Adrenalin Junkie

A few posts ago I mentioned I planned on riding through the winter as much as possible. Well I have been doing pretty good. I do have to admit that I have chosen to take a couple rides from friends here and there for various reasons. Usually not because I don’t want to ride (I do want to ride. I swear!).  I won’t give excuses. That is silly. I have reached low temperatures ( 10 degrees actually temp, feels like 3 deg) I have ridden in snow and sleet. Ridden on unplowed roads that would be walked easier. I have yet to feel the need for my DH goggles. But that is the only piece of equipment that I haven’t felt the need to use. I hope I won’t but if needed I am ready with my tare-offs.  That brown Sh*t that flings up from your tire and smack your eye….burns. This only happens in the really slushy stuff.

Soon it will be 2009. I have dubbed ” The Year of Exploration and Change”. Well this may not be a good title for your ’09 but it will be for me. I have done things the same way for the last 10years. My relationships the same, my riding…the same, my work…the same, my life has been the same. The same cycle of moving forward to only step back. The same cycle that has also gotten me where I am today. A place I a pretty damn proud of. I have accomplished all that I set out to do 5 years ago. But I am not as happy as I could be. I am not as accomplished as I would like to be. If I was I would be devastated…with nothing to live for. That would be depressing.

My riding through the winter is a precursor to what I want. I want to be stronger, faster, and more willing to push myself past my limits. Want to feel the pain of freezing skin and numb limbs. I want to feel the grip of winter in  my lungs and the love of freedom in my heart. The steel box with 4 wheels has limited me. Not for exploring the world but exploring my mind. We are slaves to the auto industry.  Even more our minds are slaves to the mindless stop, go, shift, park, honk, yell, curse life that is the current state of humankind. We rely on these machines so much that we never think of what out mind might do if we actually exercise…in the outdoors. If we actually stimulate ourselves past the rear-view mirror.

I sit here at the computer. Every few minutes looking out to the street were there are little pawns. Lined up waiting at the lights. Some people come into the shop saying that they have been there for more than 30minutes. Normally traveling form the highway to the next set of lights can only take 2 minutes…literally. I really can’t wait until I get out there and ride past all of them. Yeah they are in their warm cars listening to music. Oh wait…I am warm( I love technical fabrics) and I am listening to my Ipod. I guess I am better than them huh? HAHAHAHA I have beaten you!

Cheers to you all! I hope you all have great Holidays. Get out and enjoy the outdoors.

Cars are Coffins!

Last night (Sunday) I rode Bessie home. She ,as usual, never ceases to amaze. I had two lights. One charged completely gives me about 2hrs burn time. That light was on my controls. The other which probably had about 1 hour left on it was my auxiliary light (helmet style). I burnt through my bar light which put me 2/3 to my destination (which was the pavement) so the auxiliary light did the job getting me to the asphalt. It died about 2 minutes into the road portion of my ride. Just right!

While on my way home last night I noticed that some spots needed a bit of trail maintenance. Normally I leave trails as they are, but it was pretty damn hard to follow the trails in the dark with a ton of leaves on them.  So this morning I strapped my collapsible rake (Thank you K for the coolest addition to my trail tools so far) and my sick tree saw to my Decline bag and headed to the trails.  I was out last night for about 3hrs. I was on the bike this morning from 8-11:15am. So that is about 3hrs as well. This included about an hour of raking and some other trail maintenance. Tonight should be another 2hr experience…I think I will have less beer in me though. I was a bit typsie last night to be riding alone in the woods.  Don’t try this at home kids. For experienced, stupid MTBers only.

Tonight will be a bit wetter than last…it is sprinkling out enough to add a bit of mystery to how and when my tires will be hooking up. I like that. Makes me pay more attention. Pushes my limits a bit more when the tires start to slide into corners and off roots and rocks. But those trails that I worked on should make it a bit more….fast. As much as I like having leaves under me, allowing my wheels to slide and drift around corners. Seeing the trail at night and not getting lost has it benefits as well.

I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have the variety of commuting styles that I have. If I couldn’t get on the knobby tires and ride some dirt I might go insane. I have always been a dirt fiend, so being trapped on the asphalt would really make my commute feel…like work. With mixing it up day to day keeps my commuting juices flowing. It also keeps a smile on my face. It is awesome riding up to the store and being covered in mud because of my commute. Not many people can say that. I think if more people could say that more people would have smiles on there faces when they arrive at their place of work.

I saw a fellow commuter today. He was riding the portion of solid stuff in between my off-road loop to work. He was on a Surly Crosscheck. Looked pretty good. He seemed to be pretty hardcore with the racks, panniers and the clothing he was wearing. He had a big smile on his face and waved. It was a balmy 4o something degrees with the sun shinning. We were both in a good place. I wonder if he had any internal thoughts when he saw me on my 37lb freeride bike, out of my saddle and pedaling my ass off. I think I am crazy. Sometimes I wonder what people think. I probably wouldn’t even fit in amongst other freeriders because of all my commuting gear. HaHa…gotta laugh at that. I love it way to much to stop.

This pic is of me riding my old XC bike at a local spot. No new pics that really relate to this post. But I think it is a good pic either way.

This past week I haven’t done as much riding as usual. I have cheated on my bikes and took a couple rides (from friends that drive) during the nasty weather. I know…I’m a wuss. I plan to make up for it though. I have decided to not stop pedaling, on my commutes home, until I can’t pedal anymore. Longer MTB loops and more mileage on the skinny tires.

My dream machine is back with some new bits on her. Bessie now has some new hardware and a shock that has been tuned (Push style) to how I want it to perform.  With the new Ti spring it has lost a few grams and will feel better, longer.  She is like a new bike. She pedals well no matter where the shock is in it’s stroke. Feels plusher and more sensitive.

My 1×1 will be turned into a fixie this week. Gonna have to do some changes in fit and style of components. Not sure of how far I am going to take it. Unfortunately $$ is a bit scarce so I won’t be going all out like I do with most of my bikes.

Myself and two other friends went to “The Summit” on Saturday. The roads were closed going to the location, because of the deep freeze that we had during last weeks NE style weather. So we just hiked our supplies in and worked on some trails. We eneded up moving a lot of branches and demolished trees off the trails. We also started a new trail that will eventually have a good size wall ride and a massive drop off of the same rock. This trail will proabbly be our favorite. It will have so much flow, a few kickers, a few table tops, and a few other obstacles that are yet to be planned. It may also be one of the longest trails we have made. It will connect our “Lumber Yard” to some of the original trails they were there when we started.

The photo above is from a friends hangout. He has all sorts of sweet artwork and will his hangout will hopefully be the home of some sweet original bike artwork by yours truly.  He has some sweet modification tools.

Well I am off to suit up for the MTB commute home.  With the amount of lights I have and the energy I have, I won’t be home until midnight.  Enjoy the next couple days.

Prost!

Beardcicle: \ ‘bird,si-kel\ (noun). a pendent mass of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water or sweat from ones face/beard. often found on hardened commuters of the cycling kind that use beards as a form of face protection.  This does not include boogers, bugs, or beverages.

I wish I had a camera to take a pic of them this morning. It was great, my beard was thick of them. My beard is not that thick….yet. I gotta tell ya though, without that beard my face would have been a bit more crispy when I arrived at work today. The ride started with chubby flakes of snow. About half way through it turned into these icy daggers that were forced into my eyes and face by the 20mph wind. I really expected to have a bloody face when i stopped riding . It sounds sick but I enjoyed every mile.

Also while riding in today I was into my pedaling and syncing every pedal stroke with the music I was listening to. Really in a trance. Every song that came on made me really think of my cadence. It certainly wasn’t my fastest time, but I think it made me look at the road more to make sure that each beat was on time. I even found my self wiping around obstacles to the guitar riffs of Pantera’s “Cemetery Gates”. Man on man can Dimebag Darrell shred.

I left for work early this morning. In hopes to get to my destination early so that I could take my shower, and get pumped up with some coffee. All while listening to some good tunes. I suggest the band Department of Eagles. Chill music with lots of feeling.  The green river was flowing as well. Yippie!

Went trail building with the crew yesterday. We got closer to finishing our bridge.  It is now approx’ 100ft long. Most of it is done we just have to put some supports the rest of it and it will be rideable. Some more work on the trail will finish it and hopefully by then we will have pics of, not only the trail, but of me huckin’ the knar off of the big drop (big for us).  i 16+ feet big to you? Looks smooth and it looks easy…but…well you know…E-brakes have been a worry. The pics I have kind of suck so I will post some in the future.  Stay tuned.

The Last 5 have been stellar. I have packed so much bike related fun into my life during the past few days that I am ready for a night off.

Starting with Turkey Day. I started the day with a phenominal ride at Burlington Res. with a great group of mixed nuts. It was cold but crisp. We all were there for the same reason, to gain hunger for our Thanksgiving meals, and we sure did succeed. We rode about 18mi. of single track and took some time to smell the flowers while doing it.

After the ride I got home and had a quick snack before jumping on my singlespeed (Totem) to ride the 4ish miles to my parents for a grand meal of the Turkey variety. It was awesome. Good time with the family. My niece was especially awesome that day. Her first Turkey Day. After I rode back to my apartment I participated in a some extra activities and rode Totem over to my friends house were I proceeded to get black out drunk. Not a normal thing to happen to me. I don’t remember most of the night and apparently went on a very drunken ride…again about 4ish miles (my apartment is only a 1/2 mile from the party). Woke up the next morning and found a bit of a mess in my apartment. Let’s just say I defenitely drank too much.

The next morning I felt pretty damn spry (because of the mess) and rode to work. Felt good too. Totem was on the ball even though I got a flat. I wussed out and got a ride home from one of my pals so that we could go drinking with my favorite person in the world. We did a bit of new beer tasting and critiqued the flavors and smells. Good times! All three of us agreed to go to The Summit on Saturday and do some trail building. Yay outdoors!

Saturday was one of my most productive days Trail building. We had 7 people and we got sooo much done. New berm and the extension the K and I had dreamed about, that involved 100+ feet of wooden bridge and a double with the berm. Sickness! We also got to ride on the slick trails (rained the day before). Made it a bit interesting. By the way that pick…I swear I am not using the woods as my bathroom…just bending over for something.

While drinking beers I spotted a deer tick on D’s neck and then at my apartment spotted two ticks on me then another the next morning. So watch out they are still thriving in the cold.

Sunday was a series of events that weren’t huge but defenitley played a roll in how happy I am now. I was in a bad spot on Sunday. Rode in (7ish miles) to the shop in the rainy sleet on Totem and worked the Service Dept. on my own. Not super busy, but busy enough to keep me going. Rode home in some less the stellar conditions. Thought I was gonna be swallowed by a few puddles and killed by a few cars. Where are the police when you need them? Got picked up by my friend F and went to J’s to eat some vegan (Keep in mind I’m not vegan at all) food. Actually very delicious. Stew that had all sorts of good stuff….rice, leaks, colliebuds (flower),  and chick(sp) peas. It was so harty…I always thought vegan would leave me hungry, but it certainly didn’t. Got to drink some beers have some delicious food and desert with two of my favorite people. Topped it off with a great convo with “her” and I had the permy smile on my face the rest of the night. Maybe shouldn’t of had the Irish Coffee. But it may have been a good idea too.

Today… 🙂 woke up early and rode into Bean Town. After seeing her off to work I went for an Urban Velo through the streets of boston. I Love people watching when on a bike. Then headed to work. Losts of miles and every type of weather that you would expect from Boston.  The Sun came out it has been warm ever since.  I am about to suit up to ride home. Drinkin’ a Double Bastard (Curtousy of Stone Brewing) 10.5% alc. amazing beer. You should try it.

Cheers to you all that read this. Ride fast and take chances! See you out on the road/trails. Can’t miss Heroes!

R