Miles and Miles and Miles....

So like a real bike nerd I've kept pretty good track of the mileage I've pedaled over the years on my various steeds, and I finally got around to organizing that information tonight on a spreadsheet to see how far I've gone. With the recorded mileages I have (this doesn't count rides that weren't accurately measured with a cycling computer, or simply weren't ever recorded), I've come up with a pretty decent total for being a young cyclist. My records currently add up to 6,680.6 miles of recorded riding. Couple oil changes worth of road/trail. I think I'll try to get into the habit of posting my miles on this blog once and a while, as I've seen many other bikers do, mainly to keep myself tuned to how I'm moving along in my two wheeled ventures. So far this year, my totals on recorded outdoor rides on my current bicycles are as follows:

Road Bike: 81 miles
Touring Bike: 49 miles
Fixie: 30 miles
Mountain Bike: Fat Zero (I live in the Midwest again)

Total 2007: 160 miles
Overal Total: 6,680.6 miles (10,750 km in the rest of the cycling world!)

Weather's warming up, and the mileage ticker should too...

Cycle Touring News...

My touring bike keeps getting cooler and cooler. The latest addition is a set of long-haul racks. There are a lot of good rack companies out there, so I opted to go with a bike company whose not let me down so far- Surly Bikes. Their touring racks, of course obnoxiously named the Surly "Nice Racks", are made of chromoly (steel alloy of chromium and molybdenum), are ultra tough and capable of just about any touring load, and unlike aluminum are weld-able at just about any Joe-Welder small town repair station in the world if you should ever break down (which probably won't happen due to their studliness). So no matter where my tours end up taking me in future years, these racks should get the job done. Now those of you who I am waiting to get tour equipped need to catch up, cuz my rig's ready. You know who you are Edward and Ty. California, Utah, Coast to Coast, dig it. Let's ride, camp, and repeat.

Some non-sissy mounts that will take a beating...














Front rack rated to 70lbs, though I have no plans of burdening myself that much...














Rear rack rated to 80lbs, though once again, just a safeguard letting me know that my loads will not take out my mounting platform; I better not carry around 80lbs of crap to go camping...

Whoops...disappeared for a while...

Sorry for the delayed return to bloggin', especially after such a riveting cliffhanger. :) What I meant in my last entry was that I've gone and upgraded the drivetrain on my fixed gear commuter bicycle. I'm sure some of you don't care, but some of you do. I appreciate it. :) The "Dingle", is Surly's new track cog that is a non-freewheeling unit (fixed gear) that incorporates two gears instead of one. So now I can choose to ride a 42 (front ring) x 21 tooth fixed gear for days when I expect some resistance from the wind (which is abundant here) or hills (which there are none here), or a 42x17 for the quicker days. The chain is tensioned the normal fixie way by sliding the axle forward or backward in the frame dropout. Neat. However, the weather has gotten fantastic around here the past couple of days, so I'm actually planning on commuting on my touring bike. I'm sure there will be more foul weather for the fixie though. It was so nice yesterday that I got ambitious, having the day off, and rode my second outdoor road ride of 2007. I was so excited to be outside that I ended up riding a half-century (50 miles). I brought more food that I thought I'd need, but I thought I'd only be out for about 30 miles, so my two Clif bars and one Clif Shot did the trick just perfect. I could have eaten a bit more though, seeing as my heart rate monitor estimated a 2,800 calorie burn over the entire ride. Loosing the winter tub already. Here's a fairly non-entertaining shot along yesterday's ride. Still lots of snow in the ditches, but it sure was nice out.














But it will be sad to see all the snow go away with respect to snowshoeing. We had two blizzards since last time I blogged (MN is nutz) and Al and I only got out once in the powder to walk. Here's a couple shots:














I told Alison to pose like the silly REI catalog models, who always seem more concerned with lookin' good than actually doing anything outside. :)




















In other news, I am the newest part time flight instructor at Twin Cities Flight Training at the Anoka County Airport here in MN. Doesn't mean much, I mainly took the job to have on my resume, because I don't really think they'll have much work for me anyhow. I haven't gotten much satisfaction from what I thought would be a relaxed fun job at the shop, and I'm pondering returning to the flying world already. Didn't take much time, but the job is definitely not what is was described as in my interview. Live and learn. I'm probably going to bite the bullet and apply at a regional airline to give that a shot. Life takes you for a lot of wild rides. So I've been studying the Airline Transport Pilot written exam guide quite a bit lately, and should be ready to apply for interviews soon. As always, we'll see what happens. But anyhow, I need to go to work, so I'm off....

My fixie's got a dingle...

Try to figure out what that could mean. I'll tell you later...

Those who toot their own horn...

Well, I'm thankful for having my new job, but it sure hasn't turned out to be what it was made out to be in my interview. I've been in the Coon Rapids shop for the past week, and it's pretty much been a return to Scheels, where I worked before during college and during some flight instructing days. I spend most of my days in a chemical bath of sorts, degreasing very neglected low quality bicycles that customers have dragged out of the corners of their dirty garages with demands that they perform like a $1000 plus bike. I've been putting in 10.5 hour days working alongside my supervisor, who has bloody bullet holes tattooed on his neck, and who recently asked me if I "blaze" (smoke weed), apparently looking for more people to waste away with. My managers have also clued me into the fact that the company off-loads 9 out of 10 mechanics as soon as the busy season is over (July or August), so job security and promotion opportunities that were boasted about in my interview my have been fluff to get me excited to work there. I can't say as of now, but needless to say the week was less than motivating. Maybe I'll end of eating all my words about the flight industry and return to the air sometime. I wouldn't make any money, but work would be interesting. Doesn't seem to be a lot of places were you can do both. Anyhow, my point today was not to bum anyone out, just to give an update. For now I'm going to watch the Tour of California on my day off...sweet...

Heat wave...

MN has been pretty cold lately. Cold and dry. This is the 3rd-least-snowy winter in recorded history, according to the local weather folks. And now we had a random warm spell, hitting the forties during the day, so the snow is not making it. Probably because I just acquired new snowshoes. But not to fear, there is much more to do outside. Alison and I decided to sleep out last night, seeing as the forecast low was 25 degrees F, and she doesn't have any winter camping experience yet. The actual low was 33 degrees F, and needless to say we were quite comfortable. We're plenty equipped for some winter backpacking when time allows. We haven't seen the Superior Hiking Trail in the winter yet, so hopefully that will happen before Spring is here to stay. And speaking of Spring, this heat wave also allowed for my first 2007 road ride here in MN. I donned my cold weather cycling garb and spun a nice 31 mile ride on fairly dry roads. I had all the usual Midwest cycling experiences- cool temps, wind, the smell of cow ass, and tubby dudes driving huge motor vehicles yelling at me in their belief that bicycles don't have a right to be on the road. But it was honestly really fun. It was no UT, but that's asking a whole lot. This will do for now. I'm just thankful that the really frigid days of the Northern winter might be over, and I got a good primer for the cycling season.

50 hours later...

My new job required me to go through a busy week of commuting to Bloomington (and hour drive each way due to traffic) for training. I don't know that I really learned anything, as I've already gained two years of bike mechanic experience, but I did get paid for fifty hours of easy work, and now I'm certified to fix your bike at Erik's and give your money to my boss. I'll be starting at the Coon Rapids store on Monday, and will be able to commute by bicycle and stop burning gas and money unnecessarily. I'm going to have to find some cyclocross tires for my fixed gear bike, because my mountain bike is up for sale (don't want to get it all sloppy), and I don't subject my touring bike to the salty winter MN roads. Anyhow, my schedule is somewhat slow for the next week at the shop, and the weather is supposed to warm up so that temps at night will be a balmy 18 degrees, so I may have to spend a night out winter camping. It would be nice to breath some fresh air. I don't own a four season tent just to fill my closet. As you were...

The Fool's Progress

Last night I finished Edward Abbey's The Fool's Progress. This was perhaps the best book I've read in quite a while. I say that not because I think everyone will like it, or that it contained a message that I think everybody needs to be exposed to, but because it hit a nerve within me. The best books you'll read are the ones in which you can tell the author has felt the same feelings that you are feeling, or have felt, so you relate, and it's not just a story. There were certain qualities, ideals, and opinions that the main character of the book had that I share (but certainly some that I did not). I guess sometimes it's comforting to know that others have the same delirium that you suffer from, and that there's more than one mindset in the world. The book is basically Abbey's autobiography morphed into fiction. Made me feel like writing my own. Maybe I will someday, for my own sake more than to try to sell a book. I'm definitely going to read more of Abbey's works. If you like to read, check out The Fool's Progress. It will hit you or it won't. Depends on what's already in your head, I suppose.

New place to spend my time...

I just accepted a new job at Erik's Bikes and Boards here in Coon Rapids. I'll be working as a full time bicycle mechanic again. In some of my spare time I'll be helping my father in law with some flight training, as he is going after an instrument rating. I may or may not be working at a small flight school in the area too, depending on scheduling. An escape from "full-time" flying should feel good, as there never was any stability or pay in that, but it would be nice to keep my foot in the door of that industry if I should ever decide that I can't live without an unstable, underpaid, under appreciated career that demands a high level of training and expertise. We'll see. I may just have too much fun in the outdoor industry. Biking to work, working on bikes, biking after work. Not bad. This of course puts me in the position of needing a winter worthy two wheeled human powered machine, as I sold my old 1x1 in SLC. My Trek 8000 is up for sale if anyone wants it. So for now, this is everyone's notice that I found work. You can call me for more details; I'll be working through calling everyone soon.

Yogaslackers...

Our old friends Sam and Jason from NHRG in Grand Forks, ND have started somewhat of a revolution in outdoor sports world. They've combined slacklining with yoga, and produced a DVD and website: yogaslackers. It's pretty wild, and looks like fun. I can't imagine how much it would build core strength and concentration abilities for climbing and any other sport requiring balance and focus. Check it out.