Some news...

2/28/05

Volvo's new concept car, the 3CC, looks really exciting. It's an Electric concept car, but with an emphasis on comfort and performance. Not to mention it doesn't look like a box drawn by an eight year old. It looks like it would take a Q-Tower strech-kit to mount my bike on the roof though.( I think that was a little bike shop joke. And it was not only bad, but not funny. Did it even qualify as a joke? sorry.) Read about the car at the link.

2/25/05

Here's another update on the status on my new bike, the Evil D.O.C. I've been moving the bar position around a bit, as I initially had them kind of high. I prefer my bars low, so the bike has a 20" bmx-like feel. The problem with most bikes I've owned, is that pulling the front end of the bike up to manual and to bunny hop becomes difficult. The D.O.C. has adjustable dropouts that allow a short 15.75 stay. And I'm loving it. check it.

2/23/05

My new Evil D.O.C. frame showed up at the bike shop today! I'm just about done dialing it in; (it's 10:30pm) - I've been working on it off and on since I got home. I'm happy to say that so far it is exactly what I was hoping it would be. The numbers and angles all looked good on paper, but you never know until you ride it. I was a little concerned with the slack head tube angle, but it felt pretty good. I'm impressed with the E13 chain guide I ordered with it; the guide went together really well, and I'm looking forward to installing the Dual-Ring version on my Heckler. I can't wait to get out and getting my street skills back.

I've tried a few new things with the set up, the main difference being cable discs as opposed to hydraulic. I decided to try cable discs again since they are so inexpensive, and the lines are easy to replace. I've got it set up right now so the rear brake feels like a well lubed XTR v-brake, with extra long length added for a Pot's Mod set up to facilitate bar spins. 

I've posted current photos of the 243 on my sale bikes page, for anyone interested in it. I'm asking $700.00 US as you see it. And since the scammers just love the idea of sending me a bad check, I'm only going to accept Pay Pal. Thanks for looking!

2/21/05

My Powerbook is due to arrive at anytime, and I have been renewing my efforts to sell the excess bikes in my quiver. I reposted my ads on all the major bike forums, and lowered the asking prices, but now I'm being hit with all these emails from possible scammers from overseas. You wouldn't believe some of these messages. They're so shady, you can see them from a mile away. more

2/18/05 Trail Closed?

We were a bit shell-shocked to find a stack of fallen trees at the start of Side-O yesterday. Fortunately, the cutting only went down for the first part of the trail. Once you pass the initial section, everything is still ridable, but it didn't look good.

My rear XC rim, which I proudly displayed as being completely intact after the Dead Campers road gap last Sunday, gave up the ghost one ride later. However, I stacked pretty hard on the steep and muddy chute on "Blake's Line" on Side O yesterday, and possibly would have done the same to any other rim. Today is a total rest day, as my body took a solid beating as well. Not only that, but my Giro Zen took a good hit for the team. more

My new powerbook should be showing up pretty soon. It's going to be sweet.

Anyone like the film "American Splendor?" Harvey Pekar is in town doing a book signing from 7-9 for the "Best of American Splendor" at the Booksmith in SF. We're going to check it out tonight. http://www.booksmith.com for more info.

2/15/05
I picked up a copy of the new issue of Decline Magazine a few days ago, and I have to admit, I'm pleasantly surprised to say that it has continued to get better with each issue. Not only have they added content, but it's a lot more interesting. Past issues had reflected the "cliche" feel I see so prevalent in Mountain Biking these days. I didn't get that so much with this one. I don't really care to read about some Pro DHer's birthday party that none of us will ever go to; I want to hear more about riding, and why people choose what they ride, etc. Plush Mag and now Flow seemed to make up for the lack of content by publishing a lot of big glossy photos. That's not worth dropping six bucks at the grocery store. The new issue features a column by John Cowan, Big Time Kona pro, arguing the use of 24 inch verus 26 inch wheels in Mt. bike competitions. They also have a photo of him with his personal quiver of bikes, something we all can identify with.

2/14/05

Shuttle runs in Santa Cruz! Another day of riding in the UCSC forest reaffirms my belief that Santa Cruz features the most exciting mountain biking in the Bay Area. Travelers and visitors, take note. But don't take my word for it, check out some of the shots we snapped. I shot some video as well, and plan to have it cut and posted at the end of the week. more

I'm ordering a new Apple Powerbook this week. 1.67GHz PowerPC G4. Oh sweet. I'm also buying Jimmy Jericho's 20" Apple Cinema Screen. It's going to be so nice to be able to see more than one window at a time. I'm currently working on a G4 iMac. It was the first iMac that came out with the articulating arm. It was pretty awesome at the time, but it only has a 15" flat screen. My new computer is going to be twice as fast. I'm pretty stoked. If I win the lotto, I'm buying stock in Apple. In fact, I probably will anyway.

-------------------

Blake and I did a fun ride today, shuttling Redwoods. There is some fun stuff back there. It's too bad it's illegal. Oh well. All the good stuff is.

I'm loaning my steel road bike to my brother now that I have a phat carbon frame to pedal around on. It's a Rauler. I kept wondering, "what the hell is a Rauler?" since I've never heard of them, and a quick google search later, I found out my steel bike indeed has an interesting back story. And it's Italian.

2/08/05

I can't admit that I'm a football fan; when it comes to watching sports, I'm more interested in the X-Games than Monday Night Football. But I did just check out my favorite part of the super bowl: the ads. And now you can too: Super Bowl Ads

I rode my new road bike in to the shop today. It's a damn sweet ride. I'm still new to the road riding thing, although this technically is my second road bike, courtesy of my boss, Jeff at the Pedaler. It's not officially mine, but most the parts hanging on the frame are, and I get to ride it the most. That's good enough for me. I've never really spent much time on carbon bikes, but I can tell you that it kicks ass. Like mountain bike suspension, it reduces fatigue, and smoothes out the road. The roads in Cali are so bad compared to Oregon, I'm really glad to finally have a damper on the rough pavement. I'm pedaling a lot more over the bumpy stuff than I was with my old bike, which had a steel frame and fork. Could I slowly turning into a roadie? (still wear my baggy shorts over the chamois- keeping it real)

I'm still dialing the set up inn, but I am starting to see why people like riding road bikes. Riding back to Oakland with my co-worker Calvin was a blur of cars, lights, hard pedaling, and sweat. I still feel completely out of shape. I feel kind of drained right now. If I keep this up, I may do alright in the XC portion of Sea Otter this year. Now I just have to decide whether or not I'm going to race downhill as well. Either way, I've never been to the Sea Otter, and I'm looking forward to coming back with tons of pictures, and hopefully some good video footage.

Oh yeah, props out to my buddy Levi, who kicked down his old NiteRider last year when he was swagged out with a new light. I use it all the time, holmes.

2/05/05

Alameda Cityview Skatepark Protest:

Info from bmxriders.org (bro) ...Another protest ride is coming up March 5, 2005. The story behind this unfortunetly, seems a common one, especially here in California.. A group of skateboarders and bmxers get together and raise funds for a public skatepark. City kicks in money and helps make it happen. Park is built, and then city decides to outlaw bikes at said park, although park is designed with bikes in mind, and bike riders donated time and money. Yeah, it's f*cked up. On top of all that, apparently the city raised the dollar amount on citations to $85 from $50 or so. It seems that the city is using the citations to generate revenue..more

2/04/05

Since the last game system I bought was a PS one (which lies in a box, unused) I haven't played that many of the new games, but when I saw this, it caught my attention. Lego Star Wars. It's a Star Wars video game with lego characters. Kind of sweet. Like legos are sweet. I used to love Legos.

I'm not allowed to play video games though. Last month, when I borrowed "Halo" for the Mac, I did like an 8 hour stint. I just can't stop. Usually the carpel tunnel I develop in my knuckles is what makes me turn it off. How sad is that?

Riding Side-O today! Should be fun! I'm still trying to figure out where I'm riding Sunday. Gotta do something, the sun is out, and everyone will be at home drinking beers watching football! That means the traffic will be low, and travel time to spots will hopefully be quick!

2/1/05

This link is whack! Seriously, that was a bad, bad, pun. Caution is advised on this one. Apparently the fool lived! Read the story..
Instant karma, and darwin's law all rolled up in one.
Cool site ...

For stories from January, click here.

all images (unless noted) copyright 2004 I hate bikes dot net. web page design: blame this guy- Jason Van Horn. contact: jason_vanhorn@hotmail.com

people have wasted their time hating bikes. web counter by digits dot com.