I miss the Bike :( Loving the time with my son though!

been a week off the bike, felt good to get some blood pumping clearing the entire driveway. This was just the begining

One heck of a nice day on Thursday, I managed to get out for 90 minutes of trail bliss. Initially I was headed for Case but few minutes into my ride I said nawww Crandalls is still new and fun and different. I was armed with the Rigid SS and a fluffy dog. Temperature was up in the 40s and it felt nice to back in shorts and T-shirt jersey pedaling around the woods. I decided to repeat the loop John took me on a week ago and going to keep that as his loop in his name. As I pedaled up, 34/21 gearing never felt worse, I felt like I was pulling a wagon full of bricks. I tightened the chain tension the night before so maybe it had slightly something to do with it, or so I am imagining. Regardless I was riding, got up most and had to work especially hard despite legs feeling heartless. Always in good company with my loyal pooch. He is such a good trail dog, apparently Crandalls doesn't tire him much like Case, makes sense since Case is faster with 3-5 more miles in the same amount of time. All in all it was a great day to ride, looking forward to more as the weather cooperates, thank goodness for it.

Crandall 5th

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Chain Reaction Cycles

Pulled it off pinkbike, put me in the christmas spirit loving it!

Friday Monin

Well Crandall has been fun so I went back to it on Friday at 10am and this time rode with a trail boss and got shown a couple trails I missed so far. Crandall still proves to be a mother to get miles out of but it's probably cause all that time spent climbing. After 90 minutes of fast pedaling, I was certainly getting a good workout trying to keep up. One trail I was clueless about opens up some more riding options, another switchback trail. I am still really liking the riding here, I don't have much more exploring to do here, but certainly still many loop options. My legs felt pretty out of shape after 4 hours spent there this week but it was time to put a hurting into them since rides are few and far between. Not sure what riding is to come, looks like it will be wet early in the week, I'll just keep cracking at it as I can ride.

Crandall 4th

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Da Goods

Wednesday morning, I am beat, baby sounds his feeding with little cries, it's 6:30am, go warm the bottle in the fridge, feed him. Done feeding, put him down. I look outside, it's a bit gray and I feel hurt, do I really want to ride today. I look out the window a few more times, question to ride or not to ride. I say to myself, later on today if the sun is out you will regret that you did not ride. A minute later, ok it's go time, crap need my bike shorts in his room. Door creaks open, then I open the cabinet, his eyes open and I scoot out of the room. Check the monitor, he is moving about and ready for action. Delay my ride plans since I told my wife fairly I will ride when Landon goes back down to sleep after his feed. I bounce him, I rock him, I can't make him go back to sleep. I come down into my workplace and do my work and wait it out. It's 8:15 he's asleep! As I stepped outside I felt how bitter and stiff the air was, it was freezing. I came this far so i carried on and headed for a ride at Crandalls. It was 31F when I arrived, I questioned my ambition but pedaled on and decided to ride counter clockwise what I did the other day and to add more trail. Mid way into my ride, I did make my way to that trail that climbed higher in between where I have been and it lead me to a split with trail names! It read Zig on one tree and Zag on the other. Being righty, I went onto Zig and pedaled on a nice flat run of trail that twisted and meandered every which way. I nearly got dizzy as I squiggled around and around but loving every second of it. I was so happy to find this great piece of trail, it was a nice break and offered a mellow pedal session. Is anything really better than finding some really good trail at a new ride location, heck no man. Soon I hit a intersection, one trail looked like ti shot down the hillside, the other was what I imagined was the start of Zag and I happened to be correct. I Zagged my way for another huge session of mellow twisties. With the same amount of trail as I put under the tire on Zig I was back at the intersection of Zig & Zag with a tired set of legs and pointed it down red and enjoyed a good downhill. The Tanuki feels so good, I have mostly to thank my suspension since it is new it just does the job right soaking up everything. What a great ride, going to try to repeat it and find out where that trail goes where Zig turns into Zag. Loving riding right now, how lucky am I it's December! Next week will be a rude awakening, get your rides in while you can!

Crandall 3rds

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2nd Rip At Crandalls

I am kicking myself.... I forgot about a little place called Crandalls down the road that is off limits to hunters. I have been detouring to Case Mountain for way too long now and this was a good change of pace. I have been here once before a few months ago, a biking friend of mine started bringing it up on the forums so I checked it out and liked it. It is only 10 minutes from my house with the route I took today which is obviously sweet. There are organized marked trails is here and there are unmarked very good mountain biker built single track as well. The map of this place is small, it pretty much utilizes a steep hillside that will make you work for every crank. The red trail up to the top is downright mean, with the leaves moist from the last few days traction was an absolute joke for me but I made it up more than the last trip so I felt somewhat good about that. The  single track trails are pretty untamed, these trails see few tires so  at times it got silly and questioned my route. I missed some switchbacks that I knew were close, but it looked like after the last storm it was just too unclear. I carried on down a nice downhill and then took a left where I made a right last time. That was the best decision I made since it lead me to some really twisty climbing switchbacks, I love this kind of stuff. Came to a tough decision as I had to choose to continue ahead to climb the rest of the ridge or take some more trail just right of me. I went right, rode a lot more good trail and then with little choice I was back on the popular wide stuff. Some more trail to the car and it was only an hour ride but I was in dire need to get out and certainly got my fix. Tomorrow morning is the plan to ride early. The baby has been so great, he sleeps by midnight and wakes for a morning feed and goes back to sleep to 11ish. Good news, I tightened the front hub and apparently it did the trick since it performed perfect for me. How tight it is too tight? I tightened what I thought was minimal enough that it would not loosen again.....hope it works.

Crandalls 2nd rip

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Good

Got out for the Thursday night ride, was more pumped than ever to ride, not so unusual. I grabbed the dog since he needed to get out and headed for Hale. Bentley stormed everyone with excessive friendliness and then we were off! Since the bolt stripped on the seat post collar I was on the newish bike with gears and stuff. Set off on fly by night, pretty standard, all was going well in the dark. I must say damn those Maxis Ardents I hate them in the corners, trails were firm and freezing in the temperatures and I could not put any confidence in these tires since I bought them. Time to try those infamous Kenda Nevegals. The front end started to feel funny so I flipped the bike over and found slop in the axle, shart............ hand tighten best I could and continue to ride hesitantly knowing bike is not 100% I Feel it slopping again, go to tighten and won't tighten but sloppy, at this point I can bail or just finish the rest of the ride being only halfway in or so. Screw it, I came to ride it's once a week now, all or nothing. Crossed the stream, and water almost instantly froze anywhere on the bike it touched. Apparently quite a bit got into my brakes because when I went to use them I got maybe 10% of braking power on both brakes and that was a rude awakening. My mind was busy as I was riding realizing this wheelset had always felt flexy before the axle issue this evening and may not be good in the long run. The thought of having to buy wheels made my mind sore, since I am always behing on the dawg limping but needing wheels and a fork. The ride was mighty good it really was, rarely do I have a mechanical issue and I was thankful this was not a ride ender. Have not gotten down into the workshop to poke around with it yet, I really don't have much experience with wheelsets since they always just work for me so let's see what happens. I got about 400$ put aside, not crazy about using it for parts but I need to invest soon, might as well go 20mm front wheels and forks on both bikes........ 400$ will not be enough.........booooo

Jet Lites A-51

This has been a great buy! Two years ago I completed my research and purchased a Jet Lites A-51. It offered 500 lumens and three hours burn time on high. With always being on a budget I say I got a great bang for the buck! I know magic shines are wildly popular and cheap as can be but when it comes down to it with all the gripe and problems I have seen with them, I am glad I have a set it and forget it every ride. Now on it's third season I have yet to push it past two hours of lighting but the battery is still holding perfect for me. All chargers and connections and all involved have been flawless and pleasant. A time will come where I will need to buy another light and I will without question buy another from this company in my future. I would love to add a second light to my setup and the next one might be wireless but certainly brighter! The light market is flooded out there and I am not familiar with many,but like all bike products, some stick and some don't.

Bout All I got

Haven't rode in a week, tonight will be the night and hopefully I can get one more in before the end of the weekend. Little man is doing good, waiting day by day for him to get bigger!

Night Snow

I was surprised when the local Thursday night ride was on but I was pumped when it was and LuAnn ok'd the ride. We got a good 3 inches a few days before and we are the only place in the state still with it. The temperatures dropped into freezing so trail conditions could be anywhere from snow to no snow to ice. The parking lot had a good coat on it as you can see and I really did not know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised when we hit trail and the trail was perfectly dry with snow on the side. It was perfect, it was like someone went out there with a torch and dried it perfectly leaving the snow on the side. These are just the greatest rides, when the conditions are so variable, it's winter, a full moon and these crazy bikers are out in the woods in the dark riding. It was great fun right up until we neared the car and my light put me in the dark. I didn't know if I charged it after last ride and unfortunately made that guess 90 minutes before the ride when I remembered to charge it. It could not have gone out at a better time since I was just a minute from the car. I could not continue further on the the ride which sucked but I got a good hour in. Mighty good stuff, good weather coming Monday Tuesday hope to ride!!!!!!!!!

Snowy Hale

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Some Media

When he gets hungry he gets pissed and will fight anyone! We have begun to call him the Milk Monster! Eyyyyyyyyyyyyy Rocky

Baby Is doing sooooo good, each and every day he blesses our lives Look at that hot mama! I am one lucky guy!

Gay City To Case Power

Such good stuff! I decided to start on the Gay City State Park side to mix things up since I have to whore Case area this time of year due to me trying to avoid running into hunters. I forgot how quickly I can get to the top at Birch Mountain Road without taking Ribbon trail, so I was on red trail and enjoying being able to crank steady and hard for awhile without getting seriously worked. I took some pavement to take a little blue section I have only taken once before, storming down it I was enjoying the cool off, it was super warm out, some 56 degrees. Rode over to Tinti and on the way caught something in my view to the left, a sign on a trail I have never rode but always noticed it being used by hikers. I like how the sign is to the point "DEER HARVEST IN PROGRESS". Made my way shortly to Tinti trail and enjoyed the smoothness, someone has been doing some work on it getting the benching down right and taking care of it wisely. Down to the reservoir and around the opposing side I normally don't take, pine needles kind of suck to ride on, especially since it rarely sees tires but none the less a change of pace is never a bad thing. Mixed it up from there and had mad strength in my legs, felt good as I charged hills on the single speed. Back across the road I had intentions to ride Ribbon trail which is outside boundaries of Gay City and sure enough one minute after crossing the road saw hunter number one and then I reluctantly turned at the fork for Ribbon and in the distance two more orange jackets. I said screw it, they can have that area so I went back the way I came and stormed down and made a different loop with red and yellow. I had to get a grocery run in following this rip so I was shooting for a 90 minute ride and did just about that. 96 minutes and 13.20 miles, that's pretty quick ride, mostly due to trails I chose.

Gay City to Case

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Mighty Fine One

Life is good, my little son has been making as work hard as you can imagine but he is a very happy baby. My wife has bounced back from the huge job that it took to make the little man and is one heck of a good mom. I got a ride last thursday which was a mere 1 ride but I was obviously happy to be riding at all. When today rolled around I had riding in the back of my mind and when I pitched the idea to LuAnn, she was fine with it. So I obviously got the car loaded up and grabbed the dog and off I went with no worries until dark. I was headed past the homestead down the road and saw some guys either finishing or starting a ride at Hale and I thought in my head, do I know them, maybe we could ride in a pack and avoid hunter activities. Just then I decided no, it's the Hunter's short time in the woods and I know I am not going to risk Bentley or mine lives so I carried on. Not 10 seconds later I hear a gunshot right close to the road on my favorite Al's trail. That incident assured that I made the right decision. We hit the Pond lot and did what we do, legs and lungs feeling great. The woods felt pretty creepy, not often does that happen but this time of year I always feel watched, good thing I got my vicious designer golden doodle dog to get my back if things get crazy. It was really good to have his company, I love my dog, he just so happens to be an exceptional trail dog too. Rigid and Single speed felt great as usual, ended up climbing up to Tinti, had a mighty good time descending it at usual too. The mind was thankfully clear, I think I am through the fog of anxiety of the new one. Bentley started slowing down after the first hour, we don't ride as much as we used to. By the time we found the summit overlook I spotted a swarm of kids, must have been some school activity or something, good 30 plus kids. In true dog fashion Bentley circles through the group getting pats and love from most, but striking terror in a few kids as well, pretty funny to see people that thought he was a big animal coming to take their life. I felt pretty bad I did not put him on the leash, but after 30 seconds into that incident he found me and we were back on trail. I took it super slow cause doggy was jogging and I was just taking it easy and enjoying it. Really great ride, love staring mondays off on the right foot. Will be interesting what rides the week will bring, could be only one who knows! Til then, I be hoping

So soooo good
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Wednesday Night Dude Ride

I was pumped when Derek posted up for a Wednesday night ride vs. Tuesday night ride. I spend tuesday nights with a scout program so I miss all those night rides. The ride was set for Hale, and with fresh legs and lungs I had no idea what to expect. Luckily I have averaged two rides a week the last two weeks so when I got cranking with the heavy hitters it all worked out. It was cold outside but for some reason I felt great in shorts and a t-shirt under my short sleeve jersey, take that fancy clothing technology! I think I made the right decision when I last minute grabbed bike gloves, I have been riding bare fisted for months now, I like it that way, but if someone wants to buy me some new lightweight gloves be my guest! We put in 30 minutes before ending back in the parking lot to pickup a rider that hit some traffic on the way. back into the woods, things picked up quick. Did pretty well on Scoliosis backwards, but the real work came when we crossed the street to the Punisher. I talked with a fellow biker/hunter who stumbled on the trail and was telling me about how intense this tight hilly trail he walked with his rifle was and I got to tell him, yeah I ride that it's no big deal. Punisher covered in leaves and sticks proved to disable me from getting traction everywhere! I have not been crazy about these 2.3 Maxis Ardents, when they wear out I will be trying something else! I was having trouble keeping close to my fellow riders up front and I paid the price on the tight turns. I was riding and all off a sudden out of the right side of my vision I saw a pine with snapped branches sticking out like a bat with nails and I was turning right for it, trying to avoid I washed out my tire whic sent me over sideways and locking my leg into the frame. Ouch went my knee and walked it off for 20 seconds cursing a silly hurt. Onwards I still got worked, clipping trees, losing traction, sticks in gears. When I hit the exit I was relieved, that was a great ride!

Punish the night

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More of a good thing

Only got an hour on tuesday but it was one mighty fine hour! Hit some jumps and loved it, definitely want bigger and moooooooore.

Hourrip

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I got it back!

After some bitter whining in my previous post, I got on a ride some hours later to find myself pleasantly enjoying a mighty fine good ride! I cleared my mind as I put on the music and coasted down into the great trails in an area known as Greyville. There was a event the day before that I painfully missed, but luckily I still reaped the rewards of quite a few leaf blown trails. I have officially decided that leaf blown trails rock the fricken house! I think half the fun of leaf blown trails is just how truly magnificent brown single track looks bordered in leaves. I entered the trails in a different location and continued to link trails I am unsure if i have even set tire to. It was absolutely stellar out today, it was nice and cool 43 degrees, the leafless trees offered a rare view of where all the hills are at Greyville. I rode some leafy trails but mostly leafless. I ignored the popular stuff and mixed it up hardcore, I can't wait to get back tomorrow and do the same! I finally got over my bike blues. Thank you thank you thank you trail wizards!

Through tge fog

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Post Hurricane

Rode after the storm, turned out to be pretty nice day but was missing that feel good I get when I get out there on a ride. Something has changed since we had Landon, I feel totally fine leaving home and then I start riding and I start to miss being home and my mind just can't focus on riding. I hope to break this cycle this week, since it kind of stinks. Case weathered the storm decently, moved some stuff and rode over some as well and let the SS mash and clear the trail. Turned out we weathered the storm very well, I was in full prepared mode with the house and all stocked up for this nasty weather that came. Turned out we had 48 hours of no electricity which was nothing compared previous weather events. Ran the generator when the weather passed for about 24 hours and then had power back. Relieved that we escaped the storm but very pleased to see how organized and prepared I got for this one. Might ride today, we shall see how it goes.

Lost idiot @ case

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Post baby ride

Got out on Thursday night at 5:30 to pedal with a group that rides Hale every week. Me and Pat were on a 30 minute pre ride and it felt mighty good to be out on the bike. When it came to be 6:00 I was ready to go for my first night ride. I had Bentley chasing at my side as we entered the leaf filled maze. When I was not close enough to the person behind me or when I was in back, I could get sent off trail in a second at any time. I could not help but think about my little son at home and was actually getting homesick. I left the group since they were running late and I got fulfilled with what I rode so far, so I got my two hours and headed home. The next few days I could or rode but really didn't feel like it, partially cause weather sucks and had alot to do to prepare for weather coming. Bring it on Sandy!

Post baby ride wee haw

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Pre baby

So I was on a ride at hale last Thursday riding along on a super warm day and I get a phone call and sure enough it is my wife which has never happened so I had a feeling right before I answered it that it was the call. The "show" had began and the cervix plug was breaking apart and labor could be today or soon. Luckily I was close to the road and pedaled home in intense excitement. After contractions and a trip to the hospital

Phone call@ hale

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