Dubois, WY 1981

Dubois,WY...I have a good story about that place in regards to my Mexico - Canada tour in 1981. 

A rangy cowboy with a broken nose and his buddy walk into a bar where a couple of stink'n cyclo tourists in funny pants are drinking beer. We start talking, swapping tales of adventure (the cowboy got his nose broke because his horse, a barely broke mustang, ran him under a low hanging tree branch). My cycling buddy, Bruce, a bit inebriated, bragged that he could ride anything because he ridden his bicycle from New Mexico by gawd! 

After a few more rounds we go out back behind the bar where the horses are tied up and there's the semi-broke mustang! Bruce gets up on the saddle and the horse goes wild, bucking like a saddle bronc! The cinch strap breaks and off goes Bruce and the saddle ends up on the horse's belly. The cowboy with the broken nose fetches his horse while Bruce lays flat on the ground, the air knocked out him, staring up at the twilight sky. He eventually gets back up, the horse is tied back up, and we go back into the bar for a few more beers.

We close down the bar and another guy meet says we can camp in his backyard and gives me verbal directions. I finally get Bruce out of the bar, he is hurting and very drunk, and is wondering where we are and where was the rest of our crew. I informed him they left, they went to a campground up the road towards the Tetons, but I assured him we had a place to stay. 

I actually found the guy's house at 2:00 AM and he answered the door. He was surprised, his wife was pissed, but he kept his word and let us sleep in his backyard. In the morning we used his bathroom, brushed our teeth and got on our bicycles, but as we were leaving, our host came out and offered us some frozen moose steaks. We took the steaks and headed up Togwatee Pass to catch the rest of our group. 

We finally caught the rest of our crew at the Tetons (I have a great photo of Bruce climbing the pass). At the general store at the national park all we could find to eat was cream of mushroom soup...but we had the moose steaks. We ate pretty good that night.

Dubois was one of the best towns of the tour.

The Super Grand Prix

Found this catalog online yesterday and all sorts memories came back. 

In 1978 I really wanted to get back into bicycling. Before getting my driver's license I rode my bicycle all over town and really enjoyed it. Getting my Jeep dampened my interest for a couple of years, but when gasoline was creeping up to $1.00/gallon I went to my local bicycle shop (LBS), The Bicycle Shop. 

Hal, owner of The Bicycle Shop, was a Raleigh dealer and he gave me one of the new catalogs to look over. He also gave me a few old cycling magazine which I poured over learning about frames, sew-ups and riding techniques, etc. It was one those magazine's where I read "...the frame is the heart and soul of the bicycle..." It also spoke about the importance of wheels...

Hal was really pushing and expecting me to order a Grand Prix since it was the most popular bike in the Raleigh line. About a week later I went back and ordered a [green] Super Grand Prix (pg 8) because it was the best bike I could afford, AND it was the first in the line-up which had aluminum wheels, plus the bar-end shifters were cool (I wanted a Competition G.S., but could not afford one). I asked Hal not to install the 'suicide' brake levers because I thought they looked cheesy and cheap, and real racing bikes didn't have them.

1978 Raleigh Super Grand Prix

I was 17-years old, and this was my first post-driver's license bike and it was the one that allowed me to go on and enjoy big rides. I rode the Inner Loop for the first time on it, plus did several centuries.Also introduced me to toeclips and presta valves.

I took my Super Grand Prix with me to Idaho in the summer of 1980 where I worked for the USFS. The bike rode on a bike rack on the front bumper of my CJ-5. When I got  to the cabin, 30 miles north of Weiser, ID up a remote dirt road, I learned that a timber-cruising crew would be based there as well for a few weeks. These guys were "old" in my mind. They were all 22 or older and one of the guys was a cyclist. He had a purple Gitane with Vitus(?) tubing and Campy(?). It was nicer than my Raleigh. 

One day we drove out to the pavement and rode to the other ranger station in our district at a place called Brownlee. Brownlee was on rim of the Idaho side of Hell's Canyon. We kept seeing fully loaded cyclists on this road and they looked hot and tired climbing out of Hell's Canyon. At the ranger station we hung out with other timber-cruisers that my riding partner knew, had some water, then reversed our route and headed back to our start point some 35 miles down the road.

In Cambridge, ID all the touring cyclists were camped in a park under the town's water tower, so I stopped to talk to them (my riding partner didn't want to stop for some reason, but reluctantly did). I talked to a guy and he told me they were a Bikecentennial group on the TransAmerica Trail and had started about a week before on the Pacific coast in Oregon and were headed to Virginia. That little conversation solidified everything...I knew what I was going to do the next summer (1981). 

I started my 1981 Mexico to Canada trip on the Super Grand Prix. I rode it from Palomas, Mexico to Albuquerque where I met my Bikecentennial group; GPO 619 (Great Parks Odyssey departure date 06/19/1981). While in Albuquerque, we were doing a shakedown ride and my bike got stolen at the downtown Convention Center where I had it locked up with two other of our bikes (also lost a Raleigh Professional, and a custom Sam Braxton (amazingly it was recovered by a pair of APD officers that same afternoon). 

My ride might have ended there, but fortunately I had a compassionate father who knew this was a dream and goal of mine to do. He sent me some money (about $500) and I bought my Univega (which I still have) to continue and complete my tour. 

Jupiter

Last night I was up late and happened to look out the window and saw a planet. I hardly ever look at the night sky here, because 1.) I live is a city with lots lights. 2.) I spend more time indoors 3.) it is usually cloudy. Anyway I went to the first bedroom where I have a Celestron reflecting telescope and checked it out. Turned out to be Jupiter with its bands of clouds and Galilean moons all in a row. Very cool!

Unfortunately I couldn't get my Canon SD1200 to take decent picture of what I was seeing through the eyepiece and this is the one of the "better" shots. Jupiter is over exposed, but the moons show up nicely. You get the general idea.

I miss the dry desert air! Great for viewing the sky...

Hooray Silver City

Video made to promote the downtown merchants of my little hometown. I am really liking this vid. Enjoy!

Erythrodiplax berenice

Yesterday I did one the most enjoyable bikes rides in a while. I rode with a friend who is the science teacher at another international school in Barcelona, VE. We were both working in the Gallup, NM area at the same time, but never crossed paths that I can recall. 

Anyway, as science teachers, we had a lot to talk about and share when riding. I showed him some trails he wasn't familiar with. We stopped at several places along the ride including at a point overlooking the sea and watched wave phenomenon from above (100 meters up) and related it to our classroom lessons.

The highlight of the ride was near the end when encountered thousands of dragonflies. I've been riding the El Morro area for about 10 years and had never witnessed an emergence of dragonflies. I was curious about them. I kept thinking about a water source where the nymphs would live. There were no freshwater sources in the area, so my only conclusion was the sea. These must be marine dragonflies, so that's what I Googled ("marine dragonfly") and I came up with Erythrodiplax berenice. Good match! The specimens flying around yesterday looked very much like the gold and black variety shown in the the photo and link. Very cool!

Mountain biking gives me the opportunity to get to places to observe nature when I probably wouldn't have gone otherwise. I enjoy the challenge of singletrack climbs and descents, and the social aspect of it is a bonus.

Surreal Ride

Had a very surreal moment on the bike today...short section of single track, a tiny lizard runs for its life getting out of the way of my front wheel, seconds later a small bird zooms in low from behind and passes diagonally in front of my wheel about pedal high, then insects were buzzing leaving visible curvy streaks in their wake. Went back a few minutes later in the opposite direction and their was a iridescent green lizard in the middle of the trail. 

This is why I like mountain biking...you never know what you're going to see or experience.

Gamera: the flying turtle

I like things that fly; birds, planes, helicopters, and rockets. I also like bicycles and human powered vehicles. The students at the University of Maryland made a human powered helicopter that actually got off the ground. Congratulations to them! I think this is a really cool project. Even though flight is theoretically impossible with a human powered helicopter, the Gamera did get off the ground for a few seconds.

When watching the students work on this, via their live stream video, I kept thinking of two things; bumble bees, and JFK's famous "We do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard" speech at Rice University.

They'll be attempting to win the Sikorsky Prize in the fall. 

A Trip to the Scheduled Launch STS-133

My sister has a friend who works in External Affairs at the Johnson Space Center who was able to get us three VIP passes to the scheduled launch of STS-133, the space shuttle Discovery. We were to watch from Banana Creek, some 3 1/2 miles from launch pad 39A. The only way to be any closer is if you were part of a rescue team sitting in an APC a half mile from the launch pad.

Despite the shuttle still sitting on launch pad 39A as I type, it was still a great trip.

It was Air Force Week at Cocoa Beach so we went to the airshow. Saw several demonstrations including a F-15E (the baddest F-15 there is).  

And a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet. Both jets were badass, but the F/A-18 was super bad.

On Halloween night we went to a party hosted by Michael Coats, director of the Johnson Space Center.


There I got to meet a few astronauts including Mike Good (STS-125, the last Hubble repair mission, and STS-132).

Plus I got to visit with Nicko McBrain, drummer for the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He was funny.

On to the KSC we drove around the VAB (vehicle assembly building) and had a photo op outside. This pic was taken from inside the bus, hence the glare. I liked this angle better than the photo op they gave us. Last time I was there (1978) my brother and I got to go inside the building, but that was during the transition between the Saturn rockets and the space shuttle system.

Mobile launch pad for the space shuttle. (Endeavor will use this one on its last launch next spring.)

Launch pad 39A and there sits STS-133. (taken through the bus's window)
 

This pic was taken from the bus as we drove around launch complex 39A.

The orbiter is hidden away behind that gray room-like thing. It is swung away prior to fueling and launch.



My sister and brother-in-law

And as far as I know, STS-133 still sits on the launch pad having missed its launch window, plus finding a crack in its ET (external fuel tank). Launch has been rescheduled for November 30.

My Bamboo Skewer Box Kite

I haven't built anything creative in quite a while. I used to be famous at my school for my creations. I've built all sorts of stuff from everyday, low-cost materials. Probably the most sophisticated thing I've built is my wind tunnel which really works and is very precise.

Wednesday at school we are having our "Spring Fling" and I am on the kite making team, so I worked with the elementary students on making simple kites.

Back in kite mode got me thinking...

Box kites: Then...I remember my brother having a box kite and I always thought it was cool. I first tried to build one from scratch about 30 years ago, but it didn't work out too well.

Now...On the Fausto Trail on El Morro is a frame to an old box kite that somehow ended up there. Who knows how long its been there, but each time I ride past it, I look at it noting its construction. It is very strong for being around as long as it has, so I've tried to duplicate the design using bamboo skewers used for kabobs.

The prototype...
Yesterday I built a box kite from drinking straws just to see if I could. I built it in about 45 minutes and it worked okay until the drinking straws started bending from the gusts of wind. I decided I could use the same dimensions and build one out of sturdier bamboo skewers. Here's how I did it:

1. I cut off the pointy ends of 12 skewers so each stick is 26 cm.

2. To make the long sticks, I overlapped them about 2 cm for a length of about 50 cm. They were glued and lashed together with cotton string.

3. The cross pieces are also 26 cm, so they cross at 13 cm. I made a little notch at 13 cm then glued and lashed them together with the cotton string, and lathered on more white glue.

4. The long sticks were notched at 6.5 cm from each end and the crossed pieces were glued onto the long pieces. The glue was allow to dry, then reinforced with a paper/white glue gussets.

5. The cross pieces make little triangle with legs each 13 cm long. The string which wraps around the frame for stiffness and strength creates a hypotenuse of 18.5 cm on each side. The perimeter around the frame is about 74 cm. The string should be cut at 1 m in length so you can tie it off.

6. The perimeter coincidentally was the was right sized for the little grocery bag I was using without having to cut and retape together. The width of the plastic is 13 cm. I just slipped the plastic over the frame for a snug fit. I used stick glue to glue the plastic on to the frame and string guys. I just eyeballed the width and it seemed right.

7. The bridal is about 75 cm in length tied to two corners; one top, one bottom.

Total weight is probably about 25 grams. I need to confirm that tomorrow.

Anyway...it flys!

Road Tripping

Been road tripping in New Mexico. I wanted to go see friends in Arizona, but always get waylaid here. Here are some highlights.

Ranch art on the Continental Divide, near Horse Springs, NM.

The VLA (Very Large Array) radio telescope on the Plains of San Augustine, near Datil, NM.

Scuba diving the Blue Hole at Santa Rosa, NM
Mountain biking on the White Mesa near San Ysidro, NM.
Indian Tacos at the Jemez Pueblo, NM.


The El Rey Inn, Santa Fe, NM

Evangelo's, Santa Fe, NM

Riding the Dale Ball trail system, Santa Fe, NM

Cool sewer cover, Santa Fe, NM

The Gila Cliff Dwellings

Daniel has landed safely into Silver City. Been giving him a crash course of the area. First stop after mom's backyard was David's backyard. After that encounter, he thought for sure he had landed in the Twilight Zone.

Yesterday we drove out to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. It was the first time I've been out there in a while. It is still a fascinating place.



We drove back via highway 35. After crossing the Continental Divide and dropping into the Upper Mimbres valley, I spotted a montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) crossing the road. It was smaller than a Gambel's quail, and the pattern on its face was very distinctive. This may have been a lucky once-in-a-lifetime sighting of a rare bird in the U.S.A.
Daniel is enjoying Silver City and the Gila. It has been a completely new experience for him.

Las Cruces, Phoenix, the Gila, and Solpugids

Been busy while on vacation. Thursday, I spent the day with my mom in Las Cruces. We bought stuff. Friday afternoon I ended up going with Tour Divide riders Paul, Trevor, and Per, to Phoenix. Paul had rented a Dodge Caravan to get them to Phoenix where they could take a direct British Airways flight to London. Problem was they needed to get it back to Silver City, so that was my job. We had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays across from their hotel. Its one of typical American feed troughs with an obnoxious, somewhat insulting and indifferent waitress. The TD riders were still in carbo-loading mode and chowed down on extra french fries and cheese cake and a second beer. After dinner I took off and drove the van back to Silver City. Pretty uneventful. Around Benson, AZ, I was getting pretty bored and sleepy, so I pulled out my camera just to have some fun. Some of the pics turned out pretty surreal.

I stopped in Lordsburg for some coffee, then headed up to Silver City. I got in at 2:00 AM.

****

Saturday (yesterday), after only 4 hours sleep, I drove up to Signal Peak in the Gila, the site of our mountain bike race. I rode 2/3 of the intermediate lap which was probably around 15 miles of total riding.
I was feeling very lazy and slow up the hills. I got onto the "New Trail" and was taking a break and eating an energy bar when I came across a group of single speed riders from Sierra Vista, AZ. I rode with them, so it forced me to pick up my pace a bit. I had to walk up a couple of grades, but on the downhill sections I did pretty good. Betto, is the single speed champ of our local Signal Peak Challenge. I hung out at the AZ camp for a while, had a couple of Pacificos, then headed back to my car. At the car I meet an old time Grant County couple who kind of knew me. They gave me a Budweiser while we visited.

****
Later in the evening a friend and I went down to the brew-pub and listened to Melanie Zipen. She was great!
When we were leaving, saw a solpugid scurry across the patio. They distance cousins to spiders, and are very strange critters. It was a busy but rewarding Thursday - Saturday.

More Tour Divide Riders

More Tour Divide riders! These 3 guys came through town; Per Nilsson Eklof, Trevor Browne, and Paul Howard. Per was real hardcore riding a rigid Karate Monkey. They should be finishing up tomorrow, riding into Antelope Wells around 1:00 PM.

Yeehaw to Per, Trevor, and Paul!

Other things today, I rode the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) "South" this morning. This ride is becoming my benchmark. It was the first ride I did when arriving from Venezuela. I suffered big time from the altitude. On today's ride, I assume I was still tired from South Boundary Ride, but I cleaned everything. I didn't need to stop and breath like the past. The new SID Team fork is way better than the old SID. The steering is now precise and plush. Nice!

South Boundary Trail, Carson Nat. Forest, NM, USA

Preface: Last week when I went to Gallup, I left my Litespeed and Vertex with Steiner. He completely rebuilt the Litespeed so that the only original part of the bike is the titanium frame. The new Rock Shox SID and new Avid Ultimate V-brakes are incredible!This past Sunday, 5 July, I finally rode the world famous South Boundary Trail near Taos, NM. Steiner picked Jim and I up around 7:30 in the morning and we headed up the road in his small pick-up. We made a quick breakfast stop in Santa Fe (breakfast burritos for me and Steiner) we continued on north to Taos.In Taos, we met Cory and Sean, brothers who had driven up from Albuquerque as well. We left their car at the Taos Visitor's Center and piled their bikes and gear into/onto the 4-door mini-truck and we all piled in and headed up to our start point at Garcia Park.
We decided to do an out-and-back towards Angel Fire. Not sure what park we ended up at, but we took a break near the high point of the trail, 10,700 ft. We were probably between 10,500 and 10,600 ft above sea-level. To get to that spot, I climbed mostly in my middle chainring, but only when I was going down did I realize how steep it was. No wonder I was breathing hard!Back at Garcia Park we took another break before heading towards Taos.

The rest of the trip was mostly downhill. We rolled through meadows, groves of aspens, and as we decended, thick patches of oak. These miniture oaks grew only shoulder high and had flexy limbs that hurt if they bent back and sprung back to hit you. Their root systems made the trail a bit more challenging as well.
The trail itself ranged from smooth single track, to rooty sections, baby heads (rocks stuck in the ground) and finally a steep, stair-steppy, deserty finish. The last 4 miles of that steep stuff was very challenging, but not impossible. It reminded me a lot of the Gila conditions.

Overall, it was super fun! The Artist's Ale and vegitarian green chile stew made it worth it.
Ready to do some more challenges!