Saturday, July 14, 2018

Riding MTB with clipless pedals

Back in 1994, biking to work all the time, I saw people on MTB bikes...sort of like now with everyone driving off-road SUVs in the city...and wondered why people bought them. Was lucky enough to go to Martock that summer for the Canadian MTB Nationals and see Alison Sydor (top-ranked CDN MTB racer).

Quite enthused, I bought a used MTB racing bike from a kid in Falmouth..and a few weeks later was racing in a snowstorm around Spider Lake with home-made studded tires and toe-clip pedals (photo below).

Yes, that's current helmet. I still have the bike, jacket and gloves.

​ I raced MTB (Novice & Sport) for 3 years, switching to clipless the first year (still have the scars and bone chips to prove it). If you race MTB, it sucks up your life, even more than 10Km road-racing...and I had to stop. Switched back to toe-clips to use the bike to commute to Dal in winter.

Still have and use the same MTB bike a few rides a year...but the toe-clips disintegrated. Today, I figured out enough tools and torque to wrest the old pedals off and put back the clipless pedals.

To say this makes me happy would be an understatement. Been riding in Spider Lake area the past few years...and the toe-clips just don't do it...there is a reason why clipless pedals were invented. Now I can do my scouting trips clipped in...trying to find trails north of Lake Major and towards Three Mile Lake (where we have been working on the DNR cabin the past few years).

Of course, it is 25 years later, so the variables have changed. I'm older, so the chances of getting hurt are higher. We have a lot of technology, so knowing where I am is much easier...as is letting others know where I am...or hoped to be.

Been 20 years since I used these shoes and pedals on my MTB bike.

Monday, April 23, 2018

When Persistence Meets Stoopidity

When we bought the house, there were 3 upstairs storage areas...sort of like an attic...they are called knee-wall crawl-storage and are common to what is called storey and a half houses. One crawl space runs the 24' of the house, the other is split by the stairs...so an 8' space and a 12' space.

One of the smaller spaces was finished in the big bedroom...and was one of the reasons I wanted to buy the house. Buddy had stripped the insulation from the interior roof and moved it to the knee-wall, then vented the space. He also sealed the entry door. I really liked what he had already done. On my to-do list was todo the same to the rest of the spaces.

In the pic, you see the smaller 8' space after I have installed a floor. Prior to that, it was just an un-ventilated spaced with cellulose, the knee-wall insulation and nothing else.

This is messy work in a tight space. Safety goggles, ventilator, long-sleeve shirt. Lots of cellulose and old fibre-glass insulation floating around. The space is 4' x 4' x maybe 7' on the long angle. Everything is done on hands&knees and a lot of it above your head. Not nice to a young back and really abusive to my compromised back.

So nice to clear the space and make it easier to use.

I vented each space. No need to insulate...as the knee-walls are insulated. The big problem is air-flow. I vented each space to outside the house and then ensured that the spaces splt by the stairs were ventilated to each other.

You can see the knee-wall insulation and the tuck tape to keep things closed off. You can also see the outside ventilation access.

OK. I placed all the storage junk back in the space. All this legwork is a small thing...but cheap to do...the T&G is cottage-grade and really the manual labor is the hard part.

Now, I am working on the 24' section and it is ugly. There is old, beat-off fibre-glass insulation, bits of old wiring, roof-sheahing, rafter insulation, staples, nails...UGLY!!!

Hard to believe this will ever look nice.

After i clean off all the old insulation, staples and nails...I build a secondary knee-wall to hold the T&G. Because the flooring joist did not match up with the rafters...I bolted a vertical 2x4 all along the flooring to give me something to bolt onto.

As I am filling in the space, you can see the 2x4 bottom, and the vent installed to allow air to flow behind the T&G.

I stripped all the old fibreglass off the pipes and did them in the same style as the basement...carpet underlay first...then surrounded by that Reflex silver, bubble-wrap stuff and sealed with Tuck Tape.

The vent to my room ran partially into the flooring, so I boxed it all in, allowing me to store stuff on top on the structure.

Can't tell you how hard it is to work at floor level on your hands&knees, getting the support infrastructure in place. The only harder thing is working on hands&knees above your head. You'd be surprised how much you have to move laterally to get anything done.

We had an old kid toy that had a bad wheel that could not be fixed...so I sealed it behind the little 2' knee-wall. Who knows...may give someone a shock in the future.

24' is a long space. All the lumber had to be cut out in the shed, which means crawling out of the space, walking downstairs and out to the shed in the backyard to get at the chop-saw. Impossible to work with 8' lumber in such a confined space.

TaDa!! Vents at the end, vents along the smaller knee-wall. Vented at the top. Nice, solid floor and nice, clean T&G walls. Hard to justify this in terms of effort. Basically cost about $12 a foot to make and took about a hour per foot to build.

That being said, really glad to have it done and the person who buys this house may be just as glad.

Saturday, December 09, 2017

Indonesia

Easily my favorite place to travel. Ecuador is #2...this is a little tour of people and sights. Travelling alone and staying in hostels is a very social way to travel.

Met Pia and Eva in Jakarta. We met 2 weeks later in Pangandaran (surf town) and spent a few days together, then partied a few days in YogJakarta. Lost track of them when I got the foot infection, but we stayed in touch online for a few years


Pia and I shared a meal of snake in YogJakarta (python & cobra). One was difficult to eat, the other impossible


I did volcano hopping with the French guy (Guy) on the left for a few days. Wak (with the kid) and his wife kept in touch for a few years as well, they are from Malaysia


I photo-bombed these 3 Muslim girls in a park in Bodor and we became Facebook friends for a year or so. Definitely a different culture


Chummed with everyone in this crowd for almost 2 weeks... The Indonesian is Dimdim, who guided our jungle trips. The next girl, Andrea...I surfed with for a few days, the next guys are from the Canyoning trip. The 2 girls are Dutch and we spent 3 days with Dimdim on motorcycles and in the jungle. The guy to my right, we did a few volcanos together with a Russian 'croo and got caught in some bad weather


Marla, Dutch dad, Venezuelan Mom. I gave her a trail name ...Bikini Boots. Her friend became Dimdim Boots (long story)


Bikini Boots and Dimdim


The Canyoning 'croo from Pangandaran. We motor-biked out to this place in torrential rainstorm, mud all over the road and spent 3 hours on a river with no humans within 5 km and lava rock, mud and a fast river to contend with, Did a 10m jump as part of this...10m is NOT 7m like I did with Marla on the jungle hike...the difference is palpable


Bandung volcano...VOLCANO #1 of a week-long volcano chasing trip


Merbabu...VOLCANO #2 the day after..no pics on hike cause of big rainstorm. 4 of us end up in a woman's house, no place to go. We buy dry tshirts and underwear from a local store and she feeds us soup and beer


VOLCANO #3, Bromo...very famous. A very cool day all around. We got up at 4AM to get there for sunrise and then hiked the craters and rims all day


VOLCANO #4...Ijen...the lighting was like the morning we canoed in Big Hubley...easily one of my favorite memories

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Hiking the White Mtns 2015

   Rosco, Fireball, JB, Dipper, Sun god and Pack It In, all fresh and rarin' to go

   One KM to Go at some decent elevation

   Bruce and Wayne looking at Mt. Eisenhower

   Man wears a kilt, fanciest piece of kit he owns

   Wayne has never been lost, so easy to see from 2 kms, even in the fog.

   This stuff used to be so easy...

   I love waterfalls

   First swim of the week

   Day #3, some people are hurting

   Don't what sort of growth this is...looked quite creepy up close

   Just hang a left after the crevasse

   Fire Tower hike, just before the downpour

   Yes, I hike with an umbrella. What of it?

   You can't see the angle here, but the downhike was treacherous, all wet rock and mud

   A Walk In The Woods

   Like I said, I hike with an umbrella. No rain shell, so you don't heat up when climbing in the rain

   Getting to the top of Ammonoosuc, my favorite hike in White Mtns

   Ah, the Lakes of the Clouds hut...time for soup, check on the Gonzo licence plate whereabouts, and go jump in one of the lakes at 5000'. Snappy!

   Swim #3. Always a mental challenge to get in there.

   Gem Pool after the rain. Have swam here before, but not today.

   As the 'croo was at Sabbaday Falls, I had to hitchhike/walk back to the Farm. Little local colour

   Love the clutter

   If you see this man in the woods, run the other way

   Wayne actually working hard

   Lovely little waterfall over the mossy bank

   Love pictures at elevation, especially after a decent hike up

   Swim #4, coming down off Wiley

   What are you doing, Wayne?

   The 'pose'

   The Three Amigos

   Murphy adds a little color wherever he goes

   Bubbles?

   Ah, bubbles.