Gravel grinding.......sort of.

I couldn't resist the nicer weather on Sunday. Thought I would give the Mamasita a nice rest and decided to take out my Cannondale cross bike out. I am running 40mm knobby tires and they did pretty good. With the warmer temps the snow on top of the gravel was a little slushy which gave me a line holding lesson. That really works the upper body a lot. Should help me this spring on the tt bike. A straight line will get you to the finish quicker, right?

In my 25 mi ride there was not more than 100 yards of open gravel. The rest was ice and the already mentioned snow. Sure was nice to get out though. Beats the rollers that's for sure.

Have a nice safe evening. I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Captain!

Merry Christmas everyone.

This is late but still means the same. Hope you all had a great Christmas! We sure did. The girls really had a lot of fun.
My dad left me his "real" snowmobile to play with. What a blast! He is leaving it here for a few weeks. I have to practice some self control because this is sled is fast. I'll be posting a video in a day or so.
For now though I will just leave you with this measly foto of me riding my favorite bike. I had a great Christmas and was still fortunate enough to get in a ride. Only 20 miles but it was nice to not have to wear the face mask and booties.

Captain

Church program practice.

This is Ella's first year that she really participated. She is really the only one you can hear. I am so happy she isn't shy.

This is also a test post to see if I can blog a video.

Captain.

Not much riding this week. Trying to shake a cold.

Found the global warming problem.

No...this is not my house. I wouldn't waste the money powering all these lights. I am in the Christmas spirit but not in this way. The kids sure enjoyed it though.

Weather got ya down? Don't let it!

Thankfully I have been able to still get out and ride my bike. Two days in a row with a total of 35 miles on the icy gravel roads. Running two sets of new tires for www.twentynineinches.com and am loving both of them for these conditions. Should have a post over there in a few days. If you are looking for a grippy tire for your mountain bike (29er that is) then keep your eyes open for this post. It's nice that the wind has been a little light lately.

Get out and ride your bike people.

Captain.

Family time.......

Between the hours upon hours of photoshop work making Christmas cards out of family photos and working on senior photos we did find some time to enjoy each other. After this week the photo stuff should be done for the season. It seems like all of my customers wait until the last minute to decide to have family and senior portraits done. I get the calls that start out, "How soon could we get our proofs back if we were to have you take our photos?" It's funny sometimes. I love it though.

So, the kids had their opportunity to plead their case to Santa. Have they been naughty or nice? I would have to say the older one is 95% of the time nice. The little monster is bordering around 50/50. At times she is the funniest person in the world and 5 minutes later you want to ring her neck. Gotta love em though.

The girls also had their Christmas Dance performance. This is Madelyn's 2nd year in dance and boy has she come a long way. Much more focused this year. This is Ella's first year and we almost took her out of class since she quit participating and listening. Finally, we gave her the choice. Listen and follow along or you're done. Turns out she knows the routines better than 3/4 of her class. She is just bored. Too funny. They both performed better than we had hoped and best part of all...they had fun.

Captain.

Time to put away the bikes & get out the real power!

That's right folks. I just needed something to replace my need for speed. What else would be better than a snowmobile? Fresh powder makes my mouth drool like singletrack does for when I am biking.

Gotta play it safe though. You never know what is under that snow.

Later folks. Gotta ride before the snow melts.

Captain.

What a busy week.

It has been a crazy week. Busy at work. Busy at home. Busy on ebay selling a ton of stuff. I always forget how much work ebay is when you have 20 items listed. Lots of time spent answering questions and packaging items. Then there's this crappy weather. Taking me 50 minutes almost every night to get home from work on a drive that normally takes 30 minutes.

Oh well. At least I had time to collect my thoughts during a 20 mile ride Sunday. Didn't even get cold.

Captain.

What is this white stuff? Hmm...guess I'll go riding.

The white stuff finally came. Thankfully, Cuz and I still made it out for a ride before the ice came. This was Saturday at the boy scout camp. Sure was a nice morning. Once on the trails you really couldn't feel the wind. I was able to ride the Mamasita Salsa for a hot lap and then out on the Raleigh XXIX. Geared and single speed. Both were loads of fun. For the most part Cuz and I spent the morning hunting for traction. The snow covered leaves were a little slipery but nothing too challenging as long as we didn't push it too hard.

Check out this pic of this tank thing. I just has Nuke written all over it I think. It was still there tonight. not sure what's up. His engine was running on Sat am and it's just sitting there today. Sure would like to know why.

That's all for now.......I'm tired.

Captain

Getting colder

Wow is it getting colder. I am not ready for the white stuff yet. Too many miles of singletrack to be ridden yet this year. Too many miles of gravel left as well. Lately I have only been getting only a few rides per week. Good mountain biking at the camp on Saturdays and then a couple nights of gravel riding after dark.

Sure is paying off though. A while back I entered into a Biggest Loser competition at my work and after 12 weeks I came out as the winner, or should I say loser. I started the competition at 222lbs and weighed in yesterday at 191.6lbs. That's a 30.4lbs weight loss which results in a percentage of 13.69 of my entire body weight. I still feel like a tank though. Weird. My goal is to lose another 20-25lbs before the first Wednesday night Time Trials. I should be able to fly through the 10 miles. I am doing it the right way too, I think. For eating, I have been practicing portion control. It's amazing how fast I fill up, and stay filled up, if I eat less and slower. I usually still feel hungry right away after I eat but that goes away rather quickly and then I just feel comfortable. I guess eating never had to include pain. Pain because I usually eat till I cannot move. Unless I get a potato chip wedged between my bottom teeth and the roof of my mouth. Man, that hurts. If you struggle with this issue please give it an honest effort to eat less, slower, better and for sure exercise. Walk, ride your bike, use a treadmill or whatever. Just move and do something. Heck, you could even go line dancing. Ha! Those bar hopping and line dancing days are long gone for me. That was back in the day when I was labeled as "The Captain!" Long story and I am not sure I want those stories on the web. However, you could dance with the kids if you have any. Or walk the dog. Then, you can both lose weight. (not the kids i hope, just the dog)

I have to thank my wife and kids for giving me the extra time and support in this little event which has hopefully made enough of an impact in my life to continue on a daily basis to keep losing the weight and still stay healthy as a whole. I also need to give a thanks to Michelle. She was the person who lost .76% less than me but sure pushed me to the end. I really didn't want 2nd place. There was this money thing too. By the end of the competition the total amount of money to be won was $107.50. We knew it would be close between 1st and 2nd so Michelle and I decided to split the cash before we knew who won. It was funny. Both of us thought each other won. I guess we are just a couple of losers. For that matter all of us that competed were losers. Congrats Michelle! You are looking good my friend.

Captain Bob.

Turkey Burn fun!

Not a large turn out for the Turkey Burn but it was a nice time. I was probably the biggest hold up. Had some seatpost height issues. Should have worked all of those bugs out before today but oh well. I had move the Salsa seatpost to the new Raleigh 29er single speed and put the Thompson back on the Salsa Mamasita. I will be ordering up a new Salsa Shaft seatpost for the Mamasita. It's a much better post than the Thompson in my mind. It's not the lightest post out there but it sure is strong and the ease of adjustability makes it really standout.

Was nice to see Casey, Cuz, Paul and G-Ted today. It was nice riding with you guys. As always. Thanks! Was nice to see Rob H at the end of my ride. He and one of his children were gearing up for some trail maintenance. Wish I could have helped out but my little angels were at a friends house being watched and I am sure if I was gone any longer the fee would have been steep.

Hope you all had a great Turkey Day. I sure did. My dad was in town and it's always nice to see him.

Take care.

Captain Bob.

Man, time flies when you're having fun.

Been really busy lately with lots of things. In spite of all the goings on I have still been able to ride. My oldest daughter turned 7 last week. We are starting a new project on the house. Riding a new bike. Getting ready for the holidays and still taking family and senior portraits. It is that family portrait time of year. Gotta squeeze them in to be able to get the greeting cars out in the mail.

So, enough of the talk and lets check out the pics. They are posted above if you didn't already catch that.

Captain.

What's this? 29ers take to the air?

Sure was fun watching G-Ted riding that Helli out at the the camp Sat. Never would have thought they would come looking for him though. Get under the tree farther G-Ted.

They're gonna shoot you!

Captain

What a parent won't do for their kids.......

Mom and me made these little yummies tonight after the kids went to bed. We are surprising them tomorrow by dropping them off at Ella's preschool and Madee's 1st grade class. It will be so fun for them.

Lots of work but the look on their faces will be worth the effort. They are suppose to be scary black cats but they look more like mice to me.

Have a great Halloween everyone! Play safe!

Captain Bob.

Ride till the cows come home......

I wish I could on a day like today. Just a perfect day to out riding a Salsa Mamasita. Everyday is a good day for that though. I had quite a bit of company today. Saw a friend out jogging, saw some cows, horses, dead coons, hawks and a couple of dogs. I think the cows were wondering where they can get a fancy 29er like mine. I said they could have it for $1500 but they just told me to move.....or maybe they said moo. Maybe I left before they finished....they could have been starting to say mooooola. Crap! I bet one of them had the cash! Oh well. I know they would have complained about the spd's pedals. I bet they would prefer those egg beaters. Mainly just so they could tease all the chickens back at the farm.

By the way.....if you are looking for a single speed mtb or a cross bike, stay tuned. In the near future I will have three to five bikes for sale. Good prices too.

Enjoy what's left of your weekend! Check out this site later today or tonight for some cross action fotos.

Captain

Sunsets and 29ers..........gotta love it!

wearing mom's thong again......

Little Ella can always find a way to make us laugh.

Captain Bob

A couple of my new toys.

My laptop has opened up a whole new chapter in me being able to blog and do photo related things. I have before work and during my lunch now. As I said the other day we have wireless internet in the building I work it. It is nice.

I will leave you now but wanted to show you a pic of something else I have been working on. More to come on that later.

Enjoy the rain.

Captain Bob

Project Schwinn

I recently picked up this little Schwinn Traveler road bike. She is a beautiful metalic red. Check out the chrome on the fork legs. She will soon make a complete transformation into a fixie or single speed, depending on what type of rear hub we have. Looks like she has not ventured to far from where she was purchased. A Schwinn Shop in Waterloo Iowa? Some of you older folks might even remember this shop. Maybe you can even post a comment on the shop history???

Keep checking back for some updates in the next couple of weeks. I have a couple more secret projects that I will be posting in the next few weeks. One is a 29er and the other is a fixie project.

Captain Bob

My sweeties.......

Today is a good day for me to show off my lovely little ladies. For those that do not already know, Madee is the dark haired and Ella is the light brown haired.

They are both so wonderful and make my life complete.

Have a great day folks and if you have kids go home tonight and give them a hug (or phone call) and tell them how much they mean to you.

Oh yeah, & don't forget to ride your bikes.

Captain

Finally bought a laptop......

Well, I have a laptop now and wireless internet at my workplace. So, I will be blogging again starting this week. Nothing really good for today. Just catching up on things.

Lots of busy things in my life lately. Some biking, kid things, house remodel and family activities.

What a rapid end to the summer. I have so many outside projects left to finish.

Talk to you soon.

Captain Bob.

The wait is over........I am back!

Sorry for the lack of posting. I figure that if I can't take the time to put up a good post...why even try. So, after a long break I am ready to post again. Thanks for hanging in there.

First, thank you to all that gave me support and encouragement in the Chequamegon prep. What a great time with friends I had. Thank you folks for the birthday card. It meant a lot especially due to me being away from my lovely wife and two little girls. Thanks!

The race. Wow! What a race. I may have only done the short and fat but what a hoot it was. My best time and placing yet to boot. 1 hour 2 min and some changte. That put me in 43 place out of 858 (I think). 8th in my division out of maybe 74. Sweet! The rest of my racing clan did a little better.

The bike.....Salsa Mamasita. Wonderful! Flawless! Perfect! And oh so fast, lively and quick. Not me, the bike. 29ers rock! Nuf said.

Thank you all that attended the festival for a great time. I can't make it back next year and maybe not the year after but I will be back, someday.

Okay. Back to the bike. I received a comment from this fella who I have inspired. I do not think I have ever inspired anyone before. This is cool. Here is what was written.

mark dunn said...
Captain Bob,RE: Mamasita sizingYou have inspired me to pick one of these up. The question is which size as per the Salsa spec chart - they have the small-Medium and medium-large thing going. Also what length stem are you running?I am 5.8 1/2" tall with 31 1/2 inseam with no shoes. Your thoughts on sizing will be appreciated also taking into considering the 29 wheels as well. I usually run a 18" fram with a 23" top tube and a 120MM stem in good old 26" size wheelsThanks

My response: Here is the sizing chart taken directly off of Salsa's website. Scroll to the bottom of the page. My size is the medium. I am 5'11" and my inseam is around 33in. That is my pants length. It's a near perfect fit for me but it took some tweaking as I am on the tall end of the bike. Which means a size large would probably fit me better. I am running a 110mm stem but did run a 100mm for a while. It was a bit cramped with the 100mm but the bike steered better. A large for me with a 90mm stem would be perfect. One thing you will notice with 29ers is you will want to run a shorter stem than with a 26er. I think. I was riding a smaller than normal 18in frame in a 26er and did also run a 120mm stem. The medium Mamasita with a 100mm stem steered better than my 26er with the longer stem. I think the medium would be a perfect fit for you Mark. I would bet a 90mm (0 degree or -3 or -6 degree) would be perfect for you. I also had to swap out my Thompson seatpost for something with more layback. The Salsa Shaft seatpost works perfect for me and is much stiffer than the Thompson. Your size would be great with the normal seatpost though.

Do you live anywhere near Waterloo/Cedar Falls Iowa? You are welcome to ride mine. You will be delighted with the ride. It feels alive underneath you man!

Thanks for reaching out to me for info. Good luck in your decision and feel free to keep in touch.

Have a good night folks.

Captain!

getting ready for Chequamegon! almost there.

All I need now is some good ole hill climbing workouts. It's high time I get over the the gravel roads by the Scout Camp and at least one day a week I need to hit the hills around New Hartford.

Here's a few pics for you. You will count five of my favorite things in one pic alone. Let's name them. First is the frame. Salsa Mamasita 29er. So sweet! 2nd, my Ergon E1 grips. Perfect for me. 3rd, Salsa stem. Steel is real baby! I also love the 11 degree bend on those handlebars. Feels just right. 4th, 8 speed! Enough said. 5th, Shimano brake levers, just perfect. 6th, not mine but, the wheelset and tires I am testing for twenty nine inches. So far, so good.

That's all for now.

Been busy lately

Been getting in some pretty good rides lately. Getting ready for Chequamegon. Took a little time to do some shopping yesterday with the wife and youngest child. The older one was as a party. This picture was taken just minutes after she threw a fit for not getting a stuffed kitty from the last store we took her to for the day. Notice one of the business names in the background......how fitting especially given the mood she was in.