Labor Day Bike Day
I took advantage of the day off by rearranging the garage a bit. While the girls rode their bikes in the front yard, I collected all the strollers -- there are four in the garage right now -- into a corner. This freed up some wall space where I could make holder for Arti's nice road bike to hold it up by the frame crossbar vs. hanging by the rim how we had it. I used some scrap 3/4" plywood to make two thin pieces that I screwed perpendicular to the studs. I shaped them so the frame would nestle into a dip in the rail, rounded all the edges, then covered them in rubbery shelf liner. Works great, and it's a lot easier to store and retrieve than the hanging method.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenobot/7927584826/" title="Bike Holder-Upper by thenobot, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8443/7927584826_b50c730ec1_z.jpg" width="640" height="478" alt="Bike Holder-Upper"></a>
As I was finishing, I got an invite from Sean Kohler (Arti had just been riding with his wife) to go for a mountain bike ride. It's been 12 years since I've ridden a mountain bike in earnest. He had a spare (mine is far from useable), and I will look for any excuse to get into some spandex (kidding!).
We drove to Kennedy Trail, then I spent the next hour and a half huffing and puffing up the steep hills watching him easily tear up the trail. I was on his sweet full suspension 29er, and he was on the family "spare bike", yet he was making it look so simple.
<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenobot/7927553622/" title="Riding up Kennedy Trail by thenobot, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/7927553622_ec7edae8d3_z.jpg" width="478" height="640" alt="Riding up Kennedy Trail"></a></div>
At the top of the hill (2800 ft) we turned around and bombed back down. What a rush! I've never been on a full suspension bike before, and it was really incredible. Fast, smooth, in complete control. Neat stuff.
About 3/4 of the way down, there was a woman stopped on the side of the trail that we had passed on the way up. She was walking a huge Marmaduke-sized dog, but the dog was laying beside her. Once we got close it was pretty clear to me the dog was dead. She asked us for water, and we gave her what we had, but there was no use. She was really upset -- not just for the dog, but that she hadn't seen signs of trouble (she was a doctor). Poor lady. We stayed with her for a while, then left when she assured us she was fine and the ranger was on the way to help bring the dog down.
We got to the bottom a few minutes later. Fun times! I'm looking at bikes now, though I know I won't get something quite as nice as Sean let me ride... Any suggestions?