iRide

“Man it’s hot. Africa hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot. I don’t think I can stay here if it’s gonna be this hot!” Eugene Jerome (Mathew Broderick), Biloxi Blues.

I really wanted to get a ride in this weekend, despite the current heat wave that is frying SoCal like the proverbial egg. It’s been getting progressively hotter all week, with today’s high being in the neighborhood of 105!!

We had Taekwondo this morning, an early dinner with Tonya’s parents at 4pm in Ramona and a get-together at Tom’s house this evening to watch the UFC fight. All that meant that if I wanted to ride today, it would need to be in between TKD and dinner–during the hottest part of the day.

J and I had been planning on riding for the last week. We were a bit concerned about the heat–as were our spouses and families. But we new we could do it if we made sure to carry a lot of liquids, take lots of rest breaks in the shade and basically just ride smart.

When we set off, the temps outside were sitting at around 100 degrees. I brought my Niner because I wanted to make sure I had a light-weight and efficient bike under me. I figured the less I work I had to do to power the bike, the better off I would be in the heat. I also wanted to take it because I wanted to see how a Hard Tail 29er would do in the super rocky conditions that are the Sycamore Canyon trail. I’ve always ridden it on a full suspension bike in the past and was very curious to see how the Niner would do–more on that later.

When we pulled up, the trailhead parking lot was strangely empty (insert sarcasm here). Could it be that everyone else was smarter than us by deciding to stay home? Only time would tell.

J’s car is the lone car in at the trailhead:

We set out up and over the Martha’s Grove climb and subsequent downhill. It has some pretty sketchy sections and I was curious to see how the Niner would do–given it’s lack of rear suspension.

It handled all the sketch well–so well I was a little surprised. I had my camera and in hindsight wish I had J take a few pics. It would’ve been cool to see the Niner in action like that. It was really warm out though and at the time we were still in the process of figuring out if we were brave or stupid for riding in the heat.

We plodded on and I was feeling really good, despite the heat. J was feeling OK too, but I was absolutely flying aboard the Niner. Whenever I got ahead, I stopped and took some pics. Here’s a couple of J 0n the singletrack:

We were holding up well, despite the fact that the temp was pushing 100. There was actually a nice breeze that helped a lot. We were hydrating a lot and more importantly–finding nice, shady spots to chill for a few:

We were both sweating A LOT!! I have never had to stop and squeeze the sweat out of my helmet so often. J actually caught a gross, yet funny action shot. The sweat torrent:

The after math on the ground:

We decided to play it smart and only do about half of our usual 16 mile route. At the turn-around, I took a pic of the Niner near some interesting trail art:

The heat was beginning to take a toll on J a bit. He was still riding OK, but had to push a few of the climbs on the way back:

I was still feeling really good and was glad I had decided to bring the Niner. It was tracking well through all the rocks and was still making the climbs easy and the trail fun. The decision to replace the 11-32 cassette with an 11-34 is paying off in leaps and bounds!! I really enjoyed the Niner today. Is it wrong to love a bike? If it is, I don’t wanna be right!!!

While I waited for J, I decided to snap the cliched “handlebar shot”. I rarely snap this pic but figured why not:

We made it back to the trailhead and J’s car before too long. We were glad to be done and get some respite from the furnace that is San Diego right now. However, we were also glad we decided to get a ride in. We rode smart by not trying to overdo it. We hydrated constantly, took breaks in the shade and made sure we didn’t try to knock out too many miles–only 8–and ended up having a somewhat surprisingly pleasant ride.

Now–back to the Niner. I am SO glad I have this bike in my stable. It is lightweight at 25 lbs. It is super efficient because it’s a hard tail. And it rolls over just about everything because it’s a 29er.

I read somewhere recently that hard tail 29ers are just as good as full suspension 4″ travel 26ers. The bigger wheels eat up so much of the rough stuff you are oft times amazed you are on a bike with no rear suspension. I’ve been thinking about it since I read it and today’s ride cemented it for me: a hard tail 29er is just as good, if not better, than a 4′ travel full suspension bike. The Niner railed through all the rocks and chunk today just as good as any other bike I’ve ridden at Sycamore. I’m blessed to own it!!

All in all it was a great day and a great ride. I’m not sure what the week will hold for rides, but here’s hoping I get in a couple. Until next time, seek your bliss and plant new seeds.

Ride lots…

Today, Tonya and I headed down to San Diego along with the Lystra’s and Garcia’s to take in a Padres game at Mrs. Neal’s downtown condo–that just so happens to overlook Petco Park!!

It was a really fun day. I snapped a few pics with my cell phone.

Our view of the field:

View of the free/kids/lawn area:

Game time. You could see the action really well–better than the pic might make you think:

Great back drop for a photo!!

Tonya and I really enjoyed the day. Good food, great view and great friends. It doesn’t get any better than that. Well…maybe if the Padres had won.

…turned out to be a huge waste of time.

I had been looking forward to the ride all week.  It was looking to be a great day for a ride with cloud cover and mid 60’s temps. I picked up J at his house and we met up with Evan. We started at the  Penny Pines trailhead and the plan was to head down the east side of Laguna and then head over to Los Gatos and a few of the other trails on that side.

The ride went bad only a few miles in. Everything was going great until I started to feel major drag coming from my rear wheel and found myself WAY behind Jeremy and Evan. Evan got a pic of them waiting for me to catch up:

Our first thought was the brake pads were uneven and dragging–as they were worn down pretty bad even though they weren’t that old, so we pushed the pistons back in. I didn’t have a spare set of pads, so we put them back in to finish the ride. But then we saw the rear wheel would barely turn at all.

We took the wheel off again it turned out the bearings in the hub were seized causing a huge amount of drag on the wheel. We spent about 20 minutes trying to fix it, with no success. This meant RIDE OVER!!

I was so upset I could hardly even see straight. Here I am showing my rear wheel just how I felt. Evan snapped a pic of me in my moment of rage, giving my bike the “Double Bird”:

J decided to head back to the car with me and Evan continued on the ride. Nothing like having to ride 3 miles in close to granny gear and feeling like I was climbing the whole way–even on flat sections.

The bike is currently sitting at the shop getting repaired–I dropped it off on my way home. Nothing like wasting several hours and lot’s of gas for nothing. UGH!!

We are going to try to head out there again in a couple weeks. Hopefully it will pan out and i can give a proper ride report. Until Next time, seek your bliss and plant new seeds.

Ride lots…

Last night, FMA hosted the Black Belt testing for students from FMA and our sister school in Oceanside. I would be “mid-terming” to stay current with my requirements for 1st Degree and Spencer would be testing for his 1st Degree!!!

Testing went well. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

All the testers staging in the lobby, receiving instructions from the Floor Coordinator–Mr. Limjoco:

Lining up:

Taking advantage of a little downtime and doing some stretching:

Spencer presents Master Coffee-Limjoco with a dozen roses–congratulating her on her newly received Mastership:

Mrs. Neal addressing the testers and spectators:

Sparring was first. Here, Spencer throws a sweet Inner Crescent Kick during sparring:

Me sparring:

After sparring came forms. Spencer did ALL FIVE of his forms really well. Keep in mind he’s 8 years old and he had to have a total of 165 moves down cold!! He did awesome!! Me doing my 1st Degree form:

Spencer doing form:

Board breaks came last. To me, it’s the most stressful part of the night. If you don’t break in 3 attempts, you don’t pass. Spencer was up first.

Action shot of Spencer’s first board break–a #3 Side Kick:

I’m holding for his second break–a Hammerfist:

Notice my facial expression–he broke the board with such force, it split into 3 pieces instead of just two halves and the third piece hit me in the face. AWESOME stuff!! He’s a brute!!

Eventually it was my turn. My first board break–an Upset Knife Hand Strike:

Setting for break number two–a #3 Jump Side Kick:

Nailed it:

With succesful board breaks out of the way, it was on to the Black Belt ceremony, where the new 1st Degrees get to take part in as an honorary thing as a celebration for earning their 1st Degree Black Belts.

The judges at the beginning of the Black Belt ceremony. Behind them are Black Belts that make up “The Mountain”. I’m in the first row.

The new 1st degrees drinking the ceremonial tea:

Candle lighting during the Black Belt ceremony:

Spencer signing his name in the FMA Black Belt scroll:

Receiving his 1st Degree belt:

Proud family with the new 1st Degree:

Group shot of all the testers, mid-termers and judges:

Brand new FMA 1st Degrees!!

Spencer with Mrs. Neal–who also received her new 5th Degree belt!!

Spencer with Mrs. Lystra:

Spencer with Mrs. Garcia:

Proud papa with the new 1st Degree!!:

He’s already beating me up:

Edit 8/28/09:

The ATA has a new way of judging and giving points for testing and mid-terming. The new format is:

Forms: 5 points possible. Receiving a 5 is “World Champ” quality. Receiving a 3 is considered Average.

Sparring: 3 points possible. Receiving a 2 is considered Average.

Board Breaks: 2 points possible. Breaking all Boards on the 1st attempt earns 2 points. If a second or third attempt is necessary, 1 point is awarded. If Boards aren’t all broken within 3 attempts, no points are given.

1st Degree Black Belts must receive 7 out of the 10 possible points to pass. So for example, an average Form, average Sparring and perfect Board Breaks earns you 7 points–barely passing!!

I received my scores this week and I got 9 out of 10 points!!! I was so excited by that–and also humbled. I felt like I did well, but had no idea I did that well!! However, instead of feeling like I’ve got it all figured out, I plan on working that much harder to make sure I earn a similar score at my next mid-term.

It was a great night. Very fun and very emotional–you can’t help but tear up when your child acheives the huge milestone that is earning a Black Belt in a martial art. Spencer has worked so hard over the last 3 years. He has sacrificed. He has given blood, sweat and tears–literally–to acheive his goal of earning his 1st Degree. We are all so proud!!

Doing some internet browsing last week, I found a deal that was too good to pass up. I was on the Santa Cruz Bicycles website looking around. Granted, I don’t own a Santa Cruz bike, but they have some crazy good deals in their “Store” from time to time. As a manufacturer, they buy components in bulk and get a really good deal on them. When they are over-stocked on these items, they sell them at ridiculously low prices. So when I was looking around, I saw they were selling 7″ Shimano Centerlock rotors–the Spot takes Centerlock rotors–for the crazy low price of $8 (they retail elsewhere for closer to $30).

I have always toyed with the idea of upgrading the front rotor from the current 6″ rotor I’m now running. Simply put–most of the braking force/load is put on the front rotor and a 7″ rotor will stop better than a 6″ one. At $8 for the rotor, I just couldn’t pass it up.

Also, I have mentioned here before that I wanted to get a new rear cassette for the 29er. Since the bigger wheels make gearing seem taller/bigger/harder on climbs, I wanted to switch to an 11-34 cassette. I am currently running an 11-32–which happened by mistake. I thought I put on an 11-34 when I built the Niner. I was washing the bike one day a couple months ago and upon taking a close look at the cassette I was running, discovered it was an 11-32.

Now for those of you who don’t ride bikes and don’t know the difference–basically I’ve been cheating myself out of one whole gear this whole time–the “granny” gear/climbing gear. Trust me–on long climbs you need all the help you can get!!

I finally got the new cassette, rotor and new adapter in the mail today and decided to put them on.

Hot Wheels beach towel–my work mat for the day:

Have tools, will travel:

Side by side comparison shots of the new 7″ and the old 6″

New rotor mounted:

Brake caliper on current 6″ rotor adapter:

New adapter:

Spot with the new 7″ front rotor:

And onto the new cassette install…

Mmmm. Shiny new cassette:

Changing cassettes is easy. Done in about 1 minute:

The bad thing is that this is a REALLY busy week and I won’t be able to ride until Saturday–which means I threw on some sweet upgrades and won’t get to trail test them for another 4 days. Sucky!!

I have TKD tomorrow night and Thursday night. Then Friday night is the big night: I am doing my first mid-term as a Black Belt but more importantly, Spencer is testing for his 1st Degree Balck Belt!!! WOOT WOOT!!! I am so proud of him for traveling this long road so strong and finally on the cusp of acheiving such an awesome goal. I’ll be sure to post pics!!

Until next time, seek your bliss and plant new seeds.

Ride lots…

Some days you just don’t feel like driving to the trailhead. Today was one of those days. I’ve also wanted to do a ride report on my new local loop. I figured today was a good day.

The Road I.D. wrist band. A must on a solo ride:

Hang a left out the driveway and I’m off:

Riding dirt whenever I can:

I’ll do my best to stay legal, LOL:

First long stretch:

The sign says it’s not a through street but it is–and a great way to avoid cars:

More riding dirt whenever I can:

This dirt sidewalk goes for awhile on one side of the street or the other. Convenient!

More dirt alternative to the street, for now:

First long climb:

Shade at the top:

Climb part 2:

A bit of rest:

Great views:

Screaming fast downhill:

And just like that, after 4 miles of riding I’m at the trailhead:

Finally, miles of dirt:

I take a right here. I’ll be coming back up the left side later:

You just gotta love singletrack:

Looking out over the river. It’s hidden in the trees. I’ll be descending that sliver of trail off in the distance:

And here we are later:

I love riding the singletrack under the canopy!

Beginning the very long climb out:

Back on pavement, but the climbing is far from over:

Almost there. That tall pine just to the left of the second telephone pole is the top:

Man there was a lot of heat coming off the pavement. Oh thank heaven…

They were 2 for $3

I guess some days the bike is safer:

Last long stretch:

Final climb up to the house:

When it comes to post-ride beverages, I am a simple man. Wow this tasted good!!

Total ride stats were 14.37 miles with 1,523′ of climbing. Not bad. The round trip from my house to the trailhead is about 8 miles. There’s close to 20 miles of trail at the SMaRT network, so one could easily make it an all day thing. Thanks for coming along with me!!

Fin

…describes my posting recently. One post all of last month and no posts in the last 34 days!! I don’t know what’s going on. Well, that a lie–I do. I haven’t been getting in near enough rides lately, so I really didn’t have anything to post about–and frankly it’s driving me nuts.

It basically boils down to my loathing of having to ride solo. I’ve talked about that so many times here. It has always been an issue. Even with the Ipod and iControl watch and all that. I’ll do it on occasion, but generally dislike it a lot. My schedule just doesn’t jive well with most of the people I know that ride, which means most of my riding opportunities mean I’ll be riding solo. Sucky.

Another issue with not riding is now that we’re in Fallbrook, there’s not a lot of trails in the area to ride. The SMaRT trails that dad and I ride all the time are so outrageously sandy right now they’re barely even ridable–some sections aren’t ridable. Dad and I have been riding down there for almost 6 years and this is the worst I’ve ever seen it. So, I’m not too keen on riding there right now and that’s all there is here in Fallbrook.

That’s one of the “Cons” about moving here from Ramona for me. I had that awesome loop right outside our front door when we lived in Ramona. Now I don’t.

I’ve been putting together a loop of sorts here though. It involves riding from our house here in town to a shortened loop on the SMaRT trails by mom and dad’s. I figured out an “as little vehicle traffic as possible” pavement  route on a solo last Saturday and Dylan and I rode it last Monday. It’s a decent ride–13 miles and 1300+ feet of climbing–and could be longer by just adding more riding on the SMaRT network. However it’s a lot of pavement riding, then you get to the SMaRT trails, then you ride pavement back–which sucks. I guess you gotta take what you can get though. I’ll do a photo ride report soon so you can see it. Maybe tomorrow after work.

I also took dad and Dylan for their first ride at Stewart Canyon/Monserate Mountain here in Fallbrook on Friday afternoon. Dad was amazed at the amount of climbing. To be honest I had forgotten how hard it was myself. I guess an 1,127′ gain in less than 1.6 miles will never be easy. Dylan did really awesome on the climbing and we all enjoyed the DH payoff back down.

Today I finally got the Deore hydro disc brakes I bought for Dylan mounted on his Trance. I’ve been dragging my feet getting the right adapter to get them mounted and finally got around to it. The less-than-adequate brakes he had (Hayes Soles) really showed on the DH down Stewart Canyon so I wanted to make sure to get the new brakes on for him right away. I can’t wait until his first ride with them. I’m sure he’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I also got a really good deal on a couple of 7″ rotors, so I’m going to put them on the front of the Niner and the Spot. It will make the brakes a little more powerful which will be nice. It’s far from a necessary upgrade, but I got the rotors for $8–and they would usually run about $25 each, so I figured why not.

Here’s hoping I’m more diligent about posting in the future. Until next time, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…