Daily Gross-Out

During my last sesh as the Midnight Bathroom Remodeler, I removed the tub drain and associated hardware, the better to protect it from the caustic rain of mortar while I was tiling the showerhead area. I was prepared to find the overflow drain covered in hard water deposits, etc. but what I wasn't prepared for was the fact that it was nearly clogged with 55 years worth of sludge, undifferentiated glottz, toxic funk, and 5.8 million of the previous residents' PUBES. I found an old cooking pot in the attic disinfected the whole works by boiling it in 5% bleach.

Just thought you'd all like to know that.

AZ RoadTrippin'!!!

After meeting El Garro I can understand why Fed Ex would be reluctant to insure his packages against damage. Steve’s opening technique is to bludgeon the box with his knuckles until it submits. Chris King has to wrap his headsets in bags of coffee beans to protect them from his awesome power.

Here he is truing some wheels. I observed closely. Here’s his process: lace, true, dish, tension; true, dish, tension... He uses the Spokekey with four sided contact, and tensions right with right hand, left with left hand; checks tension by squeezing four spokes at once. No tensiometer. He said you want the crosses hard to separate (with his hand strength that means a lot hard to separate). (correct me on any of this)

After a while Dr. Shredmor wandered out of the woods where he hibernates for various interminable lengths and proceeded to prepare us some killer tacos made out of a strange other-worldly carnage that tasted vaguely like chicken can't recall what exactly he called it. It was delish. Dogs were walloped, cats were tortured with a makeshift riding crop, pictures were viewed. Thanks Steve, and Dr. Shredmor! Sorry we didn't get to meet Denise. Hopefully you have to stop by on your way to/from the handmade bike show.Would have posted a photo of Dr. S, but they all had this freaky lens flare in them…

Saturday we rolled down to Sedona to investigate the alleged “shredding” there. Reports are completely accurate! Perfect dirt, rolling trails, tough rock ledges, and tiny bits of mud. We rode the Bell Rock path to the Little Horse Trail, to The Llama trail back to Bell Rock. It was perfect.

Camped near the Desert museum that night near Tucson. I was going to get up at the butt crack and ride up Tucson MTN, but about 12:00 AM I woke up from a dream… WITH AMAZING STOMACHE CRAMPS. Started walking the ¼ mile to the toilet. About half way I started wondering if I’d make it. Couldn’t walk faster due to the pressure. Stopping and doubling over didn’t help. The light on the side of the outhouse seemed to me moving farther away, but it was just my vision getting blury and vague. I made it. It wasn’t pretty. I made Smella drive me the next time. By the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th trips I was able to drive myself.

But I’m ok now.

When I got back to RTO my bike was right where I’d left it, with enough air in the tires to get me home.

-M

Fabulous Floyd's

So a few years back Smella and I were at this weird little junk shop in Hazen Station NV, which is on alt 95 between Ferntucky, NV and Fallabamma, NV. We were poking around and talking to the owner and his little 10 year old son was running around.

These two strange older gentlemen came in and poked around and chatted a bit. One was extra strange wearing super short cut-offs and running shoes w/o socks. We bought some stupid piece of junk and moved on.

Got a call from the sherif when we got back after we'd gone to bed and had been asleep for an hour or so. Seems old-weird-cut-off dude was having a little private personal artifact showing with the owner's 10 year old son while no one was looking. Aparently he hadn't anything on under those cut-offs...

Long story short: as Soma was leaving after we had Paninis this afternoon at Michael's Deli next to College Cyclery, old-weird-cut-off dude sat down at the next table.

Floyd's not feeling so fabulous right about now.

-M

Bacon Strip Balderdash

This game kicks ass.

-M

60-Hz Hum

Disclaimer: The following post has nothing to do with cycling, skiing, climbing, or any other outdoor pursuit, and has everything to do with the poster being an incurable, 7075-alloy, four-star geek.

This is a 1947 model General Electric clock-radio, poached from the House ofWoe in suburban Denver (a.k.a. my late and not especially lamented grandfather's house). The clock is completely functional, including the annoying buzz alarm, but the radio hadn't worked for years. I took it upon myself a few weeks ago to see if I could get the radio working, took the back off the thing, and lo and behold, there resided no less than four (count 'em) glass vacuum tubes. I felt like I'd just walked through a time machine. I removed the tubes and took them down to the local electronics supply store, which, for some reason, had a tube-testing machine. One of the tubes proved faulty, and to my unending surprise, the shop had a replacement for sale. $12.95 later, I reinstalled the tubes and powered up. The tubes glowed a faint, warm red-orange, and a moment later, the soft, nostalgic background hum of 60-Hz AC power issued from the speaker. A flip of the tuner, and -- shazam-- KCOL, broadcasting at 610 kilocycles, was heard through faint static.

There is no reason save geekiness to have fixed this thing--there's absolutely nothing on AM radio that's worth listening to, unless the Broncos ever make the playoffs again. But--ya gotta admit, having a vacuum tube AM radio that works is pretty damn cool.

SphincterBoy

A Scanner got me

i was reprimanded by my supervisor and it's been a rough day here in the Lab. good thing I've got the fix-gear urban shredder to spin the angst out with...

on a lighter note, we did make an effort to watch A Scanner Darkly, twice for me now. i'm ready to go into hermitage.

Japhy rider

ps- if this no-snow pattern doesn't break, the TBS header is misleading. verbage could read " '06-'07 the winter that wasn't"

Letter to the editor

Once again the RGJ pisses me off. I'm writing an article next month on alternative commuting, so I gess that's what they call "put-up or shut-up" (piss of get off the pot?).

I guess I'll post the letter I wrote. You should also note how one of the proposed routes looks like it goes right through Hidden Valley park!!

-M

NOTE: I just got an email saying that I can't submit more than one letter every two months. So one of you needs to get something in too! Maybe we can meet at the GB on tuesday and scratch something out.

Dear RGJ,

Once again the you fail to dig deep enough to see the real story behind your story. Your cover article today on the North/South connector claims that more roads (automobile-centric commuter routes) are needed to avoid “southern California style gridlock.”

Metropolitan Southern California is gridlocked because of sprawling low-density development and a lack of effective public transportation or commuting alternatives to the automobile, i.e. bicycles or trains. That means that people live a long way from work and have to drive to get there. If we want to avoid the same fate here more roads and the influx of automobiles are not the answer.

Driving is a choice. Our freedom to choose alternatives to cars is being curtailed by our own inability to plan beyond our current tank of gas.

-M

Extra Large Nipples

There'e no delicate way to put that...



So I got my wheel built thanks to Shawn's suggestion to get the longer nipples. It was still a challenge. Here's why:

If I built one side first completely there were two problems, 1) threading the spokes down from the other side was a PITA becasue the 36 spokes on the other side almost made it impossible to get them down and seated and swiveled into position, and 2) having one side fully built pulled that side so far to the center that the other flange was too far for the spokes to reach. even with the long nipples.

So I took it all apart and threaded the leading spokes on one side and the trailing spokes on the other. then one trailing on the first side, then two leading on the other side, then two on the first side, and so on until it was done. As it stands now all the spokes are threaded on so that the end of each spoke is prettymuch right at the inside face of the rim 3 cross.

I also dropped spokes first so I wouldn't have to bend them all crazy to get them through again. I'm super stoked I got this to work! I even have the valve hole spokes right too.

sweetness. Can't wait to build another set! If I can get this trued maybe I'll test it on another SS canyon ride tomorrow?

-M

Nuner_patrol

today was one of those days (that seem to be pretty common these days) that the alpine start deslumber results in a shuffle downstairs, a pat on the dogs' heads, a quart of water and a peek outside the garden window over the kitchen sink. humph. still dark. snowy. warm, warm bed and tooo f_ckin' cold to do much. shuffle back upstairs and... R.E.M.

now it's like 8 or 9 and i'm hungry and the caffiene burning blast furnace is running on reserve. outta bed, joe's a cookin' but whup, whoa. only one stiff pour of .5 and .5 in the first pot of coffee and into the rig and off to the market. a full cart of produce later and i've got a real load of raw materials to sustain another few days of creative living. i'm home by 10ish. soonthereafter The Shredder is upandatem and i've got a mess of eggs, peppers, salsa, mushrooms, and Bacon. and coffee. Peet's F.R.a while later there's a flurry of telephone activity and sort of plans have been kinda arranged. Huck Turn-er-on-er is virtually done dressing out his 1x1 & the Nuninator is ready to take a rest day from being an ice pirate up in the Sierra no snowpack. he jumps on the offer to ride The Shredder's Old Bridgestone MB-4 or -5 (?) {now w/ horizontal rear d.o.'s -thanks Vulture!- and a rigid-rigid, an old school single speed mountain bike} and we head for the Keystone Canyon. collie/huskie dogs and wolf/dog mutants are stiding along and the cold squeeky snow reminds us we should've worn more socks. somewhere out in the trail we encounter Huck, who has apparently been de-burdened of his cellular telephone [blessing in disguise?] on his new 1x and all toothy. apparently he's also abandoned all those gears! let's see, his Blurr has like 8 or 9 speeds in the rear and 3 in the front? now he's on just 1 in the front and 1 in the rear... that makes like 10 something orphaned gears? he should get his $50 bucks back!!!

for a short trail ride it was Fly. not many users out there on a <0 January afternoon, but the trails were perfect. too bad, as it was a sort of harmonic convergence of 4 1-speeders in the sagebrush. if this hi pressure pattern holds, i'll probably go for it again tomorrow. maybe earlier though, or after tearing up the cord on the groomers. i haven't even used the lifteo thing yet this year. Umm, corduroy...

Japhy rider

The Kippered Herring

Late 1900s artifact retrieved from the archives of SAS.

(JR has been infiltrated for the greater good, "mutate to win!" -SAS)

Bacon Bits

DP ALERT!!!!!

The Kangdiggity (aka out silent partner in whateverthefuckitiswedohere, Tongaroo.) and I are going up in the morning. Maybe BC, but I want to hit Rose and get to work at a reasonable hour so I don't have to work all evening(see next bit).

Strategic planning session: Dessert Epics

i.e. You'll go, and you'll like it! The ESL? Smella, Juni and I will be there. (The Bungalow is also open(and closer to the UNIDROME)).

Noticias:

All contributors have access to the template for this website, so please add links to the noticias (and other sidebars) section as you see fit. If you need help with the code and are too drunk to figure it out, email me or JR.

That is all.

-M

ps how do i know when i'm finished mutating?

Keyesville clASSic

Well, upon updating their website for the 2007 race it appeared that they weren’t offering the 8 hour enduro or the observed trials. I emailed the race director and he said that was the case. Only the XC, DH and classic bike thing. That’s disappointing. I’m going down anyway to see my Granny in Bako. I’ll race if others are going. It would still be fun to watch the DH and camp out and stuff…

Anyway, maybe we’ll have to do J.R.’s Death Valley ride instead. Or make a team effort at the Coolest 24 hour race.

-M

Update:Team Bigfoot's 12 hours of Weaverville
Update:Cool Course Description.

Weekend roundup

Glad everyone had a good weekend! I left my cam in the car when I skied Incline peak with the CareBear Sat, so here’s a photo of her there last season.



We got a good run down the trees on the northeast side, then got some great freshie in the northern (skier's left) eastfacing bowl above the lake. Not a usual spot we hit, as it's hidden between the south and north approaches, but definately one I'm going to remember.

If you don’t get the tree-edition of the Draino Gazzette-Urinal, here’s the article from today on the Sierra Avalanche Center. Andy, the new forecaster has been putting up some great reports that have been very easy for lay-persons to understand and have been much apreciated. I spoke with him briefly at the Rose Ski day and he seems to be a cool hombre despite his free-heeling lifestyle.

Anyway, Let’s all go to Kirkwood and say thanks to the SAC!

Other items: I spoke with Griss this morning and he, and I, are trying to get some riding in despite it being ski season. So let’s try to coordinate on some saddle time. Maybe a snow-ride Tuesday AM, if not a Fixie Ride after work to the end of the bike path in sparks, I’ll snag a sixer of PBR for whomever meets me out there…

Hopefully Saturday will be a good day to get up BEFORE 10 and log some vertical, somewhere, on snow, sans rocks (forcrissakes)! Maybe even FRESHIE FRIDAY!!!!!!

-M

Photo of Andy by Scott Sady of the RGJ, used without permission.

feelin' frisky?

The Cascade Cream Puff 100 is coming together for 2007. For you Strippers interested in the funnest 100 mile mtb race, with excellent support, best be on the game for registration. It fills up mighty quick. Date's also pushed back till July 8, probably to try and break last year's high temp record. That's ok by me, but I may not wear the long sleeve woolie this time...

http://www.cascadecreampuff.com/

Word on the street is that the colossal task of organizing the event has changed hands this year. Lookin' forward to it nonetheless. Thanks for the prior's, Shiggy.

Japhy rider