See Ya!!

Well, it’s been real, but it ain’t been fun. I’m going to blogger, if anyone wants to follow my life, you can find me here

 

 

Later!!

Taking Inventory & Time.

So I stepped back this weekend after my BOMB ride and took inventory of my gear, which was getting out of control.  Before I came to my senses, I had a Camelbak MULE, an Ergon BD1, and the NorthFace Megamouth. I decided that the Megamouth and the BD1 were pretty much the same type of pack, and therefore unneccessary. I made the decision to return the NorthFace pack. I picked up a Camelback Lobo, which I see myself using more than my MULE. I also picked up a set of Pro-Tec gloves. I love these things. They’re very minimalist, so it’s almost like a second scin, and it’s got a tougher shell than the 661 Raji, the 661 Raji had a venti-mesh back that was a little too thin for my liking. On the way out, I picked up some Clif Bloks and some GU gel. BTW, the Sport Chalet in Porter Ranch kicks ass, it destroys the Woodland Hills store. Especially the bikes deptartment. The backpacks section is soo much moreorganized, they have better deals, it’s really a pretty good store for a large-chain brand.

I have this Thursday off. MORE RIDING TIME!!! I don’t know yet where I’ll be going, maybe Ojai, maybe Pt. Mugu/Sycamore from the beach.  I just want a place that’s far from the city, maybe with a campsite, a place where I can just chill, do a little riding, maybe some scenic hiking, just have a great day.

I’ll be packing my bike, my trekking poles, both camelbaks, some bloks, gels, and some GU/Water mix. My Merrels, and all my bike gear. Oh, and my camera.

Taking Inventory

So I stepped back this weekend after my BOMB ride and took inventory of my gear, which was getting out of control.  Before I came to my senses, I had a Camelbak MULE, an Ergon BD1, and the NorthFace Megamouth. I decided that the Megamouth and the BD1 were pretty much the same type of pack, and therefore unneccessary. I made the decision to return the NorthFace pack. I picked up a Camelback Lobo, which I see myself using more than my MULE. I also picked up a set of Pro-Tec gloves. I love these things. They’re very minimalist, so it’s almost like a second scin, and it’s got a tougher shell than the 661 Raji, the 661 Raji had a venti-mesh back that was a little too thin for my liking. BTW, the Sport Chalet in Porter Ranch kicks ass, it destroys the Woodland Hills store.

Sycamore and my middle ring.

Or should I say “SICK”-a-more!!. Saturday was probably one of the best runs I’ve had personally, and the groups had, in a while. It was Myself, Doug and Janet(on a tandem), Ben, Jim, Steve, two Kevins, Louise and Dennis. I slapped on Arm-warmers because I knew we here headed down the black bitch into the canyon floor, where it can get chilly. Sure enough, as we headed down the bitch, it got cold. We turned right to start the extra credit ST before two foxes, where the sun finally showed itself and I stripped the arm warmers and shoved them into my pack. I was fealin’ it today, I don’t know what it was, most likely it was the good solid week of spinning and lower back exercises. I was railing, leaning, flying, it was awesome.

Two Foxes was in great shape, as was myself. I was flying through Two Foxes, I felt great.  Every turn, corner, g-out, it was in spectacular condition for a group ride. After the Two Foxes roller coaster, we took a nice spin over to the Guad trailheead, where we waited for the Faster “B” group. I slurped on a Hamer Gel, took a swig from my bottle, then started up Guad.

Prior to starting up Guad, I hadn’t left my middle ring, but I was almost certain that “granny” would rear her ugly head on the climb. Guadalasco starts with a slight, slight climb, where we regrouped, After a quick DH, we hit the meat of the Guad, the Switchbacks. Guad switchbacks are famous, just one after another, with rocky terrain thrown in for good measure. I started up the switchbacks at the Dennis Pace, with Dennis, well, pacing me, with Louise right behind. Soon afterwards, I realized I could go faster, kindly excused myself past D-man, and decided to ride the Kevin Pace. This was the first time I’d seen Kevin in a while, I think the TSP ride was the last time we rode together. I was happily spinning at the Kevin Pace, when I dabbed, yup, the dreaded dab. I had to dismount and get to leveler ground, Louise went ahead of me, luckily I wasn’t thrown to the back of the pack, and managed to get to the top with no more mishaps. We did some good resting and regrouping at the top of Guad, with some UNBELIEVABLE views to soak in. Doug did his weekly BOMB ride devotional, we were rested, regrouped and refreshed, and we headed to backbone.

Backbone was its usual e-ticket self. I had Jim in hot pursuit, so I opened it up a little bit going down. I dinged the bike a couple times, but all in all, she was a champ. I pulled off and let the “PROS” pass me, then I had a nice rest of the ride down backbone to Sycamore Canyon Trail. While resting and regrouping, Kevin, Jim & myself talked about the benefits of tubeless. I’m now seriously thinking about it, heading over to Michael’s to see if he can convert my tires, I could stand to drop a couple pounds on the Cobia. 

After Backbone, we spun over to the start of Black Bitch, talked about god, then began the climb, I finished the BB in the middle ring, where we regrouped again and found out that the MBU looking for a lost hiker diabetic was just a training exercise. We then rode back to the cars. Great Ride, on a gorgeous day!!

Sycamore Canyon this Saturday with the guys.

This Saturday we’re hitting Sycamore. This time though were tackling Guad, Backbone, Two Foxes, the normal route. The Lang Ranch Ride Last Week was an Epic, well, at least for me. Climbing to the top of China Flats, 2400 ft above sea level. Then bombing down Dead Cow, which was the most hair-raising experience I’ve ever had on two wheels. I hit it at the favored “Dennis Pace” Yup, it was me and Dennis for most of the ride, sweeping eachother, Ross joined towards the end of the ride as well. Lang Ranch is a pretty ride with some awesome views, but I need to start training better to fully enjoy Lang Ranch.

No Ergon for a while

Sorry all you Ergon fans, but I’m leaving my Ergon at home for now, until my hips get better. My hips had been bothering me since before I got my BD1-the result of a slightly low-positioned Thomson. Placing a major load on my hips just didn’t seem like a smart move. 

On a happier note, I did get this the other day:

My main reason for getting this one? The pockets, lots and lots of pockets. A pocket for my gels and bloks, a pocket for my tools, a pocket for my first aid kit and that little bendy-light thing, that I know will come in handy. Plus the usual extra gloves, arm warmers and a windbreaker. Plus the mesh-ventilation back’s one of my favorites, along with the Nalgene bladder, the first one that’s truely taste-free. The magnetic holder for the mouthpiece is pure genius. I took her on the Lang Ranch run, she worked fine.

Lang Ranch II

My last Lang Ranch ride was solo, and cut short by rain. I met up with the guys this morning, and what a fine morning it was. Dennis, Ben, Jim, Ross, Devin, Chris A, Doug and three others whose names escape me, rode up to China Flats, then bombed…., well, I’ll get to that later.

The ride was a bit tougher than my last attempt, probably due to the extra gear I was carrying in my new NorthFace Megamouth. I carried a windbreaker, arm warmers, First Aid, Bike pump, tire levers, two gels, cliff blocks, and a CB multi-tool. Oh, and a water bottle with a Water/GU mix, whew. Anyways, it was me and Dennis, riding at my favored “Dennis Pace” up to the top. Once at the top, Doug held a prayer, and I prayed for our family and for Eric, my brother, it’s some tough times right now. After the prayer, we dropped into China Flats, which is a beautiful area to ride, lots of trees and ST, perfect conditions to ride. The views from China Flatt were unreal, just nothing but views for miles and miles. I enjoyed China Flatts as much as I could, before the crew bombed down Dead Cow.

Dead Cow, is a friggin e-ticket ride. Probably the most hair-raising downhill I’ve ever ridden, no, it is the most hair-raising downhill I’ve ever ridden. Rocky, steep, rocky, did I mention it was rocky. I dabbed a few times, maybe 6, but I’d do it again in a heart beat. I saw some DH’rs walking pushing their DH rigs up, and I’d totally do the same thing over and over, and over, for that rush. Some road riding, welcome road riding for this mountain biker, took us to some more uphill, which I don’t neccessarily mind, since I know it’ll make me a better, stronger rider. Myself and Ross got turned around on a couple streets when me momentarily lost the group, but we found our way back, then hit up some S, yup, more climbing, which popped us out onto another beautiful ridgeline overlooking Simi and the trailhead. From the top of the ridge, it was another fun DH, where I almost lost a couple times, but managed to hold it together. Great ride overall, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Seriously?!!??!!

If you’re a biker, read this

It’s unreal. Mountain Biker, roadie, bike messenger, casual rider, if you’re one of these, please comment and set this woman straight.

For those you can’t open the link:

I’m a nice person. I just have one teensy problem. It’s something my mom’s harangued me about for years. She calls it “a lack of compassion.”

It’s not a lack of compassion. My problem is that I have problems. I live in a world so anti-Disney, I practically hate everything. And while this is not a sad situation for me, it does create whirlpools of hate so large they generate their own gravitational fields. And this week, I’m getting sucked into a vortex called “biking culture sucks.”

I’m sick of hearing bikers proselytize their hobby like it’s a religion. Hobbies do not make you a better person on the whole. They make you happy, so everyone else finds you manageable. I hate biking and am sick of people looking at me like I have spiders crawling out of my ears every time I say it. This is a hate born of cool, collected reason and an intense scrutiny of the geared culture.

One of the biggest reasons people embrace biking is to save the environment. This is crap. The environment has always been a problem. People just ignored it until celebrities started endorsing climate change charities. It made climate change the issue du jour (like autism was a few years ago) and when a new “cause” becomes cool, bikes will be left curbside like Christmas trees.

Although I’m glad biking helps some people keep pacemakers out of their chests, I’m not slipping onto Satan’s cycle for that argument either. I was at my physical peak twice in my lifetime. The first time, I regularly and voluntarily ran for several miles a day in high school. The second time, my sophomore year in college, I did several hours of yoga every day. Both times, I had the endurance and energy of a toddler and could bend in all sorts of unnatural ways. However, I was also smoking a pack a week and lived off  Twinkies, French fries and Pabst.

Nowadays, I’ve given up smoking and exercising and try to fit green things in my diet. Overall, I feel healthier now than when I had to start my day with a cancer stick and some frosting. So, biking will not make me fitter, happier and more productive. It will make me one of the late, sweaty kids in class with no books and pegged pants. And I’ll probably be so pissed at that state of events, I’d start smoking again.

But by far, my biggest problem with bikers is when they act as though the laws of physics, common decency and the judicial system don’t apply to them. The rest of the world has to choose to be either a pedestrian or a car, but bikers think they can be both.

They think it’s acceptable to leap from sidewalks to car lanes and then go five miles per hour. It’s cool to ignore stop lights, street signs and hand signals. And if a biker runs into a pedestrian or a car, it’ll be like a videogame and the obstacle will disappear in a puff of mist. This is completely untrue and, for a pedestrian or a car, these shenanigans would result in being flipped off, run over and maimed. It’s time for bikers to join the real world and pick a side: stay on the sidewalk or go the speed limit.

I’m not just spouting bile. Bikers are clearly a danger to pedestrians, drivers, smokers, drinkers and people who take climate change seriously and not just as the latest trend. It’s time to unite against the wheel and turn that stinky, sweaty kid in class into the social pariah that he should be. Sweat is never an acceptable aura and biking is not an acceptable behavior.

I wuv my bike.

Seriously, I do. The Cobia’s been a revelation so far. I came from hardtail 26″ to hardtail 29″, and I honestly wasn’t expecting as much of a difference as I’ve experienced so far. The Cobia just rolls over everything in its path. My Chesebro run a few weeks back turned me into a believer. The way I owned the rock garden at Malibu Creek sealed the deal. I’ll never go back to regular wheels, unless it’s FS, and maybe not even then. I wantedthe Superfly Carbon 29er at first, but 1). it was $3,300.00, which was just over my budget, and 2). I really can’t tell the difference. My Cobia, after my mods, weighs around 28 pounds, which is not bad at all.

The only gripe I have is the Cane Creek semi-integrated headset. The top cap just won’t stay down, I’ve tried to addjust it twice, but for some reason I’m still seeing a gap, and that’s affecting the stability of the fork, there’s still play when I brake, and some movement when I hit the rrough stuff. I’ll try and remedy it before the next BOMB ride.

New Stuff.

I decided to do some pre-christmas shopping at Sport Chalet, where I have that $270.00 credit from returning the Suunto. I bought this

I had to buy an XL, as that was the only size that had a loose feel, which I prefer. I also bought a new strap for my watch. I still have $190.00 left, I;m thinking of CB Candys, or maybe something more practicla, like socks, or maybe save for shoes or clothes or something, we’ll see.