last month...

i sent along some emails to camba; and i did receive a response shortly after, and i quote:

As far as your other question about urban mountain bike parks, we've been approached a few times about things like this. A few years back the city of Cleveland had a project to build a mountain bike park in Midtown. We talked with them a few times to provide some expertise around the situation but it would not have been a CAMBA built trail. A similar thing is going on in the Old Brooklyn area right now.

For the time being we're not giving up on making our 100 mile trail vision a reality. We've been working long and hard on the three park systems to show them that Mountain Biking is a legitimate and desired recreational activity in North East Ohio. They know we're not going anywhere and changing our focus now would jeopardize all the hard work. Personally I think the urban parks are very cool; I've been to colonnade in Seattle and it's really impressive to see what they've done there. For CAMBA though, we owe it to our members and to the region to make sure we make the best out of the situation. That means taking advantage of the massive potential that exists in our park systems. Don't worry, we're making progress, and this will all be worth it when we've got 100 miles of single track.

Please let me know if you have any other questions. If you can do me a favor too, I'd appreciate it. Our membership numbers always drop a bit over the winter months. Make sure all of your riding buddies are CAMBA members. We need to be sure that our voice is as large as possible. Strength is in numbers.

:end quote.

this came from brett. i guess i understand their position/view. two points i take away from this; (one), it is true that all cleveland/northeast ohioians need to join. as i have stated before this is political. even though you don't want to admit it; it is. re-read his last sentence. (two), urban 'sport' parks are important, and are a really good idea. this is the place were kids are able to hang out and play in their neighborhood. they can't drive miles to go play, so why not use some area in the neighborhood to do so? so, i'm going to see what i'm able to do in my neighborhood, and go from there. esp. since there is something being planned in my area. more on that once i get it...

amitabha...

the farfignugen experience...

new look for vw...
Originally uploaded by divine_gear

expands. i've put a lot of money into this bike; in fact, more than i'd like. however the pay off is...it handles beautifully now. and i'm really happy with it. the fork was a bit of a worry for me. i was noticing some rust, and such...and come how; how old is this thing? so, it was time for an upgrade. new fork meant new headset, and stem too.

i settled on the race face ride stem. it is on their low end, but that wasn't a concern for me, plus the cool 'three-d' face plate sold me.

for the headset i went with the cane creek one-hundred. same functionality at their one-ten, but not a much money. little heavier. same concept, and functionality. smooth in its use. and it feels really snug to the fork, because of its compression ring. really like this headset.

fork. this took some time. i really didn't want cro-mo, and no disc...right from there my options were limited. a carbon fork with canti's...is there such a thing? only one, with a reasonable price point. so i picked up the origin eight black-ops carbon. not the best carbon fork out there, but it will do the job for me. the thing about their forks...depending on the length, they are able to be set up for a twenty-six or a twenty-nine inch wheel. it comes out of the 'box' set up for twenty-nine; however some simple turns of the screws, move the bosses down, and i'm set up for twenty-six. nice. lightweight. solid.

together...it all feels really nice, and smooth. the front end is lightened up. more responsive. just an all around smooth feeling, rigid, stable feel to the front end.

took it out for a long ride yesterday, and handled beautifully. like i said before...i have put too much money into this bike than i would like. other than what was mentioned...tires, wheels (not a set, mixed and matched), bb, chainrings, rear derailleur, freewheel, brakes, i put on a different saddle for more comfort (and i just wanted to save, as much as possible, the original), this i had lying around.

so, yeah, quite a bit of coin that i was ever intending to for this bike...but i have to say that the end justifies the means. this is a really nice ride. responsive. who knew that it would cost so much to not be extravagant?

just a really fun, all around, mountain bike; for 'kicking it'.

oh...this is goes out to kenny...when are you going to post, man? stay away from facebook...that will rot your brain...

amitabha...