Weight-Weenie Bike Lust

I love my Mavic Crossmax wheels. They are lightweight and completely bomb proof. These things have hit some seriously nasty stuff and kept rolling like a stolen truck. My Shimano XTR crank isn't shabby either. However, I’m a weight-weenie and am prone to love anything that sheds grams.

I recently stumbled upon two items that have my gram shedding heart all a flutter - the Stan’s ZTR Race wheels hovering somewhere near 1300 grams and the Race Face Next carbon crank at a slender 730 grams.



All I need to do now is win the lottery.

Six Weeks to Clear Creek Challenge

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The Clear Creek Challenge is 6 weeks away and it’s time to start getting serious with my training. I have a good history on this course and I want to keep the streak going. Clear Creek is an important race for me because it’s my home trail. In fact, I put this race right up there with Chickasaw Trace and Bump ‘n Grind on my value chart. This is race #7 in the SCRCS and #4 in the state series, so the big guns from Memphis should be coming down for the event as well as the usual group from Mobile and south Louisiana. I’ve given some thought to trying the cat-1 group for this race. I’ll more than likely do it if there isn’t any good competition registered for my USAC category.

My next race is this coming weekend in Memphis at the Legend of Stank Creek. I really don’t have any expectations for this race since the trail is flat & twisty, which doesn’t favor me at all, so I’m treating it as a tune up race more than anything else.

The Forgetful Mind.

I hate it when I forget things. I seem to be forgetting things more often these days. I'm not sure if I'm getting senile or if I've clipped one too many saplings while out blazing down trails. It just bugs me to no end.


Case in point: I purchased this can of mushrooms with a specific purpose in mind. I know I wanted to mix them with something but that something escapes me. As you can see, it's a cheap can of Kroger mushroom buttons, so whatever I had in mind for them was nothing fancy. Maybe it will come to me later, but for the moment, I have a can of mushrooms without a purpose.
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August 10, Edit: Spaghetti! I got the mushrooms for spaghetti!

~ Fight Like Susan ~

Elden Nelson, the Fat Cyclist, lost his wife, Susan, last night after a long bout with cancer. Affectionately known as “Fatty” to his many readers, Edlen has entertained cyclist across the country with his humorous insights and inspired with his tireless fight against cancer.

My heart goes out to Elden and his family during this very difficult time.

With deepest sympathy,
Richard

Enjoying the Fruits of My Labor

The weather has been dismal the past several days, and I have neglected my bikes in favor of doing trail work at the Whirlpool Trails here in town. However, with the break in the rainy weather today, I decided to get out and enjoy the fruits of my labor and thread a little single-track.

I could have published more photos of the trails but my camera went on the blink, probably from condensation since it was in my jersey pocket and I was sweating like a pig. It appears the dog days of August have arrived. I had to stop every mile or so to wipe the sweat out of my eyes. It was simply awful! I perspired so much while riding that I lost close to three pounds in a two-hour ride.


This used to be a very nasty dip on the Weldy Trail at the bottom of a down hill run. It totally screwed up the trail flow, so I filled it with large sticks and packed everything down with a layer of dirt and sand. I also used some large rocks I found to give it a little "edge".

This downed tree on the Stunt Trail used to bring everyone to a dead stop. I piled up logs and sticks to create a “log pile” and packed it with dirt. I promise it’s stable and fun to ride.

Too far to the left and you clip the sapling. Too far to the right and you hit the root with your tires.

There used to be a vertical drop close to eight inches between the stump and the tree that was almost imposable to get over. The worse part was a root that protruded upward and would usually clip my pedal. I solved this by cutting the root back and constructing a “ramp” from sticks and dirt. Now this section is much smoother.

This section is just crazy fast. You zip one way and zag another.

The funny thing about this sapling is I debated if I should cut it out or leave it alone. I decided to leave it alone. Well, today I clipped it with my handlebar and took a dirt dive. The sapling is bent over because I bent it that way after my collision. I'd have cut it down on the spot if I had my machete.

First Impressions: Avid Elixir-CR Brakes

After experiencing persistent problems with sticky pistons and the levers not returning properly on my Magura Marta SL brakes, I decided to give the new Avid Elixir-CR brakes a shot. These brakes came highly recommended by Steve at the local shop.

The first thing I noticed about the Elixir brakes is the smooth lever action, especially when compared to my old Magura brakes. There is an even and consistent feel through out the lever travel, which was lacking in the Magura stoppers. Another noticeable difference is the tool-free adjustment feature of the Elixir brakes. Reach adjustment is controlled by a black dial at the base of the lever and pad contact is controlled via a red barrel adjuster where the line runs into the lever. A key selling point here is the independent nature of each adjustment feature. Adjusting lever reach, for example, will not affect how the pads feel in contacting the rotor, so you can literally tailor the feel of your brakes to the trail conditions. Speaking of brake pads, the most noticeable difference between the Elixir-CR brakes and my old brakes is the absence of brake squeal. The Elixir-CR pads and 185 rotors are simply dead silent. There was none of the usual metallic grinding sound or the high-pitched squeal so common in mountain bike brakes.

What's in a Doodle?

The dictionary defines a doodle as any type of sketch or unfocused drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. These simple drawings can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes.

If this is true, then doodles are essentially expressions of the subconscious mind and open to psychological interpretation. Such notables in the field of psychology as Freud and Jung held that doodling is an act where the individual is conscious, but the meaning of the drawing is unconscious. Alfred Adler believed doodling fulfilled our need for symmetry and order.

With this, I offer a page of my own doodles for interpretation and analysis.

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