Before

After

Behunin starts off of the West Rim meaning you climb up the Angel’s Landing trail to Scout Outlook and then continue to climb as you head up the West Rim. After a bit on the Rim trail you hang a left on what Super D described as a poo trail. And then you descend.

That pretty much sums it up. Once you start going down there isn’t much else to do but keep going down, a long way down.

Super D setting up the first rappel.

On the other side of that ledge is where the descending starts to get epic. The first drop is 90 feet and puts you on another ledge. Then you rappel 150 feet to another ledge which puts you into another 150 foot descent. All of this is finalized by 120 foot rappel to the canyon “floor.” I use floor here almost in jest. Yes it is as low as you can go at this point but there are still 5 more rappels before you are really done. And then you still have to hike down the Emerald Pool trail to get to the real canyon floor.

The first four rappels total out at 510 feet of descent. This means that where you see Super D standing in the above picture it is 510 feet before you can really move without a rope.

Everything went pretty smoothly until we came to these drops. When we arrived at the first rap, there was a group ahead of us. We waited at least 30 minutes before they had all gone down and pulled their ropes and moved on so we could drop without landing on top of them. I would estimate that we waited around 2-3 hours on these first four rappels for this group. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the canyon there wasn’t much space to pass…

Rebecca on the penultimate rappel to the canyon "floor"

When we hit the “floor” they had already moved on so we just continued on our merry way without any more waiting until the third to last rappel of the daynight. We then waited close to 1.5 hours as they tried and tried to set up a guided rappel to skip swimming. Once 7 pm hit, we knew we had to get moving. We basically absorbed them into our group and leapfrogged our way down the last three descents. Even with the rushed effort, Rebecca and Darrin made the last 165 foot drop in the dark.

Super D, Roller Coaster Kim and I were the first to hit the ground. Super D stayed to make sure that no one died on the descent and Kim and I busted ass to try and make the last shuttle. We made it back to the Grotto at 9:09, 21 minutes shy of a full 12 hours in the canyon. We caught the shuttle and made it to the cars.

The rest of the group hit the Grotto closer to 10:30 making their trip closer to 13 hours. I went around all of the signs saying shuttles only and picked up Super D, Rebecca and Darin.

Needless to say we were all a little trashed and extremely tired.

The only way to see up is to look down.

This guy was having a hell of a party in the canyon. Mooseknuckle and all.

Super D gettin' RAD!

Airborne

Roller Coaster Kim on the drop to the canyon "floor"

P. L. and R.

Conquering demons? No just the top of Zen.

Ok. Ok. I’m up. You can stop yelling. I can feel your anger from here. So I will do what has to be done. Dig deep into the sleep-deprived pain cave and peck you out a post.

This week’s been a good one.

Tuesday consisted of a ride with the Moosekuckler Cycling Alliance Community Outreach Program on the upper Prospector. The trail is buffed out. Or was, as that was a few days ago. I’ve found this trail pretty much goes one way or the other. If you catch it in the right conditions, aka a day or two after a storm, it is fast and fun. Catch it when the horses have been up and down it and it has been dry and you will be cursing my name for sending you out there.

Needless to say again, the trail was in excellent condition. It was so fast that we finished class faster than I think any class has leaving us with plenty of time to do another lap. The students were non-plussed by this idea so we just came home.

After having such a fast ride on Prospector, it seemed only reasonable that we would slow things down and have a rest day on the UnZen.

Of course, by rest day I mean this hurts dig deep and bare it, type of a rest day.

The crew consisted of Super D, Roller Coaster Kim, KB, Jason and myself.

As you can see, when someone new comes and rides with the Alliance we make sure that they wear a shirt with their name on it so we don’t forget it. If there is one thing we pride ourselves on it’s ensuring everyone feels welcome.

In completely unrelated news, Bike Rumor actually dropped an article that piqued my interest. Partially because every morning when arise, I drop to my knees and pray to the Shimano Gods of Cycling that my day won’t get SRAMed. Also, because it is something that I aptly predicted was going to happen. Thanks to my perfect auditory recording memory, I present the conversation exactly the way it happened.

Andy, “I’ve been thinking about getting some Saint brakes.”

Me, “I would wait a bit. It only makes sense that they would apply the Ice technology rotors and pads to their downhill group so I would assume we will be seeing a revamp of the Saint brakes.”

So there goes Bike Rumor, all proving that I’m right and shit…

Not only did they revamp the entire Saint group but they introduced us to the new Hone group that they have aptly renamed Zee. Why? I don’t know. I assume it is an Americanization of some Japanese term that has to do with class warfare and the cause of being forced to dumb down their components so the “other half” can buy them. That’s just my take on it any way. Article can be found here.

Before you go and think I’m getting all soft up in here, let me point out another article I came across while trying to find the one above (I didn’t realize that Bike Rumor posted 15,032 times a day).

Apparently, Magura has taken to the streets and is now offering a conversion system so you can run their new hydraulic rim road brakes on any road bike.

Yup, you get to run the cable from your standard brake levers to the converter box. As you pull the cable it actuates the piston in the master cylinder and then your brakes. I’m just going to point out that this is probably not a good idea for carbon braking surfaces…

And since we are jumping all over the map today, I leave you with the following video that Shelby shared with us.

Shit Climbers Say from Louder Than Eleven on Vimeo.

P. L. and R.

And I cannot put the coating back on your stanchions

With that said, I have embarked on a magical project dubbed Project Magic Works 1.0 Purple Unicorns (Editor’s note: Project Magic Works 1.0 was deemed to have the same title problems as the Mooseknuckler Cycling Alliance Social Lounge, in that it is too long and will take up too many pixels on your screen. Hence the name change).

As you may recall, the Mooseknuckler Cycling/Climbing Alliance’s workshop has been declared full. This means that no new bikes can be purchased without culling one from the heard, as Fixie would say. This isn’t so much a problem for myself as it is for KB.

We both have five bikes. This keeps our marriage in complete balance and there is no bickering over bike space. The difference is I have five usable bikes and she has 2 1/2. She has a bit of an issue of becoming attached to things and then not wanting to get rid of them. Or, as is the case with one of her bikes, purchasing something that is the wrong size and then not being able to get ride of it.

This hasn’t been too much of an issue until the Cimarron and Kathleen Epic Tour of 2012 was planned. KB declared all of her five bikes not tour ready and decided she needed a new bike. As I mentioned, she has a problem culling bikes from her heard and could not decide on one to lose. Despite the fact that she has kept her Trek road bike around with the sole intention of one day using it for a tour, but she has determined it doesn’t fit right.

This is where Purple Unicorn comes in to play. I am to take this ill fitting and barely working Trek road style cycle and turn it into a touring machine. When we first started dating I made it clear that I would never work on her old bikes, ever. Damn, another promise broken.

So I am to take this…

And turn it into this…

This photo was stolen from Surly Bikes. I hope they don't mind some free ad space.

The patient currently has a cup and cone bb, old style handlebars and shitty old drivetrain. I have ordered a Salsa compact hbar for it. In conjunction with an adjustable stem, it should bring her bars up to comfortable-for-all-day-riding height. The cup and cone bb will have to go. I’ve already swapped out the wheels to an old set of Mavic with Shimano 600 hubs that are in good condition. These will be retensioned and the hubs rebuilt. I haven’t completely decided what to do about the drivetrain other than that I plan on replacing most of it. The frame is in relatively good shape, but I haven’t pulled the bb yet so that might change.

I have about six weeks to finish Purple Unicorn. I will be sure to keep you all posted on the developments and processes as I become a magician.

In a world full of Supermen…

P. L. and R.

I know exactly what you are thinking right now. The first thing that came to mind when you saw the picture to the left was damn those stanchions are dirty. When was the last time that thing saw some service? Well kids, it would be about ten days ago. It’s my wife’s bike and she didn’t wipe down the stanchions. If you have a problem with it, you can contact her.  She’s an adult and can handle things herself.

Second, you probably noticed that the sticker on that downtube is one of those elusive white Mooseknuckler Climbing/Cycling Alliance stickers. And you are probably right now wondering how you could get your grimy little hands on one or two of those. The answer to that is here. While you are there you might as well pick up a kick ass wallet as well…

High noon came and high noon went. I was left standing in the parking lot at the trailhead for Barrel Roll(s) with KB. I wasn’t about to have a duel with her so we started to make phone calls to the thousands five people who said they were to show. Apparently, high noon did not meen 12 o’clock it meant something more around the time of 12:23ish.

That is correct Sir Prattipus III was late to his own duel and I’m sure Andrew Jackson would have killed him for it.

Once the Mooseknucklers had gathered, we decided it best to leave the duel for another day and ride our bikes instead. And ride our bikes we did. The whole group headed up the Barrel Roll(s) with none other than Sassy Pants herself, Cameron leading the charge. Not only was she riding but she found her purple steed hopping from rock to rock. I guess that’s why they call them Rockhoppers.

Once the inconsiderate jerks decided that we could no longer wait for Sassy Pants, the group split leaving Super D and Roller Coaster Kim to enjoy Sassy Pants’ company while the rest of us headed around the roll(s).

And headed we did.

The dirt was tacky but still loose in some spots. Surprising, I know, seeing that the Japanese Gods of Cycling dumped all of Lake Bottom Bracket on us yesterday.  The desert just absorbed all that water and didn’t even burp.

Good times were had. While those good times were being had, someone (KB) suggested that the Alliance change its name. Blasphemy, I know. However, it has been proposed that we change it to the Mooseknuckler Cycling/Climbing Pack. There could be an Alpha male and an Alpha female. It could be easier to figure out who has the Mooseknuckle in their hearts and who doesn’t. I think we will leave it to a vote. We are very democratic here in the Mooseknuckler Cyling/Climbing Pack/Alliance.

Anyway, you should have all submitted your orders for white Mooseknuckler stickers by now and I know that every one of you has clicked a link to one of those stupid ads on the right of the screen. Just remember, all of these things help procure funds for the next opening of the Lounge.

Yup, it was one of those posts…

Out.

That doesn't go there.

I worked for a shop called Sunrise. The owner of said shop explained that he had chosen that name for a couple of reasons. A) He liked the idea of a beginning. Cycling held a deeper meaning to him than just pedaling to race and he wanted his shop to be an emblem of that. And 2) It was the only shop on the East side of Main Street.

The Spanish word for sunrise is Amanecer. Like all cross language meanings, amanecer has a few. In Chile, where I learned the brown man’s tongue, it was often used in terms of partying. To say, “Amanecimos ayer” meant you partied all night and didn’t stop until the sun came up. This was often used as a way to judge a party. If it didn’t amanecer, it wasn’t worth attending.

The meaning that I was always fascinated by (yes, I am fascinated by word meanings and the nuances that are used through colloquial speech) was the use for an “awakening.” Not that waking up is that cool, but when that meaning is tied to the sunrise it takes on a bit of a different hue. The Sunrise is an Awakening, a break from the day before. A new way of looking at things, an “amanecer.”

Many people like to take the arbitrarily assigned date for the New Year and look back on what was and look forward to their new beginning. I prefer to wait until February or March. For starters, there is no way I am getting up January 1st to go for a jog. It just isn’t going to happen. I don’t like to set myself up for failure. So I wait until the weather has warmed a bit before looking back. It tends to give me a bit more of a happy lookout on life. And if I decide changes are in order it gives those changes more of a chance to succeed. Plus I don’t like arbitrarily assigned dates that I am supposed to live by. If someone is going to arbitrarily assign something to my life, it will be me.

About this time last year, I was in one of the worst funks I think I’ve ever been in. I guess you could call it depression but I think that may be a bit strong of a word. It was a funk, a rut. Nothing I was doing seemed like a good idea and nothing I could do seemed any better. I tried making some changes, they didn’t help until…

I traded a set of wheels that had hung on a road bike in my shed for about 9 months for the crazy blue bike. And then I rode the thing. It brought me right out of the funk as quick as a month of commuting can. I then spent most of the rest of the year cleaning up my messes that I had made for the few months before that.

This past Monday was a stark realization that the demons I have buried under years of alcohol consumption aren’t buried very well. A simple photograph or a memory can bring them raging to the surface and propel me deep into the spaces in between. This past Monday was also a reminder of how important riding my bike is for my mental health. A simple 26 mile ride can bring me back quicker than anything else.

And I guess that is what it is all about, riding. A simple realization that forward motion propelled by one’s own power can be an awakening…

P. L. and R.

Amaneced!

Sunday saw the Mooseknuckler-mobile out to Babylon. Shelby was hoping for some good light for some video taking. KB and I hadn’t ridden the trail so we tagged along. Unfortunately, the light was less than cooperative with the hazy afternoon and all. Despite the lack of death defyingly beautiful video, good riding was had by all. Except maybe Shelby who lugged around all his photo equipment…

Yesterday, found your Uncle Knuckler with a head full of old demons that he thought he had slain. Luckily, I had the day off and plenty of bikes from which to pick. Even with the shed full of bikes, it took a good deal of mental effort to kit up and pedal may way into the desert instead of grabbing the bottle and putting MASH on repeat. It took about five miles, but once I hit the Prospector I couldn’t help but smile and watch the clouds play with the red rocks. After that point, there was nothing that could stop me from riding as much as I possibly could. I spun out to Red Cliffs, rode the little loop in the parking lot and worked my way home, hitting every section of singletrack I could find.

Them demons been exorcised. Nuf said.

Speaking of all those bikes. It has been determined that we are at capacity.

The only good thing about that is one of the bikes isn’t ours. We borrowed my dad’s 29′r hardtail so KB could see if she needed one. So technically we have space for one more. And I guess we could always put a couple back in the drum room if we absolutely necessary…

After organizing the corral on Sunday, I couldn’t help but feel a little bad that my International hadn’t been ridden in a while. I’m not one to hit the pavement often but I really dig this bike. And she was covered in dust with flat tires. I got off a little early today and decided to maximize my time for riding and grabbed the skinny tire bike. It’s been a while, but when I got home from my road ride, I had a big smile on my face and plans of riding her again soon have been bouncing around in my head ever since.

In preparation for today’s ride, I realized I needed a saddle bag. Thanks to Scarf I had one handy that went well with the overall motif of my thoughts of road riding.

Aint she a beaut?

Anyway, my legs currently feel like lead and my good friend Jose is here to help me get through the evening. So I must bid you all goodnight, but first, the photo evidence of Babylon (yea, I know Shelby, the light is flat…).

P. L. and R.