downhill mountain bike freeride

This is awesome redneck action!

How is your bike made?

Check out this cool video from a bike factory. It's worth the watch. I particularly liked seeing the wheelbuilding machine. --Thanks Dekold!

Gainesville Cycling Festival.

I'm still recovering from several days with the Bean and friends. I attempted the Gainesville Cycling Club's Horse Farm Hundred, which turned into the Horse Farm 55 and a nice country drive with all my worn-out pals. The best photos are here. I was pleased to have no neck, back, wrist, or saddle discomfort, but I'd found the limit of my mettle when given the opportunity to get out of the sun and to the beer-tasting earlier. Post-ride drinks were had for free at Market Street Pub, where the Brewer's Guild was naming the Rail Trail Pale Ale from a handful of worthy competitors. Thanks to those who made the event happen!






Only one Catrike at the ride!

Trail Report, Southern Appalachia:

I took vacation last week and visited several trails between here and North Carolina. First was a visit to Atlanta, where we stayed with an old college teammate. A-rod's pad was filled with a well-refined collection of bikes, and a custom-built classic tandem. He's crafty with the Dremel, as seen by the hand crafted dropout adapters. After staying overnight, we got directions to the Yellow River mountain bike trails and headed towards Stone Mountain, after, of course, a hearty breakfast at the Flying Biscuit! The facilities at the trailhead here were outstanding, and the trails varied, but were suitable for singlespeeders.

We packed up after that ride and drove to some real mountains, and made it to the Nantahala Outdoor Center for dinner. After hearing bagpipes on the river and finishing our onion rings, we set up at the Tsali campground and huddled in the tent for what turned out to be the coldest night yet this year. After finding my tent was only mostly waterproof, and we were underprepared for the cold, we welcomed the mid-morning sun, and took to the trail. This is a familiar trail to me, and one I think every mountain biker should visit if they come to western North Carolina.



Our next stop took us to Asheville, where we stayed at the Sweet Biscuit Inn, a bed and breakfast at a hilltop location in an old neighborhood. I recommend this place to anyone wanting to stay near downtown Asheville. The rooms are comfortable, the food is plentiful, the decor tasteful, and the hosts fun and personable.



For riding near Asheville, Bent Creek experimental forest is the popular destination. This was my second visit here, and the trails were far more awesome than I remember. I like the mostly groomed, but still a little gnarly style to these trails. You can't be a singlespeeder and be a sissy and expect to not push on these trails. I pushed, but did the Lower Sidehill trail twice because it was so fun coming down.



Our last ride was at a new destination for me, the Dupont State forest. I've heard this called the "Moab of the East", and while I've just driven through Moab, and only ridden one afternoon's worth of trails here, I suspect it is an exaggeration. There were some rock slabs and trails across the balds, but less the roller-coaster feel of Moab's slickrock. I'll go back though and do more exploring, because the waterfall views were awesome, and the sheer number of trails impressive. It was good to see some friends in Brevard, and if you visit, check out the Duckpond Pottery's studio outside town.

Bicycle shaped objects...

If you're a bike newbie and wonder what you're missing, and why I've devoted so much of my life since High School to working in a bike shop, read this explanation on the differnece between cheap bikes and bike shop bikes. This is basically my day every day: Trying to tell people they will have a much better experience with a well-selected, quality bike, than a BSO from the department store. My Grandpa still doesn't understand, and tells me about the features of the $99 bike he saw at Wal-Mart. I tell him that those things shouldn't be ridden off the sidewalk, or bad things happen. Here's more on the bikebuying experience from Dirt Rag, a popular bike magazine for regular folks.

New bikes, er...bike and trike.

K-dizzle's Castro Valley:








We're gittin' some training in on the Hawthorne Trail. It's Gainesville's best paved cycling path. Here's the link:
Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail State Park
The trail has good views of Paynes Prairie Preserve, so be sure to go to the overlooks.

Thundercat HOOOOOOOO!

Fast Electric Car

• 0-60 in 3 seconds (faster than a supercar (shown in this race)). • 1/3 the energy consumption of a hybrid (170 Miles Per Gallon equivalent). • Everything you see is in first gear. • The fast stops are regenerative braking (returning energy to the batteries). Hopefully cars like this from Wrightspeed and Tesla will add a bit of consumer cachet to the electric car category… and accelerate the industry to the future. http://flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/82768989

Secret Weapon in the works...

I just watched Chris Paine's "Who Killed the Electric Car." The movie made me mad that big business interests can control my tax dollars in such a wasteful way. I want to drive an electric car...or at least have the best battery technology available to the market.


Electric car conversions at home.

Not electric, but exciting human powered vehicles...
check out:
Catrikes
Nimbus Kayak Velomobile


Drive a sweet car like this.

Impressive Dimensions

Eli has long been making do with undersized frames, but finally got a custom titanium road machine built by XI'AN CHANGDA TITANIUM PRODUCTS CO. I particularly like the throwback Triple-Triangle design from GT, and the GIANT top tube---though he shoulda had a secret compartment put in there for the rocket fuel. Nice work Eli!

Jason Levy Aspire Round 2

Gainesville's local talent. Totally rad.

Jason Levy's Aspire 2 entry.

Comfort bike bliss...

I'm making it my mission to sell a bunch of Giant Suede bicycles. These things rock! I put a happy family on the first one built up. A couple visiting from Miami bought the Women's DX model in Mint, and asked me to install an interesting child seat. Fitting the woman to a bike that would allow for installation of the child seat in a safe manner was impossible on all of our other bikes, but the Suede design accomodated our needs perfectly. The long front end of the bike, and adjustable, high handlebars, and low seat height gave plenty of room for the child seat, without potential of knocking the kid in the face with the grips, or hitting the seat with the rider's knees.

Spreadin freedom to Long Pond.

Party at the Lakehouse! We celebrated freedom on Sunday with barbecue, deep fryer, floating in the lake, gin&tonics, hackey, frisbee, and good friends. Only crashed the bike once on the sandy road (pre-Schlitz!). It was some tough riding because the sand was deep and fluffy. Only sustained a couple bruises and the bike was fine. The fried bass was awesome, and Suzi's blueberry-peach pie was de-lish.

Airstream For Sale!

I'm selling my project, and home of 9 months. It was fun while it lasted.
Airstream ad at RVTrader.

Maybe I'll live in a sphere next.



Check out the cool collection of bicycle chainwheels.


Here's something printed by the Onion. This is for my dad, who's got 4 decades of Consumer Reports catalogued in a storage unit in Orlando.

45 Minutes of Fury!

I'm trying to get back up to speed on the mountain bike. Some "secret" training at Felasco today and the night ride should put me in the right direction. Justin, Bob, and I rode at Santos over the weekend. The trail down there is in great shape thanks to the hard work of O.M.B.A.