Catching up 2 of ?
July 28, 2008 at 3:24 pm | In Pedaling, Sploration | 2 CommentsTags: Banff, Roadtripping, Siren, Tour Divide
Less than 24 hours after getting home from San Carlos, I was back in a car heading North to Canada eh! Brendan and Mary showed up in the adventure Subaru and I got recruited as navigator for the trip to drop Mary off in Banff for some crazy ass bike ride. She and more than a dozen other folks set out on an adventure that would take some of them all the way down to Antelope Wells NM 2711 miles south, mostly on dirt.
The blessed mother guided us safely
Big Dam (stolen from Mary's blog)
Our roadtrip took us up to St. George UT on the first day, then on to Butte, MT the next where we woke up to snow?? The third and final day of our trip north took us into Canada to our destination in Banff. Photos will have to do for now.
The adventure Subaru all kitted out
Doper
Its June right?
No comprende
Hot springs with Chris and Marni
Canadian Trauco
- Dave Nice
The return leg in a later installment.
Plasic bikes??? sort of…
April 1, 2008 at 10:22 pm | In Uncategorized | 3 CommentsTags: Bamboo, Siren
Mr. Anton (say it Ant-ohn) has been experimenting with building bamboo bicycles. The first iteration was an ugly bastard that got all flexy if you looked at it funny, it proved a concept and taught a lesson in its demise. V_2.0 is keeping it real and is Antons’ daily driver. Seeing the progress he had made got me itching to give it a go and Brendan thought the same, sooo…..
A few off road bamboo bikes were born.
Brendan came down Friday night with whiskey and sympathy for the bum knee. Saturday morning, a meeting of the mad scientists god the ball rolling and before we knew it, we were building bikes.
Easy stuff really: Jig? check, check. Bamboo? check, check. Sisal rope? check, check. Epoxy resin? check, check. Bite it like a shark (or snapper) attitude? check, check, x3.
Mad scientist
We all had to brush up on our boy scout lashing techniques but had a good thing going all day. We left the shop tired and hungry but with two frames curing. Ugly… a little but it is the first step in proof of concept. I’ve got to get one going for myself ASAP.
dinner (said snapper)
Mary and her dad put together this Ghia for her to take back to Cali, I told her she should just leave it here.
Katie wants one!
Here is what Brendan left with. Sounds like he has it close to built up and I’m anxious for a report.
Knee is getting cut open on April 17 – good times!
TMP jaunt
March 16, 2008 at 5:23 am | In Pedaling | Leave a CommentTags: A Mountain, Siren, TMP
Rode with Chuck and the Critter from Fenix. It was Chris’ birthday last weekend and he decided to spend in Tucson. We pieced together a great ride from town, up A mountain, then down the the 36th st. entrance (new to the fenicians). Move around the main loop then up Golden gate. Rode clean up to the saddle then down the lower golden gate techness. Up the road an back in at Camino de Oeste for a stroll through the wildflowers to the stone house then back out on Mariott trail (thanks to whoever spent time pulling boulders out of the trail in the name of making it “easier” for those who ride from the hotel WTF???)
A stop at La Herradura on the way back for a post ride burrito and back home. Good to see you Chuck and Chris, come back soon!
Who is this guy?
Golden Gate Goodness
Cheers
mmmmmmm Trauco
February 23, 2008 at 8:41 pm | In Pedaling | Leave a CommentTags: Hidden Canyon, Siren, TMP, Trauco
Brendan and Mary brought me a present on their trip out here for the race this weekend, one freshly powdercoated Trauco with new dropouts for shifty bits.
Lots of changes from its previous incarnation as a rigid singlespeed
Yup, thats the one!
So here goes. Changes include: Reba up front vs. Pace carbon, flat/riser bars vs. H-bars, Ergons and gears. Lots of variations so it was hard to pinpoint exactly what is going on. Monday, Brendan headed out to TMP for some hidden canyon action. The bike immediately felt at home in my hands. I had to do some minor tweaking to the handlebars and saddle but quickly got things sorted out. The switch from H-bars to risers was shocking initially but so far change is good. I’m going to switch back to the H-bars to pin down the difference but so far I think the flat bars may be sticking around for a while.
NERDS!
The switch to the Reba really brought the bike to life, raising the head tube up just so transforming the ride quality from slightly nervous to darn right blissful. The resultant rise in head tube caused the odd combo of upside down stem and riser bar which will soon switch to flat stem and flat bar. As for the ride quality, Hidden canyon is kind of a silly test ground for comparing bicycles but familiar nonetheless. I was wondering if I would notice the difference between the 26″ rear wheel of the song and the 29″ wheel of the trauco thinking the Song had some sort of magical “billy goat” qualities but could not pinpoint a detriment on the part of the big wheel. The session climb up to the saddle was a riot, both Brendan and I putting forth noteworthy efforts. Brendan stuck the first “S” turn switchback after a few attempts, I was half a step away from pinning the upper “S” and we both nailed the exit move switchback.
At the top we wandered over to the mine shaft where we found this crazy shiz?
Finally the decent back down the the Marriot was pure delight, big wheels kept rolling and smiles were from ear to ear. It was good to get out in the sunshine after running support and expo duties out at the 24HOP.
The Goat
January 20, 2008 at 1:53 pm | In Pedaling | Leave a CommentTags: Goat Camp, Siren
The Phoenicien contingent has been bugging us folks down in the Old Pueblo for some time about coming up to their stomping grounds. I’ve always been hesitant as I think what we’ve got here is pretty damn nice, not to mention the 100 miles that separates us and the mass urban exodus that is the greater phoenix metropolitan area. That is one huge bitch!
Goat camp was on the agenda and as usual, emails and beratement were exchanged, lots of promises, banter, “i’ll be there, blah blah blah”. In the end Sadcow and I hit the road promptly at 6am, heading north. At the trailhead we were in full view of the days plans, UP UP UP, White Tank regional Mountain is pretty stunning. We met up with Yuri and Gordon (poo slinger cooper was a no-show) and hit the pedals up the road which we quickly ditched in favor of singletrack which wouldn’t quit until we were back at the cars.
It gets choppy in a hurry.
Siren Song – Really enjoying this bike. More on that a bit later
After some fantastic climbing we got our first taste of ribbony benchcut. Really nice flow with some sharp, off camber turns and grave consequences.
A carin on ice.
The final gathering before all hell breaks loose
The spiral staircase is nasty. Sadcow dropping in while listening to some random dude sitting at the top smoking a cigar talking and talking and talking away. All told I think I took a pretty good stab at the goat counting 3 off the bike dabs (2 switchbacks and 1 wash crossing) and a hand full of one-foot-out rollers. Lots of saddle-in-the-chest riding and a *pucker* factor that would not let up.
This is most certainly one of the most technical trails I’ve been on anywhere. It beats the pants right of Milagrosa for sustained chunk and the riding it takes to get to the Goat is outstanding. We wandered over to the Sonora Brewhouse pub, ate and sipped cask IPA before heading back south. Maybe Phoenix ain’t so bad after all.
4600+ miles
January 7, 2008 at 11:55 pm | In Pedaling | 3 CommentsTags: Pedaling, Siren, Weather
is just how much driving I’ve done since December 23.
3000 round trip from Tucson, to Murphysboro to see the famdamily
700 round trip from Murphysboro to Chicago (in one day!) to move the reminder of Emily’s crap back home.
900 round trip from Tucson to Idyllwild, CA to visit Brendan and Mary
It’s going to take a few months of pedaling everywhere to offset all that petroleum I burned through for sure.
The impromptu visit out to the inland empire was a surprise birthday party for big 30 Brendan. Mary orchestrated a little surprise party for him so I headed west. We were treated to rain most of the weekend so riding was cut back to a minimum. Instead we spent a lot of time in Siren headquarters building fixtures and working on bikes. That was worth the drive alone. Lots of geekery and tinkering going on. Finally we decided to bite the bullet and go get some singletrack. It was a rain ride for sure, instantly becoming nearly saturated. The temps were alright as long as you could keep moving. We headed down to The Hub behind the Arts Academy so we were never far from the house. Mary toted along a quart bottle of potato, leek, celery, curry soup that we enjoyed under a tree. Brendan and Dave headed back up the hill as they were getting cold. Mary and I stayed out a bit longer and tied together a couple extra loops of singletrack.
I did get to ride around on The Song #2 which was a good time. Brendan sent me home with it to beat around on until the Old Pueblo. I don’t have a lot to say about it as the conditions were awful for feeling out geometry and handling, slik, gooey, sloshy mess. I’m looking forward to getting out on more familiar trails to really get a feel for the bike.
Sunday it snowed so we spent more time in the shop, got some lunch and I jumped ship so as to avoid get snowed in. On the way home I stopped in Tonopah to get gas and glimpsed a sign for hot springs 1/4 mile down the road. There I found El Dorado Hot Springs, a great roadside soak in a clawfoot tub under a mesquite tree. Not a bad way to interrupt a 6 hour drive at all!
Daily Driver
October 31, 2007 at 12:14 am | In Pedaling | 2 CommentsTags: Commuting, Siren, Xtracycle
We are fortunate enough to live in a place that fosters commuting by bicycle. The XtraSiren is my daily driver serving as crap hauler, grocery getter and head turner. It hauls in style and comfort with a giant 29×2.55 front tire up front and xtra long wheelbase, this thing rides like a Cadillac. Brendan passed this frame along to be dedicated to commuter duty and after an afternoon at Siren headquarters http://www.sirenbicycles.com/ we chopped up some chainstays and welded them into the rear triangle, we also welded in some gusseting around the bottom bracket area. The extra bracing makes a huge difference in the stiffness in the rear of the bike. No more noodley rear when its heavily loaded (think extra bodies). This thing is single, fixed and a good time.
Along the lines of commuters, I saw this wild thing on my way to out for a ride this morning. It is made by Bilenky http://www.bilenky.com and is called the Viewpoint. A little odd, but intriguing, and they seemed to be having a good time, This was the maiden voyage, cheers to bikepooling.
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