Monthly meeting February 1st

GORC's next meeting is Wednesday, February 1st, at the Schlafly taproom downtown, in the Elliot room. Just ask Kevin the bartender in the North Bar.

It sneaks up on you like rent.

Tip #1 for Surviving Mardi Gras

Prequel Tip #1: These may or may not be the best tips as I don't remember if last year's tips really helped all that much.

Since this is a bike-sort-of bloggle then let me recommend you parking and riding to your designated party spot.

Of course, take a piece of shit that you don't mind getting knocked over, pissed and puked on. It may even get stolen before nightfall.

Should you still own said bike when it is time for you to leave the premises, may I also recommend that you lower the seat ...

(if possible and/or won't cause you to vomit due to the stress of trying to lower your seat with your bare hands)

... so that you may not grind the pavement with your Hurricane-drenched face.

That is all.

More tips next week featuring how to keep your chain on while running from the Man and how to get your tilt on by 10:30am.

From the Rockbreaker Archive

Straight from the man himself: "That's the trail down to Pelican Island. They are old 3 wheeler / ATV Trails. This is back around 84 or so, when some of the guys would bring out their old 24" wheel single speed BMX race bikes. We would go down the trail so fast you would actually ride up onto the side of the berm. You had to go fast or you would get down into that nasty center line. When you got to the bottom of the hill if you came in too fast you would not be able to stop and you ran into the itch weed. Then you rode as fast as you could to the river to rinse off. They called it a heritage park and made it that it would not be able to be developed. It is near Douglas Rd. and Persimmon. Closest big intersection is New Halls Ferry and Shackleford."

More on Singlespeed World Championship

For those of you who aren't quite sure what to make of things when JohnnyD starts going on about Singlespeed Worlds; wikipedia has an entry to explain things. At the moment, it's still under construction.

So what are you doing August 18-20?

Rollergirls in St. Louis

If you haven't heard it yet, women's roller derby has hit the big time. The post had a big story this week and tonight at the Way Out Club there's a benefit show for the St. Louis Arch Rivals. At least a few women or girlfriends from the St. Louis cycling community are on the team. More importantly, the bands playing tonight (The Vultures, That's My Daughter, and Mothra's Mutha) rock. Think garage punk, a la the Wayback Machine on KDHX. As for the roller derby, it ought to be fun. Hopefully they'll be playing soon. Maybe it will last this time...

LINKS:
Post-dispatch story
St. Louis Arch Rivals

Rockbreaker's Old School Mountain Biking

These photos are part of Glenn Meyer's MTB Archive. I'm not even sure where and when these pictures were taken other than near St. Louis a Long Time Ago.

I'm really looking forward to hearing about what that bike is doing in the tree.
Check out those gaiters.

Gas Thief Escapes on Tricycle.

This kid is stealing natural gas. Evidently this is common in Pucheng, China.

There's a little more at National Geographic news if you're curious. I just thought it was a cool picture.

Page Avenue Bridge Bike Path Closed

Just a heads up for those of you who use the bike path along the Page Avenue bridge, that there is a sign up stating the bike path is closed temporarily on weekdays from January 16th to January 27th.

Friday the 13th

May you enjoy the night watching TIVO.


Or having a night out on the town.

OTA Announces 2nd Chainsaw Certification Class

The OTA has announced a second chainsaw certification class to be held Feb. 11th and 12 th in Ava, MO. They do list two requirements this time: First that you are a member of the OTA, and Second that you are willing to do chainsaw work on the Ozark Trail.
Interested people should get in touch with Robert Smith of the OTA by January 19th. The class will be filled on a first come, first served basis, so act soon.

What's all this double-clutching stuff, anyhow?

Bob Pease writes the Pease Porridge column in Electronic Design magazine, one of those freebies they send to dork engineers. It's actually pretty good, and Pease is a colorful curmudgeon who writes about whatever the hell he wants. Since we have a truck driver in our midst who's taken double clutching on as his tagline, here's Pease's What's all this double-clutching stuff, anyhow? article. I've read him for years. This guy drives a volkswagen bug around silicon valley to get to work at national semiconductor, but he usually knows what he's talking about even if it's not electronics. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mikey D.

Here's the crux of the matter:

First, you take your foot off the gas and kick in the clutch. You shift into neutral, AND let the clutch out. You wait perhaps 0.3 to 1.0 seconds for the engine to slow down from its high revs, depending on how fast you were revving when you started to shift and how much inertia the engine has to slow down. THEN you kick in the clutch and shift into third, and let the clutch out quickly, feeding the gas appropriately. If you have judged it right, when you let the clutch out, there isn't any JERK. And when you shove the lever into third, the gears and engine are at a synchronized speed, so there's minimum wear on the synchronizers, which are the tiny clutches that bring the clutch plate and the gears into smooth synchrony. There's also usually less wear on the clutch plates.

But there's much more, including naturalists playing tricks on condors.

Solutions seeking problems section

I'd file this one in the "what were they thinking" file. It's on the floor next to my desk with a bag in it. In addition to the unfortunate name, the Topeak Bikamper Tent looks like a pretty ridiculous product. Let's see, it costs almost $300, it sleeps one, it's heavier than a decent 2-person backpacking tent, ties up your bike, requires a bike, and takes a long space to set up. That it can attach to my handlebars for transport doesn't make it any better. Yikes.


Disclaimer, I've never used one or seen one in person, but it's pretty low on the priority list right now. The only mention of it I've seen wasn't a proper review either.

RR: Lost Valley - 1/07/2006

13 of us met at the Mound Saturday afternoon and had a nice little 20 mile jaunt around the Lost Valley trail. The large number was probably from the "cabin fever" effect brought on by not being able to ride off-road for awhile due to lack of cooperation from Mother Nature.

5 of the crowd were from Illinois, so they must have really been feeling it to drive all that way. The trail was in great shape, so get out and enjoy it while you can.

Berrecloth in Discovery Channel stunt

Berrecloth in Discovery Channel stunt
Darren BerreclothPhoto ©: Specialized

Specialized Factory rider and BMX stunt envelope-pusher Darren Berrecloth was selected to be one of the first athletes to be featured on the Discovery Channel's new series "Stunt Junkies." Each 60-minute episode of Stunt Junkies takes viewers behind the scenes of an unimaginable stunt, for a close look at what it's like to push the limits of personal expression and defy danger.
During the filming of Berrecloth's episode, the Discovery Channel paid a visit to Specialized and got an inside look at how the rider's latest bike, a 2006 Specialized Demo 8, was engineered, tested and built. With the Discovery Channel cameras rolling, Berrecloth also took the time to launch from a two-story high loading dock into the Specialized warehouse. "We've had a lot of interesting things happen around the office in the past thirty something years, but nothing that crazy," said Specialized founder and president, Mike Sinyard.

Berrecloth's episode of "Stunt Junkies" will appear on February 1, 2006 at 10pm on the Discovery Channel.

Some MTB history

Check out Charlie Kelly's mountain bike history page. It's a mother lode of old-time mountain-bike historical photos and stories.

Plus if you poke around there long enough you can find some sexy (and not-so-sexy) photos of cindy whitehead. If you haven't wasted enough time there already, check out the subtle really weird bikes link. I think the Bodysail is my favorite bad idea there, and there are some other pretty bad ideas, the surf bike, the side-by-side tandem, etc. Farewell, fine afternoon.

Oklahoma in the Hotseat

While canoeing the lower Buffalo river in Northwest Arkansas last weekend we saw smoke and an airplane going back and forth looking at it, didn't know if it was a wildfire or prescribed burn. Then coming back to civilization we saw that Oklahoma, Texas, and a little bit of Arkansas are getting pounded by early-season wildfires. We camped along the river probably 1/2 mile from #26 on the map above (Duck Head WF) which is 1500 acres big by now.

Note if you're camping in Arkansas any time soon that most of the state has a burn ban in effect. The mountain biking there is great and not that far away, plus it's a little warmer. Ouachita, Syllamo, or Womble, anyone? Missouri is not yet a high fire danger on the NOAA map but it still might be better to throw that Christmas tree in the lake for the crappie instead of burning it...

tom

LINKS:
Active Fire Map from the Forest Service
NOAA drought outlook and explanation of the high fire danger
Arkansas burn ban map
NPR story about wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma
the inevitable Wildfire prevention tips

GORC's Dark Underside

Yes, believe it or not, GORC does have one. Despite all the recent talk about buttery smooth trails, and singlespeeds, there are some club members who like to ride on, off, and over things rather than having a leg fall off trying to keep within radio range of the likes of 3-Bowl, the Crusher, and Terbo.

Here's proof of their existence, as caught by an NSA super-secret, motion-detecting forest cam at an unidentified location.

Declassified 01042006 -13:22 - reference: nsa.gov- locale:Midwest_Sector5684547881