Apparently there are some of us who like the rest of us less than we would like to think cuz there were only three of us from the shop in attendance at the day off field trip, Prattipus, Lady Howdy and myself. We were able to convince the Berg, Cim and Big D to tag along. There were actually thrilled to spend some time with us, so that made us feel good.

We hit Brian Head up pretty hard. And by pretty hard I mean we were among about 7 people on the mountain and therefore the lift guys were bored as hell and wishing that we would stop. Which we did for a snack only to have the lifts then closed for lightning and watch the skies open and dump a biblical proportion of water on us. So we were done.

Then we ate pizza and drank beer. It was wonderful.

In unrelated news, my initial impression of the new ride is as follows; It is F&^%ing, amazingly smooth. I can’t really think of much else to say other than it is a lot faster than the blue bike…

Out.

Most notably, I spent what was just shy of a week in heaven. A place where water is plentiful, but so is beer, wine and anything else you choose to drink. I was on a personal quest to find an IPA that was better than our local Hop Rising. That is correct, I was on a mission to find a beer that could beat a Utah beer. I know that may sound funny to any of you from the elsewheres, but we have some pretty damn good beers here, you just need to know where to look. Anyway, I failed.

Not that I didn’t try with everything I have but I did fail, even with this as my playing field.

The top row's all local...

I have to confess that, even though it happens rarely, I was caught off guard by this wall of beer. I just stood there contemplating the sight. And more, I had no idea which one to grab. Unfortunately I didn’t have the funds or the time to try them all. This was also our first day there and I knew we were to be at the Brewer’s Fest on Friday so I only bought two. Both were good.

Damn, I do love me some Full Sail…

But nay, we were there for more things than beer. Although I can’t remember what those were… We did see a lot of people rocking some serious love on their two-wheeled love machines. I kicked myself so many times that my ass was bruised for not bringing any MCA stickers along with me. Not sure where my head was on that one.

People, bikes, public transit... I'm in love

Oh yea that’s right bikes, fucking everywhere. The Berg kept saying, “Check out that lady, she’s wearing heals on her bike.” Yup, it was pretty cool.

And then there was the food. Everything organic, everything local, everything fucking amazing. They have food carts. I haven’t bought road side food since the last time I set foot in Latin America which was wayyyy too long ago. I had some road side Pad Thai that was almost as good as Benja’s and a shit load less expensive. Yummmmmmyyyy.

You may have noticed all the extra letters that I have been using. Those are the equivalent of gratuitous exclamation points but you must remember, Jose Cuervo is to blame.

Moving on.

So in short, Portland was pretty amazing. If I was to make an effort to live somewhere that wasn’t SG or Chile it would most definitely be Portland. No contest.

The photographic evidencial (yup just made that up) proof;

Anywaysss, I have been back for a few days now and I still can’t get caught back up. And I haven’t ridden my bike yet. Hope to do that tomorrow.

P. L. and R.

This is signifacant for a couple of reasons.

1. After a decade of use, this stove still works flawlessly. I have dragged it up and down my mountain too many times to count. It went to Chile and Argentina with me, where finding white gas was a challenge, so I used kerosene. It was in BOB while I rode across this state and a couple of other ones. This is a piece of gear you can purchase and forget about. It will work every time. 

2. This is the first time I have done any maintenance to  this stove. It was working fine but I figured after a decade of use I should show it some love. Disassembling the thing and cleaning it are simple. It took me a grand total of 10 minutes.

3. Most things made today barely last a season. So things that last for decades and work without any issues, are things we should celebrate. I raise my glass to my MSR stove. Here’s to another decade.

Out.

The Prattipus on Paradise

Sir Prattipus and I got out and rode our two-wheeled love machines this morning. We got up at the ass crack of dawn and gave it our best. We rode my favoritest of trails Paradise and then hit the Barrel Ride and ended with another one of my favorites, Bear Claw Poppy. In my defense, my biggest gripe with Paradise is how short it is and we linked it to two not so close trails making it part of a bigger ride and therefore worth riding. Defense rests.

The temperature was perfect this morning which is good since it wasn’t later on in the day. The legs felt good, I didn’t forget my lungs and it was a nice ride. I even enjoyed bombing down Bear Claw Poppy Road.

Prattipus apparently forgot we lived in the desert and only brought one water bottle so we had the joy of finding water along the route. This only added to our adventure. And if you are into making cycling difficult, is a great way to almost die.

Almost out of water?

Good times.

Along the ride I got to thinking, as we were grinding up the Barrel Ride and the heat was melting my skin, about my pack. This may seem like and odd think to be thinking about and I would agree. However, the thought process was more along the lines of, “Damn, I have been riding this trail for a long time” and “Man, how many different bikes have I owned since that first ride?” Which of course brought me full circle to thinking about things that haven’t gone the way of the fleabay. In my cycling gear corral there aren’t many thing that are still there after a year of purchase. My pack is one of the things that has stayed.

My pack is an Ergon. You don’t see these out on many rides. There are few people that have them and they kind of fly under the radar. Ergon is much better know for its grips, which I don’t use. However, I love my pack. I can do a 7.5 hour death march and at the end of the day my shoulders feel like they haven’t even had a pack on them. When I am shredding the gnar, as I am accustomed to do, the pack is stable and allows me to move freely. Both things I find extremely important.

So if you are looking for a good pack. Check ‘em out.

After my deep thoughts about the passing of the sands of gear through my hands and finishing our ride. I was starving. What is a man to do? Get some Roberto’s. It’s hard to screw up cheap Mexican food and this spot is on my way home. But they went above and beyond and screwed up cheap Mexican food. I’m not complaining, but I found what was done to be over the top and hilarious.

I’m particular about food, in the sense that I don’t eat flesh. Other than that it’s pretty much open to everything. So any time I am at one of these dives, I make sure to tell them what I want in my breakfast burrito. Kathleen also happens to like beans in her breakfast burrito, which after trying one is really pretty delicious. So I ask for a eggs, potato, bean and cheese burrito times two. Order my drinks and pull forward.

The girl gave me my burritos and asked what drinks I had ordered, Mtn Stew and Horchata. Oh great, I got some orange shit and Horchata. I get my burritos and the receipt/change and head home. As I am pulling out of the parking lot I glance at the receipt and notice that there is an extra charge for potatoes and that she had sold me bean and cheese burritos. No big deal but my bet was that there wasn’t going to be any eggs involved.

I get home and what I got was two bean and cheese burritos with french fries stuck inside. Not exactly what I wanted. It didn’t taste too bad but it was just weird… Not sure I will be back.

And then I decided to try my arms at swimming. I suck and I am pretty damn sure I am going to be sore tomorrow, but it may get rid of the gut. We’ll see.

Ride more. Drive lots less.

If you are into bikes, beer and other such things, you will enjoy Soul Side Down.

Always a good read. Plus he has a Stache that could easily win the annual contest.

P@trick flying the colors

So check it out, and let him know the Mooseknuckler sent you.

Out.

I’ve used it almost exclusively for getting to work and the occasional trip to the gas station. With it’s massive carrying capacity, I felt like a more utility oriented trip was in order. So KB and I decided we were going to go to the Vitamin Village (Natural Grocers) and get some food. I grabbed her bike first and it had a flat. No big deal, 3.7 minutes later and the thing was ready to go. Then I grabbed my bike and flat. The biggest down side to internally geared eight speed hubs is getting the rear wheel on and off. Not that it is extremely complicated, but it seems to take longer than usual. Once I got the wheel off I couldn’t find a tube that was the right size and yada-yada-yada… By the time I had the bikes ready to go the Vitamin Village was closed.

We weren’t about to be put off so easily. We made a quick navigational plan change and ended up at Harmon’s.

KB loading up the bikes

2 loaves of bread and some lettuce

The rest of the food...

The trip to and from the store wasn’t too bad. We had a fierce head wind on our way there and a nice tailwind on the way back. The one thing I have learned to really love about my grocery-gettin bike is the fact that it just goes the same speed regardless. It’s just not a bike you can get up and go on which means every ride is a relaxed ride.

After such an adventure, we of course had to eat some of our loot. KB whipped up an amazing salad and I got the social lounge up and running. We enjoyed our bicycle-gotten salad around the fire.

The Mooseknuckler Cycling Alliance's Social Lounge

I think we will be doing this more often…

Out.

I got home from work early. This, of course, meaning that I didn’t work a 10 hour shift, I only worked an eight hour shift. Those two hours make a big difference. I was amazed at how energetic I felt when I got home. KB was at Hot Yoga with P Pfaehler. So I had the house to myself. As I wandered around bumping into the emptiness, trying to find something to snack on and drink, I walked into our kitchen. Now, this is something that I hadn’t ever thought about this house before and maybe I won’t ever again, but when I walked into the kitchen it just struck me as being really big. The more I thought about it the more obvious the conclusion became that my house is big.

Most of you who have been to the Mooseknuckler Cycling Alliance World Headquarters may be shaking your heads right now wondering what it is that I had found to drink. However, truth be told, this house is big.

I always love the argumentative retort, “Well, if you don’t like it here why don’t you move to a different country?” Hmm. I did and I enjoyed it and I may or may not end up living somewhere else again. The fact that I lived somewhere else is why I feel things can be better here and why I believe that we need to be more aware of our role in world economics so that those who don’t live here can have it better (another one of my amazing sentences…). And something about a big house.

Oh yeah. Looking back at that time I spent in the great “elsewhere,” I realize in the relativity of here, my house is small, and to put it nicely, is quite humble. But in the bigger scheme of things, my house is large and extravagantly furnished for most of the world. I can remember vividly upon returning to the States from Chile, the feeling of utter confusion at the excess shit that people accrued and how much they were willing to work to have those things, like “big” houses. Driving from the Las Vegas airport back to SG was like watching a video portraying the human race as rats, in the clichéd rat race.

And if you were watching that video, the camera would be sitting behind a kids head so you couldn’t see his face. He, of course, would be looking out the window while the car hummed down the interstate. The other cars would throw a glare on the window and through this glare you would be able to see the row after row of track houses wizzing by. This scene would be seen as cliché because it has been done a million times. The only difference in this story was that I was the kid instead of the guy with the video camera.

So, to make this story shorter, as it probably should have been. I feel quite happy about my house.

Another thing that I’m happy about, this song:

It always brings a smile to my face. I can’t help but sing along and use KY’s version, “You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel.”

Speaking of loose wheels, I don’t have any, but I did have a good time on top of a pair of good wheels yesterday. The Mooseknucklermobile was seen at the Goose with Zatch, Pratt, KB and Cim in tow. It was Zatch’s first time out. As was expected he held his own quite well. Give the kid another trip or two and he will be showing us the ropes.

I must mention that the XTR 10 speed group on the Enduro is still keeping the smile on my face. The brakes are amazing. It shifts like a champ, not like the champ who I’m pretty sure never shifts, but like a champ. I’ve even been heard to say that the brakes are as good as my Hopes which is probably the best compliment I can give a brake. Hmm, like Rage Against the Machine said, thanks for XTR.

I hope to try out some more of that goodness here in a day or two. I’ll have to see how my day off on Thursday works out seeing I will be working all weekend. Working all weekend. Hmm, where’s that gun?

I think now is a better time than any to say I’m happy and I’m picking a fine time to leave y’all.

P. L. and R.

Apparently the Look 566 had reached its end, which is to say it was time to sell it. Mr. Gurr pointed to the 585 and said why don’t you build that up? Well, I hadn’t thought about it. But as usual, once the suggestion is made the wheels get moving and pretty soon there is a new bike. It’s a wonderful program that most shop rats are on…

So I pulled down the 585 frame in white, ordered me some parts and waited for everything to show up. The brown panted Santa showed up bringing me all things Italian. I spent a couple of hours wrenching and magically a bike appeared.

Yup, that's it.

You are correct in noticing the Campagnolo Chorus 11 speed attached to the pretty frame. Again the notion of suggestion runs strong. I had wanted the new Ultegra but Mr. Gurr suggested the Chorus and it was a done deal. Now, I’ve never been a huge fan of Campy components, not because they don’t work but because they are uber expensive. Plus finding replacement parts, such as super hard to find things like cassettes, can take months, in comparison to being able to find anything you could ever possibly need for your drivetrain on the city corner. With this in mind, let me tell you how awesome the Chorus group is.

It’s pretty damn awesome. I’ve never been one to ride on the hoods for very long. I usually move forward to shift and then move back, but with the Campy hood I have ridden almost exclusively up top. The ergonomics of the shifters are quite phenomenal, at least for my hands.

I also decided to finally not use my Speedplay pedals and opted for the new Time IClics. Now I understand how dumb it is to name anything I-whatever, but these pedals are the absolute easiest in terms of engagement and exit. Step on, step out. That’s it. No thought needed.

Of course, these are my initial thoughts. I built the bike on Tuesday, rode it yesterday, and woke up too tired today. If anything changes I’ll let you know.

Moving on.

Jon Stewart is a fucking genius.

I saw this video and it made me wish that journalists that didn’t just make fun of the news could report that well. He always asks the right questions and juxtaposes them next to the answer. It’s genius. There is no other word for.

Speaking of independence. In the past bit, I’ve ridden to work more than I have driven. And it has felt awesome. I realized that six miles is really not that far to go and with that huge epiphany getting on the bike has become sooo much easier. Except for today, of course, when getting out of bed was like climbing K2.

In unrelated news.

I rarely comment on professional sports, and even less on professional cycling, but I would like to stick my tongue out at all you Lance lovers. So suck it!

Now let me explain before you all start sending me bombs. I think Lance has achieved things that are extraordinary. Does he dope? Probably, who doesn’t? The reason I don’t like Lance is because of all of you. That’s right Lance sucks because his fans suck and there is no way to have an intelligent conversation about a race with them without referring in one way or another to Lance. These fans are exactly like Dave Mathews Band fans, who, despite the fact that all of his songs sound the same, will argue to the death that he is the best damn singer/song writer to ever walk the face of the earth. Did I mention I hate Dave Mathews Band…

And to close, I raise my glass in honor of Lt. Colonel Henry Blake.

Just to mess with you.

Out.

The day started out with an early morning rising that left me sitting on the side of the bed wondering how my ass got sooo heavy. Luckily I pulled it together and met the Red Rock Crew at the Zen Trailhead. Sir Pratt, Double D, Hollywood and Andy all showed up for a quick, morning jaunt around the UnZen trail. I call it the UnZen because I’ve never been enlightened and the flow is a bit less than zen-like. That aside, it was a gut wrencher that left me wanting for more. Below is the evidence, albeit poor evidence. It really only proves that we were on a ledge somewhere sitting… Whatever.

Sir Pratt, I think he was posing...

Double D. No he isn't disabled he just acts like that.

Hollywood

The silent one, aka, Andy.

Now, I’m a bit of a sucker for trials videos, especially those that push the envelope of what can be done on a bicycle. Sir Pratt shot this one may way earlier this morning and I gots to say, I’m impressed. Trials on a road bike, what will they think of next…

I hope you had the popcorn ready.

Continuing with the ride story…  As promised the Alliance got out for its weekly night ride. Newby showed up and KB and I both were there. Of course Newby was on a rest day so he had to make sure his heart rate was below his target but that didn’t seem to cause any problems. We headed up the Micro Loop in the Bear Claw Poppy Reserve and then made our way up to the Stucki Springs trail. The wind was howling and it was a bit of a push to get to the top, but once we were there it didn’t take long, with the 30 mph tailwind, to make it back to the trailhead.

I have to admit that Stucki can be fun. Even when it isn’t windy the trail is fast but throw in a killer tailwind and things become scary fast. The roller coaster is turned up a notch and it’s more like holding on than riding. That’s how last night felt. I kept stopping just to make sure KB’s light was still moving and then I would jump on the bike and without pedaling hit 20 mph in seconds. In the immortal words of Jerry Simmons, “In one word, Awesome!” The only problem, that’s actually four words…

This is the second ride I’ve done with the new light. I’ve been eyeball fucking the Cygolite Trion for a while. The whole light and battery pack in one small package appealed to me so I broke down and purchased one. Cygolite claims 600 lumens, I have no way to measure that so I’ll give it 4 sweets on the sweet scale. Newby and I compared lights last night. Both seemed to be comparable in actually brightness but his was a little more spotty while the Trion left a broader beam. Take that for what it’s worth.

In completely unrelated news, other than it’s related because it involves me, the Mooseknuckler will be visiting the northern chapter this weekend. The Great Green Socks (also know as the Golden Knuckle, and posting that link reminds me it may be time to update that page)  is moving back east so I am making a journey to the far reaches of the Artic Circle to say goodbye, and hopefully get some riding in. I promise to post some pics of the debauchery that ensues.

Well that concludes a Wednesday’s post on a Thursday.

Ride more.

B E A Utiful

As I so blatantly bragged about yesterday, I have a pair of Edge 45′s on my road bike. These were procured after I built them up for a certain store owner, who will remain unnamed, at least for now. And then they sat for what seemed like forever. I was quite pleased with the build that I had, with all my passion, accomplished on this particular wheel set. As such, I was a little disappointed that they weren’t being used. I mentioned this to the other store owner who told me I should ride them until they are needed. I ran it by the other store owner and bingo, I’m now rocking an awesome  wheel set.

The Look 566 was a bit busy for my tastes, a good looking bike, but I prefer things to be a bit more subtle. After strapping these hoops on in all there flat black glory, the bike really pops. These wheels make the bike look fast. We’ve sold quite a few pairs of these monkeys and I can honestly say that I have not seen one bike that they didn’t make look better. Nuf said.

Today was the first day that I have ridden on these wheels. I was hoping for a lot. And I got a lot. They accelarate seemlessly, track perfectly and made my bike feel like a million bucks. On the way into the shop this morning, I felt like I must be going fast enough to cut a third off my normal commute time. Well, that didn’t really happen, but it felt like it did.

Initial thoughts, these wheels rock.

Now I just have to figure out how to keep them…

Ride more.