Here’s a little tip that could be useful for you. Keep in mind that my way isn’t the only way, in fact some people don’t recommend using water to clean their bikes. If this isn’t how you clean your bike, amen, if it is, amen to that too brother!
Popularity: 2% [?]
Me and Moe, the last time I rode my Niner Jet9. Photo credit to Joe Solancho
Every time I think about it, it makes me sick. This past Friday at 12:30 in the afternoon while in Stockton, California visiting family, I took the kids to Victory Park to relieve the wife of her parental duties for a couple of hours. My teenage daughter stayed in the car with a headache and nasty cough while I watched my 5 and 3 year old boys on the playground 20 yards away. My one-month old black Niner Jet 9 was on the back of the van’s rack when two goons decided to take it from me.
My daughter, in the front passenger seat, looked up and saw one guy standing just outside her window. He smirked at her. Feeling uncomfortable, she proceeded to pull out her phone and call me. As she was doing this she notices another guy at the back of the van taking my bike off the rack. By the time I picked up the phone and got the bluetooth in my ear, they were off with my bike and I couldn’t find them. My daughter later told me that she felt I was moving in slow-Moe.
Lessons I learned:
- always lock your bike. Before the park, I stopped off at REI to return a couple of things and peruse their gear. I, of course, locked my bike while shopping at REI. But as soon as I got back to the car, I took off the lock because it tends to rub the paint when the car is in motion. Yes, I know it’s a mountain bike and they’re meant to get dirty, scratched, used… My vanity led to my defeat.
- check your insurance policy with regards to bike coverage. By Friday afternoon, I was pretty much over having my bike stolen. I was confident that my insurance company would “make me whole” with regards to the bike. However, when talking with the Claims Adjuster on Monday, I discovered that the insurance will only pay out up to $1,000 on a stolen bike. Umm… that does not even cover the cost of the FRAME, let alone the whole bike.
Bike thieves suck.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Editorial: A couple of weeks ago we did an altar call to summon the MtnBikeRiders.com Readership in an effort to bring back the beer reviews. After getting tons of emails from people that wanted me to help them with their rich uncle from Uganda, I finally found one email that read: “Please pick me! I’m a poet!” Well…being a sucker for poets that drink beer and mountain bike, I decided to talk to this fellow. To my surprise his last name was…ready for this…BEERIT! WHOA! Did he just tell me…”BEERIT” like Beer It? Oh My Fudgeylating GOSH! How appropriate was it to have a guy talk about BEER when his last name is BEERIT! Anyhow, below you’ll read Justin BEERit’s review of Budlight Lime.
Beer is good. I love beer. Even when it’s bad it’s still pretty…ah, who am I kidding? Beer is like cheese, it’s pretty awful when it’s bad. But, when it’s good—when it’s very, very good—beer can be up there with the best pleasures life provides. So, it was with excitement and eagerness that I responded to RL’s request for a beer reviewer for this site. It would allow me to combine three of my favorite things: mountain biking, writing, and (obviously) beer.
I suppose it would be appropriate to introduce myself a little. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah and mountain bike recreationally. Utah is great place for any and all sorts of outdoor activities, mountain biking included. As for beer, Utah certainly poses its own unique set of challenges (namely availability and cost) but they, like most challenges, can be circumvented (e.g. a trip to Evanston, WY or Wendover, NV). I try to get on the bike at least twice a week, weather permitting, but we recently adopted a one-year old girl and the transition to first time parents has placed occasional limitations on some of our previous freedoms. Even so, I make it a point to get out at least twice a week. As for Evanston or Wendover, well we try to make it out to either at least twice a year to stock up our reserves. (Keep this between us, though, as it’s still illegal to transport alcohol across state lines here….I know, I know, it’s bass ackwards here.)
Maybe now would be a good time to get into the beer review part? Fine. I fully expected for RL to say, “Thanks, but no thanks, Utahboy!” so I wasn’t quite prepared when he responded, “Let’s do this.” Between work and commuting and taking care of the little one and riding, I didn’t have time to stop off at the State Liquor Store (remind to talk about that particular Utah peculiarity at a later date) to pick up some righteous beer, so I opened my fridge to see what I might have at my disposal.
Dismal. Two Bud Lite Limes on the bottom shelf in the back (leftover from some long forgotten party) and a Guinness. Guinness is one of my favorite beers, so that’s definitely a way to go. But, I’ve never tried Bud Lite Lime before (hence it being relegated to the bottom back), and trying something new for this is kinda the point, ain’t it? Alrighty, it’s been settled. I will partake of the Bud Lite Lime and hope for the best.
I closed my eyes and tried it. Not bad. I thought the lime flavor would be overpowering, but it’s really quite mellow. Tastes like a Bud Lite with the tiniest hint of lime. Refreshing.
In the meantime, as I let the flavors overtake me, what more can I say about myself? I am tall and skinny (6’5” and 175) but not the fit, muscular, zero body fat kind of tall and skinny. I’m the flabby, no muscle, angular, goofy, asthmatic kind. Whatever. It works for me. I’m über-handsome (just ask my wife, she’ll agree—I think), and I look exactly like John McEnroe. Really, the resemblance is uncanny. Often, people—strange people I don’t even know, or not-so-strange people I know very well, like my mother—feel compelled to approach me and say, “Do you know who you look like?”
And I reply, “Who, Hume Cronyn?”
They often pause for a second—because if I were older I probably would look a little like Hume Cronyn—then they say, “Kinda, but no. You look exactly like John McEnroe.”
“You canNOT be serious!” I usually reply. “You’re saying I look just like Patrick McEnroe’s older brother.”
“Yes,” they say. Then, “Who’s Patrick McEnroe? And, now that you mention it, if there were an actor from Cocoon you look most like, it would be Hume Cronyn.”
“You don’t say,” I say. “I would’ve guessed Steve Guttenberg.” Then we all laugh, because it’s pretty much a known fact that I am the Steve Guttenberg of mountain biking (or, for a more relevant reference: the Brendan Fraser) because I’m not really good at what I do and people wonder how the hell I got where I am with the talent I was given (i.e. How the hell did a lanky, flabby SOB like you make it up this hill without dying? answer—between heaving gasps: I didn’t…I died a thousand deaths, but I made it.). Hell, Steve Guttenberg is an apt description of just about everything I do: Work, check. Marriage, check. Fatherhood, check. Writing, well, you be the judge. (Hint: it rhymes with check.) I’m Steve Guttenberg-ing my way through life, one bumbling moment to the next.
Mmmmm…You know what? The more I drink this beer, the better it gets. Not sure if that’s a good sign, but it’s the truth. It’s probably not a good sign. Might have something to do with the fact that I don’t even notice the lime flavor anymore. I see on the bottle, near the bottom, that it reads in bold letters CONTAINS ALCOHOL. Good to know. I prefer my beer to contain alcohol, but perhaps that’s just me. Maybe this is the result of a lawsuit where someone got sloppy drunk after drinking a six-pack of the strange Bud Lite Limeade they found in the beer aisle of Food Lion. I mean, really, who could’ve guessed that it would’ve contained alcohol?
Anyway, a little known fact about Steve Guttenberg: He is a direct descendant of Skippy Guttenberg, the inventor of immovable type. It was after seeing this useless invention that his second-cousin Johannes Gutenberg got the idea for the far more important movable type.
But, enough about Steve Guttenberg (by the way, whatever happened to that guy? I’m still waiting for Police Academy 9 or Short Circuit 3), this is supposed to be a beer review, for crying out loud. The beer is fine. I opened up the second one and finished it, too.
All told, they were better than I thought they would be. If I were on a beach somewhere instead of in Utah (or poolside in Vegas, even), I might have really enjoyed the beers—though that would be due less to the beers than to the setting.
That’s about it. I’m very excited about this opportunity. I love mountain biking, beer, and writing. I think I’m a fairly lucky guy to be able to combine the three. (Though, I wouldn’t recommend actually combining drinking and mountain biking in real life. Trust me, the two don’t mix, kids!) I promise to introduce you to far better beers than Bud Lite Lime in future reviews.
Drink up!
Final rating: 2 mountain bike riders (out of 5).
Anyway, drink up!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Today Priscilla, Khoa and I hit up Aliso Woods for our Saturday morning adventure. As I was getting things ready in the garage. I stood there for about a good 2 minutes trying to decide on which bike to take to the trail. If you’ve ridden Aliso Woods, then you’ll know that this is can be one tough place to ride. I went back and forth between the KHS XCT 555(All Mountain) and the Soma Double Cross (Cyclocross).
Before deciding on which bike to ride, I visualized the various trails that we’d traverse and imagined how the bike would react to the conditions. I finally made a choice and it was the Soma Double Cross. I knew that this bike may have a harder time on certain sections, but it definitely would add some flavor to my day.
Priscilla and I got in the car and made the 40 minute commute to the trail head. This was also Priscilla’s second time out on her new KHS XC 604 frame so she was looking forward to seeing how it would perform.
Obligitary bike on the shoulder pose.
As we made our way through Woods Canyon, we finally ended up at the start of a tough climb, Cholla. There’s a few guys that I know that could literally climb this trail in less than 5 minutes, in fact Eric “The Animal” Hunner does that climb on his single speed in about 4 minutes. Well for regular folk like me, I can, on a good.rare day, muster up that hill in about 7 minutes. But today was certainly going to be different.
I started the climb strong, but after reaching the first few switchbacks, my legs were toast and was relegated to walking a major portion of the hill. From Cholla, we made our way to Top of the World. This place provides some awesome views of Laguna Beach. What you see below is the Pacific. We’ve had some overcast this whole month of June, but it usually burns off by 10am and once it does, that ocean is spectacular to look at.
After our snack break, we then rode over to Meadows. After we pass a residential area, there’s a big of descent behind some homes then back up again then down one more time. Khoa had warned me to stay to the left, but I ignored his warning and decided to go right. I figured that I had ridden the right side before so what harm could it be? I start doing down on the right side, my front tire goes into a rut, it high sides the rut, next thing you know I’m about to go over.
Funny thing about it, as I was falling, I felt like it was in slow motion and I’m thinking in my head, “Oh man, this is going to be bad…” Fortunately, I was able to clip out of my pedals and bailed out before hitting the ground.
Pointing to the nearest all you can eat buffet.
The best part about mountain biking would be the time I get to spend with Priscilla. I figured God REALLY likes me to have blessed me with a hot bikin’ babe. It’s really been encouraging to see her progress in this sport. I still remember the days when she’d walk everything. Now she’s bombing down the trails with her eyes closed and no brakes! I love that woman!
Here’s a short clip from our ride. I originally wanted to make a uber cool video with great angles and all that, but I got too impatient with having to stop to get a shot and regroup that we decided to just keep riding.
Regarding the update on the Soma Double Cross. The frame and fork are UBER sturdy. Even though the rigid bike was a bit uncomfortable while hitting brake bumps on the switch backs, the bike still performed better than I had expected. I’ve been really happy with the durability with both items and I’ve yet to find anything bad about the frame set.
I’d like to thank Khoa for the pics and a few clips of the video. Priscilla, thanks for taking some of the video as well!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Here’s the Specs on the Airborne Taka
MSRP: $2,500 Frame: 6061 Aluminum 8″ Travel All Mountain/DH Single Pivot Suspension w/1.5″ Head Tube MTB, w/Sealed Bearings Fork: Marzocchi 888RV 200mm Dual Crown Rear Shock: Marzocchi Roco R Coil-Over Headset: FSA Orbit Z 1.5″ Brake Levers: Avid Juicy 3 Brakes: Avid Juicy 3 Hydraulic Brakes Rotors: Avid Juicy 3 203mm Shifters: SRAM X-5 Trigger 9-Speed (Rear Only) F Derailleur: N/A R Derailleur: SRAM X-7 Mid-Cage Cassette: SRAM PG-950 zz-32t 9-Speed Chain: KMC X-9 Crank: FSA MOTO-X 40t w/E-Thirteen LG1 Chainguide Bottom Bracket: FSA MOTO-X Pedals: NONE Rims: WTB LaserDisc DH 32h SV Hubs: WTB LaserDisc DH 32h (F) 20mm Thru-Axle Spokes: Black 14g Stainless Tires: Maxis Minion DH 2.5 Handlebar: KORE Torsion Race 35mm Rise, 31.8mm Dial, 710mm Width Stem: KORE B18 Direct Mount 31.8mm Clamp Dial, 350mm Length Saddle: WTB Pure V Race Seat Post: Kalloy Alloy 30mm Dia., 350mm Length
The MSRP on this thing is $2500, but its on sale for $1500 at GiantNERD.com
Popularity: 2% [?]
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
MtnBikeRiders.com is a site that specializes in news, articles, tech tips, product reviews and more. We update the site on a daily basis. So make sure you check us out everyday for up to date information regarding mountain biking.
