Friday News And Views

Cycling makes me feel great. Now there may be some science to back up the reasons why.

Blinded Me With Science:

I don't know about you, but after I started commuting by bicycle to work, I hated having to drive that commute if the situation warranted it. I never used to be that way. I would just jump into whatever vehicle I had through the years and, ya know......drive to work. No big deal, right? I mean, there were the occasional idiots and near misses, but that's par for the course. I didn't "hate driving to work" then.

But something happened when I started commuting by bicycle. I dreaded driving after a while. Now I never quite understood what it was that switched me around, but I knew I was much more calm, at ease, and mellow after riding to work, and it just felt right. Ya know? I never really had any basis for feeling that way, but now it seems that science has some answers for me regarding this.

It's an older article called "This Is Your Brain On Bikes", and while I cannot verify that any of its claims are based on good science, I can sure find a lot to agree with in that article. Certainly there has to be something about the mood enhancements gained from cycling because I totally identify with that part of the article. Cycling does bring me a good feeling, and it really does help with being depressed. Especially this time of the year when there is little Sun and lots of cold dark time.

So, a plan has been devised..........finally!

Project Inbred:

Two and a half years ago I received my original On One Inbred back. The image today is just how I received it on my bench one day after it had been through two other owners.

Since that time the frame has hung on a hook in my Lab/dungeon/horde and nothing has been done with it. Honestly, I couldn't come up with a good reason to fix it up. I had waaaay too many single speed 29"ers any way, and setting it up geared seemed........wrong. I just wasn't into it and so it hung there.

Meanwhile the original fork also came back to me but it had been thrashed to the point of failure. I couldn't use it. Fortunately I still had the On One Carbon Super Light fork and that's what is on the Inbred now. But other than hanging that fork, I had made zero progress on this.

The mind works in strange ways and sometimes a part or component can spark inspiration. So it was when I received those WTB Ranger 29 X 2.4" tires the other day. They obviously needed to go on a mtb frame, but which one? Since quitting "Twenty Nine Inches" I have thinned the heard of 29"ers and the ones that are left I want to keep the way that they are. But there was that Inbred frame and fork.......just hanging there!  Stay tuned...............

Old Shirey Way (Lower Hartman to you younginz)

 Post Flood Mess:

Yesterday I went down to check on the conditions of the trails near the Cedar River on the South side. The river had fallen below flood stage the day before and with the super-dry air I was wondering how things were going as far as drainage of the backwater was concerned.

Well.......it's a mess.

I feared as much. It isn't going to clear up soon either. With the water table as elevated as it is, that remaining water that didn't/couldn't drain back into the river is just going to sit, and sit, and sit. Obviously it will go away at some point, but by the time it does we will be nigh unto Winter and Fall will be a distant memory here. Brown season will be in full swing and will stay until/if it snows. Who knows when that will be.

In the meantime, I will be gravel riding more and waiting for the Green Belt to clear up. When it does, I'll have to go investigate Marky-Mark- that trail I put in 22 years ago, and see if it needs any touching up. Other than that bit, I'll probably just see how the lay of the land is and determine just what remained and what went down to Louisiana in the flood. Every time it floods the Green Belt changes. You never know what you'll find. Sand in new places, sometimes feet deep. Trail shooting off right into the river where it eroded the banks. Ya gotta take it easy the first time you go in after a flood!

I remember riding back in there years ago after a flood, taking a sweeper at high speed, running through a little wall of tall weeds, only to see nothing but air in front of me. Fortunately the cantilever brakes and 26 inch tires brought me to a halt mere inches from sailing off the new cut bank into the creek several feet below. Exciting, but nearly disastrous.

Now days I usually opt for the fat bike, usually the Blackborow DS, and just slow crawl the entire Green Belt. It helps with the sand and whatever mud I might find. Plus it keeps me safer. I figure on getting back in there in at least a couple of weeks from now. But like I said, for now it will all be gravel travel.

Have a great weekend and keep the rubber side down!

 

Friday News And Views

Cycling makes me feel great. Now there may be some science to back up the reasons why.

Blinded Me With Science:

I don't know about you, but after I started commuting by bicycle to work, I hated having to drive that commute if the situation warranted it. I never used to be that way. I would just jump into whatever vehicle I had through the years and, ya know......drive to work. No big deal, right? I mean, there were the occasional idiots and near misses, but that's par for the course. I didn't "hate driving to work" then.

But something happened when I started commuting by bicycle. I dreaded driving after a while. Now I never quite understood what it was that switched me around, but I knew I was much more calm, at ease, and mellow after riding to work, and it just felt right. Ya know? I never really had any basis for feeling that way, but now it seems that science has some answers for me regarding this.

It's an older article called "This Is Your Brain On Bikes", and while I cannot verify that any of its claims are based on good science, I can sure find a lot to agree with in that article. Certainly there has to be something about the mood enhancements gained from cycling because I totally identify with that part of the article. Cycling does bring me a good feeling, and it really does help with being depressed. Especially this time of the year when there is little Sun and lots of cold dark time.

So, a plan has been devised..........finally!

Project Inbred:

Two and a half years ago I received my original On One Inbred back. The image today is just how I received it on my bench one day after it had been through two other owners.

Since that time the frame has hung on a hook in my Lab/dungeon/horde and nothing has been done with it. Honestly, I couldn't come up with a good reason to fix it up. I had waaaay too many single speed 29"ers any way, and setting it up geared seemed........wrong. I just wasn't into it and so it hung there.

Meanwhile the original fork also came back to me but it had been thrashed to the point of failure. I couldn't use it. Fortunately I still had the On One Carbon Super Light fork and that's what is on the Inbred now. But other than hanging that fork, I had made zero progress on this.

The mind works in strange ways and sometimes a part or component can spark inspiration. So it was when I received those WTB Ranger 29 X 2.4" tires the other day. They obviously needed to go on a mtb frame, but which one? Since quitting "Twenty Nine Inches" I have thinned the heard of 29"ers and the ones that are left I want to keep the way that they are. But there was that Inbred frame and fork.......just hanging there!  Stay tuned...............

Old Shirey Way (Lower Hartman to you younginz)

 Post Flood Mess:

Yesterday I went down to check on the conditions of the trails near the Cedar River on the South side. The river had fallen below flood stage the day before and with the super-dry air I was wondering how things were going as far as drainage of the backwater was concerned.

Well.......it's a mess.

I feared as much. It isn't going to clear up soon either. With the water table as elevated as it is, that remaining water that didn't/couldn't drain back into the river is just going to sit, and sit, and sit. Obviously it will go away at some point, but by the time it does we will be nigh unto Winter and Fall will be a distant memory here. Brown season will be in full swing and will stay until/if it snows. Who knows when that will be.

In the meantime, I will be gravel riding more and waiting for the Green Belt to clear up. When it does, I'll have to go investigate Marky-Mark- that trail I put in 22 years ago, and see if it needs any touching up. Other than that bit, I'll probably just see how the lay of the land is and determine just what remained and what went down to Louisiana in the flood. Every time it floods the Green Belt changes. You never know what you'll find. Sand in new places, sometimes feet deep. Trail shooting off right into the river where it eroded the banks. Ya gotta take it easy the first time you go in after a flood!

I remember riding back in there years ago after a flood, taking a sweeper at high speed, running through a little wall of tall weeds, only to see nothing but air in front of me. Fortunately the cantilever brakes and 26 inch tires brought me to a halt mere inches from sailing off the new cut bank into the creek several feet below. Exciting, but nearly disastrous.

Now days I usually opt for the fat bike, usually the Blackborow DS, and just slow crawl the entire Green Belt. It helps with the sand and whatever mud I might find. Plus it keeps me safer. I figure on getting back in there in at least a couple of weeks from now. But like I said, for now it will all be gravel travel.

Have a great weekend and keep the rubber side down!

 

New Rogue Trail

Right on the Cedar River

Word was being spread about a new trail some fellas had cut into Sherwood Park, an area of Waterloo that used to have some homes that have been removed since it is an area that floods quite often. (I wrote about this area last month as well, which you can see here.) I was on this a bit with my son about a week or so ago, but I didn't get to see all of it. So, the other day I took the long way back from work and checked it out.

I always find it interesting to see how someone else interprets a landscape into a trail. Sometimes things just don't make a lot of sense for many a reason. Sometimes things work out really, really well and exceed my expectations for an area. Around here, that doesn't happen too often, but it has happened. This trail isn't hampered by those who made it as much as it is and will be by where it was made. But that's par for the course when you build next to a river that goes out of its banks on average about once a year, sometimes to an extreme level.

For what it is, I found it fun. It is single track, and twisty-turny, as is the style around here. It goes over some busted up rock and cast away concrete in spots. It goes under a couple of precarious broken trees. Someday that will have to be dealt with. It goes right by a fine looking deer stand, which always kind of bothers me at this time of the year. Especially if someone may be intending to use it.

So, it isn't perfect, and I'm not sure it doesn't go into some privately held land, (the deer stand would be indicative of an area that is perhaps not public), but if you are local and want to check it out, you will see a couple of access points right off the South Riverside Trail where it comes off from the trail that goes over the bridge to Geo Wyth alongside HWY 218.

The trail is easy to pick out and it is flagged for most of its course. A lot of it runs right in lands I've often seen flooded in the Spring. So it will be interesting to see how long this lasts, since flotsam and jetsam from past flooding is everywhere down there. Another flood will rearrange that where ever it goes, which won't be off the trail as it sits, you can bet on that!

Yeah, I know..... I don't mean to be a "Debbie Downer", but I just don't see this lasting for a long time. Ya know, there is a reason they moved all those houses out of there in the first place. But, I figure I'll enjoy it as long as it does last and see what, if anything, gets destroyed next Spring or during Summer when the Cedar decides to come out of its banks once again, as it often does. Or whenever big winds blow and those wild trees throw down big branches or just fall over, as they often do around here. Of course, I could be all wrong about it and it may be that it will last a long time. You just never know when you have trails along a river like the Cedar. River bottom land is always in a constant state of flux.

Whatever happens will happen, but for now, there is a bit of new trail down along the Cedar River. I'll take it while I can get it......

New Rogue Trail

Right on the Cedar River

Word was being spread about a new trail some fellas had cut into Sherwood Park, an area of Waterloo that used to have some homes that have been removed since it is an area that floods quite often. (I wrote about this area last month as well, which you can see here.) I was on this a bit with my son about a week or so ago, but I didn't get to see all of it. So, the other day I took the long way back from work and checked it out.

I always find it interesting to see how someone else interprets a landscape into a trail. Sometimes things just don't make a lot of sense for many a reason. Sometimes things work out really, really well and exceed my expectations for an area. Around here, that doesn't happen too often, but it has happened. This trail isn't hampered by those who made it as much as it is and will be by where it was made. But that's par for the course when you build next to a river that goes out of its banks on average about once a year, sometimes to an extreme level.

For what it is, I found it fun. It is single track, and twisty-turny, as is the style around here. It goes over some busted up rock and cast away concrete in spots. It goes under a couple of precarious broken trees. Someday that will have to be dealt with. It goes right by a fine looking deer stand, which always kind of bothers me at this time of the year. Especially if someone may be intending to use it.

So, it isn't perfect, and I'm not sure it doesn't go into some privately held land, (the deer stand would be indicative of an area that is perhaps not public), but if you are local and want to check it out, you will see a couple of access points right off the South Riverside Trail where it comes off from the trail that goes over the bridge to Geo Wyth alongside HWY 218.

The trail is easy to pick out and it is flagged for most of its course. A lot of it runs right in lands I've often seen flooded in the Spring. So it will be interesting to see how long this lasts, since flotsam and jetsam from past flooding is everywhere down there. Another flood will rearrange that where ever it goes, which won't be off the trail as it sits, you can bet on that!

Yeah, I know..... I don't mean to be a "Debbie Downer", but I just don't see this lasting for a long time. Ya know, there is a reason they moved all those houses out of there in the first place. But, I figure I'll enjoy it as long as it does last and see what, if anything, gets destroyed next Spring or during Summer when the Cedar decides to come out of its banks once again, as it often does. Or whenever big winds blow and those wild trees throw down big branches or just fall over, as they often do around here. Of course, I could be all wrong about it and it may be that it will last a long time. You just never know when you have trails along a river like the Cedar. River bottom land is always in a constant state of flux.

Whatever happens will happen, but for now, there is a bit of new trail down along the Cedar River. I'll take it while I can get it......