We hurried home, geared up and set out. It was pretty cloudy and kind of cool but it was a great day for riding. We made it to the north side rather quickly and proceeded to knock out the first climb.

Black and white:

The trail is still in great shape even after all the rain and we were spinning along and enjoying some great views…

…and some great singletrack:

We were loving the greenery that the rain provided. Here’s a shot of the lower southside trail:

I tried a panorama shot of the southside from a hilltop lookout on the northside. You can see the lower trail pretty good here:

Here’s a link to a bigger pic so you can see it better.

Just as we were finishing up the final climb it started to rain. It was a light rain but we were glad we were finishing up none the less. You can see the final climb out in the left side of the panorama shot. I enlarged, cropped and traced the path. It’s a butt-kicker!! 328′ gain in about 3/4ths of a mile.

Later that night we were treated to an awesome concert at our church by the Cal Baptist University Men’s Chorale. A great finish to a great day!!

Seek your bliss. Ride lots…

I think I’ve mentioned it here before, but I love my Nomad but have hated the rear shock since I got the bike. It’s a Fox DHX 5.0 Air. They make a coil version that is one of the best shocks on the market. The “Air” version, not so much.

With the Air version, it’s just real hard to set it up so that it’s firm enough so that you don’t blow through all its travel, yet still have it be plush enough to soak up the bumps. I’m not a fan to say the least.

After selling a few old bike parts, I was able to get the coil version–Hallelujah!!! I also got a firmer spring from Fox, since the one it came with was rated more for a 10 year old than a grown man.

I was going to have Tom the mechanic put the new spring on since I had never done it, but I got bored Monday night and decided to see if I could find instructions online. And of course, I found several helpful sites. The world really is on the internet!! Seeing how easy it looked, I decided to do it myself.

Bike with the Air Shock:

New spring install. Reducers off:

Spring retainer pulled:

Old spring off:

New spring and spring retainer back on:

Re-seating the reducers/spacers:

Done and done:

Fin:

I’m taking it out for it’s shake down ride tomorrow. I can hardly wait.

On a less than happy note, if you’re reading this you’ve probably heard about the Chelsea King tragedy here in North County. She was a 17 year old Poway High student who went for a run by herself at Lake Hodges last Thursday afternoon and never came home. While running on the trail she was attacked, raped and murdered. She was buried in a shallow grave along the edge of the lake. They found her body yesterday. Fortunately, they have arrested her killer and have tons of evidence on him.

I’m just sick over the whole thing. There was another attack in the area about 2 months ago where the victim was able to fight the attacker off. You guessed it–same guy. They didn’t catch him, but the victim has positively ID’d him now that he is in custody for the attack on Chelsea.

But there was really no mention of the attack at all. The Neighborhood Watch captain for the street adjacent hadn’t even heard of it. If some sort of Public Service Announcement was given that this attack happened in the area, Chelsea might not have taken the chance to go jogging those same trails alone.

I also hate it that one of my most favorite places in the entire world–Lake Hodges–will now forever be linked to such a horrible and sad thing. I’m really not trying to be selfish or make this about me, so please don’t think I am. I do not mean this to be that way at all. It’s just a crappy deal all around. It’s sad that a place I associate with so many good times and so much happiness will for some forever be a place of pain and sorrow.

If you’re a praying person, say a prayer for Chelsea’s family and friends. Her parents are going through a hell that no parent should ever have to go through. As a parent myself, I can only imagine what they are dealing with.

One of the only positives is how this community came together to volunteer time to help out. I read that over 4,000 people volunteered to help search for her. Hopefully out of all this, the laws concerning sex offenders will be changed and these people will be kept off the streets.

Rest in peace Chelsea.

In light of this tragedy, I think it would be a good idea for women to be extra careful when out by themselves and to take some sort of Self Defense class. If you would like some info on self defense, let me know and I’ll see what I can do to answer your questions and provide any help I can.

Ride lots…

I also needed to do a little bit of work on my bikes. They were really trashed after being ridden hard in wet conditions the last couple weeks so I washed them Friday afternoon before the rains came. Washing consists of hose, Simple Green, scrub, rinse and blow dry with a high pressure nozzle on my air compressor. I forgot how gratifying it was to clean and prep your bikes when they are in desperate need of it.

While I was cleaning I noticed that the rear brake pads on the Niner were toast. I thought I had a new set ready to throw on but I didn’t. I ordered a couple sets online and am waiting for those to arrive. So, the Niner is all clean and ready to go, but still out of commission because of that.

I also decided to change out the Spot’s front tire from the somewhat narrow 2.1 Kenda Nevegal to a 2.35 Nevegal. I’ve been having some issues with the front washing out at higher speeds, so I knew a wider, more aggressive tire would help. I’ve always been a proponent of running a bigger tire in the front. When I initially built up the Spot, I purposefully put dual 2.1’s on it to kind of test my own standard. I have been reminded time and time again as to why it’s good to run an aggressive tire up front, so it was time to swap them out.

I’ve also had this nagging issue with the Spot’s rear tire. I run a Tubeless set-up on all my bikes and the Spot’s rear tire hasn’t been holding air–even with sealant and many attempts at re-seating the tire. I wanted to ride today so I tried to fix it again when I got home. I figured if I couldn’t fix it, I’d use the tire that was on the front to replace it. This fix appeared to work. The tire was holding air with no visible leaks, so I didn’t swap out tires.

I geared up and set out. The ride was going good. It was a bit windy, but Fallbrook usually is, so I’m used to it.

Did I mention it was windy? About a foot wide trunk snapped like a toothpick:

I was able to get around it OK and the ride was going great. Until I noticed that the rear end of the bike was getting pretty squirrely. I looked down and saw that the rear tire that had been doing so well was flat again. I got out my pump and tried to fill it up. As I was pumping I could hear air escaping, so I used water from my CamelBack and found the trouble spot:

The air bubbles are from very quickly escaping air. There appeared to be a small tear along the bead and no matter what I did it wouldn’t firm up. I got the cell out and called the wife to come pick me up at the trailhead. Yeah, I could’ve thrown a tube in it, but that would’ve been messy and a lot of trouble. I decided since it was only about 2 miles I’d forgo the tube install and just walk out.

I had the boys start down to meet me when they got there and I was at least able to walk out the last little bit with them to keep me company. I loaded up and set off for home. Wanting to take advantage of the last of the daylight to see if I could fix it right away so I wouldn’t have to worry about it for Wednesday’s upcoming ride, I hurried up and unloaded and grabbed the extra tire I had to see if I could get that to set. Just as the last of the light was fading, I finished up and the new tire seems to be holding air. I’ll cross my fingers and hope it’s still that way tomorrow.

We also procured a new ride of sorts for Syd. We’ve been going on walks and hikes a lot lately and sometimes she gets too tired and we have to cut the walk/hike short. We got a killer deal on a really nice Trek stroller that also doubles as a bike trailer so we can pull her on rides too.

The Princess and her chariot:

We used it at the mall on Saturday and it was awesome. Lot’s of storage room and smooth rolling actually made it fun to use. We even got several compliments on it too. Syd seemed proud of those as it is her’s after all.

I’m hoping to ride Wednesday, Friday and at least once this weekend, but the weather-guessers on the news are calling for more rain this weekend, so we shall see.

Ride lots…

I know that’s not necessarily anything to brag about, but considering I’m getting back in shape after 4+ months of not riding and ankle surgery, it’s not too shabby either.

We had a good time last Monday on the President’s Day holiday. We went to Lake Hodges with J and his family. The women and younger children hiked while J, myself and the older boys rode. It was all going great until J was torquing up a climb and we heard a loud snap. I was hoping it was the chain, but no such luck. His frame had cracked (for the third time) on the seat tube, effectively ending his ride. Dylan and I rode back as fast as we could so I could jump in my car and go pick J up.

While he sorts out the warranty issues, he decided to take the old hardtail frame I gave him and transfer all his parts and components over to it, so he still has a bike to ride. He decided to customize it a little first and paint it.

Frame before (when I had it as my first single speed build):

Frame after J’s paint job:

I don’t know why, but baby blue looks SO good on a bike. I can’t wait to see it built up.

I’ve been switching up my local Fallbrook Loop a little here and there. Today I was really feeling fatigued from all the riding I’ve done lately and had planned to take the day off. But the more I got to thinking about how it’s supposed to rain this weekend, I decided to saddle up and bust out one more ride just in case I can’t ride for the next few days due to weather.

No matter what, I’m at least taking tomorrow off from riding–the legs need a little rest. After that…well, we’ll just wait and see how bad it rains this weekend and go from there

Ride lots…

Then Friday evening while I was playing around with Google Earth, Mark sent me a message on Instant Messenger and asked if I wanted to ride the next morning. Never one to pass up a ride–and a chance to ride with someone else instead of having to do a solo–I decided to push the ankle a bit more and I said yes.

We decided on Daley Ranch and I picked Mark up the next morning. The weather was beautiful and I was looking forward to the ride–the ankle felt good and I hadn’t ridden Daley Ranch since July.

We didn’t do our usual 13 miles, 1,900+ feet of ascent loop–I knew I didn’t have that in me. Instead, we rode a shorter loop that Mark put together a few months ago to ride his Single Speed on. It was a fun loop that despite being “Single Speed” friendly still managed to dish out 1,000′ of climbing in just under 8 miles.

Mark was flying up climbs on his SS and I was forced to do my usual slow spinning to the top. I cleaned every climb without stopping though, so I was encouraged by that. If I can clean climbs without stopping, even if I am in my low “granny gear”, that is more important. I figure as I get stronger and in better shape, higher gears and faster climbing will come on its own.

I can’t wait for that to come though. Not riding for 4+ months and couch/bed ridden for 10 weeks left me with weight gain and weakened legs. So now my strength to weight ratio is all lopsided. My right leg has its shape back. It’s not the skinny, muscle-less thing it was after my surgery, but it is still thinner than my left and hasn’t gained back all its muscle yet. So for now at least, I’m forced to slowly spin up climbs I would have just powered up in a big gear before.

I’m doing a good job of losing the excess weight and the muscle will come back if I keep riding and rehabbing, but man I can’t wait for it to happen!!

Ride stats aren’t super impressive, but not bad for my 8th ride in 11 days!! That’s right–8 rides in 11 days. So much for taking it easy!! I started playing around in SportTracks again. I used to use that software a lot to track my ride info (I’ve been using Garmin Connect lately). I installed the latest version of SportTracks yesterday and uploaded all my GPS info. Unlike the Garmin Connect, it has a calendar that highlights days with activities and I saw that I had ridden 8 times recently and was a little surprised.

The jury is still out on whether I’ll keep using SportTracks or not. When I used it a couple of years ago I loved it. Now, they have changed it up and I’m undecided. It’s the perfect case of “fixing” something that was never broken to begin with. It’s not as user friendly as it used to be. We’ll see how it goes this time around.

I have a ride planned for tomorrow and I hope to ride as much as possible. The weather is supposed to be a great this week  and I hope to take advantage of it.

Ride lots…

The ankle did OK, but was rather sore at the end of the day. So what did I do to rest it? Why, I went on a ride of course!! I decided to drive over to mom and dad’s and ride from there. I wanted to check out and ride the trails on the north side of the river that I hiked a couple weeks ago.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Niner lately, but today I wanted something a little more plush, so I brought the Spot along. The weather was great and the trails were soft, but tacky. Great riding conditions.

I got a lot of exploring done and found the trails to be in relatively good shape considering all the rain we’ve had recently. I didn’t get to go quite as far as I had hoped though. It was getting late and my ankle was feeling worse and worse with every pedal stroke–and I had a TON of climbing to do to get back. I suppose a hard ride after my first day back at work wasn’t very smart, but no one ever accused me of that anyway, so…

It is a great time to be alive and to be a mountain biker though. Besides the incredibly advanced bikes we get to ride on, there’s also all the cool electronic stuff like GPS units and Google Earth to load all that info into. It’s so cool to record your ride on a GPS and then upload the info to something like Google Earth and look at the route/ride from the sky.

Here’s a couple things I did in just minutes:

Great tools for bike riding!! And the ride stats–lot’s of climbing for the mileage:

I can’t decide if I should go ride again tomorrow or rest my ankle. I want to make up for lost time so badly, but I know I should be resting so I don’t overdo it too. <sigh>  I guess I’ll wait and see how I feel tomorrow.

Ride lots…

I threw on a long-sleeve jersey and stuck and old can of pepper spray in my pocket. Oh ya–I haven’t mentioned that I have been getting hassled by these 2 dogs not far from the house. They sit on the driveway of an unfenced yard and chase me everytime I ride by. They come all the way out into the street and are getting closer and more aggressive everytime I see them. I hate to spray a dog, but I’m not going to get bit either.

Sure enough, I rode by and they ran out into the street after me. They got right up to me and I let them both have it. They immediately retreated and I could tell they both got a good snout full. Again, I hate to do it, but people should control their pets better. Nuisance pets are a big problem in my opinion. It’s sad the dogs had to pay for their owners’ stupidity.

I felt better and stronger as the ride went on. The weather started to get real nice too. It got to where I was wishing I hadn’t put on the longsleeve jersey. The long climb out was hard, but I made a big improvement over Monday. On Monday I had to stop 5 times. Today I only had to stop twice.

On my way home back by the nuisance dogs, they sat in their driveway and halfheartedly barked when I went by, but didn’t give chase. The affects of the pepper spray were long gone (it only lasts maybe 10-15 minutes) but they didn’t seem to want to test it again. Hopefully this will be the end of it.

Then this afternoon at TKD, I taught the first few classes as Mrs. Neal needed someone to cover. I had some of the junior trainees help me out and they were awesome!! Classes went good and it felt great to be back. However, I tested my ankle a little before classes started and was a little discouraged with how painful and unsteady it felt–and I was wearing my air cast! I couldn’t pivot on my right foot at all. It hurt pretty bad the one time I tried. It was very unsteady and the pain was just like I had before the surgery. I suppose getting back to TKD 100% is going to take longer than I had hoped. Walking is one thing, but turning and cutting is quite another. <sigh>

Anyway, I’m hoping to get out and ride a few days this weekend–the weather is supposed to be awesome.

Ride lots…

He told me in his opinion I can start mountain biking again!! I told him that was a good thing, seeing as I started easy rides last week. He laughed and told me to just be careful but I should be good to go.

When I got home, I celebrated by riding the route I put together last Summer. It was great to get out and ride that loop again. I haven’t ridden it in over 4 months.

I knew I was out of shape when, on the mile long climb out of the river trails, I had to stop 5 times to rest. It’s a hard climb–you gain 420+ feet of elevation in that mile, but I never had to stop before. I’m going to try to ride it again tomorrow before the rain gets here. We’ll see if I feel any better then.

My GPS put the figures at 10.7 miles and 1,325′ of climbing. I could have sworn it was more than that. I looked at the stats from the ride report I did last August and those figures were a few miles longer and another couple hundred feet of climbing. I’m not sure why there’s a discrepancy that big.

Ride lots…

After the ride, I hurried up and got ready and headed over to dad’s to meet up with him and James. I had arranged for the 3 of us to get a tour of the Intense Cycles factory in Temecula.

We arrived and you’d never know one of the leading mountain bike companies in the world is run out of such a non-descript building in the middle of an industrial park. Just a small sticker on the door.

Some cool wall art in the lobby:

Customer service guy Chad lead our tour and he was super nice. He showed us everything there was to see–even some prototype stuff he wouldn’t let me take pics of. Too cool!!

This must be what heaven looks like:

Links and the aluminum blocks they are cut from:

Amazingly light:

Anyone need a rear drop-out?

Downtubes:

One of the coolest parts of the tour was the weld area. Head welder Rick was super nice and took a lot of time to show us some stuff and introduced us to all the welders.

Rick putting the finishing touches on a 951 frame:

Weld area:

QC on a seat tube:

Just a few spare parts:

They do everything except powder coating and anodizing in-house. Just in from PC:

We then got to see the final assembly and decals. That was pretty cool too. Final touches being put on a SlopeStyle. I think I’m in love!!

All ready for shipping. An Uzzi with a CCDB. Now I’m really in love!!

We were then treated to a look around Jeff Steber’s personal work area, where he tinkers and comes up with new stuff. There were a few things I couldn’t take pics of here.

Some cool “oldies” up on the wall:

New Tracer 29er. Too much bike goodness to process!!

I wish my garage had this many spare parts!!

All of the employees were super cool. They all took time out of what they were doing to show us stuff and explain things. The tour was a lot more “hands on” than I thought it would be. A great time and definitely worth the drive!! Another glorious start to the weekend!!

Ride lots…

What can I say? It was beyond AWESOME to get back out on a trail again–on my bike this time and not hiking. Plus, riding with J again was the best. We fell right back into our old routine. Ah, good times!!

The ankle did great. It was fine through the ride and is still fine as I sit here and type 4 hours later. The only downside was that my legs are lot’s weaker than they used to be–especially my right leg. Understandable. The one negative that took me totally by surprise was in the last 4+ months of not riding, my rear end lost some of its well earned bike toughness and I spent the entire last half of the ride in agony and discomfort in the saddle. Can’t wait for that to go away!!

Ride totals were decent: 12+ miles and (only) 806′ of climbing. Not great, but I’m working back into it. I was way more tired at the end of the ride than I should have been for a Hodges ride. But, considering all I went through I’m not going to complain. I know it’ll come back soon and it’s just great to get on the bike again.

I plan on going for another ride tomorrow morning before the rain gets here, but I haven’t decided where.

Ride lots…