Garmin stalking

I mentioned the gps watch thing a while back. I've been tracking just about every ride I take. Expect a forthcoming boring-ass analysis soon.

But in the mean time, dig this. One feature of the Garmin Connect software is being able to explore other routes that people have uploaded (and made public) to the map set. It's pretty damn sweet. Default search is scoped by the view of the map that you focus on. But then you can filter by cycling or even a sub-filter: mountain bike.

I found this bitchin ride that "mtbmoose" posted recently: river trail, both sides for 90% of the ride. He hammers it too. I want to ride with that guy. Creepy right?

Well, I've ridden all of mtbmoose's route except for that little piece that from the Meenach bridge upriver to Sandifur bridge. The last time I tried that was probably 15 years ago. And I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember turning back. So mtbmoose's track is intriguing.

Historically significant bit of trail. This is at the end of 8th on HD trails. We used to come here in the 80's and ride this little track. It's probably one or two piles of dirt from being easily pumpable.

Jon, Tony, and I set off to figure it out this morning. It's slick and foggy and snowy and icy on the roads. But the trials are ok. Except for slippery roundish rocks which are often terrifying --  depending on the context of where one encounters them. The section of trail that mtnmoose exposed for us was full of those slick bastards and the trail was very uppy-downy-rollercoastery. So -- we did a lot of pushing, walking, slipping. It's worth checking out in the spring.

Dorkier by the week.
That helmet seemed cool in the catalog.

Tony has this odd thing when I take pictures. He makes me give him my phone so he can take pictures of me. I've tried to explain to him that that's not how it's supposed to work. But he doesn't get it. I'd be lying to say I don't feel obligated to post the pictures he takes of me.

Bike Hang. Bennidito's. Weds. 7:30

Title says it all.

Picture is gross. But also tells a story in its own gross way.

Snow-Fat bike v2

So the cheap fat-bike thing didn't really work out.

But Glen is always thinking... and he pondered this hack.

And I'll be a monkey's uncle. It's not as stupid as it looks. And it looks pretty stupid.

Seatpost shim. The weird-o frame takes a 29.4mm post.

Of course, I've not ridden it in the snow yet. But it's pretty easy riding: with the crazy-slack angles (further amplified by pushing the front of the bike a few inches skyward), and the tall bars.

It puts you right over the rear wheel and removes weight over the front wheel. So maybe. Just maybe, it will float, while the rear wheel does all the work. And if I can find a cheap (free) fatter tire for the back, I can go to about 2.5 there.

The weirdo frame also took a (surprise!) Italian-threaded bb. The only one Glen had laying around was a sweet titanium one. Nice!

And the biggest bonus here? And Joe2 called this as soon as Glen popped it out of the stand -- the bike is a wheelie machine. Like: just pedal and you can lift the front wheel.

More to come on this I'm sure.

The other fat tire will be homemade-studded by people that hang out in Glen's garage. I need to get the hardware for that. You should go hang out at Glen's garage sometime!

Beer #3

From the Dylan stash.

Stine, Glen, Liza, and I gave Beer #3 a taste yesterday.

It's "Gueuze Girardin."

When he gave it to me, Dylan introduced it with something like, "it kind of smells like a barnyard, but I'll be interested in what you think of it. Grace loves it." Grace is the wife of Dylan.

It's interesting. The following flavors were detected:
- Ripe cheese
- Arm pit
- Urine

And Liza detected a distinct "salami... or fermented meat after-taste. Like briny olives."

We were all perplexed. After Glen identified the "arm pit" flavor, he said, "but I keep drinking it..."

We're not sure what happened there.

Slavin Loop

Tony and Mike

I took a ride with Tony and Mike this morning. Tony showed me the Slavin Conservation Area. Joe and I went here years ago, but came at the site from the other end and sort of dead-ended on a trail and left.

I'm a dork.

Tony showed me a way into the area from the west side. We came at it from the dirt side of the White Road climb. My kind of ride -- lots of dirt trails and dirt roads. Of course, I had my super-watch on, so you can check out the route, my speed, and my heart rate here.

Tony

It was about 20F. Aside from a 3 or 4 mile descent on 195 back into town, which was damn cold, we kept moving and stayed mostly warm.

The hoar! The hoar!

With the cold came the frost. It was super pretty. Especially on the Slavin Conservation, where the hoar frost clung to everything and the ponds and small lakes were frozen sheer. I just learned about hoar frost today.

Review follow up: shoes, jacket, beer

DZR GMT-8 SPD-compatible sneakers
Original review here.
OTM review here.
Did I buy it? Yep

The upshot: good shoes. I'd buy them again. We're a solid 6 months into this shoe and it's holding up great. I'm pretty surprised actually. As noted in the OTM review, there is a bit of a steamy funk factor with these. But that's not really the fault of the shoe... you know what you're getting when you buy a canvas shoe. So if you bite on this one, pull the inserts out every couple days and air them out for best results.

Ibex Breakaway Hybrid 2
Initial review here.
Did I buy it? Nope. It was provided by Ibex for review.

The upshot: this is the best one yet. I really had to wait until it got nice and cold to make sure the jacket was suited for sub-freezing weather. It is.

It's lighter in feel than the older Hybrids, but the front of this jacket does a great job of blocking the cold wind. My commute in the morning is straight down hill for 4 miles. It was 17 F this morning on the way to work and as my face and fingers froze, my core was happy.

That's the shoulder-section of the jacket that I landed on. I washed the jacket and there's no trace of the wreck.

And just like the other Ibex stuff, this jacket is tough. I was wearing this jacket when I was Eberlized, which tore open my knee and scraped up my back to draw a bit of blood. There's zero impact to the jacket -- no rips or pilling or even a unstiched little thread. Crazy good stuff here.

This pricey-ass jacket is totally worth the money.

Sour beer #2
No prior reviews.
Did I buy it? Nope. Dylan gave it to me.

Dylan brought me a pile of super awesome sour beers a few weeks ago. Noted here.

The Russian River Supplication was the first one I tried, and it totally lived up to the hype. That's one of my all time favorites now. I have one bottle left and I'm not sure when I'm going to drink it.

The second beer from the Dylan stash that I tried is called "Monk Cafe Flemish Sour Ale."

The upshot: great beer. The sour is there, but it is a tad too fruity for me. These Flemish sour beers appear to be made in the same way: by mixing an older cask-aged beer with a younger fruitier beer. In this one the fruit is too aggressive for me, but it's still a great beer that I'd happily drink any day. It's just not the pure bliss that The Supplication and La Folie are for me.

City bike

This is Glen's beer hang and commuter bike.

It's been hacked together over the last couple years. He bought the frame from P2P. The forks (Lyon) are from Alex. And the rack was one of the early Alex racks.

The stem is titanium to keep it all light.

Light is the new cheap BM jobber -- good enough. Bag is old Boeing tool bag with a zillion little pockets. Pretty stylin'.

The rear clearance is a little tight. 35mm Pasalas. He had to mount the brake on the inside to get that tire to spin.

I took these pictures on Thursday night.

Last night Glen fixed the rear clearance issue and sent me this pic. He might be able to wedge a fender in there now.