Game on!

January 11th. I remember January 11th. We did a stoopid ride ride that fine day. The kind of ride that reminds you that you don't know the ALL the trails and gravity is, and always will be, king. The temperatures were unseasonably warm as I remember. Apres' ride hanging out, telling stories and talking shit that evening was quite nice as the sun set and bikes lay strewn about along a deserted fire road just outside of Nevada City. As the talk turned from bikes to burritos, we loaded up and headed towards home. I drove the Mighty Mobile van that day. With snow already on the ground in Truckee bike jobs were few and far between. The extended range forecast called for more snow and with it, bike work was surely going to get put "backseat" to waxing skis and making sure things were G.T.G (that's Good To Go) when it finally started dumping. Remembering how worthless the van is in the snow I pulled into the lower driveway that night, got all my gear out and went to sleep.

The weather people knew what they were talking about. When I got up the next morning, snow was already falling. I worked the next three days at the ski shop and I'm pretty sure it snowed almost the entire time. When I was done with my "week" of work, I skied all I could until I had to go back to tuning skis again days later. This seemed to turn into a cycle of "work, ski, repeat" for many many... many weeks. Winter took a little while to arrive in Tahoe this year, but man oh man were things "ON" now. TIME TO SKI!!!

Fast forward to three days ago. Although I haven't put the skis or snow shovels away juuuusst quite yet the sun is out and spring is in the air. With warmer temps and lack of daily fresh snow, the ebb of skis gives way to the flow of bikes and the phones at Mighty Mobile start to ring once again. This makes me happy... and scared. There's a four foot berm at the bottom of the lower parking area and a sea of snow between it and the van. After a few arduous sessions of shoveling, snow blowing, scraping and otherwise unearthing the van; it's finally free.

Next comes some prep work for my "rolling bike shop". Cleaning up the van is kinda like a time machine and in some ways akin to cleaning up after a house party. In place of spilled beer on the floor, there's oil stains on the matting from where the drain pan fell over while rebuilding that fork last fall. Instead of bottle caps, pizza crust and empty beer cans surrounding an overflowing trash can, I find a single brake pad, a stripped our rotor bolt and various scraps of cable and housing. Where you'd normally find chips in the cushions of the sofa I found... CHIPS actually... crushed up in the drivers seat! And on it goes. I spend a day cleaning things up and doing some miscellaneous projects that got put off last fall. I reload the compressor, tools and other miscellaneous items that were pulled from the van over the winter to do various jobs and tasks. Next it's some stocking of parts that have come in orders placed throughout the winter. After a long day I step back, take a deep breath, stretch out my back and know that Mighty Mobile is ready to tackle another summer.

Hope this finds ya'll well.

The Great Ski Race

This week started off with The Great Ski Race (aka the "Tahoe Olympics"). Me and 1060 of my closest friends on a point to point course stretching 30 kilometers with 1,600ft of climbing. I did this race with only 4 days off skate skiing under my legs this year and as a result I really felt like vomiting for the first 10k of the race which just happens to head in the ever popular, yet oh so demoralizing, uphill direction. My situation actually improved once the course stopped climbing and leveled out a bit. As the Jimi Hendrix came through the headphones I was really starting to think that my day was turning around, my form was getting better and my breakfast had finally worked itself into a spot that didn't want to see the light of day again. Unfortunately, that feeling only lasted for a short time as the reality set in that I'm NOT a ski racer and if I was going to finish this race without totally blowing up and crying for my mommy, I'd better back down the pace and just except the fact that I was going to get passed by other skiers.... and plenty of them. In the end, I managed to cross the finish line with a respectable time, albeit while sliding on my back after crashing at a high rate of speed on the final descent. I still suck at descending on the skinny skis.

The scene in front of me at the start...

...and behind.

Kona Unit 19" For Sale

• 2003 19" Kona unit SS Frame
• New Kona Project 2 fork
• New Kona bar, stem, post
• XT Cranks and BB - 32T
• 17T freewheel
• Rear Wheel: Pauls hub w/ WTB Laser Beam
• Front Wheel: XTR hun w/ WTB Laser Beam
• XTR V-Brakes and LeversSyncross FLT 2.2 Tires
• $500.00
• email w/ questions
  

Got a used bike for sale??? Email me w/ pictures and a discription I can copy/paste. Let's make some room in your garage!!