I have not thrown up a where is this located pic lately.

Came across hoss last night on the way home from a husker baseball game. The team was up 9 zip so we left and stopped by yia yia's for some pizza. yummy! Hoss your bike is cool i dig the minute 2. Looks like someones got a case of upgradeitis.

HAPPY B-DAY old timer !! My best bud turns eleven this month and i figured you wanted to know about it......hard to believe eleven years has past by so quickly. For those of you that don't know SPUD, well you're missin' out. Spud is a one of a kind masterpiece...i really screwed up taking the nuts from this fella...i coulda been sellin' spud pups for a $1000 each, i feel better by saying the humane society made me do it !!!! . BUT , i'm sure a few could argue against me on this one....ask Mrs Kirk about his puppy years, or ask my mom about the crap in the yard (sory mom, but that's what dog's do). Spud has even had nine lives or round about...Mcneil baited him with a box of rat poison...the blue lips were a dead give away, but a charcoal treatment saved his ass....falling through the frozen pond at Pioneers couldn't take him either, nor could a severe alergic reaction to pollen (and he still owes mic j for keeping him medicated while we were on vacation), countless near misses on farm roads... and who knows what else. He's traveled and warmly accepted numerous road trips( he loved the bike races, but mostly raiding other vehicles for snacks). A couple of new homes, and the birth of our three children.....yep, our ol' boy he's endured the life of a 77 year old man....Happy b-day spuddy, we love ya !! feel free to leave your fondest memory.

So... Anyone want to head to Fruita this weekend? 

Headed up to Horsetooth with the DeMins. A little wet, not muddy, super fun. Mic rockin' the dh.  

Today's road route

Ricky Racer!

Here is an example of the effects of installing a 66 mm travel fork onto a bicycle that is not suspension corrected. You can clearly see in this picture that the increased HT angle has caused the sole of bigmech's shoe to structurally fail! hee hee hee This is a pic from Bigmech's first MTB race. Wolfman also raced his first race on the karocram and still pedals this bike from time to time with an 80 mm fork on the the front ya got her all choppered out. wolfman you should bring her back to her roots and put a rigid fork on the front end. Damn bigmech looks fast in this pic and look at the smile mountain bike racing has put on his face here!

Ladies 

80 mm travel forks?

Good morning blogladites!

Thought I would throw this out for opinion. Last fall i attempted to run a 100 mm travel fork on my bianchi. It seemed like i was constantly fighting steering and comfort issues that the fork introduced to the 80 mm frame design. I was a little bummed because the minute 2 was super plush. However the main trouble i was having was when i would get the fork up to what i consider higher speeds the change in the HT angle seemed to make the bike steer wide or slow basically off the trail at wilderness. When thats your main riding spot somethings gotta be fixed! So i've been running a rigid fork for about six months and it works purdy good in the park but its like a friggin jack hammer at platte! I gonna change it out just thought i would see what opinions were out there! mw i would definately like your input on white brothers!

That fine line between Mick and Mike caught on film. 

I spy with my little eye. 

Goo-ood weekend of riding.

Saw the ladies off yesterday morning, talked to the bdid for a few minutes, and packed up for a ride. I was planning on going pretty big, even broke out the hr monitor, left from boulder and started climbing. Felt pretty good, even thought the crushed limestone trail was soft and I had a headwind, I really felt like i was turnign the pedals pretty well. Anyway, I was heading up 4 mile canyon, and there's this benched in shelf trail that runs for maybe a mile or so above the road, on the southfacing side of the canyon. Things were lookging dry, so I decided to check it out.

As soon as I rode on the dirt for 30 seconds, I was hooked. Conditions went from perfect to snowy and back again a bunch of times. So, I wanted to spend some time there, and what better way to do that than explore a little. I know a little about the area, from other rides, but since it was mined pretty heavily 100 years ago, there are a lot of mine tracks that I'd never poked around on. I found a good one, took some pictures, but I'm not able to upload any pictures right now... so head to the link over at MTBR.

Got out on a social ride with Pablo and Matt Wester (he's the guy who went otb on Crosier last year). Green Mountain and Dinosaur ridge in Golden. Fun stuff, rode a new trail there too.

Finished off the weekend with a 1+ pound t-bone off the grill. Tasted like butter, damn it was good I could have eaten 8 or 9 pounds of it...

That's purty much it. My wife is home tomorrow so it's back to chores and lovin' and such.

today at the shop

Well, I finally sold the Tracer. Made a customer out of the deal, too, so that was pretty cool. I sold the frame and fork used and built up a brand new bike around it for him. He was super stoked. There was a tear in my eye as it left. Kind of makes me sad with the Tracer sleeping at someone else's house now, but I'll get over it.

Anyway, had a pretty cool new customer today. Travis Brown and Walker Ferguson dropped in today. They both gave the thumbs up to Redstone - thought it was a pretty cool shop.

Travis (you know, Matt's friend Travis) says he's only racing about 1/2 a season this year. Knowing that he likes to ride technical stuff, I asked him if he had done much exploring around Lyons before and he said he hadn't. He gave me his email address to hook up on some group rides, though. He was stoked to hear about all the cool technical riding around these parts. Don't worry about the fest, though. He's aiming to win Iron Horse. Keep your fingers crossed.

So, he was riding a very peculiar bike, too. He was on a Fuel EX prototype - a one off, custome built for him. It had a 29" front and a 26" rear tire. 3.5" 29er Reba on the front and 4.3" travel in the rear. He said it was a super sweet ride and he's trying to convince Trek to make one for production. I asked him if the bike was photographable. "Ummm. Probably not. Not too many people know about this one." Sorry...

We had these three bad boys in at work today for refueling. When they started up we could hear them deep inside the building. I decided to go check out the noise and brought the digi cam along. They sure were moving a bunch of air just sitting there! I've never seen a helicopter with in flight refueling capabilities.

Here's a cool Headbadge!

Commute Home

Today started off purdy good! Woke up without an alarm at the perfect time this morning. Me waking up without the the alarm turned to 10 and on some really annoying station and still hitting snooze like 6 times is purdy much unheard of for the B. Early enough to make my lunch and gather my stuff and comute to work without being in a hurry. Got to work and changed into my bunk polyester uniforms that we have to wear at work. Reached down into my left front pocket and its kinda crunchy? WOWWEEE the cleaning dude missed a 5 spot I left there!(That's a fin to the wolfman) I had a big smile all morning and almost instantly devised a plan for my five bucks. Afternoon mid commute Cup of coffee at the coffee house :)

Monday I got the ENO laced up to a Used Mavic X517 that I had sitting around. Kinda did it because I just happened to have spokes to match the hub/rim combo and uhhhhh not to steal a quote but "The money tree that I had planted has died!" Got her laced up and set the wheel in the truing stand to tension up after I got a freewheel. Walked by it about ten times and each time I would give it a spin and it would keep on spinnig even after I would leave the room. Purdy hub shiny spokes and nips then a dirty ass rim. It was killing me I just can't do it!

Sorry for the sidetrack but the details + the found five dollar plan kinda came together. Got a cup of Voodoo and was unlocking my bike and thought while i was down in the neighborhood. I should stop and pick up a 18 speed freewheel just in case i tensioned the ENO up and wanted to ride it. Stopped in the shop and nate was kinda busy. So i jumped on the DT spoke calculator and punched in all of the measurements of my rim/hub combo and then plugged in a couple of rims that were in stock down there. BINGO the mavic 519 will work with the same stuff i'll take it. Then got to talkin about how my road bars wern't very comfy nate suggested a bar he had their to try out. OK i'm game i'll give her a try! So i'm headed home probably a little later than melissa would have liked but i'm headed home. Problem is i have a 44 cm road bar sticking out of my pack and MTB rim around my shoulder its cool its only five miles home i can make it no problem! Around the corner I go and Clank Clank (pause peddling)Clank Clank hmmmmmmm rims gonna be a pain to ride home with. Get down the path and hit the bike path which is the longest straigh i've got with a head wind and whooooooooooooooo starts up. (the wind cutting across the open bar) + the Clank Clank = whooooooooooooooooo clank clank clank clank all the way home. I was making one hell of a racket! The whistling noise sure was something it was almost a howl.

Morale of the story:

It's not such a great Idea to commute home with large bike parts!!

Make Magazine

Make Magazine looks pretty interesting. Yak shaving and steadicams in issue one.

a picture shared to me from a kiwi friend...a river boat takes them upstream 15 miles and then they take the river grade trail back into town...how's that for a shuttle ride !!!  

Fruita!

This trip is coming up quick! I've talked to a few peps that are going and told them that i won't be able to make the trip:( I sure don't what to miss it! Well anyway take a bunch of pics and bring um back with even more stories. Everybody be safe and look out each other! Communication will be the key for a large group. I remember last year redstone and debaser had the hand held radios. That was a darn good idea guys! Here's a pic of the Book Cliffs to get even more excited for the trip!

Pimp Juice?

What the hell is this crap? Must have driven to close to Omahole! This energy drink was really for sale in Southbend i couldn't believe it. Well I had to get a can just show Melissa because would you beleive someone if the just told you? I've got a feeling I'm gonna have to mix something with it. Rollin' through the hood sippin' on gin and pimpjuice? Nelly's might have a new hit song!

JRA @ Platte!

JRA @ Platte! We took a chance that Platte would be dried out. Well it was dryer than a week ago. We were slide slide slippidy sliding on 001. Got out of there the trail was starting to thaw. To Ruthies point and the single track to the upper prarie were good and good. Then we got the sleeper of the day tha roller coaster! Damn that trail was dope and I thought it would be unrideable for sure. YUN2 not so good looked dry on the climb up but looking down the trail from the trailhead we decided to come back another day! Gully was good. Old side of the park was good. Rode for a couple of hours now I'm shelled!

Flat #2

What the hell are these damn trees called? This is the wolfman and bigmech waiting for magic to change flat #2. I pick up a three inch thorn and was changing flat #4. of the ride shortly after this pic. Flat #3 was helping out somebody so they didn't have to walk to LBC. It was colder than crap on Saturday. The park was sooooper fast though!

Magic in action between flats.

Flat #1

15 Minutes of straight smack talking! Gotta love and hate when magic gets a flat!

Brooks Eye View!

Here's the Brooks eye view of you know where!

Dos ENO!

Here it is the Dos Eno 17t and 19t! I spent the $50 dollar gift certificate on an ENO hub and I had this bad boy tempting me also. One problem this free wheel costs as much as the hub! I think I'll be crusing on ACS stuff for a bit longer!

I heart S

Anyone else have any other ride pictures/stories?

Link to my story here!

Mt. St. Helens.

"The ash remained in the air over Montana and was visible for more than 50 miles (80 kilometers), prompting some motorists to stop their cars and watch. Falling ash was reported in towns up to 90 miles north and east of Mount St. Helens." - CNN

Watch out Chad, you're getting ashed on.

I've always been fascinated by St. Helens since we were kids and it blew it's top. Man, I was stoked when last summer I got the invite from Adam Palmer and Scaz to do the hike. They were there a week before it woke up last summer, and had to turn around before the summit due to wet and snowy conditions. Adam forwarded an email tentatively confirming his twelve climbing passes for 05 from the gov't, and it also said that in all likelihood noone would be climbing the volcano this year.

Dan sent me a couple of pics of his Moto with custom rack. You could say he has a way with the metal. Like he takes a chunk of it and turns it into whatever he wants! Good way to get both bikes out in one day! He says he gets some strange looks on his way up to platte river. I would definately do a double take. I'll be looking for this beamer in the turkey cabin parking lot soon.

Closeup

north mississippi allstars

These guys were worth every penny. I have been trying to catch their show for two years. I will travel to go catch them again. The bass player was pretty talkative and i think what he said was funny? About all I could make out was that he was happy to be in nebraska and he liked whiskey. He was speaking with a southern accent at speeds even magic wouldn't have been able to decode! He also requested his sound guy to bring him three shots of Jack Daniels. I was throughly entertained i hated to get up from my seat even to go to the can. JRA and i went down to around the bass player after the show to see if we could understand him up close. Nope! he was hugging chicks like crazy we didn't get any closer than the dude would have been able to fall. If your gonna give them a listen i like their shake hands with shorty album but I have three albums if you want some come get some!

Here is a closesup of the drummer playing an electric washboard(!?) during the encore!

Leadville: Streets covered with snow jumps, horses dragging skiers down main street at mach 11. Pretty entertaining diversion for a few minutes Saturday. 

Salida 

Platte River not quite ready!

Nope! the trail wasn't ready today! We had a decent sized group and we were excited to get out to Platte river and ride our bikes! As we climbed up to 001 there is a spot where you get a good look at the trail YUN2 It looked greasy in the spots that didn't have standing water. We climbed up to the 001 trailhead and it looked greasy also. What a bummer! We all wanted to ride and we were there but ya just can't and even if you are thinking about it shouldn't ride the trails up there until they are ready. Like if you are leaving a rut then the trails arn't ready! We rode up and down the main horse trail climb and the outside far right climb they were getting quite a bit of sun and were dry. We headed back to the car packed up and headed home. It was a strange trip to platte river the national guard had a camp set up between the green bridge and the water pump at owens crossing? Never seen that before. 8-10 six man tents porta potties sinks water truck and big ass cargo truck. It was real strange. I came riding down from the parking lot and I'm like what the F............ Oh no W's taking over Platte river State park! Said hello to a group of 5 soldiers and ask them what the had going on and one soldier replied Land Navigation exercise. When we rode up to the top the back field you could see numbered flags at different locations. Strange that place is always interesting. Got a pic of Mrs. Magic here while we were riding back to the parking lot. Rumor has it shes gonna try some racin' this year! Good luck i think you'll do well.

Blacksmiths?

BLACKSMITHS
Blacksmiths (Self-released)

It almost sounds like some kind of twisted dare: What would Black Sabbath sound like with Morrissey rocking the mic instead of that batty Ozzy Osbourne? Curious? So were a crew of Denver musicians, who — operating pseudonymously as the Blacksmiths — have gone ahead and answered that burning question, setting the Smiths' fey, girl-afraid lyrics to Sabbath's sludgy proto-metal.

Like most mash-ups, the 11 cuts on the Blacksmiths' lo-fi debut are a mixed bag and, for the most part, pure novelty. But some of the pairings work brilliantly, such as Ozzisey's sinister snarl of "Do you really think she'll pull through?" on a hybrid of "Planet Caravan" and "Girlfriend in a Coma." Similarly, the self-loathing of "How Soon is Now?" becomes a kick to the gut when howled over the swirling guitar psychedelia of "Sweet Leaf."

The Blacksmiths' CD is available for free via the band's Web site, www.blacksmiths.ws. The group performs a free CD-release show with Most Extreme Idols and Frontside Five at 9 tonight at Denver's Cherry Pit, 60 S. Broadway. Call (303) 777-4200 for details.

effed up box

 

Out 

Croll 

introducing the newest 5 inch travel trail bike to my family.... relic ? nope...more like money pit. And guess what ???? I took it in on a trade-in : ) so far so good though and it runs pretty damb good. I've been using it to scout out new trails stemming from forest service roads...the real fun begins once you actually do find a trail and this bikes gearing (check out that monster rear cog), and low pressure tires (6psi) work wonderful, and the bike is in it's element. later...chad 

Good Day for a Ride!

Went out with hightop and bigmech today for a road bike ride. We all took the day off after the show last night. I'm glad I did it was perfect weather! We headed south on 77 and turned east on Firth road took that all the way to HWY 43 which was to my surprise not very busy at 2:30 in the afternoon on a Wenesday. We were on 43 into adams got a snack and headed west on hwy 41 then North S34B spur to East 1st Street which we followed East through Courtland and back to hwy 77 and back to hightops place. Thats for everyone that is following along in the nebraska gazetteer!

We stopped in Adams to refuel and hightop mentioned that it was easier to ask the people at the trails end cafe if you can use the restroom and get water the pop in next door to the grocery store for a snack. Sounded like a plan to me. I got my business in order and was walking out eyeing a pot of what looked to be freshly brewed coffee and an idea in my head about asking what kind of pie they had when i looked up to ask and notice the person in front of me was wearing a honker hanger t shirt! I looked to her face and was like TRISH what the heck are you doing good to see you! Yup Chaybo's little sis flying the honker hanger colors all the way down in Adams. It was good to see her and I think the other guys were a little jealous that I got a hug :) Nebraska sure seems small sometimes!

The ride ended up being like 4.5 hours 70 miles thats comes out to 14.9 smiles per mile. It was good to have bigmech out there on the ride hope to see more of you soon buddy!

Modest Mouse

Made the trip up to sokol last night for Modest Mouse. It was well worth the trip! This has to be the only band I have ever seen that had two drummer's. The played what seemed like the same thing sometimes and then they played different parts other times. Some cool thing that looked like a skinny bass? I was impressed with the effort and talent of the band and the energy the lead singer had. Two thumbs up!

Anyone wanna go to the North Mississippi Allstars @ the Rococo on Saturday with me?

We had a purdy fun group Hightop, bigmech, punky, mel and i sat up in the the balcony. Saw a bunch more peps from Lincoln You know who you are! Man I can't beleive how cheap it is to drink beer in that joint I ordered a round consisting of a bud light, rolling rock, gin and tonic and two highlifes for $14 bucks! That just seemed dirt cheap.

We like Crolls!

Here she is WOW! I likey likey! If you didn't see it before it was silver with a blue fade on the front fork and on the rear triangle. Maybe I can get a before pic? Hightop bust her out this weekend for a Century!

Panels Rock!

Close up of the Panels on the Croll built up. Good Job on the paint Tony of Walton and LBC for the build!