This was my first attempt at making a video and it took way too long for what I made. But I had fun doing it. It was gusty or windy that day so I just rode the smaller jumps that day.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Metcalf and Bowling (yes bowling)
I went to Metcalf by myself and rode the beginner track for a bit and was feeling pretty good so I went and did the easy trail. The steep section after the left turn is even more loose and beat up. I can't believe they call that a beginner trail. I did that trail 3 times and then did Trail 3? a couple times. Then I did it again and turned off on a different trail that is rated beginner with a blue sign or something. Holy Shit! There is a long, long downhill and I suck and do not like going downhill on a motorcycle. Go figure. So I begin going down it and I gain more and more speed and now I am uncomfortably going way to fast and I am thinking it is really going to hurt if/when I crash. It sucked. I got off line and ended up on the left side of the trail and then there was a rut coming up and I ended more left and now I am in the dry grass which is even worse. Keep waiting to crash but I finally and I mean finally get to the end of the downhill and come to a stop and sit for a couple minutes to collect myself. I head off worrying about what uphill I will come to. Some bad stuff (for me) but I make it up okay. Stop back at the truck and rest for about 3 minutes and head out again and ride the beginner track and then do the trail again. I stop at the atv track and i ride that for a few laps. It isn't that great but I see another track so I go over to that ahh the tv just turned off and the last laps of the tour de france are on phew it is back on so i go to the other track which is the tt track i think? and i ride that one and it is pretty fun. i ride that for awhile and go back to the truck for a minute. and then go back to the tt track and ride it some more. I like that track. Then i head back and load up my truck. I leave at about 7 or earlier. I got there at 3 or so. My knees were hurting. Drop off the bike and stuff and start driving home and Melanie calls me and says they are leaving for bowling so I go home and shower and E and I go bowl.
Bowling- Gabe, Melanie, Steve, I-hsin, Jimmy, Jenene and Michelle were there. We took some pictures and bowled two games. It was nice and fun to hang out with those guys. I sucked bad the first game but did much better the next time. I think my first score was 70 or something. Maybe even in the 60's and the second game I was somewhere jst above 100. I had fun. Oh my ball had a chip in the hole where the thumb goes and it kept rubbing on my thumb and it kind of hurt.
Bowling- Gabe, Melanie, Steve, I-hsin, Jimmy, Jenene and Michelle were there. We took some pictures and bowled two games. It was nice and fun to hang out with those guys. I sucked bad the first game but did much better the next time. I think my first score was 70 or something. Maybe even in the 60's and the second game I was somewhere jst above 100. I had fun. Oh my ball had a chip in the hole where the thumb goes and it kept rubbing on my thumb and it kind of hurt.
Today-probably go over to the motorcycle store and ride over to the San Jose Grand Prix.
Tour de California prologue is in Palo Alto? Stanford maybe? and a stage finishes in San Jose on Wednesday so I will be able to see that.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Tour de France and Calabazas
The tour is such a joke now. Vinokourav gets busted for blood transfusion and now they have an awesome mt stage and the tour leader and winner of the stage gets busted for something. Hard to watch when you keep thinking what is this guying doing to be this incredible.
Calabazas- fun day today. Lots of people. Mike F, Mike B, wampler, Isaac, Roger, Theo, Shelby, Gideon and a bunch of other mt bikers and a bunch of good bmxers. Cool time.
My knees smell bad. I mean bad from my knee pads. I need to order some more and rotate these babies.
E is supposed to be lifting weights. She is reading...magazines. harumph. Go lift goober! hee hee goober is a funny word and i am retarded.
Calabazas- fun day today. Lots of people. Mike F, Mike B, wampler, Isaac, Roger, Theo, Shelby, Gideon and a bunch of other mt bikers and a bunch of good bmxers. Cool time.
My knees smell bad. I mean bad from my knee pads. I need to order some more and rotate these babies.
E is supposed to be lifting weights. She is reading...magazines. harumph. Go lift goober! hee hee goober is a funny word and i am retarded.
Monday, July 23, 2007
A MOUNTAIN BIKERS HOUSE
Today was my first day back from work after being on vacation for a week. I had lots of problem returns to do. It took pretty much all day at my desk to finish.
I am not sure who would be calling me but I think that is pretty funny.
This is the stairs to the apartment. Notice how it is rounded over and new wood is showing, that is from bouncing down the stairs.
Notice the tire marks on the side, that is where I put my front tire when I wheel my bike up the stairs.
Camelback and Vans. Riding Vans and work Vans. Ready to go.
Biking calendar. That's Cedric Gracia. He rules.
This is my pantry. I don't know what a pantry is but I am going to call it that. Protein powder which I have with my milk every morning with cereal. GU2O which I never use, pasta which I don't have too often either. Coke, I drink lots of this. I am having one right now.
This is the refrigerator. The only stuff in there that is mine is the Coke, greenish Gatorade, salsa...and i guess that is it. Oh that glass of water is mine too.
Foam roller which I used for a short while and forgot about it but now that I see it maybe I will use it. It is kind of cool. Plus a bike magazine in there too.
Patio where I put my stinky pads. Spray them with Febreeze but it doesn't help much.
My closet. Nothing but t-shirts, jerseys and shorts. One pair of jeans. My only pair of pants. Plus lots of bike magazines.
This is below that last picture. Vans, Fox knee/shin pads I don't use, bike shorts,pair of gloves, more magazines and a bag of unclean clothes.
My sink. I just set down that shock pump. Goop, sunblock, Gu, Elizabeths heart rate monitor that I have never used yet.
The shower. Tecnu. I have 3 bottles of this stuff.
The bike room. E's bikes.
Tools in the bike room. All my tools are still at my moms house.
My Planet X and Cheeta and full face helmet. My Turner DHR is at my moms. Elizabeths Juliana is in front of my bikes and the midgetmobile isover there in the left hand corner. Not sure why it is there. Also the FMF cruiser and Rockhopper is at my moms. I left them there for some reason.
Hallway with Camelbak Transalp, tube, allen wrenches, more gloves and a 15 dollar voucher for food at Northstar.
That's Simon. He's my buddy.
That's Fozzy. She is pretty timid but still a cool cat.
Floor by tv. Bike books, bike dvd, biking log.
Closer to tv. Free bike magazines, bike dvd and CHiPS dvd.
Our dvds.Lots of biking. A lot more at my moms house.
This is my girl. I had a really funny picture but she didn't like it so much so she put this one up. I didn't have the patience to upload all these pictures. She did it. She is reading a book on the patio totally ignoring me while I totally ignore her while I watch the Tour de France on Versus.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Skeggs and Tour de France
Rode Skeggs with Elizabeth. Too much climbing for me. I did like the last part of trail we rode that parallells skyline. Felt tired. I was carrying a lot of water. enough for a long time. we only rode a short while but it was enough for me at the time.
I am planning on going to Pleasanton in an hour. I am hoping I will have some fun there. I don't feel like driving at all but I need some jumping or speed. Maybe go to Metcalf later today or tomorrow?
Tour de France is going. the time trial is on but it isn't as intersting as i had hoped. I brought over some lycra shorts and a jersey. I don't think I will fit in them anymore. Just in case I ride the road bike around the block.
I am planning on going to Pleasanton in an hour. I am hoping I will have some fun there. I don't feel like driving at all but I need some jumping or speed. Maybe go to Metcalf later today or tomorrow?
Tour de France is going. the time trial is on but it isn't as intersting as i had hoped. I brought over some lycra shorts and a jersey. I don't think I will fit in them anymore. Just in case I ride the road bike around the block.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Big Basin and Elkhorn Slough
I have another week off and on Monday we went to Big Basin. Took a look at all the campsites at Wastahi and found some decent ones. We were a bit worried about the campsite with all the little chairs. So we took a campsite not so close. Turned out to be still to close. Fucking kids. These were the most annoying kids. Actually they were just being kids, being loud and playing. But they were loud all day long and constantly being loud. It was very irritating. We had to leave and go for a walk to get away from these damn kids. It was amazing when we got away from them how nice and peaceful it was. Our tent was on a slope which I didn't feel when I tested it out but we sure felt it when we were tired and ready for some sleep. Felt like the ground was all jacked up. Slept okay. We rode our bikes, bontrager and rockhopper, over to the hq to register for another night. Then we had to ride back to put the sticker on the 4 runner and for e to get her gps. Rode back to hq and then to gazos creek fireroad. The road pretty much sucked. There were plenty of other cool trails to the left and right but of course they were off limits to bikes. I so wanted to go ride them. sucks being me. i wish i could just go ride them and not feel guilty. i don't see the harm if i am going slow and not going to startle any hikers. i understand though because most people would just haul ass downhill. anyway we rode up this crappy fireroad and i am not having that much fun. we turn left on some other road to look for the bench. it went uphill. this sucks. thankfully when i about had it there was the bench. we stayed there for awhile and took some pictures and laid down on the bench. I put a penny and a nickel under both of the legs. then we left and rode down the fireroad which on the bontrager was okay. seat all high and everything. got back to the campsite and those f'in kids are still there. we had hoped they had left. oh the kids were staying at half of the campsites. we probably ate and then got so irritated at the kids that we left to go walk again. I think this is when we crossed the road and went on some trail that followed the road on the east side. pretty cool trail. my wimpy shins were a little bit sore so we turned back and went back to the campsite. stupid kids still yelling so we kept walking and sat down on a tree. mosquitoes came so we crossed the road and i sat on the road and then we went to the sempervirens falls and hung out there for the second time and then went back to the campsite. there was more commotion but of a different kind. one of the girls got stung by a bee. i was happy. went back to the campsite and played backgammon which I won again. I rule! Started a nice fire. E tried to make a hotdog wrapped in a bread from a can which, surprise, didn't work. i cooked a hot dog and it looked like it came out good. she ate it but she also ate her burnt hot dog too. So the crappy kids are quiet but know the adults are talking and talking. They talk until 10. Then until 11. Then until ?. I really do not like these people or there kids. Seems so inconsiderate. There were a bunch of wine bottles by the recycle bin in the morning. We got up early and left early. I was anxious to get out of there before the little punks got up and annoyed me. Oh there was a big big log that had fallen down and the kids would all play on it which was near our site. In the night i had to pee so i climbed on the log and peed where the kids played. Hee hee. I did that twice. In the morning it was all misty. When i walked to the car it was all misty there too. Weird because it was all sunny and hot the day before and this is july. Gets more misty. and more misty. very light rain but it is dry in the forest just wet in the parking lot. glad we were leaving then. we leave in the wetness and it is kind of nice. we stop at my favorite bathrooms so i can go and i also take my camera. Of course there is a ranger there cleaning. damn. she says to use the ones in the back. i go in and track in all this mud. oops, i feel pretty bad. think about asking for the broom but figured that would just be too weird. She comes around the corner and I leave and take a picture of the shower on the other side and another shot of the bathroom and she comes around the corner and asks if she can help me. oh no you just have the nicest bathrooms and i wanted to take a picture to show my girlfriend. i get out of there quick feeling like a jackass in a way and not caring all at the same time. i was having fun. we drive home and get home faster than getting there it seems and it is still all misty down in Sunnyvale. Go back to the apartment and fall asleep for awhile. Wake up and go to the thrift store and then to home depot and then to goodwill. waste of time. come home and sleep.
Thursday, that would be today, we went to Elkhorn Slough. It is E's birthday and she wanted to kayak. Got there and we had planned on getting a kayak and taking it to kirby park and launching there but the two guys there made it sound better launching here. We got a double kayak and put on our life jacket and a spray skirt. The spray skirt made me a little nervous. Never used one before. Got into our kayak okay. felt okay with the spray skirt. I was in the back and i was able to see this time because i was farther back. We putted around and went by the docked boats and we stayed next to the shore. i wanted to stay next to the shore. paddled for a bit. oh i forgot i wasn't feeling that great but what are you going to do? So we paddle and we turn left and go under the bridge which was kind of cool. the rudder works really well. very helpful. We go a short way and holy crap there are sea otters all over the place. I wasn't expecting that. they were doing there cleaning and eating while on their backs and stuff they do. pretty cool. saw some sea lions with there heads poking out. saw a lot of pelicans. one came toward us and pooped. must have been a warning shot. saw some long billed walking on the seashore type birds which I like. easy going east with the current and wind. we cross the slough and go up stream on the southside which is supposed to be easier. it is but there is nothing alive over there. we go across the slough again. it seems harder and we see animals again and we slowly make our way back. it took awhile and wasn't that much fun. took awhile and as soon as we get back to the harbor it is nice again. calm water. so much better. we putter around and have more fun. check out the boats and stuff. gettting out of the boat was easier than i thought. but e wasn't too happy about getting out but she got out without going in the water.
we then go to Crows Nest to eat. still not feeling that great but the place is pretty cool. we then go home and i get on the internet and write this and e goes to sleep on the couch. then i start watching the simpsons and she moves to the bedroom and i guess is sleeping.
Thursday, that would be today, we went to Elkhorn Slough. It is E's birthday and she wanted to kayak. Got there and we had planned on getting a kayak and taking it to kirby park and launching there but the two guys there made it sound better launching here. We got a double kayak and put on our life jacket and a spray skirt. The spray skirt made me a little nervous. Never used one before. Got into our kayak okay. felt okay with the spray skirt. I was in the back and i was able to see this time because i was farther back. We putted around and went by the docked boats and we stayed next to the shore. i wanted to stay next to the shore. paddled for a bit. oh i forgot i wasn't feeling that great but what are you going to do? So we paddle and we turn left and go under the bridge which was kind of cool. the rudder works really well. very helpful. We go a short way and holy crap there are sea otters all over the place. I wasn't expecting that. they were doing there cleaning and eating while on their backs and stuff they do. pretty cool. saw some sea lions with there heads poking out. saw a lot of pelicans. one came toward us and pooped. must have been a warning shot. saw some long billed walking on the seashore type birds which I like. easy going east with the current and wind. we cross the slough and go up stream on the southside which is supposed to be easier. it is but there is nothing alive over there. we go across the slough again. it seems harder and we see animals again and we slowly make our way back. it took awhile and wasn't that much fun. took awhile and as soon as we get back to the harbor it is nice again. calm water. so much better. we putter around and have more fun. check out the boats and stuff. gettting out of the boat was easier than i thought. but e wasn't too happy about getting out but she got out without going in the water.
we then go to Crows Nest to eat. still not feeling that great but the place is pretty cool. we then go home and i get on the internet and write this and e goes to sleep on the couch. then i start watching the simpsons and she moves to the bedroom and i guess is sleeping.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Northstar
July 4th 2007
At Northstar. Record high in Truckee at 97 degrees. That is just great, tomorrow I will be downhilling with all my gear on in this heat. I am actually not bored but just waiting for tomorrow I guess. I have stuff to do like bleed my brakes or maybe change the brakeshoes but I do not feel like doing that at this moment. It is 7 pm right now. The drive here was really long. I left at 1 and got here at after 5 pm. I stopped by Truckee bmx track to take a look and it looked pretty cool. Kind of like South Lake Tahoe bmx. I am doing the stay and bike free thing. the lady gave me 4 passes but they all have tomorrows date on it. sounds like a possible hassle coming up. I will tell you about the room. it is a studio and it is bad ass. It has everything. full refigerator, stove, oven, coffe, tea pot, all utensils, microwave, pizza cutter, fan, iron, tv, vcr, dvd player, tivo, fireplace thingy, couch, rocking chair, chair, kitchen table, murphy bed, neutragena soaps, a patio with more chairs, dart board (haven't seen the darts yet), board games, random videos, cds, stereo... this place is so awesome. but i am somewhat sad because i can't share it with Elizabeth. so wish she was here. sigh... kinda boring without her sometimes. and no simon or fozzy cats either! r
chance of thunderstorms!!! wtf. how crappy would that be. there is some x country race tomorrow evening but i might go to the bmx track. i will have to see how tired i am tomorrow. i am hungry but i only have crappy food. donuts, cereal, coke, coke, gatorade, water, oreos. i forgot i needed to get milk.
oh awesome, the village is right around the corner, i think, so i won't have to drive. i got 60 bucks in vouchers at the turn. some restraunt or something. i hope. I am getting more bored. ugg. i should be totally happy but i am just missing e right now. i guess i will go on my Turner. Get something done.
8:30 p.m. what a pain in the butt that was. Turns out my rear brake shoes on the turner are pretty much gone so I took those out and then took out the front pads from the planet x and switched them. This turned out to be another frustrating time for me. I got it fixed so the turner works good, i hope. But the px front brakes suck bad but i don't really plan on riding that bike too much. i have a brand new set of brake shoes but i think they are at home? i have been drinking water. i need some food. hmm. guess i will have to have another coke later and some ritz wheat crackers for dinner. what a crummy dinner for being in such a nice place. i looked for the darts but i could not find them. bummer because i would like to throw them. probably would have no desire to do it at any other time but it would be nice now. it is still warm out and beginning to slowly get dark. i am really looking forward to riding tomorrow. 10 until 4 pm. sucks they close so early.they could be open till 8 or at least 7. i guess i will be able to come back to the studio and wash up and then go get dinner at The Turn. I found something that said they sell hamburgers, gourmet hot dogs and stuff so that's cool. 20 more minutes and i can call elizabeth.yeah. maybe if i won the lotto i could get a place here. it is nice. feel happy here. i like the pine wood everywhere. i see another drawer. just candles. i guess someone owns this place. there is guest book going back several years. e would like it here. she could go read out on the porch with the trees.
JULY 5TH, 2007
Vacation rules. Must be great to be rich and not have to work but have enough money to do whatever you want. I went to the bike park at 10 and took the gondola up and then the chairlift on the right. Some other dude got on the lift with me and we ended up riding together for awhile. Too long actually but whatever. He was a good guide since he was a little worse than me. I went done some crazy trails. the trails are super super dusty and so rocky. rockier and dustier than i was expecting. it is fun but not super stoked fun. the chairlifts are awesome. i rode 23 miles. and i am not even tired at all. i drank so much water. camelback is great for this place. the jumps here are all pieces of crap. all blown up and sketchy as hell. I ended up blowing up my rear shock somehow. oil dripping all over the place. it sucks. it feels like i have a flat tire and it is all loud but it still sort of works. so i had to ride with a blown shock. i tried to stick to the easier trails but... Then I am cruising down some easy fireroad and bang bang bang the chain is all fucked up. crappy gamut chainguide. chain is stuck. i try to get it out but i can't. so i start ging down the trail and there's more problems. my frewheel is now messed up and spins the whole time. no freewheel. so i coasted and pushed my way back to the condo. the condo is right down the street from the park. easier just to ride instead of drive. so i get home and clean the oil and then i take a shower. i am hungry and want to get a big hamburger or something at The Turn. I drive to the golf course area where I think it is. there are no signs for it or anything. i get to the martis valley grille at 3 :30 and there is some worker outside so i ask him where The Turn is and he says it is right there but it is closed. closed, what the hell it isn't even 4 pm. what a pain in the ass this place is at times. frustrating. i have 60 bucks for the turn but the only time they are open is when the bike park is open. who is going to stop riding and go way over there to eat??? I guess I am going to go to the BMX track. i don't really feel like it but I need to go get food anyways. i wish this coupon was good for anywhere here to get food.
JULY 6TH, 20007
I went to the bmx track last night. There were only 10 riders there or so. I wasn't sure what the rules were for clothing and pads and if cost money to practice. I was confused on where to go because they put up some white fencing so I just hopped on the track and rode it and back up to the startin gate. Everyone was watching me because I was a new face. The track is super fun. Really fast with jumps that are actually jumpable. the track is really smooth and the berms have glue on them so you stick well like glue. i was always out of breath though. ride the track for 200 feet and i am out of breath. So far the highlight of this trip is the bmx track. I talked with the track operator and he was a cool guy. They are racing tonight, tomorrow and sunday mornings. I kind of want to go tonight to see if they have a t shirt for sale. Anyways the track was the best and afterwards i went around Truckee looking for some grocery store. I ended up in historic downtown Truckee which has absolutely nothing. I am getting bummed because now i have to eat donuts and coke for dinner and breakfast again. But as i was driving home I see a 7-11. I got a pizza, some frozen taco thing, milk, licorice and a beer. Not sure why i got the beer but it seemed like a good idea. I got home and the chicken things was good but the beer wasn't that great. it was nice to have a hot meal.
This morning i had milk with protein powder and my nature valley bars. yum yum. drank some water and went over to the chair lifts. shock was still completely blown so it rode like a pogo stick. not exactly the safest thing but i figured i would just take it easy on the trails. took the lifts up to live wire and the top of the trail was open. i went down slowly and it kind of sucked because there are a bunch of table tops but i had to roll them out of fear of getting bucked. The trail seemed all right. Rode down whatever trail and was waiting for the chair lift and i hear someone yell my name. ? it's Tommy so i go over and talk to him for a bit. he or his parents have a place in truckee right by the skateboard park. hmm i should go ride that. so we wait for his buddy who comes down after awhile and he is all dirty. he was funny. he crashed a bunch of times i guess and was a bit cut up and dirty. we went up the chairlift and did livewire and some other stuff. rode them for a little while and then rode by myself. it was all right. the trails are so rough and dusty it is hard to have fun. i did find a nice little slow trail through the bushes. it was a nice change. good luck finding it again. i rode until 1:50 and i wasn't having that much fun so i figured i would go home and shower and go to The Turn. which i did. i got a double cheeseburger, bag of doritos and a root beer ( they were out of Pepsi) and that came to 13. 50. It actually tasted good and i saved the chips for later. it probably wouldn't have tasted as good if i had to pay that much. the prices were crazy high. a soda from the machine was 2 75 and the burger was 900 and chips were 200. it was at the golf course which had a bunch of golf type people. what a boring sport that appears to be. so damn slow.
i came home and started to watch a little bit of tv and then took off my shock to go get a new one. took it off and started messing around with it and messed around some more and of course ended up taking it all apart in the sink trying to figure it out. interesting. hmm maybe i can fix it...i don't have shock oil but i have chain lube...put some of that in to see if i can find where it leaks.hmm, doesn't seem to be leaking but then again it has no pressure from hitting a jump. take out the lube and think about trying to make oil with grease and chain lube. but i figure that will just make a mess so i put in some h2o. not sure how much liquid should be in so i put in a lot.doesn't seem to leak so i put the shock back on. takes awhile but i get it on and sit on the bike. hey it works! so it seems so i take it outside and bounce around and it makes a squishing sound but it didn't pogo and wateer didn't leak out so it is looking good. well not good i mean i have water in there but it is a lot better than before.
started watching some more tv. it is 5:20 right now and i don't really feel like doing anything but maybe watch a movie. South Lake Tahoe seems like there is more to do. I guess i could go ride, they have some trails i think right here but why bother when i can get on the chairlift tomorrow and cruise. chairlifts are great. i need to look around more and enjoy the area while i am riding. guess i will go for now. get to call e in a short while.
10:25 p.m. I am trying to make coffee for the first time and also using a coffee machine. i have never seen it done so i kinda just guessed. put in a paper thing in the tip and poured water in through that for a bit. then pressed on. hopefully hot coffee will come out. except i don't really want coffee but it was here so i will give it a try. i ended up going out on the balcony and reading from a book called everyday greatness. it was nice and relaxing. i am now watching double jeopardy with ashley judd.
JULY 8TH, 2007
I went over to ride the trails after 9 am. I found a shorter way to get to the road to the village. I went up and took a lots of pictures. Then i went up the chair lift on the right to Livewire and took more pictures. Of course Livewire was closed when I went up, but someone said they opened it up a little bit later. later on There was a line to get onto that chairlift whereas on the other lift you just rolled right up and put your bike on the rack and sat down. So i went down Boondocks which was allright. then i went up the left chairlift and went down Haugs which has two jumps at the beginning and then some berms and a few more jumps then i would cross over to Over Undertrail that has a bunch of berms and end up on a fireroad and pedal uphill for a little bit and then do flameout to dogbone then to Speed Control which rules then to Dog Bone and finish at the lift and do it some more. I did several runs on that. I was going pretty good and then my bike was seeming like it wasn't working as good as it was before which wasn't that great. I get on a fireroad and my front tire is going flat. Damn. I keep going and it goes all the way flat so I just rode really slow. It wasn't that bad at all. It took awhile and I ended up at the gondola and had to ride that back down to the village. i got back to the condo after one and fixed the flat and decided I will ride some more since I am really enjoying it today. Much better than the previous days. I get back to the gondola and the worker commented on how fast that I was back. So I go up and do some more riding. I put my bike on the rack with another guys bike and then another guy trys to put on his bike at the last second and doesn't quite get it in and it is all hanging on the rack. I get on the seat and someone tells the operator who then stops the lift but the bikes are 12 feet off the ground. I took some pictures. We were stopped for awhile while a bunch of workers came and holy crap those guys rule. One guy stood up on a metal thing and then another guy liked pushed him up and the guy was standing on the dudes hands and holding onto the rack sometimes with no one touching his feet and he grabs the bike and manuevers it into the spot and comes down. It was pretty cool. People cheered. So we went up and i rode the same trails and was getting pretty fast on them. i had too much air pressure in my rear tire and it would hope around a bit. didn't help having a rear shock full of water. oh and the chainguide came loose of course and was rattling around. on my last run of the day my chin got sucked inbetween the tire and rear chainstay. that was fun. went back to the condo and took a nice shower and shaved. i thought i would walk over to the village and see what was going on there. i decide to take that trail i saw other people walking on the other day. Holy crap, the parking lot is like right there. I mean right there right there. Jeez i was going all the way up that stupid road and through the village when i could have gone up this trail to a parking lot and at the end of the parking lot is the gondola. wow. So i walk into the village which is pretty deserted and only a very few stores are open. Pretty boring. I did get to see some little kids jumping up and down on some trampoline while attached to rubber bands. it was pretty cute. They were tiny kids. walked around some more and thought maybe i would take a look at the recreation area but it sounded like a million people were over there. so i came back to the condo and got onto the computer. i am typing out on the deck. it is really nice. i like these trees. i am going to read now and then watch some tv or maybe a movie. i brought some movies but for some reason i only want to watch the ones that are on tv which i have already seen before. I liked the movie last night.
JULY 9TH, 2007
i left the sliding glass door open last night and woke up at 3 am with a start. sounded like something was at the screen door. freaked me out. i just stared at the screen door to see if i could see any movement but i never saw anything. was wide awake for awhile and eventually fell asleep. woke up and got my stuff and walked over to the chairlift. 5 minutes. sweet. went up in the gondola with some kid with a Planet X jersey. I didn't ask him about it because he kept talking and talking. i went up the chairlift to do Livewire. The trail was wet with puddles. It was okay to go down. I decided to try it again so i could catch some air on the first couple of jumps. i couldn't really ride too hard because my shock was so soft. so i am going down the trail after the jumps where it is all rocky and i get another front flat. damn it. have to walk down to the gondola and the guy there says you can get a tube in the tent over there so i went and got a 2.35/2.75 thick tube for 7 bucks. fixed it pretty quick and went up the lift on the left and did the same trails as yesterday. shock was clanking pretty good. I did manage to tweak my left ankle but not bad at all. My biceps would get kind of pumped up and feel not sore but like I was working them out.My ankles are the most sore of everything but even that is not too bad. my calluses are pretty good too. I went down several more times and then my knees were getting sore and my hands and fingers too so i went and did Little Trees and some other trails in that area. Nothing that great but i did go down some cool easier trails. i think it was Woods and Upper and Lower Mineshaft which would be good for Eliazbeth. After that I cruised back to the condo and took a shower and then went to The Turn and got some food. Before I got my burger some assholes lit up cigarettes at their table. They left a couple minutes later but why couldn't they just light up when they left? Other people were annoyed too. Ate came back to the condo and fell asleep. Woke up and walked over to the village and around there for awhile. What a ghost town. Walked back and then walked around in the trees and stuff. i was wearing my flip flops so i had to be really careful. I was looking for a cool branch for the patio for the birds but I never found anything that I liked. I ended up taking my walking stick and a big piece of bark. I just watched Under Siege and now Bourne Supremacy is on so I guess I will watch that. It wil be nice to be home. Not looking forward to the 4 hour drive home tomorrow. Maybe I can stop by Pleasanton or San Ramon or something. It will be nice to see Elizabeth again. I started packing some stuff up but there is still a lot of things.
At Northstar. Record high in Truckee at 97 degrees. That is just great, tomorrow I will be downhilling with all my gear on in this heat. I am actually not bored but just waiting for tomorrow I guess. I have stuff to do like bleed my brakes or maybe change the brakeshoes but I do not feel like doing that at this moment. It is 7 pm right now. The drive here was really long. I left at 1 and got here at after 5 pm. I stopped by Truckee bmx track to take a look and it looked pretty cool. Kind of like South Lake Tahoe bmx. I am doing the stay and bike free thing. the lady gave me 4 passes but they all have tomorrows date on it. sounds like a possible hassle coming up. I will tell you about the room. it is a studio and it is bad ass. It has everything. full refigerator, stove, oven, coffe, tea pot, all utensils, microwave, pizza cutter, fan, iron, tv, vcr, dvd player, tivo, fireplace thingy, couch, rocking chair, chair, kitchen table, murphy bed, neutragena soaps, a patio with more chairs, dart board (haven't seen the darts yet), board games, random videos, cds, stereo... this place is so awesome. but i am somewhat sad because i can't share it with Elizabeth. so wish she was here. sigh... kinda boring without her sometimes. and no simon or fozzy cats either! r
chance of thunderstorms!!! wtf. how crappy would that be. there is some x country race tomorrow evening but i might go to the bmx track. i will have to see how tired i am tomorrow. i am hungry but i only have crappy food. donuts, cereal, coke, coke, gatorade, water, oreos. i forgot i needed to get milk.
oh awesome, the village is right around the corner, i think, so i won't have to drive. i got 60 bucks in vouchers at the turn. some restraunt or something. i hope. I am getting more bored. ugg. i should be totally happy but i am just missing e right now. i guess i will go on my Turner. Get something done.
8:30 p.m. what a pain in the butt that was. Turns out my rear brake shoes on the turner are pretty much gone so I took those out and then took out the front pads from the planet x and switched them. This turned out to be another frustrating time for me. I got it fixed so the turner works good, i hope. But the px front brakes suck bad but i don't really plan on riding that bike too much. i have a brand new set of brake shoes but i think they are at home? i have been drinking water. i need some food. hmm. guess i will have to have another coke later and some ritz wheat crackers for dinner. what a crummy dinner for being in such a nice place. i looked for the darts but i could not find them. bummer because i would like to throw them. probably would have no desire to do it at any other time but it would be nice now. it is still warm out and beginning to slowly get dark. i am really looking forward to riding tomorrow. 10 until 4 pm. sucks they close so early.they could be open till 8 or at least 7. i guess i will be able to come back to the studio and wash up and then go get dinner at The Turn. I found something that said they sell hamburgers, gourmet hot dogs and stuff so that's cool. 20 more minutes and i can call elizabeth.yeah. maybe if i won the lotto i could get a place here. it is nice. feel happy here. i like the pine wood everywhere. i see another drawer. just candles. i guess someone owns this place. there is guest book going back several years. e would like it here. she could go read out on the porch with the trees.
JULY 5TH, 2007
Vacation rules. Must be great to be rich and not have to work but have enough money to do whatever you want. I went to the bike park at 10 and took the gondola up and then the chairlift on the right. Some other dude got on the lift with me and we ended up riding together for awhile. Too long actually but whatever. He was a good guide since he was a little worse than me. I went done some crazy trails. the trails are super super dusty and so rocky. rockier and dustier than i was expecting. it is fun but not super stoked fun. the chairlifts are awesome. i rode 23 miles. and i am not even tired at all. i drank so much water. camelback is great for this place. the jumps here are all pieces of crap. all blown up and sketchy as hell. I ended up blowing up my rear shock somehow. oil dripping all over the place. it sucks. it feels like i have a flat tire and it is all loud but it still sort of works. so i had to ride with a blown shock. i tried to stick to the easier trails but... Then I am cruising down some easy fireroad and bang bang bang the chain is all fucked up. crappy gamut chainguide. chain is stuck. i try to get it out but i can't. so i start ging down the trail and there's more problems. my frewheel is now messed up and spins the whole time. no freewheel. so i coasted and pushed my way back to the condo. the condo is right down the street from the park. easier just to ride instead of drive. so i get home and clean the oil and then i take a shower. i am hungry and want to get a big hamburger or something at The Turn. I drive to the golf course area where I think it is. there are no signs for it or anything. i get to the martis valley grille at 3 :30 and there is some worker outside so i ask him where The Turn is and he says it is right there but it is closed. closed, what the hell it isn't even 4 pm. what a pain in the ass this place is at times. frustrating. i have 60 bucks for the turn but the only time they are open is when the bike park is open. who is going to stop riding and go way over there to eat??? I guess I am going to go to the BMX track. i don't really feel like it but I need to go get food anyways. i wish this coupon was good for anywhere here to get food.
JULY 6TH, 20007
I went to the bmx track last night. There were only 10 riders there or so. I wasn't sure what the rules were for clothing and pads and if cost money to practice. I was confused on where to go because they put up some white fencing so I just hopped on the track and rode it and back up to the startin gate. Everyone was watching me because I was a new face. The track is super fun. Really fast with jumps that are actually jumpable. the track is really smooth and the berms have glue on them so you stick well like glue. i was always out of breath though. ride the track for 200 feet and i am out of breath. So far the highlight of this trip is the bmx track. I talked with the track operator and he was a cool guy. They are racing tonight, tomorrow and sunday mornings. I kind of want to go tonight to see if they have a t shirt for sale. Anyways the track was the best and afterwards i went around Truckee looking for some grocery store. I ended up in historic downtown Truckee which has absolutely nothing. I am getting bummed because now i have to eat donuts and coke for dinner and breakfast again. But as i was driving home I see a 7-11. I got a pizza, some frozen taco thing, milk, licorice and a beer. Not sure why i got the beer but it seemed like a good idea. I got home and the chicken things was good but the beer wasn't that great. it was nice to have a hot meal.
This morning i had milk with protein powder and my nature valley bars. yum yum. drank some water and went over to the chair lifts. shock was still completely blown so it rode like a pogo stick. not exactly the safest thing but i figured i would just take it easy on the trails. took the lifts up to live wire and the top of the trail was open. i went down slowly and it kind of sucked because there are a bunch of table tops but i had to roll them out of fear of getting bucked. The trail seemed all right. Rode down whatever trail and was waiting for the chair lift and i hear someone yell my name. ? it's Tommy so i go over and talk to him for a bit. he or his parents have a place in truckee right by the skateboard park. hmm i should go ride that. so we wait for his buddy who comes down after awhile and he is all dirty. he was funny. he crashed a bunch of times i guess and was a bit cut up and dirty. we went up the chairlift and did livewire and some other stuff. rode them for a little while and then rode by myself. it was all right. the trails are so rough and dusty it is hard to have fun. i did find a nice little slow trail through the bushes. it was a nice change. good luck finding it again. i rode until 1:50 and i wasn't having that much fun so i figured i would go home and shower and go to The Turn. which i did. i got a double cheeseburger, bag of doritos and a root beer ( they were out of Pepsi) and that came to 13. 50. It actually tasted good and i saved the chips for later. it probably wouldn't have tasted as good if i had to pay that much. the prices were crazy high. a soda from the machine was 2 75 and the burger was 900 and chips were 200. it was at the golf course which had a bunch of golf type people. what a boring sport that appears to be. so damn slow.
i came home and started to watch a little bit of tv and then took off my shock to go get a new one. took it off and started messing around with it and messed around some more and of course ended up taking it all apart in the sink trying to figure it out. interesting. hmm maybe i can fix it...i don't have shock oil but i have chain lube...put some of that in to see if i can find where it leaks.hmm, doesn't seem to be leaking but then again it has no pressure from hitting a jump. take out the lube and think about trying to make oil with grease and chain lube. but i figure that will just make a mess so i put in some h2o. not sure how much liquid should be in so i put in a lot.doesn't seem to leak so i put the shock back on. takes awhile but i get it on and sit on the bike. hey it works! so it seems so i take it outside and bounce around and it makes a squishing sound but it didn't pogo and wateer didn't leak out so it is looking good. well not good i mean i have water in there but it is a lot better than before.
started watching some more tv. it is 5:20 right now and i don't really feel like doing anything but maybe watch a movie. South Lake Tahoe seems like there is more to do. I guess i could go ride, they have some trails i think right here but why bother when i can get on the chairlift tomorrow and cruise. chairlifts are great. i need to look around more and enjoy the area while i am riding. guess i will go for now. get to call e in a short while.
10:25 p.m. I am trying to make coffee for the first time and also using a coffee machine. i have never seen it done so i kinda just guessed. put in a paper thing in the tip and poured water in through that for a bit. then pressed on. hopefully hot coffee will come out. except i don't really want coffee but it was here so i will give it a try. i ended up going out on the balcony and reading from a book called everyday greatness. it was nice and relaxing. i am now watching double jeopardy with ashley judd.
JULY 8TH, 2007
I went over to ride the trails after 9 am. I found a shorter way to get to the road to the village. I went up and took a lots of pictures. Then i went up the chair lift on the right to Livewire and took more pictures. Of course Livewire was closed when I went up, but someone said they opened it up a little bit later. later on There was a line to get onto that chairlift whereas on the other lift you just rolled right up and put your bike on the rack and sat down. So i went down Boondocks which was allright. then i went up the left chairlift and went down Haugs which has two jumps at the beginning and then some berms and a few more jumps then i would cross over to Over Undertrail that has a bunch of berms and end up on a fireroad and pedal uphill for a little bit and then do flameout to dogbone then to Speed Control which rules then to Dog Bone and finish at the lift and do it some more. I did several runs on that. I was going pretty good and then my bike was seeming like it wasn't working as good as it was before which wasn't that great. I get on a fireroad and my front tire is going flat. Damn. I keep going and it goes all the way flat so I just rode really slow. It wasn't that bad at all. It took awhile and I ended up at the gondola and had to ride that back down to the village. i got back to the condo after one and fixed the flat and decided I will ride some more since I am really enjoying it today. Much better than the previous days. I get back to the gondola and the worker commented on how fast that I was back. So I go up and do some more riding. I put my bike on the rack with another guys bike and then another guy trys to put on his bike at the last second and doesn't quite get it in and it is all hanging on the rack. I get on the seat and someone tells the operator who then stops the lift but the bikes are 12 feet off the ground. I took some pictures. We were stopped for awhile while a bunch of workers came and holy crap those guys rule. One guy stood up on a metal thing and then another guy liked pushed him up and the guy was standing on the dudes hands and holding onto the rack sometimes with no one touching his feet and he grabs the bike and manuevers it into the spot and comes down. It was pretty cool. People cheered. So we went up and i rode the same trails and was getting pretty fast on them. i had too much air pressure in my rear tire and it would hope around a bit. didn't help having a rear shock full of water. oh and the chainguide came loose of course and was rattling around. on my last run of the day my chin got sucked inbetween the tire and rear chainstay. that was fun. went back to the condo and took a nice shower and shaved. i thought i would walk over to the village and see what was going on there. i decide to take that trail i saw other people walking on the other day. Holy crap, the parking lot is like right there. I mean right there right there. Jeez i was going all the way up that stupid road and through the village when i could have gone up this trail to a parking lot and at the end of the parking lot is the gondola. wow. So i walk into the village which is pretty deserted and only a very few stores are open. Pretty boring. I did get to see some little kids jumping up and down on some trampoline while attached to rubber bands. it was pretty cute. They were tiny kids. walked around some more and thought maybe i would take a look at the recreation area but it sounded like a million people were over there. so i came back to the condo and got onto the computer. i am typing out on the deck. it is really nice. i like these trees. i am going to read now and then watch some tv or maybe a movie. i brought some movies but for some reason i only want to watch the ones that are on tv which i have already seen before. I liked the movie last night.
JULY 9TH, 2007
i left the sliding glass door open last night and woke up at 3 am with a start. sounded like something was at the screen door. freaked me out. i just stared at the screen door to see if i could see any movement but i never saw anything. was wide awake for awhile and eventually fell asleep. woke up and got my stuff and walked over to the chairlift. 5 minutes. sweet. went up in the gondola with some kid with a Planet X jersey. I didn't ask him about it because he kept talking and talking. i went up the chairlift to do Livewire. The trail was wet with puddles. It was okay to go down. I decided to try it again so i could catch some air on the first couple of jumps. i couldn't really ride too hard because my shock was so soft. so i am going down the trail after the jumps where it is all rocky and i get another front flat. damn it. have to walk down to the gondola and the guy there says you can get a tube in the tent over there so i went and got a 2.35/2.75 thick tube for 7 bucks. fixed it pretty quick and went up the lift on the left and did the same trails as yesterday. shock was clanking pretty good. I did manage to tweak my left ankle but not bad at all. My biceps would get kind of pumped up and feel not sore but like I was working them out.My ankles are the most sore of everything but even that is not too bad. my calluses are pretty good too. I went down several more times and then my knees were getting sore and my hands and fingers too so i went and did Little Trees and some other trails in that area. Nothing that great but i did go down some cool easier trails. i think it was Woods and Upper and Lower Mineshaft which would be good for Eliazbeth. After that I cruised back to the condo and took a shower and then went to The Turn and got some food. Before I got my burger some assholes lit up cigarettes at their table. They left a couple minutes later but why couldn't they just light up when they left? Other people were annoyed too. Ate came back to the condo and fell asleep. Woke up and walked over to the village and around there for awhile. What a ghost town. Walked back and then walked around in the trees and stuff. i was wearing my flip flops so i had to be really careful. I was looking for a cool branch for the patio for the birds but I never found anything that I liked. I ended up taking my walking stick and a big piece of bark. I just watched Under Siege and now Bourne Supremacy is on so I guess I will watch that. It wil be nice to be home. Not looking forward to the 4 hour drive home tomorrow. Maybe I can stop by Pleasanton or San Ramon or something. It will be nice to see Elizabeth again. I started packing some stuff up but there is still a lot of things.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Messy House
I looked around the apartment and it is messy. Not gross messy but stuff just sitting on the floor.Coke cans, books, magazines, clothing, dvds keys, wallet, money, blankets, cats...
Calabazas is boring already. I went there again yesterday. Isaac got there at the same time and still wasn't that fun. It was okay but the place is all rocky and rough except for the horseshoe pack. Did see a guy 3 a bunch of them and also 3ed Cave Step.
I got a $20 tool to take off my bb on the Turner. Put on chainguide fairly easily. Too easy?
Watched Dejavu which pretty much would have sucked except Denzel Washington was in it and made it okay.
I am sleepy right now. And tired.
Calabazas is boring already. I went there again yesterday. Isaac got there at the same time and still wasn't that fun. It was okay but the place is all rocky and rough except for the horseshoe pack. Did see a guy 3 a bunch of them and also 3ed Cave Step.
I got a $20 tool to take off my bb on the Turner. Put on chainguide fairly easily. Too easy?
Watched Dejavu which pretty much would have sucked except Denzel Washington was in it and made it okay.
I am sleepy right now. And tired.
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