Is the Burke trip in jeopardy?

We are under a mega flood watch or something like that right now. It has been raining since Friday morning and does not look like it is supposed to let up til Monday or Tuesday. Plus the rain that is falling is really wet. They are calling for a couple to a few inches of it or more. Imagine if that was all snow??? In a couple of months we'll be calling these storms Nor'easters.

Problem is that Kingdom Trails will close if it is too wet. That will be a real bummer, guess it could be worse, this weekend was the other option when it was being planned. That would have been a washout for sure.

I got out for a good nightride a few days ago. First time riding in the dark since crashing on my head and beaking my helmet at the 24 Hrs of Great Glen.

On Thursday I snuck out for a good ride at lunch with Chris and we rode the Sidehill Trail including the new section. It is a very nice new bit of trail. Somebody put in some serious time doing some nice trail work.

The trail is much better heading South on it than going North. There are some cool rock outcroppings to ride and a very large boulder to go up and over for those who dare, not me. The trail dumps you out at the Redstone Quarry which is a pretty cool spot with lots of granite and history.

With all the rain I started to build up my new (well new to me) Cannondale road frame. Got to a point where I realized that I needed all new cables and decided to take it to the Red Jersey to let them finish it off and get the derailures all set up right.

JJ

Out for a road ride

Got out of about an hour and a half on the road bike last night. It felt good. Rode an old training loop from when I was racing in the juniors- boy did that bring back memories. It's crazy to realize how much time has passed in life sometimes. I was speaking to a student the other day and realized he hadn't been born yet when I won my first road race. That threw me for a loop. There are times I still think of the students here at Bridgton Academy as being older then me- and then I realize that those days are LONG gone.

Basso is coming back, Lance is coming back, Tyler is in the Stars and Stripes- pretty interesting to see the "old gaurd" coming back. Although Basso is still young, it just seems like he's part of the old ways. When is Frankie going to come back? For that matter Ned has never stopped- that man is amazing.

Talked with JJ about Kingdom Trails- I had forgotten about the trip- now I'm scrambling trying to make that happen. We had such a great time last year, I need to make it work in some way shape or form.

Been thinking a fair amount about ski season- it's really not that far off!

Need to get the Surly set from cross season, have forgone building up a new bike. I think I need to prove to myself that I can be competitive before I spent money to make the bike a bit faster. I know, how none "American Consumer" of me. Of course the real story- I don't care for the new color of the Kona Jake frame.

ride on.

DEA

BIke for Sale

I am trying to sell my Salsa El Mariachi frame & fork and thought I had a pretty good ad for it for eBay. Boy was I wrong. Below is an ad for a bike from Craigs List. After reading that ad, I think I need to re-work my ad to make it a bit more manley. Please be advised that some of the language in the ad is of an adult or grown-up type nature (there's some curse words in it).

Bike for sale

What kind of bike? I don't know, I'm not a bike scientist. What I am though is a manly guy looking to sell his bike. This bike is made out of metal and kick ass spokes. The back reflector was taken off, but if you think that deters me from riding at night, you're way wrong. I practiced ninja training in Japan's mount Fuji for 5 years and the first rule they teach about ninja biking is that back reflectors let the enemy know where you are.

The bike says Giant on the side because it's referring to my junk, but rest assured even if you have tiny junk that Giant advertisement is going to remain right where it is. I bought this bike for 300 dollars from a retired mercenary that fought in both World War 1 and World War 2 and had his right arm bitten off by a shark in the Phillipines while stationed there as a shark handler.

When he sold it to me I had to arm wrestle him for the honor to buy it. I broke his arm in 7 places when I did. He was so impressed with me he offered me to be his son but I thought that was sissy shit so I said no way.

The bike has some rusted screws, but that just shows how much of a bad ass you are. Everyone knows rusted screws on a bike means that you probably drove it underwater and that's bad ass in itself.

The bike is for men because the seat is flat or some shit and not shaped like a dildo. If you like flat seated bikes you're going to love this thing because it doesn't try to penetrate or anything.

I've topped out at 75 miles per hour on this uphill but if you're just a regular man you'll probably top it out at 10 miles per hour. This thing is listed as a street bike which is man-code for bike tank. The bike has 7 speeds in total:

Gear 1 - Sissy Gear
Gear 2 - Less Sissy Gear
Gear 3 - Least Sissy Gear
Gear 4 - Boy Gear
Gear 5 - Pre-teen Boy Gear
Gear 6 - Manly Gear
Gear 7 - Big Muscles Gear

I only like gear 6 and 7 to be honest.

Additionally, this tool of all immense men comes with a gigantic lock to keep it secure. The lock is the size of a bull's testicles and tells people you don't fuck around with locking up your bike tank. It tells would-be-thieves "Hey asshole, touch this bike and I'll appear from the bushes ready to club you with a two-by-four".

Bike is for 150 OBO (and don't give me no panzy prices)

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/765370039.html


I was hoping there was a picture of this bike in the ad but I guess that is left to one's imagination.

JJ

riding and building

Since our move over to Maine I haven't been riding as much as I would like, a host of reasons go into that- but the biggest has been priorities. I've been very focused on moving, the new job, getting our NH house ready to rent, yada yada yada- but now (for the most part) life is settling into a routine and I'm getting the bike back involved.

With the move I have had to leave some of the nicest single track a guy could ask for behind. It has been a long time with my enjoyment of others hard work in the woods, and the time has come that I begin to give back by building some trails. That is one of the nice things about working for a private school- we have land, and we have a headmaster who is into cycling and wanting to see trails get built- so I have the space, I own rakes, and now I just need to go out and do it.

Last night the girls and I (well most of the girls- K was out walking the dogs) went out and raked a section of trail that connected two existing but dead end pieces of trail- so I have one loop ready to be ridden in. I have a few other sections laid out in my mind- now I need to just get out and make them happen.

So I begin the giving back for trail building karma.


DEA

The new build continues

So my newest project is getting closer to completion. Installed the crown race and headset on Sunday. Thanks to Sven for lending the headset tool. It would have been a mess to try and do it with a hammer and a chisel that I had to use.




The carbon fork looks wicked nice with the paint job and the red accents on the fork.

I did a couple test laps around the driveway to see if I hade everything set up right and it was a nice smooth test ride.

Last thing to do is cut the steerer tube down. I'm always a bit leary of cutting anything as its sorta a permenent type thing. I am actually waiting to cut it until the rest of the parts arrive. Funny how you order parts to build up a bike and you think you have everything you need, that is until you find out you need something you forgot.

Hopefully tommorw or Friday the headset spacers, stem and new handlebars arrive and I can finalize the steerer tube length and install the compression plug. At that point it will be time for the dirt.

JJ

Lance making a comeback?

Rumors of Lance coming back- hmmmmmmm

how will his political aspirations go always wearing the colors of Kazakhstan?

crazy Texans.

DEA

Finally

Got out for a night ride last night, not a crazy ride by any stretch, but it felt good to get out and pedal. Rode a bit of single track and double track, but the bulk of the riding was pavement or dirt roads.

For the wildlife report- two deer crossed in front of me early in the ride. And I saw one porcupine cross the road in front of me. I actually tried to get my phone out to snap a shot, but despite their slowness he was quick enough to get into the underbrush before I could get a shot- next time.

Rode with gears last night, need to stop doing that! Talked to JJ about his new rig- looks nice. Hmmm carbon fork for the Mamasita? Might be in the cards.

Sastra to Cervelo- so maybe they really do make the best bikes.

later,

DEA

Bikes come and go

I am selling my Salsa El Mariachi frame & fork in case anyone's looking for a nice 29er setup.

CHeck it out here if you are interested:  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330267009674&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=014

This is the current project I am working on to replace the El Mariachi.

A nice new Soma Juice in a snazzy red paint scheme.

I ordered a new Carbon fork to go on it which hopefully will arrive tomorrow so I can assemble it this weekend and have a test ride.

I'll put up some more pics once its further along.

JJ

Tyler on top again

I don't know if he did or didn't, but if he did- he served his time, if he didn't then cycling lost out on a few years of great cycling from Tyler.

He's always been one of my favorite riders, but there have been days where I just didn't know what to think (and still don't)- but either way- Kudo's to TH for winning the jersey!