Wow...I didn't know Thomson made these...

Making 3D models of bike parts

I've been performing more monotonous functions at work lately so I decided to try and model some bike parts in Pro/ENGINEER. I am putting together an interior gear rack for my Xterra to hold a mountain bike as well as my other riding gear. Some of these parts will have to be fabricated and I figured I could model them up just to see how they would look before cutting anything. I want to incorporate some water bottle holding features So I modeled these versions up and rendered them just for fun.

Bottle cage with wood finish

Bottle cage with black finish

I'll post more pics as I get further along.

New bp logo suggestions

The oil spill going on in the Gulf is terrible. This stuff really upsets me but it does serve to drive home the point that we need to be free of fossil fuels. Why can't we get beyond this!?! One of the good things that has come out of this is all the new logo ideas for bp. I think this one is my favorite...

FUCK YOU BP!!!

'Nuff said!

 

http://rideafuckingbike.com/

SMBA MUD 2010

I was so disappointed this year. Not that the organizers did anything wrong but I had made it a mission to get the day off to go up and help out, have fun and especially ride. My Mom was up visiting but didn't feel well so I couldn't leave my oldest with her and my wife was out. Not only that, it was pouring rain...FUCK! So I took a chance and ventured out with my oldest to go and check it out for an hour or so.

I probably should have stayed home. I hate standing out in the rain and my daughter likes even less than I do. It wasn't long before I got the question "Can we go home now?" and of course it was in the oh so lovely whiny voice, if you're a parent you know of what I speak. Oh and did I mention the sick bikes that were there to demo. High end stuff from Trek and Gary Fisher, also a few Ibis whips to try to. I didn't get to ride any of them. Anyway, not to sure everyone there was thrilled about me bailing on helping out...oh well. I guess I'll just have to wait for next year's.

Does a bear shit in the woods?

My Dad had been visiting with us for the past couple of weeks. I had to drive him back home over the holiday weekend so I wanted to stop over in NJ to visit my friend Rich and his wife Katie. Thught it would be a great opportunity to ride too. So on Monday he and I drove over to Ringwood Sate Park. Hadn't been there in 10 years so I was stoked to go. We didn't really know the trails and the maps we had sucked but we found some good sections but there was lots of climbing.So about 3 plus hours into the ride we are really starting to feel it but we finally found the Skyline trail which is supposed to be one of the best trails in there and it did not disappoint. I only wish we had hit this wen we were fresh. So we finally figure out which way is back to where we parked and were finally getting into riding the trail when I come around a corner and BAM! There's a black bear on the trail...with two cubs...and there all about 15 feet in front of me. "HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT!" Must have said it a few times "...an effing black bear with cubs, go back...go back!!" I told Rich. I have never been more ready to shit my pants than right then. Then we had to back track the difficult terrain with our bikes between us and the bears. We waited a few minutes and watched them move off up the hill. With a huge sigh of relief we moved on back the way we were going and made sure to hoot and holler the rest of the way. For while we were still on our toes and vigilant but eventually we relaxed and laughed about the whole thing. Rich asked me "Does a bear shit in the woods?" and I told him I wasn't going to stick around to find out. In the end I guess that's what mountain biking is supposed to be...fun and memorable.