Hotter Than Hell - No Riding This Weekend

It is sooooo hot this weekend, 4 fires are burning in So. Cal and my sinuses are out of whack! What to do? Take pictures of my SS of course. Ahhhhhhhh!

Bike Rack - Yakima Getaway Four Bike 2" Hitch

When I got to the office on Monday, Scott had this in a pile of trash. I asked if I could have it and he said sure. Its a Yakima 4 bike carrier for a 2" hitch. I'm not sure if I will use it, maybe have to donate to Goodwill? The Getaway bike carrier weighs a ton and is built to last. I was going to use this on my Wife's Sienna Minivan but I'm afraid it sticks out too much in the rear. The last two bike clamps look like they can be removed. Bikes on the carrier can be secured with built in key and lock option. Basically you can order locks from Yakima as an accessory to the Getaway. Adding locks will give you peace of mind when you leave your bikes in the Parking Lot of Denny's while you get breakfast after a long ride.

Looks to me like the guys at WI are Ninjas

Who would win in a fight? Pirates or Ninjas. If you google Ninja vs Pirates you get these search results: Results 1 - 10 of about 4,470,000 for ninja vs pirates. (0.32 seconds)

An important topic indeed, I say Ninjas and by the looks of this Track Cog, I'd say WI sides with Ninjas as well.

Anyhow, I put this on my SS Mountain Bike for fun. Its a weird sensation riding a fixed MT bike. I didn't like it so I switched back to a BMX freewheel. I had to take out two links on my chain to get this to fit with proper chain tension. When I went back to my freewheel, I finally put on my all black KMC chain I got at the Sea Otter Classic.


An update, while surfing on the web, I caught this on Mountain Bike Review Forums:
Ninjas are everywhere!

Link to Post on MTBR.

Saturday, 9:30 pm at The Donutman in Glendora

During the week Diane and Carl, co-workers, were raving about The Donutman in Glendora. They said on Saturday at about 9:30 pm fresh donuts start coming out of the fryers. The key is to get there at 9:30 pm and specifically ask for the freshest. I ordered up three, A Peach Filled Glazed, A Chocolate covered Bavarian filled glazed, and a Chocolate Cinnamin Twist thing. All so decadent and super rich!

The donuts were great and it was equally fun seeing all the people show up soon after me. There were families with young kids in pajamas, High School Kids, young people and old people. At the side of the building three ladies huddled against a window watching the Bakers cooking donuts all through the night.

BUST! No trip to Potato!

With the air quality so bad, Meme and I decided to can the trip to Potato. Instead we met up with Kevin for breakfast. Breakfast at Roadies is always fun, Kevin and Meme ordered up the Hungry Man which consists of two of everything (Eggs, bacon, sausage, hashed browns, biscuits and country gravy). I went with two eggs, biscuits and country gravy, hashed browns, and corned beef hash.

We talked about past, present and future rides. Kevin has been out of commission for half the year and is itching to go riding. He has about another month, or month and a half, before he can start up again. We'll jump start his training with rides on 605 Trail and SART.

Red Dawn by Andrew Combe

On Fixed Gear Gallery viewers can post pictures of their bikes. Jason Combe of AZ posted this converted KHS. He calls it "Red Dawn" and in my opinion its a work of art worthy of putting on a wall.

Jason Combe Fixed Gear Gallery Submission:

Potato Or Bust!

Looks like this weekend, air quality permitting, I'll be conquering Potato Peak with Meme and Carl. I haven't decided which bike, but its between my SS or Cross Bike.



Here are a few pictures, I took about two years ago at the top of Potato.

Fire Season?

Heading home today, I spotted a large plume of smoke from the GMR area. "Oh my," I thought to myself as I headed towards the foothills. From what I could tell the fire must be somewhere between Azusa Canyon and Glendora Mountain Road. I hope the Fire Dept. gets a handle on it quickly as the brush and mountain vegetation is ripe for fire season.

I hope the air quality isn't too bad by the weekend.

Claremont Wilderness Trail on my Cyclocross Bike

I wasn't sure if I'd get a ride in this weekend. Saturday, Jamie and I went on a hike and Sunday is typically is set aside for church. At about 8:00 pm on Sat. I started thinking about the realistic prospect of a Sunday morning ride. Maybe a short ride up CWT, two or three laps.

I woke up early on Sunday and was out of the house by 6:30 am. CWT was the ticket on my neglected Cyclocross bike (Cross Bike). I haven't ridden my cross bike in a while, let alone a geared bike on the mountain, and it was a refreshing change. It handled extremely well on the climbs and the descents weren't half bad. The trick to descending on a skinny wheeled cross bike is to stay loose with hands placed in the drops.

I did two laps around CWT (Up Burbank down Cobal X2) and was home will in time to eat a bowl of cereal, shower and head off to church.

Hiking Claremont Wilderness Trail

Today Jamie and I hiked Claremont Wilderness Trail (CWT). It was a lot of fun and there were many other hikers, joggers and cyclists.

From CWT we headed up Burbank, then down Cobal. The trip took us about 1 1/2 hours. Early on Jamie and I did some 1-2 minute intervals. We also saw Antonio on Burbank. I waved him down and introduced him to Jamie.

Shimano Ultegra Crank Arms

A friend gave these to me the other day. The chain rings were thrashed but it looks like the arms are fine. They will make great SS crank arms.

Specs:
170 mm crank arm length
110 mm BCD

As for chain ring size, I'm looking for 46t.



I added an old FSA chainring I had laying around. They look really good and the ring is 46T. Lucky for me!



I picked these chainring bolts up at Incycle. These are needed for a clean SS crank conversion. Without these the original bolts won't fit right when you remove the second chainring and finding washers to fill the space is a pain in the a$$.

Man's Best Bicycle Friend

Carl sent this to me the other day. Being I work for a Dogfood company and love bikes, I thought it appropriate.

Bonelli Park - A Short Hard Climb

This climb is near the East Entrance of Bonelli Park. Its a short climb but steep and technical.

Mark's - GT Pantera Single Speed Conversion (Part Two)

After the conversion we forgot to take pictures. I guess we were to excited and taking pictures slipped our minds. Anyhow Mark sent me these...



I don't remember what type of cranks these are, but they look great with the single chain ring setup.

Bonelli Park with many Bicycle Friends

It was a cool overcast morning as I headed out to the Via Verde Park and Ride to meet with fellow cyclist. Instead of riding my bike to the Park and Ride, I opted to drive. The P&R is not far but on a single speed mountain bike the trek there would take to long. At a gear ratio of 34 X 19 (46.5 gear inches) is not the best ratio for flat terrain and would result in me "spinning out" to easily.

I got to the P&R about 5 minutes past 7:00 am with Alan, Mark and Carl ready to go. Alan and Mark brought two friends, Rony and Glen. Shortly after, Peter arrived and after a tire check, we were off. As we headed out Memo and Marco showed up.




On the trail, Alan busted a chain and while we fixed it, Memo and Marco caught up with us.




Alan, hammering away up the back side of Bonelli Park.



Memo and Marco showed up for our ride. Thanks guys for coming, I had a lot of fun.






Carl, Mark and Peter navigating some single track at the end of our ride.





Murky Water in Vietnam, anyone need to refill their water bottles? Vietnam is a part of Bonelli that's over grown and lots of tree cover. Its located next to the Motor home park.

Mark's - GT Pantera Single Speed Conversion

Friday night Mark and I converted his GT to a single speed. With a kit ordered from Performance Bike, elbow grease and a few tools, viola, a single speed is born. The SS kit comes with a chain tensioner, washers and three cogs. The cogs range from 18 to 20 teeth. The mod was pretty easy and we opted for 32 X 20 gearing for starters. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the finished product.