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Bonkity-Bonk

And I just went out for a little short 5 or 6 mile ride to test out all this new power train. A whole Shimano new set-up. A few short hill climbs and racing around like that. pedal hard uphill, slide around the corner ... coast hard downhill. Uphill hard ... push, pedal, pedal. ... Coast. Jump in the car. Drive home ... Seriously bonk. Try to park.

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Bayfront Park

You Tell Me

Take a crack at what this is for.

Bike Ride at Russian Ridge Open Space

5.33 miles
A loop that included the Bay Area Ridge Trail, the Hawk Trail, and the Ancient Oak Forest Trail.
Some singletrack and some old vehicular roads.
2 Burritos.









My wounds from last week are healing and my intelligence is developing a bit too. I managed to make an hour and a half ride without damaging any part of my body. I can feel the pleasant effects of a solid cardio workout, and I am thinking, oh yeah, endorfins mixed with the glisten of sweat and dirt, and fatigue, and that lactic acid burn; That feels great.

Tomorrow's morning crash fest mountain bike ride will be at Russian Ridge OSP. I'll try to remember to take some pictures.

1953 Roadmaster Luxury Liner

I saw one of these today. I really did. See.



1953 AMF Roadmaster Luxury Liner. It was sweet.



I saw a few other things too.

A Day of It

Ok, so I made this awesome dinner. Fresh Pacific Ling Cod and asparagus with Tator Tots and -- umm -- frozen corn. Then I worked on the Surly.

Before ...

After. Shimano Deore XL trigger shifters, Easton Bar, Ergon grips and some shorty bar ends. I adjusted the derailleurs and fiddled with every other whatnot.

Eco-Credits for sale

1 megawatt hour equals 859845.227859 nutritional calories. At 500 calories an hour, that eqauls 1719.690455718 hours of riding. I think that represents about 20000 miles of riding (at 12 miles an hour) ... which is about what I've probably done in my life. This is equal to 1 eco-credit. I think I should be able to sell this eco credit. If you'd like to buy it, please let me know and I'll tell you where to send the $9.95.

Oh wait. One megawatt hour equals 3412141.63313 BTU's. If I divide that by 125,000 (BTU's in a gallon of gas) I get around 27, or the amount of gas I buy in a week when I drive. If I always ride that means that about 1 eco-credit a week -- what I saved. Over 3 years (not including the rest of my life), that's about 150 credits. Times ~$10 = $1500. Not bad.

Feel free to start buying eco-credits.

Hey, Nice One

Well, I went mountain biking today. It was kinda fun. Yeah. Some guy noticed I had a nice bike. Or maybe when he said "Nice One," he was referring to the huge mud stain on my chest and the bloody scrape on my knee. I mean, did someone see me fall like that? Holy faceplant Batman, ummm ... nice one.

I was going to give you all the details of the ride and a map like I did the other day by downloading the GPS data, and yep, that piece of shit (POS) Garmin GPS failed again to record any of the track data. I love that thing. I am going to get a Magellan.

I haven't actually ever ridden a mountain bike on a trail until, well, the other day. SO I have no idea what I am doing. None. Never thought to sit back on the seat when going down hill, nor to not grab the brakes in a panic. I did say brake(s).

So we left Skeggs point amidst a layer of fog and about 40 degree temps to climb the Fir Trail to do what should of been about a 5 mile loop around the Corte Madera Open Space Reserve. I started downhill after that climb and badly negotiateed a root in the middle of the road at too high a speed, and landed badly so tapped the front brake, which threw me forward, causing me to grab on for dear life, which of course, caused the front brake to really work, tossing me directly into the dirt mud like a rag doll. There was a decernable thud combined with a forced audible grunt as my chest hit the ground. I knew instantly I could have died there. I didn't hear any thing snap, but felt considerable pain as I tried to breathe and wondered, just breifly, about cell phone reception.

Whoa, that fuckin hurt. I thought. The climbing guy said "are you okay?" and "not sure," I said. I am still not really sure. I have a dent on my elbow and some road rash on my knee, and my torso is seriously damaged, but my face is okay. My lungs aren't punctured and my back doesn't seem to be broken, and I don't appear to be bleeding too badly internally. I don't think I have any broken ribs.

God forbid I should forget that I am injured and try to pick something up. Fortunately, the whiskey ibuprofen works.

I stripped off the top layer of gear and muddy clothes, glasses, gloves, and all the crap I could think of and wished for just an instant that I could smoke a cigarette.

Anyway, I did get up and ride an additional four miles or so ... including one mile to go back and get my glasses.

Some observations: my bike is sweet. I have no idea what I am doing, but am learning fast. When I was a kid I went down a hill kamakaze like and broke a bike, leaving myself undamaged; Today, the bike is undamaged. I could feel power as my legs caused the bike to writhe up hill, spinning, grabbing, sliding. My bike is heavy and the larger tires seem to cause the gearing to be higher. I need to work on the setup of the bike, but again, I have no idea what I am doing. it was hellafun to be out in the slimy dirt and getting really dirty, pedaling, pedaling ... climbing, steering, balancing, navigating.

Getting Ready

SO I am going tomorrow to El Corte Madera Open Space for a short ride in the coastal mountains. I threw a few extras in my bag, in addition to water and bike stuff and a raincoat. This is the stuff I like to take regardless of the reason to be away from civilization.

Princeton Tec Aurora headlamp
Firestarter (you never know) and matches
Space Blanket in case the fire gets out of control
Several goo packages
Lightstick
First aid kit with tape and intant ice pack
Streamlight Scorpion flashlight
Map, compass and GPS
Extra batteries.
Ummm, cell phone.

Here's a map of the site. Everything is open to bikes except the Giant Salamander Trail. We are going to ride the Fir Trail and try to make a loop of it,.

Well -- there's that ...

These came in the mail today. They fit my tires and my wheels. I set up a computer on my surly today and when setting the diameter of the wheels that I had surpassed all the options in the table and hadn't seen the tire size. I measured the diameter of the tire. 2335 mm. I am sure this isn't really an accurate assesment of the rolling distance, but it will do for now.

The spare tire is big. Yesterday, I left my Chrome messenger bag on the train. I am pretty sure I won't get that back. It had a pump and a pair of Merrell's in it. I am sad to lose the shoes.


This is the contents of the ordinary seat bag. Patch kit so I can recue my self or others. Crank Brothers tool set, some tire levers, tube, emergency food in case I bonk or go hypothermic, raincoat. I am glad the raincoat wasn't in the messenger bag.

Clam Miso Soup

At Tokie's in Foster City.

Firecracker Roll