Zipping Around on Dirt

Took the long way to school this afternoon.  

Rode my CrossCheck like a crossbike for the first time in a long while.

In the winter Anchorage has a couple hundred kilometers of groomed cross country skiing trails.  In the summer they're perfect for zipping around on a cross bike.  Fast and smooth, but not too smooth. Fun, fun, fun.
 

This sign was on the door as a I headed to the lab.  Exercise caution   .   .   .   goes without saying in Alaska.

The Past Few Days

Bikes, friends, kids, fishing, family, some science and a wheel build.

We had a public use cabin reserved for a couple nights out on a lovely lake.  Allman, Poundcake and Fi rode out hang out the first night.

Trucking in a few odds and ends.

Little reeled this one in all on his own.

Friends and fires.

Bikes, boats and science.

I've had some disc specific Velocity rims laying around since last spring's bike swap. I had visions of building up a coaster brake wheel for the 1x1 or doing a fancier build with some of the new Surly Ultra Hubs, but financial realities weren't going to allow any of that to happen anytime soon.

New hubs came in the mail from my brother's LBS.

I had some birthday slowly burning a hole in my pocket the past 5 months.  I managed to swing a price match deal on some Shimano hubs that would allow me to build some wheels sooner rather than later. 

Now to do some spoke calculating.

Ride Bikes?

Biermag was leaving the house on his way to a BBQ last evening with his helmet and bike shoes on. 
Little wRider asked him repeatedly if he was going to play soccer.
Biermag told him "No, going to ride bikes" each time.


After Biermag got home Little confirmed that Biermag had indeed been out to "ride bikes?"

I had to interpret the follow up question for Biermag after Little asked it a couple of times.

He was asking: "Ride singletrack?"

Image stolen from: kanyonkris.blogspot.com

I have to confess it makes me incredibly proud that my 2 year-old is asking people if they rode single track on their bike rides.

Boxes From Bozeman, Fish Tales and Dirty Laundry

The Big Donkey hasn't quite been itself since I traded its tires to  Gypsy Nick.  I still had one Big Apple for it, but I still couldn't found a satisfactory arrangement using any of the tires I had around the house.

So when Gypsy Nick offered to mail the Big Apples back to me I could hardly say no.  He also refused to let me cover the shipping, so you can count on that sort of bike geek karma being paid forward.

Big Apples are back

His transition back to full on fatties was made in Montana and this week a box arrived from Bozeman, nothing in it but my tires with about 3,000 bonus miles on them.  I have to say they looked pretty good considering the long, loaded trip they've been on.

I wasted no time tossing one of them back on the Donkey.  Cruising around town feels right again (it hasn't hurt that it's been sunny and I've kept a spinning rod strapped on the back of the Donkey for the last little while).

Quick stop to catch a few rainbows on the ride home.

Noticed these tracks while I was locking up by another fishing spot.

Apparently after working on his trike for a bit the little one noticed how dirty my DIY footsies were getting and thought it might be worthwhile to toss them in the wash with some of my dirty clothes.

    

Glad I noticed before I started the cycle.

I'm In

All I had to do was say I was in.

We stopped for lunch at the lake.

Mrs. got home from work late Tuesday evening and mentioned that she and the Guv'nor were talking about riding up Powerline Pass the next day.  If I wanted I could join them and ride up and over the top with the Guv'nor and she would ride back down with the Little wRider.

Little and his lei rocking in the tundra

I was unable to line up some of the equipment I needed for field work so it seemed like a good excuse to blow off doing anything responsible and just go ride bikes.
 

Mrs. eyeballing the pass

Turns out cRaven was on board for the ride too, and he had a shuttle driver all lined up to pick us up on the other end.  A shuttled ride, with 3000ft of descending and all I had to do was load my bike onto the car, all the other details were taken care of.

Where we came from. Nowhere to go but down.

The only snow we had to deal with after a record snowfall this winter.

To say the trail was grown in in spots would be an understatement.

cRaven smoking rotors on the backside.

The ride tops out a little over 3,000 feet and ends just a stone's throw away from Cook Inlet (aka sea level).

Hard to find a better spot to meet your shuttle driver.  A huge pan of nachos hit the spot.

"Dad, I think I need a dual crown fork like cRavens'."

Sure you do buddy, sure you do.

Super Commuter #25

Was at a park downtown today when I noticed this guy chatting with the tourists. 
 I didn't get to talk with him, but  I did manage to capture a picture of him trackstanding while waiting for the stoplight to change.

Race plate, full suspension and camelbak.d
Arm warmers, ear band, tights, full finger gloves and LiveStrong helmet have him covered from the nose up and the neck down.

Most impressive to me was the niterider light mounted atop the contour helmet cam.
I'd be curious for a better look at how that was rigged up.

Fat Tire and Slammed Saddle

Rode around the hood with Little wRider for a bit before heading to school to be productive (AKA: update the blog).

Passed this guy going the other way on my ride in.  Realized I was almost the antithesis of his set up on my fat-fronted singlespeed with the seatpost slammed.

Why?  Because it's fun.

I like the cushy tire, and the slammed seatpost let me goof off, manual, hop over roots and curbs and simply changes up the pace of riding bikes. 

Try doing things differently sometime.  You might enjoy it.

Nate Was Here

This is the only evidence that remains of Cousin Rye N's visit earlier this week.

He swapped his Fargo for a nicely decked out fatbike.  Shod with Surly Nate tires the bike has more traction than you can shake a stick at.

I think Cousin Rye N is going to be pleased with his new ride.

Happy Camper

The view from camp

The Little man and I snuck out of town the beginning of this week for a little father/son adventure.  Mrs. was off an a quick paddling adventure so we decided to have a little fun on our own.

I had initially planed a little alpine, bikepacking adventure up Powerline pass, but the forecast was calling for winds in the neighborhood of 50mph.  Above treeline, in a tent, with a toddler didn't seem like a place I wanted to deal with that much wind, so plan B was head around Turnagain Arm for a little car camping.

End of the road in Hope, AK.

 Wind and light rain tempered some of the more ambitious trail riding and fishing plans we'd had, but we still did a little of both and spent a lot of quality time lounging around the campfire.

A pretty accurate portrayal of the blur that he typically is on his little bike.

I probably shouldn't be, but  I continue to be amazed, not just by Little wRider's improving balance, but by the amount of sheer joy he gets out of zipping around on two wheels. 

Cool and rainy, who cares?  Loving the good life.