The (unofficial) Tour de Fat

Dab nabbit foiled again!
Was rolling a really solid pace this morning, mainly because I have a jammed packed day. Then I heard a dreaded sound i havent heard in a long long time. If your long time mtber and go back to the days of square taper you know what sound. I used to carry an full size 8mm on the regular just for this purpose. The dread crankbolt decided today was a perfect day. I am stuck as you dont want to ride out a loose squaretaper. So I detoured to trestle as this is like Times Square for Stephens.
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20 minutes later not a soul, so hand and rock tighten down 4 more times till the lot. Hit up first dude just finishing and borrowed his multi tool 8mm. Then roll in the direction to the van. Pass a group of 3 and go about 1/2 mile and the creak is back. Wait for the 3 and go through same process with a multi tool 8. Thanks @jasonhunter. This is why i carried a full 8mm just cant get leverage to torque. It lasts till top of serpentine. Exit straight out of the power lines to the road and called it a day.

I was gonna hit Creek tomorrow and that may still happen or not. Will have to wait and see what teen rave brings tonight. Daughters 17th BD party. Wish me luck!

I had 75 pics of this and haven't a clue how it happened or what it is, totally Jason Paul Pollock
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Again, the mornin's come
Again, he's on the run
A sunbeam's shinin' through his hair
Fear not to have a care
Well, pick up your gear and gypsy roll on
Roll on✌
 
Another 8 mile crank blunder amongst the down pours.
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Idk I put down 40NM thinking this should do the trick. Sans locktite and this time not one but both became lose. I dont recall having this much of an issue ever before. Maybe switching back to cheap shimano from the SKF are just enough of a difference. Normally once you crank down to 40NM you need a puller to drop the crank arm. It also could be these blackburns have run their course. I will be stopping at hardware on way home to grab some locktite and an 8mm. Not gonna lie feel dumb for not having an 8mm again.

Party last night was soso much more mellow then previous year. The 16 year olds have matured 😉 into responsible 17 year olds. Great group of kids for sure. Got Lauras car registered with ease to my surprise yesterday. About 15 minutes and out the door with plates. Also packed up the EG civic hatch yesterday. I never saw such madness for one car. Patty had put that car on FB marketplace, within 15 minutes 100s of messages. I told the guy who bought it, first one by the way, go play lotto because thats basically what he did with this car. Everyone demanding i sell them the car. Guy actually said he would give $500 over anybodys price. I already took deposits from guy number one before he even came to see it. So @shrpshtr325 yes there's people who would fight over this car. I now think we sold it for less then what we may have gotten but I am thankful I'm one car down.
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The world on you depends, our life will never end✌
 
I'm very surprised to hear that, but glad you managed to sell it so smoothly
 
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Another 8 mile crank blunder amongst the down pours.
View attachment 136029
Idk I put down 40NM thinking this should do the trick. Sans locktite and this time not one but both became lose. I dont recall having this much of an issue ever before. Maybe switching back to cheap shimano from the SKF are just enough of a difference. Normally once you crank down to 40NM you need a puller to drop the crank arm. It also could be these blackburns have run their course. I will be stopping at hardware on way home to grab some locktite and an 8mm. Not gonna lie feel dumb for not having an 8mm again.

Party last night was soso much more mellow then previous year. The 16 year olds have matured 😉 into responsible 17 year olds. Great group of kids for sure. Got Lauras car registered with ease to my surprise yesterday. About 15 minutes and out the door with plates. Also packed up the EG civic hatch yesterday. I never saw such madness for one car. Patty had put that car on FB marketplace, within 15 minutes 100s of messages. I told the guy who bought it, first one by the way, go play lotto because thats basically what he did with this car. Everyone demanding i sell them the car. Guy actually said he would give $500 over anybodys price. I already took deposits from guy number one before he even came to see it. So @shrpshtr325 yes there's people who would fight over this car. I now think we sold it for less then what we may have gotten but I am thankful I'm one car down.
View attachment 136031
The world on you depends, our life will never end✌

so is your son getting another car? Staying with Honda?
 
So you wanna be a rockstar
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Max always looks so happy when rides with me. I took it easy on him since he has been in lockdown hiding for past few weeks. I give him credit he didn't cus me out or complain, just kept it steady and thats all I ask. He says he can put a few of these mornings together so we will get him back up to speed.

Cranks held up with the help of some locktite today but I ended up ordering some bling yesterday anyway. What i thought was a loose driveline crank was in fact not a loose bolt but just slop from a worn out crank. Time to retire these middleburns, problem today is not many boutique crank arm company's for square taper. Especially a direct chainring variety. So the choice was easy, White Industries eno cranks along with their chainring. This misfit frame has proven over and over again its not slowing down. So i am gonna keep giving it the love back. Slowly I will continue with more upgrades as I move along.

One Day at a Time✌
 
yesterday was a wash out obviously. I did get dressed and open the garage door but I wasn't feeling it.
The Day After
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Today was my typical low impact loop. I expected to encounter much carnage but to my surprise at least on this loop very little. Kept the beat to moe. on my ride. Lucky for ollie the water is back up to spring levels so she was able to refresh mid ride.
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She tree 2 cubs no bigger then her the other day with Max with mama peeking out of the growth on her hind legs. Well same spot same results today. Both times I was too slow to get the pic as those little suckers fly up and down the trees. I forgot my gloves and couldn't be a worst day. These grips I got just plain suck. I like gloveless riding so I think i will upgrade to some Northshore grips. Seem they have a good reviews for the gloveless crowd. Just to be clear those grips i got are the older ergon paddle thingys not the new sq lab 611s on the ripmo. Those I really like also but different type of bike requires proper setup. I wont be riding ripmo gloveless.

It was a great day on a bike today.
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What a day for a daydream
What a day for a daydreamin' boy
And I'm lost in a daydream
Dreamin' 'bout my bundle of joy✌
 
yesterday was a wash out obviously. I did get dressed and open the garage door but I wasn't feeling it.
The Day After
View attachment 136286
Today was my typical low impact loop. I expected to encounter much carnage but to my surprise at least on this loop very little. Kept the beat to moe. on my ride. Lucky for ollie the water is back up to spring levels so she was able to refresh mid ride.
View attachment 136287
She tree 2 cubs no bigger then her the other day with Max with mama peeking out of the growth on her hind legs. Well same spot same results today. Both times I was too slow to get the pic as those little suckers fly up and down the trees. I forgot my gloves and couldn't be a worst day. These grips I got just plain suck. I like gloveless riding so I think i will upgrade to some Northshore grips. Seem they have a good reviews for the gloveless crowd. Just to be clear those grips i got are the older ergon paddle thingys not the new sq lab 611s on the ripmo. Those I really like also but different type of bike requires proper setup. I wont be riding ripmo gloveless.

It was a great day on a bike today.
View attachment 136288
What a day for a daydream
What a day for a daydreamin' boy
And I'm lost in a daydream
Dreamin' 'bout my bundle of joy✌
What was your loop, I was thinking of going there tomorrow. id like a non carnage ride.
 
Yes lizard skins northshores are supposed to be the best for gloveless use since its sloppy up in those parts and my sweaty hands should do just fine.
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Beats today were some railroad earth. I again did the dumbkoff and forgot the helmet. Took it out yesterday for a sunbathe to kill the smell, proceeded by placing it in garage where I left it this morning. Kept it mellow stayed low for 8 mile jaunt. I get why those Harley dudes fight the helmet laws. Something freeing without a helmet, but i have enough smarts to know better. Stephens can be judge by middle maze and trestle for conditions and they both were pretty solid today. This time of year everything is hardpacked up around here.

On other news my daughter passed her driving test and hasn't been seen since. Actually we didn't see much of her before. She holes up in her bedroom for weeks at a time. If I put a bath fridge and microwave in her room its pretty possible we wouldn't noticed we had a daughter, just strange people coming and going from that room. We are pretty proud of her as she ace that parallel parking like a seasoned pro. We just dropped off her car to have the clearcoat damage areas wrapped.

Waiting for clutch to be dropped in on the saturn so the boy can stop whining about not having a car. Ordered a fender for it to as he left it neutral and no parking brake as it rolled into our maple tree. Lucky we planted that tree otherwise it would have ended up in neighbors back deck eventually. Saturn's are plastic so they don't bend they just explode. Eventually we will sell this car to find him a truck. I want him to get something small like a ranger but he keeps sending me jacked full sizes. Kid can dream I guess.
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I want to sing my own song that's all
Cried the bird and flew into a wall
There must be some way he cried
And his desperation echoed down the hall✌
 
Good stuff, including conditions update.

Not sure how much free-er you can get on the MTB than:
- no helmet,
- single speed,
- flat pedals,
- no hydration pack,
- minimal tools and no pump,
- tubeless,
- less body weight.
 
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