Cross Check Again

My bike fleet has had a lot of churn this spring and summer. I sold the Jones, the Mercier fixed gear, bought and sold a full suspension bike, and bought the Marin frame. All of those transactions left me with a pretty flush bike fund, so when I found many online stores were out 62cm Surly Cross Checks in the new mustard yellow color, I knew it was a sign that I should order the last one I found.

This is almost a repeat for me. I had a Cross Check from around 2007 for about six years. That old black bike carried me through many miles of rides and many different builds. I had a spare rim brake 700c wheelset hanging around, waiting for another frame--which turned out to be another CC. I knew the wheels would fit, as they were the same ones from my old CC!

I received the frame on Tuesday and quickly got to work:

Hammock S24O

I've been eager to try hammock camping. I have a cheap leisure hammock, but it doesn't have any bug protection. Nice camping hammocks quickly add up to $300+, but I'm just dipping my toe in the water with the Wal Mart cheapie, $40. Possibly this is as bad as trying mountain biking with a $100 Wal Mart bike, but if I do like hammock camping, I really don't want to fork out for multiple $300 setups for the kids as well. 

Last Friday, I quickly threw together a quick S24O. Henry and Kate were on board, but oddly Sam decided to stay home and watch a movie with Jodi.

We had to stop for dessert on the way to camp:

New Bikes In and Out

I've had some churn recently in my bike fleet. I sold my Jones (again) to a fellow iBOB, which caused my bike fund to spike up. I had the desire (again) to buy a full suspension bike. I surfed around for quite a while before coming across a NOS 2015 GT Sensor Carbon Team at the Pro's Closet. Nicely priced, and I wanted 27.5" wheels to give the bike a more fun feeling. Bigger wheeled full sus bikes I've had in the past have mostly just felt dull. The only boingy bikes from my history that I look back fondly are my '97 Pro Flex 857 and my '03 Specialized Epic, both short travel 26" wheels XC machines. Then again, there's likely also a lot of nostalgia going on here. Anyway, flush from the Jones sale, I jumped on the Sensor frame and got to building it up:

Backpacking (Zaleski and TVT)

Sam got a new, actual backpacking backpack for Christmas, so we finally gave it a try last month. I had a Monday off, so the boys and I headed to Zaleski for an overnighter on a Sunday afternoon. I hoped it would go better than my last trip to Zaleski, which was Henry's first (and last) backpacking experience, where we got lost and walked several extra miles on the road. Henry still hasn't let me forget about that one.

The weather was cloudy and cool, perfect backpacking weather, until it started to rain as we pulled into the trailhead parking lot. We cooled our heels in the car for about 20 minutes to let the rain pass, and the weather was fine after that. The only other rain we got was overnight, where we could enjoy the gentle sound of the rain on the tent's nylon.

We were hiking the south loop of Zaleski, which I have never hiked before. It starts off with a steep climb from the parking lot, and the trail rolls quite a bit after that.