Transition: Day 23 (of 26) - Where Does the Time Go?
Holy shit I only have 3 more days of freedom after today. That's sad. But I'm still excited about the new beginning. I guess on that note the blog will evolve come Monday, as will my life. It was good, and is good, but shall come to an end shortly. Rather, another change. Not an end.
I started the day early by tying up a tree that we planted a few years ago to try to get it to grow straighter. Points for the artistic wrap?
Then I cleaned up the RIP 9 and put it on Facebook marketplace. I had a few people comment to me that $500 was perhaps generous for the SS and maybe it was. But the guy was so excited and he said that this was going to allow him to be able to ride with his 13 year old son. And when I checked his Facebook profile one of his pics was his kid in front of his new wallpaper, which was a full wall of The Empire Strikes Back. So instead of haggling with these assholes who a) bail then b) don't show up then c) lowball you, I decided it was better for this guy to have it and for it to have a good home.
He texted me today and told me that he went out to his shed at midnight to look at it. This is how excited he is. That's pretty cool.
Anyway, today is RIP 9 day. I hate this fucking bike.
Listed it then went on a road ride, where I threw down a bit today and managed to hold a 19.8 average up to about 1.5 miles from home. I knew the effort wasn't going to pan out into a 20 average to I soft pedaled home from there. But damn it was a solid effort and here and there, I'm getting a break in the allergy hell and starting to feel pretty good.
Then, you know, afternoon coffee. I love this Sonics mug, as it reminds me of my time in Seattle when an old college roommate and I went across country for like 6 or 8 weeks and we landed in Seattle for 7 days. We went to 2 Sonics games, back in the day when Shawn Kemp played and Eddie Vedder used to have front row seats and the place was e-goddamn-lectric. It was a good stay in Seattle but these 2 games were the thing I remember the most. This was back in the Gary Payton days, and the X-man was there also. I don't remember if he was on that team but this was some vintage stuff,
Then it was time to go outside. We put in 2 hours of grueling work, which reminds me I need to add this to my weekly total. I'm not counting the bridge work, as cutting & screwing wood does not take much effort. But digging does.
So today we needed to address the result of the bridge work you saw yesterday. When you come down that ramp, you build up a lot of steam. It comes into a berm which needs work but we didn't hit that today. We hit the post log-over section to groom the trail, fill in some low stuff, trim a bunch of weeds & branches, and build a return to the main system. This is the lowest trail, where we started. The far side is where we put in a lot of digging which is the groomed turn.
After that we decided to build a direct up & over at the log, which until today was going to be 1-way. This is the same log that Sideshow Bob goes over, just to the left of this This is steeper than it looks (because you climb slightly to it) and puts you right back into the starting area of the park:
After this I was too tired to ride it. Zac did 1 lap and said it was good. Then we all quit and went inside.
And then I constructed burritos.
Then I sold the RIP 9 in town for $600. Total win on that one. But the guy who bought it is just getting into the sport so this is a perfect bike for him. I think this is another bike going to a good place, which is what I would prefer to do here.
Holy shit I only have 3 more days of freedom after today. That's sad. But I'm still excited about the new beginning. I guess on that note the blog will evolve come Monday, as will my life. It was good, and is good, but shall come to an end shortly. Rather, another change. Not an end.
I started the day early by tying up a tree that we planted a few years ago to try to get it to grow straighter. Points for the artistic wrap?
Then I cleaned up the RIP 9 and put it on Facebook marketplace. I had a few people comment to me that $500 was perhaps generous for the SS and maybe it was. But the guy was so excited and he said that this was going to allow him to be able to ride with his 13 year old son. And when I checked his Facebook profile one of his pics was his kid in front of his new wallpaper, which was a full wall of The Empire Strikes Back. So instead of haggling with these assholes who a) bail then b) don't show up then c) lowball you, I decided it was better for this guy to have it and for it to have a good home.
He texted me today and told me that he went out to his shed at midnight to look at it. This is how excited he is. That's pretty cool.
Anyway, today is RIP 9 day. I hate this fucking bike.
Listed it then went on a road ride, where I threw down a bit today and managed to hold a 19.8 average up to about 1.5 miles from home. I knew the effort wasn't going to pan out into a 20 average to I soft pedaled home from there. But damn it was a solid effort and here and there, I'm getting a break in the allergy hell and starting to feel pretty good.
Then, you know, afternoon coffee. I love this Sonics mug, as it reminds me of my time in Seattle when an old college roommate and I went across country for like 6 or 8 weeks and we landed in Seattle for 7 days. We went to 2 Sonics games, back in the day when Shawn Kemp played and Eddie Vedder used to have front row seats and the place was e-goddamn-lectric. It was a good stay in Seattle but these 2 games were the thing I remember the most. This was back in the Gary Payton days, and the X-man was there also. I don't remember if he was on that team but this was some vintage stuff,
Then it was time to go outside. We put in 2 hours of grueling work, which reminds me I need to add this to my weekly total. I'm not counting the bridge work, as cutting & screwing wood does not take much effort. But digging does.
So today we needed to address the result of the bridge work you saw yesterday. When you come down that ramp, you build up a lot of steam. It comes into a berm which needs work but we didn't hit that today. We hit the post log-over section to groom the trail, fill in some low stuff, trim a bunch of weeds & branches, and build a return to the main system. This is the lowest trail, where we started. The far side is where we put in a lot of digging which is the groomed turn.
After that we decided to build a direct up & over at the log, which until today was going to be 1-way. This is the same log that Sideshow Bob goes over, just to the left of this This is steeper than it looks (because you climb slightly to it) and puts you right back into the starting area of the park:
After this I was too tired to ride it. Zac did 1 lap and said it was good. Then we all quit and went inside.
And then I constructed burritos.
Then I sold the RIP 9 in town for $600. Total win on that one. But the guy who bought it is just getting into the sport so this is a perfect bike for him. I think this is another bike going to a good place, which is what I would prefer to do here.
