Thursday, December 30, 2010

Gear..............

riding has been not happening the past couple weeks.
the better half had surgery on her "good" arm.
she had a stroke in 1996, and lost the use of her right arm. she got a lump removed from her left arm, and we are hoping for the best!!

i did get some nice gear for x-mas.
Larry and Endo.

a digital air gauge, and some sweet Dogwood Pogies, that I'm itching to try out!!
along with some new Strom Craft pants, and a pair Lake MXZ302's!!
these aren't here yet, but boy i'm waiting for the UPS man!! lol


as i sit and type this the snow is falling again, with 10-14" being called for by Sat. mid-day!!
Happy New Year to you all, and may all your 2011 goals be met!!!

Peace

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Clearing My Head...................

i have today off, for something that............... Hey Now!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just needed a pedal, and hey................. we got about 5" of the fresh white stuff................. with more coming!!
just an hour pedal around the neighborhood.

i put a little Xmas on the Pugs................



The local rink.


Around the corner and down the street.



Home.

The shit machine.


OK, i feel somewhat better!!!
although this left me wanting for a longer pedal.
Peace............................

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Spirit of Unity Parade................

My buddy Mike F. and i, 1/2 way through the parade last week.
funny thing is i was heading downtown to watch our kids walk with their school group.
when i run into Mike, and he says i tried calling you........ yeah i know man.....things are smoking busy at work, and i was gonna call ya later....... yeah, right you were :))
your gonna ride with me right?? Hell ya man..............even the wife said it's cool!!! LOL

Thanks Mike!!!
i had a blast!!!
next year i'll have more x-mas lights on my bike............for sure!!!

it was around 5 degrees above, and calm.
thanks for the pictures Cindi, you are the best!!!!

i know...... i know............... i'll clean up soon!!!!


Peace

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

A New Game.........

Was played this morning, it was called snowplow dodging! ;))
I shoveled twice last night, the last time was at around 9:30. I awoke and looked out the window to see it looked as if I didn't even touch the sidewalk or the driveway!! Perfect!!
It should be a most joyfull pedal to work! I left the tire presure at around 8 PSI. and headed off to work. Wow we got I'd say at least 10" of heavy wet snow!! I found some fresh tire tracks and made my way slowly to work.
In my 3 miles into work I encountered 9 snowplows, one guy I knew, he flipped me the "bird", and yelled "Sacco you're nuts"!!! I replyed we all know that already, and pedaled on. Lol
7 waited for me to make my way by them slowly, and 1 really needs to find a different job!!
Maybe he just needed some sleep, but he gets a "come on man" just the same!!

I haven't been riding too much because of my long hours at work, but I do take the round about way to and from work!! It's not the same as going for a good long snow ride, but such is life!!

My Larry and Endo are sitting at Bikes On Howard waiting on me to get down there, I think this will be the week!!

Peace

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

More Snow!!!

A fresh fluffy 6" of new snow greeted me as I stepped out the door this morning at 4:30. I could almost tell that I shoveled after work yesterday!! ;)
Beside the odd tire tracks, and the late night snomo riders, I was making some more fresh tracks!! 11 degrees.... -9 with the wind. It really wasn't all that bad, then again what could be bad about listening to the Fat tires crunching the fresh snow??!!
There's a nasty rumor about a foot of snow on turkey day..... Hmmmm.. :))

Now I think I'll wait for a good cold snap, then put the new rubber on. I hear that the Endo's are out of stock for a bit. I'm waiting on Calvin to get back to me on that one. It just may be Larry's all the way around!!!


Peace

Monday, November 22, 2010

From The Horses Mouth... Hence Surly's Blog

Surly Spew
#14 - Pugsley
What Makes Pugsley So Weird?

It all starts with the tires. Big, fat tires, particularly run at low pressure so they flatten out a bit, provide more ground contact and better traction than any standard tire. It allows the tires to ride over the top of soft stuff. It’s the same way snowshoes work: spread the load out over more surface area and you stay mostly on top of the snow instead of sinking way down into it. It’s this theory that drove the design of the Pugsley: a bike you can actually ride not just off road but where there is no road or trail, without tearing up the earth, without sinking into the snow, sand or loamy soil, and without having to get off and walk.

To accomplish this, you need big tires (and with really big tires, it helps to have really big rims too). Standard frames simply are not designed for really big tires (anything 3.0” or larger, and most frames don’t even accept tires this big) because most people, for most riding, don’t need the float and don’t want the weight of big tires. But in certain situations, big tires are the best way to get around. So to use really big tires, you have to make a frame’s seat- and chain stays wider. And to keep the chain stays as short as possible (so it handles like a bike instead of a truck; in other words, the Pugsley is responsive and maneuverable despite it’s bulky look), and as well to help gain chain clearance (more on this in a second), you also need to use a wide bottom bracket. We went with the widest standard BB out there, a 100mm shell (most bike frames use either a 68 or 73mm shell), because our Endomorph tires are a whopping 3.7”.

Now then, you’ve made a frame capable of running really big tires, but even with the wide BB, you’ll still have chain clearance issues. Our tires are so wide that in terms of chain line they overlap the innermost gears. In other words, when running in the easy gears (closest to the frame), your chain will hit your tire. Not good.

So what to do? Well, we curved our seat and chain stays right of center, and the wheels for the Pugsley need to be built offset to match (in other words they’re dished, but the opposite direction from normal). This gave us all the chain line we needed. Rear end solved.

Which brings us to the fork. On your average fork, the crown is either as wide as, or narrower than, the hub. In order to allow not just tire clearance, but snow and mud clearance too, the fork for a bike such as the Pugsley would have to be much wider at the crown than at the hub, and front hubs are narrower than rears which amplifies this difference. Making a fork with a wide crown with legs that pinch down at he hub works o.k., but it creates problems getting the wheel in and out, and as the Pugsley is designed and built to be a true adventure bike, it seemed sensible to us to design the fork spacing so it would accept a rear hub (135mm mountain hub standard), thereby achieving good clearance without the pinched look while allowing the front and rear wheels to be interchangeable.

This may not seem like such a big deal, but messy conditions can wreak havoc with your parts, particularly in extreme cold. Freewheels or freehubs that work fine the rest of the time, for example, can fail and just spin with the drive pawls open when it’s cold enough to freeze the grease inside, and when you’re in the middle of the arctic at 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, this sort of failure is not just annoying but quite dangerous. Having a spare operational wheel can mean the difference between getting out under your own steam and leaving on a Life Flight helicopter.

Now, since the frame is offset to allow chain clearance, the wheels need to be built offset of center too (note: we offer several varieties of Large Marge rims, and some are asymmetrically drilled specifically for use on the Pugsley). We curved one of the fork blades to accommodate the wider hub and offset rim. Problem solved. It may look cartoonish, but we didn't make it that way to draw stares or to be goofy. There is a method to our madness. Function first.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

1st Tracks!!!!!

i was up and shoveling, and letting the little shit-machine out at around 7 a.m.
i was cooking breakfast for everyone by 8:45.
Then i heard "honey would you go get me a paper", i think my ears went up like the dogs when it hears something it likes!! LOL
Then i also heard don't be gone for 6 hours!! Damn!!! ;)

i pedaled to the local Holiday Station store for the paper.
this is a little stretch (about 2 football fields long), near our house.

Then it was off to a small local lake, (about a .10th of a mile south of our house), that will get pedaled on for sure this winter!!!




I think my new tires will be sitting at my LBS till the end of the month, or if we have some really cold weather. Man, i'm one happy camper!!

Peace...............................

Snow!!!!

We have about 4" on the ground right now, about what i figured after watching the news this morning. it didn't start really snowing til around noon, and it's still coming down lightly right now.
the majority of the heavy wet snow came down to the south and east of here.
i'm saying thank you for that, because i hate shoveling this heavy wet crap!!! lol
anyway, no riding today, and this is the reason why!!! Grrrr....
Our new little shit machine....... Mojo.
this was taken today, late morning.
And this was about an hour or so ago.

hopefully tomorrow, aaa today, i can ride for a couple hours. it was hard hanging around the house today, but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do??!! anyway, winter is just starting, and we have plenty more to come!!! such is life!!

Peace..................

Thursday, November 11, 2010

WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT ;)) ;))

Local Severe Weather Alert for Hibbing, MN (55746)

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON...  THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DULUTH HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON.    * TIMING AND LOCATION: SNOW...POSSIBLY MIXED WITH RAIN...WILL SPREAD NORTH OVER WISCONSIN AND EASTERN MINNESOTA LATE SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.  * SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: SNOWFALL TOTALS THIS WEEKEND WILL RANGE FROM LIGHT ACCUMULATION OF AN INCH OR TWO...TO 8 INCHES OR MORE. ALTHOUGH THE LOCATION OF THE GREATEST AMOUNTS IS SOMEWHAT UNCERTAIN...THE BEST CHANCE TO RECEIVE 4 INCHES OR GREATER LIES EAST OF A LINE FROM ELY...TO HIBBING...AND MILLE LACS LAKE.  * MAIN IMPACT: THE SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES FOR SOME LOCATIONS...RESULTING IN SNOW COVERED ROADS AND REDUCED VISIBILITY. IN ADDITION...THE SNOW MAY MIX WITH RAIN AT TIMES IN PORTIONS OF THE WATCH AREA...CREATING SLICK OR ICY ROAD CONDITIONS.  PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...  THIS WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATION OF SNOW THAT WILL IMPACT TRAVEL AND COMMERCE. STAY CURRENT WITH THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION AND UPDATES AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE. 

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Holy Cow!!!!!

Was it nice today!!!!
60 degrees to the good, this time of year?? How could one not go for a pedal after work!!??
The only thing better would've been to have the day off!!
3:20 came and I was off!!
2 1/2 hours, and 12 miles later I'm ready for a shower, dinner and bed!!
All in all it was great to be out, thank you Cindi!! I love you!!
I spent the last 1/2 hour watching 4 deer frolic in a field about a mile northeast of our house.
What a way to relax after work!!

I decided not to get the Lake MXZ 302's, they would've been 3 sizes to big and I just thought that'd be too big. The price at Performance was outstanding, but not to be for me.
On the other hand, I dug out my TurboCat headlight, charged it, and got about 30 minutes worth of weak light....... Grrrrrrrr!!!!! lol
So $115 is going for a new battery for a bombproof headlamp!! (www.turbocatusa.com)
I'm still digging through boxes from our move over a year ago, looking for my NiteRider handle bar lights???!!! Will it ever end??!! Lol
Peace.....

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Onset of The Hearty Season

Or better know as "Are you F'ing crazy riding you bike in this???" Season.
I love it!!!
I feel as if I'm truly alive from this time of year (when the coldness sets in), on until the dreaded spring thaw.
Anyone can ride their bike when it's nice out, for that matter, when it rains too!! It takes someone with true dedication to bike year round, regardless of weather; be it cold or snow. I was reminded of my stick-to-itivness this morning on my way to work. An old production manager pulls up along side me and says "go Joe go, I envy your dedication", and then kept on driving; man that made me feel good!! Thanks Jim!!
From this point until spring I'll always see people in their death machines stretching necks as they pass me, or actually drive around the block to cacth a glimpse or that crazy guy with the big "Fat"'tires!! Lol
Yes, they do severe a purpose, and are that fat for a reason!! ;)
Mind you, I know I didn't need to get a Pugsley to ride all year round, but boy the 4" tires are SO much nicer than the alternative.
So bring on the snow, ice and whatever else you wanna add, I'll still pedal my bike, how about you?
To all the hearty folks out there who ride during the dark times, KUDOS!!!!
Peace.......

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Wednesday Afternoon

I left work at 1:15 today, what 8 hours isn't enough??? come on man!!
it's just been so damn nice, I'm trying to take advantage while i can!!!
don't get me wrong, I'm wanting snow too, but a good pedal is a good pedal!! today was perfect, and i did about 12 miles all within 3 miles of our backdoor!!! it doesn't get much better than that!!
the 1st two pictures i was riding through an old tailing's pond that hasn't been worked in I'd say 50 to 60 years. it's just like beach sand, maybe even somewhat finer sand than at the beach. it's red, and very very soft!!
the 4" tires  shine very brightly while riding through this stuff!!! i saw where someone pedaled through with normal 2 somethings and they were sliding and slipping, while i just pedaled through, and on my way!!! COOL
all i had was my IPhone, such is life.
the last picture........................ well
Peace....................................




Sunday, October 10, 2010

A Friday Afternoon Pedal.................





this section was really fun, and the fat tires really ate up the head sized rock with ease!!!
man i love my Pugsley!!!!


all in all it was a great 20+ miles, and i was home just after dark.

Peace.........................................

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Lake MXZ302's

This is next on the list..................... i'm not sick anymore, and work is calling!!!!!!!
LOL

Peace........................................

http://www.veltecsportsusa.com/default.aspx?tabid=474&itemno=MXZ302-BK&clr=bk

Friday, September 24, 2010

Work, Rain, Work, Not in That Order................

WOW has it been raining!!!
I must say over the summer I've been lucky as far as getting rained on, while riding. It always seemed like the rain has stopped for my rides home from work. Well, that luck stopped a couple days ago; and that was ok with me!!!
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER, JUST POOR CHOICE IN CLOTHING!!

A funny story (at least I thought it was).

Our 7 year old has been sick and he's missed school the past couple days. Get better quick Z, I need my riding partner back for a couple more nice fall day rides!!!

Anyway, I stopped by the school to pick up homework the past couple days, and each day the same people asked me the same questions. "You riding in the rain??" "Don't you get wet??" and my personal favorite "WHY??"
My answers................
Yes I'm riding in the rain, I'm not made of sugar, don't ya know!! LOL, and it's fun!!
NO, I don't get wet.......... rain gear DUH!!!!
because I don't drive my vehicle, by choice 12 months a year, hence the FAT tires for winter riding. That answer brought about a blank stare, I'm sure this teacher sees a lot during her day!! LOL
Anyway, bring on the crap weather cause it doesn't bother me!!!!! :))

In bike related news, I ordered myself a Larry front tire for the Pugs, I'm still debating about one for the rear.
PEACE..........

Friday, September 3, 2010

PLEASE.......oh....PLEASE!!!!!!

I thought this was good humor!!!
Enjoy!!!
I just have to add..... how about this awesome cooler weather??? talk about leaf crunching time, hey BN!!?? ;)
now i'm just waiting for snow!!!


Peace.......................


Thursday, August 26, 2010

Mountain bike trail experts to lend local hand | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota

Mountain bike trail experts to lend local hand | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota
is northern Mn. or Mn. In general starting to get It, the way Wis. Has got for the past 10-15 years???
If you build they will come!!
Duluth getting an IMBA rep to come to is over due by 10 years!!
Way to go COGGS!!
the Cuyuna range in the middle of the state will also be a destination spot for mnt bikers with over 24 miles of trails!! Schedule opening date is spring of 2011.
Things are looking up for the great mnt/biking state of Mn.!!!
Peace.............

Thursday, August 19, 2010

OMM Cold Springs..... On!!

Don't mind my dirty work shirts in the background, they don't go in the dryer, and i haven't got the clothes lines up yet.
Really not too much to mounting this rack, it's not quite level..... I said close enough after a time!!
Thanks again to John at OMM!!!
Peace........................



Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Old Man Mountain

I ordered myself an OMM Cold Springs rear rack last night, yeah!!
thanks goes to John for setting me up!!
I was set on the Sherpa, but John said they are recommending the Cold Springs for a Pugsley. He said they went back and forth between the two for awhile before they settled on the C.S. The clearance and other things were factors in their decision making. Again thanks for taking the time with me John!!
Pictures will follow after I get it on my Pugs!!!
Peace..........

Monday, August 2, 2010

"Skinny Tires need Love Too"

Well the Pugsley goes in tomorrow for a new chain, and a free tune up.
Anyway, I pulled my Trek 90 out of the garage this evening, and damn are the 2.1's small looking!!! I can't get over it!!
I talked to a buddy of mine, and he says............" Skinny Tires Need Love Too!!!"
I guess I agree, but I'm gonna miss the fat tires for a couple days!!!!
Pedaled with the kids around the neighborhood, and I was laughing the whole time!!!
I think I can sleep in till 4:45, Wed.-Friday, Cause I think I may be flying to work!! ;)
Peace............

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Grand Rapids SingleTrack......

Monday Zack and i headed over to Grand Rapids, Mn. right after work, to ride their new singletrack, built by the Grand Rapids chapter of MORC.
Zack's first real taste of true free flowing singletrack, and boy did he have a good time!!!
i think they have around 5-7 miles built, not sure about that number, but Z made it 4.35 miles and he had enough, and we bailed out to the ski trail, and then back to the parking lot. at 1st he got freaked out and kept yelling at me to wait up. LOL
i couldn't explain to him that i wasn't really that far ahead of him. then we came to the pine plantation part of this trail, and i got a chance to show him what i was talking about. with the wide open pine forest he could see i was really not that far ahead of him. i could almost see that light bulb go on above his head!!! LOL
I'm PROUD of you Zack!!! GREAT JOB PAL!!!

i took some pictures, but we were having a great time, and neither one of us wanted to stop for long???!! next time i hit up this trail i'll take more.

anyway a big kudos has to go out to Marlo, Wally and all the Grand Rapids gang that is working on this trail.... GREAT JOB!!!!!










Tuesday, July 20, 2010

New Trail.........................

it's been great fun taking Zack to trails that i've ridden for years. this afternoon i took him to "Pill Hill", so named because at one point in time, nothing but Dr. lived on this hill in the middle of town.
anyway, Z hasn't been feeling well, and he didn't want me to take his picture today, but i just wouldn't listen!!! he rode pretty well this afternoon, so i think he's pretty much over his sickness. LOL
Next we're going to Grand Rapids to try the brand new single track near their high school. fairly flat, with good flow, so i think it'll be perfect for Zack to pedal on.

Peace.............................






I love the look on his face in these pictures!!!