Lately, blogging has been pretty easy and my mind has been pretty generous with topics. Sadly, that ended today. Feel free to read on but I can’t promise much (except a bunch of photos and that the blog is even more lackluster than usual)….
Tag Archives | mountain biking
A Little Bit of Jacquie
Because mountain biking is not a sausage party and Jacquie Phelan was and is a legend of the sport… and pretty badass.
A Strange Wintry Weekend
This weekend has not been ideal for much of anything let alone ridin’ bikes. Even bikes with girthy problems like my Surly Pugsley Musk Ox. With that said, here’s a little wrap up of my strange wintry weekend…
Fat & Borrowed
Today I went down to my LBS and picked up a demo fat bike to race with this weekend. It’s a cheap, very heavy (and very fat) Charge Cooker Maxi (Charge is under the Cannondale umbrella… sort of like Huffy or some such brand). While this bike would not be my first, second or third choice if I were to ever by a fat bike, it should do just fine for my little fat bike experiment here. Of course, I haven’t even sat on it yet, let alone taken a ride on it, so for all I know I might love it. What I do know, is that looking down at the ridiculously sized four-inch tires is freakish to say the least. I bet you the spin up real fast.
Making Do
In attempts to get my head out of what Wifey so often refers to as The Bell Jar, I forced myself to dawn six layers of gear and go for a ride at Mid today. The result? Well, it was nice to get outside and out of the gym and basement, but the conditions were not all that ideal. It still helped a bit though.
Cold Weekend
I guess you could call this Welcome Winter Weekend. Some say “welcome,” I say “fuck it, I hate winter.”
A Perfect Day For A Road Ride
Today was a perfect day for a road ride. Naturally, I went for a mountain bike ride.
You would think that I would have remembered the gusting 40+ mile per hour winds that rocked Michigan last Sunday and Monday. You would also think that I wouldn’t be forced to use an iPhone to take pics because I forgot my real camera on my desk. Go ahead and think those things, but you would be wrong.
The Name Fit The Bike
Mountain bike pioneer Charlie Kelly in a promotional photo (circa 1980-ish?) taken by Gary Fisher for their company– MountainBikes. According to Kelly’s personal (history packed) website, the bike in the photo was Fisher’s as he couldn’t yet afford one of the very bikes they were selling.
Back then, you paid $1,300 up front to a couple of California hippies, waited a month or more and eventually you got yourself a 28 pound, fully rigid mountain bike.
Check out Kelly’s site for a shit ton of amazing photos and information about the early days of mountain biking. It’s pretty cool to see so much history of a sport that was invented during my lifetime.
Taking Advantage
In between my days at the gym I have been trying to get out and enjoy the dirt before the snow flies. As you can see from the ground in the pic above, it has been flying here and there but it has a long way to go before it causes any worry or would make me think about maybe regretting not purchasing a fat bike.
Forest Facts
I cannot be certain if a falling tree makes a sound when no one is around, but I am quite certain that if a tree falls in a forest it will ALWAS find its way across the trail. It’s a fact.