Ride Two Wheels

2010-2013...and beyond

2010-01-04T22:25:00.003-07:00

I think I'll be moving to this blog for the next while to focus on my two wheeled pursuits that don't focus on Cyclocross. For those go to my 'cross blog www.crossthemountains.blogspot.com.

Over the holiday I finished up the full scale drawing of my lugged steel road bike frame. It was a good exercise to go through as I found I kept making measurements from incorrect places and had to redraw the downtube about 3 times, the rest stayed mostly in tact with a few touch ups here and there. I'll start working on my practice tubes so that I don't screw up the real thing when I finally get my hands on them and start cutting and filing.

On the motorcycling front I have a tentative plan to ride to Prudhoe Bay Alaska in 2013. John Cooper, of the 2009 motorcycle trip fame, says he's in as well. This trip will actually take a lot of serious planning beyond my usual plotting out scenic roads and vague sights to see along the way. We'll most likely need new motorcycles. Dual sport, that can handle some off-road tires and the abuse that comes along with them. Some of the roads are well known for chewing up tires and causing lots of flats. We'll need to mark out specific fuel stops and places to stay. I'm not sure if we'll be able to camp as the threat of very large bears is quite real and I don't know if I have room to pack a human sized bear box (the secure boxes found in campgrounds to lock food away from bears) to stow myself in at night. Even if we don't plan on camping we'll need to pack camping equipment for use if we get stuck somewhere.

At 400 miles a day it will take a full week to get there. I think it might be fun to motorcycle there and take the ferry from AK to Seattle. This serves several purposes: it adds another fun element to the trip, it will save us some time and lastly, give our aching backs a rest. I'm pretty stoked about the trip and a possible subsequent trip several years later south of the border. Hey, if I'm going to buy a new motorcycle I better make sure I put it to good use. Cooper thinks he may just stow his bike away in my garage for another trip as well.

Jen is planning a trip to Yosemite this Sep. with several of her friends. They'll drive there and set up base camp in several spots while they take day cycling trips around the park and surrounding areas.

Lots to look forward to with projects and trips. I'll do my best to document things as they happen. My new phone, complete with camera will probably help add some visual to this 2010.

More Bike Building

2009-08-14T23:29:00.005-06:00

Tonight I managed to file the miters into a couple more tubes. I'm getting faster and more exact, I can see why the pros all heavily suggest getting some practice material to work on. I'll be much more adept at mitering the tubes that count when the time comes.

That reminds me, Jen has been quite sad since she sold her road bike and bought her tri-bike because it doesn't offer the same opportunity for climbing hills and more traditional cycling. Don't get me wrong, she loves her new bike, it's a sweet carbon frame, with integrated seat post (that means you have to be pretty darn sure of the height you want your seat at before you cut the extra off), carbon cranks, aero bars, and a nice SRAM component set. Anyway, I've decided that the first bike I'll make will be hers. The cyclocross bike that I bought, mostly for the components, will do fine for a season of 'cross racing and I'll have my own bike built by next year. I'll then have an extra bike to sell or keep around, you always need extra bikes. My old blue GT hardtail has become the loaner for Jen's friends that don't have bikes and end up doing triathlons.

As promised is a picture of my new, heavy duty, work bench.

Squaw Peak

2009-08-10T19:36:00.001-06:00

I did my usual Monday ride with my co-worker Dave yesterday. He suggested we do Squaw Peak. If you're unfamiliar with Squaw Peak it's a local geological feature. The road to the top is 4.5 miles and gives a great view of the valley with the surrounding mountains and Utah Lake. The road is unrelenting in it's constant uphill angle. Once you start up the road there isn't a single place where your legs get any sort of a break.

About 1 mile in another cyclist came flying down the road past us, he just have been enjoying that part I thought to myself. After about another mile this same cyclist rode past us at about 3 times the speed we were going and he looked like he was just out for a leisurely ride. I seriously could not have even pictured Lance Armstrong going as fast after already doing climb once.

If Dave had not been with me I would have given up at least a half dozen times, but he stuck with me, both of us just grinding away, slowly making our way up the hill. I had a few cramps pop up and I thought for sure I was done, but I was able to keep going. About 1/2 mile from the top my legs just stopped, they had no more. I checked my watch and we had been riding the Squaw Peak road for 38 minutes. Not a long time for a bike ride, even with the 35 minutes it took us to get to the base of the climb, but 38 minutes of constant killer pressure on the legs was apparently all I could take.

After a brief rest I got back on the bike, happy there was a seat to support me since my legs were complete jelly. The ride back down, though much easier did actually make my arms tired. I still need to check my brake pads to see if I have anything left, they seemed to get softer and softer the more I used them. I'm sure they heated up and melted away by the time we reached the bottom.

Once we got to the bottom I realized I still had 10 miles to get back to my car that I had left at work. Normally this 10 miles isn't too bad, about a 30 minute ride. The small hills left me weak and I had no energy left in my legs. It ended up taking me a little over 45 minutes to get back to my car.

I'll give Squaw Peak another try, but I'm going to need a few weeks of intervals to feel like I might have a shot at it.

Cyclocross and bike building

2009-08-01T20:54:00.003-06:00

Two things on my mind as of late. The beginning of Cyclocross season is Oct. 3. There are 5 races in October, and 5 or 6 more through the middle of Dec. I was reading a 'cross article the other day and the smell of embrocation was immediately present, so much so that I wondered if the children had gotten into my embrocation, man would they be in for a surprise, that stuff is strong. Anyway, I'm down-right giddy with the thought of the new season starting and even though summer has blown by I'm quite happy about it now, bring on that fall chill and the ring of the cowbells. (I took a mental pause just now to take it all in). I've been riding with a guy from work named Dave Lindsey each Monday afternoon. We usually manage a 30 mile ride in the two hours we're out. This should help me get a decent fitness base going so I don't totally die in the first race like last year. Now... if I can just get myself to get on the trainer and do some intervals I'd be doing even better.

I bought some steel tubes and lugs about 3 months ago in my attempt to start building a bike. I just started my first practice miters last night. The problem has been mainly a time issue. The workbench in my garage was not exactly up to the challenge of filing steel tubes in the vise, so I've been working on making a new workbench. It's finally done and it's a beast of a table. The top is made of 2x4's that I glued together in a butcher block fashion. I got the idea from a Lowes website showing home projects. Framed it up with 2x8's and bolted on 4x6's for legs and I've got a workbench that will far outlast my earthly life. Seriously, this thing will last for generations. I hope some kid of mine wants it when I'm dead, because this thing took a lot of work to build.

So the workbench is up, the vise is mounted and I've begun filing some cheap chromoly tubes that I bought from an aircraft supply store. I had no idea that there were aircraft supply stores for people that make their own airplanes before I started down this path to make my own bike. Hopefully I can make a decent go of it. I have a cyclocross bike that will do just fine until I get the new frame done, but it will be awesome, once it's done and painted, to ride a bike that I actually made.

Spanish TV

2009-08-01T20:35:00.004-06:00

I'd like to channel my inner Jerry Seinfeld for a moment and say, "What's the deal with Spanish TV?" It's really bizarre? Every once in a while if the program title seems interesting I'll turn on one of the Spanish channels. Tonight there was nothing on and I saw the program name "Don Cheto", I thought of it as Don Cheeto because it was funnier in my head than the Spanish pronunciation. I realized I've seen this Don Cheto on that channel 8 a number of times I wonder what it is. So I changed the channel and the first thing I see are two gigantic, 8 foot tall, roosters fighting in a makeshift ring. I realized that it was the cock fighting version of those Sumo suits you can wrestle in at parties. There were a bunch of people waving money around outside the ring. I'm not sure, if this was just an act to make the cock fighting more authentic looking or if they were actually betting on these to fellas in the rooster suits. There was of course about 4 women in short shorts and bustiers (is that how you spell it?) Doing a sort of cowboy dance around the stage. Picture them with the thumbs in their pockets doing a slight side to side jig. Though it wasn't featured on this particular show, you almost always have some sort of host or character that speaks excessively loudly in a sort of Mexican meets monster truck announcer type voice.

Just had to get that off my chest.

Motorcycle Trip - 09: Day 7

2009-08-01T00:17:00.002-06:00

Day 7

Rye Patch NV - Orem UT (Home)

We were roused awake by the burning heat of the morning sun. Really, we felt like we were baking in the tent and it was only 7:30 am. It was then that we also noticed that we had really begun to stink. The sleeping bags were getting a bit off, the tent was starting to smell and I'm sure we personally didn't smell too great. Unfortunately, this was the one place that didn't have a shower so we would arrive home later that day in a rather road weary state.

We had a less than satisfying breakfast at McDonalds in Winnemucca. Not much to say about the trip between Winnemucca and Wendover. If you've ever driven it you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. We stopped in Wendover for Fuel and a Soda. We enjoyed the A/C while chatting about the scary group of bikers parked outside. They were the only rough looking group we happened upon during the entire trip. They looked pretty rough and their jackets had swastikas. It was then that John got a message from Noelle that we had an hour and a half to get his motorcycle back or he'd have to pay and extra $360 because he wouldn't be able to turn it in until Monday. We looked at our watches and realized that although we really didn't have a chance we better try anyway.

Back on I-80 doing 80 mph past the Salt Flats, the weird tree sculpture, Saltair, and nothingness. A little past Toelle I thought I saw my sleeping bag fall off. I pulled over and sure enough it had. A car pulled over and the guy told me it was about a mile back. I told John what was going on and told him to head on to see if he could make it home. I headed to the next exit, which was about 10 miles away so I could turn around. I circled back and road along looking for it but never did find it. John was told by someone that it was right near the road so our guess is that someone picked it up for me but because of the erratic driving to circle back they couldn't catch up. I still can't believe that the sleeping bag made it for 2500 miles and less than 100 miles away from home it fell off. I think the heat had let the straps stretch a little too much and adios.

Obviously we made it back alive and John got Noelle to stall the Harley shop so he was able to get there to turn the bike in. All in all it was a great trip. The most uneventful, in terms of negative things, that I've been on. Especially considering last year's trip.

Things I learned from this trip:

1) It makes a motorcycle trip much more fun when the person/people you ride with enjoy a similar speed and style of riding. Neither of us felt like we were holding the other up or getting left behind. John was great for this. After the first day, he was riding very comfortably and getting the hang of the bigness of the bike. My brother Kirk and John are both great motorcycling companions.

2) 300 miles is a nearly perfect amount to plan for a day. There are always side trips you find, or a great place that you want to hang around a little longer. But, you also feel like to put some distance behind you for the day; that you're actually getting somewhere.

3) Camping is Awesome on a motorcycle trip! From here on out I will camp as much as possible on these trips. The nights in hotels are nice, but it feels much more appropriate to sleep in tent on a motorcycle trip.

4) Nevada could disappear into a giant sink hole and I wouldn't mind at all. Not only are central and northern Nevada really boring but I don't even like Las Vegas. It's as if Vegas is trying to make up for the boredom of the rest of the state on one single street in one single city. It's way too much and when I leave I always feel like I need to be dipped in some sort of anti-bacterial solution to be fully cleansed of the place.

5) Redwoods are as cool as I though they would be and they have a weird spongy bark that pulls off if John tries to climb them. Evolution has protected them from fire and John.

6) Although I don't like listening to music most of the time while riding motorcycles, pack the ipod for trips through Nevada (see #4).

7) I know it sounds weird but I get a very good vibe from Pine forests. It feels like I should be dwelling among them, which is probably why Deer Park, WA seems like such a great place to move to, lots of pines. I really enjoyed riding through the forests along the northern California Coast.

8) Wild Animals want to kill, or at least harm motorcyclists.

9) It is better to be hot than cold on a motorcycle. I'll take 100 degree Hwy 50 any day over 35 degree canyon roads, at least for long days in the saddle.

10) Motorcycle trips need to be at least 5 days, and 7 days is pretty much perfect. Plenty of time to get out and see stuff. The rest of my trips have always been 4 days, extended weekends, and I always felt like I was ending a day or two to soon on those trips. It was really nice to keep going for a few more days this time around.

I'm thinking Colorado for next year's trip, any takers?

Motorcycle Trip - 09: Day 6

2009-07-31T23:43:00.001-06:00

Day 6

Tionesta CA to Rye Patch State Park NV

Got a leisurely start again this morning. Once we got everything packed up we headed out on the road. This time we were a long ways from a town of any size. We passed through one or two without seeing any sort of eating establishment. We finally got to Adin CA and found a great general store type place with a lunch counter. Since it was pretty much lunch time by now we had them make up some sandwiches. I noticed that their butcher block behind the counter was about 10 inches thick with the middle being an inch or two lower than the rest. That thing has seen some years and a lot of meat. While waiting for the sandwiches to get made John and I made our way around the store. The highlight for me was finding their collection of random sodas. Various sodas from all over the place, I'd only ever seen one of them before. I selected one for lunch and picked out 8 more to take home. I felt a bit silly packing up a bunch of sodas to carry them the rest of the 700 miles to home but I love a good soda. Apparently John has the same affinity I do and he packed up a few to take home as well. Luckily we had just enough room in the saddle bags and I'm happy to report all of them survived the trip to Orem.

Much of the ride from here was fairly uneventful. We stopped for our usual soda and fuel break about 30 miles from Susanville, I can only figure that Susan must have been some gal. We had seen a little offshoot of a road that looked like it wound through some mountains so we decided to take it. After heading down that road about 40 miles I pulled off to wake up a bit and got to thinking that we had been going a little too long without seeing our turn off. After reviewing the map we though we had missed the turn off about 10 miles back. After stopping again we realized the problem...the map had let us down again. We had just traveled 40 miles down the road in the wrong direction. The original road that we were supposed to take must have been named something different. We felt a bit silly after our 80 mile(round trip) detour to nowhere and I vowed to write a nasty letter to the map-makers. Though, I realize now I've since thrown away the map and I don't remember the publisher.

Eventually we ended up in Reno where I really had a hankering for some KFC. We ate and got back on the road to head toward Sparks. It took us about 20 miles and the highway ending for us to realize we had missed the I-80 junction while looking for KFC (oops, sorry John). We got down the road a bit and as the sun went down we watched the giant black storm clouds in the distance. We were headed right into a pretty big storm. We got as close as we could to make sure that we weren't going to miss it before we stopped to don our rain gear. A funny thing happened, in the time it took us to get our rain gear on, the storm split in two and we rode right through the clearing. We had literally just missed the storm about 10 min. down the road. The surface was still wet and the smell of rain was fresh in the air. In the end it was getting geared up for rain that kept us from actually riding in the rain.

We flew along I-80 in the dark for a couple of hours until we got to Rye Patch State Park, a reservoir about half-way between Lovelock and Winnemucca Nevada. We got there much later than we should have on the eve of a holiday weekend. This was after all one of the few bodies of water in the dry and rather boring state of Nevada so the campground was pretty full. We had some fun riding up and down some gravel hills checking out various campsites until we found one of the last few open spots, it may have been the last open spot. We parked and had barely turned the engines off when someone yelled at us to shut our lights off. We complied, it was 11:00 after all. A few minutes later, while getting camp set up, we overheard the same gent telling ridiculous stories in an apparent inebriated state. His little group was fairly boisterous and we were quite surprised to see a bunch of kids there the next day. Apparently, they didn't really care who they kept awake with their stories.

Motorcycle Trip - 2009: Day 5

2009-07-28T17:10:00.001-06:00

Day 5

Humbug State Park OR (near Bandon OR) - Tionesta CA.

Woke up to a beautiful day, it was cool and sunny. Packed up the stuff as usual and headed to the next closest town, Bandon, which always sounds weird to me, I want to say Brandon. We had breakfast at Subway where the woman guessed John was from Australia by his accent. His accent doesn't sound anything like any Australian accent. But, just to goad her on and have a laugh with John I informed her that she was correct because he had just moved there, she exclaimed "I knew it!" After a tasty cinnamon roll we checked out the map to see which road to take to Coos Bay and say a fun little windy road 42S. Hwy 42S turned out to be one of the greatest motorcycle roads I've ever been on and it was only about 15 miles long, with an average speed of 60 mpg it only lasted 15 min., but it was one of the most blissful 15 miles of roadway I've ever ridden. The surface was pretty new, I'd say it was probably done last year. The best part was the constant, perfectly banked curves. We just rolled on and off the throttle and the speed was such that I was able to keep it in the same gear with a medium high rpm and had plenty of power coming out of the corners. ...oh 42S how I will dream of you. Sadly a long distance relationship won't work out and I'll probably go back to enjoying my local roads. I will always have fond memories of 42S.

From there we picked up Hwy 42 to Roseburg, for our soda stop and fuel. After a quick break we headed toward Crater Lake, the last real sight on this trip. The road wound along through the mountains along the Rogue river. We stopped a few times to enjoy the view and take some pictures. I would like to do some river rafting on this river at some point, it looks like it would be a lot of fun. We chatted with some cyclists for a few minutes and found out they'd been riding for quite a ways, though with the lack of baggage I assume they had a support vehicle.

I made a point to visit Crater Lake early on in the planning stages of this trip. I learned about Crater Lake and Wizard Island, located in the lake, during my Geology class in college. It's interesting because it's open to the public and it's somewhat of an active volcano. The big lake is located in the crater of the volcano and Wizard Island is the slowly growing lava dome that will eventually erupt. It was interesting to see that it had experienced a small eruption sometime in the last year or so as all of the trees near the top were badly burned or left as stumps with a small amount of lava remaining near the rim. I was told by another tourist that the lake is 1500 ft. deep. It's quite a deep blue and really something to see. John and I made our way around one half of the rim and stopped several times to see the view from different vantage points. After that we headed out of the park toward Klamath Falls, OR. I think John may have taken some video along the way. We had dinner in Klamath Falls, gassed up then headed toward Tionesta, CA.

I knew from looking at the maps that Tionesta was small, but I had no idea that the RV park where we camped was the only establishment in Tionesta. I'm still not sure if it's even a town or just some sort place marker or historical location. We stopped at one point to check the map because I was sure we had passed it or we would get to it soon. Luckily some locals happened by and knew where it was. We got there and were quite happy to find a quaint little RV park and campground complete with some little cabins. I'm not sure who stays in these little cabins as I doubt anyone knows it's there. The ex-trucker that owns the place pointed to where we could set up a tent. We paid our $10 and got a great little camp site complete with fire pit and a pile of split wood for our fire. The bathroom and showers were really pretty nice for being in such an out of the way place. John and I stayed up quite late chatting by the fire. At one point the wind picked up and very nearly sent out tent into the fire. Luckily we were quick on our feet and saved it before it met it's demise.

Motorcycle Trip - 2009: Day 4

2009-07-24T08:38:00.000-06:00

Day 4

To continue a bit of the Hayfork CA saga. After showering, getting the bikes packed up and unlocking them; this was the first night we felt compelled to lock up the bikes, the surroundings didn't make us feel too comfortable, we went to the office to settle up for the night. The crazy woman running the place, still with weeds in her hair, looked at John's Billabong shirt and thought we were quite a pair. Me with my Hare Krishna shirt and his seemingly marijuana based "bong" shirt (I don't think she was familiar with the brand or the Australian word). She had a few words to say about that. We asked for a recommendation for breakfast. After directing us to a local diner she informed us that she wouldn't eat there. It seemed a bit of a contradiction and it took a bit to get out of her why she would tell us to eat there but wouldn't herself. It turns out she's Jewish and they don't prepare their meat in a Kosher manner. While having breakfast we saw the same Harley group with their yellow support truck roll into town. This seemed a little odd because Hayfork isn't really on the way to anywhere, you have to have a reason to get to Hayfork, just the same, here they were.

Hayfork turned out to be both a very strange town as well as rather friendly. I had been having trouble with the spring falling off my motorcycle's kick stand and needed to tighten it up. I asked the waitress where I could find an auto shop to use a wrench. Several of the locals having breakfast immediately offered up their tools. One gent directed me to get in his truck and use his tools. He didn't seem to worry a bit that I'd be anything but honest with his truck or tools. Everything worked out and we were soon on our way.

After a brief ride we were back on Hwy 36, riding the rest of the way out of the Santa Clara's. As expected I enjoyed the ride this morning MUCH more than I had the night before. Pretty soon we came upon the first stand of Redwoods. I have never seen them and have always wanted to see them since I saw pictures when I was a kid. We rode through them for a while then found a good spot to stop. We took some pictures and just took our time hanging out. Soon the Harley group came riding past us, for the third time in 2 days. Just as we started down the road John quickly turned back. It took me a minute to realize and turn around. When I got there he was looking around on the ground and showed me his camera which looked like it had exploded. Apparently it was on the motorcycle or an open pocket and flew off the road, perhaps even being run over. Somehow the memory card had popped out and hadn't been crushed, now I just need John to email the pictures to me (hint).

As we got closer to Eureka CA and the coast it started to get pretty chilly. We turned onto Hwy 101, a highway both John and I had always wanted to ride a motorcycle on. It winds along the coast from near San Francisco up through Oregon. It was great riding along smelling the sea air. We stopped somewhere near the Oregon border to take some pictures of the coast. When I got off the bike I noticed the couple across the road on the edge of the coast taking pictures. It turned out to be the same English couple we met in Lassen National Park. We had a fun chat with them and laughed about the coincidence. As we headed up 101 there were a number of Tsunami Warning signs. It was a little odd and made me wonder if we were in some sort of danger zone, as you can tell we made it out alive. The Tsunami's apparently weren't the only things to worry about. We stopped on a beach for some more pictures, we were using John's phone camera now(at least when it wasn't in trippy mode). We spotted a sign warning us of "Deadly Sneaker Waves." The sign indicated that so far 4 people had been killed on that beach by sneaker waves, crazy! Along 101 we saw lots of other motorcyclists and even a pod of Vespas(a group of Vespas is a pod right?) John was sure to give them the motorcycle wave because Noelle is quite happy to get recognition from proper motorcyclists when she's at home on her Vespa.

We stopped for dinner in Brookings Oregon. Seemed to be some sort of port town, lots of boats and a big harbor. We had been eating relatively cheaply thus far and decided to have a good dinner tonight so we went into an actual restaurant. I had some non-spicy Cajun chicken soup and a steak, it was great. We walked next door to a store to buy a camera, map and phone card. After that we had to fuel up and I had my first experience in one of the two states that won't let people gas up their own cars. However, since they don't want the responsibility of making sure they don't drip gas on the gas tanks of motorcycles they take your credit card, run it through the pump then hand you the gas pump to do your own gas. Here's a tip Oregon and New Jersey, people can pump their own gas.

We made our way to Humbug Mountain State park. Although it would have been fun to camp on the beach I was actually quite happy that this particular park was cut off from the coast by a small mountain(maybe it's a hill). It was getting somewhat chilly right along the coast so the protection from the wind was welcomed. Oregon has a large number of state parks along the southern coast, they all look like great places to stop.

Motorcycle Trip - 09: Day 3

2009-07-23T18:58:00.000-06:00

Day 3:

Woke up in Truckee, found there was only one out of the 6 showers that were open in the state park, and it required fifty cents, luckily John and I had just enough between us to wash off the previous day's road and sweat stink. We found breakfast at a grocery store that was packed with people. We rode off down the road, I believe it was Hwy 89 and it was awesome. The road weaved back and forth, up and down through mountains, it was nice and cool.

Eventually we came to our crossroads and headed off toward Lassen Volcanic National Park. Neither John nor I had ever heard of this park but several other motorcyclists recommended it so we took the 75 mile detour toward the park. About 10 miles from the entrance we saw a sign that informed us that the next fuel was 68 miles away. That was about 10 more miles than we were comfortable with but the previous fuel stop was about 30 miles back so we decided to chance it continue on. We just used the throttle carefully so as to be as fuel efficient as we could. The national parks only charge motorcycles $5 to enter, nice. We rode up the mountain a ways until we came to a parking lot near some of the parks features. We parked and got off our bikes and headed toward a hill with some steam coming out of it. John and I expected to find some sort of geyser or something really great. What we found was a just a hole about 2 ft. in diameter spewing sulfer gas. It was kind of funny in it's simplicity, just a stinky hole in the side of a hill. Then we spotted some boiling mud, much like the mud pots in Yellowstone, only, again, this was much smaller. We took a look, and maybe some pictures and headed back to the bikes. Just as we were getting geared up a big group of Harley riders pulled in, with a big yellow rented truck behind them. They got off, the truck rolled up it's door and started serving everyone some sort of beverage, I thought to myself, "I need one of those." We waved to the group as we headed further up the road. We started seeing a lot of snow along the road's edge, then spotted a really cool ice filled lake. About half of the lake was still frozen with that really blue glacier type ice. We chatted with an English couple that was there taking pictures, she had been there 20 years before and wanted to come back to see it. After chatting with them and laughing at a father and son team slide down a snow covered hill we went on our way. The rest of the way through the park we were watching our gas gauges. John's had moved to reserve and was counting down the miles as if to slowly torture him. We were still pretty far away but hoped that the downhill riding would save some fuel. We made it to Shingleville, yeah I've never heard of it either, but I sure was glad it was there. We gassed up and set our sights on Red Bluff where we would eat and make our way to Hayfork CA for the night.

As we headed down the mountain the tempurature got noticably hotter and hotter until we had dropped several thousand feet into California's central valley. We were looking for a County road that the map said would be coming up but as we headed down the road we realized it either wasn't there or was named something else, either way we were still able to make it to Redding.

The freeway in Redding caused me some trouble. There was construction going on, I wasn't sure which exit to take and it was really hot. After several missed exits and turning around, along with John having a good laugh at me we made it on the freeway toward Red Bluff.

During the trip, John made a habit of going to all of the fast food restaurants that he didn't have in the UK or Australia so I usually let him choose where we'd eat at night. Tonight he chose Arby's. I'll also note that Mountain Dew is John's favorite soda and Australia only has the original flavor and uncaffienated at that. Because of this John had also made a point of getting each one of the various Mountain Dew flavors that we have in the states along the way. So, at each of our soda shops I always saw John buying some new brightly colored soda. I'm glad we can support his lifestyle here in the U.S. As we sat and ate in Arby's I noticed that the bank across the street said it was 105f outside. By the time we left the temp had dropped to 101 f, nice and cool.

We (I assume John as well) were looking forward to Red Bluff for one reason, Highway 36. We had been planning on riding Hwy 36 since a good friend of mine at work had described it as the best motorcycle road he had ever ridden. All along our ride other motorcyclists had confirmed what he told us. Sure enough we got to the start of Hwy 36 and saw this sign.

That's right, curves for the next 140 miles. The only problem was we came upon this sign just as the last bit of daylight was slipping away. The road was truly amazing. I have never been on any road that undulates even close to this one. Up, down, left, up, right, down, on and on for the next 80 miles to Hayfork CA. I specifically decided to stay the night in Hayfork because I wanted to have some of Hwy 36 left for the next day, and boy am I glad I did.

It's time for me to admit to something. I get somewhat nervous riding around unknown, curvy, roads in the dark. It's as if my ability to corner a motorcycle disapears and I'm left hitting the brakes at inoportune time times and really not enjoying myself. I was totally unaware that there were any mountains between the Sierra's and the coast but around 10:00 pm we got into the Santa Clara mountains. It wouldn't be until the next day that I would come to appreciate and enjoy them. The road through these mountains was an endless(seriously that night they seemed ENDLESS), string of S-curves, all at about 20 mph. Here's another thing even in the daylight I don't find 20 mph curves fun. You just have to go too slow through them to really enjoy it. In talking with John, he was of the opposite opinion that I was. He quite enjoyed the roads through the mountains as long as the deer stayed off the road. Once we made it to Hayfork, it took us a bit to find the motel. When we did finally get there we found a note on the office door directing us to room number 9. We pulled up to the motel equivalent of Gov. low income housing. There were some beat up picnic tables on the gravel and weeks out front of the rooms. We also found that there were coffee cans lovingly placed on each room's doorstep for use as an ashtray. I was delighted to see that our can had not been emptied in quite some time. Did I mention this place was only $50 for the night? I wasn't surprised to find the interior lacking a bit from the usual ammenities that I'm used to on business trips. No TV, tiny sink and even smaller toilet. John's blankets had cigarette burns through them.

We slept well only to be awakened by a loud knocking on the door. When I answered there was a crazy looking woman with awful looking, scragly, long brown/gray fingernails, and long gray hair thrown into a haphazard bun on her head. She even had some weeds stuck in there for effect. She handed me the phone and it was Jen. I cannot for the life of me remember why Jen called but it was probably something really important. I'll mention here that thus far John and I had done a very poor job of calling our wives, in that we had been gone for three days and hadn't spoken to them. A few text messages had gotten through but that was it. Most of the blame can be put on the odd mobile service that John had. He would have a random text message get through and then show no service. We had to wait until the next day when we finally found both a store with phone cards and a pay phone, have you tried to find a pay phone lately, not very easy.

Back to the crazy lady, I don't remember her name but it was somewhat obscure Jewish name. When I got off the phone she proceeded to point at my Hare Krishna temple t-shirt and ask me, "You're not one of them are you?" To which I laughingly replied to the negative. She then starts in telling me about how her chiropractor turned into one of them and now she's a wacko. She continues telling me about everything in the town, as if she's just been dying to talk to someone for months. Apparently there are some big time pot growers there that keep illegal immigrants in the forest until nightfall when they come out to harvest the "crop." After 20 minutes I somehow get the door closed between us. I went to take a shower and had to wait for a few minutes for the rusty water to make it's way out of the faucet. I warned John about the shower. On to Day 4

Motorcycle Trip - 2009: CA/OR Coast

2009-07-23T11:37:00.000-06:00

I thought I’d start out my renewed attempt by telling about my recent week-long motorcycle trip with my good friend John Cooper, originally from England but currently residing in Australia. Our trip would take us from Orem UT to the N. California Coast, up through Oregon back down through California and back to UT. After getting really bad weather last year, see the prvious posts, I decided that a late June/July time frame would work out a little better. It also made it possible for John and his wife Noelle to take a vacation and join us. Because of convenience, and the fact that I enjoy it, I took up the task of mapping our route. A motorcycle trip is fun to map out. You first decide on a basic destination or region based on the time available for the trip. Since I had never been to northern California or Oregon I thought this would be a good place to ride to. Next, you get a good atlas and map out a basic route looking for the scenic roadways marked out on the maps, the more mountainous and twisty the better. After that you need to figure out mileage and stopping points for each day. This can change the route a bit because the scenic roads don’t often have a lot of cities along them. I try to shoot for around 300 miles a day. This gives enough riding each day to cover some ground, have some fun, and still leaves room to add in interesting side trips that you always happen upon along the way. We decided to do this trip as a camping trip with just one night in a hotel in the middle to get one good night’s rest and a shower. Most nights were spent in a tent. I was a bit nervous about this plan since I’ve done these trips before and after a long day in the saddle you really look forward to a nice bed to sleep in. The romance of motorcycle camping and keeping the budget low both drove the decision to camp. I’m happy to report that from here on out I will always camp on these trips. It’s fun and saved a lot of money.

Day 1

We got a bit of a late start because John had to buy some new gear, most of his was on a container ship making it’s way slowly to Australia, besides who doesn’t like an excuse to buy new motorcycle gear. After John got done securing insurance and the rented Harley Davidson Heritage Softail (really a great looking bike) we got a start around 5:00 and made our way toward Ely NV by way of the back roads along the old Pony Express route, through Delta UT where we stopped for dinner. While fueling up we met an older English couple that had been touring on their motorcycle for the past 3 months. They seemed to have quite a lifestyle as all of their stories went back to other long motorcycle trips or sailing around on their yacht. It was getting rather dark by the time we got done with dinner. As the stars began appearing I started getting pretty tired. Luckily John didn’t mind the several stops I took to hop off the bike and do some jumping jacks, or at one point a little rock climbing. After nearly ending a large jackrabbit’s life we finally made it to the Ely KOA. Nice weather and exhaustion prompted us to just toss out sleeping bags on the grass and get some sleep. While attempting to sleep we were privy to the increasing volume of the rather dirty discussions taking place among a group that were apparently drinking rather heavily. Had I been there is mixed company I would have been pretty embarrassed.

Day 2

Final destination – Truckee CA, near lake Tahoe. We woke up this morning to a beautiful day. We got packed up and hit the road to find some food. I’ll take a moment to describe our daily schedule.

We usually rolled out of the tent between 8:00 -9:00

Meander around for a few minutes

8:30-9:30 Find the shower

10:00 pack up the gear

10:30 fuel and or breakfast (usually the local greasy spoon, but we had a couple of McDonalds breakfasts when most convenient)

11:30 Hit the road and start putting some miles down

1:00 Stop for a soda and fuel

4:00 Stop for a soda and fuel

6:00 Dinner and Fuel

8:00 – 9:00 stop and set up camp

I also want to take the time to mention that while riding a motorcycle I usually don’t listen to music generally preferring the solitude of just riding and taking in the view. This opens up the mind and eyes to thinking and seeing a lot of random things. I will fill in some of the randomness that I remember. Don’t assume insanity, it’s just the tedium of the road that does it to me.

We stopped in some small town, I can’t even find it on a map, to have breakfast at Micky D’s, I remember being surprised to hear and Alela Diane song on the radio. I happened to see Alela Diane open for Blitzen Trapper a few months ago and really enjoyed her music. Since she is pretty unknown I was both surprised and happy to hear her on the radio.

From here we continued down Highway 50, known as the “Lonlienst Highway in American.” It’s a pretty accurate description. I chose Hwy 50 because you have two choices for driving across NV, the other is I-80. Since I don’t like to take freeways on motorcycle trips that made 50 the default, and we would later take I-80 on the way home. Heed my advise, do not take Hwy 50 as an optional scenic route across NV, just take I-80 and be done with it as fast as you can.. There are only a couple of towns along that entire section of roadway, Eureka and Austin. We rode through Eureka and stopped in Austin for a break from the heat and for a soda/fuel stop. While sitting in the nicely cooled, but poorly soda stocked store, we chatted with the girl running the cashier about the local community and the long expanse that is Hwy 50. We got our “Austin” stamp in the Hwy 50 passport guide book. Apparently NV doesn’t have much to tout so they’ve tried to make Hwy 50 some sort of endurance destination.

Along the way we had seen a few cyclists, usually towing trailers. I always wonder about these people, who they are where they’ve come from, what makes them want to cycle through the desert. As luck would have it we happened upon one such gentleman and as I needed something to break the monotony of the billions of sagebrush that were mocking me by the sheer number of them on that great expanse, I slowed way down and rode along side him. He seemed quite happy to take off his headphones for a bit of a chat. So he pedaled along while I putted along on the motorcycle. John was riding behind me on his motorcycle and was probably wondering what in the world I was doing. I leaned from this guy that he had ridden from New York and he was quite exited because he was only 5 days from the CA coast. I wished him luck and congratulations on making it this far and rode off.

Highway 50 really doesn’t have much in the way of scenery. We did take one off-shoot through a little mountainous area and some sort of dry lake, or maybe it was filled. I’m honestly still not sure if it was a mirage or not. It looked a bit like the salt flats. Once we were back on 50 it was just long strait roads and 100f temps. Along the sides of the road in the desert people had taken some of the black rocks and written names, or messages. This helped to stave off the monotony but only a little. John, happily cruising along with his mp3 player didn’t notice any of this at all and wondered why I was looking from side to side the whole time. We arrived in Fallon NV totally hot and dried out from the hot wind. Most of the time the wind helps keep cool under the leather jacket but once the temps reach 100f, the relief just isn’t there. It feels like you’re just riding in a hot furnace. We had a long lunch at Quiznos then got back on the bikes.

After cruising through Carson City, we began climbing the Sierra-Nevada’s toward Lake Tahoe. The road was fantastic, both the actual construction as it brand new, as well as the view and the cool temps. We stopped at one of the lookout points to take it in. John informs me that Tahoe looks much like Loch Lomond in Scotland. I hope to see that for myself someday. After a brief respite at the lake we road through the town(s) along the lake’s edge toward Truckee. We camped at the Donner Memorial State Park which was a pretty good little state park. I was glad that neither the bears nor John decided to get hungry enough to make a meal of me.

Getting back on the horse

2009-07-22T23:34:00.001-06:00

No, I'm not changing up the direction of this blog, I'm talking about both my recent 2 wheeled adventures as well as my attempt to get current on this blog. It's going to take some time so I'll post bits as I have them.

Crash #2

2008-08-12T18:16:00.000-06:00

I haven’t updated the blog in a while due to a lot of riding and then some déjà vu. In anticipation of the next Sundance Super D race I’ve been riding at Sundance a lot, usually doing one or two runs at race pace. A couple of Saturdays ago I was riding along at a little slower pace but was on a trail that I have now ridden several dozen times. I let my mind wander a big and then SLAM right into the ground. As far as I can remember I realized I was carrying a bit too much speed and probably hit the front brake just as my tire hit a rock thus throwing me right over the bars and slamming my left shoulder (again) right into some well planted rocks. The bright side of this is that my injuries are not nearly as bad as last time. I wasn’t going nearly as fast and landed where there were only a few rocks. I had some minor scrapes to go along with my VERY sore shoulder. It’s been about two weeks and I can now touch my head without searing pain. Sadly the Super D is this weekend and I don’t think I’ll be in any shape to race. A few good jars to my shoulder and I’d be out so I’ll save the entry fee and take it easy on the trails in a week or so.

1st Place at the Super D - Sundance

2008-07-13T15:30:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I competed in my first athletic competition outside of church basketball. I raced the Super D mountain bike race at Sundance. If you're not familiar with the Super D race it's as if they thought up a race that Ryan would like and put it together. Yesterday's course was 90% downhill with about 10% climbing. The entire course took me 11:55 to complete so it was a good fast race without much climbing. Although there wasn't much climbing I did still have to pedal pretty hard to keep the speed going through most of the course. The best part of the race is that I took 1st place in the Sport 30-39 category. I should mention I was the only person in that category but Jen assures me that a 1st place is a 1st place. There were only 9 people total in the race and I came in mid pack among them. There will be another race on August 16th so hopefully there will be a lot more people there.

Sundance Has Been Redeemed

2008-07-06T14:17:00.000-06:00

To celebrate my independence I went mountain biking at Sundance and was very happy to find it had been liberated from the caterpillars. My downhill skills have improved quite a bit over last year, Jen has even stopped making jokes about me calling her from the ER. I'm going faster than ever and with much more control, especially through the turns. Some of this is probably due to the fact that I've been mountain biking in Provo Canyone several times a week. The Bonneville Shorline Trail (BST) is a beast to ride uphill but you're rewarded greatly on the downhill. A lot of great corners with just enough back tire sliding to keep things interesting. Mucho Funno! I'm going to hit Sundance a couple of times this week to prepare for the Super D race that's coming up. Sundance just needs to figure out if they're having it on the 12th or the 19th, if at all. I may just end up racing at Deer Valley, we'll see.

Later in the evening we celebrated the 4th by doing what Americans do best, we ate a big hamburger dinner(actually it was a bison burger, mmmm) then set a bunch of fireworks on fire on the street. There's nothing that Americans like better than getting fat and blowing stuff up. Here's to beating down the old enemy.

Me vs. Tent Caterpillars

2008-06-21T20:41:00.000-06:00

It was a beautiful day today so instead of getting important things done I went mountain biking at Sundance. As much as I enjoy riding the various trails around here there is something nice about having a chair lift take you to the top of the mountain and though there are a few uphill climbs, they are very short and I never had to drop to my small ring up front.

So there I was at the summit point of the lift and I drop down to where the trails diverge and I decide to try a different trail than I have in the past and it turns out to be a winner. A little way down I hit a patch of spider webs and realize there were a bunch of caterpillars caught in them. After I clean the spider webs off of every surface of me and my bike I get going again. I soon realize after getting pummeled again and again by hanging caterpillars that these little guys are spinning their own webs and apparently have adapted to getting moved about by latching onto mountain bikers, very coy little caterpillars, very coy.

After about 15 min. I started getting really annoyed at the large number of webs and caterpillars that kept getting lodged all over me, including my beard. It's somewhat odd to feel a caterpillar crawling through my goatee. At one point I was headed through a little canopy of trees and came to a skidding halt when I saw the mother load of silk webs and caterpillars. It looked like something out of Indiana Jones, there was a wall of silk and probably 10,000 caterpillars all over in, on and hanging from the trees. I couldn't find another way through so I just had to duck and avoid as many of them as I could. There was an older guy that came through right after me so we knocked caterpillars off of each other for a minute while he told me about swimming in the pond next to us when he was a kid. We probably looked like monkeys standing there picking bugs off of each other.

Lucky for me the caterpillars were only on the aspens so once I made it to the pines I was able to ride properly again. It's awfully hard to hold a line, dodge rocks and roots and corner at speed while getting hit in the face by big juicy caterpillars. I decided to take other trails after that and didn't have nearly the trouble since most of those trails were in the pines.

I'm quite happy to report that not only did I come home without injury I also managed to stay on my bike the whole 3 hours I spend riding; something I hadn't managed to do on previous visits to Sundance.

Memorial Day Weekend Motorcycle Trip

2008-05-27T18:35:00.000-06:00

My brother Kirk and I set out on Saturday morning for a 3 day trip through southern Utah and a smidgen of Arizona. We did our best to avoid freeways so as to maximize the motorcycle riding enjoyment.

Day 1, Destination: Boulder Utah. We started out on I-15, I know I said avoid freeways but we had to do this section, got off in Nephi and took Hwy 28 down to Hwy 89 and Dixie Nat'l Forest. At one point 89 disappeared, it literally disintegrated into a dirt road and disappeared and we had to get on I-70 to find 89 again, we took I-70 a little further into Fish lake Nat'l Forest than we anticipated. We made a U-turn and got off in Sevier and back on 89. We cruised through some nice mountainous country and saw Big Rock Candy Mountain. An odd yellow section of the mountain devoid of trees. It did sort of look like candy. We continued on to Marysvale where we got some lunch at the only place in town, The Prospector Cafe, at least I think that's the name of the place. The outside of the building advertised that they had the best burgers on Hwy. 89 so I figured that would be a good lunch. If those are the best burgers on 89 then I have pity for the poor folks along that 150 mile stretch of road. Lunch = terrible. Kirk and I were also pretty chilly at this point and found the cafe to be even colder than it was outside. We bundled up and rode on to Panguich where we decided that the dark clouds over Dixie Nat'l Forest looked like a bit much to deal with when we were already pretty cold, so we turned toward Bryce Canyon Nat'l Forest. Kirk had never been here before and we didn't have a lot of time to check out everything so we went to Inspiration Point and snapped some pictures, well Kirk did anyway, the batteries in my camera had died, good work on the pre-ride check on things Ryan. After we had a good look around at Bryce Canyon, which has some excellent motorcycle roads, we headed to Boulder for dinner and hotel. The Burr Trail lodge provided some tasty steaks which really hit the spot after a long day of riding and a less than adequate lunch. We stayed the night at Pole's Place Motel. Decent room though we only got 4 channels on the TV. So we had our choice between some Hallmark Channel type movie, a flickering NBA playoff game(the flickering made me nauseas), a soccer game, or some boring talk show.

Day 2, Destination: Kayenta Arizona. We started the day with some tasty breakfast and a waitress that had her eye on Kirk. We suited up in our rain gear when we saw the dark clouds over Boulder Mountain. Good thing too as we hit rain pretty quick and eventually got some snow, though it was pretty minimal. Despite the wet and cold conditions Boulder Mountain lived up to my memory of being one of the best stretches of motorcycle roads in Utah, maybe the country. We stopped in Torrey at the bottom of the mountain to warm up and had some company with a lot of other motorcyclists. While standing around I heard air suddenly escape from somewhere and was rather dismayed to look at my rear tire and see it go flat in a matter of seconds. For the non-motorcyclists you should understand that I can't carry a spare tire with me so this was a rather big deal, especially since my tires have tubes and it's a little more complicated than putting a plug in the tire or fixing the tube on a bicycle tire. We checked the tire for nails and didn't see anything so we rolled it over to the air hose and filled it up. It held air so we sat and had a snack to make sure it was going to keep holding air. After about 20 min. it looked good so we set off hoping for the best. We rode for a couple of hours to Hanksville where we had some lunch. This time lunch = great. We got back out to the bikes and my tire was still full of air so we gassed up and went on to what would be the best stretch of road on the trip, Glen Canyon and White Canyon, the former a little more than the latter. We got about 50 miles from Mexican Hat, the next real town we would hit and nature called so we stopped by the side of the road to take care of business. When I walked back to the bike and checked the tire it was clear that it was losing air quickly and within a minute it was totally flat. This was a little more distressing than the first time it happened because this time we were literally 50 miles from any sort of town and on a little traveled road. We flagged down about a dozen cars until we found one that had an air compressor. Again the tire held air so we high-tailed it to Blanding instead of Mexican Hat, figuring that we'd have a better chance of buying an air compressor and possible getting my tire fixed. We found the only store in town that was open over the weekend and bought their last air compressor along with some electrical connectors to rig it up to work from my battery since I don't have a power source. While standing in line I saw an older guy that looked like he may ride a motorcycle or atv. I asked him if there was a motorcycle shop in town and he laughed and said the closest one was in Moab about an hour and a half away. Then he told me he had a little auto shop at his house and he'd be happy to see if he could fix it. I was a little skeptical at first until we pulled up to his garage and I saw that he had made a Bonneville salt flats streamliner by hand. We got to work figuring out how to remove the rear wheel and after about 2 hours we had the tube patched and found the tiny nail that caused the problem. He declined any sort of payment so I wished him some good karma and headed down the road for some dinner. After a Subway sandwich Kirk and I headed out of town trying to take advantage of the last bit of sunlight as we hurried to Kayenta. We rode through Monument Valley and the Navajo reservation in the dark. This was a little dangerous because the reservation is all open range so the possibility of running into a cow is a real possibility. I like my steak tender, I just don't want to personally tenderize it with my head. We got to our hotel in Kayenta at about 10 o'clock. Rested quite well and got up early so we could have plenty of time to make it home on our third day.

Day 3, Destination: Home. We altered our day 3 plan a bit. We originally planned to go to 4 corners an head home from there. Since we rode through Monument Valley in the dark we decided to come back the way we came and check out the cool rock formations in the valley. We stopped a few times for pictures but the wind was pretty cold so we didn't hang around too long. We had to head back toward Hanksville but decided to take a different road that was marked as scenic on the map. The road headed right for a giant mesa and I figured there must be a road around or through a canyon. We soon found ourselves on a dirt road riding switchbacks on the edge of the mesa. At one point I stopped and had a look over the edge and we were a good thousand feet up. We ended up on top of the mesa and road through some nice juniper forest as we headed down to the valley floor on the other side, this time on a paved road. We went back through White Canyon and Glen Canyon for some awesome riding then had lunch in Hanksville again. From Hanksville we had to take some fairly strait highways and a little freeway to get to Price so I loaded up my iPod with some Led Zeppelin and set out down the road. We had a nice tailwind so we ate up a lot of miles pretty quickly an without much effort. We stopped in to Price, gassed up and had a snack while we got the feeling back in our backsides. By the time we got back on our bikes it had started to rain so we geared up and headed for the canyon and our last leg of the ride. The rain started coming down pretty hard so we took it easy. As we went up in altitude the temperature dropped and the rain started turning into small snow flakes. No big deal, I thought. Then it really started to snow and I was having a hard time keeping my helmet's face shield clear of snow. Just when I was really getting worried I spotted an OLD gas station, I tried to get Kirk's attention but his loud exhaust pipes drowned out my horn. I turned off because I didn't want to speed up to chase him down and I figured he'd see I wasn't behind him and turn around. I was pulling some gear out of my bag when he came back up the road, I still need to ask him how he managed to make a u-turn in that mess. The old guy in the gas station seemed happy to have some company. I doubt he sees more than one or two people a week during the winter. While we waited out the storm he told us all about the area. The building we were in was built in 1880 and was the last remaining building of the town of Colton UT. Apparently there had been a hotel, houses and some stores at one point. I'm not sure what happened to the other buildings, perhaps the highway that now went in front of the gas station took them all out. He showed us pictures of his grandpa with the Sundance Kid, they had a ranch in Circleville UT. He also had a picture of another grandpa with Jack Dempsey the heavyweight boxer. We watched the storm outside go from bad to worse and just as I was contemplating calling Jen to come and get us the storm started to mellow. After about an hour the storm passed and we headed out so we at least make it to a lower elevation so we didn't hit snow again. We got back to Orem where I found Jen happy to have me back and Bryn and Keira quite mad at me for being gone. It took some persuading to get a hug and a kiss out of them, but they came around. All in all we had a great time and it was a lot of fun going on this adventure with Kirk, our first real adventure together since we were kids.

I have pictures of all of this that I'll post later. I suspect Kirk and I will go on some more motorcycle adventures, we'll probably just do it in July when we don't have to worry about freezing to death in a snowstorm again.

Bummer and a Surprise

2008-05-18T13:57:00.000-06:00

I was stoked all last week to do some downhill mountain biking at Sundance. They were scheduled to run the lifts on Saturday. When I got there I found the bike shop closed and the lift standing still. Major Bummer!

Since I didn't want to go back home I drove down the canyon to one of the parks and unloaded my bike. I found the Bonneville Shorline Trailhead for Provo canyon and started up. Since I was planning on doing some downhill riding I just had my platform pedals and no my clipless. It really made the rock uphill riding pretty hard. I was able to make it up most of the hills but between my wheel spinning out and my feet slipping off the pedals I had to hike-a-bike a few times up the hills.

The surprise came on the way back down. It was a lot of up and down, but mostly down, fun corners, kinda loosey goosey type stuff.

Spring Motorcycling

2008-05-14T21:28:00.000-06:00

Despite being rather windy, today was a nice day to do a little riding on my motorcycle. I left work and headed up Provo canyon to see about getting my cornering skills back up to speed. I got a little past Sundance and then turned around because of the road construction. It's a little disconcerting cruising around blind corners not knowing if there will be gravel or construction debris in the road.

Memorial Day weekend will soon be upon us and that means one thing: Motorcycle Trip! I usually go with a co-worker or two from work but they're tied up with other obligations this year. My brother Kirk got himself a nice Harley springer softail last year so he'll be joining me on this years trip. It will be a 3 day trip through southern Utah and a little of Arizona. I believe we'll be heading down to Cedar City, up through Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park. Then up over Boulder Mountain, one of my favorite motorcycle roads. We'll wind through Capital Reef then take the ferry at Bullfrog across Glen Canyon. We'll finish off the 2nd day riding through Monument Valley. I think anyone that owns a motorcycle needs to ride through Monument Valley at least once, this will be my first visit. The 3rd day of riding will be a long one as we head over to 4 corners, then up through Blanding and north to Orem. I am really looking forward to hitting the open road, my head needs a little break.

Spring is finally here

2008-05-13T20:03:00.000-06:00

...or at least I think spring is finally here. I think last week was the first week we did not get snow. Since the trails have had a couple of days to dry out I figured I'd hit them today. I rode along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail between Orem and Pleasant Grove, but not nearly as far as I hoped I would get. It seems that my time off the bike has left me without any of the base fitness level that I had built up. It didn't help that 50 yards into the trail I had a pretty big climb that ultimately had me doing a hike-a-bike. I didn't do too badly after that, especially once I got warmed up. It's been a while since I have ridden my bike and it was nice to get back on it. I am still getting used to the clipless pedals on the trail, I've only used them on the road until today. it makes the faster downhills a little more interesting knowing that I may get stuck in the pedals if I take a bad corner.

Sundance is opening for mountain biking on Saturday. I think I'll treat myself to a summer lift pass and head up there a few times a week. I just need to make myself slow down and re-learn everything. I've found that I keep crashing while trying to keep up with the memory of how well I used to ride.

Tomorrow is motorcycle training. It's been almost a year since I have done much riding on my motorcycle and it seems as though some of my skills have waned a bit. I'll be heading up Provo Canyon tomorrow afternoon to get used to carving up the corners properly.

Too much snow

2008-02-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

I had been looking forward to getting outside on Saturday and doing a little trail riding. When I got to the trail head there was a little more snow than last week but it looked doable. I started up the steep climb(I hate that steep climb right at the beginning before I'm warmed up) I was able to ride most of it but had to walk a little of it because my tire was slipping on the ice and snow. Then I got to a section that had to be hiked but I figured it would be fine once I got to the top section that flatens out a bit. Once I got to the top though I saw that the snow was a lot deeper and decided to slide my way back down to the bottom and go home. It may be better anyway as my legs are still a little sore today. Maybe next Saturday will prove to be a little better.

A little ten pin anyone?

2008-02-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

This has nothing to do with bikes of any kind. I just wanted to post about my desire to build a house with a bowling lane. I actually expect this to happen, it's one of my priorities. I don't bowl a lot but if it weren't so expensive and neccesary to get a baby sitter I would bowl all the time. It's just so gratifying to throw a heavy ball and knock stuff down, the get scored on how well you knocked that stuff down. This will be an intergral part of our game room. Jen wants skeeball, also a great game.

On a side note the weather looks to be sunny tomorrow so I should be able to get out on the trail tomorrow for a little mountain biking.

It's mine, all mine

2008-02-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

I went home for lunch today to find the title to my motorcycle was hung on the fridge. That means that after 2 1/2 years the bike is paid for and all mine. Very timely too as I've been thinking about my next motorcycle trip I want to take. A couple of guys from work and I started an anual tradition of doing a motorcycle trip each Memorial Day weekend. I went on the first one 3 years ago and had the skip the last 2 years due to my sweet daughters being born. So I talked with Eldon at work today about where to do our next trip and we're thinking a tour of southern Utah, with a little northern Arizona thrown in; we have to include Monument Valley. We just need to plot out the roads and make sure we don't bite off more mileage than we can do. I need to get my fender light working so that I can show that off on the trip. Those long days in the saddle can be pretty tiring but there is nothing that can tear away the stress of everyday life like a few days on a motorcycle.

Finally, a warm day

2008-02-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

The weather forcast said last Friday and Saturday would be sunny and warm, they were right. I had finished putting my new wheels together and got them on my bike on Thursday so I could take advantage of the weather and get out to ride on Saturday. When I headed out for work Friday morning I looked over to admire the new wheels on my bike only to discover that my back tire was flat...crap. So Friday I got the tube patched and was all ready for Saturday. I checked with the other locals on www.utahmountainbiking.com to find out a good trail that wouldn't be totally covered in snow. The concensus seemed to be a dirt service road above the Orem cemetary. They were right, it was a great ride. Certainly not as fun as some good singletrack but I'll take what I can get this time of year. I don't have a bike computer on my K2 so I don't know how many miles I went but I rode out for about an hour then decided to head back home. I did slip a couple of times but it was almost fun to land into the soft snow banks on the side of the road. The weather was almost too good, by the time I got half way back to the car there were a lot of muddy spots on the road that had been frozen. All in all it was a great ride. We're supposed to get some more snow this week so I'm hoping it will snow enough to cover those bare spots on the road so I can get out again next Saturday. It sure beats riding the trainer in the basement.

Make It Stop

2008-02-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

I know I live in northern Utah so it should not be a big surprise that it's snowing every day but seriously this is too much. I think it has been a month since we went more than a day without it snowing. I can't even find icemelt so I just keep the 18" wide strip down my drive way shoveled so it doesn't ice up like the rest. Needless to say, I haven't ridden a bike outside in a couple of months and with all this snow it's going to take a lot of time for it to melt away so springtime riding is delayed except for paved trail and road riding. I'd even be willing to ride on snow covered trails but it snows every Friday and I'm not about to try pusing my bike 6"-12" of new snow. I'd be panting and covered in soon to be frozen sweat before getting 100 yards down the trail. Doesn't sound like much fun.

My motorcycle may be covered in dust by my ideas for great motorcycle trips are as fresh as the snow outside. I've been thinking about doing a Death Valley ride or maybe the Oregon coast. It's apparent that I have cabin fever.

I try to pass the time by putting newly acquired parts on my bikes and working out on the trainer. I have recently purchased a new handlebar and bar ends for my hardtail GT and some new wheels for the full suspension K2. The GT will be my bike for doing XC(cross country) races and the K2 will be for the Super D races that need some decent supension for the more technical stuff. I have a few races lined up which helps with the cabin fever. It looks like I'll be doing 2 or 3 super d races at Sundance, one at Brian Head, another at Bald Mountain and perhaps one more at Deer Valley depending on the date. I'm also going to try to do about 6 of the Wed. night races in midway this summer. They have races every Wed. night, the cost is just $10. They sound like a lot of fun without things being too serious. All this racing, especially the XC races, will help to keep me in shape by providing a little motivation to not come in last place. Although they are 8 months away I'm also really looking forward to trying cyclocross racing. Crazy mad fun in the mud on a skinny tire road bike.

Getting Back Into Shape

2008-01-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

I've been getting on the trainer again this. That means two things: getting back into shape and crotch soreness. The former being a heck of a lot better than the latter. I use a mountain bike training DVD when I'm on the trainer most of the time. The DVD is really good and can be had on www.utahmountainbiking.com for reasonable price, well worth the money. Since I can't do the heavy DVD workout every night I have found it works well to watch movies or other things on my portable DVD player. Jen bought me a video of Cream's original farewell concert, they've since gotten back together for a one night show. Anyway, it was just the ticket to keep me interested while I slaved away on the trainer dealing with soreness.

I finally got the dough together to buy my new mountain bike wheels. I broke the front wheel last fall riding at Sundance. So I really stoked to get my full suspension K2 back on the trails. I'm hoping to do some snow riding before things get to soft and mushy. It'll be good cyclocross training and help get me back into shape while having fun. I'm really looking forward to getting back on the trails and road for some actual bike riding instead of the glorified hamster wheel that I ride on most of the time. Jen and I have decided we'll have to work out some sort of compromise. I think she's sick of trainers and stationary bikes in the gym.

2008 Resolutions for revolutions

2008-01-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

I have two main resolutions for 2008. Eat only oatmeal for breakfast Mon. - Fri., no crap. Ride my bike to work at least 4 days a week. I want to get to a place where I ride every day, but I need a bike with some studded tires and fenders first. Right now all I've got is my trusty GT hardtail mountain bike, it works well but only has slicks on it and since the first part of my commute is down a dark hill I really don't want to take the risk without hedging my bets with some studded snow tires. Jen has been nice enough to save some money up for a cyclocross bike for me, this will enable me to invest in the studded tires I need and have a more commuting bike, not to mention a bike to race with come next year's cyclocross season. I will probably get the kids bike trailer hooked up to it so that we can go for family rides as well. Though, this will probably have to wait until it warms up a bit.

Bike Trainer blahs

2007-12-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

If you've ever had designs of racing bikes then you've spent more than a few hours on a bike trainer. I don't like riding a bike and not going anywhere. Sure I'm getting a workout, but the great part of riding a bike is moving the pedals and propelling yourself forward, it's very rewarding. Riding on a trainer, not rewarding. I've tried to get myself on that trainer every day this week and so far zero. I'm just not motivated even though I'm thinking about racing in the Frozen Hog race in Feb. Did I mention that I'm terribly out of shape and aerobically not fit to pedal a bike for any length of time, much less up and down snow and ice covered trails in a competitive fashion. So, just like every day I'm telling myself tomorrow...

Cyclocross

2007-12-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

Earlier this fall I when I decided to start commuting to work on a bike I started researching the best kind of road bike to buy for such a task. I soon found numerous references to a little known sport called Cyclocross. I had seen the word Cyclocross in my bike magazines before but never knew what it was. It is basically a 45 - 60 min race with multiple laps around a course generally consisting of mud, grass, obstacles that require you to dismount and carry your bike, and sometimes snow. Basically the worse the weather gets the more people say it's good cyclocross weather. Oh, I should mention that all of this is done on what is basically a road bike with slightly wider tires. After doing a good bit of reading on the sport I got quite interested as it sounds like quite a hoot. I attended my first cyclocross race last Saturday in Ogden. It was part of the Utah Cyclocross series. It was as fun as everyone says it is. The atmoshpere is pretty mellow and fun. It has to be when everyone including the women are covered in mud from head to toe. So, in addition to getting a cyclocross bike for my commuting needs I think I'll give cyclocross racing a try next fall. It looks like a fun way to keep in shape, make some new friends and try something new.

Downhill vs Down hill

2007-11-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

Since it's cold and raining and I can't ride my bike and haven't been able to all week I thought I'd write a bit about the awesomeness of downhill mountain biking. My downhill is a wussy downhill since I have neither the length of travel necessary on my bike, nor the lack of concern for bodily harm to do serious downhill. So for me downhill is just that down hill, perhaps I should separate the the two words from now on just to differentiate. With that said, I should redeem myself a little and state that I am no stranger to speed and quite enjoy it. I have a 5" full suspension K2 Lithium that I bought used from Sundance. I put on a new front fork and Avid Juicy 5 disc brakes and it is now a sweet bike. I love shooting down the trail, floating over the bumps and carrying speed through the turns, it's an awesome feeling. I used to be one for catching a lot of air but the full suspension is still throwing me off a bit so I need to get a little more used to it before I really let go. Anyway, I'm all about riding the lifts and dropping down the trail, letting gravity do the work.

Landlord woes #1

2007-11-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

First off I want to say that if I have placed an add to rent one of my apartments and I've included all of the pertinent information about the apartment don't call me and say "Can you tell me a little about it?" The add is in front of you why don't you ask me more you'd like to know. Ok, I got that out of my system.

It's currently snowing so I'm pretty doubtful that I'm going to ride a bike to work tomorrow. I even bought a new balaclava I wanted to try out. I may need to go to the second hand store and see if they have some sweaters I can use for another layer, it's getting pretty cold.

I think I have narrowed down my bike selection to a Kona Jake The Snake. It seems like a good choice. It's steel, has good geometry and has all of the holes neccesary to mount fenders and racks. Plus it can be had for $500- $750 pretty easily. It will be a good bike for commuting and weekend warrioring in cyclocross races.

Provo Canyon trail

2007-11-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

Since Jen and I have 3 girls under 2 we have to do all of our activities separately, one of us watches the kids while the other recreates, this includes bike rides. Once the youngest is a little older, probably next spring, we may rig up another trailer and haul the kids around on our bike rides. Last Friday Jen and I took turns riding up Provo canyon, one of the prettiest canyons that I know of. There is a nice paved trail up the canyon so I rode my commuter with the slicks to make the best of it. It was a tad cold but not quite as cold as my usual commute. I'm not sure what the actual temperature was but the pond below the falls was frozen and there was a sheet of ice across the trail. I have noticed that the morning temps have been between 25 - 30 so if I'm going to continue to ride my bike to work I'm going to need some warmer clothes. I think I'll start wearing some thermal long johns and a balaclava, which I will buy this evening.

Welcome to my world

2007-11-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

I can and do enjoy driving cars, especially fast cars but I seem to enjoy riding motorcycles and bicycles more than anything else. There is just something about being out in the elements that I really dig. I grew up in a small town where my two options of things to do were fish for catfish in a slow muddy river or ride my bike around town. I generally chose option 2. My friends and I were very much into freestyle bmx. Our activities generally consisted of a lot of dirt jumping and trying tricks in the parking lot of the church in town. I also rode my first motorcycle back then, a Honda 90 trail bike. Fast forward to today and my favorite things that I own are my motorcycle, a Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 1500, and my two mountain bikes. I've got a K2 Lithium full suspension mountain bike and my old GT Ricochet hardtail mountain bike. The GT is so old that the Rock Shox fork has elastemers the go rock hard in the cold and provide no suspension what so ever.

My K2 is currently out of commission from a back crash at Sundance, I trashed my front wheel and I'm trying to get the dough together for a new wheelset. My GT has been converted to a commuter with slicks front and back. I'm considering buying a cyclocross bike for commuting and competing in races next year. I also plan on trying out the Super D and Cross Country mountain bike races this next year, mainly as motivation to keep myself in shape.

Let's talk about motorcycles, I love 'em. I would probably own a dozen of them if I could justify it and had the money to do so. I love my cruiser but I'd also love to own a sport bike, a naked standard, sport tourer, dirt bike, etc.

I am very lucky to live where I do. There are hundreds of mountain bike trails, some of them lift served, thank you Sundance and Wolf Mountain, and hundreds of miles of great motorcycling roads right outside my door.

So, as time goes on I'll share some of my biking adventures, and most likely many mis-adventures.