Mooseknuckler Cycling Alliance

I rode yesterday. Mooseknucklers were out in force. There were five Knucklers pedaling, Ryan, Remo, Kevin, Anson and myself. We rode the Alliance’s own trail, Jardine Juniper. We left the shop at exactly, well close to 6 o’clock. From the shop I had to ride home and get my bike and gear and then we picked Anson up at the Forest Service office at the mouth of Logan Canyon. We arrived at the trail head just before 7. Up until now, we have been able to do this trail with plenty of light. Yesterday’s ride drove home the fact that Autumn is upon us and light is becoming a precious commodity. We made it to the top around 8 and still came down with just enough light to make it safely. Another ten minutes and things could have gotten ugly.

Anyways, another ride for the archives..

Peace.

Did I mention school started? My life went from relaxed to a mess of things I don’t have time to do, and I haven’t even done homework yet. Things are probably going to go back to being a bit sporadic here at the Alliance. The only reason it wouldn’t is because I have purchased a computer and will have internet at home soon…..

I will be writing a lot, but most of it will not be posted here but will go on other school sponsored sites and such. So if you would like, you can stay posted for that stuff.

School started. So, I’ve lengthened my commute a bit. I now go from home to work, to school, to work, back to school, to work, and then home. This also translates into me climbing Temple Hill and Old Main Hill a couple times a day. I thought I had a good gear… It just about kicked my ass yesterday. 39X17 is what I am pushing and it isn’t quite low enough for the two mentioned hills, especially since I don’t want to be totally soaked in sweat by the time I get to class. I tried to ride slowly up Old Main yesterday and was close to having to walk. I basically have to sprint up both of them.

Yesterday brings into question my ability to do the Lotoja tour we have next weekend. I was planning on getting a big freewheel to throw on but haven’t found one yet. I am now thinking about a bigger cog as well. KC and I have been discussing logistics on this and we haven’t quite got it figured out how exactly we are going to pull it off. Originally his wife, Rachel, was going to drive us back from Jackson but she can’t or won’t get work off. So as of right now we are going to be stranded in Jackson. We have played with the idea of doing it Saturday and Sunday but that makes two 100+ days. I am positive I would be dead after that on the singlespeed.

There is an Alliance ride tonight at 6ish. We will most likely do something close to town. Be here.

School starts on Monday. Yes, I am very not excited. I worked up the new schedule here at the shop yesterday and realized how bloody busy I am going to be. So much for riding, this Knuckler is going to get fat and slow. (oh, wait I’m already fat and slow) There will be lots of writing to make up for what I can’t pedal, I suppose. At least this is my last year, I think I can get through knowing that I will be done soon.

I think I have finally decided that I’ll be off to the Peace Corp once I’m done here in the Polar North. I’ve been playing with the idea of staying on here, but I just don’t want to be in Logan any longer than I have to. With that said, I am enjoying myself up here. The more people I meet and ride with the better life seems. I guess you just have to enjoy where you’re at when you’re there.

Next stop, Bolivia.

I would like to think that our ride yesterday is indicative of the amount of climbing I have been doing. Unfortunately, I have to believe that the trail was just easier than the ones I have been riding.

We rode Stump Hollow, a new trail for me. According to the trail book, it scores 1730 ft. of climbing and a total of 8.6 miles, 4.3 out and 4.3 back. My computer showed 8.84 total. Not a bad ride. I have to admit I was nervous. This was a new group of riders and they seemed pretty serious and happy to be climbing. As you all know, I hate climbing. Lucky for me, that 1730 ft. of climbing was spread surprisingly even over the entire trail. There were no places for rest but at the same time there were only a couple places that were steep.

And of course, the downhill was fun. I was really hammering and missed a turn on a switchback. Luckily there was plenty of run out space through the bushes. Scott, who was next behind me, came flying down and missed the corner also. He didn’t fare as well as I. As soon as he hit the embankment from the trail he launched over the handlebars. I was close enough to be able to catch his bike for him. It was one of those great slow motion wrecks.

Another day, another ride, another lack of a dollar.

18 days to Lotoja Tour.

I got nothing. I was going to give y’all your daily dosage of intellectual stimulant but I don’t got none today.

Ride your bike.

18 more days ’til Lotoja tour. Can you tell I’m excited?

I headed up Jardine Juniper again last night to see if I could make a dent on the overgrowth. I think I did, at least for another couple of a hundred feet. The top of this trail is just a little too thick. I spent almost two hours trimming and sawing and what not, and was only able to clear a small section of trail.

There were quite a few other trail users out yesterday. A couple on MTN bikes stopped to thank me then proceeded to tell me all the trails that I needed to go work on. I felt like screaming at them that I had spent hours on this one and it still wasn’t even close to being done and maybe they should do a little work themselves. In total they sent me on three more trails to clear for them. As for right now, with my one man trail team, I think I’ll stick to my Jardine.

19 more days ’til Lotoja and then I get to tour for three days. Hurray for me and ….

Peace.

“Pedal Damn It!”

“I am,” I scream back at my top tube. When I first ordered this bike I thought it would be really cool and hardcore to have such a motivational thought written on my top tube. Now that I have more than realized how fat, old and slow I am, it’s just annoying. It’s kind of like that guy who tries to talk to you the whole time you are climbing and you can hardly breath but he just keeps bantering on and on and…

I guess I’m getting the complaints out of the way. The only other thing this bike does that I am not totally stoked on isn’t its fault. I’m the idiot that loves the idea of an eccentric bottom bracket and demanded one on my singlespeed. Yes, like any other eccentric bb this bitch creaks. Functions very well, but creaks. I have found if I clean the thing, grease it, including the fixing bolts, it will stay creak free for a couple of weeks.

Beyond those two things, the Niner One9 pretty much kicks ass. The Scandium frame rides like a dream. It’s smooth as butter and light as silk. My build brings the bike in at 20 1/2 lbs. You would think that a light bike would be easy to pedal up, but not for me. Down is a flash of lightning, the low bb allows for screaming down alpine singletrack. The light weight and bb height keep this bike agile but pinned to the ground. I have broken personal records on trails here in Logan on this bad boy, going down of course.

In my humble opinion everyone should own a Niner.

The Alliance was out last night. We rode the Mud Flats loop up Right Hand Fork. I initially planned on getting out of town at 6:15 at the latest, but as any shop rat knows things don’t always go as planned. It appears that the public just doesn’t care if I am trying to go for a ride or not. They keep coming regardless, plus I had to feed the dog. We left around 6:30.

Arriving at the trailhead just before 7, there was group of equestrians. I couldn’t quite get the guys going and we got stuck behind them. Apparently a horse needs a full meadow to get out of the way so we were stuck going extremely slow at the bottom where it is flat and we should have made good time. Once the horse got out of the way we began to climb. I rode the uphill of this trail about two months ago and it wasn’t bad. Thanks again to the horses, the trail was trashed, loose rocks, dusty as hell and lots and lots of shit.

Kevin went down a couple of times in the rocks, due to his being new to clipless pedals. These rock gardens were wicked sharp and he lost the blood to prove it. We continued climbing, slowly, very slowly. Horsemen caught us as we go through a gate, turns out they are doing a cattle drive. This translates into horrible trail conditions and lots and lots of, you guessed it, shit. We were stuck behind them again for maybe ten minutes before the trail climbed up out of the canyon and they stayed low.

At this point, we have been climbing for about an hour. According to our guide book, we should climb for about half of the trail, which would be 4.5 miles. At an hour out we have gone just over a mile. It was time to kick it and kick it we did. We moved finishing the rest of the climb in another 20 minutes. We reached the high point of the trail at 5.1 miles at 8:23. It’s getting dark.

We begin the descent down the dirt road. Nothing technical, just high speed hammering to try and make it off the mountain before we can’t see anymore.

I come bombing down around a turn. Off to the left is a giant cow, yes a bovine. I’m really moving. The cow, due to the steep terrain to its left came onto the road. I was holding on for dear life and braking as hard as I could, gotta love Hope. I almost collided with a cow. Anson who came around the bend in time to see what was going on actually thought I had bumped my bars off its ass. No, I didn’t make contact but it was within millimeters.

We finished off the rest of the dirt road and hit the steep descent back into the canyon with no light left. Oh, I forgot to mention it had started to rain. Wet, muddy trail, no light, and slick as shit rocks, it was a white-knuckle descent for sure. But we made it.

Just another Alliance ride to go in the archives.

Peace.