Monday, November 12, 2007

Kill the road bike

Today was a holiday so I headed out at 8 am to go for a quick ride. Anyone who is a biker and lives in S.F. knows that really the only option for a ride is to go over the Golden Gate bridge, of course, there is a big city and nasty roads between my place and the bridge. Getting to the bridge is, to say the least, a huge pain in the ass, with long lights, road-that-might-as-well-be-freeways, and bike paths. Today, I was going down a bike path to avoid the rush hour, when I came up on a group of joggers. I slowed down and suddenly, some crazy lady just popped out behind them right into my lane and BAM! hits me dead on. Front wheel is taco'd and the front fork is bent to hell.

After cracking my superlight last week, I am down to ZERO ridable bikes. Miserable.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

R.I.P. my Santa Cruz Superlight

2003 - 2007.

The passing of this frame is pretty significant. This bike has seen close to 20,000 miles. It was with me on my first flight in a plane, did 4 24-hour races with me (including my first one), came with me for my first two attempts at the Great Divide Race, was one of two bikes to come to California with me, traveled to and from college, and was part of my first trip out of the United States.

There was no glory in cracking the frame. I was doing a hill-climb race in Pacific, a town south of San Francisco. I was locked out and hit a pot hole, and that was the end.



The weld below is completely gone...

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

6,000+ miles on a road tire!

Well, this Bontrager Hardcase tire certainly has convinced me to not talk ill of the Trek-manufactured product line ever again. I have about 6 large on this tire and still only have had two flats. This tire has soo many glass holes and slices in it, I have no idea how it held up this long. Today, I noticed that in one area, the rubber had ripped off completely down to the kevlar. RIP old buddy. (Pretty interest how a strip of the rubber literally tore from the tire. This isn't even from skidding!)


Dirt Rag TV - Interview with Jay Petervary

Interesting little interview with Jay Petervary who broke the course record in the 2007 Great Divide Race. It's a little goofy at times, and factually inaccurate (ex. You do not need to cover 150 miles a day to meet the cut-off time), but still worth a watch nevertheless.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Back in the Saddle Again



Well, I got out for a long overdue two rides this weekend. Saturday I did a 55.5 mile road ride up the infamous Mt. Tamalpais (or Mt. Tam -- the view from the summit is pictured above). That was brutal. I can definitely feel the time off in my legs.

Sunday I did a more mellow day, doing a 45.6 miles in more "flat" territory in Marin county (For those who don't know, there is no such thing as truly flat in these parts).

Anyways, I've been doing a lot of thinking. At this point, I believe I will have enough time to train properly for the GDR next year. I have no interest in doing the race half-assed this year, but I believe I can work out a more flexible work schedule and do the necessary training. So, for now, you can consider me in. However, I do not think I'll be lining up with the GDR on June 20th. I pretty sure I'll be doing the Canadian Section with a few others. I am very excited about what is to come...

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Haven't been riding.

I haven't been on a bike in two-weeks outside of commuting to work and a halloween-edition critical mass ride. Part of it is I spent a week visiting Boston with no bike, the other is I just haven't found a good way to ride around my whacky work schedule. I'm hoping to get out for a decent road ride today, as I really need some time to think if I will have enough time to properly train for the 2008 Great Divide Race... If not, I'm going to try and find some other activity to do this summer (maybe spend a month section hiking the Pacific Crest Trail or the the Appalachian Trail)

In the mean time, this is what my cell phone looks like now, courteously of duct tape and me loosing the back of it...

Saturday, October 13, 2007

24 hours of Whiskeytown



I went up to the 24 hours of Whiskeytown up in Northern Cali, just south of Mt. Shasta. It was held by Team Big Foot and was apparently their first 24 hour event. It was during their annual 9-5, so I figured there would be a good spill over crowd. I went up there with Matt and Kate, and arrived at midnight. Quickly learned that it would be around freezing at night! Didn't quite have the right cold weather gear.

The course was pretty awesome, an 8 mile loop that started with a long double-track climb up a sizable hill (read: mountain). The only problem? There were only 2 teams and 2 solo riders. The 9-5 field was huge, but after 5 PM, it started getting really lonely out there. A large part of keeping motivated during the night is being pushed by people on the trail and having competitors to talk to and ride with. This, unfortunately, was not an option.



I ate dinner at around 8:30 PM, it was already pitch black out and below 40 degrees. By the time I completed my next lap, it was 34 and my rear brake shit the bed. I could fix it, but I opted to take a nap instead. Tragically the nap lasted longer than expected, so that was my race.

Overall, I'd recommend it if they could deliever larger crowds. Maybe if they held it during the end of August when the nights are warmer. I'll give Bigfoot the benefit of a first time. Seems like a really awesome organizing team!

Monday, October 1, 2007

Been lazy.

Howdy all. I'm in SF/Berkeley now, working for Chapter Three LLC. They're a Drupal web shop, and they just hired me on fulltime Friday after doing a 6 week contract, so it looks like I'll be out here for a while. Still homeless, so I am not sure which side of the bay I'll be on. I will say though, I'm loving the riding in the Berkeley Hills/Orinda/Layfette (East Bay in general), I don't love the commute though.

I've been lazy about posting, I have some awesome ride pictures to post. 'will do that soon.

Friday, August 3, 2007

The Chinese Bike Crash Photographer



Apparently a photographer is under fire for hanging out by a pothole submerged in water waiting for cyclists to crash...

If all of life's problems could be so mundane (and hilarious!): http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1399668.html

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Riding in Philly

I have been slow to update this blog. I'm in LA now, so I have some time. Being on the road definitely made me care more about riding and seeing some country and less about updating my cycling blog.

Anyways, the trails in Philly were interesting. We rode through an old mill valley that is completely grown in and now a city park. The singletrack has you ride across old sewer pipes. Note this trail:



They also had some odd bridges. This is called "the Finger Bridge" because it is bent like a finger.



I would also love to see someone ride down these stairs:

Monday, July 2, 2007

Hike up Mt. Monadnock



Still without a solid mountain bike, I decided to hike up Mt. Monadnock in southern New Hampshire yesterday. I was expecting some trail solitude--boy, was I wrong. According to wikipedia: "Monadnock is often described as "the second-most-climbed mountain in the world," with 125,000 climbers yearly[2], behind only Mt. Fuji in Japan, with about 200,000 yearly climbers. Bus routes that head part way up Mt. Fuji opened in 1990, and it has been suggested by some that Mt. Monadnock may be in first place if Mt. Fuji's bus riders are not counted." According to one of the park rangers I talked to, 800 people climbed the mountain Saturday alone. Yikes.

I compare the summit of Monadnock to the summit of Mt. Washington. It's a tough climb up, and you see a reasonable amount of people on the way up, however, not enough to really detract from the hike. However, the summit is full of people, most of whom are picnicking, and whining mercilessly about being "sore" or "tired." Needless to say, I turned around fast. The one thing that impressed me was the quantity of little kids, 10, 11, 12-years-old, that climbed the mountain. Seemed like the parents were more whipped than the 3-and-a-half-foot-tall youngsters!

Another interesting side note: I was wondering how a 3,165 foot mountain could have a tree line, it seemed far to low to be natural. Turns out, I was right: "In the same period [19th century], uncontrollable fires — some supposedly set to drive wolves out of thickets to be shot (the last wolf killed in the state of New Hampshire was in 1887) — destroyed crucial vegetation, permitting severe erosion and creating a tree-line that still persists, though the mountain is too low to have a naturally bare summit."

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Silly Wednesday Ride

I went out for a planned 60 miler yesterday. When I headed out the door, it was 91.5 with 85% humidity. I was on the bike to a grand total of a two minutes before sweat began to beed on my chin. I scrapped the mid-sized ride for an uber-short 23.52 miles in 1:32 (avg 15.61).

It's only 79 right now with 83% humidity right now, so I might try to do the ride again (gotta start base training again for another long race sometime in the future :-P )

Nothing really interesting to report with all these slow days (and still not having a mountain bike), my posts ought to get interesting again soon. On a non-bike-related note, my house was over a hundred degrees yesterday, so I opted to go to the movies in the first time in 2 months. Saw that new Die Hard flick, Live Free or Die Hard. I was thoroughly entertained, only for the cheese value though. I wouldn't call it a "good" "film."

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

GDR Documentary

I was keeping a video log of my race experience during the Great Divide Race this year. Unfortunately, the video is extremely low quality and, because I did not finish, I didn't invest much in production value. You still may enjoy it, so I'll post it anyways:



Tuesday, June 26, 2007

GDR 2007 Photo Gallery



I'm still putting together a GDR recap. For now, you can look at photos and the comments.

GDR 2007 - Pre-race
GDR 2007 - Day 1
GDR 2007 - Day 2
GDR 2007 - Day 3
GDR 2007 - Day 4
GDR 2007 - Post-race

Back on a bike

I did my first post-GDR ride yesterday. I did a really short 40.83 miles in 2 hours, 45 minutes (incredibly slow, recovery pace at 14.91 mph).

It was really weird getting back on a road bike after doing almost 400 miles on a mountain bike covered in gear. My sense of balance on a bike was totally destroyed. I sat down on the bike and pedaled out the driveway onto Moody St. and the bike felt flaccid beneath me. I literally just about fell over. It took about 5 miles to start going in a straight line. By the end of the ride, it felt natural. Almost needless to say, I rode clear of busy roads.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Anyone who has been to Brandeis...

...will understand why this is funny.

I also have a VERY LARGE GDR write-up coming.



(Building found in Denver)

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

In Helena

I'm sitting in the library in Helena... not really sure how I can keep going. It's going to cost at least $1,000 dollars to leave town today. I just don't think I can swing it.

I could overnight a new shock, but that would cost $400 and I'd basically be DQ'ed from the race because I would not make it to Steamboat in 13 days. Shittttyyyy.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Interview for MTBcast

Side note - I did an interview with Joe for MTBcast. I'm guessing that will be online either tonight or tomorrow.

In Montana

I've been staying at the KOA between Whitefish and Kalispell with Joe Polk from MTBcast and Scott Hodge from Addictive Cycles in Georgia. There were at the airport trying to meet up with Ashley, who had just left, and decided to take me along.

The cabin we are staying in is beautitful and this place is basically a resort. Free breakfast (with eggs, etc), heated pool, laundry, showers, hot tubs... It's a great warm-up to the GDR.

I've been shooting video and the footage is coming out pretty good. I should be able to put up some solid video onto YouTube when I get home.

More details later. Maybe some pictures if I can find a USB cable.

Monday, June 11, 2007

To err is human; therefore, cows can do no wrong

A rancher told me that while on the GDR last year. Hopefully, this year will be equally full of memories.

GDR Bike Ready!

Note - Zip ties are not clipped because I'll be undoing them for shipping.



My cockpit is very cluttered



I cut a piece of wood to make a second handlebar for my lights and heart-rate monitor. Initial tests are positive--let's see if it survives the Great Divide!



I closeup of my second-handlebar.



My handlebar bag from Jeff at Carousel Design Works.



Two waterbottle cages I pipe-clamped to the fork. I'm going to need that water in New Mexico.



The Carousel Design Works saddle bag. This bag is really top-notch.



And, of course, where I'm going to plant my butt for the next 2,500 miles.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

The Biggest Challenge of the GDR

The biggest difficulty of the Great Divide Race is deciding which 2 gigs of mp3s to put on my mp3 player for the next 20-something days...

The Point of this Blog

I've created OMG Bikes! out of the shell of my former "The Full Monty" blog, which has tragically been deleted from the internet. This will primarily be cycling, adventure, and outdoor oriented: not a whole lot of "personal" stuff here.

In the short while, I'll be posting about my adventures doing the Great Divide Race starting June 15th. I am also bringing some video equipment with me and I'll be posting some stuff on YouTube from the race and updating readers about it here. Be sure to subscribe to my RSS Feed if you want to stay up to date about my projects.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Aero Bars on a Mountain Bike

The Great Divide Race is coming.

(EDIT - Info on how I put aerobars on my Mountain Bike below the photos)






This post has been really popular for people looking for information about installing Aerobars on a mountain bike. What I did is rather simple. First, I traded in my riser bar for a old, cheap, aluminum flat bar. Typically, carbon mountain bike bars cannot handle bar ends, so I highly doubt they will be able to take aerobars.

I decided to use the Profile Designs t2+ Cobra because they were both light and compact. I didn't have to shim them at all, however using some old tubes probably couldn't hurt.