Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Very Brief Rant: Get a Bell!

I ride a lot on trails where there are dog walkers, trail runners, families with kids, etc. As well as other mountain bikers. I have a bell on my bike, and when I want to let someone know, in a friendly way, that I'm approaching, I ring it. It saves my voice from screaming "on your left" constantly, it's audible over a long-ish distance, and it cost $4 to put on my bike.

You would think this accessory would be common among the sort of person that is perfectly willing to spend several thousand dollars on a bicycle. But you would be wrong. I'd estimate 95% of the people I see riding bikes on the trails around here would prefer one of the following to installing/using a bell:

-The Stealth Pass. Maintain total silence as you approach the unsuspecting pedestrian, relying soley on their innate 6th sense to warn them to move out of your way. Act really peeved when they don't move quickly enough.

-Ride off the trail. Who cares about singletrack? If you want to save 10 seconds getting back to your car, you can just ride around the silly hikers off the trail (yes, you can combine this with other techniques)!

-The triathalete scream. You all know it - "On your left!" Unfortunately, sometimes there *isn't* a good way for someone to get out of the way, yelling is pretty unfriendly, and it's hard to yell at someone from 50 feet away without losing your voice after a few repetitions.

-The inappropriate pass. You're 10 feet from the trailhead, finishing your ride. Is this really the time to rail around someone? YES! Alternately, a line of 10 riders is coming uphill - should you yield to them, ruining your shredtacular descent? Naw! If they don't get out of the way, just ride off the trail.


If you are riding on crowded trails, and you don't have a bell, you are basically an idiot, in my book. It's also possible, depending on what passing technique you use, that you're ruining the trail, endangering bike access, or even risking hurting someone (possibly yourself).

So get a bell. If you can't swing the $4, stop by Waltworks World HQ and I will give you one for free and help you install it. No joke. Then ring away and make friends out there, while proving to everyone that you are not a moron.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Old School

Thanks to Reven for the picture - this is her 2005 vintage WW (so, somewhere in the first 30 or so frames I built, though I'm not sure exactly what number), being ridden this weekend at Steele Creek Park in TN.

I'm about to build her an "update" of the same basic setup - it's interesting to see how much the way I build things has changed over the years, along with the overall evolution of 29" bikes. By my current standards, this bike has really long (for a singlespeed) chainstays at 44cm, a very short/steep front end (71.5 HTA and 38mm rake), no seat tube sleeve, and tiny tubes (31.8mm downtube on a 29er?) that are probably underbuilt for the punishment that Reven deals out (I was such a weight weenie...) Tire clearance kinda sucks too, so that will improve as well.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thanksgiving Recipe: Mattar Paneer!

I have no idea how authentic this recipe is at this point, it's been heavily modified by yours truly and probably wasn't that authentic to begin with. And it's obviously not traditional Thanksgiving fare - but let's be honest, Thanksgiving food sucks.

Matar Paneer ala Walt

Cottage cheese : 2 cups (if you can find dry curds, those are nice, but normal large wet curds work fine)
Frozen Green Peas : One bag (2 cups-ish)
Vegetable Oil
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
Cinnamon stick
Red chili powder : 1 tsp
Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder : 2 tsp
Heavy cream : 3/4 cup
Garam masala powder : 1 tsp
One large onion, diced
One can of diced tomato
2 cups diced hot green chile
Some fresh ginger, shredded
1 tsp salt

Heat up some oil and toss in onion, green chile, and ginger. Fry for about 5 minutes until the onion is transparent.

Add chili powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder fry them for 3-4 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, salt and garam masala powder sautee them for another 4-5 minutes.

Take the resulting mixture and process to a smooth paste in a blender or food processor.

Heat up the pan with remaining oil and add cumin seeds and cinnamon stick, fry for maybe a minute or two until things are sizzling.

Add the paste bring to a boil, then add peas and cottage cheese and cook for another 5 minutes (simmering).

Finally, add the cream and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and serve over quinoa or rice.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Best Laid Plans

I really wanted to have a lot of stuff done before Sarah and I (and Pele - it will be an exciting holiday!) head up to Estes for Thanksgiving with the fam-in-law:
-Kurt's frame
-Prepping/packing/shipping Stu's frame/fork
-Finishing up some forks and other little stuff
-Wrangling Mohawk's mangled hanger back into shape
-Probably lots of other things I've now forgotten

But, at 9pm, looking down the barrel of being a stressed out jerk for Thanksgiving, or alternately finishing stuff this weekend or next week, I opted to come inside, write a quick blog post (with a *terrible* picture, even by my low standards), drink a beer, and call it a day.

Of course, I think I quoted Kurt 6 months and it hasn't been even 4 yet, but once I set myself a goal (even a little one) I often have a hard time letting go of it. I do deliberately try to quote really conservative wait times - because I don't want to be that "he quotes you 3 weeks and it takes 3 years" framebuilder. But it still rankles when things don't come together the way I want - even if they're ahead of schedule.

Anyway. Kurt's bike is a pretty sweet 4" travel FS setup:
-71 HTA, 73 STA
-18" seat tube, 29" standover
-24" effective toptube
-13.6" BB (unsprung)
-45cm/17.7" chainstays
-For a tapered Fox TALAS 120/95 (it'll be 71 HTA at 95mm, and more like 69.5 at 120 travel)
-Awesomely brazeon and cable-stop free, because I didn't get to that yet

I am aware that it's weird to use a perfectly good DHX Air as a dummy shock to hold the shock mounts where I want them for tacking.

In any case, happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and I'll rap at ya this weekend.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Monday Irrelevance: Sign a petition for beer and food

I have been friends with the Avery guys for many years, and they are looking to open a restaurant/brewery in Gunbarrel (farther from my house; boo!)

Anyway:

Hi everybody,

Please help support the cause, and sign our online petition and letter to Boulder City Council. Go to...

http://www.change.org/petitions/city-council-of-boulder-co-allow-tap-rooms-to-make-and-serve-food-and-keep-iconic-boulder-businesses?share_id=LsPllZlpKY&

Please email the link to as many of your Colorado friends as possible. Signing the petition will increase our support numbers, and automatically send a letter to City Council.

Thanks!
Joe

Joe Osborne
Marketing Director
Avery Brewing Company

Friday, November 18, 2011

Waltworks CFITT 2011 - Race non-report

From Luis:

DNF! Race went well though, and I felt surprisingly good after being sick the week before. Got tons of stories but they're best told around a campfire.

At around 12:30am Sunday after the most hellacious hiking trail poach EVER (think: 2 pedal strokes - huge log 2ft off the ground - lift heavy ass bike - repeat every 25 feet for 5 miles) I reached some nicely groomed trail. I was JRA when CRUNCH, looked down and the rear der. was completely wrapped around the cassette, slider bent, cracked and deformed.

I considered my options, rigged up the bike as a SS with a droopy chain and continued on until I reached the next point where we were supposed to pick up the Florida Trail. The GPX was screwed up in this area and I rode in circles around a hunter campground for about 20 minutes until I heard someone racking their pistol. At that point I decided it was best to ride out some forest roads to US19 and call for extraction.

As I laid inside my sleeping bag waiting for my wife, shivering, it suddenly hit me "YOU HAVE SLIDERS DUMBASS". WTF I could've tightened my chain and continued on the 20 or so miles of trail I had to go to the end, I'm a sser after all. MEH, my brain wasn't working right.

Ended up with 161 miles on the GPS, not a bad day at the office I reckon. next year the camping gear stays home (and I won't make that silly mistake again). BTW riding the trails and forest roads in the Ocala National Forest at night solo is real spooky. David Muse (of TNGA fame) had a nice run in with some good ole boys...

No real pics of scenery but I attached a few.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

De-fense!

Yes, it's over. You can all call her Dr. Sarah now.





Friday, November 11, 2011

The Ubiquitous Old Car in the Woods Photo


Title and picture courtesy of Barry.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

...the rest of the story





If someone wants to translate any of this, feel free to email me.

I find it interesting to note that the only two action shots are of Marcus' bike (in the second, it's actually Chris riding, not Marcus).

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Overexposed!

I never, in my entire life, thought that I'd end up on the cover of a French mountain bike magazine, riding a 36er and looking goofy. Well, ok, the looking goofy part was probably pretty predictable.

So, kids, believe in your dreams.




I'll post the rest (it's all in French, and probably says horrible things about my personal hygiene, or something) tomorrow.

Edit: I am not the guy with the hipster facial hair in the big picture. Duh. If I'm going to grow something on my face... it'll be like this.

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Friday, November 04, 2011

Picture from Matt



I assume Matt was arrested for loitering shortly after this picture was taken, but apparently he likes the bike. A nice smart build - X9, King, Stan's, Fox, Thomson. Pretty much what I would use.

Random pictures for Andy

Random photos of Andy's (you guessed it) 29er. He's breaking the bank and going full XTR, so this thing should be pretty sick!









Thursday, November 03, 2011

Extended...

The torture continues - Sarah has an extension to Sunday evening to finish her dissertation.

Expect more posts next week when I no longer have to spend all my time trying to get my wife to eat/sleep/stay sane.