Cross Check for Sale

Well, I've officially made the decision to sell my Cross Check. For info on it, hit the Craigslist ad.

Yes, it's my favorite bike. Yes, I'll be sad to see it go. But I'm selling it for a good reason. The money is for something important to me... more important than having a nice bike, for sure. If interested, just contact me through the ad.

Get out there.

More Time on the MTB

Yesterday, a few buddies and I took a half day off of work to head into the woods for some time on the mountain bike trails. Capitol View Park is a great destination, within a thirty minute drive, that has plenty to offer in a few hours of riding.

It didn't take us long to realize that the day was going to be perfect. It had rained the day before, but the ground was so dry everything just ran off. It was muddy enough to get interesting at times, but nothing that slowed us down at all.

Here we are crossing over a massive downed tree. This was the only place that we had to dismount to cross. Other obstacles were at least attemptable on two wheels (I say "attemptable" obviously because we attempted them, but not always cleared them:)). You can see Jeff in the background carrying his bike over it. This picture was taken shortly after I went down. We'd only been riding for about five minutes before I wiped out. After laughing about it, we realized I do this every single time I mountain bike... I bite it about five to ten minutes in. I think it's because it takes me a while to get acclimated to the bike. It takes one good wipe out to realize my limits... then I'm all good.

Here's Jeff and TD. Jeff flatted out and was riding a squishy tire for nearly the second half of the day. We patched it, but must have missed something. TD was rocking a lender bike since his is in storage in Chicago. Though he had not a bike, he was our boy scout of the trip... very prepared. He was the only one with tools and pump, which we found we needed.

That's me standing with Jason right before we left. We looked clean from the front, but there was mud to be seen on the back side of us all.

I didn't really get any good action shots. We pushed it fairly hard all day with very little time to stop. It's more fun that way. Having a blog tempts you to stop a lot and gather material. I didn't want to stop. Getting a day off of work to ride is too valuable to spend fiddling with a camera.

All in all, we had a blast and got in a great workout. I was more than tired last night when my head hit the pillow. I told Angie that mountain biking makes me feel old. I remember a day when my bones didn't rattle on the trail. It looks like that day has passed.

Get out there.

Bike Fixins'

In the last week, we've sent out another 25 bikes into the community to be ridden for transportation and recreation. I'm not a part of the team that actually gives the bikes away, but they say it's the most fun thing they do. They distribute beds, clothes and food, as well. But they say the bikes bring more joy and make the party more fun than anything else.

I love getting to do it!

Get out there.

Windy Morning

This morning I was tempted to listen to that wind advisory and say that the "wise choice" would be to park the bike and drive in. Fortunately for me, I don't listen to wisdom like I should. I hopped on the bike and it was an awesome morning... with 25-35mph with 45mph gusts... and they were at my back. I could have coasted the entire way to work if I had liked. It was awesome.

There was also a beautiful sunrise this morning. It's such a great time of year to bike commute. I spent 45 minutes with purple skies above me and a cool breeze at my back. What a great way to start your day.

Get out there.

Perspective

There's lots of things that you miss when you're driving your car 55mph down the road. That's one of the reasons I love riding my bike. I have an understanding of the landscape that those car commuters can't appreciate. Take those painted arrows and lines on the road, for instance. They're perspective is quite skewed when you're buzzing by. But at 16mph, you see how distorted they are.

There's lots of fun things like that you pick up along a bike commute. Personally, seeing the world at a slower pace has really benefited the way I think. It seems to take you back to a time when your day wasn't filled with meeting to meeting, text message to email, rush here to there mentality. It causes an adjustment to who you are, not just how you get to work.

Give it a try. Ride to work. Heck, even walk to work. I had a buddy do it recently. It's a great way to gain perspective.

Get out there.

Tis the Season

This is the time of year that everyone starts looking at the morning temperature and asking, "Did you ride in today?!" I continue to steal Doug's line when they ask me. "There is no bad weather, only bad clothes." There is part of me that wants to whine about the adjustment of temps. But in all reality, a month from now I will have forgotten all about the nice warm summer weather. My routine of getting out all my clothes the night before and keeping track of individual gloves and trying to remember what temps need what gear will have taken over. After the whining has run it's course, I've submitted to the frigid temps. It's really not so bad when you get used to it.

Get out there.

Fun Finds on the Bike

This guys has seen better days, I'm sure.

Get out there.