Creek Jump

Molly in action!

Warbird Lands on Highway

I was flying into Chicago yesterday when I heard about this over the radio. What looks like a T6 Texan, a World War II era trainer, had engine problems on the way to the EAA Airventure airshow and landed on highway 41 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. A state trooper caught it on his dash mounted camera.

My Ineptitude Rivals that of the Bush Administration

The title pretty much says it all. (Sorry for the picture quality, they were taken with my overheating cell phone.

Today Doug and I planned to do an early mountain bike ride in Golden. It was going to be super hot so we wanted to start early. Usually I'm late for such events, so I woke up extra early and loaded up the truck with plenty of time to get down there. I had to run a couple errands later so I had multiple piles of gear to act has a distraction. After a quick glance at the mountain biking pile I decided I had everything - jersey, helmet, water, energy gel, gloves. Off I went...

I was in the parking lot at 9:00 am sharp and somewhat proud of my promptness. That pride faded as I gathered my equipment for the ride. I had a nagging feeling something was missing. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something just didn't feel right. Then it hit me - SHOES!! F*$&!!! For those of you who don't know, to ride a bike of any caliber greater than a Walmart brand these days you need specials shoes. They clip in to the pedals for increased energy transfer from the rider to the bike and mine were sitting in my bike bin at home in the garage. I could visualize them stacked neatly in the bin serving no purpose in the world.

Options??? Here's where the Bush Administration part comes in. Option 1 - Drive back to Boulder to up my shoes. Time = 1 hour. Cost = gas. Option 2 - Drive to Denver to use my back up pair that were in Doug's garage from a previous ride. Time = 45 min. Cost = gas. Option 3 - Find a bike store in the area and buy a cheap pair I could craigslist later. Time = Unknown. Cost = At least $50. Then it hit me. Option 4 - I've always used my mountain pedals and shoes on my road bike. Why not find a store close by and buy a pair of road shoes and road pedals, use them for today's mountain bike ride and then swap them onto the road bike when I get home. Time = 1 hour? Cost = 100? Great plan right...

Waiting for Wheat Ridge Cyclery to Open

New Shoes and Pedals

Road Shoes - Ahh So Clean

Wrong! Actual Time = 2 + hours. Actual Cost = $260. It took forever even though I was fast. The guy in the bike store looked at me like I was crazy when I asked him to mount the road pedals on my mountain bike. I played it off like it was a new trend, we'll see if it takes off! How does that relate to Bush Administration you ask. I tried to solve a simple problem by throwing exorbitant amounts of time and money I don't have at it. My well intentioned plan turned out to cost 5 times more than I thought and took twice as long! Okay that might not be a fair comparison - I was well intentioned! Ha!!

Back to the ride. We left at 11:30 and rode for 2 hours in the heat of the day. It turned out to be one of Captain Alex's death rides. I was in a state of heat exhaustion the whole time. I drank over 300 ounces of water and never went to the bathroom once. I found out later there was an ozone alert today and old people and small children were ordered to stay inside.

Heat Exhaustion

Road Pedals on a Mountain Bike

Heat Exhaustion Induced Delirium

Other than not being able to walk on the trail or clip in easily, the road pedals and shoes worked great. Even with heat exhaustion I felt solid on the climbs, fast on the downhills, and my feet were super comfortable. We finished the ride with a dip in the frigid waters of clear creek. Nothing completes a summer time ride like temporary paralyzation in ice cold water.

Practical Sports Car Part 2

I couldn't help wonder what the M Coupe would look like with a hang glider rack. Here is a poorly photoshopped rendition from the photo in my previous post.

I went for a mountain bike ride today and took this on the way home. Some of my regulars might recognize the background.

Practical Sports Car

In the sport of Hang Gliding having a good rack is a necessity.

A rack that can accommodate multiple sports is even better.

Once I even made a rack for rent-a-car out of a giant PVC pipe. The roof caved in a little, but I laid in the back seat and kicked it out before I returned it!

Right after I took this picture and old guy asked me what was in the tube. I took a cue from Lee and told him it was life-size blue prints for my house. I explained you just lay the blue prints on the ground and nail the wood down along the lines, to which he responded "Well, you better not build it here and ruin the view!"

Back on topic, no rack = bad idea!

Having proven my point I decided the M Coupe just wouldn't be complete without a rack. It took some very careful custom engineering, but I pulled it off.

Now the argument that the M Coupe is a grossly impractical vehicle just won't stand!

I gave it a little too much gas shifting out of 1st as I pulled up to the loading zone. The raspy exhaust note turned quite a few heads as it screamed out from the background noise of idling diesels.

Bugs in my Hair, Cat Pee in my Nose

When I was in Utah for work last month I would try to ride everyday when I got out of class. Still trying to overcome my on-going knee issues I would keep my road rides down to about 40 miles of mostly flats. One of the easiest rides was from the hotel due West along the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

If you've never been to the Great Salt Lake, search your memory for the nastiest puddle you can remember and multiply it by 1 million. You can smell the water before you see it. I would describe the smell as a combination of dirty wet dog, cat pee, cow manure, and sulfur. During intervals as my heartrate and breathing would increase I could actually taste the putrid air. Then there are the bugs, more bugs than I have ever seen in one place. As I rode along the shore I would go through clouds of them so thick you couldn't see the other side. After each cloud I could feel hundreds of bugs crawling in my hair under my helmet. Only water like this would make so many bugs. Yum, want to see if you can float in it??

Yet the Great Salt Lake and the surrounding salt flats are an amazing place. It is the only body of water I would truly consider a desert. If you drank it you would die of dehydration. As I rode west along the shoreline, the tall buildings of Salt Lake City would sink to the horizon and the stress of my work training would go with them. When I looked back and saw nothing but the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains I was at peace, if only for a moment. In Utah, you truly can ride off into the sunset.

There is beauty everywhere, even in a wasteland like the shorelines of the Great Salt Lake. It is riddled with abandoned vehicles, buildings, train cars, couches, and even water slides, each harboring it's own unique photo. Jeff and I spent a night with the stench and bugs trying to find some beauty along the shoreline. Here's what we came up with, remeber "...the eye of the beholder."