Really, I Could Stop Anytime

So here I am, homeless, sitting in my parent's basement, most of our worldly goods boxed up elsewhere as we squeeze seven people and ten cats into one house... but I don't let that slow my daily Craigslist scanning down. Not me. I've had an itch for another vintagey mountain bike, and ended up getting this for just $50:

It looks to be from '98 or so. Not "vintage" in terms of long chainstays and slack angles, or vintage in terms of pre-suspension, but a nice XC bike from before full suspension took over. By this point, Specialized had moved their Stumpjumpers to all aluminum, so this RH has a pretty nice Ritchey Logic "Nitanium" steel frame. I'm hoping it will ride nicely. I can't really tell, because the rear derailer is twisted and the chain is shot. It will bide its time here in my dad's shop until we can move into our new place.

I'm also kind of looking for a tandem. Good thing the new garage is big.

Henry Meets John Bryan

Henry has been showing a lot more interest in mountain biking this summer, warming my fatherly heart. He's had a bit of experience riding off road in the past, but he's getting old enough and big enough that he's capable of more trail riding.

Of course, me being me, the first order of business was getting his bike in order. I had dreamed of building him up a rigid 26+ bike made around an XS Surly 1x1 frame or something similar, but in the end we just pulled the fenders off his/Jodi's Trek and mounted up some knobbies in place of the slicks:

Bike Update: Jones

Five months in, and I figure it's time for an update on the Jones. I haven't ridden it as much as I would like--moving has kept me busy this spring--but I'm well beyond the happy new bike stage. So what's it like?

Really, really good... but not perfect. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first, shall we?

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: