Mountain Biking Woooooooo!

Dust sticking to my bike!

It's been a dusty week at the local trails.  I was lucky enough to ride off-road 4 times in the last 8 days: St. Joe mtb race, Blue Ribbon at Castlewood, Chubb Trail, and Matson Hill on Sunday.  All of these trails exhibit the raw, rough, technical traits that I have loved over the years.

I'm hurtin'.  My neck and back are toast.  The years have not been kind to my spine!  But I wouldn't trade the experience.  I need to work on some physical issues that will help, and I will probably change some fit aspects of the bike to make things more back-friendly.

....and I'm probably going mountain biking again tomorrow!

Car Watching - 1969 Mercury Comet

 Rolling through Shrewsbury, this super clean Mercury caught my eye.  Normally, I call them all Montego's.  I always forget that the Comet and Montego were twins down to the trim levels, much like their cousins, the Fairlane and Torino.  My 1968 Torino had the same body lines, although I like the grill and tail better on the Mercury cars.

 This baby was in magnificent original condition.  Great paint, no wrinkles, no visible rust, no ugly aftermarket wheels, no big exhaust hanging out of the back.  The first photo shows a bit of very light gold pinstriping on the hood.

This view is the best.  While the entire car says "1969", this view exemplifies 60's American automobiles.   Who knows what is under the hood?  Being a '69, it could have been a 250 6-cylinder, a 302 V-8 (most likely), a 351w (maybe), or a 428 (probably not). 

Living some BMX memories with the young one

No, the Redline is mine.  But I let Eli sit on it for the photo.

Once a week, I try to ride my BMX bike up to the school close by to run the stairs.  It's a sure-fire way to get onto the little bike, and it's a great way to warm up for the stairs...and I can wear normal running shoes.  Tonight, I brought the little guy with me.  We have been riding around the neighborhood a bit lately, and tonight he rode his BMX bike, too.

After I ran stairs for a few minutes, we lined up in the empty parking lot to do some sprints from a dead stop.  Sound familiar to any of my ancient friends?  He kept asking me why I was so fast.  I asked him if he ever paid attention when I bragged about myself.  I think he finally grasped that I was not slow back in the dark ages.  Then I showed him how to do a proper start.  The old crew would have been proud of him.

A little earlier tonight, I put new bar tape on Tyson's road bike.  He is threatening to do the Tuesday night crit tomorrow night.

These things make me proud.

Tomahawk sees more trail time

Three mountain bike rides in a week?  Preposterous!

Sunday I attended the mountain bike race at St. Joe state park.  Love the course.  It was rocky and fast at the same time.  I sucked, but the trail experience was top notch.  Thursday I did quite a few laps at Castlewood on the Blue Ribbon (officially Cedar Bluff?) trail.  That trail feels like such a throwback to me.  So 1990.  Speaking of  throwback, I rode the Chubb Trail today, and I started at Lone Elk.  I'd have to go back in the archives to find the last time I started there.  Still, 90% of the reason to do the Chubb trail lies on the West Tyson side.  Regardless, it was nice to get more seat time on the Foundry Tomahawk 27.5.

Maybe another mountain bike ride early Sunday morning?  Only if the rain holds off.

Car Watching - Lotus Elise

 The proportions of the Lotus Elise are almost comical.  It's so short and so low, one can wonder whether a full sized human can fit.

 But no one should wonder about the cool factor.  It's like an overgrown Hotwheels car.

So, so, so red.  I imagine that it would be like driving a really, really nice go-cart....with a real engine and brakes.

Car Watching - Ferrari Testarossa

I wish I could say that I got this photo of the legendary Ferrari Testarossa, but I can't.  My co-worker Jeff took it and sent it to me.  Proof, though, that Crocket and Tubbs are still alive and well...and maybe they hang out in Chesterfield.