Ooooh Yessss! A ride did happen....

In honor of Nevada Day, Jon and I did timberline and the Creek Trail. We did this as an unselfish act of kindness for the other trail users. To ensure that the trails were free of bears and wash outs.

Also, Did the same trail last Thursday night, under a full moon and warm temperatures with Dennis C. Take a look at the nice rock/tile work of Jeff P. on the Baldy Green trail. Wow. Nice to make that turn in the moonlight.

The trails are in GREAT shape! Firm and grippy. The weather has been warm. Perfect fall riding conditions.

Safety Lights

Safety LIghts
Originally uploaded by Facility Bike Club.

Last week I had some great suggestions on what to get for night time cruising. We ended up going with these $9 Safety Lights, partly based on price, and partly on recommendation of the LBS owner. He said he's used them, and they seemed bullet proof. Since we were buying three, I really liked the price tag.

The plastic lens color is different on all three, but the flashing light is red on all. There is a button on the back to turn them on or off, and allows you to cycle through a variety of different steady or flashing patterns. You can go from a steady, consistent glow, all the way to "Night on Disco Mountain". Of course we chose the Disco pattern for last night's cruise.

Lat night, my friend Mike let me try out his old Schwinn that had a 2 speed rear hub. I'd never heard of such a thing. To shift you back pedaled slightly. You could alternate rapidly between the two gears this way. Back pedaling all the way activated the coaster brake. Seemed like a pretty cool design to me. I wonder why it disappeared? I'm guessing the faster 10 speed road bike killed it.

Evening Cruise

Evening Cruise
Originally uploaded by Facility Bike Club.

This week we hooked up with Mike Garcia's Rusted Chain Gang for an evening cruise around Minden and Gardnerville. During the summer, the Gang rides nightly after the sun starts going down. It's a very nice change from the scorching heat of the day! They start in Minden, and we start in Gardnerville, meeting half way. From there we cruise with them back into Gardnerville. It's a great way to spend the evening!

We learned that we're going to have to invest in some commuter style lighting for these types of rides. Especially since I've removed every single reflector off every bike we own. The blinky red lights seemed to be the most important, and probably cheapest too. Opinions in this area would be appreciated!

The Rusted Chain Gang may have a blog up and running soon. They also are planning a Poker Run for the Fall with bikes to win for different categories. I'll keep you posted.

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!

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