Sunday, December 30, 2012

I'm glad that my blog is good for something

I was looking and someone made a comment that I hadn't noticed before. Should I consider this as spam??? WTH? Thanks Trimurti for spamming my blog you stupid d*ck! And yes, there was a link to their website or something. I'm not clicking it in fear of a virus. Like I give a rat's @ss about your pvc pipes that you manufacture and sell in India. We already have enough problems finding stuff made here in America.

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PVC pipe fat bike stand
A user posted this link on MTBR on how to make a fatbike stand out of PVC pipes. Cheap and simple. I might have to try this, but then again my bike is already up on my wall. Oh well. Cool idea! Chris, since you'll be adding +1 to the stable, maybe you need a low cost solution to keeping your fatties upright.

https://nuxx.net/blog/2011/11/28/low-cost-fat-bike-stand/
Posted by DJ Chi Wai at 1:15 AM
1 comment:

TrimurtiDecember 20, 2012 12:36 AM

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After the riding...


DONUTS with my 4wd Traxxas Slash from Misterlime on Vimeo.

I got me more donuts then a Dunkin Donut shop! And mind you...I had one hand holding my camera. So my other hand was giving the controller the gas, and my knee was doing ALL the steering!





Thank goodness for water resistant and sealed electronics!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Made myself a good pot of chili, fixed some things around the house, hit the gym, spoke to the family for a couple hours, and took a nap. Today was a good quiet day! I'm leaving you with a picture of Santa pimp. He was available for pictures on Saturday night at House of Loom. And yes, that is a girl that he is spanking while laying across his lap.

When Sharks Fly

Well kind of...


Monday, December 24, 2012

Some cool stats. 1000 miles in 2012 ?

 Crap! I need 11 miles to break 1000 miles for the 2012 year. I know they say that you shouldn't keep track and log your miles, but I did. And it shows some VERY interesting results. I easily made 1000 miles in 2011. Was hoping to make at least 1250 this year. And I was on track. Until June came around...

The blue is the mileage from 2011. Red is 2012. I was on track the first half of this year for making it to 1250 miles. And then I put the offer down on my house. June 29 was my closing date. Can you tell? And once July hit, I was no longer biking to and from the trail back to my apartment. So each ride became about four miles shorter for me. On top of that, I was moving boxes from my third floor apt, middle of the summer, no elevator and using my Accord to move the small stuff. All while working the overtime at work.  November I was not feeling 100% with colds and with the weather getting colder. So I missed a couple of the rides. Interesting enough, October of 2011 is when I got my fatbike. It was one of my top two months of riding! New bikes will do that to you!

Stats of miles logged with which bike. Clear choice of which bike I use most.

My first snow ride of the season




Snowbiking! Yeah, what else are you gonna do for activity in these cold winter months? Snowboarding. Sure, but lift tickets and availability in the Omaha area is limited. Snowshoeing, but of course! Snowbiking, even better! I made it out on Saturday for some snow riding, but despite being out there for 3 hrs, we only traveled about 4.5 miles. The snow this time around came to us last Wednesday night, most of the Omaha metro area got dumped on. About 6-9 inches...and boy were we happy!

This pic can't describe the beauty of the scene. Trees were planted parallel to each other, almost crossing at a focal point off in the distance. Only one side of the trunks covered in snow. Sun was getting low, casting a nice glow between the trees.





There were plans to meet at Tranquility last Wednesday night. But then I tried to get home. Surprisingly my Honda gets around pretty well. The traction control helps, and maybe a large part of it is just knowing how to control the car in snow? I grew up in the country driving a 77 Grand Prix with a 400 cubic inch engine, steep driveway, and tons of gravel country roads. Just got to know how to control the car! After work, no problems getting all the way home. Until I reached my neighborhood. Turn in, immediately start sliding sideways towards the curb. Not good. Step on the brake. Immediately decided to put it in reverse and do a U turn out of the neighborhood. Got out and went around the block and came down my street instead. Much better! But will I make it out to snowbike that night. Better now.

Just me biking through the neighborhood 9pm during a blizzard.

So instead I shoveled my driveway with the already 5 inches of snow on the ground that night. Then went for a spin around the block a couple times. Had both my rear and front lights on. I would have to say that the two dozen or so people outside shoveling stopped to look at this fool riding his bike in the middle of a road during a blizzard. I'm sure it was quite a sight! Even saw a father tap his son and tell him to look at me biking. It was my 15 minutes of fame! The crazy thing is that my bike was actually getting better traction than my car in the snow. And I wasn't necessarily riding in car tracks, sometimes even the fresh snow had enough bite!


I still love the look of that black anodized Salsa frame. Such a cool appearance in the sun.


Anyway, the drive to work was fine the next day. It was the drive two days later that would be bad. A usual fifteen minute drive turned into a 50 minute drive into work. A Jeep Grand Cherokee had lost traction on 120th between Fort and Maple, causing it to sit sideways on the lane and block traffic. There was a cop car sitting behind it, light on, doing NOTHING. So while we had to wait for oncoming traffic to clear in order to pass this stretch, the stop light there is also so short that only a few cars could get going through it. Took my 30 minutes to get through that four mile stretch.




Then came the hill after 120th and Blondo towards Dodge. Wow, cars stuck everywhere. I was going fine, was easily going to make the icy mess. But just saw cars stopped. Spinning tires. Red Saturn Vue 2wd with its hazards blinking, I'm gonna avoid it. So i get to the other lane to pass it. She moves over right in front of me! Stopped my cold in my tracks. Honda Civic now behind me. I try to get going again. Ahhh...spinning tires and traction control light going crazy on the dash. Stupid Saturn still in front of me with spinning tires, not going anywhere. The lady then just gave up. Not even trying anymore. I was like hey! Cars next to me also sliding and spinning. What the heck. I've never seen 120th like that in the 12 years that I've been making the drive to work.

Howard experiencing his first snow landing on the Moon. I think he liked it!

I saw a clearing next to me so I turn my wheels, get some bite, and my car was moving again! I easily made it into the other lane, but two cars ahead in that lane not moving. So I was basically having to weave in and out of traffic, on an icy uphill battle. But I got out, steam coming out of my ears because people are idiots and don't know how to drive. There were probably a good 15 cars stuck on that one part of the road. Get to Miracle Hills drive and a pickup was backing up in the oncoming traffic lane. What is going on? Oh SNAP, he is pulling a Grand Prix out of that hill with a tow rope. Tons of smoke coming from the hood of that GP, teenager behind the wheel. Go figure.

Words can't describe the beauty of being out there in woods surrounded by snow

Alright, well finally fast forward to Saturday afternoon at Tranquility. I didn't hear about any riding going on. But I decided that I should make a valid attempt at getting out to ride this weekend. The sun was out and it was bitterly cold. I bumped into Howard from Lincoln (Aaron's friend) on his Moonlander with the awesome reflective tape rim strips. Mike McColgan had just pilled into the other parking lot. Rode with those guys for awhile, at least attempted to. Head back to Kelly Field to get my small camera that I had forgotten, in pulls Chris. And then there were four fatbikes. I guess Steve was out there on his fatbike also, but I must have just missed him.

The full sized pic does this image justice, this smaller resize does not. It was framed just right, all three riders were between the gap of the two trees. Mind you, I was riding along side them on a snow covered trail with a camera pointed sideways in one hand.


Kind of a neat shot from the GoPro mounted near the rear of my bike. Gives me an idea for a photo next time I'm out.

The riding was fun, but often times not easy.the snow was actually a little too deep. Not powdery, heavy deep snow. The kind where you sink in, which made it really hard to ride. Around the creek north of Fort Street bridge the snow as perfect. Elsewhere, not so much. Man we need to find a way to pack the trail down. Even like a single run with a snowblower or a snowmobile would be perfect!!!




The riding was fun. Flew off my bike a few times, one time while flying forward my hand hit my handlebars as I was being ejected from the bike. Messed up my fingers a little bit, but oh well. All is fun. Guess I left about 10 minutes too early because Chris ended up hitting a tree. Not that I would want to be there to see that. But you know what I mean!


The rear facing Go Pro got knocked sideways, but produced a nice result anyway


I hope some of you are lucky enough the have Christmas Eve off to make it to the trail for some more riding (I was too busy today to get back out). I'll be around Christmas Day so I might try to make it down there for some more fat bike snow adventures!


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

MNR - The 5k edition



Usually the 5k refers to a distance. This time, it was the 5k, meaning five krazies that will bike no matter how cold or what the weather. Chris, Dale, Paul, Dave N, and myself made our way out to Tranquility this past Monday for our weekly Monday Night Ride. Will anything cancel the ride? Yes, rain and muddy conditions. How about left over snow dustings and below freezing temps? NOPE!

Our first encounter with snow for the season.

Seasoned MNR and cold weather mt bikers know to dress warm. Neoprene booties, good gloves, and some head protection is a must. The same goes for layers whether it be long underwear or baselayers. They're all good. We actually built up a sweat last night! Or at least I did. Haha. You go through cold phases and warm phases on the trail. Creek area tends to be a little more chilly. Also while riding the trail area behind the houses you can feel the warmth from the dwellings. Stop too long and the cold will turn that sweat on your back down right bone chilling. Gotta keep moving...

Trail was much different than the muddy mess it was on Sunday. It was near frozen, crunchy at times. Traction was good, or at least in our minds it was. It was really hard to tell knowing that the trail was frozen, could it be icy? It was anyones guess!

Did some stop, drop, and roll action...

I did manage to fall on the compost pile. I saw Dave N ahead of me bypass it and I should have followed suit. Chris was trying to make his way up, yelled that it is slick at the top. Heck I'll give it a try. I decided to stand up and had most of my weight over the handlebars. Which was my biggest mistake. My back tire spun in place, probably a full rotation. The fatness couldn't grab the meat of the trail. Spin. I eventually fell forward and racked my little boys. Hard! Then I fell over sideways which finally released my pedals from my nearly frozen feet. Once I cleared the falling bike I proceeded to roll down the heap of compost like I was doing a stop drop and roll campaign to an elementary school. All I could do was yell profanities then start laughing. It was like a roller coaster ride in 5 seconds flat, with me in pain down below. Oh well. It happened. I cursed myself for the first time ever for not buying the smaller framed Mukluk. What can you do but push on?


Eventually Big Mike on his Pugs caught up to us and it was time to head over to Paul's to get some warming chicken noodle soup. Thanks everyone for showing up and to Paul for the warm up your core soup after. Much appreciated!

One handed night biking, photography taking, and staying on the narrow trail is not easy. I purposely didn't use flash, but they turned out just way too blurry.


Come on snow...we're all looking forward to your presence at Tranquility tomorrow!

Snowbiking at Tranquility Wed Night

Not to jinx ourselves, but we're READY TO PLAY IN THE SNOW!!! Chris set a time of 6:30pm at Tranquility. Be there. Bring a light. Dress warm. But not too warm because you're gonna sweat your butt off! See you guys there!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Tis the season!

Remember that time at the tacoride when people were throwing bikes into the trees??? Yeah that was stupid, people were drunk, and it kinda ruined the tacoride. But this... its a whole different level!!! This picture is from the Endomondo facebook page. Looks like they were maybe doing a charity or fundraising ride to log miles? There was no explanation.




Sunday, December 9, 2012

Get your motor grillin...

Hot Rod Grill. Saw a commercial for this. Cracks me up. And guess where the smoke comes out of!




Photos from
http://www.hotrodgrills.com/

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The colors!

Purple and black...purple and black. I'm drooling right now...


http://forums.mtbr.com/fat-bikes/my-first-fat-bike-grape-ape-build-822684.html

PVC pipe fat bike stand

A user posted this link on MTBR on how to make a fatbike stand out of PVC pipes. Cheap and simple. I might have to try this, but then again my bike is already up on my wall. Oh well. Cool idea! Chris, since you'll be adding +1 to the stable, maybe you need a low cost solution to keeping your fatties upright.

https://nuxx.net/blog/2011/11/28/low-cost-fat-bike-stand/

The future is here...now

These are straight out of a scifi movie. Out of a military movie where the soldiers have HUD (heads up displays) right in front of them through their eyewear. I'm talking about Oakley's latest and greatest snow goggles called the Airwave. They teamed up with Recon to give you goggles that are able to pop up with a perceived 14 inch screen in front of the rider. That screen is able to tell you GPS,  distance, speed, airtime, temps, altitude, and can sync with your smartphone via bluetooth so that you can access your music playlists while on the slopes. Where are your buddies at? It'll help you find them too! The goggles even ship with 600 ski resorts preprogrammed with trail maps. Somewhere I saw it can also show heart rate monitor info.




All of this comes at a price though. A hefty $599 price that is. Maybe Oakley needs to ship me a pair so that I can review it out at Mt. Crescent. I'll make it worth their time. But what's cool about this technology is that it is available to consumers. Not just actors in movies, not just Shaun Wipe who is doing a 1080 on the halfpipe. Regular slope goers can utilize this technology. And who knows, with these, google glasses, and whatever else is out there, it might trickle down to other sports such as biking and what not. How cool would that be?

http://www.oakley.com/airwave

Sunday, December 2, 2012

A little light review

http://reviews.mtbr.com/2013-bike-lights-shootout-mtbr-tunnel-beam-patterns

Lots of Fat Goodness



December 1st, 2012 I participated in a worldwide event. I rode my bike. Haha. Oh, but it was so much more than that. It was the global ride your fat bike day! I have no clue where it originated, but on the fat bike section of the MTBR forum, they were throwing around the idea of a day to ride fat bikes. Snow or now, rain or shine, ride your fat bike. Why? Because the fat bikes are a do anything, go anywhere breed of bikes!

The fog made for a really cool looking ride




Almost looks like we were biking up in the mountains or something, but nope! Just Lewis and Clark





FFF - Fatties Fly Fine from Misterlime on Vimeo.






No views here. Just dense fog. We could have told the stoner that drove up to the monument to have a look out, only to get right back into his car and leave.

Luckily or unluckily depending on how you look at it, we made it out with foggy trails and temps in the 50s. I say unluckily because being a snowbike, it would have been fun to have ridden in snow on December 1st. But heck, we were just happy to have a reason to ride bikes! With fatbikes also working great in the sand, we chose Lake Manawa as the trail of choice.

Manawa Photos





MG on the TTF at Lake Manawa from Misterlime on Vimeo.



These few "bridge" photos were taken with my big Canon. All the rest with either a GoPro or my little Canon Elph. Can you tell the difference in quality? I can for sure!

Cody and I decided to get in a lap a Lewis and Clark before meeting up with the folk at Manawa. It was super foggy out, probably about quarter mile visibility in Council Bluffs at noon time. While it made driving a little hairy, the biking was a blast! I've never biked in fog during the daytime, and it was all so surreal looking. Like being on the trail straight out of a calendar! It was super beautiful out. If the fog rolls in again, I think I'll leave the bike at home and just hike with my camera.






Lewis and Clark is awesome! It was our first time riding the new section out there, and man is it sweet. Its a good little loop, probably adds on a good half mile or so? Some rocks to launch the bike off of, the trail had perfect traction, and with the fog the scenery was just amazing. The bad thing is that Lewis and Clark really showed me how bad of shape I am! huffing and puffing, trying to pedal that fatbike up those long climbs. Uggh. Todd E was out there working on a new section. Looks like more climbing, but that is just part of riding out at Lewis and Clark! Thanks to him and the rest of the THOR crew who have been working hard on both Lewis and Clark, Manawa, and all of the other trails around town. If you see them out there working, defnitely give them a word of thanks and a pat on the back!




With the riding done at Lewis and Clark, it was time to head over to Manawa for some fat sandy goodness. We met up with Chris, big Mike, MG, Karl, and Steve D. Steve B and his two daughters met up with us and he had his Moonlander out. We joked about the need for mini fat bikes for his daughters! As for the rest of us, MG and I had the Salsa Mukluks, while Chris, and Mike had the Surly Pugsleys.




How is the riding out at Manawa you ask? It is great! If you remember how Manawa was before the flooding, I would have to say its just as fun if not even better! Lots of trees to avoid, some sand here and there, lots of log crossings, good times! As of right now, there is about 4.5 (?) miles of trail out there. There was a new section that we rode and its already pretty good to ride. I can't exactly explain how the trail is. It's flat, its fast and tree sectioned, its technical with the log crossings, and its just a wide variety of riding. Everything except the climbing! Steve discussed alot more trail to be proposed, maybe up to 10 miles total. Can't wait!





Not sure if you guys have ever seen a bunny hop on a fat bike, but yesterday was my first. Just so happens that my GoPro captured Chris in mid-air. Pretty cool looking.


Stupid beavers at work on the tree



We picked up a little buddy during the ride. Actually, his name was Buddy. Or was this one Bucky?


Thanks to everyone who rode yesterday. The best thing about the fat bike day is that it got people out to ride on the 1st of December. Whether you had the skinny or the fat, the riding was good and the times were great!



Big Mike trying to look all sexy for the camera

This tree always gives me an uneasy feeling


Leave it to Karl to wipe out

Big Mike and his white Pugs



Some people attach bullhorns to their cars. Not Mike.


I wanted to find a Cabbage Patch Doll and stick it in the middle of these gigantic things whatever they are.

Not sure where this guy was going. 

Until next time!