What the f*ck is the royal baby's name already?

Perfect Frame to Complement the Lefty Fork

The RIGHTY Frame

From http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662064/almost-genius-a-beautiful-bike-frame-that-requires-less-metal

This looks strong.  NOT!

New Krampus

17lb rear pressure, 12lb front
1st ride this morning.
No chain keeper, but the clutch rear der kept everything from falling off line.  I'm a believer so far.

Spokes on Hand 07/20/13

Spokes on Hand 07/20/13

Length (mm)	Count	Notes
254	7
256	3
258	7
261	2
262	1
266	5
272	4	butted
286	1
288	8
290 291	9 8	butted
292	24

294    34    butted

296     2     butted

Peet-zah!

Fairland Ride

Stole a ride with Burner, KC, NewMark, and Jake yesterday at Fairland Recreational Park.

Funny thing is that before Jen and I were married we used to ride in these woods and it was dirtbike and 4 wheeler trails back then.  She used to live right on Greencastle road.  Trails are much better now.  Lots of gravel on the sandy soil trail surfaces help them drain real well.  A few cool skinnys to play on too.

Patapsco 100 - 33 miler

 http://patapsco100.com/

Rode the 33 on a 1x8 29er.  The heat, humidity, and lack of a granny gear kept me from venturing in the pain cave for some of the ridable uphills that I walked.  Rode alone for long stretches but usually had some company with other 33ers that were going about my pace.

Trails were super enjoyable.  First time I'd ridden any of them and they reminded me a lot of Pisgah, NC (only without 1 hour fireroad climbs, 10 minute descents, or rhododendrons).  Loved the rockovers and creek crossings and switchback climbs.  Aid station was well stocked and super friendly and helpful for hydration, nutrition, and lube.  Course signage was great (and the handwritten Fun Signs were awesome)...any time I started wondering if I'd gone the wrong way it was never long til I saw another red arrow to ease my worry.

Does anyone ride that last rocky climb???  Ouch.  Rolling up the park road to the finish was the most painful time for me.  Not having a granny helped me pass and put some distance on a few other 33ers that had bailout gearing.   No more than 1/2 mile from the finish a hand on my rear gave me a push and a voice said, "Hey, Bill."  It was Pat Blair lapping me on his SS.  He then continues to talk to another rider (the 1st place rider that he just passed) in normal converstional tone while muscling his SS up the grueling road.  He's a beast!

Showboated thru the finish line by jumping off the back and ghost riding the bike into the meadow.  My 8 year old, Abby, saw it and said, "That was cool, Dad."  I'm glad somebody saw it because it cost me a broken trigger shifter and bonked my Garmin hard enough to trick it into thinking that I did one 33.78 mile lap in 1 second at an average speed of 133,000 mile per hour.  That's only a few thousand off of the speed of light!

I think I finished in about 5:35.  Can't wait to see the results.

BB

Bike Maryland License Plate Program

$35 just to join BikeMD and be eligible to pay $25/tag more on top of that.  Gah!

Lemme tell you a little story.

When I was a young lad, I asked, "Hey Dad, Can we get a vanity license plate."

Dad replied in his Jacksonville, FL accent, 

"Billy.  

A - We not going to pay the state extra on top of tag fee that is already too high

B - We already have tags on both vehicles

C - If you're ever in a situation where you want to make a clean getaway, it's better to have a tag number that's tough to remember

You follow me, son?"

"Yes Dad," I followed, "but what if we got NMNNMNM?  That'd be impossible to read from 10 yards away?"

Dad said, "Nope, it's still not worth the $35."

Lesson learned.

Now that I'm a grumpy old Dad myself, I'd like to add this fourth axiom to my old man's mantra:

"D - Nobody driving in a vehicle behind you cares what your interests are (except for maybe the random cop who will single you out for the ticket because he hates the thing you like and can't keep to yourself)"

Forecast

The Lannisters are Apple

Blackberry is Hodor. 

Jon Snow is a HTC One with a cracked screen and CyanogenMod, that bastard.