Beer, Hammer, Bikes, Farm Animals and Gold Mines

A few days ago, I mentioned to Capt'n Balance that I needed a bottle opener in my bike shop and kept forgetting to get one. Capt'n Balance was all excited when I got home from work the other day. He told me to go look in my shop because there was a surprise waiting for me.

Surprised and excited, I went into the shop and there it was, waiting for me on one of my work benches....The BEER HAMMER!!! Wow, every shop needs one. I didn't know what I was missing. I went to my little shop fridge, grabbed a Kona Fire Rock and went to work with the HAMMER. It works great. My beer was open in a flash with no foam from my normal decapping procedure with a screwdriver. I took a drink, sank into my chair, let out a big sigh and silently thanked the HAMMER and Capt'n Balance for making that little part of my life easier.

The HAMMER can also be used lightly as a actual hammer. Can't beat that...get it???

I am restoring another Schwinn Varsity for another friend. He is paying for all the parts and gave me a Novara road bike for my labor. Sweet deal. It's a 80's Novara but it's in new condition and just needs new tires and tubes. Bike Boy will like it.

Capt'n Balance also came home with a nice road bike that someone was throwing away. All the stickers have come off but it has a Norco seat. He wants to fix it up for himself and he might start riding it to work. He also wants to strip it and paint it. The freewheel is seized and it has sewn tires. Bike Guy can replace the tires and mount them but I don't' really want to mess with them so he gave me a good deal on some inexpensive wheels and freewheel. I will move the down tube friction shifter to the stem also.

So my boys will be riding the roads a bit. I think dirt is embedded in them and that will remain their main preference for riding but now they will have more options.

We have 5 Merino lambs on the farm now...sound familiar? The wonderful, high quality, non-itchy, non-smelly wool sports wear is made out of. They were sheared before they arrive, they are sporting pretty bad haircuts and are a little embarrassed.

We also have a new calf, born just yesterday. It was about 4 hours old in these pictures and after I took these pictures it started to jump and buck, as much as a 4 hour old calf can, which isn't much, but it's a good sign it healthy and strong.

Capt'n Balance and I went on the 1st mountain biking ride of the summer up at Hatcher's Pass. We road up to Snowbird Mine, had to hike-a-bike over the 1/4 mile rock garden. It's still winter up there, ice on the water. Marmots (ground squirrel) were screaming at us, we were getting too close to their nest in the ruins of the mine. I backed off rather than get my throat ripped out by a 15 pound squirrel.

The winds are back and stirring up so much glacier silt it's obscuring the view, can't even see the mountains to the north. Yuck.

Off She Goes

My little bird has left the nest and has taken a part of my heart with her.

She had trouble in Seattle, all of her money was stolen at her hotel, but was recovered a few hours later...I suspect it was an employee. I got a call from her crying in the middle of the night. The whole ordeal lasted until about 2:30 a.m. She had to get up at 6 a.m. so she hasn't had much sleep. The hotel did give her a free breakfast for her troubles.

The high temperatures here have been below 60 degrees, she is going into 90+ degree weather, yuck.

This is our last picture together at the airport. I miss her so much already.

Random Happenings

The weather improved for a few days and we had nice weather for my daughter's going away parties. Shiskabobs and a pig roast, yummy. Now it's back to cloudy and rainy, there is even fresh snow on the mountains. We got the garden planted and school is out. Bike boy is in Florida, my daughter will be leaving on the 31st. So I will be having extra time on my hands. What am I going to do with myself? I don't know yet.





My new truing stand :)



My new bike, rescued from the river behind my home by Capt'n Balance. I don't think I will be restoring it. It looks like it originally was a women's bike and then someone welded a galvanized pipe toptube to make it into a boy's bike. It appears they lengthened the entire bike by also cutting it apart just in front of the bottom bracket and welding in an additional 3 inches of steel pipe. The welded galvanized toptube says "mercer". Interesting. I will make it into a planter for flowers or something. It has a great chainring on it, I love the design of it.



Family (some of the family, not all) picture at the family going away party for my daughter






Pig roast at one of my daughter's going away party

Sometimes, I can be a real BONEHEAD

Today was SPC. John Barbonus' memorial service. The roll call, when they call the fallen soldier's name and there is no answer is heartbreaking. John is a hero, his actions saved may other soldiers.

My daughter is moving to Montana at the end of the month. I am really going to miss her. She reminds me of myself at that age, independent, thinks she is more mature than she really is (she is a mature as a 19 year old can be, but how mature CAN a 19 year actually be?) and ready to take on the world. I feel odd inside about it; sadness, hopefulness for her future and I don't know what else. I will miss her. I tell her she can always come back...and I hope she does.

My son will be going to his dad's for 6 week visitation and will be going to Florida to see his grandmother, who has terminal cancer and is expected to live only a few more months. That will be difficult for him. I remember how I felt when my grandmother was dying from cancer when I was 12 yrs old. She asked to see me 1 more time but I was too upset and just couldn't do it, she was soo ill. She died that day. I have always regretted not seeing her that last time.

Tuesday evening, I did the ultimate bonehead move on my ride from work to my truck. I live too far from home to ride almost 18 miles one way and there are no bike paths or sidewalks the first 9 miles. I am not brave enough to ride on the side of the highway.

Normally I park at the PARK and RIDE parking lot (for share-a-ride people who work in Anchorage) and I pedal from there to my office, a little over 8 miles, at least half of it is uphill. This day I was feeling tired so I parked at Lowe's, 4 miles from my office, which turned out to be a very good thing.

Tuesday morning was nice but by the evening, the wind was back and blowing with it's now usual force. I was in a hurry to leave work because I still tired and just needed to get out of there (I work the government welfare programs...I'm sure that gives you an idea what I'm talking about). Happy to leave my day behind, I get on my bike for a nice ride back to my truck. It was all going great - people in the cars and trucks are all being nice, I fight the wind all the way and finally get to my truck.

I then realize I'm feeling pretty light...oh crud...no backpack...no keys...no drivers license...no credit card...no cash...no cell phone...nothing except my work clothes which are packed in my rack trunk....HOW COULD I FORGET MY BACKPACK????? I search under the truck for the magnetic key box then remember the key was too big for the box so we never hid a spare. Sheesh. No good going back to my office for it, I have no keys to get in. The garden center at Lowe's is open, so I ride in there and borrow a phone. Capt'n Balance is really busy but I have no way to get home.

He comes 30 miles round trip, out of his way to bring me a key, then takes off. The plan was to fill up with gas on my way home but since I have no credit card or cash, no gas. I had enough to get home, questionable if I will have enough for the drive the following morning to make it to my office to get my cash/credit card and then to the gas station. So yesterday morning I drove as far as I safely could without running out of gas and rode my bike to work. Fortunately, there was my backpack with all my important stuff in it, sitting on the floor where I had left it.

Yep, a major bonehead move...The lady at Lowe's who let me use the phone wasn't impressed.

This is a picture of Wasilla Lake, the ice is finally totally gone and I love the smell of the water as I ride by. It's good for my heavy heart.

I Almost Forgot WHY I do it....

The wind just hasn't quit blowing. Yesterday it was blowing quite hard. It is also a cold wind, wind chill down to just above freezing in the mornings.

My commute to work yesterday had me wondering why I am doing this. Yes, I enjoy it...most of the time, but I forgot that yesterday.

It was blowing soo hard that I couldn't ride straight. The wind would catch me, my backpack, rack and trunk. Capt'n Balance called me at 3:30, asking if I wanted him to drive out to where I work (30 miles out of his way) and pick me up so I wouldn't have to ride in the wind. He was estimating gusts up to 35 mph.

No, I said, it doesn't look that bad here. So off I went, the 1st 2 miles were alright. Windy but not the FREEZING cold wind of the morning. Then came the start of mile 3, up a hill, which is normally enough to get me breathing harder but no big deal. The wind was SCREAMING down that hill. I was burned out by the time I got to the top of it. I wondered at one point if I was moving at all. I had to drop into the granny gears. My eyes were tearing up from the wind and I couldn't see very well. It took twice as long to get up that hill and my legs were burning, I was out of breath.

This morning, I almost didn't ride. I looked out the window and there it still was, the WIND, blowing just as hard as the night before. I crawled back into bed. I got up at my normal "vehicle-drive time" and I checked outside again. The wind had calmed down and the sun was shining a bit. I decided to go ahead and ride, even if it may me late for work.

I'm glad I did. It was cold and still windy this morning but not as bad as yesterday. I enjoyed my ride. The sun has come out a little more and it is still breezy but I think today's ride home will be a good one. Now I remember why I ride!

My Heart is Full of LUV!!

I just had to get that out. I took my Santa Cruz out for a spin and my heart swelled with love and joy. Then my dog KC and I took a rest on the sort of green grass, soaked up the sort of warm sunshine and tried to avoid the decidedly cold wind.

Then we sent to say hello to Lil' Humpy, the calf. Just like any baby, he wants to taste everything and started licking my bike. Licking the tires was fine, then he moved on to the saddle and that was enough bike sharing with a cow. Baby cow spit is just impossible to clean off leather. There's also something sort of twisted in that... he may end up being a saddle or some other leather product someday.

Bike Boy's fork didn't get fixed. The seals were replaced but it still leaked. The air chamber was replace and it leaked even worse so off to RockShox it goes. For an early birthday present, Bike Boy ended up with an awesome RockShox Reba U-Turn (adjustable travel) with remote Poploc. I'm jealous!

I have finished my friends bikes and may have 2 more to do. Then that's it for now. Last week I fixed up a vintage Schwinn Varsity for a friend who bought it at a pawn shop, for his adult daughter who wanted a road bike to ride in a triathlon in Anchorage. This is not my idea of a triathlon bike. It must weight 40 pounds, it's a kid bike with 24 inch wheels and built in the 1970's. BUT all I am doing is getting it rideable, not giving opinions. So I pulled cables, cut housing, greased, adjusted, lubed, repacked, trued, etc. I took it for a spin, my knees hitting my ears, but the baby just goes! There's just something about the feel of an old steel bike that I like. Then Capt'n Balance and Bike Boy took rides on it and we all enjoyed it and it is working great. I had the girl come over because she had no idea how to use the friction shifters and to take it for a test ride. She is a few inches shorter than I am and she said she really liked the size of the bike. So off she went with her bike. It's a great color also.

The last bike here is ready to be released to it's owner. I didn't do much on it because this guy is a cheapskate. It's his wife's bike, a 20 year old Schwinn with the semi friction/index shifters on the bars instead of the frame. He blew the tubes trying to inflate it and just wanted new tubes. I said I wouldn't do it unless he got new tires, it still had the original tires which were pretty weather cracked and I didn't feel it would be safe for her to ride. So he agreed on new tires. I also had to steam clean it as it had 20 years of WD40 and glacier silt coating it so thick it was too dirty to bring into my shop. I tried scrubbing it with Dawn and hot water but that just smeared the goo around. So used a commercial steam cleaner on it. It is much cleaner but it still didn't get all the gook off. The front brake cable was shot, the brake wouldn't release so I had to fix that or his wife was going to do an endo. He is too cheap to pay for all new cables and housing, so the old ones stay. $20 more but he won't do it and I'm not donating my time and supplies. He said if it's over $90 then he will just go buy a Walmart bike. I tried to explain that this bike is much better than ANYTHING he could buy at Walmart but whatever.

This bike also has the funkiest seat I have every seen. Very uncomfortable. I'm not sure the correct way to sit on it, I don't think it's made to be straddled, but sat on more like a chair, which a person's legs coming off the front of it. But that doesn't allow my legs to extend out fully. I tried it with the seat all the way down but it still interfered with leg movement. I don't think I have enough "junk in the trunk" for this type of seat. It also has pretty interesting roller cam brakes, The stick way out but are very effective.

Bonus' memorial service is next week. I get a horrible feeling in my gut when I think about it. Another of my daughter's friends is being deployed next week. This girl called my daughter up last week, drunk and crying. She is very scared. She has had only 1 week of combat training. I don't think she will be deployed into an "official" combat zone and pray she, and all our troops, will be ok.

Working on Weekends, not my thing...

Word has gotten out about my bike shop.

I have been approached by lots of friends who would like their bikes tuned up and a few have dropped off their bikes.

Saturday was busy with Cinco de Mayo party, drawing for a trip to the Police concert in L.A. (I didn't win), Capt'n Balance's birthday bon fire, visits from parents.

All day Sunday I replaced cables, repacked hubs and headsets, changed flats, adjusted brakes, un-siezed seat posts, etc. I made a few bucks.

Sunday also was the nicest day we have had yet. I missed the sunshine and spent my time cursing dirty, greasy bikes in poor condition. I got them done and outta there. But I missed my sunny weekend day.

Now I have a week of work, grease stained hands, sore fingertips, I'm tired and it's raining.

Was it worth giving up my Sunday for a few bucks? Nope. Am I going to continue to work on other's bikes? Maybe, but I am going to be much more selective with my precious free time.

This Week's Rides

The mornings are still cold, barely above freezing. The afternoons are in the low to mid-50's. My head and hands are pretty cold in the mornings, I'm starting to get too warm in the evenings while I commute back and forth to work. But I LIKE it!

There are many more bicycle commuters this year than last. I pass 3 other's, all men, who are decked out in hi-vis, freezing in the mornings, sweating in the evenings. Hopefully drivers will continue to see us and get used to us.

Yesterday on the ride home, I was at a crosswalk of a busy intersection and another cyclist was on the other side of this 5 lane road. We were waiting for the crossing sign when a guy pulled up and stopped RIGHT into the crosswalk, directly in the path of myself and the other cyclist. The it was our turn to cross, the other cyclist decided to go around the car, but he had to go all the way out into the oncoming lane of traffic. I decided to wait until the yahoo in the car when on his way. The driver appeared to have no clue of what he was doing.

Today I didn't commute because Bike Boy's fork is finally fixed. Bike Guy fixed the blown seals then found problems with the bushing. It was clunking and the fork would basically free fall or free play about a 1/2 inch when it reached what was supposed to be maximum rebound. Bike Guy called Rock Shox and it appears to be a known problem with this shock. So it had to be dissassembled and an entire new air chamber portion replaced, not just replacing the seals.

I bought the Zing to work and road at lunch. It was an interesting ride. The inbred's are coming out of hibernation. I had a conversation with a pretty rough looking older guy on the bike path. Judging by the vapors coming off of him when he talked, his waterbottle did NOT contain water. He was telling me he has a Raleigh and seeing my bike makes him want to start riding it again. He was riding a mountain bike. Then he lit up a smoke and I was wondering if the vapors would ignite. He was friendly enough. It was time to get back to work so off I went.

Lots of Canadian geese and snow geese fluttering around. There are tiny bits of green here and there. We got some rain last night. 2 cows are pregnant, more calfs on the way.

Nothing New

Nothing super exciting in my world.

The wind continues, the weather is non-cooperative. Funny, the wind stops me from riding but snow/cold temps don't.
Maybe I need to re-evaluate the wind issue.

Bike Boy #1 definitely blew out the upper seals in is fork. Bike Guy has it torn apart, last Thursday was the *target* date for the repair to be completed. Nope, it's not done yet but Bike Guy now has 369 bikes outside his shop waiting to be tuned up for the summer. People just don't learn and it's a bad time to have a major bike failure.

I have 3 neighbors who all have approached me wanting their bike's tuned up. They will PAY me. I start on the 1st one today. I am careful to explain I am doing a basic tune-up, not repairs. I will recommend professional help (bike and mental) if necessary.

I have been riding the Zing at work during lunch. It makes me happy! A good thing to do since the wind is still keeping me from commuting.

In a nearby field, a pair of eagles were munching down on a Canadian goose they cause. Feathers everywhere.

The Dr. gave me some news last week which has a major impact bike riding, as well as any other sustained exercising. Pisses me off. Maybe I will share more later, maybe not. Either way, I WILL NOT STOP RIDING MY BIKES and getting old is a bitch.

Ready to Ride

I got my commuter bike all ready to start riding to work. I added bar ends and decided to get a seat post mounted rack instead of using the standard pannier style rack. My K2 commuter bike is a road bike with riser bars instead of the drop bars, it has no bolt holes in the drop out area so I had to modify my old rack and mount it with the rear wheel skewer. I just wasn't really comfortable with the this set up, although I never had any problem. It just seems like it was on the outer limits of the skewer length. I also went ahead and mounted the Cygolight Dual Cross Li-ion but probably will take it off as darkness is becoming scarce.

I took the Zing out for another ride yesterday, so far every ride on it has been a battle with the wind. It's blowing so hard I ALMOST had to drop into the granny gear when going into it at the end of the ride. I took the K2 out today after getting it all tuned and loaded, I had just jeans and sweatshirt - no helmet (stupid, I know). I just was going to take it out for a quick spin to make sure the gears/brakes are functioning smoothly. I went a little farther than I initially planned, the bike is riding smoothly and I was enjoy myself. The ride back was into the cold, cold wind. My ears and head were hurting by the time I got back and the thaw out was even worse. I am ready for the wind to stop. It's worse than winter riding. I will ride to work tomorrow if the wind behaves. If not, I will delay the commute. Also since I am soo out of shape, I will start at the halfway point of my commute. I will park my truck at Lowe's and will ride from there, about 4 miles. 4 miles is no big deal, but hills are and there are some bugger hills on my normal 8 mile ride. A gallon of gasoline produces almost 20 pounds of CO2. I will be saving the environment about 16 pounds of carbon dioxide round trip just riding 8 miles a day to work.

I have been watching Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel. Pretty amazing stuff.

I forgot to add the sunrise picture to my last post!

Mountain Sheep

The sheep are moving down from the mountain tops. We saw quite a few on the drive home. Crazy sheep, hanging off the side of cliffs. If you don't see it right away, it is located in the lower right part of the photo.

I also saw an awesome shooting star. The stars up there are incredible because there is no light sources around at all. Billions and Billions of stars, northern lights, planets shining brightly. It's amazing.

Cabin Pictures

The cabins are nice and secure for the summer. A few people thought it was strange to close up a cabin for the summer, I never thought of it like that.

We go to the cabin in the winter and not in the summer because:
1) Bears, they will eat you if they can
2) Bears, they like to break into cabins, refer to #1
3) Bugs, masses and masses big, blood suckers
4) Tundra, very difficult to walk on, ride on, anything on. "In" is a better word, tundra is very spongy and wet. Boggy. In the winter it's all frozen and covered with snow, snow machines cause no damage to the tundra with adequate snow coverage and it's much easier to get around.
5) Lakes, go around in the summer, over in the winter. Also the water is cleaner in the winter than in the summer when the water is stirred up.
6) It's 90 degrees there in the summer, danger of wildfires from lightening strikes, bugs and smelly outhouse. Everything is frozen in the winter so the outhouse doesn't smell.
7) Summer transportation to the cabin is by float plane. Very expensive. Winter is by snow machine (mobile).

The temps at the cabin got up to the low 50's. Everything was melting FAST. There were some bare spots on the trail with tundra showing, that means no going back this season. The nesting pair of Eagles are back, fixing up the nest, eagle down floating all over the place. I found some fur bits around the area they nest, which is close to our cabin. The lakes are all frozen still so they are eating varmints. They like to come hang out in the trees around our cabin and watch what we are doing. Either that or they are trying to decide if KC the Wonder Dog is too big to eat.
A porcupine wandered through our area also, it sure was cute! Then it climbed this tree and hung out for awhile before moving on.
No fish caught this trip. But spent a beautiful day on the lake soaking up the sun. I didn't wear my snowsuit/Refrigware the entire trip. I started off wearing it on the ride into the cabin but got soo hot I took it off half-way there. All I wore the entire time was wool longjohns, jeans, polar fleece shirt and a sweatshirt over that, a light hat or ear band. My freckles started coming out. Ohh, I love the sun!

Only a few patches of snow left here at home, everything is all brown. I am looking forward to green. The run-offs (white water tubing below) are dried up. Fields of soggy, muddy brown. The wind has been blowing so it's still cold outside and below freezing at night.

Here is a picture of the sunrise this morning. The mountains are much bigger, I cropped out the building and stuff cluttering up the bottom of the pictures.

Killed in Action - Bonus

While I was at the cabin, I called my daughter. It was one of those weird mother/child connection moments, I knew I had to call her. I had been thinking of calling her earlier but didn't. So I called her on the 13th around 5 pm.

She answered the phone, sobbing. Trying not to freak out, I am in the middle of frickin' no-where and something is very, very wrong with my daughter. At 1st I thought something happened to my son, Bike Boy #1 "no...he's fine" (he was at his dad's house). She then told me that "Bonus is dead".

John Borbonus was a friend of hers, a soldier who was stationed at Ft. Richardson in Anchorage before shipping out to Baghdad. Bonus was only 19 years old, same age as my daughter.

He was killed by an IED, according to the Department of Defense news release.


This war sucks. I don't want to go into the politics of the war here, this post isn't about that. It's about my daugther's friend, Bonus, 19 year old kid and only child from Idaho and my daughter's pain. We have quite a few friends/family over there. Bonus will probably not be the only death that hits home. Shit.

Back to Winter

We are heading up north to close up our cabin for the summer. As my life gets busier, the less I go up there. Sometimes being an adult and responsible is just a bummer. I want to PLAY.

I took the Kona Zing out for it's maiden ride last sunday. It is way different actually riding to actually ride on the ROAD than it is to pedal on a trainer.

Drop bars are at totally different kind of ride. I felt insecure, not familure with how it handles, not used to being so far forward, unfamilure hand position and my thumbs kept cramping up. Even with feeling like that, it was a very smooth, fast ride. I went about 3 miles and was frozen by the time I got home, the wind was blowing and it's COLD.

Today I got off work a little early and the sun is out, releasing it's still weak warmth, the nicest day we have had so far. I got the Zing out and took it for a ride around the Springer Loop, a 4.2 mile square road system I live on. As it was before 5 p.m. the traffic was pretty light. I had on my hi-vis jacket because Alaskan drivers tend to get white-line fever whenever they drive and just don't notice anything that is smaller than a moose. The drivers noticed me and all except 1 guy went wide around me. That was soo much nicer than the normal 10 inch pass they usually do.

This ride was in strong, cold wind. The Springer has no hills, barely any incline at all. Hard wind is a fair substitue for a small hill, except it make you cold instead of hot. I am feeling much more confident on this 2nd ride. I have learned from mountain biking that it's good to trust the bike and just ride. So I trusted that I wasn't going to crash and had a nice ride. I think the insecurity comes from feeling like I am not holding on to the bars....riser bars my hands are gripping them, with the drop bars I am more leaning on the bars rather than gripping them...does that make sense? There was one spot where I was turning a 90 degree corner and went over a pile of road sand that had piled up...a nice side-slip. Not good. I could have totally wiped out in the middle of the road, but I didn't and so now I am reminded to be more careful. My thumbs still cramped up a bit, I am sure it will stop when I am more used to this bike. I think I am pushing outward on the hoods with my thumbs..squeezing them. I just figured this out at this moment. I will have to watch for that on my next ride.

Bike Boy's newest bike in at Bike Guy's shop. He over pressurized the fork and blew the seals. Bike Guy will order a rebuild kit, it will take a couple weeks before it's ready. Bike Guy is getting into the psycotic season...this is a bad time for a major mechanical problem. So Bike Boy is on his hardtail for now.

Hopefully it will green up a little by the time I get back from the cabin. Time to start commuting to work pretty soon. The nights are still below freezing so there is still ice in the morning. I would rather have the ice gone, I don't want to wipe out on my way to work...or anytime. Ride on :)

Blogger is only loading 1 or pictures at a time

Winter White Water Tubing Pictures

The pictures wouldn't load last night. Later Bike Boy 1 & 2 got out the neoprene fishing full body bibs and raincoats and were perfectly warm. Today they are going down to the Matanuska River behind our farm to raft a very mellow tributary. Do we know how to have fun or what??

Winter White Water Tubing

It's spring break-up time in Alaska. It can be an ugly, muddy, frustrating time of year, dirty snow and ice, pond-size mud puddles everywhere. No more winter riding as the snow is rotten and slushly, not yet summer riding because there is still snow and ice around. A person has to be creative and make their own fun this time of year. Not being afraid of getting cold also helps.

The weather has been in the 40's (nice!) and it rained pretty heavily last night. The snow is melting really fast so we have a LOT of melt-off from the snow in the fields. We have 2 temporary "rivers" running through our fields right now.

Bike Boy got out his tube and he and I decided to do some white water rafting. It was a lot of fun but the water was COLD! My butt and legs got pretty soaked and only felt cold for a moment before going numb. After that, it's all good :)

Bike boy had to grab me before going too far into the woods where stick and trees made the river impassable.

The afternoon was beautiful and the sunlight has warmth in it. Slogging back through a foot of slush is a good workout and warmed us up right away.

Now the boys are starting a fire outside so we can enjoy the beautiful evening. It's not getting dark until after 9 pm now. I'm drinking a Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale and the feeling is returning to my legs and butt. Pins and needles - oh yeah.

I had a BLAST! WooHoo!

It's Warmer!

My couch problem has been fixed. I contact the store director and it was settled in 3 minutes...I wish I had gone that route in the 1st place. I had a new couch that evening. Of course I had to get the broken one loaded into the truck and drive back to Wasilla but it was worth getting it all finished up. The director said there is no "24-hr time limit" and I should have never been given this kind of run-around. Lets hope his employees get correctly trained, this isn't good for anyone - consumers nor businesses.

The temperature has actually reached 40 above! It's later than normal. The snow is ugly and dirty but it's MELTING! I can actually see bits of the bike paths! Still too much snow to ride them, but I think in about 2 weeks they may be ready to ride IF it doesn't snow between now and then. Alaska doesn't have bike lanes, but the 90 corner shared with the path is technically a bike lane for that section. I much prefer separate bike paths

In response to the comments on my last post - Is Alaska a dangerous place? I'm sure it's all subjective but it seems the humans are now more dangerous than the wild life, violent crimes rates are
rising here faster here than elsewhere in the U.S. I have run across some in-breeds that give me the creeps in secluded spots during my rides.

I didn't get the Zing out for it's maiden ride. Too busy with the couch issue and then a drive into Anchorage for some supplies not available here in the Valley. I am still spinning my wheels in my bikeshop, going nowhere.

The bike boys invaded my shop Monday and Tuesday...the results were not good and I am starting to lock the shop. Monday I came into my shop, my nephews bike was drip drying off my workstand but it was not put on the stand correctly and the stand looked like it was going to break. Then there was garbage all over the place, the floor and carpets were wet. I did my ride and as I was going into my house, I noticed my entire bottle of bike cleaner was laying empty on the ground. Bike boy 2, my nephew decided to wash his bike an dry it in my shop. I wouldn't have minded IF he had cleaned up after himself, didn't leave garbage around, etc. So I clean it up. Then yesterday I come home, go into my shop for the ride and an odor hits me. Bike boy was showing a girl the cows and then decided to show her my shop. They had cow poo all over their shoes and did a good job of grinding it into my carpets. It took about 2 hours of scrubbing carpets but Capt'n Balance took care of it all, he didn't want bike boy 2 there. We "tried" talking with bike boy 2, but he just gave a blank stare...so now he has lost shop privileges.

Here is a picture of a sunset a few days ago, the ice crystals in the air caused the rays to shoot up. Pretty. I hope to get on the road with the ZING this weekend!

Commuting Dreams and a Broken Couch

I purchased a new couch from Fred Meyer's last week. Capt'n balance pointed out that the frame is broken - the arm isn't connected to the base. I never noticed it, the only visible signs are a slight wrinkle in the fabric at the base of the couch, on the side, not visible to you while sitting on the couch and he noticed the arm move out when Bike Boy sat down on it. I called Fred Meyer, they said it has to go through the manufacturer, who would come out and either fix it or replace it. I finally get in touch with the manufacture (not in Alaska), they say I have to go through the retailer - Fred Meyer. I call Fred Meyers, they say it's not their problem because it's been 2 weeks since I purchased it. I tell them it's not been 2 weeks since I 1st contacted them, I spoke to 1 male employee, who put me through to a lady employee who told me to contact the manufacture. It took a few days to get the manufacturer due to weekend and my work hours, the time differences caused delays, the manufacturer tell me to go through the retailer so I'm back where I started. So today, the department supervisor is on vacation and the assistant supervisor is not in today, maybe he will be there tomorrow. I have my receipt and all other paperwork, there is NOTHING that says there are no returns except within the 1st 24 hours. As I tried to explain to the 2nd person I spoke to today at Fred Meyer, THEY have been giving me incorrect information, based on THEIR directions, they have responsibility in this not being resolved in time-limits which they don't tell consumers about. I still have a broken couch, have not been able to talk to a single person who can actually help me and no end in sight. I am NOT happy about this.


I want the snow to be gone, the air to warm up. I want to start riding to work. BUT there is still snow on the ground, the air still has a chill, the bike path is still lost under snow.

I told Capt'n Balance that I am really looking forward to riding to/from work again. He isn't excited about it. He is concerned about me crashing on my skinny tires, getting hit by a truck, kidnapped and anything else that can go wrong. I certainly don't want anything to go wrong. Those are all possibilities. I all the precautions that I can. Probably the most dangerous part of my ride is crossing a main road, the bike path is in a really bad spot, not at a corner or a stop and I have to cross 5 lanes. It's a poorly thought out cross. Then about a hundred yards from that cross, the bike path becomes part of the road and a 90 degree turn is shared. This is a bad design because the only thing separating the road from the path is the painted yellow line, which wears away very quickly and the vehicles end up using the entire bike path as part of the turn. As this is an on-ramp, the road and path continue up a pretty steep hill. Going the opposite direction on this section, I can pick up a lot of speed, this hill is long and the steepest part of the entire ride. Going this direction, the hill ends at the 90 degree turn. Since vehicles are on the bike path 95% of the time, extra caution is required going both directions. There is no signs up showing the bike path is there and once the paint is gone, it's easy for the drivers not to even know they are on the bike path, so I don't blame them.

I then go through 2 more major high-volume intersections but I feel pretty ok there because vehicles have to stop, everything is well-marked and I am hard to miss with my hi-vis clothing.

The next problem area is another well-marked intersection BUT it is near a high school so there are a lot of stupid teenage drivers who don't know pedestrian laws, may parents who are dropping off kids who are in a big rush, etc. These drivers tend to look right through me, make right turns without looking and are just plain stupid.

One section is also regularly covered with a few inches of gravel and rocks kicked up by 4-wheelers, there is so much gravel you can't even see any pavement. My skinny tires can't ride that so I have to go into the road until it's cleaned off.

I recently purchased a hi-vis illumnite jacket and a Cygo-lite li-ion dual cross light. The small battery is GREAT! I won't need the light until fall, soon it won't get dark at all.

I'm thinking of taking the Kona out for it's maiden ride outside today. The road near my home is dry and ice-free, traffic shouldn't be too bad if I get out early enough. I have a few things to do today so it depends on if I have time.

I Need a New Coffee Cup

It's snowing....

I think my coffee cup has some sort of weather juju going on. It's the graphics, I'm sure. This is my favorite cup but I'm willing to give it up.

Someone send me a cup that has summer juju.

18 inch Lake Trout, too small, released it
Bikin' at the Cabin

Picture 1) Matanuska Glacier
Picture 2) Arriving at the Cabin
Picture 3) Crosswind Lake
Picture 4) Knot Art butterfly

Cabin Time

We went to our cabin on Crosswind Lake on the 10th, got back yesterday. I was feeling pretty sick Friday the 9th and wasn't looking forward to being sick in the middle of the wilderness. I went to the dr, got a prescription even though the dr thought I had the flu. Dr said don't take it unless I really feel like I need to and if it was the flu, the antibiotics wouldn't help.

We drive north 2.5 hours to Lake Louise, spend a long time loading sleds to pull behind the snowmachines. We had TONS of stuff to haul in - lumber and shower stall for a new bath house/sauna, windows and a couch for the guest cabin as well as fuel, food, a small ice-fishing house made out of a truck sleeper - in which my dog K.C rode in on the trail, and the ice bike. A very fast snowmachine/mobile ride (1 hour) on a PERFECT trail into the cabin, nice and smooth. It has never been that smooth and fast before.

The temperatures were way down there, it took hours for the cabin to warm up. Finally got everything unloaded, the cabin warm, dinner cooked, a few drinks and went to bed. Everything was great until I woke up the next morning, I was SICK.

Really sick. I am woozy, feeling like I will pass out every time I stand up, etc. I am telling Capt'n Balance he may need to bungee me to an sled, hook me up to a snowmachine and pull me out to Glennallen to the hospital if I don't start feeling a bit better, it was THAT BAD. I choked down some food and coffee and didn't feel like I was going to die, so that was an improvement. Spent the day being miserable and the cabin is no place to feel miserable. We are in the middle of NOWHERE. The wind is blowing, windchill is 25 to 40 below 0, REALLY cold. The kind of cold that makes my fingertips feel like they have been smashed by a hammer after being outside for only a few minutes. Oh yeah, we use an outhouse and being a girl, lets just say I use the outhouse more than the guys (It's a very nice outhouse, big open window for ventilation) and the outhouse is a ways away from the cabin so I have a little walk to it. So I am suffering....I get the medication the dr prescribed, still in the bag from the store with the paperwork on how to take it.

I read how to take it and then notice the pharmacist has a big red circle with a question mark around the allergy alert. It says I am not supposed to take this medication if I have had an allergy to another related medication and the pharmacist circled that I DO have an allergy to the related medication. Great...so what do I do now? I decided to take it anyway, telling all the guys to watch me in case my head swells to the point of exploding. No reaction and I finally started feeling better by day 4.

Temps continued to be COLD, 37 below 0 F. at night, no wind chill. I caught an 18 inch lake trout (too small, released it), took Bike Boy snowboarding, jigged for more fish, drank beer, ate rabbit (Bike Boy got his 1st rabbit, hunting only allowed if it is going to be for food, not sport), ate more food, slept, drank a little, drew on the walls - butterfly with a bike. (Knot Art, using the knots in the plywood for noses, is all over the walls of our cabin - Capt'n Balance is an artist).

Capt'n Balance and I had our own little Crosswind Ice Bike race around the cabins. No one else wanted to brave the cold and the snow. We were frozen by lap 3 but warmed up nicely with Tequila shots afterwards. This is the very 1st bicycle to EVER be at Crosswind Lake. Yeah, I'm famous on the lake now and maybe we will get more bikes up there and make it an annual ride, the winner is who can do the most laps without getting frostbitten. Notice I had on slippers, I was find while riding, but putting my feet down when stopping, the slippers lived up to their name.

I can't get any pictures to download, will post them later.

Bike and Beer T-Shirt Gallery

I recently did a Google search on Bike and Beer. Lots of interesting sites came up.

This one is pretty cool The Beer-Bike Tee Shirt Gallery.

I didn't know Oscar the Grouch drank beer!

Frigid Moose Drewl

Bike Boy, Capt'n Balance aka "The Sweeper" and I did the 1st Annual Frigid Moose Drewl race yesterday and it was a whole lotta fun!

The weather was PERFECT. We had been having some very high winds but they died down and the race was on!

Bike Boy was on his weekend visitation with his dad in Wasilla, so I headed out there to pick him up. I grabbed all the clothing, bikes and other gear I could think of. In the rush, I forgot his COAT. Darn. Fortunately his dad let him borrow a coat, so all was good. We get to the race location and the REAL RIDERS were showing up. Bike Boy and I spent some time trying to decided how may layers to pile on. I decided to go for more layers than I had originally planned. Bike Boy was good to go, even in his tennis shoes - that kid doesn't feel cold, blessing of youth I guess. He did have 2 pairs of socks on - one was a woolen pair.

Then Carlos and Mark, the organizers, start talking about the courses, I'm trying to listen and finish getting my gear on when Capt'n Balance suddenly appears! He wasn't going to come because he had too many other things to do. He decided at the last minute to come and be the course "sweeper", hence the helmet he made from the hand broom we use to sweep up ashes around our wood stove. He cracks me up, what a goof. He's almost always there to support me in my attempts to do this kind of thing. He knows how frustrating it sometimes is for me to be what I am now, because I still remember how it felt to be tough and kick ass like I used to.

The race starts, the most of the real bikers are on fat tire bikes, a few on regular tires. We have on our studded tires. The beginning of the trail was churned up a little then was nicely groomed but full of post holes from horses and moose. This is our 1st real winter trail ride (I mostly ride around a icy, paved road around my home), a new experience. I have to say, those post holes suck. They are not hugely difficult to ride over but they definitely ruin a nicely groomed trail.

We got past the post holes and then the fun really started. Nice, smooth packed trail, little ups and downs and corners - the kind that make me want to yell "WooHoo"! Just plain fun. Then we got to a frozen swamp and it was just beautiful! I just had to stop and look around. That is one of the things that makes me a slow mountain biker. I HAVE to look around. The sun was shining, the mountains were beautiful, it was just perfect. Then Capt'n Balance got out the camera and had me back track a few times for some pictures. Bike Boy took off ahead so we didn't get any pictures of him - he takes racing seriously - HA!

We finished the race, which was a race-at-your own pace, for us, anyway. It was a great ride. It's a lot more work riding snow but packed trails than icy roads. I loved it. Those are not staged smiles!

We chatted with Mark of
Wildfire Designs Bicycles and Carlos of Anchorage's Frigid Bits, I got to plug into some of Carlo's knowledge - Thanks Carlos!

The famous Frigid Bits burn barrel was fired up and I have to say, this is the coolest burn barrel ever. Customized for the Frigid Bits SnoBoys, made by a rider called Thirsty Work. He also made Frigid Bits Burn Barrel Ale labels and relabeled some beer bottles with them. They are really cool also. The best part (to me) is the Government warning on the label. Instead of warning pregnant women not to drink or whatever, these say "GOVERNMENT WARNING: DON'T WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT"

That is like a message from GOD or something...ok, not near that profound, but pretty darn funny. I'm going to take the label to work...I work for the State government issuing federal and state benefits. It can be a grind on a persons very being. We need all the laughs we can get. I think most of my co-workers will get a good laugh.

It was a great day, a great ride, my world has expanded a little. I hope to someday do the long course, it would be great to be as fast as the real riders but for now I'm happy I got out there and did it.

Now Bike Boy wants a Wildfire fat tire bike. Maybe when he stops growing...that should give me a few years to save up some $$.

Check out more pictures of
the burn barrel and the post-ride party

Who's Yo Daddy??

My parents came over to my house last weekend. I was showing my dad my bike shop. I was explaining to him WHY I have so many bikes, the purpose for each one, when I came to my little winter bike.

He thought the winter bike set-up was pretty cool and and decided to take it for a ride. OKAY...I was a little concerned, he is pretty inactive and getting a little long in the tooth. I am sure he will never read this blog, so I feel pretty safe saying "long in the tooth" :) . But he is still THE DAD. So he off he went.

He rode around the barns and was pretty impressed with the grip of the studded tires. He said he went up and down some icy snow berms and the tires started to slip out but then the studs gripped and he was back on track (thank GOD, it would have been awful if he got hurt).

He really enjoyed his little ride, he had a big grin on his face when he was bringing the bike back into the shop (I missed that picture-darn).

Dad and I had a micro-bonding moment.

Watch out Frigid Bits Boys, Dad just might take you guys on....and you better let him win :)

The wind is still out of control here but it's supposed to end tonight, just in time for the Frozen Moose Drewl race tomorrow. It is a race-at-your-own-pace. I have just about talked myself INTO doing it, the hardest part for me is actually getting the guts to show up. I'm not fast or a technical mountain biker. I figure I will be the last rider out there....which is OK because someone has to be last, right??? And being last in a bike ride is better than not riding at all...right? Right.

I just read the Alaska Forum on MTBR.com. Sounds like trail conditions will be good. I only have studded tires, no fat tires or whatever else the real winter riders use. Tomorrow will be interesting!