bike dog

New Blog

2010-05-17T07:11:00.004-05:00

I started a more business related blog that has pictures and descriptions of my work, that sounds completely dull but I try to keep it interesting, so far there has been no talk of bikes but it will be updated more than this one.

http://sunwoodworking.wordpress.com

Commuting

2008-09-22T18:34:00.014-05:00

I started working as a woodworking instructor at Living Classrooms in Fells point back in June.

I have been driving about twenty minuets to the Light Rail and taking my bike downtown to Meadow Mill, Woodberry, and biking from there, we have opened up another site on Milton st. a couple blocks east of Johns Hopkins, its the ghetto man, really, it's bad.Fortunately my hours are off hours for the dealers and such evil ones,but that may change as the days get shorter.I am saving about thirty bucks a week in gas and the stress of the morning rush is like a Calgon moment compared to how it would be if I drove.

The mechanicals go like this;
two flats, one was near the train so I walked the other was a rear in the morning I had to fix.

In front of an elementary school a woman pulls right out in front of the car I am following, she hits her brakes and I hit mine skidding into the rear bumper, over the bars, on to the hood, slide up and hit my head on the rear window cracking my helmet and enlarging my right cheek bone a bit, I am really glad I was wearing my bucket.The woman's car I hit was super nice and the woman who cut us both off yelled at me and was sure she didn't do any thing wrong, even after the security cop told her she did.

My fender snapped clean, I was rolling along at a fair clip on a new fancy 700x25 pumped up to 120psi ,went from the smooth asphalt to the cobble stones and it broke at about the fifth Stone in. I rode this fender for two months straight with no problems I was very pleased with it but I think it had to much flex and when I rode over the cobbles with the high pressure it sprung to far.The other tire was a 700x38 @ 80 PSI, never had a problem. I want to make a thicker one out of a more flexible species, I really don't want to get into laminating to messy and wasteful.

One broken spoke, and a tire that the belts broke inside, never saw this happen before, it was a great tire that served me very well for maybe three years, not sure, but it lasted a long time, it happened when I left work I was praying it wouldn't explode in the ghetto I just wanted to make it to Gillford ave., Mt. Vernon was all I was asking from it and I made it all the way to the train.

It's so nice to ride every day I have driven only a hand full of times, I miss it and feel guilty when I have to drive. Oyeah after saying that last Friday some kids walking along Patterson Park threw a big rock at me, it landed like four ft. away in the middle of the road, that's another one I would be glad I had the helmet for.I turned around and rode up to them asking why and they said it was their friend behind the bushes, I didn't see any one but I don't think it was them they really seemed to feel bad about it.

This year I ordered some hop rhizomes from Oregon and they have done pretty good I think, Its my first attempt. I was at a pizza beer joint in State College PA for the single speed worlds a few years ago and they had them growing all over the porch , I thought if they could grow there then they should be hardy enough to grow here, three hours south.I don't brew and don't have an interest in starting to but I enjoy the results of the craft and appreciate the process.So I keep missing the Bootlegger's Bliss, a mid Atlantic underground tasting that involves two wheeled shenanigans. Your supposed to bring your home brew for sampling with other like minded folks, wonder if I could get in with a bag of Cascade hops and a six of Bells Two Hearted ale?

T.S. Hannabofatfanna

2008-09-05T20:51:00.030-05:00

We left last Saturday for Frisco N.C, we go every year this time, and it was raining all day due to T.S Fay on Friday while we loaded the truck.

Here it is Friday and we are back home,drove in and out of the outer bands of T.S Hanna, get home , unload and it starts to rain she really was chasing us down. first time we ever came home early because of a storm, and we could have stayed through it but why drive in 30mph plus winds and driving rain, why wait out something that could linger? We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful week.

Surfed every day, got to ride with Art and Brueck in some killer warm head high crumblers and wondered what the hell I was doing in some over head crushers at Roadanth and Buxton.

Man, I had to take these pics at the groins in Buxton , the water was immaculate, and I almost want to apologise for the tourist picture of the Light House, something about it , you feel a need to take it.

This is the South side of the cape, we had a new moon and the tides were reacting to it, real high and real low, with a tropical storm off shore made for strong side shore currents and produced waves on around the hook, first time I have seen this and the pros and cameras were there to catch it.

please click on this pic, it almost does it justice, the size and the natural beauty, I have never been to Hawaii but this looks like so many pictures I have seen of it.

Fishing on the edge of the earth.

Wednesday in Rodanthe the winds backed off to the west, with the east swell, perfection.

yeah some one is in there
more pics from the week can be found here.Big Hell Yeahs to rickyd and all the eastern SSers that rep'ed at the worlds recently

Is There Any Body Out There?

2008-07-30T20:31:00.003-05:00

Dating myself but I really like Pink Floyd, I'd like to watch "The Wall"again.
So yeah I am using a songs lyric to ask a question.
Yeah its been a good long time since I typed here, I'm so busy and that's all I will say for now.
I don't know how people do it every day or even regularly.
This is a great idea, sometimes you just need a tube or something little and don't want to go into a shop for it.
This is a good idea but it wouldn't last long in Baltimore, with no bike lanes that thing would be a pile of parts ground between a delivery truck and a parked b.m.w.
Concept bikes, this is a neat looking one, people are very opinionated about it, I like the idea of lights integrated with the frame.

Lance Armstrong unveils his new commuting bike shop

2008-02-19T00:50:00.000-05:00

Lance Armstrong unveils his new commuting bike shop

That makes me wish Lance was from Baltimore.

"Runnin' With The Devil"

2008-02-12T22:37:00.001-05:00

YouTube - David Lee Roth "Runnin' With The Devil" Vocal Track

David Lee rules Van Halen has never been and never will be as good as when he was rockin the throat!
I hung around this guy years ago that could do the perfect D.L.R., Pat Truit Ocean City local and exceptional wild man, Billy Carlile did a nice version too.

Living Class Rooms

2008-02-12T09:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I did a demo of green woodworking at the Living class rms in Balt. it was allot of fun, nine girls about ten years old well behaved and funny, full of questions. Kids love this stuff, touching the wood and feeling the moister in it, splitting a log apart and seeing the inside and then making some shavings with the draw knife, exciting stuff. Little kids are inspiring, their energy and interest in things even though the attention span is short it's easy to get them back into it.

It's a unique school that gives back to the comunity and shows the yout's natural things in life that most of us take for granted. These pics are from over the summer, unfortunatly I didnt get any yesterday , but I do go back again in Febuary and twice in March.

House

2008-02-05T15:20:00.000-05:00

-WOW -

Alot has happened since the fall. Tons of good riding went down, then we bought a house and I got some chunks in my knee. We sorted it out so we had thirty-some days before we moved in.

We really wanted to do the floors and paint before we moved any furniture in, it worked out pretty good.There was also some roof shingles that had been worn away by a limb and some banged up flashing that was letting rain water in just enough to stain and lift the paint.So I definatly wanted to patch that stuff before the remnants of any hurricanes or the soon to come winter storm blew through.We striped the paint off the trim in one room,it would have been nice to do it all but there just wasnt enough time.

It was totally worth it,looks killer. All of the woodwork is Yellow Pine.

I was able to work out the chunks in my knee just about the time I got my new frame then the weather changed and the time change made riding real hard to squeeze in. I still have only gotten a few rides but man I like it, the twenty nine is so fast, I read a discription the other day "riding a 29er is like riding in a bike not on a bike", yeah like that. I had some pics but cant find them , Ill post some.

We spend so much of our hard earned money on insurance these days, my parents wernt burdened with this excesive spending for somthing that "might happen", I am not talking just about health either.I try not to think about how much moore comfy I could live not paying as much as I do for somthing I never use.But I know nothings gonna change when the politicians are paying out equally to each party. hillery is fourth in recieving the large sums, wasnt she suposed to fix health insurance when bill was in there?

Here is a bike tool for the rider. wewe

64mm turns 100, never disapionts.

Stay Calm

Carry On

.

2008-02-04T17:03:00.000-05:00

I just read that Sheldon Brown passed away last night.
Lifes horrible reality, it always sucks so much more when it is a good person.
I guess it wasnt that long ago I discovered his site, five years or so, I got so much info from him about single speeding and good bike set up, how to, and so many parts to look at, that gave me a better understanding of how it all works, a true bike guru.

IRON CROSS V

2007-10-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

YEA 62 miles of sweet ahhhh ummm biking fixed 44x19 killer trail smokin dirt rd single track on a road gear and rollin fine no mech's under sixhrs cool people way supportive marked well open course means every day obstacles great weather bike is dusty dirty again! chainisdry body soaked and mellowfeelalive Quickbeam fixed rules racers walking through singletrack?

and look at all the swag!

over nighter

2007-10-16T06:48:00.000-05:00

The other week I went on an over night er with Joe and crew, we left from his house in Fredrick MD after downing a beer around two o'clock.This was my first fixed pannier ride and I was pleasantly surprised how well my bike handled the climbing, there wasn't any thing real steep but I have rode my crosscheck with gears, panniers loaded, and the hills were tougher. This set up just seems to roll on. I'm talking about long and gradual and short steep here. Not steep and long. A pic of the set up all clean and ready to go.

We biked to the C&O canal,14 miles and then about 30 to our camp spot,It was so nice to know that for the rest of the day and most of the next all I had to do was ride my bike, this was exciting.

The view from my tent, You could here the trains way off in the distance too.

Andy's set up, it looks cool and he was carring next to nothing it appeared cause the hammock is the tent, bed rest, ect. The weather was perfect even on the hot and humid side, usually when I do theses bike trips it's freezing out. That night we rolled about three miles to Sheperdstown for food and Beer.We ate outside and listened to a Jazz band that was playing inside, some of it was real nice. Then proceeded to seek out another bar, score, a grotto from 1790 complete with a back alley lined with trees, picnic tables with candles and college chics. There we had to throw down, it was a Rouge, a real Dead Guy,after many a round with him I left happy and feeling good about myself and was fine with leaving him to pour on.

It was a fun ride back to camp and I think there was some Dog Fish Head, Honey Rum consumed around a burning fire pit.

Getting ready in the morn.

Looking south on the Potomac River

Looking North

I like the way the three points line up on the fork crown and the top tube, really it's not a picture of the computer.

one of the more elaborate Locks on the C&O this is at where you cross the bridge to Harper's Ferry. Looking up stream.

looking down stream.

We got back to Joe's and went to a Festival the city of Fredrick was putting on and had a few Brewers Alley beer and some ethnic foods and I headed out with a total of 100 miles in 24 hours, all our panier's and bikes were covered in C&O dust it was great , Joe put a good trip together on short notice, we are getting better at this.

Hold Onto Your Mugs - Beer Prices are Heading North!

2007-10-07T21:59:00.000-05:00

Hold Onto Your Mugs - Beer Prices are Heading North!

If you get the Clipper City news letter you may have read this.
If not it's good to know, helps to keep me from getting pissed at the "MAN".

2007-10-02T20:59:00.000-05:00

I rode with the Outlaw crew Sunday, a ride dubbed the 1903 adventure ride. Thirteen of us headed out to ride paved and dirt roads around Frederick Maryland, my longest fixed gear ride, sixty six miles, on my bike computer.It was painful bliss nearing the end. I couldn't wait to see the parking lot where we started, then as I rolled in I felt a horrible thing, I was afraid to get off my bike, I envisioned rolling around on the smooth asphalt with leg cramps.
I was good though didn't even seize up that night. I basically drank ate and peed the whole ride through.Fun ride,good people nice views, long climbs and even longer descents the last one being gravel road loose and very fast,through the Catoctin Mountains.It seemed to go on forever.
Then this evening Sieverts took me on the 2007 Baltimore city adventure ride, we left from his house on the geared CrossxChecks spinning big meat and riding a lot of wooded single track trails around the colleges north of the city,a ton of fun, it was super fast paced with lots of obstacle's and surprises, Robert E Lee park was really fast and mixed in some lower loch raven too. I really like going from paved rd to single track, back and forth, it keeps you on your toes.
Sorry no pics, I would like to post a pick of the Quick Beam, I really enjoyed riding that Sunday.

But I saw this it's a great answer to mounting a rack. I have used the thin metal clamps that have a little bit of protective rubber, it still eats the surface of your frame up and the metal clamp fatigues and breaks, also a pain in the ass to get that tiny nut threaded on to the tiny bolt.

2007-09-19T06:21:00.000-05:00

I watched the"Flying Scotsman" last night, the Graeme Obree story.
There was a write up in I think in "Bike" mag a few years ago and I was so taken, the pic I tore out of the mag of him leaning over one of his hand made bikes and hand made light, sort of looks like a spot light, still remains on the refrigerator.
In September I saw that there was a book out about him and I ordered it, Amazon gave me an expected delivery in November-?-.Then the movie caught my eye, an I.F.C flick, was terrified of being disappointed and was not.
Fastest man on earth,designs and builds his own bikes and rides his own way, tearing down all walls of "how it should be done"

2007-09-10T20:34:00.000-05:00

Congrats to team Single Speed Outlaw for staying true and following the SSWC wherever it may take them, no doubt they represented the mid Atlantic misfits and rage rs with style.

Afish and I were not traveling to killer mtb trails/rides but did do our yearly trip to the Outer Banks of NC, I love it down there and this time of year is incredible.

Gabriel fed us with a swell that built all week, the south facing beaches were clean and reeling waist to head high surf.I want to share some pics.

The Currituck skate park, Maple park.

On the cape looking south west you can see Frisco where we stayed, and Hatteras Village at the end of the Island. Miss Fisher getting us some dinner.

We took the dogs this time, they had a blast!

Frisco Pier

Always good to meet people that appreciate our local beer.

I miss my bike.

Broken

2007-08-29T21:08:00.000-05:00

Jamis Exile 29er ss

I was biking , had some fun rides, lots of Red Man and Loch Raven, the upper is super fun,and even got to a Wednesday night ride at Patapsaco, until I did an air over a water bar at Lake Red Man and snapped my frame, almost completely through.

I was shocked, it wasn't a huge air,hell I took bigger hits than that when I rode the Pisgah and never left the ground. Lake Red Man is not known for breaking frames.

Sucks cause I really liked that frame, the geometry, I looked at a lot of bikes, comparing

goe and it's hard to know what it is that is IT ya know?

My first 29er and all that thinking and looking at different stuff surprisingly seemed to pay off.
Until I ride something else and love it then I'll be blown out of the water and reconsidering things.Till then I really dig this frame.

When I bought it I was a bit suspicious, some high stress areas of it seemed thin to me.

Why not the gusset?seems like the gusset would be easy enough to slap on there, one more set up though I guess, that takes time and time is......... worth a lot more than money but lets just say here" money".

The good news is that Jamis is going to replace it with an 08, I hope to get it late September early October, supposedly the geometry is the same but the down tube configuration has changed, the tube comes up to the top tube then goes to the head tube, allot of there 08 offerings have this. It also has the gusset but the pic I saw in the shops 08 catalog , it was hard to tell, but it looked like a really small gusset, we will see, I am not a fan of that down tube style I don't think it looks good and I have seen similar designs fail. Why not just a big honking gusset?

Western N.C

2007-06-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

Lots of water falls

Last week I was in the Asheville NC area for a class at C.W, I was supposed to be there Sunday but had some xtra time and really wanted to bike some trails down there so I left Thursday.I camped at North Mills River there are a bunch of trail heads so I didn't have to drive to get in killer ride.

Hot Springs

I set up my livings and headed out on the bike to the Trace Ridge trail which combines three other trails, the trail head was a short ride up the fire rd. easy access, and a long gradual climb, steep at times. I got back to the livings and enjoyed a much earned beer.

That night I experienced the best out door sleep one could wish for.

The next day I rode the highly anticipated Laurel Mountain trail, see I brought every thing I need to ride my bike in a self sufficient manner except the bite valve to my camel back,so I packed two bottles of water in. It was barely enough, a really steamy day and a ten mile climb. Near the summit there is a hikeabike that will huurt ya, then its like two miles of this crazy switch back down hill, this whole trail reminded me so much of Moab,when I was there years ago,I know you cant compare the two but something about it.

some of the view on the Laurel Mountain trail

Then for Saturday I rode the Flat Laurel Creek trail, this thing was sick nothing but humps and turns a three and a half mile gradual down hill that dumps you out on the road and you ride the Blue Ridge Prkwy back, past the Devils Courthouse, through a tunnel and then a crushing road climb, it's all above 5,000' and if you know a little bit about Appalachia, you know that's Tits

In Asheville I drank drafts of Two Headed Ale, the IPA, that stuff is soo good ,my new favorite Pale Ale, and ate some great food at different places, I always have fun in Asheville and the food is the best.

Then off to C.W to learn some carving, this stuff is so unique, it was done with great efficiency and skill.Before electric power tools thing were done in a manner that lends the wood to itself, the pieces were put together in a way that the wood works with itself to hold using some bone dry parts ( pins or tenons) and wetter parts in assembly, and the green wood is much easier to work with than dry.

I cant say enough about this place, it's an earthy experience.

The view over Louis's gardens on a misty mountain morning.

PR

2007-05-07T20:28:00.000-05:00

April 7th A-Fish and I went to Puerto Rico with eight of her co-workers.Three guys and

six girls, man nurses can drink, me and Cory are not in the medical field and we towed the line more than a couple times, it's to bad the beer selection was awful, but the rum was good.

We had a condo in Vega Baha, fifty mins west of San Juan, we could see the ocean from the roof top porch but had to drive to the nearest beach.I surfed there the first day, it was small and a long board wave,I didn't have a long board.

The best day was at Domes, that's in Rincon, it was about chest high, that's me the pasty thing, I bet that place is sick fun on a big day.

I wanted to surf close to our place but the swell died. I tried it at Los Tubos but again I needed the long board. It's crazy paddling out it looks like your hands are going to scrape the bottom but its really to deep to stand, you see sea fans and colorful fish too.

Snorkeling is awesome, National Geographic got nothing on being there in person, I saw a Barracuda, first time for me, creepy, this older gent was swimming around with just a mask and pointed to a spot and held his hands apart and slowly moving them up and down, you know, the fish was "this big" I almost didn't look I had seen fish all day, I dove down looked over and saw him diving deeper and pointing, Whoa I don't know how I didn't see it sooner it was 41/2 to 5ft long and inside the lagoon in the pic.Just to the left of that woman and in close past that first drop off of coral, apparently its unusual for them to come inside like that, I don't know.There are these two local kids I guess thirteen and fifteen that have a small cast net, almost like a piece of a larger net and were working together trying to net some of these Parrot fish or medium size Grouper I don't know what they were but really cool looking. I showed the Barracuda to the older kid who seemed impressed and immediately he called his friend over.We are all full of respect and appreciation to this set of teeth sitting on the bottom kinda looking like it wants to be alone, so I thought, they start to stretch the net out between them and I am like no frigging way there gonna try and net this thing, I'm winding my film getting ready to catch this act of insanity when the fish seemed to know what was up, turned and slowly ever so gracefully swam away with two boys in chase.IF they would have ever gotten the net around it, they would have been dragged under water through the opening in the rocks you see to the ocean or just as bad let go of the net to have it rap around the reef some where and trap the fish.

I took a few pics of it none do it justice, it looks like a sardine, but really it was intimidating, I don't know why it is so grainy,maybe from the xray machines at the air port,I have used these disposable Kodak underwater cameras before with good results.

We stopped at a rode side bar on the way home that day and the girls were a big hit.

This pic speaks volumes, she was salsa dancing with him, age gap?

no age gap.

I want to go back just the two of us and spend more time in Old San Juan it was really fun city and Rincon would be a great area to hold up in, I was told of excellent seafood in the fishing towns below Rincon.

Bikes Boards & Beers

2007-03-17T16:52:00.000-05:00

Last Friday on my way home from work I saw Layton, he said he and Bruce are going to see Bartly Sunday and I should go. I said no. I have to much to do.I am busy but not really that busy, I don't want the distraction to make me behind with work, man I just kept coming up with excuses.It's A snowboarding trip and I really wanted to get one more good sesh in this winter.Day light savings and some warmer temps ,this is it I gotta go, I made the necessary calls, to the people I am doing a job for, "sure mike no problem, see ya Wednesday" cool, to Layton "Ya sure you have room?"coooool, to Miss Fisher"I am going boarding"Sweeeet.Layton calls back and says" there is a catch, I want to buy Bartly's DH rig so we are going biking Sunday afternoon" AAHHHH too F-ing cool!I haven't been on the trail in so long there ain't nothin dry around here.Bartly lives about forty five minuets west of Harrisonburg Virginia, a three hour drive from here.We get to the trail head around four, blessed with an extra hour of day light we are good to go.
We are going to ride the Hone Quarry trail, Reddish Knob is a point of reference if you want to know where we were and it's 4398 ft. in the George Washington National Forest.I love it where the Appalachians rise above four, the views are tits, titties, bosoms etc.

So we are going to shuttle this run due to time and these bikes are repulsive in there weight.We meet Bartly's friend at a camp ground at the base, leave the cooler full of beer in his car and drive up, thereis some snow and things look super dry, the dirt is this killer reddish purple.We get to our starting spot, a half mile of gradual fire road climb and get stuff together,for me a gay helmet and gloves , my windbreaker too because it's almost ten degrees colder 41.But I see full face helmets, shin guards and elbow protection, Flat pedals and Vans shoes oh my, I am assured there isn't any thing to gnarly by one and this is the toughest most teck trail in the area by the other local.

Bruce wants to buy Laytons DH rig, so I'm to ride Bruce's cross country full suspension, I tried to bring my bike a fully ridged ss 29er but room in the 4runner was an issue and if they are trying DH rigs on trails they said before we left are mellow, well I didn't push it, I always wanted to ride full suspension somewhere worthy of it anyhow. It's just weird riding a bike you know nothing about(how well it will hold up) on trails you just want to go super fast and catch the sweet air every time the opportunity arises.

The pic above is the set up I had, an R.E.I. Navarro from like 1998 or something with a Manato fork that had an inch of travel at best, and ya know that's fine because I always rode my forks stiff, but I was concerned. The gears were Grip Shift that were put on two years ago when they were new and the bike I don't think had been ridden much at all they worked great.

So I had a blast in my Time pedals on this cross country bike.Cranking up the climbs not messing with the gears just laughing that they are there waiting for the trail to turn south in all it's BC glory and to here the shock trauma heli above me while seeing my friends fly over me in jeans and sneakers in styled airs.

But it never happened we missed the serious DH trail and it was all xc , so much fun soring and taking in the sights.We arrived at the cooler two + hours later and drank while Bartly and Matt went to retrieve the truck.

That night was fun. Woke early, ate and drove the two hours to Snow Shoe West Va.Over a couple mountain passes though so many awesome pastures and across many a nice stream and river.

The temps were in the lower forties a nice base and granular made for some fun bottom turns,more air and lots of speed, I wanted this to be my last wintery blast but it made me want more.

2/20/69

2007-02-20T21:25:00.000-05:00

This is my day, like it or not, it's the one I arrived on it might be the only thing that was ever really given to me and I wont be surprised when I have to pay for it too.

A-Fish and I celebrated something that happened thirty eight years ago today, pretty weird, just like everyone out there has an opportunity to do once a year every year. bfd right? right.

So we went snowboarding. This is the second time this year, now don't forget it wasn't that long ago I was biking trail when it's usually trashed from winter weather but this year was like man how those ski places gonna survive with all this global warming?!!

And it was killer~~~~

it warmed up into the forties, fast with no ice.

So with one trip to Round top and the other mentioned above and some super fun rail sledding and tobogganing 360's I hope the snow continues.

#2 is backed up!

2007-01-29T10:05:00.000-05:00

I biked Red Man today,
they are logging the #2 trail a sign at the trail head says it will be closed during the week but open on the weekends. So it might be best to go in on the fire road instead of the cool 5' high almost vertical with roots wall that I usually climb to enter the little single track section. There were trees laying across the trail when I went though.It looks like the trail on the left of the fire rd in the pine forest is wiped out. On up a little farther is a fun really short loop on the right and it is messed up in the beginning and end, they also went up the hill, across from the short loop, its a minor inconvenience, I guess y.a.m.b.a. takes care of those trails and they do a good job getting things opened up again. That's all I know, don't know the projected area or time frame of the logging so riders beware.

Winter

2007-01-26T19:24:00.000-05:00

Winter has arrived with all it's achy joints, it takes me a little longer to loosen up when its cold out. We have had flurries everyday this week it amounted to barely a dusting, I so enjoy watching it come down.I even acquired a new set of bindings for the board, unexpectedly, so I'm syked to go some where cool but funds are tight.

Last Saturday I rode the lower Brrrrrr, cold but the trails were super fast dry frozen! I was climbing, standing up and there was a spot the sun had warmed up enough to make it slippery , my rear wheel unexpectedly broke loose and I drove my knee into the fork. I walked it off and pedaled up the rest of the climb. By the time I got home my knee was the size of a cantaloupe, so I elevated it and put the ice-man on it.That was the routine for the next four nights it feels better today most of the fluid is gone and it feels more stable, its the knee I just had surgery on,I haven't had it blow up and feel that way since I recked it, scary.

This week I worked on an idea I've had for a side chair, I made the arm chair above over the summer and I want a side chair to go along with it. I might tweak some things but over all happy, it's comfy.

I have been checking this guy's blog out lately, he's a woodworker, I like the way he writes.

Happy New Rides

2007-01-09T22:18:00.000-05:00

Another new year,
Strap in for next instalment of stupid shit.
Where the fuck is bin ladin !!?! and what the fuck is up with our country? inside it's borders and out?!

I opened this hoppy bottle that is 07 by going to G.S.L a skate park in D.C.
I used to dream about parks like this, now there all over the country , the world really, and this area is finally catching up.

Last weekend I went to an art opening, it was really a 2006 photo collective, of Sam Holden's work, racy photos with a punk rock and roll feel, he brings the good Baltimore alternative vibe.It was at Shinola, I think this place doubles as a tattoo shop it was cool and they were handing out free naty boh's and wine.It's near Brewers Art, over on Park ave.
Its a must if you like big hair hot woman and good photography.

The temps have come down a little this week so I am praying the trails will firm up in a day or two. Some how, one way or another ,I wanna keep spinnin wheels.

Skate'n Again

2007-01-01T21:39:00.000-05:00

Wow this is the warmest winter in a long time.

I'm not much of a cold weather person so I shouldn't complain but it means its wet all the time, I'd like a good freeze to get the trails right again.Yeah

This is road riding season around here anyway, so I have been riding the Quickbeam fixed around Prettyboy reservoir and my dirt rd. loop and junk.

And my neighbor T.G moved his 1/4 pipes into this old barracks that the previous owners of the

property had bought from the army over at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, in the seventies I think.

It's a long concrete slab that's pretty smooth, he painted the floor with tennis court paint left over from a job, its a nice surface, not real slippery or too grippe.

It's been growing pretty fast really, I mean the set up of ramps.

It's basically ramps with a speed hump in the middle. It's not without effort,

you can create some fun speed and a good workout.

It has three ramps with concrete pool coping,

two of them are narrow chalky slabs and the slant wall, is the same stuff Brad had on his ramp at the ranch back in the day, un skated though. I think he got the left overs from Bruce's ramps. I love laying into it!

Grinding pool coping is nothing short of erotic and unforgiving at the same time.

And the small 1/4 pipe and snow plow hip have metal pipe coping that grinds well.

pics are from Saturday night's holidays jam.

2006-12-06T10:31:00.000-05:00

This is a neet audio slide show and short article if you like old buildings, woodworking and a relationship with biking.

Loch Raven

2006-11-20T19:07:00.000-05:00

Trails at the Locher were ok today, the single track was fast and clear of leafy debri.

The climbs were slow, the line has been washed away. They consisted of spotty; clay, sand, thick leaves, baby heads and shale, not in a forgiving order

This is a fun section, it's after you blow down the Tim Wise Memorial, you ride about about four miles of rolling single track.

Cruise over those two log piles, the first one's awkward, then rap around this tree while pushing the juice into your pedals.

The left by the downed tree is the start of a short easy climb, the left gives kindofa banked wall feel when hit fast.

Here's a water shot, now that the leaves are gone you see a lot more. It was getting dark so I had to lighten this pic up.

The next ride is scheduled for Thanksgiving morning, an annual ride that brings some guys I used to ride with a lot back together.

Unless I can squeeze a ride at Red Man in, it's the holidayz treat yourself!

2006-11-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

Back in the middle of July I rode up the N.C.R to Seven Valleys PA. there are these giant bike sculptures. Up a bit farther thier is an old stone railroad tunnel thats pretty nice, I want to ride up thier again, it's been a couple years since I went farther than here.
Well summer is over and hopfully the rain for a while too, we got pounded Thursday.
I have been itching to ride and things are drying out very slowly.
I rode up to the cabins today with T.G and Layton, another place I havent been in a long while and the trails were fine, we had so much rain at once it washed any loose stuff off.
Todd has a bunch of quarter pipes set up in his garage and we skated after the ride, drank a bunch of beers too.
Loch Raven tommorow, trails should be stiffend up enough, there's always the fire road.

Lake RedMan trails, York PA.

Fender Prototype

2006-10-20T17:31:00.000-05:00

I made this fender last night with the anticipation of today's rain is an idea I've had for a while and the other day I saw a cruiser fender I took of a bike a long time ago hiding under a pile of tires, it has two support pieces attached with bolts,so I took it apart thinking it wouldn't fit around the 700c wheel, being made for a 26" cruiser, but it worked fine with plenty of position choices. The support piece bolts into the drop out where a rack would bolt up. In the seat stay bridge I used a simple hose clamp,this worked suprisingly well, it is easy and fast to thread through holes in the fender and a flat screw driver tightens it once you get the tongue started. For the chain stay bridge I used a bolt with a big washer and ,all the threaded bits have them, a lock washer. This bolt along with the drop out bolts are the same size Allen wrench, so you need a flat head and one Allen to attach/remove it from a bike.

The wood is Teak, I don't have very much and it's real expensive,so I want to make more of these with Oak, a suprisingly springy and durable wood with quarter sawn wood there is such minimal movement, the chance of the fender splitting from swelling or shrinking should be a non issue.

So howed it work? Great! Yeah it was one ride and the first try at it and yeah it's not rocket science but to be dry when every thing around you is wet,well that's something that kept a big grin on my face.
And what a great day to test it, it was over cast this mornig after raining a lot last night,and warm, like swimming in the air.
I needed to go to Hunt Valley, to the bank. I did the three miles of road too the N.C.R trail, a good test of the hardware, and wood. It's a very similar surface to the C&O, just without the pot holes. Eleven miles of on and off rain and clouds of falling leaves of many deferent colors, puddles and some mud.
If you have ever spent much time with a rear fender, the plastic clip on kind, you have hit it with your foot getting on and off the bike, it's annoying and more than a few brand new fenders have been broken beyond repair this way.
Not once did I hook a foot on it, sure I was more aware of it's presence than previous fenders, but having the support holding it to the contour of the tire more than a clip on fender is key.
So I did my bank stuff and I need bike tubes both mtb and cyclo, I was going to go to R.E.I, they seem to always have a good selection of tube sizes, but Dicks is so much closer, its right there, I wasn't sure if they had what I wanted, they didn't, but I tried it.
Crazy.... Entering the parking lot I got a flat, a gushing, loud ,rear tire, big piece of glass flat. So they did have tubes but only a couple were presta, really like two, so I got the only 700c, a road tube 700x25 my rear tire is a 38, whatever, it worked with a lot of hard pumping. And an M.T.B tube.
My next dilemma was getting the rear tire off without taking the fender off, when setting it up it looked like this would be the case, I have horizontal drops so the wheel moves straight back into the fenders curve.
It was a huge relief when I loosened the axle bolts and slid the wheel of, with barely enough clearance what a pain it would be to take part or all of the fender off to get the back wheel off. I am into making my life easier not harder.
The ride home was awesome! The sun was out and it was windy with gusts around 25 or 30 the leave were really falling now, I was concerned I might get hit by a falling tree limb or a tree, there were lots of branches falling and littering the trail, some quite large, The wind was variable but mostly from behind me. The coolest thing happened twice, the wind blew a bunch of yellow and red leaves up off the ground all around me, it was like ridding though a school of fish, startling them, and they were trying to out run me and all moving up and down in a natural rhythm.
I stopped and watched the river go under me at a bridge, there were so many leaves in the water,colors flowing an dancing, I could see exacly were the eddy's and all the current changes were,it reminded me of a kaleidoscope.
Back on the bike, I ran over a smallish black snake, iknow I lifted my front wheel in time to miss it but the back is questionable,it happened so quick, when I looked back it was still crossing the trail,it didn't look hurt.
I made it home dry and without gettin nailed by some falling debri, and wished I could just keep riding but reality was calling.
I am going to get some hardware for making fenders now that I know what I need.

Surly, true innovators

2006-10-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

Surly got together with the guys at Xrtacycle and came up with this, a committed carry-all, this looks like a great bike, if you live in town you'd hardly need an auto.
Or touring, it could open a ton of options.

Last year this time.........

2006-10-06T22:46:00.000-05:00

One year ago this week, this is the view I had every morning with coffee and a passion fruit.

2006-10-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

One Year

2006-10-03T20:47:00.000-05:00

I picked up a pumpkin a couple weeks ago while driving through the eastern shore.

actually I had to get help picking it up.

Been on some fun rides lately,Saturday I met Sieverts and biked the three miles from his place to the lower where we met up with Al at the church. We rode in and it started to rain, theirs still a full canopy so it took an hour or so before we really saw any effects, we rode over to Providence side and back, then took the fire roads out. It was raining pretty good and the baby head rocks were suprisingly slippery but it was still fast. We departed from Al at Seminary and Dulaney Valley and it was definitely raining, didn't mind it though, coming out of the woods really reminded me of when I started m.t.b.ing and getting caught in the rain was just part of it. When I got home it had stopped raining and I took the dog for a nice walk on the Gun Powder trails.

Sunday 10-1-06 was my 1st wedding anniversary, crazy, it's crazy to think I am married, it doesn't feel like I am, that's a good thing ,I'm not much for the traditional marriage of being miserable, or so people claim to be.

Man it was a god send, last year on this day was killer! The weather the people the food, everything and this past Sunday was a real close carbon copy of last year, and it was forecast to rain most the day. Worst part was A-Fish had to work, that sucked, but we made dinner plans at The Bicycle , this place is great , I have always really liked this part of town, it's a block from Mr. Johns shop.
Mr. And Mrs. Outlaw gave us a dinner as a wedding gift and we had a great time so I thought we should go back.
Yea so I biked downtown, me the Quickbeam, and lots of sun and perfect temps, stopped in Hampden to get a gift then a beer and then to Brewers Art for a couple then I met her at the Camden Pup, its right next to her parking garage at Shock Trauma, where I changed and hydrated again, hey it's my aniversery.
It was a good day.
Today I really wanted to ride some trail but opted not to drive and go for a road/dirt road ride around here on the QB. Super fun, the temp was back up in the 80's with no humidity, and lots of fall colors starting to show, I really want to get up to Lake RedMan this week.

The Fuel channel has a show called check 1,2 and this episode features soul skater Ray Barby and punk icon Mike Watt, they jam some smooth lines together, check it out.

2006-09-21T20:32:00.000-05:00

Indian River Inlet Delaware.

The weather has been choice lately, sunny with little to no humidity, I had a fun solo road ride through Pretty Boy resavoir on the QuickBeam last Sunday. It was beautiful here in the north county.
Then a ride at the Lower Loch with Sieverts that was a blast, the trails were wet but not muddy or slow, and I hadn't been their since early or maybe mid summer, this spring was excellent for m.t.b.ing around here and I rode the lower quite a bit, I even did a couple tour de raven's.We had a strong storm I think it was the end of July and it blew a bunch of trees down, I had heard the trails were wasted and it'll never be the same talk, but not suprisingly the re-routs are super fun and creative, it's as good and better than before, not that a whole lot has changed anyway.

Over the summer I worked on a chair design that I had been thinking about for a couple of years, I made two, one with a poplar seat that doesn't really need stretchers(the things that tie the legs together under the seat) because poplar is strong and resilient enough to withstand racking streses that are common to a chair and one with a pine seat that needs stretchers because pine is not as resilient. All of the wood except the poplar is from logs that were given to me and milled into boards or split right out of the log.
The back spindles and leg assemblies are red oak and the crest and arm rest are cherry. The shape of the seat is my take on the shape of a poplar leaf and the arm rest are taken from a child's rocking chair I had as a kid, kind of a torpedo shape, their suprisingly comfy and the crest I don't think is final I feel I should change it some how but it's basically what I was going for, a swooping arch that cradles the chair.

2006-09-18T20:51:00.000-05:00

scroll to the next post before looking at this.

Nags Head pier, N.C Sunday morning T.S Florence pushes it's first bits of swell in.
We spent our last night in Nags head at the pier hotel, just because it was convenient, after we settled in we walked up to Tortuga's for dinner. I always want to go here, the food is good their is a bit of a beer selection and its a good vibe.
I woke up at sixthirty and checked the waves, also took some pics ,they don't really do it justice.
It was the biggest day I've had in a long while and since we had a lot of driving to do I needed to hit it early, it worked out better than expected, Amelia wanted to go for a run, that bought me a little more time to surf.

My work week shaped up nicely, I was able to go to O.C M.D early Wednesday morn for some more T.S Florence, the forecast was showing wed and thues would bring the more favorable winds and size, then the winds were to switch to the north for the next bunch of days and that'll mess it up, so this was my window.

It wasn't quite as big as N.H.P, but it was back to the sand bars, and in town it was out of control. So I went to Indian River inlet where it was breaking more reliable but closing out pretty good. It gets so crowded there its silly. I walked north a little bit where there were a few less people and it was a bit bigger, I'd say over a foot at times but the inside was really working the sand bar hard, I didn't want to get caught in there, but it wasn't as crowded so I went out there. I got a few rides took some beatings and the tide filled in to much or something happened with it cause it started closing out real bad and slacked off in sets. The rides I got Sunday in N.C were much longer and the water warmer and not this crowded at all. Some trips are hard to come home from.

2006-09-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

A Fish and I were on the Outer Banks of N.C the last two weeks.
We went as far south as Kure beach, and arrived four hours or so before T.S Ernesto. It rained and blew hard that night. We woke up to over cast sky's and waist high surf, I really expected it to be bigger, I am not complaining it was fun and I was in the water from eight am. To almost noon, the sun was out by the end of the day.
We get a house every year with a big group of Amelia's college friends,it was in Wrightsville beach every year but with so many having kids it wasn't as accommodating so the last two years we got a house in Kure, more laid back and less people, I love that whole area though. We have the house until Labor day, always a lot of fun!
I didn't get any pics from that part of the trip this time, kinda sucks, I guess I was preoccupied, it goes so fast. The pic top left is from the second part, Salvo, on Hatteras Island, of a thunder head moving north east, If you like watching the weather happen this is a good place,the sky is so close and seemingly always active in O.B.X
Labor day is a travel day, we take the ferry's , it's scenic and usually a bottle of wine works it's way out of the cooler at some point, drive across Ocracoke with usually a quick stop at Howards pub, they have a HUGE beer list, then the next ferry to Hatteras Village and if time allows we drive out on the beach there and check things out, this year we kept heading north. We were staying in Salvo with a group of people, some we knew and some we didn't. I had to drive out to the point on cape hatteras. It's another world out there, so much life and activity, it's the farthest east you can drive in the mid Atlantic, and you feel like your out there. So over the next few days we caught some fish caught some waves, Tuesday surfing at the light house was really memorable. We caught some sun and some rain too.

This is my favorite trip of the year and A-Fish and I connect on a different level. Your surroundings have an impact on mood and attitude.

soooo sloooo painfully sloooow

2006-08-18T07:38:00.000-05:00

If any one still checks this dog-ing blog I want to apologize for the absence.
I have a dial up connection, it's the only connection available in my situation, it's always been slow, but this is the worst, my little computer faces in the bottom right of the screen say I am creeping along at a steady 7200bps.
Life is too short to sit inside behind a computer for over an hour waiting for something to load only to have it fail.
Verizon has been less than helpful, usually it takes a real bad summer storm or hurricane to knock the phone connection out completely, then they have to come out and fix it.
So if any one cares check back once a month,
somthin's gotta give.

The Great Smoky Mountains

2006-06-20T13:40:00.000-05:00

On top of Clingmans Dome

The first week in June A-Fish and I went to the western part of the excellent state of North Carolina, for some much needed "us" time and to hike some of the A.T, then spend a couple day's in Asheville. The weather and the people were great.

We dropped the car at Big Creek, an awesome little back woods park with great rivers and streams and the Chestnut trail, a killer trail! We desended it two miles, and with the changes in climate and natural selection of trees, made it really interesting, the lower we were the more humid it was and there were more hard woods too. We took this from the A.T to get back to the car. Amelia found this retired fellow via the internet who shuttles people to and from their cars in southern Virginia and N.C, that are doing sections of the trail. This was huge as other times I had to hitch hike back to the car and it's a real pain with the logistics and the muged and or murdered thing.

We met him at seven am for the hour and forty five minuet drive to our starting point at Clingmans Dome 6,643 ft. The drive there was sick, looking down on the clouds and an endless sea of mountain sides and ridges. When we arrived it was 43 degrees and great visibility. Ronnie, our driver, weighed our packs, mine 34lbs and A's 31lbs, took a pic of us for his scrap book and drove off leaving us 35.6 miles from the car, we were excited knowing it would just be the stuff on our backs, this incredibly beautiful and rugged place and the company of a best friend for the next four days.

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park has a road on the southern border and a road on the northern border and dissected through the middle by another. We started in the middle of the park and walked north. We did the northern section.

We started walking at 9:30 Monday morning the 7.1 miles to Ice Water Spring shelter, the trees were pine and spruce, beech and birch, mountain ash and cherry.
This whole park brags old growth and virgin forest,the section we did had some of the last remaining American Chestnut trees, and the yellow- fringed orchid rhododendron was in bloom and the Mountain Laurel was starting to really go off, these things grow thick on the mountain sides and are the tallest I have ever seen.

I am sure that more than a few sections of trail we hiked are originally from the Cherokee tribe along with hundreds of years of trading and traveling folk.

We did the trek in three day's instead of the four originally planned thought the scenery would be so awesome that we would feel like we missed a lot if we didn't allow sight seeing time so I was looking at four days last day was to be the shortest, we arrived at the shelter around three pm, it was a cool one too we were lower than we had been closer to 5,000 ft and their were wood pecckers and chipmunks, lots of activity to enjoy. We rested and ate some food looked at the map again and A-Fish threw it out their that we could finish it up and be in Asheville tonight, wow! I like the sound of that,go hard finish strong and celebrate a great time had in a side walk restaurant.

When we returned to the car the beers in the cooler were still cold so we sat in the stream and cooled our smoking feet off. That was an excellent way to finish it .

Asheville is so fun, we ate great food, listened to music in the streets and enjoyed the spring like weather cant wait to go back, with more time to spend biking and messin around in the river, fishin and paddling.

A Nice Catalpa Tree Salad Bowl

2006-05-19T17:35:00.000-05:00

Mr. John, one of the people that taught me about the woody plants, and timeless techniques of green woodworking, said when he was growing up in Bolton Hill (Baltimore) the bums would live in the Catalpa trees in Druid Hill park,the trees were so old and huge that they rotted out in the center and you could crawl inside and be able to stand up.
I always liked these trees, they have big leaves and in a week or two should have white flowers and crazy been pods, I read somewhere that they are from the dinosaur era, I guess they thrived then and were probably bigger too, so anyway, I ain't no cave man! But I like the way this stuff shines iridescence and it is super light, it looks like a heavy bowl but its really light and strong.
This is a wedding present for some friends, the date on the bottom is their wedding day and I finished it and we delivered it the other day. You have a year right ? On wedding gifts?

My friend is an Arborist and removed this tree fom a yard in Balto county and I grabed a log section like 18" long, split it in half and hand hewed it to shape.

2006-05-15T17:47:00.000-05:00

Escape from Granogue!
sometimes it felt like a slow exodus, walking behind a group of geared m.t.b. racers up a hill, I am not a fast walker and it really wears me down, I think my gearing was to big for this ride and I hate to say that because I always thought that if I had to walk a climb I would still be going as fast as the geared biker. It rained it's ass off on the way up Saturday morning and that was discouraging to me, the French Creek race was a horrid wet mess, I was really looking to redeem my mechanical and cramping misfortunes this time.
It wasn't very bad, the trails were looking really slippery, they were very wet, real muddy in some sections but suprisingly grippy through out, I had a blast! Some of it was fast and you could lean into the corners, maybe get your self a little slide going.
The things that beat me down were the longish grass climb and the road climb at the end of the two seven mile laps, this is where the easier gearing would have saved me, and getting jambed up in the single track, especially on the climbs made it hard to find my rhythm.
I have never ridden there, much less heard of the place, so this is the only and possibly best opportunity to ride it, ya know full on! and it's Delaware it cant be that rocky or steep compared to where I ride in Maryland. It was about what I expected.
I wish I had some internal woods shots. A-Fish accompanied me and she took some good pics of my suffering, the first pic on this post is one and the tower to the left. It was a good spectator race, lots of sights, It's really cool to go there, I don't think you can go uninvited, and ride the trails. I read somewhere that this family has had the property since the early 1800's and it's like 400 acres. Delaware is nice, the Wilmington area we were in was very clean with wide bike lanes and flowery road scapes.I saw a lot of people road riding, and using the bike lane for jogging, it seemed very user friendly.

So I forgot my post ride refuling supplies, no worries Dog Fish Head is what Delaware is really known for and A-Fish was kind enough to drive, so a quick stop on the way out at the wine and beer store, and sixty minute later I was settled in.

Walnut & Apple logs

2006-04-27T20:21:00.000-05:00

I picked up a Walnut and Apple tree log in mid April, both blew down in storms within the last year.
The Walnut came from my wife's grandmothers house near Sparks and the Apple came from her parents in the Bently Springs Maryland area. I was able to load the Walnut (log on left) by myself with the cant hook, it's laying there in between the logs, by lifting and rolling one end onto a pile of tree limbs until it was at tail gate level then rolling and pushing it in, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
Then off to get the Apple, I drove to A's parents house, Janon got in and we drove back through the pasture to the woods line and their it was, a really nice specimen of apple trunk. Apple usually has lots of suckers and knots along with major woodpecker holes, that make for not very user friendly wood. The thing was soaking wet ,naturally wet, significantly heavier than the Walnut. We both got it in using the cant hook, we couldn't have with out it.

So I took them out to Bob's Portable Saw Mill in Churchville, I took some stuff to him last summer and found he's a good guy that knows what he's doing, and he'll cut it how I want.
I really like going to the mill, it reminds me of when I was little and would go to the dump, so many cool things to see and find.
I went home and sticker'd (stacked ) it in the order it was sawn and sealed the ends so it doesn't dry out to fast and check (crack).
I have an idea of what I want to do with this wood and more things will become of it as time goes, the apple I might have trouble drying ,it is so wet and not being straight grained, it will have a tendency to crack and twist. I should get a lot of use out of the walnut. Both logs are a little over five feet long and thirteen inches in diameter. I had them squared up and milled to 2 1/4" thick.
Fun stuff !

French Creek

2006-04-22T19:09:00.000-05:00

So I rode trail today ,how about you?
First rain we have had this spring, real East side rain anyway, I did a M.T.B race.
Two laps ten mile's each, and they were able to secure some never ridden hiking trails within the bike trail circuit. I planned to do this a while back and the weather unleashed a slurry fury,
I was syked the whole way there, a place I'd never ridden in conditions I hadn't ridden in since...... Well a while. I'm not racer guy but laying in my bed last winter(2004) recovering from A.C.L reconstruction I came to some serious realizations that my time here and what I am capable of are things that get more limited every few years, sometimes within months you loose ground, so laying there I decided one thing I wanted to do was enter a race or two. It was just what I wanted an adventure of sorts.
Muuudyy man, the trail was faster if you stayed in the super slop than if you tried to avoid it, It was cool, but so much for disc brakes,never heard a bad thing about em until today, I guess it was asking to much from them. Many times I went off trail dogging trees and dragging a foot to slow down, I had nothing when I needed it most, I stopped at the tops of the down hills to tighten the pads with the red knob on those Avid Mechanicals,by the end their was no adjustment left, I'd crank em down and I knew I was dragging the pads but it was the only way,and you were always dragging somewhere,with a slurry like that, then for the climb my brakes were rubbing making for more bitch work but that would wear away pretty quick and I'd be brakeless again ,everyone was having issues, a guy with hydraulics said he had nothing too, I really would have rather had my X.T.R V's.

So it was fun, I'm glad I went.
I did learn something about hygiene though, this fellow rode up to me and asked who they just announced to the starting line, and I said the men's senior class,he asked if that was us, I said its not me(I am in the single speed open class) but I some times feel like I should be in the Sr. Class, he fired back with "then maybe you should have shaved this morning" I told him I had!
Yea...... I lied, I think the last time was ......Man I don't know, what the hell?

So when I returned to camp poured a draft in the glass I bought at the brewery yesterday, I was told it holds sixteen ounces, I really like the golf ball dimples encompassing it.The glass feels heavy but the dimples dramatically cut wind resistance and the handle is very user friendly, you can get this little puppy up and down with minimal efort!

2006-04-14T05:46:00.000-05:00

I was commissioned to fix the broken seat rung and put a new seat on this chair.
I have a special place in my heart for ladder back chairs,they have a timeless style and comfort when made properly. I feel the same way about bikes and other toys around here, I didn't think to much about this chair, I've learned not to get my hopes up for antiques, usually their a reproduction of some type that's easy to tell when you start working on them.
This is different, I am pretty sure this chair was made in the mid to late 1800's by the Woody family, well known chair makers in North Carolina's northern Appalachia. It's hickory with a couple red oak rungs thrown in, very prevalent woods of that area,the turning of the front posts look like Woody's style , it was made with out a middle rung in the back and the patina is dead on for other chairs they made circa 1890, the really neat thing is no glue was used and the rung mortises are drilled to overlap an 1/8 or so, these are tell tale signs that this chair was made by someone who really knows their stuff.Traditionally ladderback chairs were made like this, back when nails were expensive and screws were practically non existent, some genius either stumbled on or figured out that when a post is at about 18% moisture content and the rung is bone dry and mortise and tenon are made within 100th of an inch the the wetter wood will shrink around the rung and lock together, no glue needed,the overlapping of the rungs is just a bit of a safeguard so way down the road when things get loose the joint will still hold, the rung wont be able to come out.

It might look sloppy but it's precise, this chair was made with a mortising machine that was made in the 1800's hooked to a water wheel, I make my ladderbacks the same way only I drill mortise's by eye with a brace and bit, I use some sighting lines and go for it, just like the poor people did.
It was pretty loose but I still had to really beat on it to get it apart,I made a new rung out of red oak, dried it real good and glued it all back together.
I only tried to get the side panels apart, the front and back were still tight. Chairs see much more racking stress fore and aft.
I went over it with some steel wool and past wax then wove a Hickory bark seat on it.

Very comfy, an excellent desk chair, dinner or after a ride with a beer chair!

Dinosaur Jr.

2006-04-08T13:29:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night we went to the 9:30 club to see Dino it was a re-release show of their first three albums,recorded in a higher quality.
This is late eighties early nineties stuff, a time when punk and metal were gaining ground and melting together.
They sounded Heavy,it was a really good show, they didn't play as long as I expected though.

Pics from shows aren't such a great thing if your not into the band or they are fuzzy..........Tough shit.

April Full day

2006-04-03T08:55:00.000-05:00

The only real April fool's joke played on me was by mother nature,the Punk Bike Enduro,was set to go off at 9:30 am, I checked the weather out at the Frederick watershed around six am and the only visible rain cloud was sittin on top of the shed.
It hasn't rained here all month ,the driest ever on record! So the trails have been smokin fast.The Fredneck watershed is some of rockiest toughest riding available to me within the hour and a half drive it takes to get their, and when the trails are wet they will beat you down fast.
We arrived at a little after nine to sweet dryness,it looked very threatening through out the day but never rained.
I had fun, I made some sections that I hadn't made before and didn't make some that I didn't try before, theirs always next time.
We rode down the Death March, a mile and a quarter of looseness and water bars on the turns, so fast! It was easy to sail off the top of those foot high speed bumps.
Through out the ride we beat a keg of "Tuppers Hop Pocket" into submission. It was a good day for all, and quite a lot of effort by a handful of people who sacrificed their time for ours, thanks to the Single Speed Outlaw and posse.
I didn't take any pics, there were plenty of shutters going off with out mine. Al Santos took a bunch.
That evening I met up with a different crew of long time friends at the Recher to see Burning Spear, it was an awesome show that helped usher in spring and day light savings time.

-One Love-

2006-03-18T20:37:00.000-05:00

Today, Saturday, saw me at Fair Hill.
T.G called the other day and asked if I wanted to go, he said he just picked up a new bike from Joe's Bike shop, the 2006 Bianchi S.S. It has a white almost pearl paint with a Reba that is more so pearl essent, It's a killer bike, the fork looks tough and light.
Todd is notorious for saying he will do something and never doing it, not really things that others are relying on him for but his own endeavors, well this new bike thing has gone on for years, on his last bike the bottom bracket siezed on so even though it creaked like it was going to die he couldn't put a new one in cause the old one wouldn't come out, this sums up his old ride ,when it worked he rode the hell out of it, the fork is a Judy that had never been serviced, I am surprised it never snapped.
I am really syked for him, few things in life are as good as a new ride that you like.
Fair Hill is a zen like place, twisty single track, its rare to go straight, you ride your tires edge to edge and a natural rhythm consumes, hard climbs are not the order of the day but there is a huge threat of clocking a tree, I could see that happening. A great way to end the winter and welcome spring time.
Spring is my favorite time to ride, the trails are free of leaves and most debris and the weather finally gives way to great biking conditions.

Off Rd. To Athens

2006-03-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

random pic

Yesterday I went to town to see Off Road To Athens at the Charles. I highly recommend seeing it, the director was there along with some other industry folk, one of which I spoke with ,Chris Eatough, six time world champ of the solo twenty four hour race! six time! Super nice and approachable, I think most of the pro's are, as Joe said (tongue in cheek),that's because there is no money in biking here in the states,compared to other sports. It's a real shame, I'd miss a day of work to watch a race go by my front door, anyway I am inspired .
Let's ride!

2006-03-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

I rode the Watershed the other weekend with Joe and Stoner, it was tough, that place is relentless compared to what I am used to riding, quite technical too, people have made these fun ramps with stacked rocks that lead into boulder gardens, sketchy fun. Oh and the Death March, it's a mile and two tenths climb, and on that day it was just soft enough and steep enough to make me feel like I was dragging a couple bricks, this is a shot of the Outlaw at the top of it.

I also found out from my cousin who while in Germany did a bit of digging on our family blood line. There are the Eisenbrandt's who were wood workers making mostly musical instruments. And there is Frederick Eisenbrandt who opened a bike shop in Baltimore in the early 1800's.

Last months snow storm was extremly short lived but we made the most of it.

A.Fish did a 7.25 mile trail run in Reading P.A her first one, she doesnt even train in the woods, the N.C.R. trail but thats not the same. The Ugly Mudder it was fun but corny. On the way home she nailed a sighn for Stoudt's Brewery,
I have been wanting to go there.

Rocky Ridge

2006-02-11T16:59:00.000-05:00

Thursday I had some free time mid day and have been really craving some trail, it's been so wet this winter,not rain, not cold enough to freeze the trail or dry it out. Rocky Ridge Park up in PA always seems to be open to mtb's and horses and its just a little out of the way, so I got my dirt fix, except now I want to go again even more and were getting our first snow since December 5th & 6th.
This is a cool section with a slightly banked turn on a rock slab,the pic is leading into it.

whip through here and make a fast left turn through a small rock garden

and pour it on!

2006-02-07T18:34:00.000-05:00

S.S.W.C 05

Friday

2006-01-30T20:13:00.000-05:00

Friday I rode down town to meet Mrs. Fisher when she got off work at 7:30 pm, have a beer and get a ride back.
It's warmed up pretty nice for this time of year, that's good and bad, the sun feels good and motivates you, but you cant do the things you really want the way your use to.
So I headed out from home to the city.
I take White Hall rd. To the N.C.R trail to Hunt Valley then flat roads to Timmonium rd, that's my first climb,then and there I new I was gonna bonk.
The trail was a little wet not really slow but I was working, the following day it warmed up even more and was ridiculously wet, I was trying to conserve energy but I am out of shape.
First destination was Brewers Art for resurrection's and food, but the closer I got to Balt. The more I felt I should move destination closer.

Fraziers on the avenue in Hampden was a good alternative, once I got off Falls rd and the crappy rush hour traffic , I felt better ,I took some jib roads, passed up some photo ops due to time and energy,went in had three resurrection's for the price of four twenty each and ate a killer burger! Watched the strong man comp on the tube, listened to the Doors and enjoyed the empty bar.
I was full and rejuvenate,had a half hour to get to Shock Trauma, and syked to get back on the cross check. I had to squeeze past two big fences on Falls rd, in Clipper Mill due to rd. Work,big orange signs saying" Do Not Enter violators Prosecuted",nomally this wouldn't bother me but it was creepy, that with the ankle deep stink mud it was like a scene in a movie.

Any way I arrived early ,met the girl threw the bike in her car and went to the Camden Pub because its there, again it was kinda empty and that's great cause I was in the mood for a chill scene. A couple sierras and home for some stone crab claws and a dungenus crab I got at Gibby's earlier and some drafts from the keg o rator.
Its like thirty two miles to Baltimore on this rout and not much climbing, a great way to end the week.

Wednesday night ride

2006-01-26T20:34:00.000-05:00

After two weeks of either mechanicals or bad weather I made the "Patapsco boy's" Wednesday night ride, something I fight heavy traffic and shitty conditions to do, this time of year for me it's out of desperation to find anything to do,ride my bike at night on unfamiliar city streets with a group of people who know them is always alluring, but this time of year it goes from sitting on the couch to sitting on the saddle going thirty plus.
There are outlets this time of year; indoor skate parks(old school night), local ski hills,...... Squash?
But I like the bike,
more than that,
I like riding with passionate bikers, it makes it worth while in any weather.
It might be the last wed night ride, that I get to do with the guy to my knowledge originated the Wednesday night ride from exit 47 off 95,
Maryland m.t.b Eden and general great beer drinking, bike mixing ,heavy spinning rides, Joe .
Man it was nice to breath frozen air, we rode busy streets, back roads following a river, saw a car that had rolled getting winched to a flat bed, forded a stream due to a bridge repair, ended up in old town Ellicott City and drank a bunch of Anchor Steams, ate good food and road paved\gravel paths and mellow nieberhood roads back to the park & ride,where by then I was sober enough to drive the distance home.
This should not be an unusual night for anyone.

Wednesday night ride

2006-01-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday I met up with the Patapsaco crew for their weekly ride,no matter how shitty it gets these guys always seem to ride.
I like it,riding in the elements, at night it is so much more on the senses.
Their is always a beer stop,or maybe that's the reason for riding, it's a combo, a sweet combo.
Bike with other people in conditions that some might think unusual ,drink beer with people you don't know but just shared a cool experience with, then ride back in the elements whatever they may be.

So I went again this week, I was excited too, I had been thinking about it through out the week, I don't get to ride with other people much this time of year,the weather sucks, you get limited to the road and the days are short.

We were crankin up to a big intersection,lights green but its a really long light ,and long crossing,like four lanes on a diagonal, I'm pouring it on to stick with Jay and Mark,then the light turns yellow, I hit some bumps and my chain rolls off ,I have plenty of speed and make it through , but man that was sketchy, my chains dragging and gets bound up, a loud noise and I think it broke.
I put the chain back on and, off it goes. I couldn't keep it on. I know the chain line was much less than straight but it wasn't hopping off earlier.

I had put different cranks on, I wanted to try a longer crank, that's why the chain line wasn't so good.
Anyway....We all looked at the situation and I said just go, I am like four miles out, I can limp back to my vehicular. So they split, and it was working better since I tweaked some things, but it wasn't cutting it.
fortunately for me, and many other people when he's around them, a cyclist was riding by and asked if I needed a hand, It was the S.S. outlaw , usually a leader on this ride, he was busy with business and would meet up at destination.

It's good to have another eye to look at things, especially when its dark and your frustrated. Closer examination showed a bent and twisted chain, I was able to remove a couple links and that seemed to do it, but I was still skeptical, the outlaw could tell and asked if I was up to it, something to the effect of"wana try something stupid?" I wasn't up for the gamble, I should have.
I started to head back and things felt pretty sound, I wanted to chase down the outlaw but I waited to long and its not my part of town. He was gone.
Man I just wanted to ride drink ride, Max's on Broadway was the destination tonight ,tons of draughts!!!

Rain+sun=bow

2005-12-25T17:09:00.000-05:00

MerryXmas every body! I just got super inspired!
Maryland weather is so cool, you gotta take the good with the bad and this is pretty cool, 12/25, warmer than usual, raining, winter grey, then the sun comes out,........... a little slice of heaven!

2005-12-25T17:03:00.000-05:00

2005-12-25T17:02:00.000-05:00

Bianchi does it again!

2005-12-23T08:54:00.000-05:00

I like the look of this all arounder, except for the shifter, it's a bit clunky.
I have been quit curious about these internally geared hubs.It leaves the bike looking a lot cleaner,and less maintenance too.
But can they hold up to the strain of touring heavy loads or the mind bending off road climb?

2005-12-20T20:51:00.000-05:00

Lower Loch Raven yesterday,,

2005-12-20T20:43:00.000-05:00

2005-12-20T20:41:00.000-05:00

Sam's grave...It's the flash 2/3rd's down on the left,the green flash in the corner,.......is it Sam?

2005-12-20T20:32:00.000-05:00

2005-12-20T20:30:00.000-05:00

2005-12-07T22:12:00.000-05:00

Saterday morning motoring south to the Ocean City Inlet, 5am, the city lights are the blurry ones on the horizon,cold water and sand bars between the boat and the lights, over them is the first bits of life giving rays for the day,the sun through the clouds.Once it came up it was still frigin freez'n,you always seem to stay warm when your catching fish, the bigger the fish the warmer you stay,I froze my ass off.

2005-11-26T00:29:00.000-05:00

Tuesday I had this staple removed from my knee, it was helping to secure the a.c.l allegraph I got last November. It is an inch long and about 3/8th's wide,I was surprised it was as long as it is.Thursday "T" day, we had our first snow, a good dusting,I always enjoy seeing it come down,and our pre Thanksgivin day ride was a blast,the knee held up great,Wednesday it hurt pretty bad,like I had been hit in the shin with a hammer,but it was much better "T"day than I thought it would be, so I met four others at the lower loch raven trails for an excelent ride,no snow down there though,just a bit wet,I was looking forward to a pedel in the snow.I went home to the warmth,cleaned up and went to two turky dinners, happy and full,of food my new bike and knee.

Good Riding

2005-11-20T19:12:00.000-05:00

I haven't been taking enough pic's lately, I have a great appreciation to the photog's out there, one wouldn't think that so much goes into a shot but try biking,skating,whatever, and stop to take a shot when truly inspired,
it's hard,
it means you blow your line and the juice that goes with it.
Now your probably expecting a great pic, I got nothin, from this weekend.

A great bike end it was, Red Man on Saturday,tough, wet, icy/frosty at two pm. Leafy,greasy and a feeling I was running square wheels.
Then I go to Lower Lock Raven at ten thirty today,Sunday,
meet Cevert's and Sean and kill some dry,fast,not so leafy,fast,single speed religionalistical,perfect fall trail.
When my Locher connection split to Santa Fe I was bummed. I know the trails there but it's more fun getting dragged though the woods not thinking about any thing but keeping up, not having to make the executive decision that, this will tie to that or what's the line I feel like taking today,none of that, just ride your ass off knowing that the leader is gonna hook it up super fun style!
So I rode with my connections counter part C.S.
It was like old times ,those trails rip! And hold up nicely in the change of seasons.
It's supposed to turn to total S weather this week, so that might have been the last dry un frozen ride for a long time.
Next ride is scheduled for Thanks giving morn and it looks like rain and snow/sleet showers (slain), I cant wait!

2005-11-15T22:46:00.000-05:00

Saterday I went to Fair Hill,and it was super fun,single speed city.Don't be fooled by the gravel in the pic there is plenty of ripping single track, Sunday Mrs. Fisher and I took the geared bikes (crossxchecks) to Lake Red Dog and enjoyed the warm fall temps.The trails ar'nt as leafy I expexted.

2005-11-08T21:16:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend Amelia and I did an over nighter on the C&O Canal with seven couples,we didnt know everyone and it was a blast it was great to see the girls enjoying the ride and the surroundings.The weather was warm for this time of year and the fall colors were going off! Thanks to the organizers.

2005-11-08T21:07:00.000-05:00

Much fun! This is the girls start in Cumberland Saterday morning. The smoke is from the train,a cool old steam engine that had a great whistle, it was doing fall leaf changing tours, colors.

2005-11-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

The girls heading off on the second day.

2005-11-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

The Clarkson camp at stickpile hill camping spot.

2005-10-17T08:24:00.000-05:00

Surfed O.C Maryland this weekend, picture is from 15th street Saturday morning. Click the pic.

2005-10-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

Devils Bridge Point Antigua W.I

2005-10-14T15:26:00.000-05:00

Indian Town Point

Honeymoon

2005-10-14T14:25:00.000-05:00

I just returned from an incredible journey to the West Indies. Amelia and I stayed with her aunt,she has lived there for about fifteen years and it seems to serve her well,she seems comfortable with her surroundings .
We stayed with a local in the off season, we were excepted and felt welcomed by her friends.That meant alot to us.
Whenever I have traveled I try to live or experience life like the locals. No Sandels resort for us.We had a rental car and each night we were pointed in a direction that promised good views,food and adventure.Even with out her Aunts advice it's hard to make waste of a day on that Island.
Being interested in 17 & 18th century furniture/building techniques, kept me interested and looking all the time, the Dock Yard is incredible, it's a walk back in time to pirates and explores. Of course that also brings on a gut wrenching awareness of how horribly people were treated. Man kind is capable of so many incredible tasks, I cant understand why they so often are negative and oppressive.
The Caribbean is so beautiful, we snorkeled a lot ,the only time I did that before was in the stream or on the Outer Banks where I only saw stream bottom or crabs, which is cool too.
I saw a lot of fish but I think the reefs were dead so it wasn't like I though it would be, still, awesome.

2005-10-14T14:24:00.000-05:00

Flying into Antigua.

2005-10-13T19:59:00.000-05:00

I just returned from Antigua W.I. More to come!

2005-10-02T18:28:00.000-05:00

The groom and his best man,an hour or so before the wedding.This was truely an epic day ,a day to celabrate life and those we have lost,never forget the peaple you've met and that your so fortunate to have spent any amount of time with them.Peaple came from all over, A-Fish's crew flew in from up and down the east coast, Bradly came out from Jackson Hole unbelevable!! I cant thank everyone enough, and to people who couldnt make it but wanted to,you were thought of and missed but their is a much bigger picture than just us. I am happy and excited for ya!

Wedding back drop

2005-10-02T17:54:00.000-05:00

I made these for a wedding that took place Saturday on a beautiful farm in Freeland, where the bride grew up wood on the fans ,the vertical pieces are red oak except for the center one ,it's cedar, the horizontal's are cherry.
On the arch the verticals are cherry and the arch is the red oak. All the wood came to me locally from friends and relatives property.

The future Ms. Clarkson

2005-10-02T17:45:00.000-05:00

The beautiful bride getting ready for her wedding.

end of an era

2005-09-26T08:16:00.000-05:00

2005-09-26T08:13:00.000-05:00

2005-09-25T08:47:00.000-05:00

The S.S.W.C.05 State College P.A I swept the race course with a big group of riders after the last racer peddled off. This is a rock garden at the first bail out point, seven miles in.
I almost cleaned this section, I went over sideways and slammed, bruised the palm of my hand.
I hung out and watched people try it ,this Dirt Rag rider Justin, was the only one I saw make it, riding a fixed Surly cross-check with Panaracer tires,45's, cleaned it very smoothly, it was neat to watch. No one should ever doubt the capabilities of a bicycle.
This is a section of ridge trail that's very rocky and seemed to go on for a couple of miles.

Red Man

2005-09-25T08:02:00.000-05:00

Todd Layton and I went to P.A Saturday and had a fun two hour bike ride.
It was super dusty,one down hill I was in the back and the dust was blown up to seat level,I couldn't see the trail at all.
The boat dock side seems to stay wetter in the rainy season and not as dusty in the droughty season, there is a really cool tunnel that goes under I-83, all four lanes plus shoulders and middle strip,so it's kinda long and has like six inches of moving water in it, and pretty dark, its a fun challenge.
Then you go through about twenty minutes of ridge like trail, it rolls and climbs and twist, its a really fun trail when your in your "zone".
Then we did some trail we hadn't ridden in a while, and finished up with what has been dubbed "the cheap one",like a forty of malt liquor,its cheap and delivers a strong buzz. We have to hike a bike this short wall and then it might be 3/4 mile down hill when its all over , the first half is the best with rollers and easily gained speed,you don't have to pull up to get a nice little air,Layton pulled up, and went down hard! Scraped his right side up good, opening up a nasty tear on his elbow, hit his head, his visor on his helmet was hanging off, I was afraid he dislocated something but he's o.k nothing internal, should have taken a pic.

Welcome to the family

2005-09-18T08:06:00.000-05:00

I picked up this used 05 Bianchi S.A.S.S from a link sent to me by the Outlaw, thanks Joe! My long time m.t.b. crumbled apart the day before the s.s.w.c.05 and I have been pretty bummed since. I saw this and it was cheap enough so I bought it. It had a mazaroochi dirt jumper lll on it, a behemoth of a fork, and a bent rear caliper that I didn't notice until I got home, that was lame he should have told me(the seller) and some stock parts that I wanted to change. Finally I got it together with the rigid fork that originally came on the bike ,my seat and post ,handle bar and grips, I also put my panaracer fire tire that I was runing up front on the K.H.S on the back, and kept the original Motanoraptor on the front.
First ride was yesterday at Lake Red Man.It's been almost a month since I've ridden a m.t.b. and I was loving it!Riding this bike around the yard getting things adjusted ,it didn't feel so good, not bad just not great, but when it hit trail it was different,I like it a lot, and it's so nice to have a new stiff frame and disc brakes too.
I think yesterday would have been a great day to paddle out in O.C from what the coastal weather reports were saying, It broke my hart to see the web pictures and not be able to go. I had a family thing to attend that evening, nothing a good bike ride couldn't fix.

2005-09-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

Just returned from our annual trip to southern N.C. This pick is from Oak Island/Long Beach area, after two days of strong south winds the surf settled into nice form. From here we headed north to Kure, Carolina, Wrightsville beaches.Up to the Ceder Island ferry to Ocracoke then Hatteras Island and home.

2005-08-25T07:23:00.000-05:00

The start of the SSWC05.Some wise apple attached a tube to his chain stay that housed a green smoke bomb, or tube if you will, quite funny and creative. Their were some "smart" dressers there as well.

2005-08-25T07:16:00.000-05:00

2005-08-25T07:15:00.000-05:00

Joe at the start of the SSWC05, I dont remember taking this peticular shot I think it was a point and shoot,peaple were coming by not real fast, but in a short space, so it was hard to get pics of the ones I know.

2005-08-25T07:11:00.000-05:00

Ricky AKA gold member at the start of the SSWC05.

The end of an era.

2005-08-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

The KHS ridged hard tail that I bought new with my own money in 1995 past away saterday.This , on the eve of an epic trip to State College PA to watch friends race the single speed world championship.
The thinest part broke,I was giving it the once over before aia left and discoverd a hair line crack behind the replacable drop out, I pushed on it to see how bad it really was and it came wright off, along with my spirit,so many reasons for not making this trip,its crazy when I think about it.
Good damn thing I saw it when I did because the trails in state college uleashed a beating that wont be soon forgotten.
I threw together my parts on an old Diamond Back frame that I never rode before, and missed my ride to PA in the prosess. I Considerd bailing many times.Put it together packed my stuff and bolted solo.
I had a killer night meeting peaple and camping on a ridge with radio towers , I guess thats what they were,woke up and went to the race parking lot ,watched the start and headed out with a group of peaple I didnt know to sweep the course.

2005-08-17T01:12:00.000-05:00

I've started working on this bowl it's a wedding gift.The wood is History/Lore:
The Catalpa tree is found in forests from southern Illinois and Indiana to western Tennessee and Arkansas. First cultivated in 1754, the wood was used for fence posts and railroad ties because of it's resistance to rot coupled with the fast growth rate of the tree. In the south, Catalpa trees are traditional sources of fish bait. Catalpa worms, the larvae of Catalpa Sphinx Moths, are eagerly sought in early summer by anglers

2005-08-17T00:35:00.000-05:00

I wove the seat on the high chair,seen two postings ago, with hickory bark yesterday and delivered it.

2005-08-14T09:45:00.000-05:00

Saturday I took the eat a peach challenge www.biamd.org .
I did it two years ago on the cross check pretty much by myself, it was fun.A-Fish was working the shock trauma rest stop.
This year she wanted to do it, cool I'll do it with you! I said.
Her on her surly and me on the Quickbeam we headed out around eight thirty am. It is fun to do a ride in unfamiliar territory, and with good company it is great.
The forty five $ entrance fee was no problem, just earlier this week a long time friend's mom went in to university of md. to have a growth,tumor removed from the side of her brain,her mom had the same condition years ago and didn't survive, relieved to report she is recovering fine with no adverse side effects.
I was able to donate to the cause and have a sweet pedal in Carroll county. After that we went to Clipper City for a tour of their beer making process,I wasn't really looking forward to it, I kinda just wanted to get home but man it was fun,I have a much better appreciation of what goes into it financially,physically and mentally. Hugh is really pushing the balto. Craft beer seen to a connoisseur level.
We got to try the beer before during and after the tour,and not little sample cups, full twelve ouncers! www.clippercitybeer.com

2005-08-09T20:47:00.000-05:00

Today I put an oil finish,the can says natural, it's not a clear finish it has an amber hugh(?) to it, (but it doesn't change the color of the piece) on three chairs I've been working on this last month.
Two adult and one high chair,made of cherry.(See the logs I saw in the April edition of this blog.)
The Wood just pops when the oil goes on .I think it's real close to what it looks like when green and split,the character of these chairs really comes out.
Before I put finish on them I pinned the back slats, that I steam bent to fit last week.
I leveled them so they won't rock, and trimmed the ends of the posts.
Next I want to spray them with lacquer,not very green I know, but it keeps them from becoming dirty. Then weave the seats.

2005-08-07T18:45:00.000-05:00

A beautiful coat of MD. PA. rail trail crush and run.

Fifty x check

2005-08-07T17:23:00.000-05:00

I haven't been riding much due to injury and heat and feeling discouraged by the knee thing today was the day,excited to ride solo and wander about.I took the cross check (http://www.surlybikes.com/) out been a while and I've missed riding it. We rode together last week for the first time in months and it was a sweet reunion. I"ve decided to ride it more being my only geared bike, my knee thanks me. I should have ridden it more but the QuickBeam(http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/index.html) and the ss.m.t.b took priority.I feel a little guilty, she's been so good to me.
Off we went heading to the sometimes mundane,methodical N.C.R trail http://www.dnr.state.md.us/greenways/ncrt_trail.html in White Hall. I new I wanted to head north, Glen Rock seemed like a good distance, it's like eighteen or so from my straw shack.
Its all climbing from White Hall to New Freedom then she descends like nobody's business, well it feels good when you get over the hump, like fresh legs and smooth sailing,a section before G-Rock I was rolling twenty five-six millsperher, I am by no means bragging numbers today, It just felt really good to be riding , I wore a big grin the entire time.
I reached destination and wanted more,I think it was in the back of my head before I threw a leg over that I wanted to waste myself,not the brightest thing to do when your out of shape, but that bike and trail are pretty forgiving.
So I figured twenty five was a good place to turn around.
I have ridden to G-Rock a number of times, but only once before had I gone farther,(I went to Lake Redman) so I felt all adventurous and junk,saw some cool bike sculptures that were really big and soaked up the unfamiliar scenery,back yard gardens busting, streams wet and graceful, hit 25 on the computer coasted to a tenth and turned around,knowing that this is when the work begins. Climbing and there is a head wind,aha, that's why I was rolling so fast. Whatever its still a rail trail and its what I want to do.I ride through a rain shower ,It doesn't cool things down but its fun to be in the elements.
I 'm happy to arrive in New Freedom and start the decent, and again it's like a fresh start,sort of. Blow back to W-Hall you can haul asss on that trail! But I'm feeling it, the leg cramps are beckoning,so I coast a bit and try to work them out,it helps but they end up doing me in,had to stop twice on the road climb home and regroup. So be it, I knew it would happen when I walked out the door, weird I didn't feel bonked just my legs had enough.

That was a super fun ride on the N.C.R.

Chain ring

2005-08-01T07:07:00.000-05:00

Having trouble finding "that" chain ring or want one with your own personal twist? http://www.highpath.net/cycles/products/eggs/01.html

2005-07-28T17:13:00.000-05:00

You should do this on a hot day.

2005-07-28T17:12:00.000-05:00

but you shoulde"nt go here and do it, you should go somewhere simalar and do it

2005-07-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

you gotta do one of these........

2005-07-28T17:02:00.000-05:00