Story Time With Jason

Bikes V. Cars

2010-02-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

I was reading about Charlie Cunningham yesterday on Wikipedia. He was an early Pioneer of the Mtn. Bike and went on to become a founder of Wilderness Trail Bikes. He worked with the company back in the day when they made a host of boutique items and also made a little over 180 lifetime warranteed bikes himself.

"By age twenty five he realized that automobile use in the USA is largely wasteful, polluting and socially ruinous. His solution: Bicycles"

Socially ruinous? Maybe not. But the way the auto is used in the states is definately silly and a little bit sad even. There are scores of students are UGA who pile into 300+lb boxes to make a trip to class that is less than two/three miles for most and less than 1mi for many.

Lets look at just the financial aspects of the bike vs car in commuting.

My brand new bike costs about $660. It's a hardtail MTB, perfect for four years of any biker hopping curbs, jumping stairs, doing more or less anything urban you can think of. It will easily last four years of college with minor repairs such as $10 brake pads.

Parking at UGA costs an average of about $315.00 per academic (9mth) year. Driving to and from school probably burns a minimum of 5 gallons a week when taking into account starting the car and running various systems like heat and AC. Thats $12.50 a week, minimum for gas, which comes to $50 a month. Cost for gas for the year then comes to $450. Add the 315 for parking and the total cost to commute to school comes out to about $765/yr. This is assuming an average cost for parking spaces at UGA and a cost of gasoline of 2.50/gal, which is really pretty fair if not low at this point in time.

AS YOU FOLKS CAN SEE

I spent less money on my BRAND NEW, BEAUTIFUL Fisher hardtail this year than many people spend driving to and from school every morning. And my bike is money folks. I love it, it brings me great joy when I see it in my living room every morning. Next year I could put this kinda money into my bike again and my lowly Marlin would probably be race-ready.

None of this takes into account the pure joy of cycling, or the supurb and abundant health benefits (I've def. shed some lbs).

Now, I just have to figure out a way to squeeze some of this saved $$$ out of my rents hands to put some Carbon Fiber on my bike, or better yet, save up for a 29er :)

GET ON A BIKE

Riding Stairs

2010-02-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

I've been reading about Niner Bikes a lot lately. The company seems good, the bikes are so sick looking, I really wanna ride one soon. The guy who runs my LBS has a Niner bike and says that the bike is too much bike for him. That's always a great feeling. Not much else is really going on. I finished my first test of the semester this week. Felt like it was really easy. It was a short one too, twenty five questions, so that was nice. I also finished the sequal to Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday, which was a good/typical Steinbeck book. I'm getting pretty damn close to finishing the total works on Steinbeck, and kinda want to make it happen, I love Steinbeck a lot.

As far as the bike goes, my time on the saddle has been great lately. It's all about shifting weight when riding on an kind of rough paths or OR stuff. I've also been trying to learn how to ride down stairs and have been doing some stairs close to the library on north campus just to train. I think I could probably ride down a full flight right now but there are a couple set of stairs in the area I've been working at that are fiveish steps long. I havent fallen once but the full flight is intimidating. Intimidation is one's biggest enemy on the bike, so I wanna make myself a bit more comfortable before I try the full flight. Last night though I was pretty hammered and all I wanted to do was go ride down a flight of stairs. Glad I didn't try to do it, if things had been fine it woulda been fine, but if things went wrong, well, it was three AM.

2010-02-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

Today has been a mixed day. A lot of it was rough but I also spent time with some good friends. Saw Rich, Tim, Barris, my roommates. Drove my new car around. Even then bad days have lots of good to them. As usual, the bike made a rough day a lot better.

Even though I didn't spend that much time on my bike today, the time I spent on it was really great. I've been having trouble figuring out how to take the hits from drops in my knees a bit better to spare my bike, and I think I finally got the hang of it today. I also just did a lot with weight shifting, my saddle is perfect for it and I've been really enjoying the feel of leaning and taking wide sweeping turns. The bike makes the worst day a little bit smoother, not that today was the worst.

Not all's well in the world of the Marlin. I put way too much chain oil on the other day. Don't have a proper brush either. My chain is a little mucked up. I think it's a bit stretched too, it's been falling off a lot. May need to look at getting a new one shortly. What I really need is some quality chain degreaser and a cleaning tool.

I gotta say I can't wait until the weather gets a little bit warmer though. The spring is right around the corner. Longer days are going to be even better than the temp increase. I really can't wait, the winter is nice, but it's gonna be good to feel the warmth of a strong spring sunshine.

I watched a really cool music video today. STP, sour girl. It's on Youtube, worth a look.

I've got my first test this Thursday, in my advertising class that I have with my friend James. I think it's gonna be pretty easy, we don't have a book for the class and just do relatively short readings that are posted on the profs website. Still want to make sure I'm prepared though, may as well ace it if it really is easy right? Even though the class is easy, it's really interesting. Honestly it's more creepy than anything else. The class is about how dominant advertising is throughout all of our lives. It's insane. Really made me notice tons of advertising in my life. You'd have to not get out of bed and get dressed in the morning to avoid advertising in daily life. The average Westerner sees 14,000 Ad impressions A DAY. Millions a year. It's really insane.

Advertising is interesting, but my best class by far is Sociology of Work and Industry. The people in there are so interesting. There's a real fly girl that sits next to me. The prof's the dept. head. And the subj. is FASCINATING. I picked the wrong major, I think. Also it's really taking a lot of the mystery out of the workforce for me. There's a couple total retards in there but even they are fun. There's generally a feeling of community in that class the prof cultivates with his conversational style. He's a really charming South African gentleman who is all about engaging the students. Patient as hell too, he hears some dumb shit.

Off to watch some King of the Hill. Then read a bit of Steinbeck

Everybody Loves Dylan

2010-02-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

Everyone should go listen to "Another Side of Bob Dylan" as soon as possible. If you don't have time for the whole album youtube Spanish Harlem Incident, I Don't Belive You and Ballad In Plain D.

Big Creek

2010-01-31T18:55:00.000-08:00

Big Creek is a pretty nice trail network in Roswell GA. It's easy to get to and popular, bordering on crowded. The trails are well worn and very easy to follow. The park contains trails of various difficulty and a freeride park. All difficulty levels are well marked and straightforward. All in all, this trail is nice, but it lacks flow. Trail surface in some stretches is nothing but non-native rocks. The trail in these areas is bumpy and slow.

The entire trail isn't rock covered, however. The trail travels through a nice wooded area that made me feel a lot farther away from highway 400 then I actually was. The trail winds throughout the wooded area and is an enjoyable ride. Overall, I liked the trail and would definately ride it again. It has a little bit more to offer in the way of nature watching and seculsion than the central park MTB trail. It's got nothing on blankets creek though.

One of the best things about my day on this trail was the wildlife. I got to Big Creek about 3:45 and left around dusk. During the last ten to fifteen minutes of my ride I ran into a group of deer, counting eleven. They were so close and didn't spook, and it was a pretty sight.

Bike News

2010-01-31T16:02:00.000-08:00

Not too much going on lately when it comes to biking about in Athens. Me and the Marlin have been spending plenty of time together, especially on the road, commuting to and from school as always and riding for fun almost daily as well. Not much time hitting the mtn trails since I've had my first month at school, largely because my car wasn't in shape to go to some of the trails a bit further from town. Even such, I've discovered some new areas in Athens and have had a good time putting in road miles.

What has really been news lately on my end has been my recent discovery of the work of John Steinbeck. Beautiful tales about aching poverty that occurs in the fertile and gorgeous california countryside.

"Then I'll be around in the dark. Ill be ever'where - wherever you look. Wherever theres a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there... I'll be in the ways guys yell when they 're mad an' - I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. An' when out folk eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build - why, I'll be there."
-Tom Joad

I got really excited about The Grapes of Wrath as I worked through it. It's a 600+ page book, just like Steinbeck's East of Eden. The book wasn't quite as good as EoE, but the dialogue that was written in dialect of the time was rich and beautiful.

Before reading Grapes, I read Steinbeck's Cannery Row. This short novel tells the story of a bayside community in Monterey. It's really beautiful, and follows poignant characters. I would recommened it to anyone, especially because it's so short, perfect for a flight or a road trip. Right now I'm reading the sequel to Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday. Just can't get enough of John Steinbeck and the classics.

I also picked up some Theoreau at the library, and plan on reading A Week On the Concord and Merrimack Rivers this week. Walden should be after that. Picking up these books from the library has made me think back on a point from a lecture in sociology. Despite efforts to make reading more and more digital, it seems that many people have accepted the book as the perfect, terminal level of technology for it's purpose. It's cheap, simple, easy to use and durable. Unless you're a heavy traveler or a gadget fan, you probably don't have a comparably expensive, fragile e-reading device. There's just nothing like the feeling of a good old fashioned book.

Central Park

2009-12-28T14:59:00.000-08:00

Today I went back to the Central park MTB trails. These trails are more than decent, with about 3ish miles of nice singletrack that flows well and goes through some nice woods. The moderate portions are moderate, with some technical obstacles and some tough climbs. There are some neat sections with rock and root obstacles before the approaches of some pretty short steep climbs. It's also a pretty spot, and it doesn't get too crowded. I really can't believe there's such a legit singletrack trail in FoCo. Thanks RAMBO.

I took my new Camelbak out, it's great. Very very light. Really don't even notice it, even with 2 liters of water, a field pump and some hex keys.

Also tried out my new bontrager gloves again today. These things are great, the padding is perfect, and it has really reduced my fatigue in general. My hands were always the first thing to start bothering me when I ride, especially on tight bumpy singletrack.

Right by the trail in many areas of the park are disc golf "holes". What a silly thing to do. Anything to get you outside having fun is good by me, but really guys? There's beautiful singletrack two feet away. Get on your bikes already.

2009-12-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

Its been a good few days for cycling.

First things first, I discovered a new trail in Forsyth that i enjoyed. The trail is in Central park on Keith Bridge, close to FCHS. It's got some nice tight singletrack, including nice wooded portions. It's a little short, but honestly having any legal open MTB trails in FOCO is a step in the right direction. Word from RAMBO (Local trail builders) is that another trail is under construction. Awesome news. Even such, I spend hours the other day researching area trails, and found some exciting stuff.

The Chicopee woods continue to get talked up on MTBR forums. Also, there was an olympic cross country trail in Elijay for the 1996 games in ATL, it's also been used by horses and it could be gone at this point but boy do I want to see that. Even if I never end up able to see that trail, there's evidently 15+ miles of trail at Ft Yargo, so things just keep looking up at this point when it comes to the local stuff. Honestly thats a drop in the bucket from what I found, but enough for now.

2nd, my friend Abbey's dad got his first 'real' bike! He's in his early 60's and the man is in great shape, so hopefully his new Specialized will give him the fever. He got a nice, aggressive hybrid. He was also looking at a used Cannondale with some interesting equipment on it, and he evidently has a Raleigh in bad shape that wasn't in running condition. It was given to him by a friend, and I've been given some hits from Abbey that it may be rolling my way in the new year.

3rd: Santa brought me lots of fun things for my bike. As soon as I have the chance (hope tomorrow, but more than likely Sunday) I'll be posting reviews about the new gear and how it seems to work. I'm not making any major component changes to my bike this December. Nonetheless, I have new gloves (Fingerless from Pearl Izumi and full-finger from Bontrager). Also got a nice pair of SPD Compatible Pearl Izumi cycling shoes. They should fit quite well with some lightweight shimano cleats and pedals when I decide its time to put my Wellgo pedals on my Zebrano hybrid. I also got my hands on a CamelBak XLP and I can already tell you, this pack is amazing. Put my new CrankBros field pump, two sets of hex keys and two liters of water into this bad boy. It's a beautiful hydration system.

To top all of these great new toys out, I got Bicycling Magazines Complete Bike repair book as well as The Cyclist's Training Bible.

A quick quote from the Bible: "Cycling is a life long sport to be enjoyed for what it brings to your life - superb fitness, excellent health, enjoyable times, and good friends. It is not an opponent to be subdues and conquered"

That book is going to be a great help as I finish up my first full season of avid cycling this may and get ready to embark on my first few MTB races.

Happy Trails and Merry Christmas

Bike Time WIth Jay

2009-12-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

You can praise or blame my buddy Zach for the resurgence of this blog. He took his passionate experiment (herding goats in a friends yard while living in a dorm) to the web. It helped him to document some of the things he learned, mistakes he made, etc. Check him out, his passion runs deep about goats and the outdoors in general: www.zachabides.blogspot.com

Zach's inspiration, combined with the urging of some close friends and the amazing Keith Bontrager Diaries will be the fuel for this bike blogs soul.

This is by no means a pro's blog, nor an industry insiders'. It's an enthusiasts, at his most enthusiastic. If you want the pro blogs, you know where to go. If not, start here: http://autobus.cyclingnews.com

Whether or not you want to read pro blogs, If you only check out one link today it should be this one from KB: http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/riders/2005/diaries/keith

I hope this blog will serve the same purpose in my journey as it has in Zach's. Also, it should serve to save some of my friends ears from constant yammering about the advantages of 29 in wheels, trail descriptions, new bike models/tech, etc. The yammering will go to the web, I hope it informs