Clothing

I have recently realized how important the proper fit of cycling clothing is. I departed on a one hour road ride the other day and it was very cold. I put on a long sleeve winter jersey and a sleeveless winter undershirt. Both high tech winter material and in size medium. I normally wear large but wanted my winter clothing to fit tight to avoid the flapping of wet, cold clothes against my skin. The material did it’s job too well and kept me overly warm and to add to the discomfort, I had on bib shorts that were also a size too small. You know what that means don’t you? Yep, Man Camel Toe! Sorry to be so descriptive but I’m trying to relay the importance of proper fit. My point is, be very sure your cloths fit right, and don’t over dress either. It can be just as uncomfortable as under dressing. My one hour ride felt like three hours.............just say no to man camel toe! Talk to ya, Andy

in the Air port

WhaT A triP >>>>>>>>>>......

CamelBak Tip

If you use a CamelBak, you know the thumb breaking struggle to get the "cap" screwed on and off of the reservoir. Sometimes, I think it's never coming off again. I started using olive oil or canola oil on the o-ring and what a difference. I just put a little bit on my finger and coat the o-ring with a small amount and Shazam, it threads on and off much easier. Hydrate or die!

What a place for a demo day

Super Six

Today and tomorrow from 11am-4pm Cannondale is having a dirt/road demo day down at the American River confluence in Auburn. I plan on hitting the event tomorrow and test riding a new, full carbon Super Six road bike. If my instincts are correct, based on how well my full carbon Taurine rides, I think they should rename this bike the Super Sic! Come see all the new Cannondales and enjoy the beautiful American River. See you there, hopefully! AMO

The greatest rig ever?!

Could there be the best bike ever made? For each person it's a different rig huh? I've found mine, I think. I just recently got my hands on a 2008 Cannondale Team Taurine. This is Cannondale's flagship hardtail. The steed I'm coming off of is a 2002 Cannondale F900 with a CAAD 5 frame and the lastest Headshok with 80mm of travel, damping control and lock-out. With the exception of the size, it's an 18 inch (med) which is a little small for me, I didn't think another hardtail could really ride any better. Boy howdy......................was I wrong! If your not familiar with Cannondale bicycles, the CAAD 5 is a full aluminum frame and fork, the Taurine is a full carbon fiber frame with mostly carbon fiber in the fork too. The fork, or should I say strut, is a Lefty with 110mm of travel, the plushest travel you can get. I also got this rig in a large frame size, which is close to a 20 inch, or a 19.5 inch with a 1/2 inch longer reach to the handlebars. This is a bike I sit in, not on! My 02' Dale was just over 24 pounds, and the 08' Dale is just over 20 pounds. It's lighter than my road bike! The best way to describe this Taurine is, it rides like a road bike, off road. It is truly amazing. The carbon, I'm guessing, takes the top off the bumps, and the Lefty soaks up every bump from big to small with laser precision steering. I'm beside myself with the accuracy of the Sram XO shifting and how quick the chain moves flawlessly from cog to cog and chainring to chainring. Don't get me started on the Cannondale Si Carbon Crankset........................DANG! They even eliminated the female side of the chainring fixing bolts and have the male side thread directly into the small chainring, brilliant! The bike shines the most when you get out of the saddle to climb. There is not one ounce of energy that isn't transferred to the rear wheel and to the tire where it meets the dirt. In the words of the great Macky Packy, "The bike actually leaps off the ground, forward, every pedal stroke". Here's my final thought for this bike. If more people rode a bike like this, more people would ride bikes. Now get out and turn those pedals!

nice out

Just been working and riding, the trails are perfect!!!!!!!!!!
gota go

Cool temps and a little rain

Put in a few miles last week and today. The trails are perfect.
R.S.

TRASH

I'm not one to whine...much.
But why do you through your GU, Sport Bean, Food wrappers on the trail?
Slow down look around pick up a piece of trash on the ground.
KEEP THE TRAIL CLEAN
Pack it in Pack it out.

http://www.gusports.com/html/stash_your_trash.htm

R.S.

Tracy's new 29er

23.3 lbs. and tubeless

Thanks Colin

What the........

Einstein Quote of the Day

Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination.

Not so hot at night

It seems like every Aug. you find yourself charging up the lights and leaving the house around 8:30 pm for several reasons. 1 For a change 2. To get out of the heat. At first I am always freaked out the fo first few rides by the things that go bump in the dark. Then you find yourself seeing better and much calmer. The best part is the air temp. Don't forget to look out for the deer!

RS

After Sean's ride I still have done nothing worth talking about.

TRT Epic......Finally got it!

Sean Allan



Well this Sat. was my 2nd try at riding all but a few miles of the legal sections of the Tahoe Rim Trail unsupported. I was determined to get this thing done for two reasons, one was a personal deal, just looking to challenge myself. The other was to hopefully provide a GPS track that others could follow and potentially challenge themselves, a self supported time trial of sorts. Well I achieved the first goal, but the GPS ran out of battery at Armstrong Pass leaving the last 17 miles and hour of riding time unsubstantiated. I started the day out at William Kent campground in Sunnyside and wound up to the TRT at Stanford Rocks, down to Tahoe City, up to Brockway Summit, down to Kings Beach, up HWY 433 to the top of Mount Rose Hwy, up and over Marlette Peak, down to Spooner Lake, up and over Spooner Summit to Kingsbury Grade, over to Heavenly Ski Resort and all the way to the top of Mr. Toads Wild Ride, down Toads to finish the day off. Here is the Motion Based Page for the ride:http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3491834 Much thanks goes out to Roger_ for setting a blistering pace from Spooner Lake to the end of the ride, it was great to have him out there with me and he got to see those last couple of sections that alluded him the last go around, probably would not have made it without his help. Also thanks to my VERY understanding wife who was waiting at the bottom of Toads with chips and beer for us and the all important portable shower All in all a great day, I rode 103 miles of singletrack without a whole lot of problems. Got myself pretty dehydrated early on which haunted me all day, made it uncomfortable at times but I managed to pull through it, although it was not pretty in a couple of places. I've ridden all over the West and I have to say that the Rim trail is probably the toughest but most beautiful pieces of trail I've ever seen, we are indeed lucky to have such a gem so close. If you are not already, you should think about joining the TRT association, give 'em a little money to help out with the trail. The total info on the bike computer was 116 miles with a little 2 mile detour due to a wrong turn towards the bottom of Toads( Yes I had to climb back UP out of some subdivision after I realized I was in the wrong place), 12 hours and 58 minutes on the bike, about 15 hours out on the trail. The GPS says 17, 600' of climbing without the added final 17 miles from the bottom of Armstrong Pass, my guess would be around 18,500 for a total on the ride. Made it down Mr Toads in complete daylight and finished up around 8:00 pm So there you go Folks, it's out there, quit talking about post ride burritos and your favorite beer and go out there and beat the crap out of my time, the carrot has been dangled Pics, Sunrise over the lake from Stanford Rocks Amazingly bad self portrait after suffering up the Mount Rose Hwy Roger, with the only mechanical of the day and a soft place to sit! Roger at the end! A little love for the machine that got me there!

Einstein quote of the day

God does not care about our mathematical difficulties.
He integrates empirically.

So many miles

to tired to post, and that is a good thing.
The more you ride the more you can eat!
Photo Show

Birth of a Niner

Just finished building my buddy's 29 inch single speed. I will have a part list and weight as soon as I can. It had been a long time since I sat on a steel frame. The first thought in my mind as I rode through the night air was I want one of these.


RS

Weight crazy

It is funny when you see a bunch of downhillers get out the scale and start counting grams on the tires that they run.

It works!

After 3 days of computer %$#@, I am back up and running. If you are a mac head and installed the last update then you could have had some problems also.
It was a lot like working on your bike just before the race even though the bike was good to go, but you did it anyway. Yep, Apple threw us a slider. I am glad it was stupid hot outside and not nice because that would have bummed me out.

A few of the shop boys went north for some riding in Canada, no word yet on the trip.

• tube or tubless
• hard tail or full suspension
• mac or windows

It is just to HOT

I love everything about this place I live, but I don't care for this heat.

Well...

I know I will be telling you all this in a few days anyway, my flight arrives in Portland late monday night.

So, from Peru to Bs As. I guess not to many of you are familiar with Bolivian buss´, it goes like this.

Arrive at the bus station at 9:00pm, having just left my bottle of water and food rations for the three day journey in the taxi. I buy my ticket to La Paz Bo. because I cant get a bus straight to Bs As, and nobody know's how long the ride will be. So, waiting for the for the bus, I start talking to other tourists and we see a bus off in the corner smoking like a chimney ¨we feel sorry for those people!¨. Oh, its ours, thats what we get for talking ####. So we board our smokey bus that smells like piss because of the uncleaned bathroom in the back, and settle in for the overnight journey.

I get to the bus station in La Paz the next morning and start talking to all the companys leaving for Argentina, I pick the one that leaves the soonest because looking at two more days in a bus I don´t really want to wait in a terminal for 5 hours. At least this one dosn´t smell bad, but thats because thers no bathroom and the trip is 24 hours. My knees touch the seat in front of me and I´m the only gringo on board, whatever, by this time I´m in a travelling comotouse.

I get to the terminal at the border of Bolivia and Argentina and all I have to do is change to a plush Argetine bus and go through customs. I wish it was that easy, with my breath hanging in the air, I had to wait three hours for all the locals to pass customs before the bus could leave. OK, I´m on this big cozy bus with leg rests and food, just one more night and I´m at Fla´s house. 10 minuts from the border the road is closed for a protest, they will let us through in an hour or so, whats an hour in the grand skeem of things?

So three days after starting this fun bus experiance, I´m back and Bs As and so glad to be here.

This week has been mellow, drinking mate and spinning poi in Puerto Madero. Apreciating the mellow while I can, back to the crazy states in a matter of hours.

Its been an amazing journey but all good things come to an end sooner or later. But this is just the end of this trip, the journey of life will go on.

Missing you all for a few more days.

I expect a welcome home party. haha, just kidding.

Peace love and happiness.

Isaiah.

Annadale Park Santa Rosa CA

This is where we rode today. It had been 15 years and for the most part it was the same. Many trail improvements were found and enjoyed. We rode 30 miles and 3 hours in the seat. The views are epic. Afterwards we drove to Sonoma and ate at LaCasa. This is also a must to do the drive home. The info for the area is listed here and taken from http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=480 So take a day and have some fun. Later RS The park, 60 miles north of San Francisco on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa offers miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and trail riding. For wildflower lovers, Annadel Park offers a great variety of flowers from early Spring until early Summer, especially on a hike around Lake Ilsanjo. The best months to see the park's wildflowers are April and May, but there are some plants in bloom as early as January and as late as September. Fishing Lake Ilsanjo offers excellent fishing for black bass and bluegill. Black bass weighing nine pounds and more have been caught here. A purple plastic worm is a favored bait for the bass, while the bluegill favor garden worms, small crayfish, and grubs. If you are 16 years of age or older, you must have a California fishing license. Ledson Marsh dries up by late August or early September and so no fish are found there.

Location - Directions The park is east of Santa Rosa and south of Highway 12 on Channel Drive via Montgomery Drive. 6201 Channel Drive Santa Rosa, California, 95409 Latitude/Longitude: 38.4292 / -122.6236

Seasons/Climate/Recommended Clothing Temperatures during the Summer are in the 80s and 90s. Wintertime highs are in the 50s. Rainfall averages about 30 inches a year, most of it during the winter and early spring. Snow is quite rare, and there is little fog.

Facilities and Activities There is no camping in the park. Fires, campstoves, and barbecues are not allowed. Campsites are available at the county campground at Spring Lake and at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, about ten miles east of Annadel via Highway 12 and Adobe Canyon Road. Horses and bicycles are allowed only on designated trails. Off-trail riding is not permitted. Drinking water should be carried on the trails. The water in Hunter Springs is suitable for horses only. Motor vehicles are allowed only on the entrance road and in the parking lot within the park. Dogs are allowed only on Channel Drive and in the parking lot. They must be kept on leash at all times and are not allowed on the trails. Lock your car and take your valuables with you. Don't Litter! If you bring it in, take it back out.

Tahoe fire jumps line

The setback forces a new round of evacuations and threatens several hundred homes.

By Eric Bailey, Lee Romney and Tami Abdollah, Times Staff Writers
4:01 PM PDT, June 26, 2007

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- After a day when firefighters seemed to be making steady progress, the Angora fire this afternoon jumped a northern perimeter, forcing a new round of evacuations, officials said.

The breach just south of Highway 89 took place about 3 p.m., according to Sgt. Don Atkinson of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department. Between 300 and 400 homes were threatened.

Protecting the northern fire line and residences in the heavily populated area had been a major priority for firefighters as they used helicopter drops and other techniques to fight the blaze, Atkinson said.

"It looks like the wind maybe picked up and the fire changed direction," Atkinson said. "It's pretty heavily populated, it's pretty condensed, there's several hundred homes right there.... Everybody's going emergency speed to get there and get out."

Atkinson said the fire's moving north could threaten 800 to 900 additional homes near where highways 50 and 89 split -- near the downtown area and the South Tahoe High School.

The latest news was a blow to those fighting the blaze, which began Sunday afternoon. Officials estimate the fire is about 40% contained; it was expected to be fully controlled by Sunday.

The cost of fighting the fire is expected to be about $30 million, not counting personal property losses, which include 275 homes and structures. No injuries have been reported.

Weather remains a key concern for firefighters. Officials forecast that the winds would pick up speed Wednesday and that humidity would drop, conditions that usually hinder firefighting.

Incident commander Rich Hawkins of the U.S. Forest Service said it was critical to stop the fire today before the weather worsened.

"One small hot spot and the fire could escape," he said before news of the jumped fire line was reported.

Hawkins said he hoped the fire could be contained in a couple of days but that he didn't want to be overconfident.

Hawkins said firefighters made great progress Monday night and early today because most of the fires that had burned near the town had been extinguished.

"That part of the fire closest to the community is burned out and contained," he said.

Once mop-up of that area is completed, he said, the 40% containment figure would probably be raised.

As of today's morning briefing, the Angora fire had burned 2,730 acres south of Lake Tahoe and west of Fallen Leaf Lake. It had destroyed about 200 residences and 75 outbuildings, Capt. Chuck Dixon of the Kern County Fire Department said.

About 145 fire engines, 54 crews and 11 helicopters are being used to fight the fire, Sgt. Atkinson said.

Some of the 1,000 people forced to flee began returning today. Mandatory evacuations are still in effect for the Tahoe Paradise, Fallen Leaf Campground, Tahoe Mountain and Upper Angora areas. Gardner Mountain was on standby.

The cause of the blaze remained under investigation, but officials believe it was connected to human activity.

Dogs

We took the dogs to Sugar Pine up past Foresthill today for a nice hike and a swim. A day with the dogs is like a good bike ride, you have no idea what will happen and it can take all day.

Western States 100

This is beyond my thought but amazing none the less.

Top 10 Leader Reports (Unofficial)

1 Placer High (finish) 16:12:16 24 Koerner Hal M 31 Ashland OR
2 Placer High (finish) 16:36:49 M2 Skaden Erik M 35 Folsom CA
3 Placer High (finish) 17:11:41 M1 Cooper Graham M 37 Oakland CA
4 Placer High (finish) 17:20:29 M6 Jones-Wilkins Andy M 39 Ketchum ID
5 Placer High (finish) 17:26:59 18 Kochik Phil M 29 Seattle WA
6 Placer High (finish) 18:05:33 M10 Redpath Glen M 41 Brooklyn NY
7 Placer High (finish) 18:9:12 305 Moore Tracy Vincent M 46 El Cajon CA
8 Placer High (finish) 18:12:38 F1 Kimball Nikki F 36 Bozeman MT
9 Placer High (finish) 18:14:17 32 Ishikawa Hiroki M 32 Kanagawa JPN
10 Placer High (finish) 18:22:12 345 Riley Jeff M 38 Coburg OR

ELAPSED times are from start of Run at 5:00 AM.

Repack the pack

After yesterdays ride to Glacier Lake I might start keeping a tube with me after all. What a mess that was. I still am finding stan's that dried up on my body. I am also going to mount up exiwolf's in the rear of both bikes as the crossmarks are to thin for the high elevation rocks. I could not make myself pour out the stan's on the ground so I put in the tube and never gave much thought to the fact that the stan's needed to go some where. Long story short, it will end up inside the 819 tubless rim. It took a 1/2 hour to clean that out once we got home, I would not like that drying up inside the rim. Here are a few more photos of the day. Hope you enjoy them.

R.S.

More later

Glacier Lake

What a day.
Windy, very cool, No People,
Bugs and lots of wild flowers.
later
R.S.

how to ?

http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible

Einstine quote of the day

Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable.

long over due...

I´m in a new country as this letter is slowly writing itself. But I´ll start from where I left off.

Bolivia, last you heard I was still in Tupiza getting ready for the 4 day jeep tour. Crammed jeep, coco leaves, the highest elevation I've been to, llamas, beautiful sights and lots of laughs.

But I´ll give the point to point. Waking up exited to be on my way(because I HAD to make it to Peru to meet Flavia) we crammed the newly formed crew of six into the jeep, threw are bags on the roof, and got going only one hour late which is danm good for Bolivia standards.

10:00 We´re on the road.

10:05 We get a flat tire.

10:10 The tire is fixed and the driver is bribing and arguing with the cop at the border to the park lands about his drivers licence.

After a short tour to the police station, and are cook explaining to us that "this is BOLIVIA after all", we go buy a new tube for the tire and we´re on are way again. Driving up steep dirt roads and chewing coco for the elevation, we are greeted with the amazing Bolivian high desert.

The next few days are full of tiny little mining towns, reeealy cold shacks to sleep in at night, pink flamingos, bubbling guysers, active volcanoes and much more that I will explain when I´m home showing you the pictures.

We finally get to are ultimate destination, El Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt flats in the world. After waking up way before the sun felt like showing its face, we again pack the jeep seeing are breath hanging in the air. We start a kind of racing with another jeep that is there for the same touristy purpose, and when the jeep in front of us gets a flat, you can imagine a few of my group being angry that are guide is giving them are spare tire and also helping them fix it. "Did we wake up this early only to miss the sun rise on the salt flats?" no, its amazing, driving 80 km an hour and not moving an inch. Lots of pictures you will have to see to believe.

The group splits in Uyuni, everyone going there own traveling ways.

I get on a bus looking forward to the 30 hour bus ride ahead of me, because I know I get to meet my girlfriend in Cusco, Peru. But before I tell you about this place, you should know that no trip through Bolivia is complete without one of the famous bus breakdowns where there put your bags on the ground and tell you "good luck". So here I am, on the side of the road just one hour from the destination I started for just 2 1/2 weeks ago, my bag on my back, and 25 Argentine cents in my pocket because I spent my last Bolivianos on the bus ticket and Peru has another currency entirly. Shit, how do I pull myself out of this one? My saving grace was a middle aged lady from spain, who lent me money to take the taxi to the last town we passed and jump on a bus there.

On the bus I talked to an old guy (in spanish) who has lived in Cusco for the last 4 years, and has only spoke spanish for 7. He was, I think, from bolivia and grew up speaking Qechua the local indiginous language. He showed me pictures of the city and told me storyies of traditional customs.

O.K. Cusco. Well I´ll start off by saying touristy, everyone wants to sell you something. But if you can fight your way through the crowd of people pushing you into there bars and giving you free drinks, the city is beautiful. The original capital of the Inka empire. I´ve spent my days hers walking around the city with Fla and looking at all the alpaca warm weather gear for sale, which has come in handy because its colder than a witches tit here at night.

After a few days of talking to tour guides for Machu Pichu, me and Fla pick one and are amazed by the genius of the ruins of Pisaq and Ollantaytambo, the two we saw the day before climbing about 2000 stairs to Machu Pichu.

We wake up at 4:30 and set out to find the trail, "oh its over there, you cant miss it" says the half asleep girl at reception of are hostal. Well, we asked a few more times and made it to the base of the stairs, climbing in the dark with surprisingly few stumbles we slowly and sweatily climb are way up to the sunrise and the lost city of the Inka´s, amazed by the clarity of the stars the whole time.

So peaceful and sacred, words cant even describe(but you do have to ignore the crowds around you) After the tour that told us the important stuff we should know, we found are own little terrace to sit on and talk about how crazy those people were to build a city on top of a mountain like this.

Hot springs back in town to rest are tired legs. And then to bed because we had to wake up at 4:00 again to catch the train back to Cusco.

What the hell is this! crazy crazy people. After the tranquility of Machu Pichu we were both kind of annoyed with the culture around us. When we asked for directions, people were happy enough to give them exept that they didn´t really know they just like being helpfull, even if it does send us off in the tottally wrong direction.

So you can probobly tell I´m done with this place. Tomorrow I get on a 2 or 3 day bus for Buenos Aires(like I said, noboby knows anything in this country) to spend another week with Flavia and then I´ll see you all soon. I´m not sure exactly when but I think you'll know when I´m in your area.

So until then, peace and love to all my amazing friends.

Isaiah.

Happy Father's Day

Hydration

• Rehydration, the replenishment of water and electrolytes lost through dehydration
• The biological absorption of water by plant tissues, often resulting in a shape change.
• The organic Hydration reaction, a reaction in which water is added across a double bond
• Mineral hydration, a reaction in which water is combined into the crystalline structure of a mineral
• To replenish the water in your body

Eagle Lakes

Todays ride
78 deg.
No wind
No people
No problem

RS

Amino Acids

List of standard amino acids
essential amino acids

Getting Stronger

By all standards I am slow, but today,
my wife and I rode 17 miles with
an avg. speed of 10.3 mph. With
a fair amount of climbing. Robie fuel brake,
manzanita, Stagecoach then back to the house.
I don't race nor do I want to, so to some these
times are slow, but for a worn mid forty+
old_dude I felt as strong as when I was 23.

TUBELESS

Here is a subject open for discussion.

The facts:

1. Almost any rim and tire with a notubes rim strip.
2. Some tires just don't work!
3. It can be very messy to seat a tire the first time.
4. I put 1400+ miles on a WTB epiwolf. It never had a flat. Mavic 717 with notubes rimstrip. Changed because tire was starting to come apart.
   
5. I have never used the tube in my wife's pack, yet.
6. The kit only cost $80.00.
7. I have gotten a 1/4 inch cut to seal, no I did.
8. My tire psi is still the same, some times 40 psi+, mostly around 35 psi to 38 psi.
9. Rim I am using now Mavic 819 24 spoke. Tire, Maxxis Crossmark.

• Have mounted and used tubeless
  
• Hookworms on Mavic 717
• Every Maxxis DHF on Mavic 717
• WTB DNA (all) on Mavic 717, 823, 223... never tried a 117 but I am sure it will work.

It is up to you, you will are you want.
I do not ride with a tube, just a pump. If I need to get home I can always use weeds and grass to fill up the tire, more on that later.

RS

Endurance

Endurance is the ability of animals to exert themselves through aerobic or anaerobic exercise for relatively long periods of time. The definition of 'long' varies according to the type of exertion - minutes for high intensity anaerobic exercise, hours or days for low intensity. Training for endurance can have a negative impact on the ability to exert strength unless an individual also undertakes resistance training to counteract this effect.

It rained today

This will keep the dust down for a few minutes.
It will also make for a nice race day at the
Prairie City Race Series.

For every down there is up.

Sugar pine trail Meadow Vista CA

After talking with Andy O counter clockwise is the easiest way so we got that part right.
The first 3 or 4 miles is great, then you start to drop in elevation, this is also great, keep dropping, keep dropping.
Then the climb, not bad.
More rolling some climbing then with no warning switchback, or should I say switchbacks.
I lost count, hiked most of it, Shelly was riding some of it and I was hiking at the same speed...HUH. Dropping again .....What the, Hey look it is more switchbacks and they are trashed, rock covered, rain rutted, hoof trotted, wish I had a DH bike trashed.

Shelly stopped at the top, (Photos). I rode about half way down stopped to wait.
I can here her at the top, and she sounds good, then she started to surf the cantaloupe sized rocks.
It will hurt more later. We got to the bottom safely and look another climb. This one SUCKED, it was more like a creek with no water.
Over all I still feel great. Took a break at the top to check out the pain, and drink more water. When we started again, going down, rolling, and a drop onto the road. Somewhere inside of Winchester. 2 or 3 climbs later we found the car.
Sometimes it is fun to do new things like a trail you have never been to or hiked. But now we know. We will mark this one off on the list and move on to the next one.
You just never know about that trail on the side of the road, but we do now.
Don't think I would ride this everyday but it was worth all the work, and the views were good as well.
No bikes were harmed on this ride.

Later
RS

On the road

Thats right, I´m writing this from a cyber in a little town called Tupiza, in Bolivia.

I said bye to my beutifull girlfriend for a little while and headed to the north of Argentina. There I ate the best empanadas (exellent little dough pockets full of meat) in the world, played a shit ton of pool in my hostel with a free pool table, made some friends, and not too much more.

After being in that town called Salta for 6 days, I found myself on a bus to a little town called Humahuaca (oomawaca) with 2 friends from the hostel. A 19 year old guy from Canada and a 26 girl from Vegas.

We got off the bus in Humahuaca to the first real feeling of being in a third world country that I´ve felt since coming to Ar. It is a little town in the desert at 9000 feet, giant coloured mountains outside of the valley where the town is built, and all kinds of warm clothes made out of alphaca. It was kind of like jumping into an old western!

After just a taste of that I realized I wanted to see more of it, thats why I´m in Bolivia now. My original plan was to cruz the north of Argentina for 2 1/2 weeks and then go to Cusco Peru to meet Flavia. But since I was allready so far north and my friends asked why I wasn´t going to Bolivia, I said "I don´t know why not... I´m in"

So here I am, getting ready to head out on a 4 day jeep tour thats will show us the biggest salt flats in the world, the town where Buch Cassidy and the Sundance kid are buried, a swim in some hot springs, and more that I will have to tell you about next time.

My best wishes to all.

Peace and love.

Isaiah.

Rest

The body needs a day off sometimes, so I did nothing and I liked it.

Clean

1. Clean
2. clean
3. clean
4. clean
   

Make it dirty


Repeat

1. Clean
2. clean
3. clean
4. clean
   

Make it dirty


Repeat

Ride to work if you can!

www.bikecommutemonth.com

Not just in May!

Bicycle commuters this month have bicycled 308,875 miles and eliminated 290,709 pounds of air pollution (ROG, CO, Nox, CO2, PM10) from our air this May!

When 800.000 miles are traveled by bicycle rather than car or light truck, 752,948 pounds of air pollution (ROG, CO, Nox, CO2, PM10) are reduced in the Sacramento air basin, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.

The District calculates that 741,670 lbs of CO2 are avoided when 800,000 miles are traveled by bicycle instead of by car.

627,593

476,164

Current Total: 822,975 miles
Total registered cyclists: 4,599

Need a new chain?

Most people don't understand the damage we do to the chain on our bikes. After my ride today I will replace the chain on my bike, the dust and grime along with the lack of rain this winter has made the trails very dusty a little early this year.
400 miles is a good time to replace a chain, and we all know that a drive train can be very costly. Even if you go for the top dollar chain at over $50.00 it is always cheaper than a brand new drive train, so every month or so do yourself an your bike a favor buy a new chain.

Works for me

c. 400 BC: Hippocrates says, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food."

Don't throw that away!

Yep, had to pull that old XT rear quick release out of the parts box again.
Some factory ones just don't cut it.

Try, Do, Do Nothing.

Try to be better
Do the best I can

Or watch and do nothing...

Meet at the green gate, OK

If you have been there you know.

Coolest 24 hr Race Against Cancer

Coolest 24 hr Race Against Cancer
May 5th & 6th, 2007
Mary Allan’s Race Report

Pre-race:


The week leading up to the race became progressively more emotional for me (poor Sean!), as the out pouring of support of friends, family and co-workers continued to pour in, in the form of emails, pledges, and care-packages. I was tearful in response to everyone’s support and a little overwhelmed! What had I gotten myself into?
I knew that I’d be getting nervous during the week leading up to the race, so I scheduled myself for an 1 ½ hour massage on Wednesday morning prior to the race weekend (which was wonderful!). I followed that up with a hair cut, which sounds like a real ‘girl’ thing to do, but I was actually donating my hair to ‘Locks of Love’, a charity that makes wigs for disadvantaged children with cancer. So, 10 inches of hair gone, I was ready for racing!



Race day:

Even as Sean and I discussed race strategy on the way to the event, it still seemed as if this was for some event in the future. The reality that this was all starting at noon still hadn’t hit me. We arrived at the race venue with our trailer and easy-up already in place, as Sean had gone over on Friday to secure us, and our fellow TMG racers, a good spot on the course/ in the pits. Our good friends Rob and Tara Stout also had their tent trailer set-up, as they had volunteered to help Sean crew for me for the entire event!
After changing into bike clothes and a few practice rides for shock adjustments on the bikes, it was time to line up for the start. I made my way up toward the front and settled into what seemed to be a good spot, only to look to my left and find myself lined up right next to the two other main competitors in the solo female class- yikes! I got a clean start, no females ahead of me and only 2 bikes back from my fellow pit mate and friend Roger Lackey, so I knew I was off the front! Good job- I won’t get stuck in ‘traffic’ when the course narrows down to single track!
Unfortunately, this lead was short lived. Exactly 4 minutes into the race I came to the first of many water crossings. In an effort to keep my feet dry, I followed Sean’s advice to lean back, lift up my front tire at speed, and clear the majority of the water crossing. I made it, but what’s that noise? Oh no! When I landed in the rocks on the far side, I flatted my back tire and blew the tire right off the rim! (I never get flat tires, and can’t recall the last time I changed one!). Sean and I had just gone over how to use the CO2 cartridge (which I have never used!), and how to put a tube in my ‘tubeless’ tire. “Think, think, think!” I demanded of myself, as a steady stream of racers passed me by! Seven minutes later, I was back on my bike and rolling, but it took almost half a lap before a started catching up with the rest of the racers. So much for not getting stuck in traffic…
By lap three my back was already tight and hurting from standing so much to mash up hills in an effort to get caught up. I rolled into the pit yelling for drugs (Tylenol, Excedrin, anything to take the edge off!). Not a good sign this early into the race… It was at this point that my mom and several co-workers left, which was good since things got a lot worse before they got better.
The rest of the daylight laps are kind of a blur. I was just trying to get as many laps in before it got dark as I could. With a goal of 18 laps, I needed to average 80-minute lap times, including pit time. I was doing fairly well with this schedule, and by mid-night I had completed 10 laps (only 8 more to go!). Unfortunately, fatigue was taking its toll and my lap times started getting longer (pushing 1hour 30 minutes). At this point, I was going back and forth with the Night Rider girl (#4) in the pit next to us. I would catch up to her out on course and pass her on the climbs, and beat her back to the pits. She would roll in while I would be sitting eating, only she wasn’t stopping because her stomach was really giving her trouble and she couldn’t eat. So, off I would go again to chase her down. “She can’t sustain this I kept thinking”, finally she hit the wall and went into her trailer to sleep for about an hour and a half.
By daybreak, I had completed 14 laps. Ok, not bad, 4 more laps in 6 hours. It could happen, 1 ½ hours each lap. I had made it to day light- Yeah!
The arrival of the sun was quite possibly the best part of the race because it brought with it a cacophony of animal noises as the forest woke up to a new day. The song birds where in rare form, a pair of wild geese circled over-head calling out to each other, and I could hear ducks on the pond as I passed by. Several large deer lumbered along in the tall grass, while a large flock of wild turkeys promenaded around with their tail feathers spread into large fans, calling out for their mates. Sunrise never seemed so sweet!
During my 15th lap, Sean actually met me out on course to let me know that I might be in first place, “Not to put any pressure on you, just thought you would want to know!” I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it, or just the fact that now my stomach was shutting down, but by the time I finished lap 15, I started hitting the wall. I hadn’t been able to eat much before going out on 15, and it was worse by the time I left for lap 16, only a little ginger ale. By this point, I was averaging at least 2 stops in the bushes out on course for each lap, which only added to my lap times and my misery. And I wanted to throw up, but couldn’t.
Lap 16 was the hardest 2 hours and 10 minutes of my life (thus far). Sean literally had to support me and my bike through the check-in and checkout to get started. I struggled both mentally and physically throughout the entire lap, using my granny gear more than any lap and walking in places that I’d never walked. I was sooo done! As I was hiking out of Knickerbockers creek crossing I heard a girl riding up behind me ask how I was doing. “I’m torched!” I said without looking, only to discover that it was solo female rider #3, the girl that had been over an hour ahead at one point. “What lap are you on?” I managed to ask. “17” was the response, and something about a mix-up in the lap counting. Either way, she was riding, and I was barely walking. Not much I could do about it…
I finally finished lap 16, and I wanted nothing more than to be done! But it was only 9 something in the morning (no matter how many times I asked what time it was!). I knew if I stopped that the Night Rider girl #4 had enough time to pass me, and I wanted to ride as much of the 24 hours as I could…. And, I didn’t want to quit! I cried, dry heaved, and finally got some cereal and green tea into my stomach. I was still dizzy as a loon, and could barely walk. I don’t even remember what all Sean said to help me pull myself together to go out for another lap. Something about training… and quitting, I don’t know but it worked and I decided to try for one more. Sean literally had to lift me out of the chair and support me all of the way through the race venue, I was so dizzy that I could barely walk. He helped me get onto my bike and off I went.
Miraculously, I started to feel a little better. My head started to clear, my stomach wasn’t hurting quit as bad, and my legs started to come back around. I could push my ‘usual’ gears again. “Ok, the faster I go, the sooner I finish!”. Once again, I found myself hiking out of Knickerbockers, only this time I looked up to the top and saw Sean standing there with his bike, like my guarding angel. “You didn’t look so good when you left, so I came to check on you!”. He walked next to me for a bit, with words of encouragement. I finally had to tell him that he couldn’t go the whole way with me… He did meet me again a few miles from the finish just to double check my status, and was there to greet me at the finish line! I ended up turning out 1:20 lap time for my last lap, and was so glad that I went out for lap 17! Good enough for second place, but more importantly, I didn’t quit!
The love and support that I received before, during and after this event has been phenomenal! I don’t have words to thank everyone for all that you did for me! My crew was so amazing (Sean, Tara, and Rob, including help from Roger’s crew, Frank and John, as well as TMG members throughout the day/night/day!). I never could have done this without each of you, and of course, the couching, mentoring, love, and support of my husband & best friend, Sean.
Thank you.

Poison oak

Poison oak is a widespread deciduous shrub throughout mountains and valleys of California, generally below 5,000 feet elevation. In shady canyons and riparian habitats it commonly grows as a climbing vine with aerial (adventitious) roots that adhere to the trunks of oaks and sycamores. Poison oak also forms dense thickets in chaparral and coastal sage scrub, particularly in central and northern California. It regenerates readily after disturbances such as fire and the clearing of land. Rocky Mountain poison oak (Toxicodendron rydbergii) occurs in canyons throughout the western United States and Canada. Because the two species of western poison oak often exhibit a viny growth form, they are listed as subspecies of eastern poison ivy by some authors.

453.59237=1lb

1 pound in grams.
The cost of cutting a few pounds is crazy. With the influx of carbon parts and bikes the sky is the limit. The shop finished building 2 Cannondale Team Carbon Rush's for a client, as we looked at these 23+ pound bikes out of the box we started to laugh. Each bike cost more than the cars we drive (used car). The plus is it needs no gas. Just food and water for yourself.

R. S.

With the wind comes the heat.

Looks like the next few days are going to be hot and windy.
Time to head into the trees.

Rusty S.

Feeling good

As the summer heat starts to build and the trails dry up, we are faced with Dust. It can get in places that that I don't think that even mud can get into. Or I just have become a freak about cleaning my bike now that I ride a carbon one. I just got a Taurine 1 (Cannondale) 22.5 lbs. and getting lighter. Is seems like I became a clean freak at this time. I never cared but it is nice to know that every time that you go ride your bike is almost showroom clean.

I just started riding again after a year with a bad knee. I had tagged my cranks on the same rock 3 or 4 rides in a row. Then the massive pain that wouldn't go away. It is always a slow road back from any injury and the mental part is the hardest. I found out how much I loved to ride when I couldn't and when I started riding again it is slow and in control. Back to the hardtail, tried and true.

Ride your bike to work if you can,
Rusty Spoke