Up waiting for an Reno PD officer to show up and make a statement. Someone broke in and stole some stuff. Watched this. It was relaxing…

If it’s still in the budget after deductibles I’ll get a Rose pass this year. Who else?

-M

And who in the bike/ski/mountain/travel blogging field isn’t?! I’ve been (i won’t say struggling) getting by with less than optimal pack setups for adventuring and photography/video. I love being able to get photos and video on rides/hikes/ski days, but it isn’t always easy to find a place in a gear pack for a camera, or cram a camera bag into a gear pack, or sling a camera bag ofer your shoulder and ride/ski/hike…

Last time i was in SLC my buddy Juan de Foto AKA @photo_john and i went to check out Clik Elite bags. The didn’t have anything for us to test that time, but since then John has been able to get his hands on more of the gear. Check out Photo John’s reviews on Photography Review here and here. Looks to me like the perfect setup for everything but backcountry skiing. (I’m not giving up my avalung pack…)

I’ll see if I can get my hands on some Clik Elite gear for testing in the presence of bacon! Until then, look for Clik Elit Bags @ REI and Adorama.

-M

Ely was good to Team Bacon Strip yet again…

More or less.

The drive out was spectacular! Even though the torrential rains were disheartening and more than a little prophetic, the scenery was unbelievable. Central Nevada is alive right now. Sooo green, and the clouds are amazing!

Anyway, The Restless Ape and I rolled into to Ely around 10 PM on friday to find most of the team huddled around a picnic table drinking beer of all things. Captian Red Beard even rolled out from SLC with some riders!

That night it rained a bit. There was some dampness. In the morning though it looked like things were going to be perfect, and for the first 2 or so hours of the race they were! The race began with a quick tour of Ely casino and retail space with a trip through a shoe store and the Jailhouse Casino and the Hotel Nevada. There was even a nice stair drop to get out of the Hotel Nevada!

TRA and I got to the first checkpoint happy and rearing to go, just a few wheels back from Huck Tater. The sky was cloudy and threatening, but we had a strange and completely unfounded confidence that it would hold. Still, no one was wasting any time.

Downhill 1 done without any catasrrophe. Up and around and back and now it’s hailing. No worry, it can’t last. Up and around and back to checkpoint #2 and it lets up. And then 2 minutes later it’s raining, and it finally grows a pair and really gets nasty. TRA took off a few minutes ahead of me and probably got down most of that and the next timed sections before it got superbad. I was in gumbo hell. Mud in my eyes, mud gunking up EVERYTHING! No traction on the hills. One speed binding with all the grit in the chain. I took the slow road and still barely made it down without crashing. Rampage 29er tires aren’t that great in mud…

It was cold and rainy and there was a lot of general unfocused unhappiness on the course. Most if it taking place inside ceramic bottom bracket bearings. There were a record number of DNFs as riders took the direct route back to camp. And it was a cold, wet, windy and gritty route at that.

Being fast on the hills was a great benefit. Huck Tater got down and out ahead of most of the nastiness and those just behind us had an even worse time of it. But being in the sport class meant that it was beer and chili time for TRA and me. So we swapped peanutbuttery shammys for warm dry clothes while Nate went to the laundromat to dry his gear for the expert lap!

Around 2:00 Kalem made the call. The sky had cleared and the hope was that the riders could get at least half way to the top of Squaw Peak before getting soaked and frozen again. Unfortunately, the weather stayed sunny and warm the entire time and the riders enjoyed a fast, tacky, and BOMBING downhill ride.

The Restless Ape took 1st in the sport class and Nate screamed down Squaw Peak for 3rd in expert. Huck Tater took the crusty line on the descent on his fully rigid Retrotec, then cleaned up in the raffle. A DAMN fine showing for TBS yet again!

Nate spanking squaw peak! (photo by Barrett Donovan)

The Fears Tears and Beers is an enduro style race in Ely, NV where only certain mostly downhill sections are timed. It is organized by the Great Basin Trails Alliance and run by Kalem Lenard and a slew of local volunteers. It is an awesome race and I HIGHLY recommend you check it out. Thanks to all who helped make this miserable race possible by standing out in the cold and rain to check out times and record our misery!

We’ll be back next year to expand out collection of engraved pint glasses!

-M

EDIT:

Check out the Music of Stanton Moore:

Stanton Moore: All Kooked Out

Mike Galeoto asked me to post this since we’re all a bunch of steel loving onespeedriding dirtbags. Looks pretty sweet. I know GSR bikes have even given Gris the smackdown a time or two. This bike would be cool to have cause you could crash it and then say that you “have sand in your orangina…”

Orangina Single Speed GSR Raige,
18″ with 22.6 effective top tube Full Columbus Nivacrom Oversized tubeset Single Raige.
Single speed Natl champ winning frame tubeset and geometry.

Paul hubs, Xtr, Sid race, blah blah blah good stuff.
Riden a few times used as a show bike for years.
1,500.00 same price as the frame 6 years ago. or Trade for a Ducati or Mercedes.
more photogs available or just come ride it.

Call Mike 544-1996

I don’t know what that means, but that was the subject line of an email I just got. Thought I’d share a pic of The Vulture’s new frame:

Wade rode a lap with me @ 24 hours in the old pueblo. What a funny dude. We chatted about bikes, and riding, and people, and funny stuff and all that shit. It was rad. I think he gave me a little extra shred, cause when I got to the down hill at the end I totally tore it off at the knees. I destroyed it. It was awesome. Thanks for flying the TBS team sticker Wade!

-M

It has come to my attention that our team roster is WOEFULLY incomplete.

Since I met the TBS crew I have truly been infatuated with everyones love for human interaction,bacon,beer and bikes. I feel that at this time I need/will make my plea to become part of “we are the bacon strip”. I act in accordance with the manifesto and always will. I have spread the word to other fucktards around the world and will continue to do so. I always have a stack of stickers with me when I travel and I put them wherever the fuck I want! Pics are attached and sometimes I forget to take pics or I dont have my camera. I know by following the manifesto and donning the Team Stickers on my bikes and vehicles I am part of this chaos called TBS, but I think the time has come for myself and some others to be recognized as truly a part of this gaggle of dirt hippie mountain bikers,fuckfaces and general idiots. I hope you find this to be useful fucking information or just funny…and if you don’t….go fuck yourself. Thanks for your time fuckface!

Bustigator

The pics include the Nachos As Big As Your Ass bar in Costa Rica,the infamous blackbox at Area 51 thats now white and misc others. Enjoy!

This is my fault. I I’ll brew up a pot of Bacon tea tonight and rectify this abomination to make way for newer, fresher abominations…

-M

Taking a 2 night camel trek into the Dunes of Erg Chebbi of Eastern Morocco on the western edge of the Sahara Desert was an amazing experience. But first we had to get there…

-M

We here are The Bacon Strip have had a Manifesto
since day one, so it only stands to reason that we also begin at sometime to issue Fatwas as well. Today’s Lucky recipient is this Antibaconite SWINEDOG who sings about the end of bacon.

You won’t be shaking that oversized taint with our army or tiretracks across your face smart guy. Watch your back. TBS and the salami fighting association are coming for you.

-M

Special thanks to Baconier @robertpayne for bringing this atrocity to my attention. You will be rewarded with 72 fresh organic free-range pork bellies in the afterlife.

At this time of year, and especially on a year like this, you see the skies clear, the snow get dirty and melt away, and you strip down to your shirtsleves for mud free dirt riding on Peavine, it’s hard not to think about how the world is changing.

Sure, we have a young black president, but that president is going to sit through some big climate changes on this planet even if he’s only there for four years. These amazing time lapse videos and photographs from the Extreme Ice Survey are a sobering reminder of that change.

I’m waiting for Smella to get home, having a beer and whipping up some dinner. Then we’re going to watch the Nova Episode. Check it out…

I found this story on the NPR Most Emailed Stories Podcast for 03-19-2009. To get this episode, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes and then in the Podcasts window, expand it and select GET for this episode. Terry Gross interviewed James Balog on Fresh air. He was also on Morning Edition.

Yeah, this is going under the category of “holyfreakingcrap.”

-M

“Ness said he and his two friends considered the avalanche threat, but thought it looked like a great day for skiing and decided it was safe enough to go…”

And another year for the Darwin awards slips by…

-M