Freedom

Ripple and snap, crack crack and clak clak clak. The aluminum flag pole leaned, and drivers took note as this rider throttled his proud Mary near 70 mph. Cracks like fireworks, as he ripped south'bound rt 1. Oh yeah, it's the forth of July!



wiffle ball, why not! It's been a good ten years since the last time, maybe fifteen! Man my neck and lats hurt today....now two days later. Why is it two days later? it's always two days.
Got my ride set up, now to wittle down my gear a little more, or less, my toiltry bag is entirely too heavy. I've got the rebuild kit for my reba, could take the abuse. Lets see if enduro seals can handle. Going rigid would be interesting, but if my fork seals can't withstand the pressures...how are my arms going to feel?

what to bring;

I received similar advice from two close friends,
both of these friends are experienced adventurers, and both said;
"Pack what you need, then unpack and leave half behind".
Words of wisdom, words to live by.
Thanks Barry and Christopher. <- he's updating his blog again! But what to leave behind? Question; Rain fly vs: bug proof tent? rain fly is waaaayy lighter. The underlying Question; bugs or no bugs? There are always bugs! Tent it is! Front rack or screw the front rack. where will I stack the pizzas? Answer; On the rear rack! screw the front rack? definite maybe. Another friend, (Harry P) had good advice- "stuff on the bike will probably fall off". yeah, that was true Sunday. For the first half hour with Glenn, Brad, Skip and Matt I had to stop and go back to fetch gear that slid off even the most firmly and carefully perched and lashed locations. I still like the panniers, water proof and expandable. Although they fell off too! But after using a large 48" strap wrapped around the entire bag and rack it stayed put. My main focus is to carry enough water, food, rain jacket, two sets of riding clothes, three gallons of chamois butter, 100 percocet, comfortable sleeping gear, and a partridge in a pear tree. no problem. Glenn was on fire on Sunday. Custom made Carousel bags by Jeff Boatman performed rather flawlessly. I dubbed his setup "easy rider". Looked like we were both lost in the woods looking for the laundry mat :).

I was just checking out Jeff's blog. That bruth'a has got one fine set-up for our adventure. Not quite racked out yet, he's just getting use to the ride charictaristics of the 29'er before he weighs his new ride down with 20 pounds of gear. Twenty days and counting!

I also hear that there is a new sofa king in the hills of Sunday River. Wow, love it! Don't remember how the heck to ride one but wow man! Nice color too. That chain device is wicked. This new build makes me want to go and run over something...

Shake it like a polaroid picture

Hands downs,

it's total geek town,
was a shake down
that got totally shook down.

Shake-down Sunday with Reenie, Kerry, MTBTom and Christopher. A new build and a whole lot of geeky stuff bolted to my now geared and freshly painted Igleheart 29'er. The new paint color is called persimmon, in the root beer family, darker than the previous (known to Reenie as baby poop). I call the new build "Bring it on!"

The ability to carry loads of unnecessary gear 500 miles through the Colorado wilderness. I'll try to limit myself to the bare essentials on our Colorado Trail excursion. Yeah, right!

Riding the decked out tour bike was quite fun, she handles like a wonky mac truck with the back-heavy panniers loaded with camping gear. The equipment stayed in place through out the shake down, weaving and bobbing single track, rumbling over root bands and couldn't help but to air it out a couple times. (Photo, MtbTom)

The Stans Tubeless wheels were a big part of the shake down. I wasn't sure if the tubeless tires would burp under the added pressure, But had no problem taking the abuse.
My 70mm stem did pose an issue and needs to be swapped out for something a little longer. I spent an hour icing my knee last night after squarely smashing it into the left shifter. douh!

Thanks to Channing at Old Man Mountain for the racks, They are awesome. I spent an hour on the phone with Channing a few weeks ago. At the time, I was on the fence about going with front and rear racks and panniers, but after viewing the videos on his web site it all just looked like way too much fun to pass up. The models are Sherpa (front) and red rock (rear) and should provide a stable platform to carry and hang plenty of gear (and ample cookie stowage). Thanks Channing.

And the Panniers are Jandd, Fredrick hurricane series water proof roll top bags. The attachment system is pretty slick. Just a couple of clicks and the are attached/detached. And yes, it rained during our three hour cruiser, and yes they are indeed water proof.

As always, Thanks to Christopher Igleheart. With out you sir, none of this would be possible...or not nearly as much fun.

Milestone

Lumberjack

"Lumberjack 100 saw 11 inches of rain and 80 mph winds the night before the race in the worst storm the area had seen in 30 years" -Harlan Price writes for Cycling news after beating up on people all day.
Where's Floyd? How'd Eddie 'O do in Single Speed? Way to go Karen Potter! Many Questions... Harlan, we need answers!

Thanks Matt, good advice..

Fight the good Fight

Meet Scott. My Cousin's oldest.
Thirteen years young and fighting to see fourteen.
Way to go.

Essex County Century

On par with Kahuna, yesterday was my first Essex County Century. North Shore riders came out in droves to form a 70+ person peloton to loop 100 miles of back roads, stopping at each of the four sponsoring bike shops for water and refreshments. Organized by the guys and gals from ECV, thanks for the ride. It was the best group road ride I've ever experienced.The A group was comprised of mainly mountain bikers, Jon "tri guy" Greeley, Skippy "long legs"Johnson, "La Ruta" Roger, ED "the linebacker", Aaron "I'm old school, but schoolin you", and who could forget the big engine of Pete "sooo pro" Smith. Some great training miles, I haven't opened it up like that in a long time.Here, a short break while Armando assesses damage done after he took a header on the corkscrew corner of Cherry Street, Gloucester. We ride 90 miles and Armando crashes five blocks from his house. Hope you are feeling well today Armando.Jon has got the ride details via his gps watch. The triathlon guys have all the toys ya know. Hoping he emails the route and way points this way. But in all ride total was 100+ miles at an average moving pace of 20+ mph, that's why my legs feel like jello today...but I cant wipe the smile from my face.My favorite part of the ride...we are on the home stretch back to the hosting shop of Seaside Cycles -Manchester, and a rouge roadie jumps into our group and whips up the pace creating a dash for the final 5 miles. precious.

Going on Tour

It was Glenn that first put this idea into motion, now it has evolved into a plan. The plan still has details to be worked out and plane tickets to be purchased, and equipment to be selected, and credit cards to be charged..BTW where the hell is my Bush economic stimulus check? I need to be stimulated here GW..
The plan to race the Colorado trail has been modified, (quite correctly I might add) to a tour of the CTR. It'd be different if the four of us, Glenn, Tim, and now Jeff W, were familiar with all 28 segments of the 535 mile Colorado trail, (but we will be by July 30th) that would almost justify racing the whole trail. So, a tour it will be!

Anybody have panniers I can borrow? will trade for beer.

my Commute

The fastest way from point A to point B in my commute just happens to Cross this Rotary in Revere named Bell Circle. I thought the name referred to it's shape or historic land mark near by. But now I think it's named Bell because that's what you'll get rung. Fooling around on Wednesday's commute I shot this vid from my phone..Yesterday I came close to being run over, so I think I'll avoid getting my bell rung in the circle by extending my commute through Saugus instead.