HD trails - I've seen worse

Joe, Justin, and I checked out the trails this morning. Wet. Icy in spots. But generally, the trails there, being composed of a goodly amount of sand, tend to drain well. There were a few mud spots, but we rode without guilt.

And pushed a couple times over the icy bits.

StumpPumper

Ryan Cleek photo. Sniped from BikeRumor site, who sniped it from PinkBike site.

Buddy Chris just forwarded me this from the BikeRumor site, which was picked up from the pinkbike site. Hm. What does this make this regurgitation?

If you want to skip my value-added editorializing, you can go straight to the source at pinkbike.com.

Otherwise, here's my long-winded take on it.

It's a pump track concept bike with wonky cranks. Specifically, the cranks are offset, "... they’re installed such that the rear one is angled down slightly, giving them about a 170° angle."

The designer explains the concept a bit in the comments: the offset crank "reduces inequalities of force between your left and right legs, reducing fatigue and making it more stable. This is particularly beneficial under the high G’s."

Ok. Whatever. I want to try it. And I'd like to see a Ben or a Bob rip into Pat's track on this bike.

Pat's pumptrack as seen from the moon on a clear day.

But mostly, I think it's a good thing that someone at a big bike place is thinking about pump-track specific designs.

When we time-trialed the bikes, Pat's Specialized P1 always got the fasted time, so something is working there already. Lightening up the bike and fussing with stance seem like good things to try. Also, I'm wondering if the front-end doesn't steepen up a bit with a shorter carbon fork (compared to the monster that is on the P1).

Weird part is that in the bikerumor article, it's a "concept bike," but in the pinkbike post, it's a 2012 offering, complete with specs.

Muddy mini Mercier

Trails aren't good at mid-day btw. To anyone who pays attention to trail stuff and weather changes, that's obvious.

But I had to verify on the way home from a store run. Turns out there's a fair bit of mud there.

However, the word is that early morning is great when they're still solid. I'm hoping by mid-week I can take the trails home after work.

Making the mini mine

Swapped saddle, bars, stem, wheels and tires. Put a pump on there. And a bag. And a nerdy rack.

I've ridden this bike a couple times to work and I've tooled around errand'ing on it. It's fun. I really feel the bumps and holes and such. And it doesn't "roll out" at all. But it makes up for that stuff in its nimbleness, toughness, and wheelie'ness.

No less than 8 zip ties.

Nimble: I can turn on a tiny dime with this thing. I'm pretty sure I could just about trace a manhole cover with the front wheel.

Tough: When I was a kid, all I rode was BMX, so I had no idea there was a concept of breaking bikes or wheels. Which has been an expensive and ongoing lesson as I've "grown" into 26" and 700c wheels. I can hop off every driveway dip I pass with this bike and fear no breakage of anything.

Wheelie-potential: If I can't wheelie/manual this bike by the end of the summer. It'll never happen. Ever.

I built these wheel way back when the mini was in the Elephant queue. When people talk about "bombproof" wheels, these would be a great example: 36 spokes, Deore hubs, on 406 mm Sun Ryno rims. Paired with big 2" Intense BMX tires. Word.

Best ride of the year

So it's only Feb 3. But still, "best" is the "best."

Jon, Bill, and I did the Valley Chapel - Mt Hope - Jackson road loop today. It's got good climbing and the dirt roads right now are perfect. Jackson in particular was freshly graded, smooth, and still frozen under the thin layer of dirt on top.

The day was cool but clear and beautiful.

And the pace was "spirited."

Here's the route + numbers.

All-in-all, a very satisfying ride.
Lovely.

Hard to find tape like that these days

Losing my cool

Dang it.

I just flipped a driver off on my way to work. It was a full-on, rotate my body, get eye contact and bird-flipping second.

That hasn't happened for over a year. I really try to keep it cool. I expect people to do the wrong thing so I'm always able to let stuff roll off. But this morning an aggro driver got the best of me.

By the way he beat a gap and cut off another car to pass me, only to end up behind a left-turning driver -- I knew -- I KNEW -- he was going to pull out in front of me. The John-I-want-to-be should've just backed off a bit, slowed, and let the guy be on his way.

But the real John held his line, only to swerve by the inevitable cut-off. And in doing so was justifiably pissed off and most importantly, deeply wronged. Ugh.

So I added a bird to this already angry world. Of course, he caught up, passed me and gave me a solid middle finger complete with rage-filled eyes.

My bad.

Dude in the convertible Saab: I'm sorry. We were both suck-ass drivers this morning, but I really do hope your day gets better.