I Feel A Change Comin' On

     For the most part, this blog has been focused on my personal bike projects, be it the repairs and builds of my current bikes, or reminiscing about repairs and builds of the past.  My connection to my father, whose passing somewhat inspired this blog, also had a great impact on what I wrote.

     For the most part, my absence from writing on here has come from a lack of inspiration.  I've had some bike projects, sure.  In fact, a lot of my personal projects have gone unrecorded on here.  To be upfront, it's kind of exhausting to photograph the steps and then translate that which I inherently know and understand so well into written word, especially when I really want that written word to be easily understood by all.

Our last mountain bike ride in Arizona.  At Honeybee Canyon
with our friends.
Taken March 23, 2015

In the end, my passion for writing about these toils died.  But in the void it left behind, another passion had long been blossoming and bearing fruit:  mountain biking.  Keri and I fell in love with mountain biking in Tucson, and when we moved to Portland, Oregon, we were expecting to find a place teeming with good riding.  Unfortunately, we began to realize that the city that virtually always gets number one on any "bike friendly city" list is primarily focused on pavement riding, with commuting being a primary "discipline" of riding found here.  Sure, there's mountain biking trails to be found... there's just not a lot of options close to the city.

What has made this even harder is a resounding lack of information about what trails there are around here.  MTB Project is probably our number one resource, and it's great... but it still feels lacking.  A lot of the trails seem to be represented on there, but there isn't always a lot of information or even pictures, leaving a lot to the unknown.  We also have one Falcon Guide for Northwest Oregon mountain biking that we bought shortly after moving here... but, like so many other printed guides, it is a time capsule from the nineties.  The information isn't always up to date, and it undeniably misses the newest additions to the meager trail systems up here.

My dad's Quintana Roo up at the top of the Sandy Ridge Trail system.
Taken September 16, 2015

     This winter has been rough.  I guess part of life is meeting new challenges to learn more about oneself, and the challenge of our first Pacific Northwest winter has confirmed a long held suspicion of mine:  I don't like the wet.  You might think, and I don't blame you, "You just moved from the desert you big dummie!  Make up your mind!"  Well, we moved from one extreme to the other.  I want to be somewhere in-between.  I want the moisture and greenery to be there, but not up in my face.

From our mountain bike trip to Bend on our anniversary last year.
Taken September 20, 2015

     Back around Thanksgiving we had two days of clear skies and no precipitation--a stark contrast to the near constant rain and drizzle of the winter up here.  Those two days were significantly colder than most other days this winter, and had that familiar cold snap feeling that is so synonymous with Midwestern winters.  I welcomed it.  It invigorated me.  The constantly swampy, marshy conditions throughout most of the grey season is depressing.  Some people like it.  Not me.  A lot of people may say that proper clothing and rain gear will combat this, but for a mountain biker that's not true.  You cannot, in good conscience, ride on a muddy bog of a trail.  I can't, anyways.  The Pacific monsoons have kept me off the trails since last October.  That is way too long.

     So this spring, summer, and fall, Keri and I are going to hit the trails every single chance we get!  We recognize we will probably have to wait a while into spring before the trails dry out, and that fall will probably end our riding season sooner than later, but damnit, we are going to do our best!  We have two trips to Bend, Oregon planned this summer, and we intend on exploring as many of the trails at our disposal as possible.

     And so I'm going to be putting a new spin on this blog, switching its focus to our mountain biking endeavors in the trail-lacking wasteland that is the northwest corner of Oregon.  I plan on recording my impressions of trails we've ridden, and I hope to bring some more current information on the trails that are up here.  That's my hope.

     To go hand-in-hand with this goal is something that is almost as exciting... we are each getting new mountain bikes!  Well, Keri has already gotten hers, and I have begun buying the parts for building mine.  I had to build mine up from scratch, of course.  Through a prodeal at her job, Keri bought a 2016 Diamondback Lux Comp--Diamondback's nicest ladies specific hardtail mountain bike.  Normally a $1200 bike, we got a really good deal on it.

Keri's brand new Diamondback Lux Comp.  It's a huge upgrade from her old GT Aggressor.
Taken March 1, 2016

     As for me, I will be realizing something I have been thinking about for a very long time.  With our tax refund, I was finally able to pull the trigger and ordered a Soma B-Side frame.  The Soma B-Side is a chromoly mountain bike hardtail frame for 650b sized wheels.  The front triangle is Tange Prestige butted chromoly tubing, and the rear triangle is more non-descript butted chromoly tubing.  Tange Prestige is nice stuff.  I've had my eye on this frame for a very long time, and after piecing together an affordable but awesome build that is within our budget, I got the green light to go for it.  So far I only have the frame and seat post, but in a few weeks I should be able to buy the fork and headset, and then a month after that I will be able to buy everything else.

My brand new Soma B-Side V3.  I am so excited to build this up!
Taken February 27, 2016

     Our first trip to Bend this year is at the end of May, so I have plenty of time to build and dial in the bike.  I'm overwhelmingly excited for this new bike.  It will be my first mountain bike ever that is entirely of my doing.  Both of my previous mountain bikes came from my dad, through two very different avenues of life.  But this one will be one hundred percent mine.  I know that, wherever and whatever he is, he'd be excited for me.