Relating to Yehuda Moon comics

Been following Yehuda Moon for a while now and can definitely relate the piece above. I got a call yesterday from the bike shop saying that my new Lefty (Lefty Speed Carbon XLR) has arrived and they offered me my choice of stem-steerer technology. Apparently the older style System Integration (SI) stem-steerer has quite a long lead time, whereas the new One Piece Integration (OPI) stem is the latest design, lighter, and readily available. I chose the newer OPI unit. Though, their "one piece integration" actually consists of two pieces. We'll see... I just want my damn frame and fork back so I can build it up and ride once again.

Above Left: SI Stem-steerer (Old design) Above Right: OPI Stem Steerer (New design)

Video from the Catskills trip

I was finally able to get this footage together and uploaded to Vimeo. Below is a video from last weekend's hike at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. I chose not to add a sound track to this and instead let it serve as a virtual hike right here on the interweb. This footage was taken with my Canon S90 and edited with Windows Live Movie Maker.

The latest from Danny Macaskill...

Blows me away every time I watch him ride... Talk about skills!

Gear Review: EMS Thunderhead Jacket

I typically don't post gear reviews on this blog. Gear reviews are something I always think about doing but usually don't because I feel it crosses that thin line between Interesting Bit o' Information and Nerd-dom. But, since I tend to live right on the border of these two great nations; why not?

Today I am reviewing my rain coat. Everyone needs one: Keeps you dry, keeps you warm, and perhaps most important: it enables you to make those midnight outhouse runs in the pouring rain. "Crap, I forgot TP again?!" I'm only giving this jacket a review because it works so well. It's saved me many a time my friends.

I bought this EMS Thunderhead jacket this past winter. I bought it to use both cycling and hiking/camping. So, for the past 8 months or so I've used this jacket on the trails, on the road, and under a backpack. It breathes really well, which is important when you've already invested in a bunch of moisture whicking under-layers. Your rain gear should breathe and release any moisture you create. It also has "pit zips" which sound a bit ridiculous but are extremely effective in cooling off your armpits and getting some airflow in there. One cool thing about this jacket is that it incorporates what EMS calls their "Sync" system. This means it has a snap & loop system for attaching liners to the inside of it. I have a liner and used it mountainbiking this winter; works great!

If I could suggest one improvement to EMS for the 2012 version of the Thunderhead rain jacket it would be: Add at least one chest zipper pocket. This jacket only has two traditionally placed zipper pockets at the bottom in front. When you're hiking with a pack, the hip-belt falls right over these pockets, making it a pain in the butt to retrieve items from them; like a camera for example.

Rainy backpacking in the Catskills

I spent this past Saturday through Monday backpacking around Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. Hunter Mountain is the second tallest peak in the Catskills measuring in at 4,040' above sea level. My friend Jay and I enjoyed the weekend hiking from shelter to shelter in a relatively small area of the Cats. In three days we hiked a mere 9 miles total; nice & easy.

We got to the trailhead around 7:00pm on Saturday night. Stepping from the car, a fine mist hung in the air, a dampness, which would accompany us for the next two days and nights. Hefting our packs up and synching our hip belts tight, we set off into the damp forest. After entering the dark woods, we hiked only a few minutes before switching our headlamps on. Rain was not falling but branches and nettles obscured the trail and quickly soaked my shorts with their heavy wet leaves. Though the hike from the car to the first shelter was only 3 miles, the trail was, at times, brutally steep and the overgrown brush from either side of the trail made it difficult to find safe footing on the baby-head sized rocks below. Nettles stung the sides of my knees making them itch!

We reached the Devil's Acre Shelter around 8:30pm and met three guys from Boston who were occupying it. They had just finished dinner and washing dishes when Jay and I arrived. We made small talk, killed a ridiculously large and threatening spider, then ended up sharing the shelter with them for the night. Within a few minutes of arriving, the rain finally let loose and down it came in sheets. It rained on and off all night while the clouds rolled right through our campsite limiting our view to only ten or fifteen feet in front of the shelter. We all got to know each other a bit while Jay and I cooked our dinners and talked about hiking in the Catskills, Adirondacks and life in Boston. Without a fire there wasn’t much incentive to stay up all night so we all crashed around 10:30pm or so. A full moon shown brightly between quickly passing clouds reflecting a silvery glow down upon the rocks and plants laid out before us.

I woke up around 6:30am on Sunday morning. The rain had stopped. Large puddles had filled pockets within tree roots and the hollows of rocks and logs. A trench had been beaten into the ground below the roofline of the shelter where water had dripped for the last several hours. Though dampness hung in the air, the five of us in the shelter were warm and dry. I had slept like a rock all night and I felt well rested. I unzipped my bag, pulled on my boots, grabbed my camera and headed out to take in the morning’s scenery. Water droplets hung in spider webs and crystal clear droplets lined the stems and leaves of lush vegetation everywhere. All the while a dense fog floated about our campsite. It was a wet but beautiful morning in the Catskills.

At around 9:30am the three guys we shared the shelter with, set off on their way while Jay and I took our time packing up and watching a new hard rain set in. When the rain broke, we picked up our packs and set off for the John Robb Shelter, just three miles away. On the way to the next shelter we stopped at the fire tower on the summit of Hunter Mountain (Elevation 4,040’). We climbed the tower but the low flying clouds obscured any type of view. Looking down from the tower, I was barely able to make out the picnic table below. A scenic view of the surrounding mountains was definitely out of the question.

Pressing on, we reached the John Robb Shelter sometime in the afternoon. This is one of the nicest shelters I have ever seen. Built in 2009 it was in spectacular shape and kept us quite comfortable. We ate lunch in the shelter and pretty much napped for most of the day. During a break in the rain, we hiked down to a nearby spring to fetch more drinking water. I spent the rest of the day napping, snacking and enjoying the sites and sounds of heavy rain in the Catskills. Though we heard no thunder and saw no lightening, a steady roar of rain fell down upon everything, creating a lullaby that had me asleep by 8:30pm.

Monday morning we woke to even more rain. It had rained through the night in a relentless bombardment of big fat drops. Rain streamed from the roof and down in front of the shelter, blasting a trough into the ground below. This trough had morphed into a mote around the front of shelter, with a trickling path down through the rocks and over the side of the mountain about 20’ away. After spending most of yesterday and all of the previous night in my sleeping bag, I was eager to get hiking. The rain was not showing any signs of letting up so we decided to get moving around 8:30.

The hike out was really enjoyable. I hiked out wearing shorts, gators, a t-shirt and a rain jacket. Though it was raining pretty hard, the forest canopy created a bit of a buffer and I really didn’t get too wet. The hike was mostly downhill along a very smooth fire road. Though the trail was wide and smooth, it had also transformed itself into a river. A steady stream of water filled the trail. It was a sloshy hike out, but we reached the car warm and dry. Looking forward to next time!

The 3 A's of awesome

A good friend, that I work with posted this on his Facebook wall. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share it with you guys (you guys being the world wide web). Enjoy.

Peace Doves

Shepard Fairey will be releasing his latest work, the Obey Dove print set, today at a random time. I love they way these look, although I am a fan of almost all of his work. He is only releasing 325 of these numbered and signed screen prints and is selling them for the modest price of a mere $90.00. Though he has not released a statement describing his intended meaning behind the design of these prints, I can only provide my own uneducated interpretation of them. To me, the doves, a symbol of peace, placed squarely in the center of the concentric rings (bulls eyes?) could be interpreted a lot of ways. The doves may be an objective, goal or target or their placement could illicit a statement of being in harm's way. Perhaps the duality of war and peace? There is also a militant vibe about the prints; with the triangular shape at the bottom of each, liken to that of the USAF rank insignia.

At any rate, I am prepared to purchase these prints which should disappear within minutes of their release today. I have my homepage set to the Obey Giant store and will begin reloading the page around 1:00 eastern time which has proven to be his usual release time. Wish me luck!

Edit: Well, I missed these prints! I was well prepared but just not fast enough to beat the entire world wide web! They sold out in less than 60 seconds!

Update on the Lefty situation

I stopped into the shop on the way home and spoke to the owner. He was like "we're gonna' make this right for you but here's the thing: There's no special tool to get the stem steerer out of the frame. Something's wrong with it. It should just slide right out. My mechanic just got back from a Cannondale training class and he knows what he's doing."

To which I replied: "Well, here's the thing; there IS a tool called the Ernie (and I pulled the tech manual that I downloaded from Cannondale's website from my back pocket) and its used for installing and removing Lefties. It keeps the stem-steerer straight so that you don't damage it, the bearings or the frame." He just said: "oh really? Can I keep this manual?"

My thoughts on this are:
A) He tried to bullshit me and can't be trusted.
B) He did absolutely no research of his own.
C) His mechanic never went to any training class or he lied about that.
D) I want to pour salt water down his seat tube.

He said that he will definitely pay for a new fork, stem-steerer and headset but cautioned me that he may not be able to get the exact fork (2010 Speed Carbon w/DLR - 110mm of travel). I just said, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I def want the same or equivalent.

I do not feel that great about today's face to face interaction with the owner at all. But I will keep you guys posted. In the mean time I am limited to my only other mountain bike which is my rigid singlespeed. I love it but I miss my Flash!

I could really use a Lefty

I recently mentioned that while out in Colorado I noticed my Lefty making a clunking noise/feeling and the lock-out was not working. When I stopped to assess the situation I found oil had seeped out of the bottom of the Lefty (all over my disk and caliper!).

I plan on mailing this up to Mendon Cyclesmith for repair but first I need to remove it from the frame. I know that there is a special Cannondale tool called the "Ernie" which is used for lefty installation & removal and I don't have one so I called my local bike shop (LBS) to see if they could remove it for me. They assured me that they could. I told them that it has an System Integration (SI) stem/steerer combo and asked if they were sure they had the tools to properly remove it. They said "yeah, sure our mechanics have the tools". Sweet! So after work I through the frame and fork over my shoulder and rode the fixie down to the shop.

They took it off my hands and immediately started unscrewing the clamps and wiggling the steerer/stem loose. I watched them to see how this special tool is used and what it looks like, but I didn't see any tool... Instead, I see one guy holding my frame upside-down while another guy uses a mallet to smack the shit out of my stem. They were trying to force the stem/steerer out of the head tube! I knew this wasn't right, but thought, well, maybe it just needs a tap or two...

Ten minutes later they're still whacking the shit out of my stem/steerer. Then they come to me and say: "We can't get the steerer out; we're going to have to destroy it to get it out.". I'm like "Woah woah woah!" I go look at what they've done and they had beaten the hell out of everything! The stem has a massive half-dollar size dent on the underside from all the hammering and the threads at the bottom of the steerer are destroyed from them trying to push it up and out of the head tube with some sort of pipe they had.

I was furious! I said: "you know there's a special tool for this right?" To which they replied "Special tool?".

I was so shaking mad... could barely speak. I was ready to punch someone/something! But, I kept my cool and didn't even curse, though I was so tempted to scream "WTF?!".

Surveying the damage here's what I saw:

1) The top clamp is badly twisted. They said: "Oh we'll straighten that out for you". Bullshit; you're replacing that. I'm not riding a fatigued clamp. What really sucks abou this is that the upper clamp is actually part of the upper carbon leg! So, they're going to have to get the whole upper piece from Cannondale.

2) The steerer/stem combo is toast. It's dented in many places and the treads are destroyed at the bottom of it.

They told me they will pay for everything but I will NEVER go back to this shop. I did not hear one apology or admittance of any wrong-doing. The owner was not in yesterday. But I did call him today to tell him what had happened. He rushed me off the phone saying that he'd pay for any damaged parts. I'll be paying him a visit after work today. All I want is for them to get my Lefty off and order the replacement parts no charge. When the parts come in, I'm sending them up to Mendon Cyclesmith and will charge the LBS for all costs.

The bike shop will remain nameless for now. Depending on how they handle this situation I may or may not flame them on Yelp, this blog, and mtbr.com.

Can you believe this crap?

I'm alive.

Wow, I haven't blogged since June 14th. I haven't had a gap open up like this since I was shelled in my very first criterium back in 2006! Nevertheless I'm back. I've been really busy and to be honest, pretty unhappy so I haven't felt much like reporting. I'm going to make this blog entry a quick & dirty overview of the past five weeks. That being said; onward with the quick & dirty:

Work:

I've been traveling a lot lately. Work has taken me to some pretty neat areas in the following states: TX, NC, SC, GA, IL, MD & VA. I really enjoy auditing the systems of different companies. The products and processes I see are extremely interesting to me and I really enjoy getting a close look at the state of the art technology these companies are utilizing. The project is now entering the final design stage and the car is going to look SHARP! At this point, it's a violation of company policy to release an image of the latest design, but as soon as the design is made public, I will be sure to post a few images; it's pretty sleek looking!

Hiking/Camping:

With all of the recent traveling, I haven't had that much time to get out in the woods. Two weekends ago however, my friend Jay and I hiked in to Island Pond at Harriman State Park in NJ. The hike in to the pond is only 1.25 miles of pretty brutal uphill, but the pay off is a refreshing pond. There are plenty of large rocks from which you can jump and there's a nice little island in the middle of the pond where you can lounge about and work on your tan. We had a really great time when we were there, to include cooking up some ribs and mac & cheese for dinner! The picture above was taken when I awoke in my tent at Island Pond.

Riding:

I don't know if I ever reported that the Lefty (suspension fork) on my Cannondale is busted. When I was out in Colorado, I blew the lock-out feature of this unit. It's a shame because I was really loving the Lefty's plush performance and the ability to lock-out the suspension on climbs and road sections. At any rate, my Cannondale is sitting in the living room until I get around to shipping it out to Mendon Cyclesmith (Lefty experts) in upstate NY for failure analysis and repair. In the mean time I have been riding my singlespeed (pictured below) whenever I get the chance. Last weekend my friend Dave and I rode at Sprain Ridge Park in Yonkers and had a truly epic ride! The trail conditions were perfect: dusty dry and practically empty. We didn't see another rider on the trails the whole time (3 hours). I was a bit hesitant to try out my tires (Kenda Small Block Eight's) for fear that a storm would turn the dusty trails to slimy booger-luge. But, the weather held and the riding was superb! I even busted out some trials moves from waaaaay back in the day. I was lazy enough NOT to post it on Vimeo, but you can download the QuickTime file here if you care to see me ride on picnic tables as if I were a 14 year old.

Lately, I've been getting out on the road bike after work. I get home from work around 5:15 which leaves plenty of time to skip across the GW Bridge and into NJ to ride north along the Palisades. Once in NJ, if you head 15 miles, or so, north, the riding gets very hilly. I typically turn around once I'm 12 or 13 miles out, making for a respectable (in my eyes) loop. There once was a time when I actually enjoyed riding hills. Those days are gone! So, these rides are pretty enjoyable! Also, I should mention that the fixed gear is riding like a dream. Ever since I gave the drivetrain an overhaul, it's been a tight and quiet ride. She's tip-top! I spent this past Saturday boppin' around Harlem and just really enjoyed exploring, getting lost and pretty much pedaling for the sake of pedaling (Sometimes I just head out the door without a destination in mind - spontaneity usually gets the best of me).