Just a bit before I got there, I saw a loaded down rider & knew it was a CDR-er, so I turned it around & rolled back to find it was Erik Lobeck. Chatted with him as we headed back up to the pass. He had both derailleurs blow & 1 other mechanical that cost him a lot of time, else he would still be rolling with M. Lee way out front. He was enjoying the weather in CO after dealing with nasty conditions in MO & WY, & hoping he wouldn't hit any monsoons in NM.

A Pixburgher wheels his way north-south.

I wished him good luck & turned around just before the pass & rolled back down again & popped into Baker's Tank trail.

Great fun & great conditions! At the bottom trailhead, I met a group that had about 25 bikes hanging out - found out they had a hockey camp going on & were taking the kids on a bike ride up the road to the pass. Nice cross-training!! Left them & did the grind back up, really feeling the weight in my legs this time.

Used this spot as a good excuse to stop & snap a pic of Goose Pasture Tarn.

Took another needed breather at the pass before bombing Gold Dust - which was soooo much fun now that I had an enormous 80mm of front-end cush. The high-country trails are ready & willing!!

After a nice lunch & searching flights in order to get mom a long w/end out here (Yeah!), I hopped on the beater to meet up w/Steve & attend the MileHigh All Colorado Tasting event @ Lucky Strikes lanes. All the usual suspects were there - GCB, Wynkoop, Upslope, Avery - as well as some others I hadn't seen. Guy Drew Vineyards & Garfield Estates both had some tasty reds...and since they were on super sale at the store, I swung by to grab a few bottles on the way home. Making some stuffed manicotti tonight, so one of those will go well with dinner.

Summer's here.....

2010-06-20T15:15:00.002-06:00

The Mercury is rising, & so am I.
At least in elevation, we got above Idaho Springs last week, led by the Goat up a loooong dirt road, then down the gnarly Warren Gulch trail in the dark.

We rode up above that waterfall & it was cool.

Good stuff!
After reading of the road up Waterton Canyon closing soon, I felt compelled to hit up that & some Indian Creek Friday afternoon. Did the 'long loop' around & was spent afterwards.

Saturday brought me to BC, as the Bailey Hundo was in effect - no chance of me riding it myself, just went to support/cheer on spike, as well as others I recognized (The Chad, Nate, Looney). Spike came through Aid #3 looking/feeling good.

Go spike, do a wheelie!!

He took off, so Bryan & I put in a quickie pedal around GM, down Tramway then back up Gashouse & followed the course markings along Millers, Charlie's & Sandy Wash. A nice easy pedal felt good after feeling like Hell the previous night.

Sunday, I had an urge to get really high, so I headed to Kenosha to see if I was able to make it to GA Pass or not. Recent reports & weather had me thinking it would be all clear.

No surprises yet......

Above treeline & looking good. Only 3 drifts just before this, which were easily passed.

Almost there........the breaks were becoming much more frequent.

Mandatory cheeseball pose.....

2 SS dudes I ran into near lunch rock, who smoked me on the way up there. They had a Father's Day kitchen pass & rolled Kenosha-Breck. Heard reports of 1/2 mile of drifts close ahead, but they decided to go for it. Hope ya made it, gents!!

Horribly slow time up & back, but glad that I made it up so early in the year. Everything on the north side will be definitely be gone by the time Spikefest rolls around....no slogging over a dozen 5' drifts this year!!

Win with Jets

2010-06-01T18:13:00.002-06:00

Coulda used some sugar-coated goodness yesterday.......the pedal & heat whooped me up but good.

Snowblind

2010-05-30T20:29:00.004-06:00

It's been warm lately.
So warm, most all the trails down here are dry & some of those up higher are getting better.
Got out a few times week - it was both full of pain & joy at the same time. Got in 4 rides: 3 Sisters/Evergreen, C. Cone, Bergen Peak, & 3 Sis /Evergreen again.
Was pleased to get my out-back time at the Cone down to 2:25 Tuesday afternoon, racer boy styley.
Hit up Bergen w/e, spike & avion.nomad, who all proceeded to punish me & put me back in my place as the Omega rider. Only 2nd time riding there. I hit it up once just after moving here & got so beaten up that I avoided it like the plague since then. The Bergen climb was tough, but in the end I liked it much much more than Mt Falcon. Being in the trees rather than in the blazing sun makes a huge difference. Even with the new squishy bike, coming down was also a workout. I have to admit I even got off & walked through 2 sketchy sections - Say what you will.
The next night, joined up for the T/I.T.S. ride at Dedisse/3 Sisters/Evergreen Mt. Started out w/7 - 4 of whom were east coasters. Felt the after effects of the previous days' rides as we hit the climbs. However, once we started rolling down of Evergreem Mt, all that was a thing of the past. Fun & fast descent!! As we were about head down the techy section of Sister's trail, Funrover came rolling up, as he had arrived late & got in some solo miles.

Took a shot at the FATS trail today. Left Gtown & headed over to Silver Plume & had to roll the path since the conductor was making it difficult to hit the singletrack over there. Headed up to Pavilion Pt & made it there quicker than I expected. Couldn't quite remember the entrance to FATS & put in an extra mile or so turning around, before realizing I had to go further.

Did the hike-a-bike for a bit until I succumbed to the cold, white nasty stuff. Didn't know exactly the layout of the trail & didn't want to get off course, so I gave up & headed back down.

The next section of singletrack was hidden to my eyes. Could be b/c I'd only ridden it once & followed the Goat, or b/c of all the construction going on. Barriers erected beside the road, so I had no idea where to turn off & ended up rolling G Pass Rd the whole way back into town, and continued to the east end of town to hit the Silver Creek? trail. I love this section of trail: a slight grade on the way out with fun tech the entire way.

Turned out to be a lovely CO day - too bad I didn't get all the dirt I was hoping for.

.....next time.

Directives

2010-05-23T14:42:00.002-06:00

Yes, sir!
I shall obey.

Traffic Jams outside of Golden?

2010-05-21T13:16:00.013-06:00

Aye aye, sir!
Your word is my command, Sheldon.

This week, I went back to hit some faves that I ain't been on for months.
PBRMe! moved this week's T.I.T.S. ride to Tuesday since he had to leave for Vancouver Thursday morn, so the Rig has it's 1st taste of 3 Sisters & Evergreen Mt that night.
We met at Nate & Rachel's place to roll through Dedisse to do the normal route around 3 Sis & up the Mt. GotDirt tried out Nate's WFO for the ride & was quite pleased.
I finally had the chance to unlock the Fox fork & truly give this suspension fad a try while descending Evergreen Mt. Oh yeah! The difference was amazing - normally the Monkey is clanging & banging through the rocks, while the Rig was as silent as a ninja slipping in through the window. Only thing I heard was the rubber rolling the whole way down.
Terry enjoyed the descent as well - the grin on his face had to compare to mine as we were both enjoying the cushion for the 1st time in a long while.

Work got cancelled for Friday, so I decided to get back to one of my favorite weekday morning ride - Centennial Cone. I wonder if the Monkey got jealous, cuz when I went to load up I found the rear tire on the Rig was dead.
No problem, CC ain't got nothing that needs cush, just fast rolling fun.
When I arrived, I was astounded at the great work on the new parking area, as well as a much better entrance to Mayhem Gulch trail.

The new Mayhem lot. None of those cars, 'cept mine, were there 2 1/2 hrs ago!

CC was just as fun as the last time I was here. No monstrous lung-buster climbs, nothing too techy, just a nice 21.7 miles of ST that gives you a good workout & keeps ya honest. The sun & heat have done some work b/c it was Dry as a Bone today.

Out yonder is the 1/2-way point.

Thought I was gonna luck out & be all alone at the cone. Didn't see one soul the whole way out to the north parking area. But, by the time I got back over the rocky high-point, the others started to show up. Ended up seeing 11 riders & 4 hikers....weekdays at the cone are allgood.

And now for something completely different!

2010-05-16T18:58:00.014-06:00

Met up w/canyonrat, PBRme!, s.s. spike & av boy to head west outta the 543 lot.

Nice weather, so already at 9am the lot was starting to get filled.

Yep, the rumor's true.
Today my bike was cleaner than Jerry's!
However, that should be the only time we'll let that happen.

Wait a minute! Who's bike is that?

C'est le mien.
I shocked everyone with my new toy today.
As I hinted at in previous posts, I've sold out & gone front squish on a major-brand bike.

Never fear, it ain't got no shifting pieces. You probably won't see any of that on one of my bikes for a long time to come.
Been comparing bikes over the past year, trying to come up with what I would roll next. Schemed up lotsa options, tweaks & ideas, & the Rig ended up being the best value only a bit above my price range.

As for today's pedal, Spike led us around some lesser-known routes, eventually working our way out to the wilderness boundary.

Coming back from there, we ran into nomit, who was making his attempt at mountaingoat's spiderweb ITT. 4h40m into it & he was looking good. After what seemed like eternal climbing (spike was leading, so whatdya figure?), I was finally able to unlock the bouncy thing up front & see what happened. It took some time to get over the thought that I was running on a flat tire, and when I did: WOW! Those FOX things are hella fun. Ran out of water just before reaching the CT-tip top of Shinglemill, so I was dragging ass to the bottom on our final sweet descent, but still smiling.

lubes is pleased! A nice break-in ride of just over 40miles at BC.

PS - It's an Al frame, so, who is in for setting up a pool on when I break it? You know it's gonna happen, but how soon?.

Sold Out

2010-05-13T20:20:00.005-06:00

Gang Green used to rock. Their tunes from 'This is Boston, Not LA' are their best (which I've mentioned several times as being THE BEST hardcore compilation).
This 1984 7", 'Sold Out' is still on the better side of their stuff, before they changed their sound to the more stadium-oriented rock shit that they went to later in the 80s.

From KFTH:
"Two great hardcore songs on the first side, similar to the Boston Not L.A. tracks but with a little better recording quality. Chris Doherty's vocals are fuckin great. Side two is a dub version of "Sold Out," kind of interesting... -CHRIS"

From FlexDiscography:
"Their debut 7” remains their best release, along with the tracks on Boston not LA. Ultrafast Boston hardcore, excellent drumming, good production, wild and powerful. A hardcore classic, except for the ultra short playing time. [9]"

It's ripped from green vinyl, it's gotta be good, right?!

Download here.
Speaking of selling out, you just wait........

Extreme enough for ya?

2010-05-11T15:50:00.008-06:00

Right you are, Ken.

As for bike riding:

The Front Range 50 at BCLP was last Saturday, so Steve & I pedaled over w/supplies to enjoy the day by watching others suffer.

We found a nice vantage point to cheer on contenders & non-contenders alike over some breakfast beers.........started out hi-class, then immediately dropped to the bottom of the barrel.

'Twas a nice day to sit back & watch, rather than punish ourselves like so many others did. Saw some whom we recognized (avboy, nomit, besoft, kerkove, looney & yuki), along with some other happy riders we befriended by heckling/cheering on. Fortunately, Oskar Blues had some kegs lined up, so we continued our day by the start/finish zone, as the coimbined effects of the sun & beers started to kick in stronger.

After seeing the results, Steve headed up north to meet his family for a younguns party (w/adult bevvies which he tried to use to coerce me into attending), but I wanted to save some energy for the next day's ride - on dirt, where it counts.

I decided to punish myself the following day, by linking up BCLP, Mt Falcon & Lair o' the Bear. Did most of the trails at BCLP, then surprised myself (just a little) by walking a bit less than the last time going up Mt Falcon. Still walked a bit, but pushed my old, fat body a little further this time. The entire time, I was asking myself what I did wrong to ask for such a punishment - I hate that hill more than any other I've ridden!

As always, going down Lo'B was a Bl'ast! By the time I got there, it was getting a bit crowded so lots of stopping occurred. (which couldn't be said for the Turner guy I kept catching, who almost took out a few riders more than once. Finally decided to chill out for a few & give him some room so I wouldn't run up his ass so quickly.) Ran outta water as I was back in BCLP on the way home, and the sun was bearing down on me.

After enjoying 5h10m of Sunday's beautiful weather, I rolled back into the garage feeling quite spent - which is good seeing the crappy weather Mother Nature has in store for us starting in a few hours.

Ready for something else extreme?

Stay tuned.........

No more Steamer

2010-04-15T15:01:00.004-06:00

Saw some good music in the past 2 weeks: Peelander-Z (pure fun)........

....and Hank III/Assjack (pure volume).

I will wear earplugs for the upcoming Melvins show @ Ogden.

The warmer weather has raised the temp of my cold blood enough to try my legs at the biking thing again.

A log of my latest pedals. I start timing as I roll outta the garage & it stops when I unlock the garage door & look at the clock. My local runs to GM are 4.8 miles straight west on FL Ave till I hit the lot at Alameda (500').

APR03: straight up from the lot, down Box-o-Rox, up Zorro, left on DR, lower GM to lot & home (3h 10m)

APR04: straight up, down RV, up Zorro, left on DR, left on RV Rd, up Zorro, left on DR, left on Rooney Rd, up BoR, down RV, lower GM to lot & home (3h 40m)

APR08: straight up just past service rd/singletrack where mud became way too much, u-turn to lot, lower GM – mud packed up drivetrain & both wheels, so I hopped on the I-470 path & headed to BCLP. Miscellaneous trails there & followed Stonehouse to Wads & home (3h 00m)

APR 10: rode the beater into Park Hill, then to Ogden Theater, then a late-night pedal home. (beer, whiskey & music were included)

APR11: straight up, Summit loop, down & up eastern traverse, continue Summit, down BoR, up Zorro, left on DR, left on Rooney Rd, up BoR, down RV, left on middle GM to lot & home (4h 30m)

APR13: straight up, Summit loop, down RV, up Zorro, left on DR, left on Rooney Rd, middle GM to lot & home (2h 40m)

Off to BC in a few to ride with other humans again....it should hurt.

Oh yeah, I sold the Steamroller frame/fork........PayPal account is slowly building up for a back-up MTB.

NYCore Training

2010-03-30T17:13:00.007-06:00

Is NYHC too heavy?

If so, have no fear.......John Joseph is here. He'll learn you how to train in NYC on a budget.

Fresh PMA, uh, ya know?

I'll be on that plan........as soon as I pick up my Ti Litespeed.

I did end up doing some x-training: worked in front of the computer screen for 8hrs, did some painting, sanded some drywall mud & touched up a few places with new mud, pedaled around for an hour, then fed the aminals.

Rot gut

2010-03-19T19:23:00.006-06:00

Wow! The weather was so lovely these past few days. After taking advantage of it & abusing myself Friday, I decided to do the same on Saturday. This time playing in the dirt took on a different meaning.

I got to know all the toilets in the house real well over about 36 hrs Sunday & Monday. All-over aches, 102 fever & frequent sit-downs had me hating life. The master of the house told me I had picked up a stomach bug somehow & that little thing kicked my ass!

Tuesday rolled around - I did a short day of work & felt human again, so I decided to get to a job that I'd been putting off for so long, the drywalling of the garage. Spent about 5 hrs hanging the 6 sheets I picked up. Knees, neck, shoulder & back felt like hell that evening. Had so much fun & still had some motivation left, so I went out & grabbed another 8 sheets & spent another 5 hrs & got all the walls in the garage done. What a difference it makes! What began as rough cut 2 Xs & black backer board was brightened up with the addition of new white Sheetrock. The man-cave comes alive!!

As for our roads.........

Wimpy Wimperson

2010-03-12T20:58:00.004-07:00

Work got cancelled, so I headed out the door on an MTB (yeah, it's been a while) & rolled up to check out the trails at GM. I was shocked by the beautiful weather this morning & so glad I didn't have to work today, even though I really need the loot. Mid-March, blue skies - able to wear shorts & 1 thin shirt comfortably. Read the lower traverse of GM was dry, so headed that-a-way & it was dry as a desert. Decided to head across to hit up the DR, climbing Zorro to get there, of course. DR - the best piece of trail we have in the local scene, no matter how tired, it's worth climbing up to roll the fun stuff. Coming back through GM, I turned left & hit the middle traverse, knowing full well that it was gonna have some mud to walk through & it didn't let me down.

You're not seeing things - I am atop a carbon fiber 26" bike with independent suspension & semi-automatic shifter thingys.

Came rolling into the FL parking lot & saw E's car. I glance up to my left - lo & behold, there he is just starting up. I was about dead, but after about 3 seconds of arm-twisting, he talked me into heading back out for another round of abuse. This time, we headed straight up, then dropped down Rooney Valley, up Zorro to DR & back to the lot via the lower traverse. Really felt it, and I still had about 8 miles of pavement to get home. May have hit close to the 40 mile mark, all said & done. That's jumping back in with all 3 feet!

E, you were right, I did absolutely no shoveling dirt after making it home.....tomorrow, I promise.

Mud

2010-03-11T17:02:00.005-07:00

Got some big OT this week, so the only pedaling has been to the grocer's. The ice/snow last night hurt while pedaling in it, but I just had to get beers.

I was forced to drive my car today. Since I don't often drive, I never go by roadside emissions tests, and because of this, I had to go to a testing station & pay them $25 just so I could re-up my registration. 'Fine' doled out by the man to penalize those who don't drive their cars enough.

Doing some digging out back: putting in 2 raised bed gardens & a 24' x 8' patio.

I didn't see 1 second of the so-called Olympic games. Did I miss anything important?

Melvins coming June 29. (smile)

Rock out!

Pine Valley

2010-02-25T00:13:00.004-07:00

Made it out play in the snow 2 more times this week.
Hit up Pine Valley after work, both Tuesday & Wednesday. The 1st night was a pack-down-the-trail ride consisting of 12 wheels, so we did a pretty good job of it. Almost went back for another loop seeing how well the trail felt in the sweep position. I probably woulda had to have been airlifted out if we really had gone for another round.

Heading up Strawberry Jack....

Jerry trying to figure out which way is up....

Saw snow might be coming, along with a change in my schedule made me decide to head right back out the next night to ride the freshly smoothed out trails. Not so! 24hrs made quite a difference to conditions, cuz it was much harder this time around. Wind gusts have drifted over some sections & the snow was much crazier to deal with, especially in the descents. I may have been on trail 50% of Buck Gulch.

Spike decided not to wear pink tonight...

Is it summer yet?

2010-02-22T10:00:00.005-07:00

Back in the big city, and the cold weather, ugh.

At least we don't have the piles of snow like back east, just enough to make pedaling a bit on the difficult side....and enough to make the mud muddier when it warms up.

Got back too late to join some folks out in Pine, but hooked up with ss spike the next night for a painful pedal. I knew before we began, that after my past week at sea level doing nothing at all, that this was gonna hurt. Rolled downhill for quite a bit to get to the creek (this alone gave me a frownie face, knowing that this would be our final miles, uphill) & headed up Strawberry. Not too bad, mostly clear so we pushed on, literally, to try out Charlie's. Tiring slog through 6" or so of white stuff. A little riding here & there, but even then it was a workout trying to stay on the 6" of ride-able trail. As soon as the front wheel fell off the hard-pack it would catch the deep stuff & bring you to a halt.

Turned around & hiked/biked back to Buck's & started the downhill, where I turned on my dying NiteRider, trying to save it all for this section. Going downhill is my favorite part, but I had problems staying up this night-went OTB when I crossed up the bars in a turn & slammed it pretty hard. I was feeling so off my game, I even had thoughts of riding w/a suspension fork. As soon as we started back up to the cars, my body gave out, had to stand on the slightest incline & still had no oomph. Really felt it when I got home & through the next day.

No more light problems, as I finally broke down & had scar build up my light...no more demos or dealing w/a 10-yr old NiteRider that throws of a faint orange glow for 40-60 minutes. Bring on the night!

Heard the recognizable purr of e's car pulling up just as I was finishing work Sunday as he came to grab me to head out to GM, perfect timing! White stuff was coming down light, but steadily. Ended up doing a small loop across the bottom, then back through the middle, where we ran into the Goat on his 'short lil jaunt' in cold weather.

There was lots of hiking involved, so it was much more tiring than it should have been.

Big new rubber.

Si

2010-02-18T18:21:00.004-07:00

Got out of the country (sort of) for a week, as we hit the Mayan Rivieria. I say 'sort of' left the USA, since we stayed in an all-inclusive resort, meaning it was chock full of tourons & the menus there were very Americanized; see cafeteria food.

It was a great time, but I am sure that will be my one & only encounter with this type of establishment. We saw some cool sights: Chichen Itza, Tulum & its wonderful beach, Playa del Carmen & its recently restored beach. Spending some time at the beach below the Tulum ruins was the highlight of our trip-1) the sunny finally broke free of the clouds, & 2) the beach & water were beautiful! Best meal was probably lunch in some tiny locals only joint we found strolling through Pla'aya-both of us had lunches & drinks for a grand total of around $4.80 & it had taste to it, unlike what we were ingesting at the resort restaurants.

Now for a photo essay of some of the trip highlights:

Our place had pools, man-made lagoons, but no real beach.

Chichen Itza......

Tulum's beach.......

Playa del Carmen's new beach.

And don't think I missed the local bike action, cuz here's what the locals were wheeling:

Cushie SS

Townies....

Nice SS ute-bikes were everywhere.....

More townies.......

For riding duplex style.......

Some of the Playa del Carmen SSer hoodlums.

It hurts, bad!

2010-02-06T12:20:00.002-07:00

The Lyons gang came south on Tuesday, so had a rare Tuesday T.I.T.S. ride. Lots of others felt it was a good night, since we had either 20 or 21 riders roll outta IW! I was weak outta the gate, took it slow & hung way back on every hill this ride. I probably walked 40% of BoR-almost felt like selling the bike & taking up golf after that display. At least the Goat & some of the other burners had their race faces on. Besoft has a cool Garmin player of the ride stats.

Work got cancelled Thursday, so PBR Me! & I decided to try it again, this time with much better results, both legs- & lungs-wise. Headed straight over to Zorro/DR first, to hit it while somewhat fresh, instead of going straight up like I usually do. Kevin wasn't a bit hesitant at first to go over to the rocks, but he wheeled it pretty good today. You'll be cleaning it all soon enough!!

Back over the BoR (T.I.T.S. crew has now adopted it!) & a fun bl'ast! down Rooney, followed by a quick spin across the middle brought us full circle. Almost for me, since I now 4.8m of downhill to get back to the house. Good one: 23m & 2,600' (including road to/from) & was able to function afterwards.

Today had me on the Peugeot for a little jaunt. Rolled up to GM to meet someone to sell a tire @10. It was freakin' cold when I rolled outta the garage! Got up to GM & looked back towards the house & everything was fogged in. I met up w/Goat just after, as he & BadAndy just finished a GM/DR/MW ride starting in the middle of the night. He has some cool pix showing fog everywhere, except for the top of GM & DR.

Dirt is forecast for tomorrow, so to GM/DR/MW/?? with a few other fools joining in. Better weather than my brother is having in Pixburgh, he couldn't get out of his drive this morning, so they were gonna do some XC skiing from the house.

Winter in CO ain't bad, but can't complain about the beachtime in Mexico starting Tuesday!!

Feats of Enginering

2010-01-29T18:04:00.006-07:00

Homework

Got some curtain rods yesterday, or as they call them these days, 'window treatments', for the sliding glass doors & the bay window. So, this morning, I hopped to it soon after getting up. All was going well till I noticed the system of attaching it together.

Enter: baseplate, funky piece that holds rods, & the screws to slap it all together. OK, this don't look like it's gonna be fun. Attach the baseplate to the funky rod holder, then screw the entire setup into the anchors I put in....

Here's a view of it, where you can see how the bottom screw is easily accessible, but the head of the top one is snug tightly against the rod-holder mechanism.

After cursing engineers, present & past experiences, for a few seconds, I figured I'd just jam it in ham-fisted like.

Just made it take a bit longer than necessary, but they're in & look all fancy like.

Velocipedes

Earlier in the week I was thinking a 2hr trip south was gonna happen, but fortunately Pueblo got more whiteness than we did here, so got to go local. Rolled outta the garage @8am to meet Kevin at the Florida lot of GM, then do some climbing, which my legs haven 't done much of all winter.

We went straight up my usual; following GM trail, then Hayden.

Hopped on the road till we jumped on Rooney Valley for a bit. Instead of dropping to the bottom, we rolled over to Box o' Rox to have some fun going down. We stopped at the bog to take a look at what can be done to improve this section, which'll hopefully be job #1 when the T.I.T.S. crew gets it adopted. Decided to head up Zorro & play on a little bit of Dakota Ridge. It's been awhile since I've ridden anything techie, & my (lack of) skills showed. Usually just bl'ast this section with no problem, but not today!

Back over to GM & I told Kevin that we should head to the top once more, taking Rooney Valley this time. Wrong move, for my legs/lungs, cuz I was sucking wind big time! Somehow survived it & we wound our way back down Hayden, which was the suckiest part of the ride. All the mud/slop was hanging out in that section of trail.

Ended up with 2,520' of climbing, in addition to my 500' of road to get there. Not bad for a Saturday morning in January in CO.

Das is gut, ja!

2010-01-24T12:10:00.001-07:00

I've been utterly lazy lately. I may ride a bike again, someday.

Sellout Crowd

2010-01-10T20:30:00.004-07:00

Pueblo Reservoir was the place to be today.....or at least, 100 or so pedalers thought so.

Shorts & short sleeves were the fashion: CO, Jan 10!!!

Back in the Day

2010-01-08T11:51:00.008-07:00

April 23(?), 1983

Went to my 1st hardcore show - Skank Magazine presented Hardcore for Central PA #1 w/Crucifix, White Cross, Rat-at-Rat-R & 1 other band for $5.

Mohawks, spiked hair, shaved heads, leather, tattered flannel & loud, fast music......my entry to the beautiful world of punk shows, which took up many a night over the next many years. Grew up in the 17319, which was conveniently located to see some great shows (1hr to Baltimore, 2hrs to DC, 1.2hrs to Philly), so when I was forewarned of a show & had off work, we would load up someone's car & make a quick road trip.

In 1983, Crucifix released this excellent EP, Dehumanization. (lyrics)

Download here.

Turn it up!

2010-01-06T11:10:00.004-07:00

Gonna start upping my vinyl from time to time.

Let's begin with what I consider to be the best compilation of all time: 'This is Boston, Not LA'

Contains a mix from some of the best Boston bands at the time: Jerry's Kids rock it as always; Gang Green are at their peak here; only weaknesses are Groinoids & Decadance tunes.

Enjoy!

Download here

It's the end of the world as we know it.....

2010-01-02T22:02:00.006-07:00

...and I feel fine.

My 1st attempt at video editing.

Pure excitement!

Made it out to the trails on both NYE & NYD this year.

PBRMe! passing 'over the hill' on our NYE days ride.

Happy 2010 from the 3 'buddhas'!

pic by PBRMe!

Me & my big jugs.

pic by EvilMGE

Too much of a good thing?

2009-12-27T09:11:00.005-07:00

More snow = more pedaling.

Feels like I'm constantly climbing.

I'm spent.

MPAA, please go away.....

You say you like Star Wars?

2009-12-19T20:12:00.004-07:00

I wish all movie reviews were this insightful.

Winter Blues

2009-12-19T10:25:00.002-07:00

Saw the temps would be low enough to pedal if I got my ass out of bed early in the am, but when that time came around, I had lost any sense of motivastion, so surfed a lot of couch this week.

Finally watched The Cove last night & that was nasty. Traditional Japanese culture my ass!

Fun Fact:

Too many to just be a coincidence, did you ever notice that
Dischord Records catalog numbers that are even multiples of ten
(i.e. Dischord Records #10, 20, 30, etc.) are all releases from
bands that the label's founder, Ian MacKaye, played in? Here's
the list:

#10. Minor Threat "Out Of Step" 12"ep
#20. Egg Hunt "S/T" 7"
#30. Fugazi "S/T" 12"ep
#40. Minor Threat "Complete Discography" CD
#50. Skewbald/Grand Union 7"
#60. Fugazi "Steady Diet Of Nothing" LP
#70. Fugazi "In On The Killtaker" LP
#80. Fugazi "Instrument" DVD
#90. Fugazi "Red Medicine" LP
#100. Teen Idles "S/T" 7"
#110. Fugazi "End Hits" LP
#120. Fugazi "Instrument Of Sound" LP
#130. Fugazi "The Argument" LP
#140. Minor Threat "First Demo Tape" 7"
#150. The Evens "S/T" LP
#160. The Evens "Get Evens" LP

Not all of Ian's bands' releases on Dischord follow this
formula, however, as there are a few of them with catalog
numbers that don't end with zero, such as the Minor Threat
"Salad Days" 7" (#15) and the Embrace LP (#24) but it is
enough to make you wonder what Dischord 170 is going to be.

I like big jugs & I can't deny.......

2009-12-12T19:45:00.003-07:00

After over a week of inhumanely cold temps, I was able to step foot outside Friday afternoon, then again Saturday morning.

Bolted outta the house a few minutes after logging off for the day & headed south to see what the conditions were like on Stonehouse. 36° was the reading as I rolled out, but it was late afternoon, so I expected the temps to start dropping quickly. My urban section was slicky, but as soon as I entered the single track, I had only packed snow to contend with for the rest of the ride. Checked out everything creek side on the way to Fox Hollow & all was nice.

Had a message from the goat when I returned, so we set up a morning meet w/spike & Steve. Started around 22° this time & warmed up as the sun raised its head. Getting to Fox Hollow was again a bl'ast!, but as entered the connector trail to BCLP, our thoughts of an easy day were dashed. Very bumpy snow, 6" or so deep made the going rough at times. Ended up being out for 4hrs!! BCLP & back is a normal 2hr run.

The 2 high points of the day: pedaling across the frozen lake

....and warm hands the entire time.

Political Rant time:
Words by Margot Kidder, from CounterPunch

The Democratic Party needs an intervention and then it needs to be sent to rehab. The lunacy behind the thinking of many traditional Democrats that any Democrat in Congress is better than no Democrat at all needs to be exposed and treated for the infectious disease that it is. But there is no 12 step program for corrupt politicians, and turning the problem over to God is just not going to cut it this time, no matter what Sarah Palin thinks .

The absence of democracy in a congress whose votes are bought, sold, and traded like pork bellies by big corporations in exchange for highly profitable votes and amendments on bills is a bi-partisan infection. And the pus is everywhere.

Give me a nut job for an enemy anytime. You can take aim at the obviousness of the problem and roll a strike 99 times out of a hundred. But if your enemy is disguised as a boring but harmless friend, and wears the same logo on his sweatshirt as you do, then landing a punch is like trying to slug mist. There’s no connection, no delicious smacking sound, there’s no obvious win. The fact that 20 to 25 percent of Americans support policies and politicians that are bat shit crazy is not as much a concern as the fact that 50 to 60 percent of Americans support politicians whose policies are for sale to the highest bidder, and exist independent of any underlying morality or consistent philosophy of government. Arlen Specter calls himself a Democrat for God’s sake. And so does Ben Nelson. And Blanche Lincoln. These are not Democrats; they’re Republicans in Donkey suits. And somewhat tasteful donkey suits at that. None of them would have strings of tea bags dangling from THEIR cowboy hats, you can bet the ranch on that. They are much more dangerous than Rush Limbaugh could ever hope to be.

And oh how they bray, and the bray is as bad as the bite. With each snort and hee-haw the party trembles defensively and gives them whatever they want. To hell with traditional Democratic principles, its all about keeping the guy from leaving you, so what if he’s hit you so many times that your face is no longer recognizable? Keep that man. Get more numbers on your side of the aisle than they have on theirs and pay no attention to the actual quality of the people who make up those numbers. If they say they are Democrats, if they will wear our label, they must be on our side. Democrats can’t hurt us. Can they?

Look at Max Baucus, the most anti-charismatic Montanan in the state. How is it possible to recognize such a surfeit of blandness as dangerous? Talking with Max is like talking with drywall: he nods at whatever you say and he’ll smile vacantly at you for hours on end, but you’re never quite sure if he’s home or if he’s just had one motorcycle accident too many. I say this because I believe that those of us he purports to represent have a right to know who the person behind the mask really is.

The hideous truth is that this empty suit-person almost single handedly took the reform out of health care reform, has introduced and somehow passed more legislation to abet the cornucopia of crime that is our banking system than anyone else in congress, and has stalled the funding of any, if not all, modern programs that would give financial lifeboats of one kind or another to families in need. He did it by pretending he was a Democrat and by hanging in there long enough to get appointed, almost by default, as chair of the banking committee. And he gets elected in a state with the fourth lowest per capita income in the country by consistently “bringing home the pork.”

Billings needs a baseball field? That’s no problem for Max. Stick it on the nearest bill, regardless of relevance. Missoula wants a biking path? Easy as spitting. But you poor souls who are being screwed by the credit card company that got you so deeply in debt and then raised your interest rates so high that you had to sell your house to make the payments? Tough titty.

Max voted against a ceiling on credit card interest rates. You’re going bankrupt and about to lose your house because you got laid off and missed two payments, you deadbeat you? Max voted against allowing bankruptcy judges the leeway to lower interest rates or principle on mortgages in a way that would allow families to stay in their homes.

Can’t afford health insurance at today’s exorbitant rates? Max devised a plan whereby if you DON’T buy from one of the existing health insurance companies who trade your health for their profits you will get smacked with a whopping fine by the IRS, and they get to charge you whatever the hell they please. Hey, it’s your own fault; you should better manage your money.

Have to choose in the winter months between your medication and your heat? Max made sure that no pharmaceutical company will ever be asked to put ceilings on their profit margins, so if you can’t afford that one hundred and forty seven dollars for the only antibiotic that will work on your systemic sepsis, well, die baby die, you should have learned the rules of unregulated capitalism.

Everyone who is anyone donates huge sums of money to Max. It’s like landing on the social pages of Women’s Wear Daily. But Max is from Montana so its doubly chic, macho wilderness chic, with just a hint of cowboy. Here in Montana the corruption is as fresh as this morning's manure. No company with their shareholders interests at heart would dare forget mailing in their “Max Baucus for Senate” checks come election time. You’re guaranteed a lot of bang for your buck, and if your check is big enough and Max has to choose between the interests of his scruffy and often poor Montana constituents and the freshly facialed, Armani-clad CEO’s of Aetna or Goldman Sachs or Anaconda Mining, trust me, he’s going to go with the high-end set – they pay a lot of money every summer to learn to light campfires at Camp Baucus at the Big Sky Ski Resort and Max has become addicted to their donations.

The mainstream media calls Max Baucus and other Democratic blackmailers “centrists”. As compared to what, Chiang Kai-Shek? “Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” said Yeats, but that was in 1919 and he was referencing the Russian revolution. America’s centre has been tap dancing to the right since Ronald Reagan was loosed upon the world and it hasn’t taken a backwards step yet, so our centre is way out in right field and has no intention of coming back of its own accord. It’s up to us, unfortunately.

In the big D.C. high school known as congress, “practical” politics is all the rage with the in crowd these days. It’s Rahm Emmanuel speak for accepting the system as it is and playing the game better than anyone else. Get all the dough you need from huge corporations - and what’s a concession or two or twenty compared to several million dollars of fuck-you money in the campaign chest that will ensure you can four wall the country with television ads in 2012 and thus get Obama a second term? It is essentially a philosophy of “anti-change”, no matter what system of logic you apply to it. Rahm must have been out of the room when the campaign was going on last year. But wherever he was, he is demanding an ossification of our dreams. You want “Hope” back? Hope, schmope. The world doesn’t work like that.

And protesting will just get you are accused of idealism, that nagging little worm that lives in the hearts of nerds everywhere. And idealism is just not cool. It’s not practical. You must abandon childish notions of hope for a better world and look the corruption square in the eye and accept it. Work with it. Look at Max. He’s arguably the most powerful guy in the Senate.
.
So get with the program and shut up. Call this mess of health insurance backed suggestions “reform” and let’s move on. No one will really notice that it’s a ferocious defense of the status quo, so who are you to make a fuss? Be a good little Democrat. Say we passed an historical health reform bill. Lie, OK? Lie for the greater good of the party.

Sadly, the hard truth is that it’s hard not to feel like a little baggie of leftover peas in the face of the seeming omnipotence of these corporations, these dictates from above. Inertia and depression are logical responses to such an enormous monolith of corruption. And fighting for anything remotely resembling a just society, or expressing severe disillusionment with the fact that your own senator has been bought by JP Morgan Chase and Blue Cross/Blue Shield is just not done and is frowned upon.

But we can’t give in to the easy seduction of lying in bed with the covers over our heads hoping this whole thing will somehow pass of its own accord. Its not going to go willingly, and until we get really, really feisty and turn back to all that anger that Obama managed to tamp down with all his lovely speeches and turn it again into a force to be reckoned with, there is no hope for any kind of future worth having. The Democrats aren’t going to save us – we have to save them.

We can target every one of these fake Democrats and expose the hypocrisy that is running like a deep aquifer of sludge under their public personas. And we can, if we’re smart, soften them up for the blows of the more polished and hopefully “progressive” politicians who will remove them from office.

Will the forces who replace them be infinitely better than them? Who knows? They might be worse. But until we flex our muscles and show we mean business, it will be business as usual, and business as usual benefits no one. Until we get all our little homemade slingshots out and relentlessly whack at this destructive Goliath of our own making, nothing is going to ameliorate the ruthless destruction of what is still naively called a government of the people, for the people and by the people.

Margot Kidder is an actress and activist living in Livingston, Montana.

Next week....

2009-12-05T16:37:00.007-07:00

I am gonna survive this cold weather one way or another.

Ummmmmmmm???

Cold, colder, coldest

2009-12-02T21:54:00.010-07:00

Spike got me out tonight to make some 1st tracks.

Fortunately it did stay in the double digits, just barely. The ride didn't start out so good - a NiteRider failure, followed by painfully cold fingers about 2 miles into it. Spike saved my ass - he brought an extra light & loaned me his pogies for the rest of the ride.

I'm thinking at about 25°, I'm gonna play it smart & stay inside from now on. Been experimenting with clothing & I think that's my minimum temperature. But then again, if I could grow a cool enough beard, I could make another layer........

Ain't nothin' but mammals...........

2009-11-29T18:46:00.008-07:00

In search of dry dirt.

Decided to go south-north & link up some hopefully dry sections of singletrack today. As predictable as I am, you know I went down to Stonehouse & took it west to Fox Hollow & wound through BCLP. Along the creek from Wads to the golf course was the worst of the day. Tried to hit as many options in BCLP & ended up hitting a little section I've never before encountered....cool!

Next is RR: I rolled up by the chapel, then up the road, where I happened to catch some nature (about to be) in action. As I rolled to the top I noticed some deer hanging around in the parking lot.

Off to the side is a doe, along with a buck standing nearby who is ready to get it on w/her. Anytime she walked away, he'd be right behind & doing his best to greet her rear end with his nose. They continued this for a while, across the lot & down into the bushes across the street. Good on ya, dude!

I decided to get pedaling again & rolled outta there cuz I believed MW was soppy. Roadie time: up to the service road to DR, popped out on the road & rocked back around the bottom of GM as sun was getting really low.....and really cold.......just before a 3-mile DH on the road. Which got me even really-er colder.

The numb toes & fingers are now all better.

The joy.

'Tis the Season

2009-11-28T10:09:00.007-07:00

Tofurkey day & the Iron Bowl have passed. T-day was good. Iron Bowl was not so good.

Got out for a mellow spin to BCLP Wed night to see how my back felt & all went well, except for the fact that I ended up walking a climb or 2 that I always fly up.... & I haven't even gorged myself on Tofurkey yet!!

Noticed that one of my batteries wouldn't power the head, so did some checking & found that one of the batteries no longer took a charge. Bummer, but still have one left, which I used. I used it up in under 2hrs, so my nite-time pedaling has been cut down.

Friday evening brought another installment of the T.I.T.S. ride, back to its roots at GM. While getting ready to roll, I had an issue with my remaining 'good' battery. Hooked it all up & the light flashed on quickly & disappeared. Lucky for me, all the Amoeba's here, with Scar & PBR. Quick velcro to the head & I'm ready to go. Six of us rolled outta IW & wound our way to the top, then down the Rooney Valley trail.

Almost headed to Bo'R, but judging from what we saw on the south, we thought best to avoid the sippie hole that exists near the bottom, and instead took the lower to middle route. Only 1 incident to speak of, arrived to see the goat lying about 10' offtrail, his bike with handlebars facing the wrong way & a huge divet in the trail preceding this mess....

All's well that ends well. Since we ended back at IW for beers, it all ended well. Just playing around with my batteries/heads/cords & found my newest battery is still in action, & I may have a blown bulb in 1 of the heads. Amoeba is again on the back burner..........but not for long.

We are #1....in waste.

Dirt on southern slopes looks good

2009-11-24T20:38:00.008-07:00

Got off my back over the w/end...barely.

Boomer showed Saturday night & stuck around till Monday morning. I finished early Sunday, so we headed out to one of 'those' trails & I spectated, while he & a huge crew gravitated to the bottom several times over.

I got about 3 somewhat viewable pix out of the day.

Yes Virginia, smooth singletrack does exist in CO...they just have jumps built-in.

Latest news: NC says cyclists are in season!

Laid up

2009-11-21T14:25:00.001-07:00

My back hurts. That is all.

Black Ice

2009-11-18T19:52:00.004-07:00

COMBA is now part of IMBA, cool beans!

Party time at Wrigley's bar in Golden last night.

Good group showed up to show their support for our local MTB advocates & they in turn handed out loot to lucky ticket holders.

It was a chilly ride there. The ride home wasn't as bad as we thought, plus it was shortened a bit thanks to Spike.

You know what to do.....

2009-11-12T17:58:00.005-07:00

Another sweet day to get down to BCLP on the Peug. Finished early, so headed south to meet up with e for some mellow dirt on the 'cross' bikes.

e in action.

Changed out the freewheel on the Peug to a 20t, so let's see how it goes next time out. Today while out on the bike, my latest piece for the KM arrived.....the Monkey is looking blingy now.

Pixburg Stillers a'nat

2009-11-10T12:16:00.004-07:00

I watched a little football last night.

It's mid-November!?

2009-11-08T17:38:00.004-07:00

What a great w/end!!

After seeing the soupy conditions at GM Thursday night, decided to skip the Pint-to-Pint & instead roll to Buff Creek, & that was a good call! e & I planned on meting up w/Spike & rolling around 9am. Got to the lot & Jerry was there. While getting ready 'The Chad' & his buddies, Gavin & Kevin showed up. Hit up the ole' standby route & had perfect trails/temps for the next 3.5 hrs. Finished a little after noon-ish, so we rolled by mateo's after to throw some dirt around the pump track, as well as throw in a few laps. It's getting there, should be FUN when it's all set.

Had dinner plans to meet some friends & hit Saigon Bowl for the 1st time. Packed to the gills when we arrived, which was a good sign. The menu is big & has lots & lots of tasty-looking dishes listed. Went for a seafood curry & it was excellent! Sorry, Pho 555, got a new place that'll be calling my name for quite some time.

Sunday morning, we packed up & rolled north, past the Republic of Boulder, to hit Heil-Picture Rock-Hall. Eric kept mentioning that it was so nice to roll at a leisurely pace, but I was on full race pace to keep that crew in sight! I am NOT a fan of that climb out of Lyons to get back to the top of Heil!!!

Listen up sports fans, did you know that swine flu is as much a killer as leprosy? Panic panic!!

Title Goes Here

2009-11-06T12:02:00.002-07:00

Took out the knobbied Peugeot for a spin on pavement/dirt last night & had a bl'ast, till we hit the soup at Green Mountain. Got some knobbies from Eric to try out & found that 2 of them fit fine, at least 7mm of free space to shed mud! We met on the dirt just south of the house & pedaled to BCLP & hit a few trails there & the old beater held its own. Sun was starting to get low, so we headed up to IW to meet w/the T.I.T.S. crew to let them know of our findings.

Several of the usual suspects were there, along with Greg on his sweet new Lynskey. We rolled up to GM to take the lower loop around as a test & found out quickly that it sloppy wetness. Brought my wheels to a complete stop more than once, so we hopped off at the next intersection with Alameda to hit something drier. I decided to head home along Jewell & e went withe boys to BCLP on his way home.

Saw I had a voice mail when I got outta the sower - e caught a flat leaving the dirt & was trying to Lance it home. Easy for him to do as his weight hardly makes an impact on a deflated tire.

Listening to some old-school jams by Warlock Pinchers, so now some punk history......

A Concise History of The Vandals
1980-1981

* Jan and Stevo start the band in Huntington Beach and play several shows at the Cuckoo's Nest among other places.

* During this period a number of original songs are written by Jan and Stevo and performed by the original lineup of the band. Their sets include WANNABE MANOR, URBAN STRUGGLE, THE LEGEND OF PAT BROWN, Elvis Presley's HEARTBREAK HOTEL (with Stevo's reworked lyrics), and others.

* A long list of drummers and bass players join and then leave the band.

* Stevo, after dating Joe Escalante's sister and learning that her little brother is a drummer, recruits Joe to join the Vandals sometime in late 1980 or early 1981.

* A few weeks later, Joe recruits Steve 'Human' Pfauter, the former singer for a garage band Joe was in, to be the Vandals' new bassist. This forms the original recording lineup.

* The band plays around town and gets a bit of a following.

* The band is approached by Brett Gurewitz of Epitaph Records (and the band Bad Religion) with a record deal.

1982

* The songs the band decides to record include WANNABE MANOR, URBAN STRUGGLE, THE LEGEND OF PAT BROWN, HEARTBREAK HOTEL (with Stevo's reworked lyrics), PIRATE'S LIFE, and ANARCHY BURGER. All of these songs were written before Joe or Human joined the band, with the exception of PIRATE'S LIFE and ANARCHY BURGER.

* The lyrics to PIRATE'S LIFE are written by Joe, and the music is written by Jan, with passages cribbed from Disneyland.

* The authorship of ANARCHY BURGER is somewhat more complicated. The title and chorus of the song are taken from graffiti ("ANARCHY BURGER -- HOLD THE GOVERNMENT") written by Todd Barnes of the band TSOL. Todd got the idea from the Sex Pistols' SOME PRODUCT album, whose sleeve art jokingly commodified the Pistols by making everyday consumer products of their punk rock attitudes. The fictitious products depicted in the SOME PRODUCT sleeve art included the 'Vicious Burger' and a soft drink called 'Anarkee-Ora'. From this twice-borrowed beginning, Jan and Joe write music for the new song. Aside from the borrowed graffito as a chorus, there are no lyrics until the band actually enters the studio. Stevo, by himself in the bathroom of the studio, comes up with the lyrics for the song and writes them on a paper bag. The rest of the band hears the lyrics for the first time when Stevo sings them in the recording booth.

* When the subject of publishing credit and royalties comes up, it is immediately and democratically decided that the members of the band will all share equally in any profit to be made from their recordings. Jan and Stevo are very generous in this decision, as the two of them wrote almost all of the material to appear on the album before the others joined the band.

* PEACE THRU VANDALISM is released. The sleeve art lists each musician by name, and credits them collectively ("All songs copyright 1982 The Vandals except H.B. Hotel by Elvis").

* URBAN STRUGGLE, one of the songs from PEACE THRU VANDALISM, becomes a minor hit on KROQ, one of the only radio stations in Los Angeles to play punk rock. The song is one of those written by Jan and Stevo before Joe and Human joined the band.

1983

* Brett Gurewitz begins to pay The Vandals royalties earned from sales of PEACE THRU VANDALISM. The royalties are divided according to the band's oral agreement with Brett and his record company, Epitaph: Half the profits go to Epitaph, and the other half goes to The Vandals. In accordance with their oral agreement with each other, the band's half of the profits are divided equally between the four of them.

* Steve 'Human' Pfauter leaves the band in December, 1983 and is replaced by Chalmer Lumery.

1984-1988

* Possibly due to a personal struggle with drug abuse, Brett Gurewitz tells The Vandals that financial problems are preventing him from handing over the regular royalty payments that are due to them from sales of their album. In spite of this, PEACE THRU VANDALISM is selling briskly.

* WHEN IN ROME DO AS THE VANDALS is released (though not on Epitaph, for obvious reasons). Just as on PEACE THRU VANDALISM, the sleeve art credits the entire band with collectively writing all the words and music.

* In large part due to personality conflicts between Joe Escalante and Stevo, the band has ceased to rehearse or play together. Stevo and Human are regularly calling Brett Gurewitz to ask when they might be paid. Joe is calling Brett as well.

1989

* Presumably sick of the incessant calls and visits from members of the band, Brett Gurewitz decides to make amends and gives the copyright and masters for PEACE THRU VANDALISM back to them. Unfortunately, he hands the settlement to Joe Escalante, who promptly gets greedy and decides to pretend that the rights and masters were given to him alone and that Brett still owes the rest of the band for years of unpaid royalties. This is the first of many thefts Joe commits against his former friends.

* From this point forward all rights to PEACE THRU VANDALISM should have belonged equally to the four members of the band who played on the recording, as this was Brett's clearly stated intent. When Stevo and Human contact Brett again, they are told that the masters and rights to the record have already been given back to them. "Talk to Joe," says Brett. When asked about his meeting with Brett, Joe claims that the masters and rights were given to him alone. In November of 2006, the author of this website contacted Brett Gurewitz and asked him about the settlement made with Joe Escalante. Gurewitz stated very plainly and clearly that the masters and the rights to PEACE THRU VANDALISM were handed over to Escalante to be shared equally with the other members of the band, that the settlement was not meant for Joe alone, and that Joe was aware of this fact at the time of the settlement.

* Around this time Joe Escalante decides to publish both PIRATE'S LIFE and ANARCHY BURGER, crediting himself as the sole author of both songs. This is the second major theft Joe commits against his former friends. Significantly, Joe does not at this time credit himself as sole author of the other songs on PEACE THRU VANDALISM, although years later he eventually decides he can get away with that, too.

* Jan, Stevo, Chalmer Lumery, and Todd Barnes of TSOL fame play a show as The Vandals. Joe is incensed that the two founding members of the band would dare to use their own band name and play songs they themselves wrote before Joe was in the band. First he screams and threatens them that he'll never pay them another dime if they play the show. Then he starts working on an injunction against them to prevent them from ever using the Vandals' name or music. This concert becomes, in Joe's mind, a legal license to steal all future royalties and licensing owed to Jan, Stevo and Chalmer.

* Stevo attempts to play another show, this time as S.N.I.V. ("Stevo's New Improved Vandals"). Joe has him served with the injunction at the club. In characteristic fashion, Stevo doesn't take matters too seriously, and makes the best of it by reading the injunction as lyrics to an impromptu jam. Stevo is later interviewed on videotape regarding the injunction.

* When Joe's injunction is enforced, Stevo doesn't have the money to fight it. Joe wins by default.

1990s

* Steve 'Human' Pfauter is now Joe's only obstacle. As Human did not play at the concert that Joe uses against the rest of the band, Joe continues to write occasional royalty checks to him throughout the '90s, but often neglects to do so for up to a year at a time. Later, SoundScan data shows that Joe consistently lied about sales of PEACE THRU VANDALISM, and was paying Human a tiny fraction of the amounts actually owed. Meanwhile, Jan and Stevo get nothing.

* In a blatant bit of gloating during a telephone conversation regarding royalties owed to the rest of the band, Joe tells Stevo that he is cashing Stevo's royalty checks and spending his money and there's nothing Stevo can do about it because Joe is a lawyer now.

* Joe reissues PEACE THRU VANDALISM and WHEN IN ROME DO AS THE VANDALS as a double record. The sleeve art now reads "All words and music by Joe Escalante" (the original sleeve art to PEACE THRU VANDALISM, which credits each of the band's members equally, can be seen here. This is pure plagiarism, which Joe justifies by claiming that he owns the rights to the Vandals' music, in spite of the fact that Stevo and Jan later testified under oath that they never transferred or relinquished their rights to the songs they wrote before Joe joined the band (see here and here). Even if Joe had acquired the rights to the songs legitimately, his argument makes no sense. If his argument was valid, the Beatles' entire catalog would have been reissued with "All words and music by Michael Jackson" on the sleeves (Jackson owned the rights to the Beatles' catalog for many years).

* Joe finds out from one of Brett Gurewitz' former employees that Human has gone back to Brett seeking payment for his back royalties from the 80s. Joe is again incensed that Human would have the nerve to try to get paid, and in the process make Joe look bad in the eyes of the more successful Gurewitz. Joe claims that Human is extorting money from Brett and that all the royalties that Joe has paid Human up to that point were extorted from Joe. This is apparently something he's been working on for a while, as the last few royalty checks that Human has received have had odd notations like "non-union studio musician" written in the memo area.

* Joe swears he'll never give Human another dime, thus completing the theft of all of the band's early works.

2000s

* As Human starts looking for a lawyer, other things come to light. Joe has sold the rights to URBAN STRUGGLE, a song written and performed by Jan and Stevo before they ever met Joe, to Adidas for a commercial. Joe pockets $60,000 on the deal. Next he sells a line from ANARCHY BURGER to Sony pictures for $20,000. This is a line that Stevo wrote on a paper bag in the studio bathroom just before the song was recorded. In the credits of the Vin Diesel film 'XXX' the song is listed as "words and music by Joe Escalante".

* Stevo, Jan, and Chalmer join forces with Human and his lawyer, Kevin Anderson. Anderson sends a letter to Sony Pictures pointing out that the song they're using is not solely Joe's work, and that his clients expect to be paid their 75% of the fee, and to be properly credited in future releases of the film 'XXX'.

* In response to Kevin Anderson's letter to Sony Pictures, Joe files a six million dollar lawsuit against his former bandmates. Included among the damages listed in the lawsuit is one million dollars for Joe's pain and suffering. This lawsuit is so full of lies, distortions, and errors in grammar and spelling that legal counsel for the defendants have trouble understanding how its author could have ever passed the Bar exam in the first place. Nevertheless, being a contract lawyer and not a litigator, attorney Kevin Anderson is now involved in a struggle that is clearly outside his area of expertise. Anderson brings in Michael J. Emling of the law firm Porter Emling to handle the countersuit.

* In an attempt to recover their share of the estimated $250,000 that Joe Escalante has pocketed from sales of their records over the preceding decade, the former Vandals respond with a lawsuit of their own. Their $250,000 estimate is gleaned from Soundscan, a database which tracks music sales in the U.S. and Canada, and which is the source of sales data that determine a song or album's standings on the Billboard music charts.

* Joe's six million dollar lawsuit is set aside in favor of the new cross-complaint case.

* As the case progresses, it becomes clear that the one thing that Joe has on his side is the length of time that his former bandmates have allowed his blatant theft to stand uncontested. Joe puts a very meager out-of-court settlement offer on the table, and as the statute of limitations is a powerful legal argument, attorney Michael J. Emling of the law firm Porter Emling tells Stevo, Jan, Human, and Chalmer that the case is not worth his firm's while. Emling says that if they do not accept Joe's settlement, his firm will quit the case and submit a bill to them for over six thousand dollars. Their only alternative is to pay Porter Emling an estimated $30,000 up front in order to continue the battle. Backs to the wall, and unable to afford the $30,000 fee, the band reluctantly settles out of court for a fraction of what was stolen from them. Joe has successfully used their own money to defeat them in court, merely by outspending them.

* The band, and especially Stevo, never recover from the blow dealt them by Joe Escalante. Their trust violated, their music and their royalty money blatantly stolen from them, they drift apart. Friends note that Joe and his treachery have become a frequent -- even incessant -- topic of conversation with the former Vandals. Stevo in particular seems beaten down by the experience, and his loss of confidence and happiness is evident to all who know him well.

* Having spent the intervening years in a spiritual search to deal with his anger and pain, Stevo dies in Hawaii. Shortly before his death, he is back in touch with some of his old friends, and tells them repeatedly of his continuing bad feelings towards Joe, and his fervent desire to see the truth come out. During his last call to Human a few days before his death, he keeps repeating "Joe's going to get his, he's going to get what he has coming to him." Some good-hearted people believe that this was simply Stevo invoking the law of karma, but those of us who don't believe in karma have to wonder if that's really what he meant.

* This website goes live, and the word begins to spread. Joe makes various threats against the author of this site, and files a bogus criminal complaint with the LAPD, claiming that he is the victim of an attempt at blackmail. This is a familiar tactic from Joe, who since the early 1990s has been known to cry extortion whenever any mention of his bad behavior is made in public.

* Joe sells the rights to yet another old Vandals song, this time for use in the film JACKASS 2. According to the settlement made in the 1990s-era lawsuit, the surviving members of the band's original recording lineup are entitled to only a tiny fraction of what was originally an even split. Joe is currently threatening to withhold even that pittance, on the grounds that he believes this website is written and published by his ex-bandmates. He is now demanding that this site be taken down.

This information is copylefted. You may reprint or republish this article without hindrance, provided you do so in full, unedited, and with the attribution (and this notice) intact. Please note that Joe Escalante is a wealthy and powerful attorney who wants to keep this information buried as deeply as possible, and he has been known to file false police reports and institute frivolous legal proceedings against anyone who dares to disseminate the truth about him.

Guy Fawkes Day

2009-11-05T08:35:00.003-07:00

Time to rebel against something or another. I'm gonna pedal in the warmth immediately after work. My knee survived some spins last w/end, so I may be back in the game!