Weep for Vermont

The devastation of this past Sunday due to tropical storm Irene has left The better part of central Vermont in chaotic turmoil.  Several towns within Rutland County are left as isolated islands with little to no contact to the rest of the area.  The city of Rutland was hit, but not nearly as bad a s the surrounding areas.  Clarendon; which is 5 minutes south of Rutland lost 2 bridges on main road ways.  Mendon to Killington is utterly destroyed.  Forget Rt 4 for a while.  Rt 7 for that matter is wrecked north of Rutland.  Waterbury is still under water.  I feel very badly for fellow compatriot George Wissel from Bike29, I hope he and his family are alright!  The photos of much of the area are disheartening a best.  The local infrastructure was phenomenally put through hell and left battered, bruised, and beaten with little hope for a quick recovery.  But, being a Vermonta; means we are resilient and we roll with whatever nature brings and take it in stride.  I will throw back a cold one and think about my fellow locals and how we will pull things together and get most everything back to workable order and be ready for the next round!  Eh-yuht.... that's what I'll do for damn sure!

Rough Landing

I was out tooling around up at Pinehill today with Marv and young Trevor.  Whilst on our usual loop I ended up endo-ing on a climb!?!?  I was pedaling up a climb on Sisyphus and I do not know what the hell happened, but I managed to go ass over tea kettle onto the top of my head, rack my lower elbow/forearm area on rocks, and get wedged between a stand of trees.  I was totally stuck like a turtle and had to be helped up.  I also managed to get a contusion on my calf in the wake of my disaster.  The Pug came out unscathed and probably laughing!  My self-esteem not so much.  I bagged on a video of another rider casing a roll in on some wooden structures and I basically did the same thing, just not on video or on any structures.  Truly came off looking like a putz none the less.  Karma is a mother fucker... a vengeful one at that!

Changing Gears

I don't know how many Pug owners have had this problem, but getting the damn front derailleur to shift and not rub the tire is not an easy feat.  I really don't know if I have gotten the bugs worked out, maybe I'm heavy and can lay down enough torque to flex the frame during my pedal strokes.  I get a rrrr...rrrr...rrrr on every pedal stroke whilst climbing.  It is fracking annoying.  I finally nailed the adjustments down for the rear derailleur so it no longer ghost shifts.  Hopefully Thursday I'll get out for a ride!  I'm jonesing to get out and ride.  It'll have been almost two weeks since I last rode.  I'm out... Peace!

A little change of pace...

Today I went out to Pinehill on my Kona Bass.  Since Pinehill has a new freeride-ish feature with the Lunch rock tabletop.  I figured I 'd session it.  I went out with Marv and had a blast.  Man I thought the Bass was going to suck since I have it setup with a 36t front ring and DMR Moto R/T tires, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it handled.  I only had one sketchy washout with  the front end and I was getting my drift on in many of the turns and berms.  All in all it was a hoot.  Couldn't get enough speed on the roll in to get a good launch, but it was a fair outing none the less.  I think I managed to peeve Doug off a little though.  The Bass has essentially sat at the PHBS all season trying to be sold and no takers, I swapped some parts and showed some interest in riding it since I think I never really gave it a good shake down this spring.  I think with some minor mods, it would make a great short travel AM rig.  Next time out I'll roll on the Pug, I think the Pug is helping me develop better body english since I started riding it.  This is all for now!

Getting Caught Up

Since my last post I went out on two adventures on the Pug.  Last Wednesday I went out with some of my boys up to Pinehill and had more than my share of mechanical issues.  My shift cables stretched and both derailleurs kind of crapped out.  The front wire ended up slipping off altogether at one point.  The rear skewer slipped as well while going through a rock garden and the damn contemptible rear derailleur was ghost shifting all over the place.  I had fun minus the mechanical difficulties.  I even hit the table top feature off of Lunch Rock!  I made Marv look like a punk ass, since he has all kinds of suspension and never uses it.  I would seriously start to reconsider  going being hardcore and building all out freeride bikes if I only slightly rode aggressively on some singletrack trails.  Just me; not wanting to look like a poser, pretending to be a downhiller!

This past Saturday I went out on the Pinehill Bike Shop ride that my buddy Doug puts on every Saturday at around 4:30 -5 o'clock.  Had a blast railing berms and drifting corners on the Pug.  I had a pinch flat on the Pug coming down Overlook.  I  flatted the rear like a boss!  I was keeping up with Doug and Marv and blasting through the bottom section when I heard PFFFFFTTT!  Ah shit I didn't do what I thought I just did, FACK!!!!  I can attest to the fact that flatting on a Pugsley will ruin your day.  First, its a flat tire; second, The tubes are bloody expensive; third, the bead on the standard tires is like trying to pry off a truck tire; fourth, I have never had to use my Pedro's tire levers, good for small, normal, skinny mountain bike tires, and not so much for the combo of the Endomorph and Large Marge rim, it was like trying to use cooked spaghetti for chopsticks; finally, it takes a freaking long ass time to pump up  the tires on a Pugsley with a mini-pump!  Honestly it was a half hour of my life I'll never get back.  I need to thank Marv for attempting to pump it up after I got winded.  It still took a ridiculous amount of time.  Prior to the ride I spent some time tuning the bike after all the issues I had with it after Wednesday's ride.  I got the rear derailleur to play well with the drivetrain again, but the front derailleur was not as agreeable.  I do believe after looking at Shimano's product line though that The front mech is designed for a 2 ring crankset and not the three that I have on there.  No problem I have a bashring I can swap out for the large ring anyway.  I will never really use the outside ring ever.  The Pug dictates that you enjoy the ride and if you want to ride a Pug fast then there is something wrong with you!

That is all, I say good day!