these guys have game, for sure. i dig the smack-down sounds of them floggin’ their bikes. i’d be stoked to take a crack at riding something like that, maybe try going up them on my single speed. i’m no good at big air though, probably end up lawn darting over a cliff if i tried to descend
Author Archive for japhyrider
30
Nov
a good climb?
28
Nov
sick, sick, super fit
for those of you familiar with The Birthday Challenge, you’ll most likely recognize Steve. though he’d sworn off any more Challenges, fate had him plotting and marauding a Birthday Sanction for his 47th:
47 rock climbs, on sight
47 miles of on sight single track on a rigid single speed
47 miles of road on a fixie
47 kilometers of running
that soldier’s fitness is off the hook, as was the commitment to the Sanction
“Want a beer?” said Bob
“If you hauled beer out here, you’re crazier than I thought,” I answered.
“I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid. I didn’t haul it out here, you did. It’s in your pack.”
“I oughtta throw you off this rock.”
one of my committee members, yep, he’s a Doktor, forwarded me this link… i think it’s almost Tuesday. anyone up for holding council over a $2 pints?
the good folks at the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship are looking to get a fun cross event going up the foothills. Dec 7 and 8 are races near Bullards Bar, to be followed by a Trail Daze event. i know about as much about cyclocross as i do about off-road unis, but i do know the SBTS crew puts on a mean event, likes beer, and rides hard and loves their trails. here’s a link to their page
well, i really really really hope this dry fall/preseason is about to get snowed out. i used to spend the weekend after Thanksgiving skiing, or climbing. this year it was trail riding. this Turkey Day Huck T, Oso, and I got in a nice ride up on Peavine - aside from being ambushed by shooters. on Friday, the Shredder, Oso and I hit up FS73 from Tahoe City to the TRT and back south past Painted Rock and the shale and “basket ball sized rocks” back to the trailhead. it was so nice. everyone we met was pleasant. that almost never happens near Galena. Saturday, HT and Shredder, Oso, and I hit some more TRT from the Meadows to the south and back. it was scary warm, beautiful, and very quiet. i finally realized the uncanny silence was mostly just the lack of motorboats out on Tahoe. absurd how those things can effect such a large airshed. finally, yesterday, after some dorking around with work stuff, I split for a solo single ride up Keystone, up TBS, down towards the Luge but veered south on the bonus loop (which shreds!!!) and back to the hippy cairn and on down to the top of the N trail and left into Evans. i finished that ride up with the new connector from Evans to Keystone, which was pleasant. Dale and a few other fellas were out working on the bit of trail west of Keystone. cheers to you guys. good work. thumbs up.
happy Monday,
Japhy rider
08
Nov
Reno 911
dog walk time, and an opportunity to score a few essentials. dogs get into the truck and we roll down to the market. i check the slider window for ample breathing room for the dogs the back of the rig and turn to the store. hands in pockets, wool sweater and a cap, i’m sure i appear insignificant.
i’m 30 feet from the market door and a fella sprints across the store front. a car accelerates hard along side and in one second the car is stopped and it’s people are ontop of the fleeing dude. i keep my hands in my pockets, walk towards them and in about the 2 seconds i have to assess the situation, i figure - boy it sucks to be that dude. he pissed someone off real bad. the dude’s on the asphault, knees in his back kinda struggling but totally immobilized. another car pulls up from behind me, turns the lights on bright as doors fly open and scruffy-ish guys jump out and converge on said hog tied dude. about 4 or 5 seconds have elapsed and a third car cuts off the only remaining access and patrol lights go off. the bummin’ dude is repeating “i didn’t do anything!” i notice the guys on top of the bummin’ dude are all wearing jeans, body armor, badges and side arms.
with eyebrows raised in a WTF - WOW sort of way i stroll into the market. Long Hammer IPA is cheap and 1/2 & 1/2 is only available in a quart size. i cash out and head for my rig. the bummin’ dude is in the back of a patrol car and the parking lot looks like things are cooling off. a few other bummin’ people are cuffed and standing, talking to officers in semi-street clothes and side arms.
wow, i’m headin’ for the hills. i reflect - keep life simple, clean nose and a healthy bicycle habit. no one wants to be the dude that’s bummin.
“i finish work, go home, read a book, have a few beers and take myself on a walk”
Ralph the Dog - The Muppets
07
Nov
SSCXWC
Nat forwarded me a link to the single speed cyclocross world championships a while ago and i almost forgot to get it out to TBS. sooo, if you’ve got time and an inkling to travel this weekend, this would be hoot of a race to participate in.
I’ll probably be climbing rocks or something. Have fun, Nat!
a pilgrimage of sorts, a bicycle tour of other sorts, we spent the Nevada Statehood commemorative holiday spinning away on and a nontechnical semi-long ride. Gerlach, NV was the start and ending location, by way of the Black Rock Playa, Soldier Meadows, High Rock Canyon, and Highway 34.
Continue reading ‘Nevada Day tour of the Black Rock & High Rock’
01
Oct
29er party!
Saturday the 29th was ~37th-ish annual Vulture Day (observed) and we did our best to make the migration to Bend, OR to participate. A few hours into the 6 hour drive we plowed head-on into our first snow storm driving experience of the season - sweet!
We arrived at Jessica’s place before midnight and kept her and Wade up a few more hours talking and chilling before pitching the tent on the driveway. In the morning, I was up with the sun under a heavy frost and to find ice in the dog water - brrr! A very excellent breakfast of bacon containing quiche (I don’t remember its actual name) was had at Bend’s Sparrow Cafe, along with some super high octane java. Wade is stoked on the good people that run that place, fostering community and artist endeavors in a decommissioned industrial complex that was originally the towns foundry. You can’t imagine how good the chocolate birthday cake he got from them was! Here he’s prying Whitney for her secret recipe.
The afternoon was spent riding the trails in local woods - twisty, a bit technical leading to great views from nearby buttes. Amanda, Oso, Chris S, Wade, and I span away the day having a great time. Cool trails out there, and not a soul besides us on them! How’s that for a birthday ride? All the while, Jessica was making an excellent effort at preparing her home and kitchen for the sushi birthday feast. Thanks for having us all over, Jessica!
soon thereafter, friends of Wade & Jessica converged on her place to partake in keg#2 of Wade’s whiskey flavored porter homebrew, build and mow down on some sushi, laugh, long board, fire watch, smash a pinata, and revel for their friend’s birthday. What a great group of pals you guys have up there. it was a pleasure to meet everyone and get our party on!
nice hand roll! what flaver a powar bait dja use?
can you see the bacon in that there sushi?
Wade had the last go at the vulture pinata - which, ah, contained some provocative stuffing…
27
Sep
The Barley Pop Factory
So there we were, Wolfy and I, enjoying the early evening sun and mild September temps outside the Great Basin Brewery, tortilla chips and house salsa to slow down our beer consumption, the smell of fresh beer wort in the air and nothing to do but catch up. Tom the Brew Master wandered out into the light and stopped by our table to say hi. I asked what he was brewing today and he said an ESB - ummm, hops! In fact, it was time get in there and add more hops before transferring. “Can I see?” I asked. “Sure, come on in!” Next thing we knew we were handed a “stirrer” and a pail of hops and put to work. Tom fielded questions and explained some of the equipment, told us about ethos and environmental considerations of beer making at the commercial scale, and rocked some great music from Boot Liquor Radio.
and then Mike asked, “so which one of these taps do I open to get some beer?”
good thing i trimmed the bash guard… other wise there could’ve been a whisker addition with that pail of hops!
And this is just the beginning. Next week we go back to school for FB125C Beer Analysis: Ale Styles. Thanks for the tour, Tom! See you at class.
Japhy rider
ps- there were still openings in the class when I reg’d yesterday. $59 + $20 “lab fee,” a bargain at twice the price!
Grizz put on a sweet looking cyclocross race on Saturday, taking advantage of the “Village” at Northstar ski area. Racers were nuking through the cobblestone streets, running up a wet wood chip covered hillside, across the ski runs, and blazing downhill through a gravel filled roadbed. I didn’t see any sweet crashes, but a lot of really motivated riders. Rain up to the event, and off and on during the races kept things real crossy. Those guys and gals were havin’ fun, you could just see it in their faces.
It looked fun enough to give it a go, at least during in the upcoming Outlaw X races. More on that, soon, i’m sure…
We did have our priorities straight though. After the cyclocross race finished, Shredder, Caylin, Oso, and I split for trails near Martis Peak. The rains left everything tackie and completely devoid of other trail users. I didn’t even cross another track till the end of the ride, much less hear a dirt bike.
The low cloud ceiling, crazy light on developing fall colors, and clean, crisp air made for a magical day. All the work that they have done on the trails sure made for a killer ride. I don’t remember half the banked turns and kickers that we hit when I rode out there last year.
3.5 hours of shredding, maybe 15 miles, at least a dozen log & board rides and a casual pace overall was sweet!!!
so sweet, in fact, that it’s on the short list.
and then, Sunday, all Hell broke loose when we roll into what will forever be known (in specific, small circles of Renoans), as the Tour de Cul de Sac that TBS crashed… Actually, I don’t quite remember much after racing the tandem bike with Caylin in our underwear. Stanimal found my bike tools at the nearby Blind Onion later that evening. I felt like a had a mild brain injury this morning. I’m very sure someone will have some pics and words for us - afterall, the beer shower and sardines, and cutting the mandatory wine chug bottle with Coca Cola (calimocho!) - but that’s another story… just some pics for now
Heckler
Hammer down!
Pedalphile and the Circus bear (does that make er a “carnie?”)
the final heat
Capt’n Creep-0 shreds the pilons and they get their race face on…
but then again, with monikers like Pedalphile, Capt’n Creep-0, and Crankwhore, we sort of fit in. Thanks for letting us come up there and have some fun!
THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS - I had to get something going, and will fill it in as I have more time to write. I don’t have any pics of the actual race, but hope to poach digital pics from the web. let me know if you/someone you know has some to share. cheers!
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oh boy, for the amount of time and fiscal resources i commit to traveling to race a few times a year, one would think that i’d get better at optimizing my probability for success in said event - finishing it, at least. this latest attempt had me traveling solo again (i must be a handful to roadtrip with), across the Basin and Range, across the Colorado Plateau, and over the Monarch Crest of the Rockies, into the headwaters of the Arkansas River. i knew it’d be more than a day’s ride, but hadn’t done the math. turns out it’s an even 1,000 miles from my abode in Reno to Salida, CO. with fuel typically $3/gal or more, and traveling solo, taking the motorbike was the only sensible option…
“one less car, bitch” Continue reading ‘2 thousand miles and the VT125′
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