Been crashing too much lately.....

Or is it that I have way too much time on my hands the past coupla weeks......?

Last week I broke my chain twice, same ride . OK I gotta handle on that, I straightenend the offending bent derailleur hanger, replaced the drivetrain, good to go. Then I'm JRA in Wompy the other day. Just starting out, come upon two women riders and  helped fix a chain. Off I go again. Later on I bump into them again, and, preparing to stop and chat. Always trying to be so cool and shit I find that I can't clipout in this rock garden, and WHAM! down I go, right in front of the ladies. SMOOOOTH! "I meant to do that! he-he"(Pee-Wee Herman-style...)

I thought the worst of it for the rest of the day as I prepared to go to work, as my left calf seemed to have a bulge in it. Come to realize, that's just my bulging calf   ;-)) 

Then, today, taking the bike cold outta the trunk and slapping the wheels on, went for the holeshot outta the driveway. Obviously, the drivetrain wasn't ready for that. WHAM!! ruined the quick link and went down sideways real quick on the dirt road. Getting up all dusty and bleeding again with the bars twisted backwards looking all dorky, I look up to see a nice neighborhood mom walking her dog and she say "you okay?" concernedly....I say " I'm okay, hope the bike is", all the while pretending again, that I meant to do that.......

So I put a new quick link in, give it a quick spin, and off I go for my two laps. Uneventful except that I couldn't do my average ride speed since I was so shaken up.  From now on, I will always spin the wheels a few times easy to make sure the bikes ready to go before I powerup like that. And  " don't put everything you got into one pedalstroke" is my new motto. But fortunately, the bike is OK, but I think I twisted the brake lever on the carbon bar very slightly......time to replace. NOW!

Here's some pics for viewing pleasure.

Two Words

Bike Polo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zM9Ge4o8A0

My Summer as a Park Ranger

I ventured out on an exciting experiment—In a temporary departure from
my lifelong foodservice career( read: being chained to a hot stove all
my life), worked as a seasonal DCR Ranger for the summer. Having been
assigned to the 'West District', I was partly responsible for
patrolling the parkways from Stony Brook in Hyde Park to Elm Bank,
mostly driving an XL250 4x4 monster truck. I did make sure the state
bought a nice hitch rack for the rig, for the odd MTB ride—ahem!
'Patrol' through Cutler Park and other parks along the way. But of
course, I spent as much time as possible in the Blue Hills……the
patrolling(riding!) there is amazing and I was able to legally ride
anywhere I pleased, so it was a trip back in time( abstractedly sorta
aka Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance—a great read, check it
out sometime).
I also did A LOT of hiking, on 'patrol' and leading group hikes up
Buck Hill and strolls through other parks…….
I'd highly recommend the seasonal DCR job for anyone who enjoys being
outside and being paid for it!
For now, I'm back to eating I mean cooking for a living again……

Joe Sloane☆☆☆☆☆

The mastermind behind Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day(BHMTBD), an event

that started happening in 1994 and still happens every year. BHMTBD

always brings the local mountainbike community together to celebrate

our passion, but has also sucked in new riders with it's home-grown

approach. This family-friendly event has always been FREE, and for a

long time, was the only MTB event where the land managers (Mass. DCR)

actually hosted, sponsored, and worked the event. The formula worked,

and the DCR always has worked out a calendar spot for BHMTBD.

Joe Sloane has spent the better part of each year for the last 14

years, asking, hounding, pleading with busy bike shop owners, bigbox

bicycle companies, frame builders, energy bar moguls, local

restaurants, etc, to get them to donate products and services to the

famous raffle at the end of the day. They're all invited to setup a

tent to show off their stuff..........Joe also designed the kids bike

'rodeo' obstacle course and world-famous all-ages bike limbo

competition.

Joe has always been active in trails advocacy and maintenance in the

Blue Hills, and with Friends of Blue Hills and AMC. He has overseen

many important volunteer trail repair

crews, and is a founding member of Blue Hills Trail Watch, and 'eyes

and ears' DCR volunteer group that helps take care of the 150 miles of

trails and provides guidance to all trail users.

This summer, Joe was nominated by his peers to become one of LL Bean's

Outdoor Heroes. A surprise presentation was done at the annual Blue

Hills Trail Watch meeting/BBQ in August. The manager of the Mansfield

store did the honors.

Below is the official LL Bean text:

The L.L.Bean Outdoor Heroes(R) program was developed to thank those

who have dedicated their time to preserving the outdoors. These are

people who may not make the front page news, but who change the world

around us for the better.

We are pleased to introduce you to the recipients of the 2008 Outdoor

Heroes award. The winners have each been awarded a $5,000 grant

towards their organization—over and above any other L.L.Bean

sponsorships—to support continued preservation, conservation, and

educational efforts.

Sooo, the 5g's goes to Blue Hills TrailWatch--maybe a few new tools,

or a Muck Truck or Ditch Witch(plenty ditches to keep clear in the

BH)........

In addition, Joe recieved a $500 gift card AND a shiny chrome-plated

old-school lantern, for those all-night projects........

AND, in more recent news, Joe was captured and taken on a mountain

bike ride in Cutler Park, along with 16 of his good friends.......

SC

Re: NembaFest Saturday, Landmine Classic Sunday

Wow whatta weekend! Considering the threats of hurricanes and such,
Nembafest went off virtually rainless, for the duration of the event.
A raging torrential downpour or two before and after, but a fun day
all the way through........
Today, the Landmine Classic, that was looking to be a bust with all
the horrid forecasts, had close to 300 racers! Yeah there were some
muddy faces, but they were all smiling at the end......
BIG THANKS to all the vendors and sponsors AND Jaime's BBQ for being
there both days, but especially to all the volunteers who came out
despite the forecasts.....
And to everyone who simply came to ride!
Steve Cobble
SEMass NEMBA
FOW / TrailWatch Wompy

What I've learned about Tubeless Tires

You can get away with using a floor pump, or even a good trail pump, as long as you use some kind of spray-bottle soap(windex works for me) and thoroughly soak the bead. This makes getting the tire on way easy, and also helps 'seal' the bead when initially pumping the tire. Get your old winter gloves, wrap the thumbs with duct tape. Pry the tire on with thumbs. Pump hard. Pump fast. Pump hard and fast. This does work, just takes patience. On the trail, you can use a plastic tire lever to cheat but gloved thumbs are best, since you don't want to damage or score the rim. Use a tube to get you out, then deal with it at home again. You should put a few oz of Stans sealant in every few mo, as it tends to booger-up into a ball that just rolls around and does nothing.

And you can ride much lower psi, and the ride is much more better. UST-specific tires and rims are best, as the tire won't rotate on the rim, and the tread and sidewalls are more beefier. Read more about tubeless