Monday, November 21, 2005

Long Live Long Rides

Categorie(s): Bikes

The title of my post is actually the motto of IMBA the International Mountain Biking Association. I guess it's appropriate because the ride that I did several weeks ago is designated as an "IMBA Epic". The IMBA Epic rides are a collection of 32 rides mostly in the US that are "the reason why we ride". I have actually done two of these rides so far and I am within a day's drive of four others.

Johanna, fenton and I set out to do the Southern Traverse just before the temperature and all of the leaves dropped. Well, we didn't quite make it before the leaves but the weather was awesome.

I got a bunch of pics that day and a couple of movies. If you want to see me clean a huge log with great finesse, check out MOV0018. There are a couple of other attempts filmed as well. That might help give an idea how difficult it was.

Click here for the album

5 Words

Categorie(s): Misc

I was sitting around the house the other day watching TV, an activity I seem to be doing more of lately, when I had a thought. Are there 5 words that one could come up with to describe the last 5-10 years? By default, this would have to describe the last five years in America because I am just not worldly enough to do otherwise.

I know this is a really vague question but give it some thought and see if you can come up with anything. Imaging it's 2020 and you are hanging out with your old buddies from the 00's and you are discussing topics of the past. What topics would come up?

I have some starters...

  • Reality Television
  • 9-11
  • iPods

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

My Latest Project and Syba Enclosure Update

Categorie(s): Bikes, Projects

This is actually an old post I had sitting in draft mode waiting to be published. I think it's from early October. I'll release it to you all now. It's kind of ironic because I started on the project that I mention below and now I am already on to a new one. (and no, I haven't finished this one)


First, my new passion. MTB skillz obstacles.

I helped with the CAMBC TAKMBD (Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day) which was pretty cool. Things got a little mixed up and I was supposed to be a ride leader but I ended up with one kid, Jackson, (about 8 years old) his dad and a couple grownups. We had the highest Ride Leader/ Kid rations of any group. It was really cool because Jackson was a little timid about riding over the roots and rocks at first, but by the end the kid almost fell oft the trail 5 feet into a stream because he was trying to tackle some rocks, and he wouldn't quit until he rode the 5 1/2 inch wide see saw they had setup for the kids.

There was a skills course with small logs, a little ramp and the see saw (aka Teeter Totter) that the kids could play around on. It also served to sort the kids out by skill level before the rides grouped together and rolled out.

Well the skills course was so fun that the grownups couldn't help themselves. People were bunny hopping the logs, wheelie dropping the teeter totter, and just being silly. This got a bunch of us thinking..."Is this something that we could have permanently?" I don't know if/where/ or when it could happen, but that little bit of excitement was all I needed to get me building.


About the 3,5" Syba External Enclosure. I am going to have to give it a rating of definitely mediocre. I can't get the fan to stop buzzing. Whenever I have it on it sounds like an electric razor. So, I just decided to unplug the fan...I hope it doesn't fry the drive.