Hike, Bike, Dale!

Back at cooking...

2020-08-11T21:07:00.001-07:00

Been feeling some motivations... working on cornbread today.

On my 3.5 hour ride today I noticed they're building some sort of pipeline very interesting I'm sure it's probably going to carry petroleum

2020-04-26T13:16:00.001-07:00

Driveway series week 3! 3.3 watts/kilo!

2020-04-02T20:29:00.001-07:00

Rode gravel today, er yesterday...

2020-04-01T05:42:00.001-07:00

Had some uploading issue... but it was a good ride.

test 2

2019-10-24T13:07:00.001-07:00

test

2019-10-17T19:15:00.001-07:00

2018 WurstCross Festival!! 3rd Place Podium!

2018-11-12T08:00:00.002-08:00

Well folks, I finally had things line up and come together for a podium spot late in the afternoon. Many folks were gone, even during my race, people were tearing down some of the event stuff. But here are a few shots of my later afternoon charge to stay away from the guy behind me and work to not make any stupid mistakes, and just finish strong. I sprinted to the finish, because Austin told me, "You ALWAYS sprint to the finish, no matter what!"

Scuffle

2018-11-03T15:07:00.001-07:00

Here is my bike after a warm up lap, pre-race conditions, and I had not even gone through the mud pit yet!

Annette

2018-10-28T09:57:00.001-07:00

Mellow Johnny's Cross of Ages

2018-10-28T07:09:00.001-07:00

Mellow Johnny's Cross of Ages... We're here!

2018-10-27T08:53:00.001-07:00

Mellow Johnny's Cross of Ages... We're here!

2018 Stockdale Gravel Roundup

2018-05-03T11:57:00.001-07:00

What a race, and what a story to tell, in my view. I had a GREAT time at this race, and just a great experience overall. I think I made a few people upset, but like I will tell... "That's racing!"

Just about a week before this event, I decided that I would roll with my teammates and wear my team kit. I have been so busy that I didn't start checking my bike until the night before. It turns out the chain had sort of gotten a touch of rusty appearance. Nothing big, it had been about a month since it was sitting inside of the guest house shipping container. So moisture was not really a thing, but the last time I rode it was another gravel race. So it was really dry and dusty.

I took it out and realized that there were a few things I needed to update. I was SO frustrated at home because I did not have the things I needed to fix it right then. So I packed up all my stuff and settled for the night.

The next morning I woke up and drove into town because I needed some key things. I needed my tool box, my bike work stand, my Camelbak, and the inline barrel adjuster to install along with a new shifter cable. It is all still at my office, so I grabbed that and a breakfast taco and drove the 1 hr 15 min to Stockdale. When I got there, I was about 45 minutes from the start of the race. So I had to move quick. I installed the new front shifter cable and the inline barrel adjuster in about 10 minutes. That was such a relief. Once done, I started warming up and got water for the race.

I met up with Terry from San Antonio. I know her through my friend Mitchell, who works at REI. We opened the San Antonio store in 2013 I think. The race took off and after the first mile of slow rolling behind the lead vehicle, it started picking up quick.

One thing that made me laugh was I was watching the race ahead and all of a sudden I saw the whole pack, just stop in the middle of the road. I looked at my Garmin, because I had the course downloaded, and I realized they were more than a football field past the left turn! OH NO! We all made the turn and then started hammering down the road. At least in my mind hammering... then about 3 minutes later, the group passed me and the riders around me with a serious pace being set. First they came up on the right, and then the left and then up the middle. People were jockeying all over the place to keep up with the group. It seems like total craziness.

Once they passed and things began to settle down, I tried to get with folks who I knew I could stay with, but still put out a good solid amount of effort. I wanted to do the best I could.

Eventually about 24 miles in, I could not catch a guy that was 200 meters or more in front of me solo, at that point I was solo. Then 2 riders were coming up on me from the back. I did not LET them catch me, but due to the nature of their pace, they caught me. They were both on mountain bikes. I jumped on their wheel and still had to work pretty hard to keep up with them. Eventually maybe a mile or 2 before the finish we caught up to the guy I could not catch myself. There was no indications to me in any manner that the 2 guys I was sitting in on, asked me to work, nor did they talk to me. So I was just waiting and being level headed about my efforts. Then we turned into the final 500 meters and the guy who was doing all the work from the duo I jumped on sort of dropped off. The second of the duo and the guy we caught started to wind up the sprints. I figured well, I had better give this a go and see how I fair. Turns out I wound up out sprinting both of the contestants in that sprint. Meaning I got up 3 places in 500 meters. Man that felt good.

After a 2-3 minutes rest I went and told the guys, "Hey great ride!" and the 1 guy who started the sprint, from the duo just scorned with attitude said, "Yeah NEXT TIME DO SOME WORK!" I was very caught off guard as I am still new to racing. But last time I checked this was a race. So I just held my head high and knew in my mind that I had done the right thing tactically.

Later on while waiting for my teammates, I saw the other of the duo at the LCD screen showing the outcome of the race. I asked him, "So your buddy was a bit pissed off there about the finish?" He had a New Zealand or Austrailian accent and he sort of seemed to indicate that I should have just let them take their respective places since as he stated, "I didn't do any work." I pretty much boldly just told him, "Is that YOUR rule? Last time I checked this was a race!" Then I just walked off.

When my teammates finally arrived and were ready to talk, we chatted about what happened. Austin specifically said that this is exactly what I should have done. This is a race, and they should have dropped me or asked me to work. In which case, you can always refuse to work with or for someone. Bottom line is "That's racing!"

Driveway Series week 7 - Squadra Gregario podium champagne bubbly popping shots womens podium

2018-04-27T07:54:00.001-07:00

So the race went ok for me and many others. However, in the final bunch sprint, there was a pretty nasty crash. I went off into the grass and was very thankful not to get tangled up in that mess. I did hear that a radical amount of sounds that honestly were wrenching to my mind and heart at the moments of the crash. I heard that classics dragging, grinding, carbon crunching, and then a large SNAP sound. I heard that one guy completely broke his fork, while another girl suffered broken fingers and lost a few teeth. That really makes me sketched out... but if you want to race, take it or leave it.

Here are the shots from the podium where Squadra Gregario sponsors the race and provides the Champagne each week for the whole season. Thanks Mike for helping make some great moments with the help of our team. I aim to contribute to the cost of providing this stuff once I see you again at the races.

New Shimano Ultegra R8000 with GS rear derailleur & 11-34 cassette

2018-04-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

If any of you have seen the post about the Tour Das Hugel, I rode the new R8000 groupset with the new 11-34 cassette. Oh man this is just a terrific groupset and AMAZING gear ratios. I didn't realize it until my buddy commented, that this is 34 in the front and 34 in the back when you have a compact chain set.

When you have the front chain ring in the 50 tooth big ring, and then in the 34 on the rear cassette, it feels like 34 in the front and 28 in the back. So in a sense I found myself riding in the big ring up front and staying there, while working through the rear cassette. Sort of like a 1x drivetrain. I love that overall setup.

If I had to have 1 setup for a really long time, or if I was setting off into the wild blue yonder for an adventure, I would put 53/34 in the front, which is a combination of standard and compact gears. Then in the rear, 11-34 cassette. This way you can reach 53/11 for speed, and still a 34/34 for climbing. What a wide range of gears. Maybe as I get more into touring later in life, I will go with that.

Tear down and prep for the new Shimano Ultegra R8000 groupset

2017-11-14T08:48:00.001-08:00

In preparation of the new Shimano Ultegra R8000 groupset, I had to tear down my bike and get it ready for the installation of the new equipment. Here are some shots after I tore down all the drivetrain, cleaned all the parts in the parts washer at the bike shop. At this point the frame was clean, greased where needed, and ready to install the new groupset.

I used the product Pedros Bike Lust for the first time ever. This was an amazing product. The chief bike mechanic at the shop that I work at gave me a chamois cloth and a bottle of Bike Lust and told me to literally just spray it on the chamois and use that in a 1 pass cleaning option. I cannot believe how amazing it was. It only took 1 pass to clean and literally bring the frame back to a very clean shine. All on 1 towel, and NO WATER needed. If you know where I live, I am limited on water at the house, and this is now my go to method of cleaning my bike. I love that method at this point.

Clean bottom bracket and braze on mounting unit

Cleaned the rear triangle and the brake mounting point.

Clean headset cups top and bottom

After cleaning the head tube cups, I re-greased the inside of the cups and the crown race portion of the fork. Then I placed the bearings back in the cup and the fork before reinstalling to the frame.

In the past I had very sticky and dry barrel adjusters on the down tube for shift adjustments. This time I removed them, wiped them clean and then greased the threads of the metal liner that fits inside the barrel adjusters. I hope this makes adjustments in the field more smooth.

Cleaned up the bottle cages, and greased the threads of the bolts, then re-installed.

This is the picture of the old Shimano Ultegra 6800 11 speed groupset after all parts had been cleaned in the parts washing machine at the shop.

Tour Das Hugel!

2017-11-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

Tour Das Hugel was this weekend. I can confidently say that is one hell of a ride!!!

I rode the complete ride thanks to my buddy Cody Summers. He is in the pictures wearing black. He played a critical role in navigating us through the ride for the whole 110 miles.

I tried to setup the course in my Garmin, but after the 7 am start, the directions were not loading. About 20 miles in, I noticed that the directions were not displaying as one would normally expect. I totally disregarded that until we got done with the first lap, which was about 40 miles. Then we stopped at the car and ate lunch. I had brought pocket bread, rotisserie chicken salad, tomatoes, onions and I put that together for a nice sandwich. Cody had bananas and PB&J! Classic and so much more simple than mine.

Once we started again it was clear that I needed to attempt to fix the mapping situation on my Garmin. So I stopped the course and then restarted the course on my Garmin Edge 1000. The problem was that there were overlaps in the course, and that caused problems. Now the Garmin kept telling me to turn around and do a U-turn. This, to my interpretation, was because the route we were riding on was the return route. This meant that the Garmin cannot distinguish anything but the idea that you are heading to the finish line. I was totally insecure and I was totally upset that somehow we were going to get off track and that the full route was somehow not going to get completed. If that happened, then I would FAIL!!! I know that some people would disagree and not be so hard on themselves, but this is the Hugel!!! I mean take my buddy Keith, in my mind he sort of had an epic fail. He rode with someone who was unprepared, and they even missed 18 miles of the route. So does this mean he rode the Hugel? Not really. One could only say that he "attempted the Hugel". In this case, I give Cody so much credit for my luck in choosing a great riding buddy.

Here in the 2 above photos, is Cody and I about to hit one of the hardest & steepest climb of the whole ride. Smokey Valley!!! Many riders just got off their bikes and walked. I used a slow and steady method, which got me to the top, no stopping, no foot on the ground, and no zig zagging. I went straight up the hill! I felt that was due to the gearing that I chose. To be clear, I rode an 11-34 cassette while Cody rode an 11-28 cassette. I will be posting a new updated overview, no review, of that new drivetrain that I am riding at this time.

I got 2 flats on the ride, and I really learned a lot from those experiences. I carried 2 tubes from the start. When I got the first flat, I had 1 CO2 (not good) and a hand pump for the ride. I was priming the first tube, before using my only CO2. Much to my dismay, the tube had a hole, and it was useless. Cody could not find his patch kit, and so I went to the second tube I had in the bag. Which now left me with NO tubes in spare. Bad planning. I should have checked my tubes ahead of the ride and taken inventory in my seat bag. That was my fail. Maybe an hour later, I got another flat on the second tube. But this time Cody handed me a tube, and just as he handed it to me, he found the patch kit and I went with patching the tube. So I ended up riding the rest of the ride with the patched tube, and suffered no other issues after that. Man was that just terrific.

This is a shot of the rest stop at mile 70, and then back around at about 87 miles. They were packing up and we grabbed water and something snacky and rolled to the finish line. Below is a shot of the dam that we visited after the first rest stop and before the revisit of that stop.

This shot of my Garmin is at the second rest stop.

Below you can see the shot of downtown Austin from the route. That was so much more of a beautiful shot at this point than that picture can provide.

Once we returned and got our shirts, we could also have beer. I chugged this PBR!!

Getting back in the saddle... figuratively

2017-11-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

It has been a long long while since I was getting the posts up on the blog. I have found some time, motivation, and I am ready to get back to posting some things that I hope folks will find of interest. I have not been hiking pretty much at all since the AT trip. However, I have been biking, A LOT!

So with that said, expect lots and lots of cycling stuff, as that is most certainly the highlight of the day. For reference, I just got the new Shimano Ultegra R8000 groupset delivered. So we are going to do a full bike breakdown and analysis. Then we will rebuild it with the new groupset. Annette, my wife, will be receiving the current groupset, Ultegra 6800 11 speed, on her carbon road bike.

That and so much more to some. Stay tuned!

BAM BAM at a high Sierra lake!

2014-06-12T10:09:00.001-07:00

BAM BAM glisading!

2014-06-12T10:06:00.005-07:00

BAM BAM on the PCT - received June 11, 2014

2014-06-12T10:02:00.001-07:00

More BAM BAM on the PCT! - Received May 27, 2014

2014-06-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Bam Bam's second photo update

2014-05-01T19:14:00.001-07:00

Looks like Bam Bam thinks Idylwild to I-10 is awesome! And I think he was being facecious when he said that there were so many campsites to choose from. That reference was the pic with the tent.

LOVE the TrailGroove magazine accent dude!

Bam Bam's PCT thru-hike

2014-04-29T08:38:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine from the AT hike updated me that he is doing the PCT this year. I will post any pics or specifics he sends me. Here is the first set of pics. The desert looks amazing!

Coupon code for Monkey Pillows: SUMMERDEAL25

2013-05-13T14:55:00.004-07:00

New summer coupon offer now available until the end date of Aug 31, 2013!

Click here to shop

Closer and closer...

2013-05-09T21:37:00.001-07:00

Looks like we are getting a lot closer to a new sewing machine at a much quicker pace than expected. We sold a used Iphone and both of the previously listed items at this point. We are nearly ready to place our order for the new machine. Right now unless otherwise advised, we are planning on buying a Brother SE400. That machine has quite the reviews, and also has quite the amount of features that could really lead to success for HikeBikeDale.com. Thanks for all the support that everyone has offered... and we will soon be placing our order for a new machine!!