The Bike

Rode the bike yesterday.
Bullards Bar.
Near record high temps.
Lots of ticks. Careful if you're down there right now... their thirsty.

Felt good. Good to be riding. It'd been since Christmas since I'd been on the saddle and I'd almost forgot how I missed the feeling of rolling through the woods on a bike with my leg hairs waving in the breeze. The weather was perfect (read; warm) allowing all of my very very white appendages to see the light of day for the first time in months.

Bullards Bar: We parked at the Dark Day Boat Launch and rode the roller coaster like Bullards Bar Trail towards Willow Creek and then did the climb up towards Camptonville. From there, it's a little bit of dirt road riding back towards Marrysville Rd. Once there, you will see 8 Ball Trail running on the South side of Marrysville Rd. We took this trail to Schoolhouse Trail which drops you back to Bullards Bar Trail for a few more miles of roller coaster type stuff back to your car. There's a couple more trails there, but the mentioned route makes for a nice loop... especially if you haven't been riding for a while.

Things of note: TICKS!! When we rode, they were everywhere! And I mean it! Upon inspection of almost any bush, vine, branch or anything else that was slightly overgrowing into the trail you would see these little bastards hanging out on the very ends of said overgrowth waiting for you come by so they could latch on. We stopped many times to do a "tick check" and were fortunate to only find a few of them actually on us. I think that when your on a bike at speed on the trail they have a harder time grabbing a hold of something and get "bounced off". If guessing that if you were hiking you'd have them pretty much all over you. Keep an eye out... these little bastards can really mess you up if you let them. My advice: Ride fast and check yourself often.
Also, about a 1/4 mile past the Dark Day area heading towards Schoolhouse the trail is severely washed out. It's possible to get through, but you'll have to earn it. The washout is about 15ft across and at least this deep.
One more thing; if you forget the ice/snow to keep your beer cold, initial testing we've done seems to prove that covering said "liquid refreshment" with abundantly found ground cover (leaves, pine needles and the like) does indeed keep things at a nice chilly temp.

ticky tack

Soooo.... been skiin'. Damn. Sure feels good. Sure is fun. Viewed by some as "hard", the hike up the skin track is -at least for me- very therapeutic (we're talking backcountry skiing here people). It gives me a chance to catch up with friends, get some exercise and sort my thoughts. Countless are the times I've worked out a solution to a problem while hiking up a mountain with skis on my feet and a peak an hour off in the distance. Mighty Mobile's name was actually conceived while hiking up a skin track on the west shore of Tahoe while thinking of Mighty Mouse in some random string of thoughts. Don't ask me how... it just kind of happens that way for me sometimes.
Then... then there's the ride back down. Bouncing down the side of a mountain through snow is something that needs to be experienced to fully understand and appreciate. The freedom of choosing your own lines back down is beautifully unrestricted and sooooo fun with your only boundaries being gravity and the size of your cojones (english usage).
But (there's always a "but") the bike is never far from my mind. I don't think a day goes by when I don't think of an endless ribbon of trail that strings on for miles. Which trail? Where does it go? I don't know and I don't care but I want to be on it! It's been said before that my favorite trail is "the one I'm on right now" and for the most part nothing could be more true.
My thoughts this year are to do some more racing. I had a pretty good go of it last summer and wouldn't mind carrying the momentum into 2011 while I still have the drive, health and time. Been looking at bikes. Been thinking about races. Don't want to "bite off more than I can chew". Gotta be careful. Pick the right races for me. Keep it fun. Keep it real.
Meh... either that or I'll renew my fishing license this year and work on my relaxation skills and ability to drink cheap beer.

hippy hillidaze

Tell ya what, I'm ready for things to settle down a bit. Ever since signing the lease on a new rental house back in Mid Oct, I've been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.
First on the list way back when was firewood. After an amazingly long winter last year, we went through wood piles that I forgot we even had. This was kind of OK in the sense that I didn't have to move existing wood from one house to another but the caveat was the amount of wood I felt I needed to cut to keep things toasty inside the house this winter would be rather large. Meh, whadda ya gonna do. I made the best of it "maxing out" my little trucks potential doing loads of lodgepole around here and taking my bike with me down into the foothills for smaller loads of oak.
Next would be the actual act of moving. Man I hate moving. It seems so easy when you look around your house but when you start packing up the last 5 years of your life you realize that your ability to pack things away like a squirrel storing food for the winter kinda turns around to bite you in the arse now that you're responsible for getting all of your junk across town and into a new place. Anyone who visited the Truckee thrift store in early Nov probably scored some pretty neat stuff as many-a-loads were taken there. Then of course there's utility connections, address changes and figuring out just where to put all your junk from the last house.
Not too long after moving, my trucks intermittent inability to start turned into something a little more consistent.... like never wanting to start. After having a look around the engine compartment and cleaning up a few contacts I officially maxed out my electrical troubleshooting capacity and called a professional (or at least a guy with a test light and ohm meter) to get things sorted out. After getting all "high tech" with test lights and remote starting systems it turned out to be a loose screw on my ignition switch. I guess things loosen up after countless turns of the key to start the truck in its last 16 years. Meh, I can handle that since I put almost exactly NO maintenance into that thing.
Let's see, next would an epic trip back east with Megan (girlfriend) for Thanksgiving where we left for the Reno airport in a blinding snowstorm. After almost turning around (twice) on our way out of Truckee, we amazingly made it to the airport on time. Once back on the east coast I would be rewarded for my efforts with the annual Thanksgiving day ride back in the "motherland" of Pennsylvania. Of course, it rained but we still had 12 people show up for the ride which has probably been going on for 20+ years now. After spending about 5 days back in my hometown we packed up and headed to Baltimore Md for the last two nights and spent a day at the Baltimore Aquarium. This place is friggin' rad! If you're ever in the area, it's a must see. Watch out for "giant man eating fish" if you go!!

After Thanksgiving, it was back to "normal" life in Truckee. Super busy this time of year. The ski shop I work part time at is in it's busiest time of the season and there's more work there than you can shake a stick at. Add to this the fact that I'm still doing a fair amount of bike work and it leaves little time for skiing although I've still been able to get out a few times.
Getting out of town for Thanksgiving worked out so well that we thought we'd try it again for Christmas and visit Megans folks in Santa Barbara. Super nice. Warm. Green. Took the road bike. Did a "sensible" ride one day and then a stoopid ride the next which found me on a 45 mile loop with almost 5,000ft of climbing. After riding less than twice in the last 8 weeks, I felt a little out of my element and ate everything I could find in the fridge upon returning back to the house. Ahhh, I can't wait for spring when I can feel like this on a weekly basis.

Whadda Ya Do

With wrenches spinning and freewheels tick tick ticking away I often get asked the question of "so... what do you do in the winter?" as I'm working on someones bike at their house in the middle of a hot summer day. As cool as it would be to simply answer "ski" the reality of the situation here at Might Mobile is that I DO like eating food throughout the winter, ski equipment requires payment with actual US currency and electricity is really something that I've grown accustomed to would like to keep around the house. All of this stuff costs money and although I'm sooooo thankful that I can make it in Tahoe in the summer months via wrenching on bikes, I still need to work throughout the winter.

The past couple of winters, I've been spending my time at the Start Haus in Truckee. The shop is primarily a race shop, but does dabble in backcountry gear and freeride skis as well. I usually find myself tuning skis and doing some boot fitting.

When tuning skis, I'm usually staring at stickers on various pieces of equipment depicting that even if I read this...

.... and wear these.....

.... I still may find myself like this

Neat huh.

Do I do ANY bike work in the winter? You betcha! If you've got problems, I've got solutions. But, until global warming really takes over and we're riding the Tahoe Rim Trail in January you'll find me at the Start Haus running skis through some sort of machine or trying to contort my hands and wrists while attempting to do a grind within the confines of a ski boot.

Coincidentally, I'd like to give a big ole' shout out and thank you to all my customers that have made Mighty Mobile a success again this past summer! From the guy with the flat tire to the gal that got the suspension rebuild thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Thanks for letting me help you.

Stuff to do

If you're looking for something to do next Tue night (the 16th) head on over to the 50/50 Brewing Co and check out a movie about the 2010 Great Divide Race.

Ride The Divide Movie Trailer from Ride The Divide on Vimeo.

If a 2,700 mile race with 200,000ft of climbing sounds like a good time then this race is for you! I wouldn't waste too much time looking for my name to be on the start list for 2011. Hundred milers are the limit for me these days.

Simplicity

Was thinking tonight.....

....pedalling along the trails.....

....sometimes you don't need much....

....to have a perfect day.

This and That

You guys still out there? Figured you would'a packed up your stuff and headed somewhere else for some more frequent jibber jabber on the interweb. But, since you decided to stop by, I'll do my best to entertain ya'll for a spell.

Been busy doin' busy type stuff. Although the days of the calender tick away at an astonishingly quick pace, I'm still in denial that winter is bearing down on us and before we know it, the trails will be under knee deep snow. Let's hope my wood pile grows in size quite a bit before that happens.

My desire to ride bikes is at an all time high right now. The recent rains have done the trails in Tahoe justice and the riding is the best it's been all season. Dust? What dust? That stuff's pretty much non-existent which makes riding with friends quite pleasurable... a nice change of pace from brown shins, black boogers and chains that sound like the neighbor kids huffy.
My desire for racing however is still low, very very low. I've shown up to some "outlaw cyclocrosses" in the previous weeks but have taken more of a photographers roll than that of a bike racer. Some current pics here. While the thought of making other people suffer more than I'm suffering myself still sounds neat... it's just not reality right now for me. There will be plenty of time for that again next summer.

Moving on, I was reminded by my buddy (we'll call him Daryn Kratz to protect his real identity) on a recent ride about the "chemtrail conspiracy". He had me snapping all kinds of photos while on a ride last week....like this one here.

I wasn't going to say anything about this, but since it's another unbelievably believable government oriented affair and I haven't heard much from my buddy Tom in a while, I thought I might post it just to see what happens. What the hell am I talking about? I'll leave that to someone with more insight than I have on the subject in the video below. If you're still reading this, you must have alot of free time on your hands so taking another 11 minutes out of your day (or your bosses) won't kill you.


So, as you can see, I've been quite busy lately. Between my unprofessional photography, avoiding aluminum microdust particulates and working on the woodpile I'm still managing to keep bikes rolling for people in Truckee as well as getting out for some rides my damn self. Hope to see ya'll out on the trails.