The Blog Within

Now…

Later…?

In pictures

Ava’s and my plan to go mountain biking in Lakewood was foiled by construction on C470 funded by the federal bailout. So clearly it’s Obama’s fault, but I digress.

We decided to go to Hidden Mesa instead, and picked up Jen and Laney on the way by the house. They hiked one direction on the loop, we rode the other way and met up with them at the rock garden section.

So anyway, here’s a couple of pics Jen took as I was showing off:

I needed to capture a GPS track of the trail in Bluffs Regional Park (Lone Tree) for Singletracks.com, and Jen wanted a break from the kids, so I packed the kids and bikes and off we went.

I hear the shoe-in-mouth method of climbing is highly recommended by Carmichael Training Systems. I may have to try it.

Laney was mad about something…can’t remember what exactly:

And the GPS track that I captured:

Before I ever became obsessed with got into mountain biking, Jen and I did a LOT of hiking. Today the temps were in the mid 70′s with a mix of sun and clouds and my ‘weekend’ upgrade project at work went so smoothly that we finished it all yesterday, so we decided to go to Castlewood Canyon State Park: one of our favorite hikes and 10 minutes from our house.

To mix it up a little, Jen and Ava went one direction around the loop, and Laney and I went the other way. We traded kids 1/2 way, so Jen and I retraced our steps while each kid made the whole loop. We also used it as a chance to use our new 2-way radios that we got recently.

[View with PicLens]

So the eggbeaters pedals I got at the REI garage sale and then they turned out to be broken…

I contacted Crank Brothers and they are fixing them under warranty!

Yay!

Of course skiing won!

Due to the job change I had a long lapse in health insurance. We had Cobra if we really needed it, but we didn’t tempt fate by skiing until the new plan kicked in.

So this past Monday the kids were off school, I had a day off work, we had just gotten dumped on with fresh snow so it was a no brainer and we headed to A-Basin!

Having skipped a winter, it seems both kids had forgotten how to ski, and the morning provided a lot of whining and discontent. Laney got some good runs with me on the beginner slope and then retired to the lodge with Jen, and Ava watched some other kids snowplowing and was able to copy them and then was ready for the big mountain.

A-Basin’s lift doesn’t slow down when it comes for you, and Ava’s a little short for the chair height, so that was a challenge, but she can exit the lift just fine, and was happily snowplowing her way down the mountain. Now that she is able to handle herself, we should be able to help Laney get up to speed, and then eventually all 4 of us can just show up and go!

Oh, and I’m going mountain biking in Moab tomorrow, all in the same week…how cool is that!

Well, when I went to install the eggbeaters, I discovered one of them is broken. Bummer.

My Shimanos aren’t broken, and I abuse them pretty hard. I guess I’ll stick with Shimanos.

It’s 62º and sunny outside. I went for a short mountain bike ride before picking up Laney from school, and just grilled a burger out on the patio. It’s hard to believe we are supposed to get 12-16″ of snow tonight and tomorrow!

I made a deal with Ava today that if it 1) stopped snowing, 2) the sun came out and 3) got to 40º that we would go for a bike ride along the Cherry Creek Trail. All three criteria came to pass within the next 20 minutes, so off we went.

Ava got her first crash of the season out of the way, doing a dirt jump. She was extremely mad, but she got over it and we went on.

All in all, it wasn’t a long ride, just long enough for both of us to stretch our legs on the dirt and for me to fiddle with fine tuning some adjustments.

As for the the bike:

• The XTR rear derailleur shifts far smoother than any I have ever used before.
• The XT front derailleur needed some slack taken out of the cable. Did that when I got home and now it is silky smooth too.
• I obsessed over the saddle, and finally got it where I want it, until the next ride at least…
• I adjusted one shifter a bit and now they are both perfect.
• I figured out the travel adjustment on the brake levers and got them to a very comfortable level.
• Matt and I put too much oil in the fork and it has almost no travel. I will need to remove some before the next ride.
• The steerer tube obviously needs to be shortened. A lot. But I need to get a star nut installer tool first.

Component adjustments aside, this is the first time I have ever owned a bike that actually fits me, and it is amazing how much comfort and control that allows.

On the way back, I rode down a retaining wall by the creek. I used to do it on my hard tail, but it’s much more comfortable on the new full suspension! (Ava took this photo, by the way)

And now it is snowing, so I’m glad we got out and rode when we did…