my crime today...

was not taking a camera with me on my ride. i took off in the late morning for a quick ride to the post office, and i thought i'd hit some park areas on the way back...just to 'check' some things out.

my friend used to say (and i'm sure he still does); as we zipped by some random stretch of land on the side of the freeway...'why can't we have that? there's nothing there.' meaning; that we ought to be allowed to 'build' a trail and enjoy it. no matter how small.

first park i found on the way to the post office was behind a school, and apartment building. i saw a 'trail' and i took it. i immediately saw the dirt jumps that the kids make for the bmxing, so at least i know others are here. nothing big, but a fun little 'park' (we'll say). as i rode around on the trail that was 'there' (snow and leaf covered ground makes riding interested, esp. if you have no idea if you're on a trail or just random ground, coupled with the fact that i took no tools or supplies) i saw huge potential. riding on a ridge. over some logs. just a good o' kick around place.

second park i knew about, but i never had the 'correct' bike when i went to explore. this time i did. i found the spots where the kids hang out. dirt jumps and such. empty beer cans. oh, and i loved this one, an empty box of cold medicine. yeah, cause you're out in the woods, and say to one self...'self, it's time for your cold medication.' stupid kids. just stick to beer. then i headed over to the 'walking' trail; which was really fun and fast...and as i got deeper into the woods i noticed that i was at one of 'those' spots that my friend talks about. so i kicked around the freeway for awhile, and headed back home just a little more muddy than when i started.

so what becomes the point of all this...well, kick around your local park system, and see what you are able to find. you just might find something worth hanging out at for awhile.

amitabha...

as the snow...

begins to fly out my window; i sit down and watch roam. that was lent to me by norm.

to begin with...good show. great shots. and just a really cool watch. a great way to start my day, with coffee in hand. again the only bad thing is, is that i start to have thoughts of a downhillish bike. a riding style that i don't do, much less have the time to. i'd just become an urban assault rider, if i got one.

another sad thing enters my mind...here i am in cleveland. the home of the only indoor mountain bike park...ray's. and from what i understand; it's pretty popular. this tells me that there are quite a few mountain bikers in our area, so the question arises...why does our mountain bike scene really suck? really...it does. we have a few places to go, but that's it. we have a beautiful national forest area, but it is not used to its potential.

is it political? are our voices being heard? no. instead other riders are pushing for a velodrome...for what? so we can watch track racing? now if cleveland was a major hub of cycling, i'd understand. then supports of this bring up the point, well...it will be big enough to have an indoor soccer field. um...i'm not sure if you noticed, but nobody cares about soccer in the cleveland area. nobody. a few people make it down to catch the cleveland city stars, who won a championship (which i didn't know until i just checked their site)...so who's going to care about an indoor soccer field?

if it is political, then jacob was right when he said that there is strength in numbers. to join camba, and make our voices heard. now some of you know i'm not a big fan of camba, just because they tend to be too much of a trail nazi; which i am not for. however...i keep thinking about the numbers deal. if it is a political game...become political. the disheartening point becomes the bad rap that mountain bikers get, as was read in the pd (local paper) a few months ago. i don't have the date on me, but jim nichols wrote the piece. where it seems that the metroparks would rather let the horses have it, and tearing down trees and placing paved 'trails' in 'nature' and calling it conservation. even though mountain bikes leave less of a mark in nature than either of the former two things. my point becomes we are not north shore riders. i believe that the majority of us just want a sweet cross country trail that we could go out for hours, and get 'lost' as it were.

is it political? then become political.

to pull from my hip-hop influence...don't hate the player; hate the game. i remember one of the lessons that ice (to the mother fucking)-t taught me...to change the system, you need to become part of the system. so join...why not? i just did...

amitabha...

this is a re-post...

of a post of mine that i put up in september zero five. i've been thinking about it lately, and wanted to put it up again just for information sake. this is able to be found in my archives if you are that interested, but here you go...

"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."

in this original post i left out carbon, i know this; but do i need to get into carbon?

amitabha...

last friday...

clown bike...
Originally uploaded by divine_gear

we were cleaning out at the shop, and we came across this little number...

a clown bike; which i was able to procure. this little thing is so much fun to ride. dangerous though.

after riding it around on friday, i woke up the next day with my hips hurting, but a small price to pay to have so much fun.

amitabha...

a weekend of...

tight one eighty down the hill...
Originally uploaded by divine_gear

racing takes a toll on my body, and mental state.

saturday was spent at the chagrin river cyclocross race. course description...flat, field, with some 'technical' sections. my philosophy in this race was, set up out front, and kick some ass. i did. start out up front. i lead the pack for a quarter of the lap. then, over the log i bashed my rear wheel on the log and jumped my chain. and watched half of the pack pass me. other than that, i was just 'hanging' on to my place. which i don't even know. beer was had o' plenty after the race.

sunday was spent at kirtland park with another one from team lake effects. now if it wasn't for it being at kirtland park, i would have stayed home and watched football. but since it was at kirtland park i went, simply because i enjoy the course. and what a course that was. they made it longer than the last time i raced it. the obvious one eighty trek down the side of the theater is always a joy. no barriers; however three run-ups of stairs. this was hard on me. i messed up quite a bit...one wash out on a up hill switchback, one chain jump (pilot error again), should have passed when i had the chance, mashed the boys, should have used 'butter'; so by the third lap, it turned into a 'training' ride as it were.

for some more pics check out the flickr. there are some more from saturday, and fast hands took some real nice ones from sunday; however i only put up a few simply because i didn't want to 'overload' sunday...

thanks for reading and viewing. time to do some soul searching...

amitabha...