I shall call you: Hamburger Knee

Erika and I are pretty sad to have the house all to ourselves...we miss Slammer a lot. At the same time, we both realized it wouldn't do us any good to sit around and cry whenever we saw something she played with, laid on, chewed on, etc. So we took a trip to Fruita, CO. It's a cool mountain bike town on the western slope with great riding.

Here are some pictures.

Driving at sunset toward Fruita.


Erika is cute. This was a super mellow climb, but it made us appreciate our complete lack of fitness after 8 weeks of taking care of a suffering dog.


Erika shreds the Zippety Do Da trail. Note the trail following the ridge in the distance.


In an effort to try and get some level of physical condition back before Thanksgiving, I went to try out some large-ish jumps at lunch. I was doing fine until I jumped during a cross-wind. My beautiful blue baby was unharmed during the crash. Now with updated icky picture!

Slammer: 2000 - 2008

We love you and we'll miss you.

Bike photos

Here is the finished beast.



I painted the headbadge with Krylon. I think it's stainless steel, so we'll see how long it stays this color.

Was: Red Heat, Now: Blue Heat

Earlier this year, I bought a new frame in anticipation of the Hammerschmidt release. I got it in red because most of my bikes have been red. On the Turner website, it looked like a candy apple red, but it was really a flat, boring red with a semi-polished rear triangle and a black rocker link...see below.



It wasn't a bad looking bike but it certainly wasn't handsome, either. Also, I didn't have downtube cable routing, so I was left with zipties holding it in place and scuffing the paint. So, I took it to Spectrum Powder Works here in the Springs and had it painted. It looks great. Now I just have to reassemble the bike. Check it out.


Complete frame...the upper rocker link will be black to echo the Turner type. The Turner logotype is painted on...no more scratched decals.


Detail of the cable stop near the head tube. Yes, it's held on by JB Weld.


ISCG Tabs. I'll have to face the frame again to get all the powder off, but no biggie.


A nice view of the non-drive side dropout.

Lotus Europa - WIP

Long time no post.

Here are some pictures of a model car I picked up a while back. I started working on it again when Erika asked "when are you going to work on that again?". I chose the Europa because of the Lotus philosophy of weight savings. So many cars on the road offer big power, but in a big heavy package that handles poorly.

It offered about half the horsepower of a stock subaru WRX, but the heaviest of the Europa models weighed in at about 1600 lbs...less than half what my Subaru weighs. So the power to weight ratio was just marvelous for the 1970s.

"Simplify, then add lightness" is a famous quote from Lotus founder Colin Chapman. When I finish, that quote will appear on the case I put this car in.

Pictures:


Lotus Big Valve! 126 hp!


Front Suspension, steering and brakes.


Motor, exhaust, rear suspension.

Pump Track update #3

Well I haven't been updating the blog so much...busy, busy. This is only the third pump track update because I've been mostly riding it and not taking pictures. A co-worker came over with his BMX bike and helped me refine some areas of the track.

Below are some pictures.

Chuck just moved from sea level. He's out of breath in front of the big berm.


Entrance to the track.


Ripping the big berm

Pictures from Europe

Here are some pictures I took during my trip to Europe a while back.

Central area of Leusden (where I stayed) and my main mode of transportation in Holland.


Thatched roof...they're everywhere.


Really nice landscaping is also commonplace.


Funny horse laying down. He then proceeded to scratch his back on the grass, get up and take off running. The other one just stood and ate grass.


A good example of the stellar cycling routes in Holland. It is the best place I've ever ridden a bike (for purpose).


A windmill. They're not as common as you might think, but they aren't rare either.

Pretty View

Erika and I went on a bike ride yesterday from Buffalo Creek. It's a little closer to Denver than to us, but was a very nice ride. We wound up getting a little lost and climbing for a little longer than we'd have liked to, but it was worth it. We wound up at Wellington Lake with this view:



We also started pulling some of the lettuce from the garden...it looks tasty. I grabbed a little sprout to try some and managed to find some of the only mustard greens in there. So my mouth tastes a little funny.

Pump Track update #2

I decided to change up the layout a little bit. With the old layout, you could easily get stuck going in one direction. You'd always enter going clockwise, but if you took any of the center lines, you'd get turned around and be stuck doing a nascar, with no way out.

Here are some pictures.




The new set-up should allow for a figure 8 run, or just an s-bend that lets you change direction. It will take some doing, but I'm up to the challenge.

Long time no post

Okay, back to it. With the weather being so nice, I've been out riding a lot and hence, not updating the blog.

Enough with the excuses here is some stuff. I carry a good amount of crap in the trunk of my car. Jumper cables, bungee cords, tow straps, 20mm fork adapters for the roof rack, wrenches (10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm), a reverseable screwdriver...you get the idea. To my credit, I've never been stranded anywhere and can help anyone who might be.

But I also really enjoy the occasional canyon carving session and all that crap makes a TON of noise. Solution? Foam in the spare tire well.

Check it:


And the resulting empty looking trunk.



Also, Erika's garden is shaping up nicely. Her tomatoes are coming along. We put up some plastic wrap to protect them from the harsh sunlight (we live at 6000' elevation) and all the hail we get in the spring.





Besides tomatoes, there are onions, some hot peppers and some other tasty stuff.