A little wet...

Well, when it rains it pours. Literally, in AL it pours. None of the warning showers typical in CA. Nope, the sky opens up and buckets start raining down. I hadn't fully appreciated that little fact of life here until yesterdays Wednesday ride. Prior to that most of the rain I had seen here was from indoors.

So the ride started out as typical with a race pace run through the Family Bike Trail (picture the upper trails at Cowell, but buffed at 2x the speed). I snap my only picture of the day at O'Shaughnessy Pt (rock outcropping that overlooks the valley). I am a bit winded from the pace and we head on. Down Warpath and onto the Goat Trail (both appropriately named for their boulder placement).

Larger image of map

So trucking along down goat trail and I am hurting. I am still trying to figure out if I am just that out of shape or if the heat/humidity are that taxing on my body. I kind of feel about the same as riding at altitude. After about 30-45 minutes I feel pretty worked. After a couple of hours I am just dog tired. Right before we hit 3 benches junction it starts pouring. I am soaked by 3 benches and we, Randy and I, turn up towards the parking lot to get out of the rain. Straight up Sinks Trail. I think it is a tough climb when dry, but when wet it is just about impossible to climb. I hiked a bit and got back to the lot in time to see the last car pull out. I guess I just wasn't in a hurry. Apparently these Alabama folks don't like the rain much. I kind of viewed it as novelty and didn't rush my climb(I know, big surprise).

That concluded my ride. I headed for home. Lots of rain in the streets. Those big drainage culverts that seem overbuilt when empty are about half full with the downpour when I get home. This morning the seat in the truck was still a bit wet.

So thus far I have found out that people in Alabama don't seem to appreciate hot weather or getting soaked in the rain. Weird :-)

WTF, has it been a month already???

Strictly a rhetorical question there. Yes, it has been a busy month. Moving is not fun, but moving long distance is just above and beyond. There have been a number of items that have caught us off guard.

So here I sit 2300mi from Santa Cruz. Our apartment is like a town house and is about the same square footage as our house on Granite Creek. Construction is a bit cheap, but all appliances, cabinets, flooring, and counters are new. We have 2 patios and look out on a gassy knoll. I will have to put together a picture tour once all of the moving scrap and clutter is out of the way. It is nice. At $975 a month we can tolerate a bit of cheap construction.

We arrived in Huntsville just in time to enjoy a 2+ week long heat wave with temperatures above 100. Perfect weather for moving large furniture and boxes. I guess it has been good, because if that is as bad as it gets we can hang. Honestly the locals were complaining a lot more than we were, which was amusing.

Work is interesting. The pace is different from CA. I show up to work at 7am, I work the whole day with a couple of breaks mixed in, and at 3:30pm I am off. None of this 9-6 business. No meetings after about 2pm. It is pretty cool. Just show up and be efficient, then go home. So by the time you slackers in CA are finishing your lunch break I am heading for home. The main hurdle with respect to work has been re-learning to use Pro/E. This in itself would not be a major issue, but the parts I get to learn with are military and aerospace and they aren't big on flat surfaces. Here is an example of one of my first projects (a hydrafoil submarine component):

It has been fun but challenging learning all over how to define in the new CAD package. Really is time consuming since it is like learning a new language. I know how to say it in english, now how do I get it said in Pro/E.

Bike riding in Huntsville? What is that? No, there are actually some fun trails right outside of town. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to them from home or work. Trails are very similar to those in Henry Cowel. The differences are a lot more rocks, a lot less steady uphill/downhill definition, and a lot more riders on group rides.

The terrain is very challenging. Lots of sections that don't look all that hard, but are quite difficult to clean. I prefer to ride my 29er here as it really does maintain momentum better through the rocks and bumpy terrain. It is a bit abusive on the rump and 80mm of travel is not my favorite. The ventana is plush, but kills me on the short risers since it dumps speed and deflects pretty bad off the rocks while climbing. I guess the bottom line is that I need to pick up a 4" travel full suspension 29er to be fully satisfied. Now I will just need to convince Erin that it is a necessity. One more trail picture(can you find the trail?):


The new hauler...

We left the neon in CA, so another vehicle was necessary when we touched down here in AL. Not a 4wd, but it does have the trd trim package. Ivan Stewart edition is pretty sweat. It gets a chichi set of alloy wheels. Erin wouldn't cut me loose with too much money to play with, so this is the best I could do. Should get the job done hauling whatever we need to and also can double as a family vehicle since it is the 4dr access cab.

I am sure there is a lot more to tell, but I will follow up later. I will try to be more diligent in my updates now that things are settling down. I pray that all is well with everyone. If you want to get in touch me cell phone is still 831-345-3893 for now, or you can e-mail to dbrummett2@gmail.com

Heading off to Alabama

Well, this has been in the works for a while now. Finally we are really in motion. I have secured a job in Huntsville Alabama. The last couple of weeks have been pretty stressful and I am sure things won't let up until we are settled down on the other side.

For the big move we will be loading up a 26' moving truck and driving our own stuff. Thanks to Erin's Step Father I have a copilot for the trip. We will most likely be trading off driving duties between who is driving our blazer and who has to drive the big truck. We will have to pack everything that we can into the trailer and see if it all fits. I am amazed at the volume of crap that we have collected over the years. Not fun come time to move, yet we are not really willing to give much of it up at this point. So haul it we must do.

We will be packing up for the weekend and hopefully hit the road by Tuesday or Wednesday. I hope to get in touch with all of my friends, but really can't promise much. We are pretty crammed to get time with the family before the move and there isn't much time for recreation at this point.

Wish us luck and keep in touch via e-mail.
dbrummett2@gmail.com
eb1018@sbcglobal.net
dsb1829@sbcglobal.net

Blog schmog

Okay, it has been weeks since my last confession. I have let life get in my way of riding and obsessing on my bicycles. Please forgive me. How many footies will the penance be for my flawed ways.

Alright, enough of that. Apologies to any catholics in the crowd.

New stuff? Yeah, probably have some. I am digging on my saint hubset. My fox 36 talas got the axe. Back to my trusty civic (pike 454 air u-turn). The DT RWS 10mm thru axle is the shit. It is stiff, light, and easy to use. Centerlock rotors are still kicking it. Even with all the water crossings in Downieville I had no howling or noise out of the brakes. So now I am all air sprung with heavy wheels and good tires. Net damage is about 34.5lb on the rig. I was impressed with how well the resolution 2.3 upfront and karma 2.2 rear handled the terrain in the sierras.

Downieville...

Photo Album

Fun weekend had by all. I headed out of work at about noon on Thursday and grabbed my stuff on the way out of town. My POS neon was heating up pretty bad heading over to Livermore. Guess I should have checked my coolant level before heading out. Not a problem as I had made plans to carpool up with Craig who I had gotten in touch with through MTBR. He turned out to be a good guy and we hung out for the majority of the weekend.

We pulled into town about 8pm and got on our way out to the cabin. Stacy and Troy had been there, but were out. We unloaded our stuff and hung out for the evening.

Friday we shuttled out on the noon bus after catching some breakfast back at the Coyote Cafe (just before Downieville). The shuttle took a long time to load/unload/minishuttle us up to packer. I took Craig out and introduced him to baby heads and incurred my only pinch flat of the weekend. Lesson at Downieville, check the tires every morning (those precious psi that bleed off can cost a bit of time on the trailside). Craig managed to snap his derailleur hanger coming down pauly creek. We patched him up at the second bridge. It kind of plagued the rest of his run and I think we ended up rolling into town about four and a half hours after we had left. Fortunately no ticket on the car, so all was well.

We hung in town for a bit. Tried stalking anyone with a Giant to see if we could rustle up a spare hanger. No luck there.Had a few conversations with the usual suspects as they were arriving into town (Aaron Peters, Curtis Beavers, Tippie Bob, Danny and crew from SC). We trucked back up to the cabin to find the Socal boys setting up shop on the patio. I fired up the BBQ and threw on a skirt steak. Some good brews and company. Craig wandered back into town and managed to secure a BlurLT rental so that he could do his race. When he got back he fired straight into changing the tires to some more familiar rubber. Nerves were high and most people wandered off to bed early.

Not sure when David arrived. Somewhere between too many beers and helping the neighbors get a truck unstuck I lost track of time. I also managed to lightly sprain my left pinkie finger in a drunken bridge crossing gone awry. Fortunately it didn't hinder my riding for the weekend. I maintained my steady beer buzz as David got his bike set up for the race and crashed out pretty late again.

The racers were up at the crack of dawn, so I popped out of bed and grabbed a beer and a banana to shake off the cobwebs. I gave some of the boys a ride up to Sierra city and then headed back to the cabins for a bit to stock up for the day. I headed out to Downieville with a pack of beer and my camera. Grabbed a good parking spot and headed out to Lavesola Rd. to see the XC racers finish up. I saw the pros come into town before heading out to above the last Lavesola crossing. I missed a few of our racers, but did snap pictures of others. I sat up at the road drinking my beer and hollering at everyone for an hour or so. I got lucky and caught a ride back into town on one of the dirt bikes. Good thing, it takes a long time to hike out Lavesola and I wasn't really into it at that point.

Spirits were flowing a bit better after the race. Lake jump was fun as always. Back to the cabin for some bbq and socialization. The AM racers were still all business and crashed out early. I gave my bike a quick once over and called it a night before it was too late.

I slept in Sunday morning. People were bustling around at 7am again, but I knew I wasn't starting until about 11:30, so I didn't sweat it. Adjusted my saddle, and air pressure all the way around before getting shuttled up to packer by Craig. I still ended up sitting around about half an hour before my start.

I get to the staging area to find out I am on deck. So I drop my seat and get in the line. Guy says, "you're gonna want to have that up for the first mile". Crap what is this new addition all about. I take off at a pace that was to be mine for the entire race (faster than everyday, but not really race pace). The Sunrise trail is dusty and a lot of pedaling. I can't say I thought much of it other than I was happy to get a warm up before the start of the real dh. I had a good run. I made it accross the boulder/stream without issue, dropped well through the rockies, and maintained good speed all around. I got to the climb and was just not feeling the need to hammer. So I hopped off and hiked it at a decent pace. I got passed by a couple of guys on the way up. Got to the top, slammed a GU and got back on the bike. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. I reeled in one of my passers at the finish. I railed third divide and actually felt good pedaling out 1st. I rolled into town with a 1:14 and change. Not bad for my lax approach to the race and the additional trail length.

Craig and I hung out in town for the afternoon and went back to the cabin about 5pm to get our stuff out. Yvonne was a bit pissed and charged us an additional half day. Whatever. Looks like Chris and the Socal boys put down deposit on the place for next year. I think I may be over Downieville DH for now. With it being so hard for our crew to even get a spot in the race it just wasn't as much fun being the only one on the mountain.

We headed out of town and went over to the Ventana Factory. Sherwood is a character. We arrived as he was ripping laps around the factory on his kids dirt bike. He checked out my bike. He decided that it would be best to leave the rear as is for now. But he did comp me a new set of rockers, DU bushing (mine was a bit loose), and a new pivot bolt. Guess my suspicion about the 6mm bolt were confirmed. Same result as the 6mm bolt on my BlurLT, bent at Downieville and never taken more than 3-4' in the air there. The factory tour was cool and Sherwood is pumped with his new in house capabilities for powder coat and heat treat.

Stoke

Not much for stoke at the end of the week here. My Ventana is in a box heading back to the factory for an attitude adjustment. Hopefully it can be straightened out without too much hassle. I did throw some of them new shiny parts on and give them a couple of short thrashings prior to breaking the x-5 down to the frame.

The 10mm thru axle is cool.

Between that and the centerlock rotor I have dropped the rear brake noise. Not sure if it is placebo or what, but the centerlock rotors are grabbing harder than my IS rotors did. They also have the added benefit that they are centered on the hub so they aren't constantly running out as the wheel spins. Maybe next week I can get bug Mike to order up a DT RWS thru axle.

MMM. Stiff, light, and tool-less. Excelent...


Also got my 5in rockers for the 2in stroke Roco. They are a bit smaller and lighter. I am somewhat concerned about the fact that the shock mounting hardware is downsized to 6mm on the 75mm thru bolt instead of 8mm. Reason being is that I bent the 8mm one. Maybe I can just run a higher grade alloy steel bolt to help instead of the stainless one that ventana sends with the kit.

They showed up just in time to see the X-5 go into a box.

Well what a load of crap. The most expensive chi-chi fork and now custom frame that I have ever owned have both gone in for warranty in their first 6 months of life. Ever wonder if all of the advances in bicycle technology are getting us anything other than lighter wallets??? That's it I am going to have to go back to a rigid single speed. I am already getting fed up with the complexity of my suspension. Reading through the tech documents on the last couple of forks I have owned it seems to me that the possibility to miss a step during re-assembly outweighs the benefit of learning to work on the particular fork. I miss the open bath marzocchi days. You know, back when forks didn't have 10 o-ring seals in their damping cartridge and you could tune your fork without having to be an expert on damper design. Back in the day it was a shimmed compression damper and you could adjust rebound, oil height, and oil weight. That was it. And it just worked. Now I have 5 knobs to turn externally, but can't get my fork to perform as I want. Gotta love these "advances". Rant off...

Riding? Got in a Fremont Older loop and a HC loop earlier in the week. Good to get back in the saddle after a couple weeks off. Just a couple of 1-1.5 hour rides. I need to get some more saddle time in for endurance. Maybe this weekend.

Friday update

As most can tell I am doing a lot of stuff other than riding right now. Hopefully that will change shortly.

Thursday shop ride was a bust. I showed up to find Mike was already out riding. I decide to wing a solo ride only to find that my liners are missing. So I decided to call it a day and go work on my bikes and hang out with Austin (I owed him some garage time with dad). Oh well, we had a good time despite not riding.

New parts are always fun. My Saint wheelset showed up yesterday. Man are these things tanks (2530g to be exact). They weigh as much as my tubeless 823 wheels. Guess they are destined to be my heavy duty wheels. But they were only $135 for front/rear/derailleur so I can't complain too much. Construction of the Saint hubs and derailleur are nice. I will probably match them up with a mid weight 2.2-2.3 tire set and call it good for now.

More cool stuff...
Got my Ultimate Professional Clamp for my park stand this week. Now I can work on my bike again without having to move the gravity dropper every time.

Hell yeah, that will do much better. Now I have 2 clamps on my stand so I can go pro or swap parts from bike to bike without having one of the bikes on the floor.

Even more cool stuff...
Roco R Air shock just showed up today. Should drop over a pound off of the ventana without sacrificing much if anything in terms of ride quality. Time will have to tell on that statement, but quite a few are singing the praises of this shock already. Since it has no platform it should be more plush than the current fox offerings (sorry stu). Also no air valve interference with the rockers, so I will be able to get things adjusted easily. At 350g it sits right in the middle of the rp23 and dhx air for weight, so it isn't a light weight xc shock.

The uncool stuff. Well, I had noticed some odd cable rub marks by my front derailleur cable. Odd in that the cable is stationary so I should get minimal rub. I threw some tape on the spot a month ago and carried on. I noticed that the tape had been torn up pretty good but didn't think anything of it. Well, yesterday I had the rear of the bike apart and I noticed that the seat stay yoke on the frame is the culprit. Dang, that ain't good. So I got into it to find that the front triangle on my frame is slightly out of whack. Not bent, but the main pivot is shifted slightly to one side (maybe .040-.060"). I don't think this would normally be an issue, but in my case the custom sizing put a weld right in the arc path for the rocker. So it rubs in the last .5" of travel. Not bad, but not good. Will have to wait and see what the big guy at ventana has to say about this.


This weekend's events??
I dunno, but I'll be damned if I don't brush off the cobwebs and get out for a ride at some point. Anyone want to hit up a demo loop or something fun?

It's a bust

Well, another week in the books and nothing to show for it. The house is in chaos with the move. This weekend will be the big push to get everything out that needs to be out. No major problems though, so I can't complain too much. The garage is starting to clear out. I am just amazed at the sheer volume of stuff that was packed in there. Not only are all of my tools, workbenches, and shelving there but all were loaded up. Top that with all of the house overflow and you have yourself a right mess. Oh well, it's just about in the books and then the majority of the rest will be the bedrooms.

Did I mention that moving sucks.

Riding, what's that? Seriously not getting out on the bike much right now. I swapped out the tires on the 29er (took off the narrow xc threads and put back on the trail tires). I was able to grunt out a short ride yesterday in the Lode. Pulled some of the tight switchbacks, but for the most part did the 90% and then lose it method. Those have got to be the tightest switchbacks around. Couple that up with the steepness and it becomes a real challenge. Bigger tires were a lot more comfortable and confidence inspiring, but they do add a bit of weight and resistance. Overall the bike is riding well and the rear wheel is holding up even with the flat spot, so life rolls on.

I got a bit of poison oak currently. Nothing major just small patches all over. I was asking for it though. Went out on Tuesday and cleared about a mile of trail that had been bugging us every time we rode through. There was a lot of oak in there. I don't think I had noticed that some of the big bushes were actually poison oak. So I pulled and trimmed the stuff back off the trail. I really should be covered in oak for the fact that I was out there in a short sleeve shirt. Either I got lucky or the stuff isn't that potent right now. That or I am finally building up a small tolerance to the stuff (I wouldn't count on that though).

This weekend:
Well, it's a holiday so an extra day is thrown in for most of us.

- Boys at Cyclesport are trying to get together a bigger ride on one of the days

- Trailhead is having their 10th anniversary party (beer and sale prices provided)

- Doug and family moving more crap out of the house (let me know if you are bored and want to lug anything around)