Build it and they will...

...Ride! Yeah, how 'bout that? a 2-fer. Enough questionable music discussions for now. Yesterday I met up with G, a rider with similar proclivities as me and we headed up to the Mineral Virginia area which is about halfway between Richmond and Charlottesville right next to the middle of nowhere. According to the map in the above link its actually near the bustling metros of Bumpass, Trevilians and Beaverdam. Anyway, a rider who goes by the handle BCG (Bike Crazy Guy) owns a nice swath of property with a great house and nearly 4 miles of hand built trails peppered with stunts throughout the back portion of his land. There is something for any rider up there with great single track, man-made and natural jumps, bridge skinnies, drop-offs and two dirt jump rhthym lines. Everything has ride-arounds and the group of riders consisted of a pretty broad base of styles. Those in attendance included myself, G, Petrol, Trail Lummox, Chris and BCG with every kind of bike from a speed single 29-er to a DH/Freeride rig represented. BCG has mad riding skills and he makes all of the lines around his digs look easy...they aren't. Some of the lines are as nutty as anything this side of the northshore of Vancouver, BC including a double skinny drop step-down into a creek gap jump. There are elevated bridges and log rides that are all pretty impressive too. I stayed clear of the hairier stuff, but still had a blast on some of the more tame log rides and jumps. BCG's riding skills are only eclipsed by his hospitality as he whipped up grilled burgers and brats for the whole crew and we all enjoyed some tasty beverages to wash 'em down with. Sadly, BCG has the property for sale as with the arrival of his new baby boy modern ammenities like grocery stores, schools and medical care have become important. Maybe a right of passage could be written into their sales agreement to allow use of the trails ad infinitum for the previous owner. A great fall Sunday afternoon was had by all without a single minute of watching a football game.

Guilty Pleasures; part 2

Some years back whilst I was still living in the ATL a friend of mine who was ridiculously hip, fashionable, my hair-stylist and gay in fact, turned me on to the band/music collective Gus Gus (myspace page). Dance and disco music have long been the butt of many jokes in the rock'n'roll world. Combine this with an electronic techno group from Iceland and it starts to seem like you are conjuring up an old SNL skit. Nonetheless, I recall being at this guy's salon listening to assorted songs from Gus Gus that blasted from his iPod (he was the first person I knew that had one) that he had wired into the stereo. I guess what caught my attention was that it did not seem like background music, but instead commanded yr attention with its heavy beats and in-yr-face sound. The first release that I heard by them was "Attention" . Its still my favorite although I also really like "This is Normal". The sound is pounding yet melodic with crystaline haunting vocals and it makes you wanna move yr ass even if you might be otherwised embarassed to do so. I began putting selections from it into playlists that I would bring to my office. I always received compliments from everyone including this statement from one of my assistants: "That music's gay, but I like it" as she sashayed around the office. Below are a few videos which are at least a representation of their sound. Esthetically, they are kinda obtuse, but what would you expect from an Icelandic techno group?








I guess it is kinda gay (whatever that means) but I too like it.

Can you hear the drums...

...Sherando?!? Ah, how I love a hideous pun. The lowest form of humor. Oddly, even though I have an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music and often have an iPod blaring out whatever noisy crap shows up in one of my playlists, I still fall victim to having some terrible pop song getting stuck in my noodle. Thus the mental audio pun of hearing the first few lines of Abba's Fernando rattled in my head intermittantly whilst riding up at Sherando Lake on Sunday.

I left my cozy environs before dawn (note my zombie-like palor) to head up to RVa to meet my old pal DJ and his pal Ross shown giving me the stinkeye.

DJ graciously offered to drive the rest of the way from Richmond which seemed like a pretty short drive maybe an hour or so. We met up with their friend from Snowshoe, Darrel who was a good rider and pretty amusing. Although Ross had rode here before and DJ had hiked it nobody was exactly sure of the route.

A few false starts and we finally got into the thick of the riding which consists of mostly bench cut ridge line single track up the mountain side. The first word for the day was rocks and the second was leaves; tons of both. There are very few sections of the ride that are smooth and did not require yr undivided attention. The bulk of it is rideable although a few really steep (up and down) or messy parts require a hike-a-bike. The fall colors are in full swing and that made the views rather nice. I found all of the climbs pretty mild and thats saying something since I was on the biggest bike and probably weigh more than anyone else.

Call me a sicko, but I do not think it becomes a real, epic or great ride until someone wipes out or bike parts break. We avoided the former but came away with my rear tire's sidewall getting slashed open early on one of the descents (not so bad) and Ross's front brake dying (not so good). I was able to change the tube and rig the inner sidewall with duck tape to finish the ride. Ross had to hang back and walk some of the hairy sections. Overall it was still a blast, even with our bike's getting a little banged up (its mountain biking, dammit, not bird watching).

I look forward to checking out more of the rides throughout the Blue Ridge corridor including Doughthat, Massanutten and of course Snowshoe. I leave you with another Swedish nugget that I hope gets caught in yr noodle. Ha!

Night Rider!!!

Fall is certainly upon us as the temperatures and leaves have descended. I always try to get my weekday ride fixes in with my commutes to and from work, but its no substitute for the intensity of trail riding. My work and family commitments seem to become larger daily forcing me to creatively search for time to get out and burn it up. Shorter days make it even more challenging. I can get to my local haunt from my downtown office in about 15 minutes, but I still only might have a half an hour of decent light.

Undeterred, I dusted off my headlamp, a Niterider Flame Thrower HID their first series. I have used this light sporadically since I got it and have read some less than favorable reviews, but it has always been pretty bulletproof. It is blindingly bright and provides a daylight view of everything in front of you for about 20+feet. I suppose I could add a handlebar light for even better shadow definition, but I am able to see pretty well with this puppy. I have tackled technical rides and small jumps without too much fear whilst using it, but never any man made stunts. The 'switch has some fun stuff to play on so I decided to give'r a go.

I arrived a lil' before 6 PM and it was already dusk. There were some of the BMX'ers packing up, but not another soul around. I fired up my light within the first ten minutes. I was feeling pretty good, music playing through my pack and I had no trouble seeing anything. The Nomadizer felt great as usual. Hell, I could ride uphill through a manure pile on that bike and still enjoy myself. The platform ramp pictured below is about 8-10' up from the base of the exit and requires a slight right turn at the top before you descend the 45 degree incline ramp. I conquered this in the daylight, but it is pretty sketchy as there is little room to put a foot down at the top. I was not sure about trying it in the dark, but I was feeling good so I went for it.

I cleaned it perfectly and I cannot begin to express what a rush it was in the pitch black woods. I went on to ride for a little more than an hour. I never saw anyone else. I have always felt that night riding trails feels like you are in video game with darkness all around with the only light in front. I suppose in some open sections you can get some ambient light from the city or moon, but east coast woods are generally too dense to allow much if any light in. All totalled it was a blast and half. The only thing that would have made it any better would be to have some other like-minded riders to join in. Those are far fewer here than back in Georgia, sigh. I will be working at the EVMA booth at the 21st annual Tidewater Mountain Bike Challenge this weekend. The course is fantastic; maybe the best XC course (read: not dumbed down to a street with dirt thrown on it) I have ridden. See y'all there.

Lets Go...

...do it now.

I am far from a sycophant for any Hollywood elite, but now would be a good time to vote and make your voice heard. I cannot think of a more important election in my voting lifetime '85 to the present. Plus Sarah Silverman rocks. She is messhugah in a good way. Now go ride yr bike. My next ink:

Get your own knuckles at the knuckle tattoo gun.

Ready to Ride and the Nomadizer

Depending on whom you ask Samuel Levi, our newest player, rider, pack member (according to our dogs) was born on Friday 9.12.08 at 10:23 PM. My wife is recovering well, the family is thrilled and lil' Sam should be ready to rock in no time. I must say he is pretty awesome, in great shape and I am psyched to be able to do everything for him from the feeding to cleaning to changing and entertaining (we stick out our tongues when discussing politics). Speaking of politics, Tina Fey should receive an Emmy for this performance. Funny stuff no matter how you swing. Yes, I already have his first bike picked out too.

The "Nomadizer" is my nick name for my new Santa Cruz Nomad. It is my cunning lingual blending of the name Nomad and one of my favorite Fu Manchu songs, "Anodizer". This is somebodies homemade video which is mediocre, but you can at least hear the tune.



I held out on getting a new frame for quite awhile. I had been aboard my Heckler for over 3 years and it had served me well. I never felt out-gunned on it and I rode it all over the place including on my trip to Switzerland last year. It was on that trip with its high burliness factor and relentless downhills where I felt I wanted more bike. I tried Nomads before, but I originally felt they were too stretched-out for my routine riding and that would not translate well on the tight east coast single track I frequent. I was not real concerned about weight, but I kinda wanted to stay around the 35 pound mark or less. My hope was to retain all the positives of the Heckler (razor-sharp handling, and acceleration) while adding improved climbing ability and stability in the nastiness. I was well aware of the Nomad's reputation and had listened to Mo-Fun Mike rave about his since day one. Still I held off.

Santa Cruz rolled out their updated Blur LT (long travel) this spring which I spoke about here. At first it would have seemed to be an ideal choice for me with its matching geometry to my Heckler despite having less travel. However, after being assured that I would be better off aboard a Nomad for my shenanigans I set out to locate a frame. I knew that pretty much everything off of the Heckler would transfer over except for the Cane Creek Double Barrel shock so I procured one from T2. Then SC debuted their revised Nomad which would be available later this fall. I am sure it will be a kick ass ride, but I figured I would rather have the pinnacle of the original design, and the updates were not really that big a deal to me. Also I liked the looks of the original better with its hump echoing the shape of a 50's hot-rod. Last but not least I knew I would be able to locate deals on this design as shops salivated to get the new one in.

Initially I was a bit concerned after building the Nomadizer up as I was not used to the geometry which felt noticeably different than the Heckler. My first ride out the bike felt sluggish and unbalanced not to mention heavy. The frame and shock are heavier than the Heckler and with the beefy build-kit I have the weight was close to 39 pounds. I decided to speak Malcolm at Cane Creek about dialing in the shock who promptly returned my call. I remembered when Mike first had his Nomad and then later purchased a Double Barrel that it took some trial and error to find the sweet spot for the bikes suspension balance b/t solid pedalling, a plush ride over the trail chop and the bottomless feel that the VPP design is known for. Malcolm said that it would take some experimentation, but once dialed the Nomad works great with a Double Barrel. He made several simple suggestions which worked like a snap and the sluggish unbalanced feel disappeared. I then took inventory of my componentry and looked for ways to drop some weight. First and foremost, would be my wheelset which although bombproof is on the heavy side of the fence being better suited to DH (which I will save them for) versus all mountain riding. I ended up going with a set of DT 340 Enduro Trail wheels and immediately lost a noticeable pound and a half of rolling weight. All of the other components did not have as big a weight savings, however I switched my bar/stem combo to an Easton Monkey Light DH/Raceface Atlas and down-sized my WTB DH seat to a more svelte WTB Pure V Race in Camo like Diamond Dave loves. Final score: 35.6 pounds with pedals; same as the Heckle-beast. I added my "HELLBELLY" sticker on the top tube and I was ready to ride. (Part 2 soon)

Guilty Pleasures

I had a fantastic ride yesterday up at Freedom Park. I ran into some familiar riding acquaintances and met a new one. The weather was pretty much perfect, the trails in great shape having received a little rain during the previous days and I felt dialed in aboard the Nomadizer (detailed review and discussion forthcoming). One thing that riding there always re-enforces for me is my enjoyment of the kind of riding I probably should be "maturing" away from. In particular are my adorations for the sketchier technical-side of mountain bike riding versus my more efficient exercise-obsessed, light weight bike worshiping cross country riding brethren. Maybe one day I may find my way to measuring my riding enjoyment in miles covered, grams saved or faster lap times. This seems to be more acceptable to most as opposed to flying off drop-offs/jumps, careening down wheel-demolishing boulder fields or negotiating precariously narrow logs/bridges/ledges that span heights where falling comes with high consequences. They are all guilty pleasures that are just playing to me.

I felt I should share a couple other guilty pleasures that I have no real explanation for other than I am just fond of them. Feel free to judge/laugh at/condemn as you wish. The bands mentioned below have little if anything in common with most of the stuff I yap about here. "Everything She Wants" -Wham!

One of the reviews for this song says that it just rocks. I agree. It contains a stomping back beat and thumping bass with Michael Jackson-esque vocals (back when he did not suck) except with more soul. Powerful stuff. George Michael's personal antics have long overshadowed his musical output for many years, but he and Andrew hit a home run with this one. Yes, I do have this song in my iPod alongside Zeke and other aforementioned musical monsters.

"Good Thing" -Fine Young Cannibals

I loved The English Beat and I still rank "I Just Can't Stop it" as one of my all time favorite albums. After the Beat's short, but impressive career output the band splintered into General Public and Fine Young Cannibals. Although I was not really blown away by General Public I was always drawn to FYC's unique sound. I don't know why, but I love the retro-soul vocals and simple circular rhythm of the song. The video imagery which is reminiscent of Quadrophenia has a great look. Yes, I do sing these songs in the shower. Guilty as charged. We'll get back to the usual maelstrom soon enough.