While riding my Santa Cruz, I noticed there seemed to be some play in my rear wheel when I had my brake on. I thought I needed to replace the pads. I got it on the workstand, the pads were fine.
So I started troubleshooting. The metal part of the rear rotor was slipping a little, the rivets connecting the metal disk to the black centerlock were loosening and the play was wearing the rivet holes bigger. Darn. I call Bike Guy, he says to bring the whole bike in.
He calls Shimano, they say they have had a few rotors fail like this, about 3 over the last 5 years. Which isn't bad, when you think of the numbers of rotors they pump out each year. But I just happen to be one of the LUCKY ones. It must have a new rotor. I go to pay for the new rotor, Bike Guy says no charge, Shimano is covering it...WooHoo. It was ready the next day.
Fall is on the way here, the birds are starting to migrate: Sandhill cranes, Canadian Geese, ducks. There were 5 ducks on the bike path on my way to work the other day. Neat to see. The daylight is getting shorter and it is getting dark now. We are losing a bit more than 1/2 of daylight per week. The nights are getting cooler, my morning rides are also. This summer has gone by way too fast.
I won't get to go to the cabin this fall. I'm really bummed about that. There are new, stupid caribou hunting rules in effect this year which is supposed to help lower-income hunters, a person who is drawn for a permit can't use any vehicles over 1500 pounds to take the meat out of the hunting area. This eliminates planes, most boats, swampbuggies, etc. It does not eliminate 4-wheelers.
The idea behind this is a low-income person can't afford to use a plane, boat or other "heavy" vehicle. So most people will get their game out by 4-wheelers.
That's a load of dookie. It costs us $400 a season to hire a bush plane to fly us into our cabin, we have always shared the plane with at least one other person flying out to our area, so we pay only $200 to $300 for the plane ride.
4-wheelers average cost is about $5000. I can afford a flight much easier than a 4-wheeler. So now we have a caribou permit with no way to get the caribou out because it is now against the law to have it flown out with us, because if we can afford a yearly $200-$300 flight, then we must be over-income, but if I make a monthly $250 4-wheeler payment so I can get my caribou out, I must be low-income. Who makes these rules??? We have an old rebuilt 4-wheeler, but it would take about 10 hours of HARD riding through bogs, tundra, muskeg to get to the cabin and it would really be a disaster if it broke down in the wilderness. Rant, Rant, rant.
6 comments:
Yikes. 10 hours. I can drive from Charlotte to New York City in 10 hours! Of course I could also fly there in an hour and 15 mintutes, but that is neither here nor there. Sorry to hear about the new rules. Your cabin sounds like an amazing place, although a bush plane ride is a little scary to me!!
Thank you for your words on my blog...I replied to one of them right on my comment section. Your words meant A LOT to me! And I will keep you posted on my new "adventure." Wink, wink.
I can only wonder what it would be like to even have those kind of problems..... :-)
Though I am not an avid hunter, I have done my share in the past (mainly as a teenager). Both my brothers and my Dad hunt extensively, as well as fish (I still do that a bit).
I can see that the intent of this act is to make caribou hunting accessible to a wider field of people. And for the few who might choose to participate as a result, it may be helpful. But unfortuately, it appears to create difficulties for the vast majority of folks who are serious about participating.
As is often the case, folks who make these rules may not be participants themselves and do not clearly see how their decision to help a few, may hurt the many.
Hi Karen! 10 hrs to ride, 20 minutes to fly....yep. Bush/float planes take some getting used to but the scenary is amazing and the places they can go is also amazing.
Dano- We got problems!!! As someone who has lived off of wild, natural game and fish for my entire life, store-bought meat is entirely different and actually smells badly, like....I won't go into that right now. It can be upsetting to the digestive system sometimes to eat too much overly hormoned, antiboticized, artifically fattened, dyed and whatever additives they inject into the animals and meat.
Hi Old Man, you don't seem that old :)
This hunt is a subsistance hunt and "they" decided lower income people can benefit greater by subsistance (important lifestyle here in Alaska). The effort is to keep it in the realm of subsistance. We are not sports hunters, we actually rely on and live off the meat, the very definition of subsistance. We only harvest what we will use. So it is discouraging to us that just because my annual income is higher than the poverty level, someone has decided I shouldn't have the same rights as someone of lower-income.
I work the welfare programs here in Alaska, the average dollar amount of support paid to and for a family of 4 on the welfare system in Alaska is $150,000 per year, accourding to recent calculations. $150,000 is not low income. Again rant, rant. Sorry!
I obviously misunderstood the issue, thinking it was sport hunting. It seems even more obvious that they have made a mistake knowing that.
Sorry, but I AM old. Ask anyone! :^)
I didn't explain the issue very well, sorry! Old is a state of mind...until a person hits 60, then they are old.. ;) I reserve the right to change this when I turn 60
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