No snow.

Well, it didn't snow this weekend past. Just rain. And more rain. Then rain again. You get the picture, consequently we cancelled our ride, went back to sleep and hung around the trailer most of the day. We did eat chili and drink hot cider and I sucked down a few Pumpkin Patch Ales, none for the kid, he's only eleven. We'll try again next time.

Let it snow.

The season's first Nor'easter has hit (where else) the Northeast. Low temps and rain where I live just outside Philadelphia and snow to the north in Jim Thorpe where I have a weekend place. The kid and I are planning a leisurely, 25 mile singlespeed (he on his BMX, me on the MonsterX) jaunt down the Lehigh Gorge Saturday AM. When I say down, I truly mean down, it's a very easy 2% downgrade, perfect for my son's first long ride. A little snow will just spice things up a bit. Speaking of spice, Momma will have chili, hot cider and Pumpkin Patch Ale waiting for our return. Yum, delicious!

Tom Morello

Thanks to the wonders of Youtube, I recently witnessed a performance of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (quick Steinbeck reference there) from a 2008 Bruce Springsteen concert with Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave/The Nightwatchman. I've been a HUGE Springsteen fan for over 30 years, undoubtedly he's my favorite artist but to term Morello as "sitting in" would be an injustice. Tom drove this performance to new heights, his passion, with both guitar and voice have left an indelible impression on me. This was my first true exposure to Tom Morello, for some reason his work, both musically and morally flew completely off my radar. Suffice it to say, we're locked in now.

Where did the time go?

Damn, it's been almost 4 months since my last post...I blame my job, sucks up to friggin much time and energy. It also provides creature comforts for me and the rest of the Black Dog Adventure Team as well as a convenient excuse for not writing.

Anyone who knows me, knows the regard in which I hold John Steinbeck, both the works and the man. Ever since reading an excerpt of The Red Pony in a school textbook as a young kid, I've been hooked. That small snippet steered me onto a journey that's lasted close to 40 years, even my honeymoon led me to the the central coast of California, site of much of Steinbeck's works.

Without a doubt, my favorite work of Steinbeck's and quite honestly a book I've grown to love more than anything I've ever read is Travels With Charley: In Search of America. The book, one of Steinbeck's few works of non-fiction, chronicles a trip the author took with his standard poodle Charley, starting from Long Island, NY and basically traversed the entire perimeter of the country in a pick-up truck mounted camper. Steinbeck's observations and reflections on the American condition in 1960 still ring fresh and true, almost 50 years later. If you've never read it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Pictured here, Rocinante, Steinbeck and Charley's home for 3 months and over 10,000 miles.

Black Dog Adventure Team World Headquarters

Located in Jim Thorpe, PA this is where we spend every other weekend between April and November biking, hiking, canoing and kayaking and just hanging around the campfire. We'd be here every weekend but I work on alternating weeks.

We call the little fellow in the last pic "The Sentinel", he guards the place when we're not around and uses his net to trap trespassers.

Today's ride.

Left work today with the NEED to ride. Not, I want to go for a ride or I need a training ride (hell, the only training related activity I indulge in is the choo-choo variety) No, I needed to ride to get sweaty, dirty, muddy and bloody and experience the joy that comes with all of that shit. And I did. I'm badly out of shape but I had a ball and that's all I give a shit about.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommys!!!

As the bike turns.

For the past five years I've been riding singlespeed about 95% of the time. I sold off all my geared rides except for the Potts and been satisfied with things as they were. Coming off a winter of next to no riding and a spring that's been pretty much the same, I decided it was time to gear up. An XT/Mavic rear wheel, XT derailleur and cassette and a Dura Ace shifter later, I'm once again amongst the geared. Never one to set my bikes up conventionally, I run BB 7 brakes front and rear, which are finnicky to set up on the slot drop Inbred and require the rear wheel to be set more toward the rear of the drops than front. Okay running SS with a bolt on hub and tuggnuts, not so easy geared with a QR. Due to the brake restrictions, the rear wheel can't be run all the way forward and I need to use the tuggnuts still. Two tuggnuts and a QR make installing and removing the wheel a bit of a pain in the ass (yes, I tried it with one tugg only and the wheel cocked under load) The extra width of the twin tuggies effectively (or ineffectively) shorten the skewer length so that it's threads are not completely engaged by the end cap. I haven't lost my rear wheel yet so it should be okay...I hope!

The pic is worth far more than my babblings.