Mgindle

After almost 10 years together Katie and I got married. On November 22 2008 our families and friends gathered in the sunshine of the Sonoran desert and blessed our marriage. Everything happened in a flash, from the day I proposed to the day we said “I do” was less than 2 months and I have to say it came off flawless.

Somehow everything came together, everyone did their job and it seemed relatively easy. The night was everything we could have dreamed of; in the desert, in a small chapel, bluegrass music, good food, and amazing company. Katie and I would like to thank everyone who came from near and far, and everyone who worked with us to make it all happen. 

Our photographer was Chris Richards and he was absolutely amazing, catering was from Feast, flowers from Via Feliz, and music from the collaborative efforts of Matt Moon and Jimmy Carr. It was a pleasure to work with people who knew what they were doing and were proud to do a great job. Thanks so much

Getting this thing rolling again with some fresh ride content. More to come (or perhaps slip in as a previous post) regarding recent life changes, trips and goings on. 

Newly inducted Tucsonan, Brendan and I headed out to TMP this morning for a bit of Hidden Canyon action. A short ride under cloudy skies just before it started raining for the rest of the day. 

 
Brown dropped of a large discreet package on my front door yesterday. Buried inside was el trauco numero dos ready for some accessories. 

what do we have here?

Green machine

Last night was spent building, sipping cervesa and watching Sarah Palin stuff both feet in her mouth.

Assembled and ready to roll

Trauco v2.0 in the stand, Trauco numero uno, and XtraSiren

Shakedown ride down the street. The bike feels like my bike so i won’t be uncomfortable putting the screws to this thing for he first time at the TOWM this weekend.

A week late getting to this but thats how I roll around here. 12 hearty souls tumbled down the mountain last saturday, riding from the top of the ski lifts alllllll the way down to Molino Basin on dirt, save for a half mile or so of pavement. Spectacular indeed. Some trails were familiar, others not so much, all was a good time with heavy emphasis on the chunky stuff. All told we got down with 4 flat tires and a few minor scrapes, not bad for a party of a dozen. 

Sean at the top

I've never been here before

Catalina Highway from the top of Bugs

8 hour ride time and it was a good measure for determining what it would take to throw Milagrosa into the mix just to ice the cake.

Idyllwild that is. A weekend in the mountains, first camping on Black Mountain. We woke up to a pleasant shower which lingered for the better portion of the day (making for primo trail conditions on Sunday)

Marlin

Dogs

 Then heading back into town with pedaling in mind. I convinced Brendan to let me build up my new Trauco prior to powdercoat just so I could ride for the weekend. He responded with some ugly ass stickers as insurance that I wouldn’t leave town with it. 

Trauco v2.0

We made a few mods to the geometry in the form of an extra quarter inch in the chainstays,  an extra quarter in the top tube and a slight adjustment to the head (70.5 with a 100mm Reba) the bike feels amazing and addresses everything I would have changed about v1.0. Two days of great riding in May Valley and out at the Hub, the longer of the two being May Valley.

Dave attempting the Spine - I was the able to link the one he is on with the one just to his right

Doug on the rocks

Mary lost brendan out there somewhere?

Three day weekends are most excellent!

I spent the last week working with an engineering firm on the Solar Decathlon project. They are helping out with structural analysis and environmental engineering. Great stuff, it is so nice to work in an office where everyone is interested and excited about their jobs. We also had a chance to see some architecture and visit with old friends. 

Venice Beach hotel

We visited SciArch one day for lunch. It was great to see full scale installations as student work

Installation project at SciArch - collaborative work with Buro Happold

Folded paper turns into structure

more SciArch student work

Folded steel

CNC Foam parts

Visited the Moneo cathedral and the CalTrans building on Saturday with Joe

Moneo

More

Organ

CalTrans

I spent the past week working in LA and had a free weekend with a rental car so I drove up to Idyllwild to hang out with Brendan and Mary up on the mountain. It was a nice departure from the car culture city life. In one long day, we enjoyed some great espresso, ate well, went to a jazz festival and tacked together a frame from the ground up. It was great to be in the shop, geeking out hardcore. 

Trauco 1.0 was the first to come out of the Siren shop and it got ridden hard. Trauco 2.0 boasts greater tire and chainring clearance as well as some updated geometry based on getting to know 1.0. 

Slightly longer chainstays and toptube. I found that the rear wheel hangs a bit when decending techy gnar and was curious about a slightly longer CS to ease things up a bit without loosing the billy goat like qualities that I adore.

Fabbing the front triangle

Torch Time

Night time

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Getting ready to start my senior year of high school, being a teenager. I hadn’t yet started mountain biking but that would start soon enough. 

What are five non-work things on my to-do list today?

• Ride my bike
• Get a haircut
• Transfer my health insurance
• Eat a peach
• The last one is “top secret classified”

Snacks I enjoy:

• Redvines
• Kombucha
• Espresso
• Fruit Leather
• Peanut butter cover pretzels
• Rice pudding

Things I would do if I were a billionaire. 

• Tinker for a lifetime
• Build a pedal powered beard trimmer

Places I have lived:

• Murphysboro, IL
• Tucson, AZ

Jobs I have had:

• Construction/carpentry
• Architectural Intern
• Architects Assistant
• Bicycle chauffeur for a 95 year old blind man on a tandem bicycle (he was the stoker)
• Designer and fabricator
• CNC router guru
• Laboratory Coordinator
• Teaching Assistant
• Project Mananger for 2009 Solar Decathlon

Now, for the tagging:
JRH
Harry Gary
Walker
Yuri
Gnome