Just saw this on SkiRebel.com.

“The British SnowVolution machine is a snow covered rotating planar disc up to 300 metres (985ft) in diameter, inclined at 25 degrees, divided into four to six concentric rings each 15-30 metres (50-100ft) wide.

The rings rotate independently in either direction at tangential speeds of up to 15 metres/per second. Adjacent rings rotate in the same direction, and with a separating static or stationary ring, the remaining rings rotate in the opposite direction. Skiers and snowboarders are spread across the whole width of the disc giving high levels of utilisation.” read more

I’m sure it’ll be immensely popular and hopefully will divert all the gapers from our favorite resorts during winter powder days. Perhapse it’ll put them all out of business and the Turn-Earners will rule the peaks!

Fake snow has been around for a while. I remember seeing a visa ad showing a conveyer belt ski hill in some athletic store (that didn’t take american express) back in the 80′s. But I’ve yet to lay eyes on one in person 20+ years later.

-M

I saw this sign out on the route of the Sierra 100 and thought it was an appropriate sentiment. Even just the “Not Recommended” part — those are words to live by. At least, if you ride on past all signs that say “Not Recommended.” Never mind what is not recommended, just keep going.

I rode about the first 25 and the last 15 miles of the course, using a road to connect the two parts. Nice ride, but I did this Saturday and it was hot and dry up there and despite starting with a full camelback I found myself hurting for water. At least there will be aid stations out there. The first part is really neat and the climbs are reasonably graded. The return portion is on some pretty beat-up, loose and rocky forest access roads and are going to me a mess that day. Oh, well, I think it should be fun. Or as fun as 100 miles can be.

Today I went on a quick endurance ride up Thomas Creek above my house and then over Dry Pond and back. Nice with two exceptions: On my way up the Thomas single-track I passed a person walking his dog down the trail. Apropos of nothing, he says to me, “There’s a perfectly good road right over there!” While pointing toward the dirt road on the other side of the creek. Nice. While the temptation to tell him to get his ugly ass over on the road if he likes it so much was strong, I figured that would just reinforce his apparently bad attitude about cyclists and I just passed on with a cheery “good morning!” and figured I let it go. Not but 20 min later, higher up someone has taken some downed logs and dragged them over the trail, quite completely blocking it. Why someone would choose to do this I don’t know and it only took me a few minutes to clear it. I don’t mind doing a little trail maintenance, but what’s next, piano wire strung across the trail? Just a disturbing lack of courtesy and decency where a sense of community is much more valuable. I fall back to our Manifesto, “We will strive for the betterment of ourselves and our surroundings.” I tried that today.

So along the lines of bettering our surroundings, a group here is doing a local event called Reno Galena Fest (but shouldn’t that be “Galenafest?”). Anyway, they’ve got a website, facebook, twitter, etc. Check it out at http://renogalenafest.com/

The marquee event will be a mountain bike race from Galena Park to Relay Ridge. My only worry is that they’re using way too much highway and need to get on the dirt more.

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

It’s always nice when you can singlespeed something you use to suffer up on the little-ring. Juni and I went up cow canyon yesterday AM. Weather was great! The morning sun coming over the ridge from mogul was beautiful and even though there is all that building going on that area still seems almost remote.

Only intrusions are the sound of the Interstate, the one house poking over the hill from Mogul and the trenches, braids, stutterbumps and mudboggs cut into the trail by ATVs and motorbikes.

What used to be a sweet fast flowy and technical downhill is now unrideable in some spots thanks to motorbikers riding up the hill under full throttle in wet to muddy conditions. Now I’m not going to say those guys have no right to the trail (cause the USFS has already said that) but this could have been, and still could be, a good area where we can share the trail. The only thing we ALL need to do is concede this one simply tenant of two wheeled fun: If you can’t get up or down something without dragging your rear wheel, or digging a rut up a climb then you’re a hack and need to slow down and learn how to ride. Or am I missing something? Is that the goal these guys have? Do they see a nice trail and say, “Wow! how awesome would it be to obliterate that and make it almost impossible to ride!!!!!”

That said, this trail is not well aligned and is completely unsustainable even under the best of circumstances. Perhaps the Poedunks will get to it one of these years. I can’t help but think that when citizens look up at areas like that and then consider weather they want the City / County to limit development they think, “what’s the point? It’s just road warriors tearing shit up out there anyway…”

-M

I was thinking about that skiBASE jump I witnessed the other day and morbidly fascinating about plummeting to death at the bottom of the Silver Legacy. But that’s the worst case scenario there. Maybe the absolute worst is that you crash into a spectator and take him/her out too. That would be bad. Still the probable outcomes are such that Shane McConley et. al. still go for stuff like that because the general consequences are limited. That’s pretty much the same reason any of us do any of the seemingly risky things we do from hitting the jump @ the Radio towers to dropping a chute we know could avalanche.

Here’s a little video that illustrates that kind of thinking on, let’s say, a GLOBAL scale…

-M

If by recommending that cyclists stay off the streets at night Steve Friday admits that the RPD has little handle on traffic violations and reckless or distracted drivers, I suggest Chief of Police, Michael Poehlman, resign, as most public officials do after admitting in the press that they can’t do their job, or put out a news release outlining his plan for assuring safety for everyone at all times.

Bicycles are a legitimate transportation mode; it is time we align our laws and streets to reflect that. Increased bicycle commutership is a good thing that will clear traffic and the air, not a nuisance to motorists or a safety hazard. The bigger dangers to our safety are the drivers distracted by cell phones drifting into the bike lane.

-M

Send a letter
Practical Pedal
Communte by bike

WTF is this?

Perhaps the people they are trying to lure to the area are the kind who are willing to become political to get things they want, like better bicycle transportation infrastructure and better management and protection of open spaces. If so, let me be the first to show you the trails!

–>

The little website is cute, but really holds no information, and links to none. Although it is pretty fun… Oh and who likes the logo and can decipher it’s riddle?

-M

ps Why are we always piggy-packing Tahoe onto our city? Who here says they’re from Reno-Tahoe? What other cities identify themselves with another entity that is miles outside it’s border? Is Tahoe going to start marketing itself as Tahoe-Reno? Lest we forget how they refer to us!

Once again the RGJ pisses me off. I’m writing an article next month on alternative commuting, so I gess that’s what they call “put-up or shut-up” (piss of get off the pot?).

I guess I’ll post the letter I wrote. You should also note how one of the proposed routes looks like it goes right through Hidden Valley park!!

-M

NOTE: I just got an email saying that I can’t submit more than one letter every two months. So one of you needs to get something in too! Maybe we can meet at the GB on tuesday and scratch something out.

Dear RGJ,

Once again the you fail to dig deep enough to see the real story behind your story. Your cover article today on the North/South connector claims that more roads (automobile-centric commuter routes) are needed to avoid “southern California style gridlock.”

Metropolitan Southern California is gridlocked because of sprawling low-density development and a lack of effective public transportation or commuting alternatives to the automobile, i.e. bicycles or trains. That means that people live a long way from work and have to drive to get there. If we want to avoid the same fate here more roads and the influx of automobiles are not the answer.

Driving is a choice. Our freedom to choose alternatives to cars is being curtailed by our own inability to plan beyond our current tank of gas.

-M