Trail Maintenace

i did trail maintenance last saturday. i like "giving back" to the park i ride mostly in, but this time, it gave me back more.

i wish i could return it...

and get a refund...

or exchange it for something else.

but i think i got poison ivy again!

THANKS!

next time, it's jeans and long sleeves and gloves and i'm sure it will be sweltering out.

dirty "scratchin'' bert

Rain Rain Everywhere

i wanna ride.

i'm going to try tomorrow.

they said it's suppose to rain till wednesday. friday didn't look so bad, i think could have squeeze a ride in for an hour, instead i went to the dreaded gym. dreaded because i haven't been there in a 2 weeks and for me it's hard to get back into that routine.

at the gym, i was watching some trainer, show some chunky guy, the proper way to lift weights. what I really wished he was taught, was to not to wear black dress socks pulled up to his knees while wearing bright white sneakers or the white headband around his pale forehead or not to wear lycria to the gym. UGH!!! my rambling about the gym attire maybe another blog for me.

back to biking. fenders are great in this crappy weather. SKS or Headland, makes great fenders and realatively cheap. But for more style and color, nothing can beat T.H.E fenders and sometimes you can find them under 12 bucks. see blue sky cycling they have a nice selection of both. i made fun of betty & her fenders, the last time we went out. teased her about the stream crossing an how good it was to have them on. i have fenders, i use to carry it with me all the time, look arounf in the parking lot to see, if peoples bikes were muddy. i think my front fender is broke and my rear fender is somewhere in the garage.

they sell tires especially for the mud. wider spacing, less caking of the mud. speaking of caking, i have heard, about spray the downtube with cooking spray, so the mud doesn't stick to the bike. i really hate changing that rear tire. i could do it in a snap before i got my disc brakes but now, there's so much to look for, "is everything aligned?". i seem to need 3 hands to get that rear wheel back on! im so mechanically challenge. thats 1 thing is wish to change this year other than building my endurance up.

happy muddy trails!
Db

A Quickie

So the crew & I got a quick ride in yesterday. Betty & I waited for Warren & Java to show but they were stuck in traffic. So Betty & I rode a lil loop. A nice lil warmup and a introduction of what is expected of Chimney Rock. It was a quick run and back to the parking lot and waited. Still no Warren. So we went back for another quick loop, a lil larger this time and I'm riding thru and up, what I didn't do, just 10 minutes ago. Just as we were finishing up, we get a call that Warren is at the parking lot.

Alright, we are all together now, finally, lets begin. I figured it's going to be a rough, bumpy ride for java since he's riding a suspenless huffy (kick stand and all and wearing jeans) but no, this rides up and over and smashes over things. It goes to show you, it doesn't matter, how much you spent on your bike, what kind of components yer sportin' or what kinda of clothes yer wearing, it's all about YOU! Anyway, we climb and get to the top. I hear thunder. Not so loud but loud enough to make you wonder, how soon is it coming. I figure, lets do a loop, somewhat challenging and by the time we are done the rain should start. Well we continue on, the thunder gets louder and the trail gets more rockier. I somewhat happen to fall and I'm so thankful that for that football size rock, help cushion my hip when it kissed it. DAMN, that hurt. THAT has to leave a mark. At that point we needed to turn around and head back where we came from because the thunder was getting louder and louder and more frequent. Well we made it to the parking lot, loaded the bikes and nothing. Yea there was lots of thunder but no rain, until we left the park.

Well what normally takes me an hour and 15 minutes to drive home took me 2 and half hours to drive thru the most torrential rains and wind and scarriest lightening that I ever witnessed nor drove thru. It was so windy, that my wiper blades stopped in mid wipe from the wind. AND what's even more fun, is stopping to get gas when it's lightening all around you. I reached out the window to check if my bike was still on the roof.

Oh well, it was still kinda fun, despite the long drive. Next time, I think Betty and I wont be waiting and hopefully I'm not late myself.

dirty bert

4 of us and 9 Crashes.

Well today we rode for 3 hours.

It was a beautiful day, a lil hot, probably in the 70's, not a cloud in the sky, one of those perfect days to ride.

There were only 4 of us today. Betty (only her 3rd ride and first time on her new bike), Warren and his squeaky bike, Speeder-Man and his downhill bike and me with the 5 spot. Out of the 4 of us, we only crashed 9 times!

The first was Betty, she endoed over sum logs. We taught her, if she falls to get that bike away from her, because it will only hurt you (*see Speeder-Man's fall). Then not to be out done by Betty, Warren did a sweet endo over the same log pile and landed on his shoulder. Then I washed my front tire out and decided that it would be cooler to dismount off the bike backwards and to put my knee down to stop my fall, good job! AND thank god it was only the left knee.

Then Warren decided to fall into the brush next to a series of logs to determine where the thorns were. Thanks buddy!
I think Betty toppled a few times in between, I didn't see them because Speeder-Man and I were in front of them clipping trees with our handlebars.

Next stop were the bmx pit. *Speeder-Man decided to do a jump on his DH bike but didn't see the hole on the other side of the jump. So the bike's front tire dug into the hole, he endoed and his head dug into the ground and tumble saulted over and sat there, for a second or two and then WHAM! His 40 pound bike landed sideways on the back of his head, neck and upper back. I sat there stunned because where I was at, all I remember is his head digging into the ground and that bike wailing on him in the end. Speeder-Man got up like it was nothing, not scratch nor cut on him but a lil dusty to say the least.

Now I didn't see this fall but Betty fell down this HUGE dip. I think she gave it to much brake, since she just got the new bike wit disc brakes, a Cannondale Jekyll 500 few days ago. But Warren said she looked like she was continuously was falling down this dip. Finally she got some war wounds (cuts) on her legs.

The last crash was me, I endoed over a log pile and the handle bar jabbed me into my hip. I think that hurt more than flipping and falling over. Oh well, not a bad day, I got a few scratches from the thorns, a cut on my knee from kneeling down for a fall and that's about it. I'm sure I'll awake tomorrow with a flat. This place is notorious for thorns and flats, so I wont be surprised by tomorrow.

I doubt I'll ride tomorrow but I might eat my words. My knee is pretty sore right now, I have been icing it and I should really start to do my exercises again. Maybe the gym tomorrow or just lay in my hammock out back, what do you think I'll do?

Till the next ride!
Dirty Bert

All done...

So it's almost 2 weeks now and I'm back to riding. I have been out of the game for 4 months with my knee surgery.



Yes, I did have to write "YES" on the knee that needed to be operated on. Kinda funny to see now and a bitch to get off.

Anyway, back to more important things, I'm back on the bike. It still hurts to climb on the bike as well as going up and down stairs. I was told this is natural and is to be expected. I think I have about 7 rides in since I got the green light back in late April. I have been riding Mercer a lot because of the flatness of the park. I don't mind it, the park really hasn't bore me and I got a nice lil circuit I do each time I go out.

The thorns are back in full force. As you can see here, this pic is my shin with 2 scrapes from a thorn bush, I love these natural tattoos but to bad they don't feel natural when it comes time to take a shower.



Here's a pic from a ride just recently. God, I can't believe how great it feels to ride that bike again and words can't describe how nice the bike actually rides.



More pics to come...

–dirty bert

Wish List

So here's what my completed 2005 Turner 5 Spot looks like and it's about 26 pounds!


~Dirty Bert

It's Dropped Off!

    So it took me 3 trips to load the car up tonight. The car seats were down, the frame was in, the box of wheels and the other box of parts were packed away.

    I trucked over to the shop and asked if they were to busy to build a bike up but if they could have it built by this Friday. "Sure, no problem" just the answer I wanted to hear. I had someone help me carry the items in. they checked my inventory to see if I had everything, all the correct sizes and parts. Everything seemed ago.

    So Wednesday there closed. Kinda odd but then again they are open Sundays. Isn't Sundays the day bike shops are closed? Or even I seen Mondays.

    I need to have it for Saturday, it's maiden voyage. I'm thinking either Hartshorn or Chimney Rock, all depending on trail conditions. I hope the weather cooperates for this weekend as much as it did for last saturday. 60 degree weather in January on the east coast is a dream. Thanks Global Warming!

    So this weekend I'll have pics to post of my new ride and I'll post them in the Turner forum on MTBR.

    Remember... RIDE NOW work later.
    –dirty bert

Thanks...

    It's funny to think about the time when I was younger and first started to mountain bike. I had a beater of a bike, my 1990 black giant iguna, probably less than 300 bucks. Nothing was advance technology as of today. I think the only cool upgrades I had on it was my Panaracer Smoke tires and my Onza bar ends. I use to beat the hell out of that hardtail. Now, a hardtail is a bike with front suspension and a rigid bike is well what I rode back then.

    I remember when the girvin-flex stem just came out and the Scott fork. The white Scott fork had just a coil spring inside the legs and the Frank-en-stem, I mean the girvin-flex stem was a hunk of metal clamped onto yer bars providing somewhat suspension for the front end. That big blob of metal scared me, I thought it would eat my knees.

    Then the first set of bar ends came out. I had a pair of silver Onza bar ends. Wow, they seem to make a big difference in my climbing, I seemed so much faster, they were awesome! So awesome until they started to hook onto the the trees or better yet lock together with another friends bar ends on a trail (that resulted in a sprain wrist).

    That first summer I had my bike, George and I would ride literally 7 days a week for the entire summer. A ride would be no less than 12 miles a day. Hell, I was 20 at the time, so I could do it! We would ride in and thru everything. Mud! hahahaha, hell I'm not going around it, I'm going thru it! "I got this far in here!". Stopping and standing in a puddle that was past my ankles. "Let's see how far you can peddle thru it!?" George seem to always do a little better than me but that was ok, it helped me push myself even harder to do better. But I would always smoke him going uphill. I guess weighting in at 125 pounds helped me out.

    We never worried about trail conditions as I do today. I can't ride here, it rained to much there, we'll cause to much damage, we don't want to piss the rangers off. This was never an issue back then but then again we rode thru coal stripping fields of Pennsylvania where houses have bloomed onto my favorite riding trails.

    Thanks George for introducing me to my most favorite and loved sport, hobby and passion. And thanks to Pennsylvania, especially Nanticoke, Wilkes-Barre (old Kirby park, where I learned a lot. WATCH out for that green monster puddle!!!), Kingston and all over that area (and I still glad I didn't ride over that train trussle!). I'm hoping that this summer I can come back to rekindle my memories and even get George off his quad and come for a ride with me.

Thanks Whibbles!!

A Rusty Bike

Dirty Bert & More Dirt

Here I am resting by the lil lake/pond at Chimney Rock. See my sperm soxs!



This was last spring. It's always muddy here, it holds the water here forever.



Them Time ATAC pedals are awesome in the mud as well as the snow/ice weather. I got a leaf stuck in the rings.

Winter Riding at Lewis Morris

    Yea that's Burger King. He does have a big head and that is snow on the ground. Not a new pic because it's like 50 degrees outside. THIS isn't January but I'm not complaining, I LOVE IT!!!

    It sure is muddy out there. Beautiful wheather and muddy trails, just great! It's awesome to ride in this weather but if you do, you'll ruin the trail by riding in the mud! What to do!?!?!?!? I'm glad I didn't buy studded tires this year or even spend a wad of cash on them Sidi winter shoes.

    HEY, since no one reads this blog I'm going to shout out my favorite places to order from...

1. Speedgoat: My favorite site and a good bike blog to boot!

2. Universal Cycles: Good Prices wit always 10% off.

3. Jenson: Good Prices wit good mtb cartoon people.

4. Performance Bike: Get the team membership, earn points and Free 2nd Business Day Delivery Upgrade. I haven't had a problem with delivery and always matched prices.

5. Price Point: I like their site, easy to navigate and good prices.

More to come...

yer friend,
dirty bert

My Yellow Klein

    My first full suspension bike. My Klein Mantra Comp. I went from my black Giant Iguana to this. The poor Iguana, cracked at the bottom bracket area after 6 years of a hard beating and I only weighting 125 lbs. (whew those days are long gone, i'm taking about that weight!). I think I paid $1200 for the Klein, it was yellow. I had a friend who had the same year bike but it was with a black swing arm. He claimed they ran out of yellow swing arms and they just used black instead. I liked the full yellers instead. It was a great climber, it felt a lot lighter riding it, although it wasn't great going down a rocky hill. But then again it wasn't meant for the rugged trails of Ringwood. Incidentally, Ringwood took my Iguanas' life away.



    Anyway, I must have upgraded the Klein near the end of it's life. See what happened, it didn't have a replaceable hanger and I bent the rear swing arm. So I had to get the bike aligned every Tuesday at the shop. At this point, there was no more swing arms avaiable thru Klein. Everytime I rode, the chain skipped like the cassette and chain were bad. They replaced the cranks, the bottom bracket and the rear hub bearings. Finally after the bike store sucked all my money, they called Klein to get some answers and possibly a new swing arm. No swing arms, instead they offered a trade in the frame and a reduced price for a new bike.

    So my choices were a Trek, Klein and a Gary Fisher. They gave me a a paltry 150 bucks for the frame and I got the Trek Liquid 25 for $1200. Jeeze what different ride that is. Sitting upright, so heavy compared to the Klein but it handled downhills much better. BUT that front fork, RS Psylo sucks. It's been rebuilt twice. It tops out with a clang. I don't need a bell to warn the other bikers or hikers, this thing clangs loud enough to hear me coming!

    I still have it. Still riding it. But shortly I'll be moving on to my next ride my new DLW.

-dirty bert

Security Issues

This would be a good ad for Kryptonite New York Locks.

Mercer County Park, NJ

Dabbin' at Mercer County Park

    Well this pic wasn't today but it could have been. It's 50 degrees, in January and in New Jersey. I know it's gonna happen real soon, we'll get use to this weather, we'll all be loving it and all and then BAM it will drop 30 degrees and snow. Well that's life on the east coast.

    I don't live that far from Mercer County Park and I read alot of negative reviews about this park. I think if they just peddle harder and ride faster thru the trails, it would be a challenge. Try not to dab thru "Handlebar Forrest". I think a lost a lot of skin on them trees, it's very, very twisty thru them trails, there about handlebar width, if that. The trees are mostly 3 inches thick, so you could forcefully bang your handlebars thru them. Although this park may not have any steep downhill sections to please the downhillers, but the trails are fun and not boring at all. There are enough log and stream crossings and trees to avoid hitting to make for some fun riding. Beware though, there are tons of deer. I have seen at least 20 in some spots and a dam herd (maybe 30 deeer) crossing the road, for a split second I thought I was driving thru the Safari at Great Adventure.

    THANKS to SMART for maintaining this park. I have joined them, this past year to give back to one of my favorite riding spot. Do you do trail maintenance and where?

happy trails (corny, huh?)
dirty bert

Dave Attell at Carolines, NYC

Here's Dave Attell at Carolines at NYC.



Not to bad for a camera phone picture. I gotta say Dave Attell ROCKS!! if you can get a chance to see him, GO!!! he was so funny. Although, I wished the table next to us got tossed, they heckled all during the show, it would have been interesting to hear Dave talk about it at the next show.

Ever been to Carolines in NYC? I was suprised. If you do go there, Get a reservation for dinner, you actually get a better seating for the show. I sat 3 people to the stage. The tickets are 35 bucks each with a 2 drink mininum (and that includes soda) You can also eat while the show is going on but we weren't interested in that.

Wish I had more pics of the show. Afterwards we went to the Red Rock Saloon. The link isn't there real website, it seems to be under construction. But this place can be a lot of fun ESPECIALLY when your women gets on the bar to dance with the other gurls. The movie Coyote Ugly was based from this bar. Lotsa durty girls are ther, go and see.

dirty bert

All Hail the King!!

Here's a pic of the King enjoying a milkshake at White Castle. I wonder if Warren ever found that WC box under his car seat. There was a special treat inside the carton, a onion chip and sum ketchup. Mmmmm white castle, aka belly bombers.

I remember riding at Watchung Reservation and afterwards on our way home on Rt. 22 we'd stop for a healthy meal at White Castle. And ocasionally, we'd shoot across 22 and park and eat in Living Well Lady's parking lot. It was our reward after riding and sloppin' in those trails. And I think it was even more fun to watch the womens, step on the stair masters while we ate our White Castles just below them.

Ahh the good ol' days.

-old dirty bert