Tales of a Mt. Bike Junkie....

I will begin this story with a refresher- on one of the lunch rides a few weeks ago, I broke my swing arm on my Mt. Bike at the bottom of Jack Rabbit. This instigated a complete overhaul of my bike, including a new drive train, shifters, brake pads, shock service etc. Unfortunately, during the rebuild of the bike, it fell off my el Cheapo stand right on the brand new rear deraileur! Snapping my brand new deraileur hanger like peanut brittle. I used my old deraileur hanger from the broken swing arm and pushed forward.
I was proud to annouce the arrival of my new baby on Tuesays lunch ride. It was all put together and parking lot tested. Unfortuantely, about 200 yards into the ride it started creaking and popping like crazy. The shifting was far from smooth and the bike was a MoFo to pedal. I made the best of it and listened while Jeff M. continued to use these noises to sway me towards the purchase of a single speed bike. After going at least 100% over budget on the current rebuild, the idea of having a new bike for me is not on the horizon. But, just in case hell does freeze over, you will find me at the bike shop with my wallet out. Riding Jeffs single speed while my bike was down was a total blast.
Anyway, not to get off subject. That evening, after the lunch ride I did my best to get my bike dialed in. I adjusted about 90% of the brake drag out, and re-routed a shifter cable that I routed wrong the first time. Then I met Jeff P. and Jeff Moser for the Thursday afternoon ride in Ash Canyon. What a blast! We started at Jeff P.'s and climbed timberline. Then dropped into Baldy Green. This is where I really noticed that I had not solved my shifting problems. It was horrible. KA-Chunk! Chunkchunk! the bike was on autoshift. Anticipating the exact opposite of which way I would actually like to shift. I tried adjusting the cable lenght but nothing helped. No time to worry though. Just made the best of it and pedaled down the new trail that Jeff P. cut into the canyon. Sweet! Thanks Jeff! I will be recieving many hours of enjoyment from your hard work! We had a great time talking about the future of Mt. Biking in CC. With trails like that it won't be long until Carson City becomes a destination for Mt. Bikers.

When I got home that night. I was too exausted to put anymore time in my bike. I had done all I could. So Friday afternoon I took it to Bike Habitat, where Dennis, the owner used the drop down straightening tool to gingerly straighten my badly bent deraileur hanger. He also fixed the drag on my brakes and installed my new seat post. What a guy. He only charged me $15.00 and must have spent a half hour on it. Thanks Dennis. I also must mention that the Bike Habitat is totally stocked now, compared to when it first opened. There is lots of good stuff there...

Needless to say, It was Friday night. I have to work Saturday. Sunday is my 12Th Wedding anniversary. When will I be able to really ride my beautiful new bike.... This calls for a rock star energy drink and a night ride! So the kids hit the rack. I kiss them goodnight. I go to the map software on the computer. Print out the trail that goes from the top of spooner to "The Bench" scribble a note on it for my wife to read in case I dont come home. Prep and pack everything. Kiss the wiferoony goodby and hit the road. I was on the trail at 10PM. Headphones on and my 2 nightrider headlamps blazing through the woods. I climbed and climbed. 5 miles to the bench. The bike was shifting and handeling like a dream. I stopped at the bench on this warm evening and took in the half moon over Lake Tahoe view for a good 45 Mins.
According to my calculations, If I rotate the light burn times, I should have at least another 2 hrs and 45 minutes of light left. I was totally pumped up for 3 reasons.. The energy drink, The Rim Trail, and my bike was dialed in bigtime. I decided to pedal towards the top of Kingsbury for another 45 minutes. So I pedaled and pedaled, getting into the tunes. It was now almost 1:30 AM. Well, I thought, I better turn around because if I get home too late I will be way to tired for my Saturday duties and the wifey might worry.. So I did. Then, within about 5 minutes, my main light that has a burn time of 4 hrs stopped working at 3:15! ag! I charged it up! The way I calculated it, I only had about 40 minutes left on my back up light. So I kept on moving. 10 minutes later that one went out too... Hmmm. Lucky its a warm night... So I grabbed my final trick, which was an LED light and tried to ride with that. After nearly going over the bars I figured that was a bad idea. I will begin to walk. I have 8 miles to go with my little head light. It is now 2 am. So I made a note of the milage on the cycle computer.. I covered just over 2 miles in an hr. Time to turn this adventure into a camping trip! I opened my camelback, took out my leggings and put them on. Found a nice soft spot under a tree right next to the trail and fell asleep quickly. I awakened at 4:30 to find a bear about to have his way with me... - Just kidding. I awakend at 4:30 am and the trail was just lighting up from the morning twilight. I tightened my shoes. ( I still had my headphones and helment on to help keep me warm) and jumped on the bike. Whooo Hoo! The Tahoe Rim Trail RIPS. Perfect down hill roller slope for 6 miles to the car. It was a great way to start the day. I got home at 5:45 and my wife opened one eye to look at me.... "Where were you?" Well, the mt. bike ride turned into a camping trip.. Chalk up another big adventure for the history books!

Woo Hoo!

Here at FBC we like to have fun. The word of the day was Woo Hoo! This downhill is dried out and real sandy this time of year, but the high speed keeps you on top of the sand. Although the bottom was a bit treacherous...the bikes were swapping back and forth.

I also tried a new tire combo today. I put the Specialized Resolution 2.1 up front, and a Hutchison Python 2.0 in the rear. This tire combo dropped my hardtail into the 25 pound range, and the bike felt zippier; however, the level of control went down. I was a little crazy coming down the sand hill, and I couldn't attack the rocks like I could before. I felt like I had to be real gentle in the sand over hard pack too. I'd like to experiment with the combo more, but will probably change the tires again for my ride with Kristy on Wednesday. I'm taking Wednesday off work to go ride The Flume Trail!

I also threw away an old half eaten Clif bar that was at the bottom of my gear bag. I thought I might actually eat it some day, but I think I waited too long. It was still soft and pliable. That means it's still good right? Better safe than sorry...

Jonesin' on a Friday Night...

Well, the kids went to sleep. My wife is cropping photos to go scrapbooking tomorrow. I am online in the garage. I have my laptop hooked into the stereo so I can watch music videos while I tune my bike on the stand. I am reading the Facility bike club blog. Thinking about El Dorado Canyon... that great shot of Sandie and Kathy way above Carson City. The flume trail is opening. I look at my work bench. My 2 night rider batteries are ready and waiting on the charger. Hmmmm it is late, but I won't get to ride again until Monday, maybe Tuesday. I quickly make a decision. Bring up my map software and print 2 maps of Ash Canyon/Hobart Reservoir. As they are printing, I go to the living room to tell Lisa I am going for a night ride. " Will you be careful?" Many snappy answers come to the tip of my tounge but I am wise... Oh yes. " Yes, I'll be careful, I am printing up a map just in case you dont see me in the morning." ( This has only happened once, and I called!) Thats a whole nother story.

Anyway. I loaded up my gear, drank a red bull and drove to foothill cr. off Winne Drive to start my ride. I had forgotton what a production it is to get the bike ready for a night ride. All the straps for the lights. Mounting brackets. And of course, the headphones so I can sing out loud as I blaze through the mountains.

I took the fast track to the postal route (SGP) then Deer Run where I did my best self portrait action shot on a night ride photo.


Then I pedaled up Outlaw trail and there is a big water box up there. I tripped me out because I had the headphones on, and I thought it was just a big abandoned cement structure. When I got near it I couldnt figure out what the noise was and I freaked out a little and ripped the headphones off my ears. Then I could tell it was water. Trip out..



I took a picture of Carson City from there. It was cool.

Well, it was windy up there, but still pretty mild. It was great to be way out there, just enjoying the solitude. Good tunes and good exersize. I decided to keep pedaling up. I took the fire road farther into the canyon. I looked at my map and saw there was a steep fire road going up to another water tower way up the mountain. I decided to take the fire road up. I could see at least 1 Mt. Bike track coming down this road. Thats always a good sign. I pedaled as much as I could, continued to check the map. Walked some, then pedaled more. It was steep. I followed the mt. bike track up to some single track. According to the Map, it was going get really steep here. There were lots of fallen trees on the trail. It was a sweet trail. Not really climbable but coming down was going to be fun. I suspect this is another one of Jeff P.'s projects?




Typically, I don't do night rides without moonlight.... You just cant see past your lights and you miss too much scenery. As I climed past the deadfall the view of the city was clear. I had gotten some serious elevation gain. I was in Hike- a Bike mode.

Finally, I hit the main dirt road to Hobart. It was sandy, but still pretty packed down. I put it in Granny Gear and pedaled up the hill. It was barely do-able for me. I just put my head down and started thinking about making really nice circles. Soon enough I was at the Water Tower. According to the map it was going to get flat after this. I could see the outline of Washoe Lake, and the Atlantis Casino in Reno... Mmmh, I want to hit that buffet right about now... aaah maybe not, it was way to smokey in there last time I went.


So I am thinking I can make it to Hobart reservior now. I have burned a solid 2 hrs on my handle bar mounted light, I should have 2 more hrs to go. I have only burned a half hour on my helmet light and that model should burn for at least another hour. I will save it for the down hill. So I pedal the flat dirt road to the gate.
But after the gate it starts seriously climbing again. I look at the map. I look at the time. Its midnight! Dang. with all the production of getting my lights ready and getting out the the trail head, I didnt get started until 10 pm. Ok. Time to turn around. I won't be able to see hobart reservoir anyway with no moonlight ( the moon rises at 2 AM, I am not going to wait)



So I turn around and start blazing down the mountain. Just then, my iPod starts playing " Flashlight" by Parlament. Talk about gettin down... I love that ipod. Now I am blazing down the mountain, watching all the field mice blindly scurry away from me. When I got back to the truck it was 12:50. Didnt take long at all to get back.

I wanted to post my story for your weekend entertainment. Happy Mothers Day weekend to all. I will look forward to riding on Tuesday for lunch!

Marcus

Cheatgrass, Sheep, Marcus, Barbara

As we approached the trails today, I saw a sheep out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and sure enough, a sheep. Then I started looking around some more and realized there were hundreds of sheep crawling the hills! The sheep have been brought in to eat the cheatgrass that has grown in abundance since the fire of 2004. If left unchecked, the cheatgrass is a potential fire hazard. The hillside you see in the picture was one covered in sagebrush. Sagebrush inhibits growth of other plants around it, a tactic it uses to compete for the scarce rainfall on this side of the Sierras. Without the sagebrush, the grass is pretty happy. The sheep are eating machines though and work for free. A good natural solution to a problem. I'm curious to see if they caused any trail damage. From what I've read though, they are pretty light on their feet.

In other news, we picked up a new rider today! Marcus found this blog while doing a google search on the area. He left a comment on one of the posts that he'd like to ride with us. We exchanged a few emails and coordinated his first ride today.

I'm glad Marcus showed up. I was beginning to get a bit worried, since there have been fewer lunch time riders as of late. Thoughts on what to do about this serious problem have turned over in my mind. A stop-loss program with extended tours of duty? Or would I need to severely punish deserters to make examples of them? I never did come to a conclusion. I decided to let fate run its course.

The latest rider to leave us is Barbara. Barbara has been one of the main winter riders the last couple years. Many times when I secretly hoped nobody would want to ride in the foul weather, Barbara would ask who was riding with her. I'd reluctantly agree, but then almost always have a great time. I'll also miss our left wing conversations (as Todd called them). Barbara left for a better job in Reno, so now we'll only get to see her for weekend rides. Other riders though...who knows. Some riders just seem to disappear without an excuse. They take a day off here and there, and then finally vanish completely. So once again, welcome Marcus! We need new riders!

For those of you reading this at work: Please don't count the sheep in the picture. I don't want to be responsible for you falling asleep on the job.