just a pic...

a buddhist note...

the parable of the arrow-
"it is as if...a man had been wounded by an arrow thickly smeared with poison, and his friends and companions, his relatives and kinsfolk, were to procure from his a physician...and the sick man were to say 'i will not have this arrow taken out until i have learnt whether the man who wounded me belonged to the warrior caste, or to the Brahmin caste, or to the agricultural caste or to the menial caste.'

or again he were to say, 'i will not have this arrow taken out until i have learnt the name of the man who wounded me, and to what clan he belongs.'

or again he were to say, 'i will not have this arrow taken out until i have learnt whether the man who wounded me was tall, or short, or of the middle height.'

or again he were to say, 'i will not have this arrow taken out until i have learnt whether the man who wounded me was black, or dusky or of a yellow skin.'

or again he were to say, 'i will not have this arrow taken out until i have learnt whether the man who wounded me was from this or that village, or town, or city.'"

just a note to think about...

i'm still alive...

well saturday was the day. the day i've been "training" for. i put that in quotes, because i hate training for anything. anyway...it was the day of my first adventure race; animal iq. it took place at paint creek state park in southern ohio, down near bainbridge. it consisted of 10K trail run, 10K canoe, and 25K of mountain bike riding.

we got there at about 6:30/7pm., and checked in. then got to our hotel about 45 minutes later to look over the map, and decide what we needed as far as all the gear went. demolished pizza and wings, and the all needed carbs from beer. it rained just about the whole way down. we were kind of hoping that it would rain during the race, no lighting though; we would be in an aluminum canoe. after a quick trip to the super k to get some baggies for our maps, yes we had to navigate through the course, we were set.

the alarm went off at 5am. left about 6am to get there by 6:45 to start at 7am. after a little preparation talk we were off. we ran to the boat launch to get into our canoe. our transition was flawless, too bad our rowing was not. it's not hard to canoe, it's hard to keep it in a straight line. up the river to cp (check point) 1, and back down the river to cp2. get out and run to cp3. we started to notice people passing us going the other way. we were running on an horse trail. muddy and wet. who ever said that horses do not destroy a trail...is a lair. hit cp3, and back up the trail to cp4, and into the canoe. no one was around us. i began to think "where the hell is everybody?" i know that i can't run to save my life, but am i this bad? we dock the canoe, and trot/walk to cp5 to transition onto the bike. just what i've been waiting for. we hit the trail to cp6, and i'm feeling it. we then begin our ride to cp7. after a while we notice that we are coming out of the trail. oh shit. wrong turn. damn it. and the trail goes counter clockwise. so we push back to our mistake, and also again passing others going the other way. after the long way around we hit cp7. well by this time we were last. so we took the whole trail back around. why not. and then hit the finish. this was my goal. to finish. to do it.

as we hit the food, we learn that there was a short cut during the running. what?! we were permitted to take short cuts. damn. and as we saw the time checks from the cp's that's where we lost our time. that and taking a wrong turn. and sucking. it took us 6 hours and 37 minutes. but i did it. that's the point. and had a great time doing it. i hurt yesterday, and a little today, but i'm looking forward to my massage. hey, i'm getting old. these are things you have to do. i'm already looking forward to riding again. if i get any pics, i'll put them up.

good times...

nzumbi

so here it is...my single speed, a VooDoo Nzumbi. an african god. steel frame. during the build up of this bike i was on some sort of canadian kick, and that is why it's built up with many a race face component.

voodoo has always been a great frame company. they closed up in 99. it is now up and running again in japan. they no longer have a single speed only frame anymore. that's what the nzumbi is. they do have single speed options though.

as you can tell it's been through some good times. hey, it's a bike. get out and ride it.

hex free...

a beautiful ride, on a beautiful day...

the single speed was in full force on sunday. went on an organized unorganized ride. organized to the point where they gave us a map. unorganized to the point where there was no sag, and there was some questionable riding. we noticed that there was some opportunities for off road riding. nice. rigid fork. one speed, and that speed was kicking as much ass as i could.

first we rode to the starting point in the flats, and then did the ride. came up out of the flats. we were around many riders, and mind you i kicked all their asses coming up and out of the flats. when i approach a hill on the voodoo, something changes. like sly turning around his cap in "over the top." we were eventually passed by some cocky roadies, but the funny thing is; is that we kept on seeing them throughout the whole day. whimps.

we come to the first off road (o.r.) section, and it seemed like no one knew what to do. so we took it. down and up a creek. over logs. kicking ass. on a rigid fork. on a single speed. we rode what we could. some of it was too muddy or steep even for the gearheads.

we're riding along, and i'm feeling good. i'm in front of the pack, and we come to a clearing. i'm stopped. in front of me there are three "mountain bikers" (i put this in quotes for obvious reasons. if you're truly a mountain biker you just go. not stopping and debating about a line to take.) anyway, after the clearing we are back on the pavement.

as we pick up the pace, we are zipping north on west blvd. heading towards lakewood. then what do we notice...the roadies that pasted us up a while ago. one of the whimps looks at us and says "hey, people." as the light that we are at turns green, he calls out something to the effect "see you later." i call out "doubt it." i think i pissed off some guy on a dean, because that could have been taken two ways; one, i'm going to kick all your asses, or two, i suck. i don't think he noticed that i was on my single speed. first off; they took a wrong turn and thus shortened up the ride (more justification of their wimpiness), second; i wouldn't whip my ass with a dean.

we traveled to the lake front and back to the flats. after that we had some pizza and pop, and rode home for beer. great ride. good times. good company. take care. onefuckingspeed...

demoralization

we live in a culture where we are free to find and explore our own interest, and by doing this we are put into a sort of sub-culture. let's call these first order sub-culture or fosc for short. well these fosc are all acceptable in our culture. whatever it may be. be it music, video games, board games, comics, cycling, etc. well as you get into these fosc you may find yourself getting deeper into them. you may even start specializing in a certain area. this may then be called a second order sub-culture or sosc. so now that you are into this sosc, you find certain things and maybe even people of similar interest, and this is all acceptable.

you may even find a magazine that holds your interest. now why do you pick up this magazine? not only because it deals with your sosc, but because you like to keep up with your interest, to know what's going on, and maybe even to be inspired or uplifted. this is the reason i read the magazines i do. to be inspired while i'm not riding; to get me inspired to ride next. to start thinking about the next ride. where will i go? what bike am i in the "mood" for?

cycling is a beautiful sport. it holds many sosc for many different people. well the last issue of a certain magazine i get did not inspire, it demoralized me for a moment. this bothers me because these editors have some sort of duty to inspire us.

i open up this magazine; which will remain nameless, and i see an article about riding single speed. right away i begin to read about how this woman got into riding a single speed because she wanted to be "punk" with her boyfriend and his friends. as the article progresses her relationship ends, and she gives up the single speed. she then decides that it "is better to have the ability to shift, both on a bike and in a relationship..."
i turn the page to then notice an article about a group of riders that ride only on rigid forks. "great, this one ought to be better than the last one," i thought. well it wasn't. the gist of the article was that it's too hard to ride a rigid fork, and that riding a suspension is much better.

sure a single speed is not for everyone, and we all get older to where we need the extra gush. that's why i recently picked up my first full suspension mtn bike (hey, i'm an old man). but why do i have to read about how these sosc are not productive or fun. not that these "articles" made me give up my single speed, but what about someone who reads this and says "what a bunch of nuts." is that what we are looking for? to create more space and alienation between our sosc? or is this what the "powers that be" are doing to us, and we are accepting it? i often read on how cross country riding is dead, and free riding is the way to go. well i find that crap too. if free riding is dead, then stop making the bikes.

so get out there and revel in your sosc. and if anyone tells you that its uncool, tell them that their uncool for thinking that. this is why we do our sosc, to have fun, to enjoy ourselves. get out there and inspire. i know i'll be.

what's my frame made of?

upon inspection; there are many different metals that your bike is able to be made out of.
here is what i found out about some of them...

scandium- silver-white metal; which turns yellowish or pinkish when exposed to air. relatively soft. resembles yttrium (with in this there are two compounds used to make the red in your tv) more than aluminium or titanium. rare material, very light metallic. often used to make high-intensity light. often found in scandinavia. never found as a free metal. interestingly it is found more abundantly in the sun and stars.

titanium- light, strong, corrosion resistant. strong as steel, but is 45% the weight; however 60% heavier than aluminum. it has a high melting point. all these things make it resilient to usual metal fatigue. after being bombarded with deuterons it will admit gamma rays; use caution if this happens, you know what happened to bruce banner? often coupled with aluminum to refine the grain size.

nitanium- from what i found; it is a nickel/titanium compound. its what is know as a SMA (shape memory alloy) metal that "remembers" its geometry. after it is formed it is able to go back to its original geometry after being heated. not a lot found out about this metal specifically.

aluminum- silver metal part of the poor metal group of chemical elements. major resistance to oxidation, strong, & light weight. one-third dense as steel. easily machined and cast. its resistance is due to its oxide layer. and remember if anyone tries to sell you a bike and states that "this aluminum is the same aluminum that NASA uses on their aircraft." so is the pop can or beer can in your frig.

steel- its major component is iron mixed with carbon acting as a hardening agent. the amount of carbon controls the quality of the steel keeping the iron where it needs to be. it is an iron based alloy that can be plastically formed, or if you will molded into shape.

i hope this helps if your looking into bikes and say to yourself what the hell is this? what the frame is made out of is a major factor to your bike. it dictates the feel of the ride. do you want something that is stiff or something more forgiving. the ride is personal, so should be the feel.