Trail Work

Whew! It's been a long time since my last post...on this blog anyway. Most of my projects and thoughts have been Mini-Z related so I have been putting my energy elsewhere. I do have a couple of things worth reporting in about though.

I have been getting excited about doing trail work lately and I am actually going to be heading up some trail work days at one of our local riding spots. "O-hill" needs a lot of work and I am hoping we can make a small impact on a great little riding spot.

A couple of days ago, three of us went out to clear a log that was over the trail. Usually logs aren't a problem but this one was pretty big, it was at a bad angle and one end was almost a foot off of the ground. It really interrupted the flow on that section of trail so it was a pretty obvious candidate for removal. That's not the interesting part though. I had just gotten back from a trip in NC where there was an awesome log feature so we decided to do something similar.

Here's the feature from NC near Brevard.




And here are a couple of shots of what we built this weekend.





My hands are still a little sore today from running the chainsaw (and probably from riding my single speed) but I would like to report that the obstacle is totally ridable. It's not as clean as the NC inspiration but it's nice to have something you can't ride 100% of the time.

I am Overzealous

I don't know what it is about my brain but whenever I get involved in something that's remotely fun and I think I will want to do it again, I start pondering ways to jump into it 120%. Unfortunately, that leaves me with unfinished projects and forgotten toys. For example...


Pool

In college I would go to the "Bear's Lair" or the "GCB" to play pool. It was a lot of fun. I wasn't particularly good at it but I was okay. I started obsessing about pool and I almost bought my own cue. I am really glad I didn't, I have probably played pool 7 times in the last 10 years.



RC Cars

Two years ago I bought a Zip-Zap, then maybe a month later I bought a Rustler and a Stampede used off of Ebay or something. Now I am knee deep in Mini-Z's. Fortunately this one has stuck. I have spent more money on these little cars than I would like to actually admit but I am currently ranked 7th in an international Mini-Z series. Not to mention I love racing these things. I am glad I got sucked into RC Cars.

Paintball

I have played paintball exactly three times in my life. It's pretty invigorating! It's just like a video game. You have no peripheral vision because your rented goggles are fogging up, you are getting blasted from who-knows-where by people who want to harm you and the adrenaline rush is insane. I am not very good at paintball but every time I play I find myself scouring Ebay the next day for used equipment.

MTB Skills Ramp

I don't even want to talk about this one. I decided that I wanted to build a small bike-skills obstacle in my backyard. Before I realized how dumb that was I had already purchased some lumber and built a small platform. It wasn't until I found two tree stumps to use for supports and got them home that I realized it would never happen. The platform is still in my basement and the stumps are still in my driveway...

Table Tennis

This one isn't so bad. A few people from work are taking a TT class at the local University. Why Table Tennis? Well that's easy...we got a good table for a cheap price at an auction. Now we have a table at work (nice huh?) and we decided that we wanted to get better. So I found an intramural class and we are in our second session. I still suck but I did just get a new paddle recently!

There are so many remains of so many past projects that are no longer alive. There was the paper mache Mini-Z obstacle course, the PVC bike stand, the home-made Camelbak gel flask holder...

At least I can say I have learned a little bit from my previous endeavors. I really try to evaluate a project before I dive in. I have stopped myself from several potential blunders but the impulsive sensations are starting to rise up again. The most recent challenge that I am thinking of tackling is a mountain bike race series in Charlottesville. There are a few great venues that have not hosted races over the last few years for various races. I can easily think of three races that could be combined to form a small series. The motivator is a Halloween-themed race that I have been part of coordinating for the last three years. The Paranormal. It's an awesome event but it's a lot of work. I have to think long and hard before I decide to tackle 2-3 cross country races in one season. I do have the Charlottesville Racing Club behind me but it's mostly a road club and trying to get help for MTB events can be a little difficult at times. There's definitely verbal and financial support for MTB racing, but it's a little difficult to get warm bodies to volunteer when we are holding so many events.

Quick update on the commuting

So, I didn't do so well eliminating the car from my life for the month of September. I really only averaged 1-2 rides to work per week. I am not completely disappointed and I haven't given up yet. I really like riding the fixie and I finally have it setup the way I like it.

Mostly it depends on what I have to do after work and how well I prepare the night before. If it's easier to find my car keys than it is to find my riding shoes, I'll usually drive. Also, if I have to race Mini-Z's after work...I can't carry them all on my bike.

I'll probably ride to work Thursday and Friday...if the weather holds.

With an approximate guess at wear and tear on my car, I only have to put 1,000 commuting miles on my bike for it to pay for itself. I have a spare bike computer lying around, maybe I should hook it up.

Tupac Gets His Own End Display in B&N

I was browsing in the bookstore the other day when I saw this...

I didn't know there was so much Tupac literature out there. I also didn't know there were enough Tupac fans in Charlottesville to warrant an entire display. I have nothing against him I have just never been a huge fan, pre- or post-mortem. Now if there was a De La section, I would be all over that!

Don't wear your shorts more than once!

I was in the bike shop the other day and some guy came in to buy a new pair of shorts...pretty standard stuff. He was saying something about having three pairs and he doesn't get to wash them every week so they get a little funky. Then he did that thing where your like...

"Heh, you know how guys are, you just smell them to see if their clean. It's not like girls who wash everything, then put them away and they always have clean stuff."

I was doing my best to not look at him like he was some sort of freak of nature. Doing repeats with your bike chamois is a straight, fast road to swamp crotch. I didn't think it was my place to correct him since he certainly had his own way of doing things. The bike shop employee did enough when he said "You are a braver man than me!"

Maybe the guy wears briefs under his shorts. Who knows?

The new Cockpit

So I am pretty excited about the new bike. The only problem is that it wasn't really "mine". I had to add some personal touches to make it feel like my own. Most of the obvious changes are in the steering department.

Since I never used the drops anyway, I just decided to go with some Time Trial style bullhorn bars. I know there's a lot of brake levers...but I am still pretty new to the fixie thing.



The levers at the ends of the bars are just Tektro 4.1's or something. I didn't really want levers at the end of the bars but I figured I could always take them off next time I wrap the tape. The bars on the tops are the drilled Salsa crosstop levers. I thought the reach would be a little to far for my liking, but everything sits just right.

Even with all of the brakes...it still looks pretty streamlined. I also took the rear rack off for now.

I am also trying out some new pedals. They are on load from a fellow fixie rider. Sally might recognize them but this particular rider doesn't get out on his bike much anymore...but he still spends plenty of time with his Cadence.



Now I just have to find some matte black fenders!

Here is the (new) bike...

As my favorite anonymous poster alluded to, I owe you guys some new pictures. I have already retired the super commuter in favor of another bike. I am sure Sally will know the deal right away. I don't have a lot to say about it yet, but I wanted to get some pictures.

By the way, I am doing a horrible job of living the car-less lifestyle but that's because the forces have been conspiring against me. Things should be better now...

Here is the bike

So, here we are 3 days into September and I haven't used the car yet! Well, that's because I have been out of town for for the last 5 days but, it's still a good start. I can already find scnearios where I am going to have to lug crap around town, but I am still hopeful.

Anyway, here's the bike that will be getting me around town. It's a 1996 Schwinn S96.3. Well that's what the frame is anyway. The headset is the only original thing that is still on the frame. Everything else is either upgrades or hand me downs.

Tomorrow is the first commute, I'll check back in, in a couple of days.

One Month No-Car Challenge

So, a couple of times a week I stop by the bike shop to buy stuff, hang out, catch up on local gossip, whatever. I was at the shop returning a pump and I got to talking to one of the guys that was on the 18 hour race team about commuting to work. Long story short, we were wondering if it would be possible to commute to work every day. Could a person do it for a month? Then he was wondering if you could just live the no-car lifestyle...basically extending the use of the bike for all trips within the city limits...not just getting to work. There would be exceptions for travelling outside of Charlottesville for races or other things, but the idea would be to never use your car for errands in the city limits.

We haven't really worked out all of the details yet. For example, is it okay to get a ride from someone else? -or- What do you do when you have to go to Lowes?

I think we are going to start the challenge on September 1 and see if we can go the entire month. I am going to have to think about bike and equipment selection for this one...

Singlespeed School Starts at 6:30 AM

I don't usually get out of bed before 7:30 but had I was having all kinds of trouble with skipping on my single speed mountain bike last night and it was still on my brain. So, at about 6:30 I rolled out of bed and finished some of the research I started last night.

After I got my Full Suspension, I converted my older mountain bike into a single speed. Everything was running well until I loaned out the rear wheel. After I got it back, I put everything back together and when I test rode it, I had all kinds of skipping problems. You would think it would be easy to diagnose since there is only one gear to deal with. No such luck. I changed all kinds of stuff but the bike would still jump around under pressure. I thought about it for a while and decided to try one more switch. I changed to a bigger gear in the back which gave me two advantages over the previous setup.

Advantage 1: More teeth are engaged.

if you can imagine stretching a rubber band around a softball and a golf ball, there isn't much of the rubber band touching the golf ball. If you swap out the golf ball for a baseball, there will be more rubber touching the golf ball. Basically that's what I did, I used a slightly larger gear in the rear to get more chain contact.

Advantage 2: More teeth are engaged.

I can't just wrap a chain around the cogs and expect everything to work. I have to use a tensioner. You can see it in the pictures below.

Just because of the size of the cogs and length of the chain, I can make the tensioner push up on the chain, giving a little more wrap around the cog. When I used the smaller cog, there was too much slack to take up with the tensioner so I had to set it up in the pull down mode. This probably makes 2-3 less teeth engage the cog. (Just imagine the chain on the bottom of the silver wheel, where the arrow is)I think once I put some heavy tension on the pedals, the bike (or cranks) flex just enough to throw the alignment off enough so that is skips, but doesn't completely fall off. It's really annoying...but with the cog swap and using push up mode, I think I am ready to roll!

I was able to intuit most of the solution on my own, but there were two articles that I found that helped put it together. The second one has a nice simple way to measure chain line. A bad chainline can be the downfall of the singlespeeder.

http://www.surlybikes.com/spew3.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainline.html

18 Hour Race Just for Fun??? No Such Thing...

From Dictionary.com

Race

1. An extended competition in which participants struggle like runners to be the winner: the presidential race.

When we decided to go to the 18 Hour Scout's Honor Race we really didn't know how we would do. One guy (bike shop mechanic) hadn't raced in 3 years, another guy had been on travel for a week, and yours truly spent 3 weeks in Japan with almost no riding to speak of. So, when we started the race yesterday afternoon, we all agreed it would be "just for fun". I figured that it would...until midnight when we realize that we are really close to another team and we would have to put the hammer down to increase the gap or move up a place. Sure enough, after 6 hours we were in first place by about 4 minutes and the competitive spirit kicked in. Long story short, the lead swapped back and forth a couple of times until we started to open up a consistent lead, 2 minutes, 6 minutes, 8 minutes 15 minutes then the other team had a crash and we were almost 45 minutes up on them. I guess it would have been more heroic to beat them at their best...but after 18 hours of riding and eating processed sugar jelly, I'll take the "W" any way I can get it.

So...I have only done about a half dozen endurance races but I do have some pointers...

Food

If you are going to bring anything that you have to prepare, make sure you eat (or prepare) it before you start riding. As the night gets later and you get further into your laps, noone even wants to peel an orange. Prep all of your stuff while you have some dead time

Lights

Don't assume anything. The manual may say 2.5 hours of run time but if you have never run your lights for that long, don't assume they will last that long. Even if you are meticulous, you are bound to have problems. My fancy pants High Intensity light blew out on me 30 minutes into a 2 hour ride. Fortunately I had a (crappy) backup light and made it through.

Competition

Don't ever think that an endurance race will be anything other than a race. If you are doing a 12, 18 or 24 hour race, you have been mountain biking for a while (most likely). If that's the case, you are probably a competitive rider. It will be a competition! I will say it again...it will be a competition.

There was too much going on (and one of those things wasn't sleep) for me to get the motivation to take pictures...but I do have pictures of the prizes that we won.

Prep Between laps

If you are not fortunate enough to have support person that will lay out your clothes, fill your camelbak, lube your chain, check your tire pressure, clean your bike and mount your lights, do it all before you try to get some sleep. You may not be able to actually get to sleep but it will be easier if you aren't thinking about your preparations and there is no way you will remember everything at 4 am after an hour nap.

Anyway, enough yapping from me. I'll post some pictures soon of the cool prizes we won. We got some energy gel (not bad) and four useless tires to split between all of us. My teammates were so generous that they just gave their tires to me...like I don't have enough crap filling up my basement!

$10 to spend at Sheetz...maybe I can get a chili dog next time I head North.


Some plain Hammer Gel. I may actually be able to use this.


and the tires...heavy...not tubeless...and just not the ones that I like to ride. I may keep pass them on to others that need tires or try to sell them on Ebay....or maybe they will just sit in my basement forever.

Getting Ready for an 18 Hour Race

Well, as you know, I have been in Japan for the past couple of weeks, almost 3 actually. During that time I rode several commuter bikes that were way too small for me and Johanna graciously loaned me her MTB for a huge mountain climb. Other than that I have done basically no riding. I got home 7 days ago and I have attempted to ride 5 of those days. I say attempted becuase two of those rides were foiled by bike problems...messed up rear deraileur cable and broken saddle. This is the first time I have ever snapped clean through a saddle rail!

Well, in three days I will be taking part in an 18 hour race and I have to say...I am a little bit concerned. Suer I am riding with 3 other people, but it's never easy to ride hard for a couple of hours, sleep for a few, then ride hard again. I may try to squeeze in one more ride in the two days I have left. I can't really build any fitness but I can hopefully remind my body what it's like to ride and try to keep my legs fresh.

So, 3 weeks off, then 3 real rides...wish me luck, I'll let you know how it goes.

Blogger has Labels

Well, not quite yet...Blogger in Beta has labels and a select few are being given the offer to switch over. I have been waiting for labels for a long time. It's the one feature that had me considering a full switch to another system.

To get them sooner I could just sign up with a new account but I'll wait...For now, I have some more Japan posts to work on.

Testify

Okay, taking a break from the Japan posts for a minute. I just found the video for Common's song Testify. I don't have cable so I have to cathc videos online now, I know...it's sad.

Anyway, the song is one of the most powerful tracks I have heard on any of his albums. I have to say that after seeing the video I am extremely disappointed. The song is fairly short and there is a lot of backstory revealed in the lyrics so I guess the only way that the video producers could go was to make it like a short movie, to fill in some story and stretch the actual lyrics.

If you can, listen to the song first (without the video) then watch the video. I hope you will understand what I am saying. It's a decent video but it's a great song, and too much is lost with the visual created. You should be able to use the links below to experience what I am talking about.

This player will let you listen to at least part of the song.

Here is the video. It's in the second post from the top.

Let me know what you think...

While you are at it, check out the video for BE. You can actually just turn off your monitor and listen to the lyrics. Make sure it's loud enough to hear the baseline come in and the synth trumpets (or maybe violins I think) that follow. Just the beat alone is enough to put me in a good mood. Tie in some poignant lyrics and this song makes it onto almost all of my iPod playlists.

I already miss Japan

I know that I have only recapped the first two days of my trip to Japan but I have to say that I already miss it. I just got back about 24 hours ago and there are elements of Nippon that I wish I could hold on to...

First, the courtesy. No matter where you go in Japan everyone in any type of service position is very friendly. Maybe that's because I am gaijin but I hope not. Every time we walked by a vendor or entered a retail store there were numerous welcomes. Everytime we paid for something we were being thanked right up until we walked out the door. You just don't get that in the states. It also wasn't just the people that wanted to sell us stuff either, we heard "Konichiwa" at least a hundred times as we hiked in Hokkaido. I will even admit, while I was in the Detroit airport I bumped into someone accidentally and instinctively said "sumimasen" the Japanese equivalent of "Excuse me". Of course I realized that the person had no idea what I was saying, but that's okay.

There are plenty of other cool things about Japan that I miss. Without going into too much detail and in no particular order I am a big fan of Onsen, onigiri, hashi, Nissan Skylines, "car bows", among the things that I am fine without...Sea Urchen, fish flakes, eel, bean candy and really expensive fruit.

Day One in Japan: Part II, Kabuki, Window Shopping and Electronics Town

After our Sushi breakfast we took the subway to the Kabuki theater. It was a pretty neat experience. I was a little ornery because the seats were just a bit small and my left leg kept falling asleep. A full Kabuki play can last anywhere from 3-5 hours with 2-4 acts. Fortunately, you can just view one act at a time. It's a lot cheaper and the acts are only 1-2 hours long. They also have headsets that you can rent that have an english explination of what's going on. It was a pretty cool experience but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the theater.





After Kabuki we did some window shopping around Ginza. We wanted to stop for a hot beverage, but we couldn't decide between some Darjeering and the Mild Brend. Never mind the fact that the prices were rediculous. (The exchange rate is about 110 Yen to 1.00 USD, making it just under $7 for the Mild Brend)




After Johanna was done trying on the new M Coupe Roadster (located inside of the Sony gallery/store) we continued to look around at the products and tried to figure out how to open this camera-thing without breaking it.



We figured it out after a couple of minutes and realized that it really wasn't anythign special. Sure it flips and it's a digital camera, but that's about it!



Here's a really small computer/really big PDA though. It's about the size of a large index card...maybe 5" x 7" The screen slides down to cover teh uselessly small keyboard. We tried to play with it but Kanji is pretty hard to read.

Here's a view of Akihabara, Tokyo's "Electronics Town". Things are supposed to be a little cheaper here than in other parts of Tokyo but I was only concerned with one thing...trying to find R/C Car parts. I found three hobby shops and managed to buy as much stuff as I thought I could fit in my luggage.


I won't go into details here on what I found. I actually have another blog that I am using to describe my trip from a Mini-Z Racer's perspective. I found some pretty good deals and some hard to find parts for myself and a couple of the guys that I race with. From a Mini-Z perspective, I was also able to get to a couple of stores and a couple of tracks all of which will be detailed on my other site.

If you are looking for more Japan posts, J has also got a blog that she's been using to document her stay and our travels. I'll post a permanent link in the sidebar one of these days.

One More Fish Market Video

I tried to capture the bustle of the fisk market with some rolling footage. It's pretty choppy and it's only 50% of the traffic that we saw in other parts of the market but it's still worth sharing.

You can see the small pallet trucks that people are driving and the carts that are pulled around by old and young alike. We had to cross one street that was just a stream of the pallet trucks from both directions. Add that to the fact that you are trying to dodge the splashing water/fish juice off of the ground and it can be a little overwhelming at 8 in the morning.

Arm Wrestling???

So, this is 100% true, and it just happened a couple of minutes ago. J and I are back in Kofu after travelling to Tokyo then Hokkaido and I am just sitting in her office checking email etc while she is off processing some samples or something.

So I am just sitting here minding my own business when 3 Japanese guys come in the door. I didn't think much of it because it's a 2 person office with a lot going on. But they were trying to get my attention. One of them was saying something about arm-wrestling. Johanna is standing in the hallway behind them and she tells me that they were talking about arm-wrestling and they wanted to know if I was strong. I didn't know what to tell them...I am not much of an arm-wrestler but I figured I would play along. What was the worst that would happen...I would lose. In the bustle of Japanese and broken english I think I hear that this kid is some sort of champion. Maybe they were kidding, but it's pretty hard to pick up on sarcastic subtleties when you don't even understand the language. So we clear a desk and I square off with this kid and soemone holds our hands and calls "ready, set, go". He was a tenacious little bugger. You should have seen the way he ducked his head towards the table to try and muster all of his strength. I think that one problem is that I probably outweight most full-grown Japanese men by about 40 pounds. We were at a stalemate for several seconds and then he started to fade. I just leaned my huge American hulk into my arm and put him down. After that his friend wanted to wrestle me. Similar story, strong start but no endurance.

I am not posting this to brag...I just think this is rediculously surreal. C'mon, you can't make this stuff up. I never would have guessed that I would travel half way around the world to be challenged to an amateur arm-wrestling match. Oh well.

Fish Market Videos

I uploaded a couple of videos to google from the Tsukiji Fish Market.

The first one is a short clip of a guy cutting some freshly purchased Tuna. It looks a little scary to me!

The second video is just a quick clip of how they get ice at the market. A guy stands on this platform with huge blocks of ice and then loads one onto the conveyor belt when someone needs ice. Then you roll your cooler(s) to the side and you get your ice. Pretty cool.

I have one more video that is pending verification so check back soon!

Day One in Japan: Part I, Fish Market.

Technically my first day in Japan was Friday but since I had just spent 13 hours on a plane and didn't get to the hotel until 7PM, we'll call Saturday my first day.

Our itinerary was pretty aggresive because we only had a few days in Tokyo and there was a lot to see. Day one includeed the Tokyo Fish market, Kabuki-Za Theater, searching for Mini-Z parts and trying to find the Mini-z track. We got an early start because the action at the fish market starts at 5:00 AM. It wasn't too difficult for me to get going because I was excited to see Tokyo and we *were* 13 hours ahead of Virginia time. Little did I know that I would be waking up at 5:30 AM for the next couple of days.

Well we got up and moving around 6:00 to try and catch the bulk of the activity at the market (reported to be between 7 and 9 AM) .From what I understand, large quantities of fish are brought into Tokyo bay every morning (except Sunday) and licensed individuals are allowed to view the fish and bid in the auctions. Once the auction is over people are shuttling around with small pallet cars loaded with fish and ice. They are either taking the fish to their "booth" for public sale or loading small cargo trucks to be taken somewhere else in Japan.

We got to the market around 7 or 7:30 and it was son onf the most surreal things we had eeveer seen. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.





Sea Urchins...I think you eat the gonads.








All of the tuna that's brought in from other countries is shipped frozen. They use these huge band saws to cut the fish.

And how do you cut fresh fish that can grow up to 3 meters...you use a meter-long knife!


Nothing like a little sushi for breakfast. No joke, it's 8:30 in the morning and we are eating raw fish...delicious!





The one thing that sketched us out a little bit is that there was a huge line at one place and
no wait for the place we chose. We just thought maybe it was famous or something...like the Sushi nazi.

Why do I do this to myself?

Do you ever make bad decisions and know that they are bad while you are making them, but continue to make them anyway?

So, I am flying out for Japan at 6 AM on Thursday morning. I figure I should start settling into an earlier wakeup schedule (currently~9AM) so it doesn't hurt so bad on Thursday. Well I was hangin gout last night (Sunday) and I went home around 10:00. When I got home, I called a friend of mine to settle riding plans for the next day and he mentioned that he was playing poker with a couple of folks and they would be playing for another hour or so...

Mistake 1:

Getting in the car to go play poker.

So I played for about an hour and two of the players left (and I should have too), but I decided to stick around for another short round.

Mistake 2: Not going home at 11:45.

By the time I got home, it was 1:30AM and I was nowhere near my goal of getting up at 7:00 with a decent night's sleep. So now it's Monday, and I am tired. Maybe I'll make some better decisions today.

Don't Buy a Cheap Shredder

I found a great deal on a shredder at Staples. It had a $25 rebate which made it something like 15 or 20 bucks. We don't have a whole lot of stuff that's shred-worthy so I figured it would be adequate.

The problem is that it only has a 7 sheet capacity. So your limit is basically one envelope with two tri-folded sheets of paper. I don't know the last time my phone bill only had two sheets of paper in it. You could certainly unfold the sheets and shred a coupel at a time but that's no faster than just ripping them up. The point is, we pushed our shredder to its (very meager) limits. I didn't realize this until this morning when I tried to shred a single sheet of paper and it wouldn't chew it up. I figured it was just a little jammed. When I unplugged it and started to pull the paper wads out I saw that a bunch of the center blades were completely mangled. If you look closely you can see that some of the plastic fins are completely gone or mushed and the blades are all chewed up.


This thing is toast.

Moral:
If you really do want to get a shredder, spend a couple of bucks, or be prepared to shred your credit card statements one sheet at a time.