Stupid Stuff

Rode to Idaho city the fun way. Over Adalpe, Robie Creek, Hwy 21 to Grimes creek, and the up forest service road 311 to the Harris creek road down to Idaho City. Then there is the 2.5 mile climb home. All this is great if you are not an idiot. I own three hydration systems and a water filter. I took one bottle of water and one with perpetuium and an Ice tea. It was a 100+ and this has allot of climbing. Well I didn't die and no one got hurt and I learned a lesson I already know. Can't wait to do it again. Got to get back to GDR updates and SPOTS and stuff.

jimbo

Warm up vacation

Spent a few days in Montana, I am calling it a warm up vacation as we are headed back in a few days. So this was kind of like stretching out before a long run. It was forty degrees when we arrived outside and in. The next day it warmed up nicely and the rest of are time there was quite pleasant. We had Gracie with us and she and Sky had a great time. Took the laptop and used it more than I thought I would. It was nice to have music and I also took many pictures on our hikes and could share them with Ruth my mother in law. She is unable to hike like we can but, seemed to enjoy the pictures. A good trip even though the fishing was not that great. Plan to take a bike next time. My plan is to take the Sojourn. I have taken the fenders off and ordered some 35c Kenda Cross supreme tires. They should work well I almost bought some 29er tires as I think a 2.0 will fit. I will try it someday but I know that for the fire roads up there these will work fine and they are about half the weight of the stock tires. This thirty five pound bike is a little heavy for everyday use. Striped it down a bit but even without racks it's 32 lbs. Realistically think with lighter tires maybe a different wheel set. I can get it to a more reasonable 30 lbs. with racks. That is the goal I guess.

Riding along

Just riding along here. Cruised up half Bogus this morning. Felt like a slug. I have been riding but not climbing hills very much definitely not been pushing the pace up. We will have a working sprinkler system this week and are heading up to Montana on the weekend. Many things are cutting into training time but, I have no events to train for and have resigned myself to getting all the houses fixed up this year. Next year look out I plan to focus on training and racing something. Not sure if I will race mountain bikes or road. The local mountain bike series needs to change a bit before I race it again. Less races away from Boise would be a start. With the entry fees and licence and travel it gets expensive. They also need to have a one day licence for experts. I would do the Soldier Mountain race this year but, am not going to sand bag in sport class like other people and I am not going to buy a yearly licence for one race.

Took a load of gravel from the Boise house to Idaho city. Another load or two and I will have made a nice sitting area out front. Went on a small mountain bike ride nice ride but, slow climbing. Sure like my Titus up there it's 32 lb weight doesn't help the climb but, it descends like a scalded dog.

Quit yer Bitchin'

Reading allot about the price of gas and getting a little tired of it. It costs more now. Low fuel prices are not a right they are a privilege. That now is gone, get over it and rethink your life. I have been falsely accused of being a tree hugger for years and I finally came up with a good response "don't confuse my being frugal with actually caring or trying to save the planet".

Above are a couple of pictures of my typical frugality's. Top photo is the set up I use to take my recycling back. It's free money and riding the bike is faster to the recyclers than driving. I don't turn down the interest I make at the bank and what I make off of recycling my cans is about the same.

The second picture is of the San Jose with a line locater that I rented on it. Another trip less than five miles done by bike.

So my basic plan of life is now catching on and for once I am ahead of most of the herd. I rarely drive during the week and save my gas money for fun stuff. Like going to Montana over the long weekend like I always do. I didn't change anything about this trip and we had a great time. Next weekend I will not be driving to Driggs to ride as driving that far to ride don't make sense to me. I will however ride around here lots. Mountain biking tomorrow and off Friday again because of no work. Have lots of home projects so I will be working. It has been pointed out to me that even taking every Friday off without pay I still make more than when I was cooking.

So quit bitchin' about gas, ride more, and eat well.

jimbo

First Charity Ride

My first charity ride. Paula and I rode to the start, the ride, and home. She was leaning towards driving to the event but it only added about fifteen miles to the ride. For a total of 87 miles. I rode the San Jose having a little front bag was nice and it is much lighter than my daily ride. The ride was well supported and even had some food at the end. They did a great job especially liked having vegetarian burgers available at the end. Most people forget about us non-meat eating types.Today we hiked the Table rock area early to avoid the heat. Saw a nice buck and lots of birds. Brian asked me if I would ride in to work tomorrow after the long ride. What else would I do? If I drove all the time and went for a long drive on the weekend you wouldn't ask me if I was driving in. It's like MnBicycleCommuter said" it's what I do". Just like the rest of the world that hops in their cars I hop on my bike.

Day Off

Had today off not really planned, we are a little slow. Looks like I get two long weekends in a row. Tomorrow Paula and I are riding the ride for Independence. I have never done a charity ride and this looks like fun. Ace-Co the company I work for is trying to encourage employees to get in better shape and paid for my entry and five other co-workers. Several of our wives are also riding. That is the good news the bad is we are expecting record high temperatures 94 degrees. We have seasons here two damn hot and cold. What bike I will ride? Paramount, San Jose, Sojourn all are ready I will decide in the morning.

I was actually productive today and did about a full days yard work and went to RJM and got my computer issues solved. Not a big problem just needed some software so I could read XLS files. As a bonus I also got Word and power point. Guess if I go back to school I am ready. Like any tools you never know when you might need them. Will write a report on the ride maybe take some pictures if I ride a bike with a bag.

Sojuern picture

Rode to Idaho City house on Friday after work nice trip. Would have taken more pictures but, batteries went dead after one shot.