Monday, June 17, 2013

Father's Day weekend

 I took the family up to Herring creak to do some Father's Day camping and riding. Gage and Ashton are checking out the "Gargoyles".
 Ashton's first run down Snakedance
 Wouldn't be Father's day without Father Time. You like Biff's custom camo helmet and matching shorts.
 Ashton loves his Kona, it has made his confidence level soar.
 Jeanie got to ride Snakedance for the first time as well. Everybody loved the trail. Thanks to our one man trail designer/builder/maintainer it was better than ever. Gage said it is his favorite trail so far. 
 We hiked the canoe down to the reservoir to paddle around for a while. 
Small lake but worth the hike. Herring creek is always a good trip, close to home, good trails, cooler temps. I wish the keg of home brew would have made it home but it was fun while it lasted. 

Monday, June 10, 2013

Milo's Run

 Despite the look on my face I am very happy to see this sign. I heard about Milo's Run when I first started mountain biking. Every description or story I could find made it sound like it was a super gnarly suffer fest. Any time I mentioned riding it everyone else became really busy all of a sudden. I finally found my victim in Sean. 
 There are more hike a bikes than your average ride, but not out of control.
 The sections we did have to walk gave us a chance to enjoy the amazing views.
 Almost to the top of the hike. The best view of the Dardanells I have seen.
 Huge flowering meadows on the way down to Eagle Meadows. 
Its mostly downhill from here. Unfortunately I ended up taking a dirt sample towards the top of the techy DH section. I swore I wouldn't run the XC tires on my 429 after the last time I rode it. It made for a very painful ride to the bottom. I think I tried to dislocate my shoulder, and ended up with a sprained AC ligament. Despite the pain and the trip to the ER I can't wait to ride Milo's again. Super fun awesome scenery with a side of adventure. It also looks like there might have been some Grizz style trail work done since the last time I rode the DH.  MTB only reroutes down some great big granite slabs.      

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

More Spring

 Fish and I were playing above Lyons while everything was still green.
 Sea Otter! the official kickoff of MTB season. This years course was the best I have ridden so far. 
 I'm trying out a new type of brake pad. Scrub components makes theses pads with a heat sink bonded to the backing plate. Shimano changed all their brakes to work like this, but if you can't afford to buy new brakes this seemed like a good alternative.
 Here you can see them mounted in the front caliper. They angle out and look to give lots of extra cooling. The only issue with mounting them is making sure the pistons are all the way retracted so you have enough clearance.
 This is on the rear. I decided to swap out the rotors to the next size as well (203mm front, 185mm rear).  I think this will give the best cooling and power. I only have one ride on them (Arnold) but so far I am very happy. After bedding in they had a ton of power and were easy to modulate.  
Bobby and Katie and I made our first run up to PCP. I just rained the day before so the conditions were perfect. Awesome run. Thanks Grizz for repairs and reroutes.