iRide

I’ve been getting in some pretty regular rides in–which feels great. I’m debating now whether or not to go on an all day ride on my birthday on Monday. I really want to go, but don’t want to be away from the family all day either. Maybe I’ll just flip a coin.

Taekwondo is going good. I’m teaching and assisting as many as 4 out of 5 days a week. It’s great to get the experience and I just love to teach so much. I added up my hours on Wednesday and since October 6th of last year, I’ve taught or assisted 181 hours!! I knew it was a lot, but had no idea it was that high!! It’s going good though. I’ve learned just about all of my new 1st Degree form–81 moves total. I’m also starting to really get into working weapons–namely the Song Jeol Bong/Nunchaku. I’m getting pretty good at the basic moves with it and look forward to using some of my future free-time to practice at home (source/explanation of future free time below)..

I was in the middle of a really fun solo ride on my local ‘hood loop a couple weeks ago. I had dropped my seat/Gravity Dropper down on a particularly nasty DH section and when I pushed the trigger to raise it back up at the bottom, nothing happened–it was “stuck down”. I tinkered, fiddled, coaxed, whacked, kicked, cajoled and cussed at it for close to 30 minutes with no luck. It wasn’t coming back up. RIDE OVER! I had to ride back home with the saddle slammed all the way down. Nothing like trying to climb and having your knees whack you in the chin the whole time. A slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Wanting to fix it when I got home, I hit up Google for articles from other people who had the same problem in the past and couldn’t find anything. I went on the Gravity Dropper website looking for answers and found nothing there either. So I decided to email the really helpful guy at Gravity Dropper who helped me out before and see what he could do for me. He emailed me back with very detailed instructions on how to fix it myself, or he said I could purchase a $15 tune-up off their website and mail the post to them and they would fix it while giving it a tune-up. I opted for sending it in, since it needed a little TLC anyway. For $15 I basically got a new seatpost when it was all said and done. If you are considering getting a gravity Dropper, by all means DO IT!! The Gravity Dropper is a great product and the folks there are really great to work with and very Customer Service oriented.

In other news, the very scandalous affair I’ve been having with the 5-Spot is getting pretty serious. I haven’t ridden the Yeti in quite awhile–choosing to spend almost all my time with the Spot instead. What can I say?? The Spot is younger, weighs less, easier on long rides and frankly just attracts more jealous ogling from other riders. I mean, don’t get me wrong–the Yeti is a great bike. It’s solid, climbs well for its weight (32 lbs), absolutely shreds downhills and technical trails and is fun to ride. The weight just seems to be an issue on rides with lot’s of climbing.

The Spot on the other hand, climbs like a goat on Meth, handles the DH and technical stuff well considering it has an inch less travel front and rear verses the Yeti and the major difference is that with the addition of the new wheels, its weight (28 lbs) is lighter by over 10% over the Yeti and just flat out flies down trail. It is more than enough bike for the majority of trails that I ride. You take all that into consideration and the Spot sees more trail time than the Yeti.

Probably the most awesome thing to come up in the last couple weeks is that we are FINALLY moving back to Fallbrook!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be moving next weekend into a house in the southern section of town. I am SO stoked!! It means a shorter drive to work. No more long commutes to and from Taekwondo or church. We are all really excited. I tell you–I really don’t know what I’m going to do with all the extra time I’ll have on my hands. I’ll have more time to spend with the family. I’ll have more time to ride. I’ll have more time to practice Taekwondo forms and weapons with the boys and by myself. We’ll be saving a ton of money in gas and by not having to eat out as much. Just about the only “bummer” in it all for me is that I won’t have all these awesome trails right outside my door anymore. But–there are good trails in Fallbrook. The trails I started on and know well. So all is not lost there. I will still have trails close by to ride.

One downside is that we need some extra cash, so I’m forced to put another bike on the auction block. I decided to sell the road bike. It’’s an awesome bike, but I hardly ever ride it and we need the money. Check out my listing here: Craigslist ad

That’s all for now. Hopefully it won’t be another month before we meet again. Until next time, seek your bliss and plant new seeds.

Ride lots…