took a quick trail ride today.

[JV3]

in this day and age of genetic engineering, cloning, etc. why oh why does bourbon have the same, if not more, calories than a chocolate bar?! anyway, i had a free, few hours earlier today so i took advantage of it to get some exercise before i pile on the calories.

it's been awhile since i rode a mountain bike and only recently did i get back into it - 16+ yrs ago in fact. i've forgotten how dangerous it can be. aside from my "top speed runs" on the highway when i was younger and dumber (!!!), trail riding is the most dangerous thing i've ever done. this is coming from someone who reloads handgun & rifle ammo while drinking beer & watching tv

there are some down hill sections where i was reaching 40 mph, dodging baseball-sized rocks. i don't know how these pro riders do it. it's downright nuts in my opinion. i came from driving my car on tracks and when you hit the brakes, aside from a few exceptions, it tends to slow down. trail riding is completely different, you hit the brakes and your rear wheel locks up but you barely slow down! worse, now the rear is starting to swing around at speed

geez, i don't want to be a rally driver. i just want to get some exercise. don't worry, i've included in my living will that in my death, all my esee knives will be donated to fellow rat pack members using random numbers

as usual, my esee-4 is with me. it's with me everywhere i go....caine's patch, "you've never lived 'til you've almost died. for those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected will never know!"...how fitting. every war-related holiday, i try to get away from everyone and be by myself for a few hours at least to look back, reflect and say thanks to those who served.

the trail just keeps on going as far as i can see.

...more.

 

[JV3]

this is my "oh ****, why the **** did i leave my junglas at home!?" look. for the ladies, the wind exaggerated it but if you look very closely i'm building up a six-pack abs from all the bourbon i've been drinking...if you're interested in the man meat, im me. lol.

not sure what paw print this is but it's a good 3" wide. there were several deer prints as well but they didn't turn out well in the pics.

while um...watering the lawn...i realized there's these tiny things started moving all around me. turns out there were dozens of these tiny frogs all around me...i mean tiny! each one was no longer than a dime.

everyone were jumping around like crazy, trying to get away from me except this one. he probably thought he was well camouflaged so he stayed put. it's amazing how many creatures i've come across by just slowing down and paying more attention to my environment.

i've always been surrounded by computers all my life and i make my living writing software...but the more i hike and generally spend time outdoors the more i'm loving it. who knows, maybe one day i'll just drop everything and take on the amish lifestyle. sometimes having less is a luxury in and of itself...only problem is how i'm going to keep track of the latest esee knives? will dealers be willing to ship a knife to a latitude and longitude coordinates and take firewood as payment?

 

[styx]

Great pics. And I hear ya about the computer lifestyle and thinking about dropping everything

 

[cut it out]

thats a sick bike!

 

[1gailt]

Looks like you had a great day.Always good to get outside,and enjoy the outdoors.

 

[EricFallkniven]

Ha, nice! Thanks for posting! Good to see a fellow mountain biker!
Looks like your knife had a better time than mine...(see: "Izula in a campfire" just started the thread..)

 

[eloreno]

Excellent post as always, I often think of getting off the grid as well...

 

[333rm]

Looks like you had a great ride brother! I can't wait to get out on mine for a good asventure.

 

[stjones]

Great post dude!!!
Looks like a fun ride in some beautiful country!!!

 

[Birdkiller]

Nice another biker... What kind or fork you running? Nice pics btw.

 

[Wandering_About]

Nice bike.

Now quit being a sissy and hit some real singletrack!!

 

[JV3]

thanks, guys. glad you like the pics. the heebie jeebies trail is actually just nearby and some weird noises were coming from it the whole time.

Great pics. And I hear ya about the computer lifestyle and thinking about dropping everything

Excellent post as always, I often think of getting off the grid as well...

i forgot about booze too. i'm going to have to learn how to make moonshine or something before i disconnect from the matrix.

Nice another biker... What kind or fork you running? Nice pics btw.

it's a stock '10 4300 - it came with the spinner 300 fork. not sure if i'll upgrade it since i run it locked most of the time anyway. bike parts are crazy over-priced! there's no way these $500+ fox forks are more advanced than $250 double adjustable shocks for cars

Nice bike.

Now quit being a sissy and hit some real singletrack!!

i like my internal organs where they are, thank you very much! haha. that's the last time i'm riding with a street helmet. i'm buying a full face one this tuesday when stores open. mtn bikers are nuts! when i crash i hope i can reach for my esee-4 and slash my throat and die quickly

 

[EricFallkniven]

i like my internal organs where they are, thank you very much! haha. that's the last time i'm riding with a street helmet. i'm buying a full face one this tuesday when stores open. mtn bikers are nuts! when i crash i hope i can reach for my esee-4 and slash my throat and die quickly [/QUOTE]

Ha, maybe you should do more cross country type riding like me. It's still fun, it's a good work out, and you'll live longer

 

[TAGannon]

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jake Bauer]

Where's that new front suspension I bought you?

I share a similar story with you. I just got back into mountain biking this summer after probably 10 years. It's dangerous but a freakin lot of fun. Was that trail all pretty straight or did it have some nice hairpin turns and 12 foot drop offs back in the woods? Thats the real fun stuff

 

[JV3]

Where's that new front suspension I bought you?

I share a similar story with you. I just got back into mountain biking this summer after probably 10 years. It's dangerous but a freakin lot of fun. Was that trail all pretty straight or did it have some nice hairpin turns and 12 foot drop offs back in the woods? Thats the real fun stuff

the start of the heebie jeebies trail hike is there so i started my ride there. i think my bike's gearing only goes from fast to organ donor fast! after one or two near face plants i decided my eotech money is now going towards a full face helmet and other padding

 

[PayetteRucker]

Reaction, instinct, control... unfortunately, these are three things that are superior to all else in everything from survival to recreation and unfortunately are dismissed by the masses. My face was rearranged at the age of 15 by a bike crash in a regional mountain bike race. The stear tube of my fork failed on a 25+ mph steep downhill and I bit the dust facefirst. Since then, "serial killer" and "so easy a caveman can do it" have been my assigned nicknames.

Note the position of the handle bar and stem as I'm about to collide with the singletrack headfirst, and the condition of my chain as the rear deuriller is swung forward due to the drastic force of me landing front-wheel first.
I don't regret it-there's something instinctive about mountain biking, being able to hold pace with animals (I have ridden side by side with herds of whitetail deer in the Kettle Moraine of Wisconsin and pelicans along the Emerald Coast of Florida) that keeps you in touch with your more animalistic side-that of instinct, reaction and control... that is inexplicable, but totally worth persuing. My dad being a designer that participated in cross country mountain biking's height (the mid 90's before lawsuits overcame practicality and performance) I'm particular to GT's triple triangle frame geometry, but knowing how your bike reacts in particular situations is far more important than the paper statistics of your gear. That goes for everything, including knives.

 

[Jean J. Lautréamont]

Reaction, instinct, control... unfortunately, these are three things that are superior to all else in everything from survival to recreation and unfortunately are dismissed by the masses. My face was rearranged at the age of 15 by a bike crash in a regional mountain bike race. The stear tube of my fork failed on a 25+ mph steep downhill and I bit the dust facefirst. Since then, "serial killer" and "so easy a caveman can do it" have been my assigned nicknames.

Note the position of the handle bar and stem as I'm about to collide with the singletrack headfirst, and the condition of my chain as the rear deuriller is swung forward due to the drastic force of me landing front-wheel first.
I don't regret it-there's something instinctive about mountain biking, being able to hold pace with animals (I have ridden side by side with herds of whitetail deer in the Kettle Moraine of Wisconsin and pelicans along the Emerald Coast of Florida) that keeps you in touch with your more animalistic side-that of instinct, reaction and control... that is inexplicable, but totally worth persuing. My dad being a designer that participated in cross country mountain biking's height (the mid 90's before lawsuits overcame practicality and performance) I'm particular to GT's triple triangle frame geometry, but knowing how your bike reacts in particular situations is far more important than the paper statistics of your gear. That goes for everything, including knives.

This post got me a little wet below the eyes
good post PR, im not sure if its complete bullshiet but im with ya.

 

[JV3]

Reaction, instinct, control... unfortunately, these are three things that are superior to all else in everything from survival to recreation and unfortunately are dismissed by the masses. My face was rearranged at the age of 15 by a bike crash in a regional mountain bike race. The stear tube of my fork failed on a 25+ mph steep downhill and I bit the dust facefirst. Since then, "serial killer" and "so easy a caveman can do it" have been my assigned nicknames.

Note the position of the handle bar and stem as I'm about to collide with the singletrack headfirst, and the condition of my chain as the rear deuriller is swung forward due to the drastic force of me landing front-wheel first.
I don't regret it-there's something instinctive about mountain biking, being able to hold pace with animals (I have ridden side by side with herds of whitetail deer in the Kettle Moraine of Wisconsin and pelicans along the Emerald Coast of Florida) that keeps you in touch with your more animalistic side-that of instinct, reaction and control... that is inexplicable, but totally worth persuing. My dad being a designer that participated in cross country mountain biking's height (the mid 90's before lawsuits overcame practicality and performance) I'm particular to GT's triple triangle frame geometry, but knowing how your bike reacts in particular situations is far more important than the paper statistics of your gear. That goes for everything, including knives.

man, that's an old skool bike. brings back memories! i tried looking for a fixed fork one and every bike shop i went to gave me that surprised look. haha. how often does that happen back then with the fixed fork era? i'm backing down my fork 1-2 clicks from full stiff then to absorb some of the stress. no pics of your mangled, bloody face?

i want to show it to my nephew. he'll wear his helmet when he's with us and see us wearing one but when he rides solo he tends not to.

 

[PayetteRucker]

Sent the email request to mom for the picture. The frame is a GT Xizang, it was built to spec from the ground up and I chose a rigid fork. It's not a particularly old bike, but definately pre-carbon fiber era. It's titanium. The fork weighs 1.8 pounds versus the 4-5 pounds most cross country forks weigh nowadays. It allows the front end to float above alot of the stuff suspension forks have to plow through. I abused that fork for a few years before it finally snapped, I hit an errosion resistance log funny on the way down, followed by a 2-3 foot drop where I landed front wheel first (oops). As long as the steer tube fits your bike you can pick up decent rigid forks on ebay-Sybex, GT 3D and Balogna Lite... you'll probably need a threaded stem though. If you can't find one buy an old school 80mm Rock Shox Mag 21, Quadra 21 or Judy SL-they run pretty cheap and weigh about 3 pounds-pre lawsuit era, where everybody got so scared of being sued due to fork failure that they beefed them up.