RSS FeedMy poor sad mountain bike, bought 3rd hand from Clem this summer, got a pretty rough deal in our cross-country move. The wheels wont ever be true again, but after getting her new brakes and lubing up her headset proper, she’s been feeling like new.
Adam and I took the bikes out the last 2 weekends to the Tamarancho trails in Fairfax, ca. Its a 9 mile loop with a 2 mile climb to get up to it, and its a damn good time.
Nothing near as technical as CT has to offer, but challenging enough for myself, who needs to beef up some mtn biking skillz. There’s some technical sections, rocks, roots, lots of rolling hills that are super fun to cruise through, and TONS of switchbacks, which are the bane of my existence. My first ride out I couldn’t make any of the tight u-turns, kept having to clip out, and fell all over the place in slow motion to get around them.
Yesterday was much improvement, I got about half the switchbacks climbing uphill, and 1 going downhill – the mechanics are so different for such a similar movement. Its fun to see how I’m getting better again, and I hope next time we try this trail, I’ll be able to get even more of the challenges.
I feel more alive on my mountain bike than I’ve felt in a long time, and we’re gonna keep going out every weekend, hopefully finding different trails. Maybe when I get to ride bikes in CT again, I’ll be able to flaunt some better skillz.
So I’ve already burned through my first job here in SF… it was way too boring sitting by myself all day in a cold little showroom, tinkering away on designs I could give a crap about. The new job, for a venture funded anti-spam company, is going to kick ass, because I will at least have the stimulation of having other people around me!
The best part is the extra 2 miles added to my commute each way, bumping my mileage up to 10 a day minimum, not including any extra riding I get to do when Adam and I go to crossfit.
Sheeba has new brakes, which rocks, and I’m comfortable climbing all the hills with the singlespeed. I’m still getting used to going down hill…. with that, I’m pretty slow. I just need to grow some balls.
It has been a roller coaster week of bicycle maintenance. Two days ago Adam got a flat riding to work. No big deal, he just walked home and took out his mountain bike. I changed the tire, and on we go. Then last night, on the way to crossfit, my front tire blew while speeding down the scary Presidio Blvd in the dark – a pretty dangerous spot. Luckily we had a friend who drives us and our bikes home.
So I changed out the tube on that wheel. Simple, right? Nope. About 5 minutes after I put the wheel back on the bike, the tire blew out. Okay, weird. Changed the tube again, and again, it blew out. WTF!?!
So this morning I decided to ride to work with one of Adam’s wheels. Well, half way to work, THAT front tire blew out. I walked my bike 1.5 miles back to the bike shop right near our house, and told the guy to give it a full overhaul.
So i’ll be getting new Shimano Tiagra brakes – i know, not the best model, but still an upgrade. New tires and a tune up. Sheeba is going to feel like a dream.
As for why the tires keep blowing on everything? ….. Adam’s rear tire just blew out, right before I started writing this blog. His bike has been sitting in the living room for 3 days. Maybe its a ghost.
The day was sunny and a breezy 72 – perfect for Adam and I to take our mountain bikes across the bridge to the Marin Headlands for a fun whirl around some massive hills. Golden Gate was its usual mess of tourists on rental bikes. We blew by them and climbed past all the tourist overlooks to the only off-road path we have discovered so far.
This is a really awesome path at the top of a pretty big hill. It leads slowly down around the side of several hills, letting us just coast through the underbrush and enjoy the sunshine on our faces, and the sandy soil under our wheels. The whole descent takes about 15 minutes… so windy and fun.
We decided to see what the beach in the area was about too, so rode over there and laid in the sand, watching the surfers, totally mesmerized by the hum of the crashing waves. Next time we go there I’m bringing a pillow.
As we headed home we took the road, which seemed to have less super-intense climbs than the only trail we knew, and got to go through an awesome tunnel that seemed to stretch forever under the same hills we had just climbed. Next weekend we are going to really go balls deep and ride further up onto some real mountain bike trails in the redwood forests. I can’t wait.
After much frustration waiting around for our stuff to arrive, Adam and I were able to put our bikes together and test the single speeds out on the giant hills of San Francisco. It was awesome. I love city riding, the rush of chasing/being chased by cars, and the added bonus of heart-pounding, vein-popping, quad-ripping hills is promise for the most fun on a bike I can imagine.
Adam and I took a short ride from our place up to Fort Mason, just next to the golden gate bridge, and back. This ride took us up and down some scary hills, and at several points riding up a hill in Presidio Park I needed to stop for water, and so my heart didn’t explode. Aside from that one hill (it took probably 10 minutes to climb, its both long and steep), I did pretty awesome. Starting Monday I’ll be biking to and from work everyday, so I plan on improving my climbing abilities significantly and quickly.