Warming up and getting antsy...

Well our internet service finally works at the apartment. Only took three weeks delay. Good job UND. They still charged us of course. Anyhow, it works. The weather is getting significantly better around Grand Forks. Not flying-wise, of course, but moral wise. It’s not bitterly cold anymore, and Spring, or at least fake-out Spring (North Dakotans can tell you all about fake-out Spring) seems to be easing into place. I’m working on the Lemond (on our sweet new Park workstand- thanks Edward and Chris!) to get it ready for action once the roads dry. It needed a new freehub bad after the past 3,800 miles; it had the stock cheapo freehub that comes on the old Rolf Vectors (not a very nice wheel- flexy as ever, and scary on fast corners- good thing I’m not a racer). Someday the wheelset will be replaced, but for now, just the freehub. I’m getting quite excited for the change in seasons. Every Spring is like coming out of a hibernation cave for the locals of my town. Winter is just so very nasty here, and you spend most of your time inside, which obviously gets stuffy and causes much outdoor itchiness. Yes, a few winter adventures happen, but the frequent fresh air starts soon when the sun decides to make it all the way up into the sky, rather than follow it’s half-hearted arc across the southern horizon during winter. My friend Chris seems to be getting the outdoor impulses as well, and if I’m still around the area in a couple months, we’ll have to scheme up some trips to the North Shore of Lake Superior. I know Alison would like to use her pack and road bike more frequently too. The Lake Itasca trips should get somewhat regular as well, being as it’s good backpacking only two hours away, and of course the road bike laps on the park Wilderness Dr are always quality. Mmmm. I shouldn’t get myself too riled up though, there will still be a bit of waiting. But not as much, Summer is closer.

Two tall ones on ice...

Haven't been writing much lately. I still don't have an internet connection in our new apartment. The University is proving to be less than helpful despite our calls. It might get fixed someday. Anyhow, thanks for the 4 season tent parents! My buddy Chris and I spent last night in the wintery mix out at Turtle River State Park in the new Jensen family winter sleeper (an REI Mountain 2 tent). Good times. Another buddy of mine happens to be the assistant manager of the park now, so he came out and greeted us after we hiked in through the foot and a half of snow (the campground is closed except for crazies like us). So we stayed up 'till the wee hours chattin' in the snow, than took the tent for a test night. It was nice and toasty for the first half of the night, then I somehow slid my way off my ground pad, and with no more insulation from the ground I woke up a bit chilly. But all in all the system works fantastic, and winter wont stop the campin'. I'll have some pix if Chris emails then to me. If not, you'll have to use your imagination 'till next time.

CA

So it’s been awhile for the bloggin’. This has been the busiest month I can ever remember. Moving. Surgery. Wedding. Honeymoon. More moving. Little bit of work. Wow. I could post a ton of pix and stories of it all, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to find the time to catch up with everything. I’ll try to leave a taste though. To recap the wedding, it was wonderful. Despite the surgery the week prior, I was feeling pretty well, and things went great. I even managed to keep it together and not cry during the ceremony. I didn’t think I had a chance. J The honeymoon to San Francisco and Yosemite fueled the fire of us wanted to move, and we’re now researching places to live and jobs available. West is best. Obviously. It was in the 60’s for the majority of the trip, and we had a blast riding the cable cars around (you totally don’t need a car between walking, biking, and public transit their), eating mounds of seafood everyday, riding the Golden Gate Bridge on a Burley tandem, checking out Chinatown, visiting Edward in Livermore, checking out the Pacific Ocean, taking a Bay cruise and seeing Alcatraz, shoppin’ and other city stuff, and spending a day in one of the most famous rock climbing areas of the world- Yosemite. I want rock. It was warm enough to climb their, despite it being February. I’m totally going back with cams. Anyhow, there will be more stories and pix later, but this is your taste for now. Back to working a little.

surgery

Ouch. Well now I know what it feels like when your apendix gets angry. If I didn't have enough going on lately, this topped things off. Thursday night I got a terrible stomach ache, which kept me up all but two hours of the night. Friday I cancelled all my flights to stay home and sleep, which still didn't happen for the most part. I called Alison to drive me to the doctor when she got done working, which was around four, but at two in the afternoon, I jumped in the truck and drove myself to the emergency room, cuz my stomach was super grumpy. The doctor only took a short look at me before sending me into surgery, because my symptoms were textbook for apendicytis. I'm back home now, and recovering. Pain killers are wonderful. Doctors are too. If these weren't modern times, that little apendix of mine could've meant the end of me. Crazy to think of that. Medicine does a lot for people. I'm sure glad it happened this weekend and not next, and also that my apendix hadn't ruptured, otherwise I would've missed my own wedding. Yikes. Anyways, these painkillers are putting me to sleep, so I'm gonna continue the lazy healing proccess so I have some energy this weekend. Thanks doc.

Steel is real

Thought I'd post a couple shots of the new drivetrain on the Surly. It's pretty sweet, minus my cheaptastic cranks, which need to be replaced soon. I feel a little stupid with the fierce bashguard considering there isn't a rock to hit anywhere near my home here in the prarie, but I plan on using it during mountainous trips this summer. I've ridden Porcupine Rim enough now in Moab that I'd like to do it on the ss instead of my geared suspesion equipped rig. A challenge for sure, but tons of fun all the same.

You can see that the new apartment is still getting organized. That's our spare bedroom, which is currently box and bike central. Hopefully soon it will be an office/workout room. Anyhow, I'm a sleepy man right now so I'm gonna sleep...

Yikes!

Yikes, scary blog comin' from the folks at Surly today...
Keep your eyes open out there...

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

My butt hurts.Yesterday, while I was riding in to work I had a little run-in with a little car. Now, there have been many occasions in my riding life where I've witnessed a dumb-ass behind the wheel pulling idiot moves, but yesterday was a new one for me.Suffice it to say that a car passed me too close. I raised up a finger (in mittens I might add.) The driver stopped in the middle of the road. I rode by his window and gave him a small piece of my mind. That bit's happened many times to me.The new part was that this evolutionary mishap made the mental leap to attempted murder. He gunned the motor after I was back on the right side of the street... and hit me. Full-on ran me down. Wow.Despite my immediate reaction to get his plate number, I couldn't focus on it and away he went. I was pissed.I was pissed, but now I'm sad. I'm sad that I don't trust people to have their fellow humans' lives in mind. I'm sad that this particular guy is so full of rage that he stooped to a first degree felony because I was on a bike.But mostly I'm just kind of generally sad. Sure, I'll get over it. All I got was a bruise on my butt that looks like Marlon Brando (the later years, not the svelt Wild Bunch Brando) and a tacoed rear wheel (I think the Nice Rack may have saved my life) on my CrossCheck, so that's cool.But I'm sad that people do this to each other. I'm sad that we can't all just wave at each other and smile like idiots when we pass. I'm sad cars can't just give me a little more room. And I'm sad that this particular dude won't ever get it.
posted by Skip Bernet

Catchin' up..

Busy busy. I have done more lifting of other people’s stuff this past weekend than I’ve ever cared to do. I finished moving out of the duplex and into the apartment Alison and I will be in after the wedding. Being as my roommate Chris and I were the last dudes out of the place after several other people have come and gone, we had a lot of abandoned junk from the other dudes. Good thing I have a pickup now, cuz we had to make quite a few trips to the thrift store and random dumpsters around town. So I had moving in addition to wedding planning, and a new semester of flight student keeping my crazy this week. But things slowed down a bit, and I was able to throw on the new drivetrain for my Surly. Man it’s sweet. I’m riding the 34x20 for snow riding right now, which is kinda slow in the clear, but we’ll see how it goes in time. I also got a 17tooth freewheel on the other side of my flip/flop hub that equates to my old 32x16. I upped the chainring in front to a 34 to increase overall chainwrap so things will last longer. But long story short, I’m ready to ride when I can manage to get away from all my business.
In other news, I think I’m going to be doing some bike building at Scheels, one of the local bike shops on the side of my “full time” flight instruction gig. Gotta eat, and the weather’s been trashy. We’ll see how that goes. As long as they understand I need to make my own hours things should be ok. Anyhow, bloggin’s turning to ramblin’, so I’m gonna run…

new semester o'kids

I managed to swing 8.9 hours of contact (paid) time yesterday with new and old students. 7.8 of it was briefing, so my voice is a little scratchy, but it was nice for a pilot to get paid for once. The next few weeks should be busy, with nine students, moving, and a wedding arriving. Might not hear too much from me, but we’ll see.
Singlespeed drivetrain arrived in the mail a couple days ago. I installed the two new freewheels, but I can’t quite get the chainring bolts out to replace the chainring yet. Park Tools makes a tool for the job that only cost 4 bucks, but I failed to think of buying one with my last purchase of parts. I can’t count on the local bike shops here to stock much of anything either; not because they don’t want to, but because not many riders live here, and tools would just sit of their shelves. I’ll have to go to Lowe’s or Menard’s and see what I can create on the cheap. Then my all steel workhorse of a drivetrain on my steel bike will be ready to crush things. Mmmm.

Plannin' and Packin'

Back in Grand Forks. I’ve been doing a mixture of wedding planning and packing. I move into the apartment Alison and I will be living in this weekend, and she’ll join me after the wedding, which by the way is coming up fast. I’m pumped. People talk about cold feet and nervousness before marrying someone. Well I’ve got some pretty hot feet; I can’t wait to marry her! Four weeks to go. I’m sure it will go by quick considering all that has to be done to finish getting ready for the big day, not to mention starting a new semester with a full load of students and moving. And somewhere in there I’ve got to fit in a few rides so I’m not a soft-bellied husband. Anyhow, off to bed before another day of getting’ stuff done.

Rays MTB Indoor Park

Cleveland figured out how to solve the problem of winter. Very cool.