iRide

So things are moving along pretty quick at Taekwondo. One of the instructors has had an injured back and neck since last Summer. She has still been able to teach for the most part but it recently got worse. She found out she has to have surgery next month and will be out for quite awhile. Another one of our instructors tore his ACL and will be out for quite awhile as well.

All this has left only 2 available instructors, not including me. Mrs. Neal talked to me on Thursday last week and  talked to me about teaching solo. I said I thought I was ready for it. She agreed–she said that she wouldn’t have brought it up if she didn’t think I was. I opened this past Monday and am opening again tomorrow. I am now officially on the schedule next month and am teaching solo several times.

I also found out that at the next Instructor Certification camp on April 4th — that I talked about in my last post — that 8th Degree Black Belt and Chief Master M K Lee will be at the camp. He is the brother of our Grand Master as well as the brother of our Eternal Grand Master — the Man who started the American Taekwondo Association. As if I wasn’t nervous enough — now I will have one of the highest ranking Black Belts in the entire ATA at my camp!!

Also, with today being January 28th, the next Black Belt testing is exactly 1 month away. I still haven’t officially gotten my permission to test, but I’m fairly certain I will. I can’t believe that all my hard work is set to pay off. All that and I’m starting to teach by myself. It’s a little daunting when I sit down and think about it. It does make me feel good to know that Mrs. Neal is confident that I’m ready for it.

I was looking for some gear for Taekwondo and came across a pretty cool site: http://www.mmawarehouse.com/  I bought a better mouthguard for sparring as well as a couple cool T-shirts. Check it out if you’re looking for any cool MMA gear.

Should be riding Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be sure to take some pics. Until then, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…

Oh hell YES!!

I know it’s only been a few days since the last post, but it’s been an interesting week and I have some new pics, so I figured why not? The rundown is in no particular order…

On Wednesday, the morning radio show I listen to had former ESPN anchor Dan Patrick in studio as a guest. I always liked Dan Patrick when he was at ESPN — especially when he anchored Sports Center (En Fuego!!)

Anyway, it was one of the best interviews I’ve ever heard. He left ESPN in 2007 and was very candid as to the reason (to spend more time with his family), he was extremely witty and I really liked what he had to say about life and the human condition. He ended up staying for longer than he was scheduled to. He was very down to earth — a quality I really respect in people and I found myself almost saddened when the show ended and the interview was over. If you have I-Tunes, you can go to “Podcasts”, search for “The Mikey Show” and go to the podcast for 1/14/09, and download the two segments titled “Dan Patrick” for free, and you’ll be able to hear it for yourself. Dan Patrick, my new man crush. Who woulda thunk it??

I am also having way too much fun with — what I consider to be –one of the greatest software inventions ever: the song recognition app on my cell phone. Oh my goodness!! It is amazing. It recognizes EVERYTHING!! It even knows when a song has been remade — it recognizes the singer in the remake instead of just the original singer. Also, you can automatically email the song info to yourself and even buy the song right then and there if you choose to. It is a great time to be alive my friends!!

Things are happening at Taekwondo pretty rapidly now too. I was told today that there’s another Instructor Certification camp on Saturday, April 4th. Wow!! I wasn’t expecting to certify for Level II so soon!! It wasn’t too long ago that I certified for Level I. I do feel that I’m ready though. I should be a Black Belt by then. And I have put in a lot of hours assisting and training.

Also, I signed up today to attend the ATA Spring National Tournament on March 14th in Las Vegas. I have never been to a big, national tourney before — only local ones — and I’m already excited. You can be sure I’ll take lot’s of pictures of that!!

I’m really glad to be (somewhat) healthy again, to have the holidays behind me and to be back on a 5/8 schedule at work — all allowing me to get back into a good rhythm and routine at Taekwondo. It’s helping me to focus on the final training I need to do to be able to test for Black Belt and is really getting me excited to be in class and teaching. I was just thinking — I’ve been teaching/assisting at TKD for exactly one year now!! It doesn’t seem like that long at all.

I never would have believed I would have such a passion for teaching and sharing a love of Martial Arts with people. When I first started training, it was all about earning that Black Belt. A good goal, a selfish goal — and there’s nothing wrong with that — but I wanted that honor strictly for my own satisfaction. Now that I’ve been assisting for a year and am well on the road to becoming a certified instructor myself, I’m finding that I want to be a Black Belt and continue my training so it will help me to better teach others. I still want to do it for myself as well, but I have such a passion for teaching. When you see a student progress and learn and improve, it’s amazing. When you see it “click” in their head and they are able to perform a new technique, and you know you had a hand in helping them achieve their own personal victory and success, well, it’s just an awesome thing.

Well, since this is supposed to be a Blog primarily focused on bikes, here’s a few new pics of the Spot:

New Stylo cranks:

and the new 5.3″ rockers — not that you can tell the difference between the old ones and the new ones:

and the coveted side view action:

Mark and I got in a good ride today in Fallbrook. The trails are in pretty good shape — not much sand at all. I brought the camera to take a few pics and had the weirdest thing happen: I wanted to get a pic of Mark on a little DH chute at the beginning of the ride. I went first and when I got to the bottom, I laid the bike down on the side of the trail. I then started walking over to the bottom to get into position for the pic. I only took a few steps and heard a loud pop. It was the tube on my rear tire blowing. It blew so hard, it unseated the bead of the rear tire and took it off the rim. I don’t know what caused it to do that. Weird.

The ride was fun though. I got a few pics:

We then came up on some kids hitting the dirt jumps. Pretty sweet:

It was fun watching them hit the jumps. We started to scope more stuff on the plateau area around the jumps. I pointed out a roller I have been eying for awhile and Mark hit it like it was nothing. I wasn’t feeling it and didn’t roll it. Maybe later. There was also a huge dirt mound about 10′ high. It had a near vertical face but was really smooth so you could roll right up it and pop up onto the top. We both hit it, but I didn’t get any pics–stupid. Oh well. Here’s a vid of Mark rolling the sketch. As usual, the vid makes it look tame. Keep in mind it’s nearly vertical and the line you had to hit was less than a foot wide at the bottom.

I’m hoping for rides tomorrow, Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week. I’m SO glad to get back into the 8 hour work days!! 8 hour work days = WAY more riding!! Until next time, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…

…I’m sick again!!!!!

I really can’t believe it. It started Wednesday when I woke up with a mildly sore throat. I was thinking/hoping that it was just because of the really dry weather we’ve been having. Then Friday night, I had a terrible time trying to sleep. My throat hurt and I was very congested. I couldn’t breathe at all. Then when I woke up this morning, I had a very dry and painful cough. And to top it all off, throughout the day today I began to lose my voice more and more.What the heck man??!! I don’t get it. I’ve served my time in Sick Jail and I want out!!! I am hoping and praying it’s just because of the dry weather and it’ll go away soon.

In bike news, I was able to get a CRAZY deal on some Truvativ Stylo cranks for the Spot. I know in my last post I mentioned that I was getting some different cranks. I actually think the Race Face cranks would look a little more cool on the Spot since they are Silver and I have the whole “Silver on Red” color scheme thing going on. But, the Stylos are lighter, stronger and the same weight as Shimano XT’s — that I can’t afford but are the cranks I really wanted (and have on the Yeti). So the Stylos are the better crank, when you aren’t factoring in Bling-ocity.

Also, I got them for about half price and just couldn’t pass them up. I’ll try to get a pic of them soon. I still have the Race Face cranks — ‘cuz, it never hurts to have spare cranks laying around. You know, in case of an emergency.

I also got a real good deal on a set of upgrade rocker arms for the 5-Spot. It had 5″ of travel stock. These upgrade rockers increase travel to 5.3″. Here’s a pic of both rockers. These aren’t mine, but a pic I found online. The top set are the 5″ stock rockers. The bottom set is the 5.3″ set:

I know three tenths of an inch doesn’t seem like much, but I read a lot of reviews from people that upgraded to the 5.3″ rockers and they all said it makes it seem like you added a whole inch more travel. Dad and I put them on before our ride in Fallbrook today and I must say — the reviews I read were Spot on. Get it?? Spot on. Talking about my 5-Spot!! (Wow. I’m funny. You just can’t teach that.) Anyway, the bike did seem a lot more plush. And the best part: the rockers sell for $150 and I got them brand new for $40. SHA-BANGIN!!!

And as long as I’m on the subject, I really enjoyed the ride in Fallbrook today with dad. Man it’s been forever since just he and I were able to get out and ride the old loop together. It was awesome. We were talking about how so much has changed since we started riding that trail 4 1/2 years ago: the trail itself due to weather and the fire last year, our skill and fitness level, the quality of our bikes and so on. It was so fun. I also rode better than I thought I would, considering I have this cold/flu/what-the-hell-ever going on.

I’m REALLY starting to like the Spot too. It’s everything I had hoped it would be and more. I can only imagine how much more fun it will be when I can finally swing a wheel upgrade — dropping nearly 2 lbs of rolling weight will make that bike positively fly!! It is so much fun to ride. It climbs well, descends well and accelerates like an Olympic sprinter on EPO!! I am so stoked on that bike. Here’s a couple pics I took the other day — it still has the old cranks and I’m not quite sure why the seat post is so high:

Lame attempt at “artsy”. It didn’t work:

I’m not sure what this week will bring as far as rides. I will likely be at Taekwondo all 4 nights of the week. Hopefully I can get something in Friday afternoon. Until then, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…

I’ve been able to get in a couple good rides so far this year. Got in a good ride with Tom Friday afternoon. We rode here in Ramona and I showed him the loop I’ve put together. We took a turn Mark and I missed back on the 27th and my research on Google Earth turned out to be accurate–I’ve found yet another trail that eliminates the last stretch of pavement riding!! The loop is now complete with no real pavement riding! I plan on riding it again soon, when I have the time to take a ton of pics. It’ll be cool to post a photographic route here so you can “come along on the ride with me”.

I also got in a good ride at Daley today with Mark. I haven’t ridden there in nearly a year. I’m not sure why I quit riding there. I think it’s because I did a lot of riding there last year and got a little sick of it. And this year we spent a lot of time riding Tunnels/LPQ. Anyway, it was fun to get back for a ride. It also let me know what kind of shape I’m in. I used to bang out that ride without too much trouble. Heck, I even did the Daley Double a couple times last year–two 13 mile, 1,900′ gain loops for 26 miles and 3,800′ of climbing .

Anyway, today I was actually able to clean everything I always did before, I was just way more tired at the end of the ride than I should have been. I’m not worried though–I was able to clean Cougar Ridge and that let me know that I’m not too far gone. Plus, I think if someone put a gun to my head I could’ve knocked out a second loop. It would have been ugly and I’m sure leg cramps would’ve been involved somewhere, but I think I could’ve done it.

I got a crazy good deal on new cranks for the Spot. I didn’t want to have to upgrade cranks this soon, but–the jerk I bought the current cranks from never mentioned the spider was bent (the Spider is the 4 arms coming off the crank arm that the chain rings attach too). There is no way he didn’t know it was bent, so he basically lied. It rubs the front derailleur so I needed to replace them. Anyway, I got a really good deal on a set of Race Face Ride XC cranks in Silver–to match the color scheme I’m going with on the Spot.

I have also been thinking about getting different pedals, when I stumbled across these pedals, made by a company called “Twenty 6″:

I know that pic is big, but I didn’t resize it on purpose. Those things have got to be the most awesome, Blinged out pedals to ever grace this sweet planet we call Earth. Holy Crap!!!! I think I’m in love!! Tonya saw me literally drooling over them and I asked her if she was jealous that I was in love with pedals. They hold the title as the lightest flat/platform pedal on the market, are made from NASA grade aluminum and weigh about the same as clipless pedals. They are REALLY expensive, so Tonya said she would get them for me for my birthday–still almost 5 months away but worth the wait. They also make brake levers in Urban Camo, so the Spot will have some serious Blingage once that combo is hooked up.

More good news is that starting next week, I’m going back to a regular 5 day/8 hour day work week. Working the 4/10 with Fridays off was nice, but it was really cutting into Taekwondo and riding. I’ll be glad to go back to getting off work at 2:30PM and hopefully more rides will come of it.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get in any rides this week. Hopefully I will but it isn’t looking good. Maybe next Saturday I can ride the local loop here and do the “Photo Tour”. Until then, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…

I always like to do a year in review at the end of the year. I didn’t get to do one last year, so I wanted to make sure to do it up right this year. Without further adieu:

January: We were finally settling into the new house here in Ramona. We were very glad to finally be living back in San Diego county again!! The beginning of the new year would bring a new bike and my venture into the world of 29ers with the Zion:

I liked it form the get-go. Even though the frame would soon get replaced/upgraded, the 29er is here to stay. I would begin to assist teaching classes at Taekwondo and the rain would hamper riding. I was also looking forward to the Moab trip in April. I continued having issues with the piece-of-junk Marzocchi AMSL1 fork I had and was having even bigger issues with there awful customer service department.

February: I was still having issues with the Marzocchi fork, but finally pulled the trigger on a Gravity dropper seat post:

Up:

Down:

I would finally start exploring the trails out here in Ramona, even though the rain forced me to be more creative at times. I would also finally start to practice hucking drops and Mark made a funny video as a joke to document this: http://furrybeanbag.com/mtb/PacManGrowsWings.mov .

March: With the rains subsiding, I started to ride morning solo rides at Lake Hodges every Monday before work, aided by my Ipod and the cool i-Control watch Tonya got me for Christmas.

I had enough of the crappy Marzocchi fork, sold it “as is” and used the money to buy the fork I should’ve bought in the first place — a Fox 36 TALAS. It looks so good on the Yeti!!

Tonya and I would discover that my sis was friends with Pauley Perrette, an actress on the popular TV show NCIS. We met her at parties at my sis’ house a few times during the year and found her to be SUPER nice and down to earth. We are now die-hard NCIS fans who never miss an episode. She even gave us a script to a previous episode. How cool is that!!

Mark and I had a couple of really fun rides at Noble Canyon and I finally sacked up and cleaned Widow Maker:

Disaster struck on one of the Noble rides however — actually on my very first ride with the new Fox 36 TALAS — the Yeti frame cracked and I would be without it for nearly the entire month:

I was still looking forward to the Moab trip the next month and was slightly worried I wouldn’t have the frame back, but was confident in Yeti’s customer service and knew, deep down, that I would have it back in time.

April: I made a few *blingy* upgrades to the Haro (white bars and wheels), just to set it off a little:

We found a new Tunnels trail at LPQ that was still pretty secret and rarely used:

I started to make more concrete plans to upgrade the frame on my 29er. I would encounter a few unexpected delays with getting the Yeti back into working order, but I got it back about a week before our Moab trip at the end of the Month. We left for Moab on the 26th and it was one of the best weeks of my life.

May: Spent the first week of the month in Moab and it was an absolute blast!! Here’s links to all the Ride Reports:

Day 1: Amasa Back

Day 2: FRUITA!!!

Day 3: Sovereign

Day 4: Bartlett Wash

Day 5: Holy Cross/Lunch Loops

Day 6: Porcupine Rim

The weather got warmer by the day, rides were plentiful and I turned another year older on my birthday later that month.

June: I pulled the trigger on a new 29er frame — a Niner Cycles EMD9. Ben hosted the first annual Bacon Bowl ride at his house. We went to a Lake Elsinore Storm game and Dyl got to throw out the first pitch! Sean and I got into some serious back-country exploring out here in Ramona. I toyed around with the Singlespeed a little by turning it into a rigid “69er”. It didn’t last long. Rigid forks suck!!

July: The new 29er frame finally got built up:

Sean showed me a cool new route at Ted Williams. We busted out another awesome exploration ride out here in Ramona — which would also be the maiden voyage for the new 29er frame. Sean and I also mapped out a pretty cool loop right out my front door. We also went to a 4/10 schedule at work, with me having Fridays off. It really affected my riding from the start — and still does. I like the day off, but the decrease in available ride time isn’t so great.

August: I got in another fun Noble ride that involved some exploring and I documented the fun ride the boys and I had been doing over and over all Summer long.

Dylan was also the recipient of a pretty sweet frame upgrade. He went from the heavy, tank-like KHS frame to a pretty sweet Giant Trance frame that was given to us by a family friend. Thanks again for the frame!!

September: I took the San Diego crew up to Murrieta to hit up Santa Rosa Plateau. It was a fun ride, but I got a nasty bit of Poison Oak on that ride. This pic is from Day 1. It would get much, much worse:

Sean planned an awesome 4 day road trip up to Kernville. I was on board from the beginning. We set out and I promptly got sick. It sucked. Tonya had to make a 12 hour round trip drive to come get me and I missed out on the last 3 days of the trip. Yes, I do have the best wife ever!

I got my first taste of Mission Trails but remained sick just about the entire month. I also won a contest held by my favorite morning radio show–The Mikey Show and on a Friday at the end of the month, I got to go in studio and sit in for the entire show. I got to meet everyone on the show and sitting in and watching it all happen was super awesome!!

October: I would attend my first Level I Taekwondo Instructor Certification camp on the 4th. It was inspiring, tiring, motivating, interesting, awesome and uplifting. I was there for 12 hours. It was one of the longest, most physically and mentally taxing days of my life–and I can’t wait to do it again for Level II!!

I realized I only rode the Singlespeed at 2-3 trails and it was killing my knees. So I sold it and used the money to buy a bike frame I have been dreaming about for a long time. I saw a great deal on the the exact frame I wanted and jumped at the opportunity. A red Turner 5-Spot:
 
I built it up with spare parts I had. It’s still a really nice build and the upgrades I have planned for ‘09 will drop the weight down to about 28 lbs!

J and I got in a ride at Tri-Canyons. I hadn’t ridden there in close to 3 years. I actually remembered the route from 3 years prior too. J and I also got in another ride at Mission Trails. J snapped one of my favorite pics of the year on the switchbacks. I don’t know why it’s one of my faves, it just is. It’s a good “freeze frame” of the “critical” moment on a switchback:

November: James and I would bust out the Archipelago ride on the 1st. It was truly an epic and I’m proud to have knocked it out. I finally got around to exploring the Stewart Canyon/Monserate Mountain Preserve. I got in 2 rides there with Mark. It’s a fun trail and pretty technical. It’s also cool because it’s in Fallbrook. I got sick the day before Thanksgiving and didn’t ride the rest of the month.

December: I spent almost the entire month either sick with the flu, bronchitis, a sinus infection, stomach issues, or a combination thereof. Needless to say not much riding was done. Bah!! I did get in a pretty fun ride with Mark here in Ramona. We did the usual loop but discovered a few sweet singletrack sections that eliminate 2 of the 3 pavement sections. That’s always a good thing!

For the last ride of the year, I rode with Sean, Mark and Brent on Sean and Brent’s usual lunch loop at Black Mountain. We parked at the school and rode some “off the beaten path” stuff behind some houses to get to Black Mt. There are a couple of really nasty climbs and Sean cleaned them all. I remember when I could hang with him. Well, those days are gone. He’s in another galaxy now!! Anyway, we went from there up Miner’s Loop and down the other side. The climb was hard — seeing as I’m still gettting back in shape from a month off — but it was still fun. The DH back down the other side was even better! It felt almost like cheating with a 36 TALAS and a Gravity Dropper — but hey, I paid the weight penalty on the climb, might as well enjoy it on the DH!!

Anyway, it was really nice to get in one last ride for 2008 with good friends on a trail I’ve only ridden once before — at the beginning of the Archipelago ride.

Here’s a few more of my favorite pics of the year:

Rolling at Hodges:

Caught in the snow at Noble:

Tunnels bliss:

A little huckage:

Fruita single track:

Mark on Amasa Back:

Rolling out of Bartlett Wash:

Group on Bartlett Wash:

Holy Cross:

Porcupine Rim:

Mark at La Costa:

Ramona climb:

Early morning clouds:

SD Train:

Steep roller:

Switchback:

Step down:

Mark at Stewart Canyon:

End of the Archipelago ride:

Also, I’d like to wish you a Merry New Year. I thank you for reading my Blog and hope you enjoy it. I mostly do this Blog for myself, for my own record. But, I get a lot of hits every week, so I’m glad you keep coming back to see what I’m up to. Here’s to an awesome ‘09 — full of good trails with good friends!!

If you’re wondering why I typed “Merry” New Year instead of “Happy”, all I have to say is:

Until next time, seek your bliss. And, as always…

Ride lots!!