On the Aviation Trail

I read in the Dispatch a few weeks back that the National Parks Service (or someone) had created an Aviation trail around Dayton and western Ohio, to celebrate and encourage learning about the big impact this little part of the country has had on aviation (Wright brothers, Neil Armstrong to start...) AND, if you got your little card stamped at seven of the places, you could get a free teddy bear (a Willbear, get it?). In the interest of comparing the effects of Honda Pilot and Honda Odyssey third row seating on motion sickness in nine year olds, I borrowed an Odyssey from work and Saturday morning we were off... after loading up the Odyssey with DVDs for the rear entertainment system.

Our first stop was the Wright-Dunbar center to get our passport and first stamp:

where they also had a parachute museum:

Caesar's Creek 1, Me 0

I'm not sure why I keep going to Caesar's Creek. Maybe for a change of pace, maybe for an old school trail feel, maybe for the easy drive down I-71, but often when I go there, the experience isn't great.

Sunday was to be no different.

The strong storms that rained out our Clippers game on Saturday night seemed to have mostly missed CC, so I thought the trail conditions would be OK. I loaded up and headed south early Sunday morning.

Kate and I Visit the New House, and Henry Eating

Last weekend, I headed out for a spur of the moment ride, only pausing long enough to announce, "I'm going for a ride!" Kate immediately piped up that she wanted to come, so we hooked up the Picolo and hit the trail:

I think Kate is the only one of the kids that is (at least occasionally) a net output gain when I pull her behind me. She can really pedal!

We stopped to look for muskrats in the ditch, but no luck:

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My recent blog activity has matched my recent riding activity: not much at all. You know the usual excuses: a stretch of cooler, rainy weather, busy with work, and getting ready to move. I've shipped off most of my bikes to my parent's garage, leaving just two in my ready fleet:

The Jones is now single:

Riding buddy Chris converted his full sus 29er to single speed this spring, and he has an idea to tackle Mochican State Park on single speeds this year. Perhaps he doesn't recall this trail starts with an eight mile climb. But, it's nice to have a stupid goal, so I single-ated my Jones to ride along with him.

You may notice a few other changes to Jonsie:

New Bike, Rebuilt Bike, Old Playground

We had a gorgeous weekend here, so we made sure to get out and enjoy it. After getting sunburned (in April!) at the kids' morning soccer games, I took my recently acquired Trek 510 out for an afternoon jaunt. I had rebuilt this into my image of a kind of bike path cruiser:

I was hoping to find that this bike planed like a triple seven, but my hour plus spin was a bit inconclusive. When I had purchased the bike, 3/4 of the bearings were quite loose (the front hub seemed OK), and I adjusted or replaced everything. However, there's still a clunk or knocking from the freewheel, which, combined with the noisy drivetrain, made the ride less than satisfying.

More Jones, and Fleet Update

I had last week off for Spring Break, which consisted of working madly to get our house ready for sale this month (I was almost happy to get back to work this week). In between spreading mulch, loading a POD, and rebuilding our back patio, I had a chance to take advantage of our unusually dry weather and hit the trails. Alum P2 was up first:

This was my first real ride (ie, not just around the local Dublin trails) on the Jones, and it went really well. The handling that I liked on Jonsie was still apparent: it combines stability through rock and roots, with confidence inspiring handling pointed down, and still keeps a nimble feel in the tight and slow stuff. I've never had another bike that could master all of this so capably.

Of course, there were some nits to pick:

Handling

March is the long, dark tea time of the soul for Ohio mountain bikers. The trails have lost the good freeze of winter, but haven't dried out yet. Spring rains and the freeze/thaw cycle make our trails a peanut buttery mess until April, if we're lucky; May, if we're not.

So, time to hit the road. Eager to ride my new Jones, I jumped on a pair of super fat Schwalbe slicks that came across one of my bike lists. I mounted up the Big Ones and was ready to roll:

My first impression was all good, but that quickly changed.