Pimpin ain't easy

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Originally uploaded by the_kegs

After going on what felt like a world tour to gather all the parts required for the build and fighting the numerous gremlins that come along with updating a bike of this age, I'm happy to report that the bike is finished and actually quite rideable. Tomorrow will be the test.

Pimp My 1903 Adventure Ride

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Originally uploaded by the_kegs

So the SSO is putting on another one of his 1903 Adventure Rides this weekend. As always, I wait until the last minute to get myself ready for this sort of thing. The route winds over an through the mountains via numerous paved and gravel roads. My Jamis Exile fixie hardly has clearance for 23c's so it definitely wasn't up for this ride. Wanting to go along with the 1903 adventure theme I've decided to convert my Montarino Pimp Bike/town cruiser into a full on 30 year old cyclocross bike. Various friends have come through with some last minute parts contributions for the project so hopefully everything will come together tomorrow evening when I go to assemble it. With any luck she will stay together over the 60+ mile route. The bike is still sporting many of the original parts, including the 30 year old chain. I don't even want to think about the small crack in the head tube......... Easy does it I guess.

Locked in the basement

Crossposted from TBS since I know not everyone keeps up with the board.

How I spent my summer. See guys...the "I have to house work to do" wasn't just an excuse for not riding after all. ;)

Before




After



Note the freshly revamped, bike themed kegerator complete with 180mm rotor(thanks Tom) and triple tap Oury Grip dispensing system. :)

Upgrade benefits

Upgraded my blog to the new blogger template and even though I had some problems with it deleting things I fought off the urge to roll it back to the old template. Along with the upgrade came new features like the poll to your right.....

I sit at home alone...

I really like checking out the search engine keyword statistics for my blog. Some of the search strings that bring people to my blog crack me up. Check them out for yourself. My fav is "I sit at home by myself"

Traffic

Rant....



If I get caught behind a lost Chemical Lawn Treatment van for 10 miles on my way into work ever again I might snap and end up having to post to this blog from a padded cell. I can't think of a more useless waste of a car length during the morning commute. Companies that deploy vans to drive around and spray chemicals on rich peoples lawns should be only be allowed to drive on the road from 10-2. Let's clear cut all the trees, plant weeds that requires constant nurturing, combustion powered trimming and then deploy fleets of vehicles to nourish said weed with water poisoning chemicals.

We aren't in Kansas anymore Toto

As you probably already know, I have been finishing off my basement and adding a bathroom. Along with the bathroom comes the purchase of fixtures. A buddy at work turned me onto these toilets made by a company called Toto. He likes them so much he has been replacing all the toilets in his house with Totos'. His enthusiasm caused me to give them a look. The main selling point is the dual flush system. Basically, you have two buttons on the top of the toilet. One of the buttons is a .9 gallon flush for your "Number One" and the other button is a 1.6 gallon flush for your (cough cough) "Number Two". Besides the water saving factor, the toilet has been specially designed to flush properly using a small amount of water.

All of the toilets for sale out there today are the 1.6 gallon flush toilets which have been mandated by the government. Before the govt got invloved, toilets used 3 gallons per flush. Many of the toilets out there today, including the ones in my house are old 3-gallon-designs that were modified by the manufacturer for 1.6 gallon use. What happens it the flush is inefficent and you end up having to flush twice which in the end uses more water than the old 3 gallon toilet. Duh! The deal sealer for me was the compact and sleek design on the toilet. The new bathroom is tight and until I found out about the Toto Aquia I was restricted to using a round bowl toilet to save room. The tank on the Toto is not nearly as deep as your standard toilet. This allows the Toto to have an elongated bowl using less space than most round bowl standard toilets. Why an elongated bowl? If you're a guy and you've never had a woman laugh at you when you're naked...you know why an elongated bowl is nice to have. ;) The amount of time you can end up spending researching one single aspect of a project can be mind blowing. It's worth it though. In the end, the attention to detail makes all the difference in the world. I ordered a black toilet which turns out to be a premium color, premium price and a 12 week wait. If you're bored and want to check out some crazy toilets take a look at Totos' website. One toilets I spoted was over 5k..crazy features and electronics like heaters, remotes, aerated butt sprayers and dryers. Like I said...if you're bored. Toto USA

Bush of life..and death

A few years ago I planted I tiny, 4 inch tall Butterfly Bush in our front yard next to the light pole. 3 years later the thing is enormous, easily towering over 12 ft tall. As the name implies, butterflies love this thing.

This past weekend at any given time there were a few dozen butterflies hovering around it. I'm not really into butterflies but it is neat to see so many in one place. Anyway, today, I come home from work and notice there isn't a single butterfly around the bush. I figured it was about to storm or something since the butterflies seem to be tuned into that sort of thing and disappear before it starts raining.

I go inside and while I'm standing in the kitchen, something outside catches my eye through the front window. A butterfly appeared to fall off the bush and then proceed to flail around in the grass. Confused by this behavior I walked out into the yard to take a closer look. What I saw was shocking to me.

Some sort of wasp was attacking the butterfly. I watched as this wasp used it's scissor like jaws to cut one of the butterflies wings off. Then...after the wing was gone and the butterfly could no longer flail around the wasp used his jaws to decapitate the butterfly. You could actually hear this thing crunching through the butterfly. Albeit slightly disturbing, it was very interesting. I had quite a view being only inches away from the action. The wasp didn't seem to care. The entire time my wife, appalled by what she was seeing was asking me to save the butterfly. I dare not to interfere with natures way. Some must die so others can live.

As the wasp flew away, I got a good look at the severed head of the butterfly. It appeared to be bursting with pollen which made me think this is what the wasp was seeking. When the wasp was out of the picture I picked up the remains of the butterfly and positioned them so I could take a picture. While taking pictures they wasp returned to the same spot looking for the remains. When the wasp didn't find the remains he returned to the bush looking for his next victim. No butterflies were to be found.

The life and death struggles that happen right under your nose and mostly go unnoticed can be amazing. The picture above shows the remains of the butterfly and the picture below is of the culprit as he returned to clean up the scene.

Lazy days of summer..

I sure wish that was the case for me. I've been working my butt off trying to get numerous projects done around the house. Namely, having a shed built, finishing off the other half of the basement and staining some of the nearly 900 square feet of decking we have. Unfortuantely, I don't have too much riding to report. I spent Saturday morning in the basement working and running out to Lowes looking for a toilet. That evening I was supposed to meet up with Jeff at the Watershed but he ended up having to work late so I hit Salamander by myself for a nice 9 miler. This was also the shakedown ride for the recently converted IF. A Surly tensioner running in the push-up position kept everything tight. Sure it's a little ugly but it works so I don't see myself changing it out anytime soon. My favorite thing about a SS is how quiet they are. None of that annoying chain slap on rough downhills.

Sunday was the Linganore Winery Reggae Festival in Mt Airy, MD. I had these grandios plans for a bunch of us to ride to the fest but that didn't work out. Not all was lost of the biking front....I did head out with Tom and Danielle for quick road ride around northern Frederick/Walkersville in the morning. I think we came in around 18 miles or so. At the fest, I ran into Alex and Scott who ended up riding there after all. The festival when way too quick, it felt like we were leaving not too long after we arrived. Regardless, a good time was had by all. As long as my schedule permits, I'll be at the TBE Wednesday road ride this week.

Recently converted IFy



Resting place for the new shed




Basement construction



The girls having fun at the Reggae Fest



No riding photos...sorry :(

Scorcher

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Originally uploaded by the_kegs

Having a bunch of home improvement projects in process and knowing that it was going to be hot as hell, I decided to get my butt out of bed fairly early on Saturday morning and hit the roads on my fixie for a cruise downtown with some picture taking along the way. The sky was perfectly clear and sun was shining bright so I figured it would be the perfect time for me to try out the new polarizing filter I bought for the camera. Even though I was sweat soaked within minutes I still had a great time speeding around the fairly vacant downtown streets. Somehow I managed to make 4 hours out of the trip. This included a visit to the newly opened Five Guys on Carrol Creek. The ride did end with a bit of a downer. For the second time in 2 weeks I managed to have an encounter with someones discarded gum. It's not fun cleaning someone else's spit soaked gum off of your frame, spokes and tires. The bicycle sculpture pictured above is located across the street from the Blue Elephant art gallery on West 5th Street. The sculptor even came out and adjusted the sculptures for me while I was snapping pics.

It's all fun and games until someone get dismembered

Stumbled across these 2 videos on youtube and figured I'd post them up. Smart people without much common sense if you ask me. Cracked me up when the guy on the recumbent said security guards frequently chase him off....something about libablity.

Blog Updates

Recently I've heard some complaints regarding the frequency of updates to my blog. Fact of the matter is that my place of work has decided to block blogger which prevents me from posting or commenting while at work. The unfortunate thing is...I spend most of my time at work and when not at work, I'm trying to do things other than sit on the computer. I'm working on a solution which will probably consist of me switching to an unblocked blogging site. Until then, I suggest the you mellow out by listening to some Journey or something.... ;)

Too much work and not enough riding

I didn't manage to squeeze in any riding over the weekend which is a fairly rare occurence. The fact I didn't get on the bike is worrysome since I have Big Bear coming up in a couple weeks. Anyway, Friday night I decided to brew my first solo batch of homebrew. I wanted to brew it with spring water from the spring on Hamburg road so when I got home from happy hour I grabbed my water jug and headed for the mountains. By the time I got back home it was 9:30 or so. Not having any beer in the house I started drinking tequilla and after a buddy stopped by to help with the brew the drinking picked up a bit more. By the time we finished brewing and cleaning up it was 2:00am. The next morning I didn't even hear the alram clock that was set to wake me up for a 9:00 ride. I wasn't feeling so hot so I decided to spend the day taking care of house work that I had been wanting to get out of the way.

Sunday, MORE put on a trail work day at the Watershed. We hit up the area just north of Delauter Rd. A good portion of the trail was located in a steambed that floods during heavy rains. We did some reconstuctive work on the steambed and rerouted the trail in order to avoid the streambed. A good portion of our efforts were focused on keeping the water in the streambed and building a bridge over the streambed. The bridge probably wasn't necessary but it's kind of a neat feature and everyone really had fun working together to get the bridge built.

Today I did some additional trail work at the Shed with my buddy Dave, addressing and area in need of errosion control. I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike and hitting the trails instead of just working on them. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be putting tires to dirt at the Shed.

Busy couple of weeks

I've really been slacking on keeping the blog up to date but temps have been warming and I have been spending as little time as possible indoors. So let's see what I can do for an update...... Two weekends ago a bunch of us headed down to Virginia to ride the Leesburg Bakers Dozen. This is a 13 hour race held on a private farm and even though the course didn't have a lot of climbing it ended up being brutal on the body due the roughness of the newly cut trail. It was my first endurance race so I really didn't know what to expect. I got way to excited early on in the race and didn't do that good of a job pacing myself. The end result was me coming in 18th of 30 some people. I threw in the towel around the 8 hour mark with 62 miles under my belt. It was a great time and I can't wait to do it again. My buddy Kevin got 5ht place...way to go Kev! You can check out some pics here. http://picasaweb.google.com/kegley/LeesburgBakersDozen

That race was on Saturday, the following Monday I was feeling good so I headed out by myself for a recovery ride at the Frederick Watershed. Even though I felt good before heading out, as soon as I started pedaling, I realized my legs weren't ready to tackle the hilly and rocky terrain at the Shed. That ride ended up only lasting about an hour. I felt like a slug.

I didn't get on a bike again until this past Saturday. Joe, Andy, Dave and myself decided to hit the Shed for a day of riding after a trip to Elizabeth Furnace got canned at the last minute. The idea was to do whatever we felt like and that's exactly what we did. Exploration was the theme for this ride. We found some trail that we had never ridden before so that was a treat. Apparently, the Watershed is also a popular place to pick edible plants such as Mushrooms and young Ferns since we ran into a number of folks doing just that. We ended the ride by having a few brews then continued the after ride festivities back at Joe and Julie's place in town.

Sunday was a long day for me. I ended up sleeping on the couch on Sat night giving up the beds for visiting family/friends. This led to me getting about 2 hours sleep. When I finally got my butt moving, I headed over to the Greenbrier race to hang out with Tom and Danielle and cheer on Kevin who was racing the Marathon class. After a couple hours of hanging out, cheering and taking pictures I had to take off and run to Annapolis for a fancy dinner at the Chart House with family. Of course we had to go back to my in laws house for dessert afterwards, even though we had already had dessert at the restaurant. I was so freaking tired when I got home that I walked straight through the door and directly to the bed. Actually feels good to be back at work for a little R&R. ;)

Spring is still on hold

Hit up Patapsco with Mehdi this evening for a fairly casual ride. All the blooming buds and leaves that were in the process of popping have ground to a halt. The trails were in great condition, not too dry, not too wet. I guess the cool temps are keeping people in because it was another day of sparse encouters with other riders and trail users. We did a lot of chatting about strategies for the Leesburg Bakers Dozen Enduro that's coming up in a couple weeks. At the end of the day we logged 11 miles or so. The new 80mm Fox fork on the IF is working out great. I feel a bit detached from the trail compared to my rigid fork but it definitely takes a load off the arms and shoulders which is exactly what I wanted for the upcoming endurance race season.

Opening Soon Mini-Storage

The other day, I drove by a construction site in New Market and discovered they were putting up one of those self storage facilities. I thought to myself...Wow, that's going to be an attractive addition to the community. Rows and rows of brightly painted, corrugated metal buildings will fit right in on Rt 144 less than 1/4 mile away from Historic New Market.

As I was driving around Frederick and adjoining areas that day, I started paying attention to just how many of these storage places there are. They seem to be everywhere! I guess my question is, what are people storing in these places? I myself used one of these storage places for a couple months when I was in between houses but that scenario can't possibly keep these places in business. I have a feeling these storage cubes are mostly filled with junk that people can't quite bear to part with. I wonder if self storage is such a booming business in other countries or if we as Americans are just too into hoarding junk? A perfect example are my in laws, they are the typical American family. Both worked for most of their lives and still live in the same house where they raised their family. Now they are getting ready to retire and have realized that they have way too much stuff. Are we all destined to spend our entire lives working for and collecting material possessions to only offload all of those possessions when we go to retire? Are we slaves to junk? Do we really need all this stuff?

To-Do-List for Tomorrow

1. Wake up
2. Commence commute to work
3. Think about how to become rich by riding my bike
4. Come to the realization that I'm not going to get rich by riding my bike
5. Think about how poor I am willing to be just so I can ride my bike instead of work
6. Come to the realization that that if I'm poor I won't be able to afford bike stuff
7. Get depressed for 5 minutes
8. Arrive at work
9. Get depressed for 8 hours
10. Ride my bike with friends
11. Drive home with smile on face
12. Drink beer and enjoy my wifes company
13. Eat and enjoy my wifes company
14. Drink more beer and enjoy my wifes company
15. Sleep and/or ENJOY MY WIFES COMPANY ;)

Mother nature is cruel

Woke up to a dusting of snow and 30 degree temps this morning. Cursing the cold, I loaded up my bike and gear to get ready for a ride at Schaeffer Farms with a handful of guys. About six of us ended up hitting the trails around 12:30 or so. Warming up was especially rough since my body had already forgotten the cruel sting of winter. All in all it was a day of attrition. By the time we reached the 2 hour mark, the group had dwindled down to two riders. Kev and I left Schaeffer and headed for the Hoyles Mill Connector to get some extra ride time in. After finishing the connector up, we did another lap at Schaeffer to end up with a nice round 3o mile ride. Despite the cold it ended up being a good day.

A Christmas Story

Regretfully, I learned today that director Bob Clark and his son were killed in a car accident in LA. Bob was involved with some of my favorite 80's classics. A Christmas Story, Turk 182 and Porky's were all the work of Bob Clark. According to the story, it appears they were hit by a drunk driver. Bob's son Ariel was only 22 years old. What a shame.....

The Wraith

A number of years back I posted some screen shots on IMDB of a very young Brooke Burke when I noticed she appeared in the movie "The Wraith" uncredited. Numerous people have asked about the screen shots since they were removed from the old server a couple years ago and my co-worker Jon who is a serious movie buff reminds me to dig them up and repost them at least once every six months. Today, he reminded me again since someone posted on IMDB wanting to see the screen shots. Well, here they are in all their cheesy 80's movie glory. BTW, I think I remember Jon telling me that she is now credited for the movie on IMDB. I've done my part for 80's movie history! ;)

Trouble in the Tour

On my way back from Thurmont I once again decided to swing by Glade Elementary to check in on the racers. I believe Alex was in the group pictured above and about a minute down the road I ran into Steve walking his bike down the shoulder of the road. He ended up flatting on the last lap. I gave him a tube and continued on my way. 10 minutes later my phone ran and it was Alex informing me that his calf cramped up on the last lap and he had to pull out of the lead pack. No racing for me but my casual ride was fun. I came in around 44 miles for the day.

Tour De Walkersville

Due to the fact I was lazy this morning and didn't get out of bed until 10:00 I missed all the group rides. Still wanting to get some miles in I headed out by myself. On the trip from New Market to Thurmont I decided to stop by Glade Elementary since I knew the Tour De Walkersville Race was taking place somewhere around there. I ended up running in Alex and Steve in the parking lot preparing for the race. I snapped the above picture as I left to continue my ride.

Patapsco Trail Damage

While riding at Patapsco State Park yesterday I snapped this picture of a severely damaged section of trail. This area of trail used to much narrower but over the years of people riding it, especially when wet, has widened it to the point a single lane road. The original line used to be way to the right hand side. The original line on the right is dry in this picture whereas the left hand side of the trail is muddy and rutted.

My ride ended up being a flop, about 2 miles in I snapped my chain with no tools to fix it. Surprisingly, there were relatively few people riding this evening. Only 3 riders passed me on the way out and none of them had the necessary tools to make the repair either. I own the necessary tools but they were all left in my road bike saddle bag after I finished up my last road ride. The evening wasn't a total loss, my ride turned into a relaxing hike, I cleared out a stream crossing that was blocked by leaves causing the trail to flood and I managed to get home in time to once again hit-up Redneck Ribs.

Jamis Exile Review Update 1

Follow up to my original Jamis Exile 29er review

It was an all Exile weekend so I had a bit more time to judge the performance of the bike. I think the Hayes Sole brakes are going to be on the way out shortly. Instead of feeling better as they broke in, they started feeling worse. Modulation is just about non existent, the front brake has a choppy pulsation that occurs when they heat up and they just don't cut the cake when it comes hard braking. I'm going to ride them a bit longer and see what happens. The seat post slowly slipped down on me a couple times, I adjusted the quick release as tight as humanly possible and it seemed to hold for the rest of the day. The fork is also very flexy, this is good when it comes to providing a nice ride but if you're not used to it, the back-to-front spring motion of the fork makes it feel like something in the front end is loose when you are riding over rough stuff at high speed. This isn't a problem, just an observation. The high dollar tapered tube rigid fork on my IF feels the same way. The 22 tooth ACS freewheel that I added is also a piece of junk. It makes all sorts of weird noises while pedaling and it's a bit out of round so it makes setting the chain tension harder than it should be. Once I'm sure of my gearing, I'll be getting a White Industries freewheel. More to come as I log additonal miles in the saddle.....

Redneck Ribs

My wife and I finally got around to paying a visit to a new establishment that recently popped up in historic New Market. The name? Redneck Ribs. I initially discovered the place when I noticed a new, attractive sign while driving through New Market. I remember being immediately intrigued, not only because I've been hunting for a good local rib joint but because it seemed a little out of place for historic New Market. In my opinion, this a welcome change. Anything outside the overwhelming number of stuffy antique shops is refreshing. I believe a little diversification could really help the town by drawing in folks that aren't necessarily into antiques. Thousands and thousands of people drive through historic New Market every day with no reason to stop. How often do you need to buy an antique armoire on your way home from work?

Anyway, back to Redneck Ribs. It's located behind the old New Market General Store. Upon first sight it looks...well, a little Redneck. The entrance is located under a vinyl carport canopy and flanked by outdoor walk-in freezers. While these features caused my wife to raise an eyebrow, it gave me hope, hope that the ribs would be tender and delicious. Every good BBQ joint I have ever visited has some of these unrefined elements and to be honest, I think these elements add to the atmosphere.

Upon entry, I was pleasantly surprised and more importantly, so was my wife. The atmosphere was cozy and inviting. We were greeted by Jeff, self proclaimed "Head Redneck". Within moments Jeff's friendly demeanor had us feeling like we visiting family members for Sunday dinner. The place is small but exceptionally clean and well decorated. Personal pictures and Bluegrass/Country album covers adorn the walls.

Onto the food. They have everything you would expect a BBQ joint to have and then some. I won't go too in depth on the menu because you can check it out here for yourself. 6 homemade sauces await the taste buds. Undecided on which sauce to choose? Jeff and crew will gladly give you samples. My wife and I decided on "Doc's Kentucky" sauce. She got the pulled pork sandwich and I got the 1/2 rack. My wife was the first to speak after taking the initial bite. Her words were...."Oh my god, we need to come here once a week." I smiled in response to her comment as I took a bite of my meaty, falling off the bone tender ribs. They were absolutely delicious, in my opinion, perfect. Tender but with that little crispy/charred coating on the outside. (Jeff told me that is called the "Bark") My ribs were covered with a generous helping of BBQ sauce whereas my wife said that she could have used a little more BBQ sauce on her pulled pork. If you don't like a lot of sauce on your ribs, be sure to specify when you order. I am sure the staff will be willing to accommodate your sauce preference. Other items like Crush Yuppies(Redneck Hush Puppies)Stewarts Soda's and Yoo-Hoo round out the menu offerings. If you like BBQ, do yourself a favor and pay Redneck Ribs a visit.

Desperate

Desperate to get some riding in, Kevin, Stephen and myself hit Gambrill in foggy, damp, 45 degree temps. We scaled back the scope of our ride plans once we saw what the weather on the mountain was like. In the end, we ended up riding the yellow trail, with the extension. The trails were in good shape, only one section on the west side of the extension was sloppy. We also spent some time covering up a cut through that was starting form on the yellow extension. Some riders have been cutting straight down the hill, instead of following the switchback. Since it runs straight downhill, it will certainly erode if use continues. Not to mention, it probably cuts out nearly 1/8 mile of trail. Hopefully the diversion tactics we put in place do the job.

Jamis Exile Review

Photo of me hitting the rocks courtesy of John G


Even though I haven't spent much time in the saddle, I am really digging my new ride. As I already mentioned in a previous blog posting, in the $1,000 price range, I think this bike is hard to beat. I looked at other SS 29'er options in this price range but for me they fell short. The runners up were the Haro Mary SS 29'er and the Redline Monocog Flight 29'er. The Haro Mary had mechanical discs and an EBB which I really didn't want to deal with and the Redline Monocog Flight came with mechanical discs and an Isis crank which I also didn't want to deal with. The Exile doesn't have the best cranks (Truvativ FireX) but they do sport Truvative's Giga-X external bearings which I have had good luck with on other bikes. The Hayes Sole brakes aren't very high-end either but they do a great job of stopping the big wheels and have good reliability. Reynolds 631 tubing provides a nice ride and the setup flows well on the trail. The Chromoly fork also gives a great ride and the tubes are tapered providing styling similar to forks made by high end fabricators(IF, Vicious, etc). I immediately swapped out the grips and headset since they weren't going to cut it on the rocks in the area I live. The grips have absolutely no squish which is generally a bad thing for a rigid fork. The stock Aheadset also had way to much slop in it for my preference. It's not a high-end, high-dollar machine but it's built to last and the frame is upgrade worthy. For a touch under $1000 I don't see how anyone could be disappointed. Considering that just this past summer I bought a pricey, custom 26 inch wheeled mountain bike, I'm very concerned with my immediate affection for the Exile 29'er. I guess we will see how it plays out.

Turns out all of these bikes are available from shops in Frederick
The Jamis Exile is available from The Bicycle Escape
The Haro Mary is available from The Bike Doctor and The Bicycle Escape
The Redline Monocog is available from both The Bicycle Escape and The Bicycle Fix

What happened to Boom Boxes?

I can't help but think the world would be a better place if more people carried around boom boxes. I mean cmon, how are you supposed to have a good old-fashioned impromtu, bike break dance thow-down if no one has a boom box handy? If only the D batteries required to power such a device weren't so expensive and harmful to the environment. Now that's a real world use for fuel cell technology.

St. Paddy's Day

The view from inside Bushwaller's in downtown Frederick around 6pm on St. Paddy's Day. As you can see, it was a packed house.

Still more snow....

I decided to bail on today's Watershed ride since I am battling a bug and the snow up on the mountain was a little deeper than I expected. Jeff, Joe and Todd hit the trail without me. I snapped this pic as they headed out in the 6-8 inches of powder. Unfortunately, 5 minutes later they returned because the trail was unrideable. Determined to do some pedalling, they hit the fire roads. Hopefully, this is Old Man Winter's final fling.

Wintry view

The unfortunate view from my deck when I got home. It was freakin 80 degress last week!

SSPBE 2007

The Single Speed Punk Bike Enduro was this past Sunday. It was quite possibly the most fun I have ever had on a bike. I'll put it this way... I bought a SS just so I could attend this event and if I were to never ride it again(this is not the case), it would still be worth the expense. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera so I have nothing to show. I'm betting that I was either smiling ear to ear or grimacing in pain in every picture I made it into. I can't wait until next year. John G snapped some shots, you can check them out on his Flickr page. Big thanks to Joe for setting up this awesome day of riding and providing everyone with great beer.

YOAIS

Yeti Oak Aged Imperial Stout. This is one of the beers I picked up from mega- liquors last Friday. When I see a beer with a name like that, my expectations are high. The YOAIS did not disappoint, one sip and there was no doubt in my mind that this beer was indeed aged in oak barrels. The flavor is malty, roatsy and hoppy(are those even words?) with some sweet undertones. The color is so dark I had to turn on additional lights in my house after I poured it into a pint glass. If you like stouts that are bit more on the hoppy side, get yourself a bottle. If you like the super smooth finishing Stouts...steer clear. This one is going to make it into my regular rotation.

Wintry Departure

I snapped this pic as I was leaving for work this morning. Just as I was starting to dream of warmer temps and the reappearance of greenery Mother Nature issued me a bitch-slap in the way of another snowfall. It's supposed to break into the 60's this weekend so all is good. Soon enough the snow on the mountain will be melted and I will be able to resume a normal, fun riding schedule where I'm not worried on every ride that my tires are going to slip out from underneath me, causing me to bust my ass.

New Ride

Jamis Exile

Bought a new bike over the weekend. A Jamis Exile SS 29'er. Yeah, yeah....I know. I almost hate to say "SS and 29'er" in the same sentence because it sounds so cliche. All that follow the leader, trendy BS aside, it's a great bike. With a nice, upgrade worthy, steel frame/fork and decent componentry. In the $1,000 price category I don't think the Exile can be beat. One thing I don't care for is the 33x16 stock gearing. It seems like most production 29'ers are sporting a 32x20 combo from the factory, so I'm not sure what Jamis was thinking when they decided to slap on a 33x16. Unfortunately, the first ride probably won't be until this weekend. It's OK though....my 22 tooth freewheel shoud be in by then.

Dead Guy

Finally got around to cracking open the 1/2 gallon jug of Rogue Dead Guy Ale I picked up of Friday. Good stuff! I found out from another local that Brewers Alley will refill the jug with their brew so I don't think it's going to end up as a change jar after all.

Montarino

Montarino

Cross posted on the TBE Blog

A few months back a customer brought an old road bike into the shop looking for someone to take it off their hands. Although very old and beat up, Tom took the bike thinking it might make a good project bike for someone. After looking at the ugly beater hanging from the ceiling for months, I decided to pull it down and measure it. It came in around 58cm which wouldn't you know...would work just fine for me. The bike is a Montarino, which sounds Italian but it's not, the sticker on the seat tube proudly proclaims that it was made in West Germany. From the little bit of information I could find regarding the Montarino brand on the Internet and using the components as a gauge, I estimate that this bike was manufactured during the early to mid 70's. I decided to strip the old busted components off of the bike and make it a fixed gear city cruiser. I tried to keep it as original as possible yet still make it safe and comfortable. New wheels and tires were a must since I was unable to locate tires that would fit the original wheels. Besides that, I flipped and chopped the handlebar, gave it a fresh wrap of Cateye cloth tape and added a new seat and chrome toe clips. I've taken it out a few times so far and it's a great ride. It feels good breath life into and ride something you saved from the landfill.

Mega Liquior

Like many people in the Baltimore Washington Metro area I work over an hour away from where I live. One of the good things about driving that far is that you drive past a lot of stuff on your way home. One of the great places along my route is a store called Corridor Fine Wine. It's a mega liquior store located in Laurel Maryland that's size would best be described as the Walmart of Liquor. I like wine, but I go there for the beer. They have the largest make-your own-6-pack section I have ever seen. Anyway, if you're in the Laurel area, check this place out, it won't dissapoint. The picture above is a selection I bought on my lunch break today. Sorry for the fuzzy pic. Selections are Rogue Dead Guy Ale in a 1/2 gallon jug(my new change jar), Great Divide's Oak Aged Imperial Stout and Republic Brewing Big Bear Black Stout. I can't wait...

Sidi Winter Shoes

Testing my new Sidi winter shoes in the Frederick Watershed. You can check out my full review here. http://thebikesite.org/index.php?topic=827.0