As everyone on the east coast knows, logs are a large part of riding a mountain bike. Clearing big logs is the most practical skill that anyone can learn. Knowing how to get over logs of any size quickly and without damaging the bike is a skill that can make riding much more enjoyable. I am a proponent of riding as smoothly as possible. Staying light on the bike will make it last longer and that is important when the goal is to complete the race.

Who is doing what? The first and least technical is the cyclocross dismount. It entails unclipping the right foot, dismounting the frame, stepping between the left foot and frame while rolling, stepping to the ground, and following through by slinging the bike onto the riders back. The rider then runs over the log, drops the bike to the ground and jumps on top of it at speed. This method still has a place when crossing narrow bridges that can’t be trusted.

The “chain ring attack” as I am going to call it is one of the only faux pas that can be committed on the trail. This act is usually done by lifting the front wheel up and over the log allowing the rider to land the chain ring on top of the log. The rider then leans, peddles, and grinds his or her way over the log. I’m not sure if I even need to say why this is a jackass move. If this is where you are, then you owe it to yourself to make the following procedure your own.

Start by approaching a parking block at a reasonable speed. Lift the front tire landing it on top of the parking block and immediately follow through by lifting the rear of the bike with your clipless pedals so that the rear tire transitions to the top of the parking block. Think of the technique as at three-step movement. Step one is to lift the front tire. Two, use your clipless pedals and momentum to hop the rear wheel to the place formerly occupied by the front wheel. Three, continue rolling forward as the rear wheel falls from the obstacle.

It is important to practice this move many times on a parking block before attempting it on a larger obstacle. The muscles in your body need repetition to memorize the complex movement. This is good news. It means that everyone can eventually master the skill of flying over large logs at full speed. The key is practice. Just remember to stick to parking blocks for at least a week. Practice makes permanent, not perfect.

The Boat Show is back and it has a new name. It’s now called the Boating and Lifestyle show. I think the name is a little more progressive than they know. I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of a gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender identifying individual boat show. Ahoy, mate.

This year at the show, there are a few boats that stand apart from the rest. Sima marine is displaying a 40ft maroon Marquis. The Marquis line has come a long way over the last three years, and this 40SC is a great package. It has the newest Volvo IPS drives, which can be seen in the photos that I took. The IPS drives are fully and independently maneuverable allowing the boat to move in any direction or spin in place.

River Front Yacht Services has two lobster boat inspired Back Cove yachts. The larger of the two is a 33’ day boat. It’s simplicity and graceful lines exude class. The Back Cove line offer true blue hulls, unlike other brands that simply paint the hulls of their boats. River Front also has a full display of navigation equipment, replacement engines and generator sets.

I wrote this crazy lesson a few years back for another site. Of course, its fiction, it does not work. Trying this is a bad idea.

However, anyone looking to break the traction beerier on his or her mountain bike should give the idea some consideration. Sliding through the dirt requires all of the same principles and the result will make you a faster rider.

So without further adieu the thing that you should not do,

I’ll break it down for you because drifting or sliding any car is easier than you think. The idea behind doing this requires the driver to understand that maintaining the cars balance is the most important thing to do. As you turn into the corner, slowly turn in before the corner; this will compress the springs on the outside of the car. Pull down on the steering wheel to make the turn. While turning make all of your movements slower than normal, keep the springs on the outside of the car compressed and don’t upset the cars trajectory by shifting the weight of the car. Add gas until you reach the end of the tires static friction. This is where you will notice the car begin to move outward. In a nice big corner, this will happen around 60 mph. Holding the steering wheel in place you will be able to add gas and move away from the curb or let off and move in toward the curb. It’s simple.
To use the same corner as an example accelerating to 65-70 will put the car into a full drift. The car will start to rock nose/tail, in/out in a pendulum swing as you balance the throttle and wheel position.

• First, find a nice 270-degree highway on-ramp that you feel comfortable with.
• Enter at a good clip
• Load the springs (stock, race, $$$, doesn’t matter)
• Add gas

I know my audience. Don’t over prepare for this, it’s not that big of a deal. Don’t get caught up in exacting your tire pressure, buying all the right parts, or getting special tires. However, having a stiff rear sway bar will help keep the front end of the car from pushing through the corner.
Remember to put your seat up nice and straight so that you can reach everything and increase your speed incrementally.

I am going to take my car to the stealership to have it repaired. It has had problems idling at a reasonable level and random misses on all cylinders. The throttle rises and drops on its own when the car is out of gear. Adding to this, sometimes the fuel will cut off early causing a misfire. I have tried many things to fix the problem but none has had an effect on the core problem. The scrolling tachometer has gotten the best of me. I give up.

They are going to rake me over the coals at the stealership. I am sure that they are not going to like my car. It will face the prejudice of some mechanic who will blame all of its problems on some added bit rather than look for the real cause. I will be looking through the window when he opens the hood just to see his lips form the words “not stock”. This type of attitude plagues everything that people do. In every aspect of life someone will say, “The guy that was in here last did everything wrong”. It is a cancer in the workplace. Blaming the poor quality of the finished work on work previously done is a way to distance oneself from taking true ownership in the finished product.

As bleak as the evil empire stealership is, an honest ray of hope still exists in the car repair business. Roldan’s car service in Fairview is charging me $10 to mount and balance two tires, and $19 to do an alignment, less if I help. Moreover, that goes for anyone, his garage is a self-service garage. I have been there before and until now never paid out more than $11 to do anything. Consider this place if you have any repairs to do, you will be pleasantly surprised.

The fastest handling ride you will never get to try, this is the Bone Head Horse.

Designed to be an east coast cruise missile, the Horse defined thinking outside the box. Goal 1 was to build a fast handling cross-country frame that could be guided by the rider leaning his head from side to side. Two, design the frame to dampen vibration through flexible sections in the rear triangle.  Three, Allow the frame to flex along the seat post axis for two wheel steering characteristics. Four, Make this all happen without pivots and entirely out of aluminum.

Riding the Bone Head Horse is invigorating. When viewed on level ground the bottom bracket is on an equal plain with the rear dropout. This aspect gives the rider the ability to change directions by using minimal body input. Its short chain stays and tall bottom bracket give the rider a feeling of being above the bike rather than being a part of it. It is a little unnerving to ride on the bike path. In fact, it is hard to keep the bike in one lane. The true character does not become clear until you hit the trail.

Off road, the quickness of the ride takes some getting used to. Everything about the bike is aggressive. The cockpit is long and low which is excellent for climbing. The long stem puts the rider’s weight well in front of the rear axle, which makes climbing out of the saddle easy. Still, it allows the rider to take the most ridiculous lines imaginable through rock gardens. When traveling slowly through difficult terrain the steep head tube angle permits the rider to react to any opportunity. The Bone Head is so willing to carve it frees the rider up to look further down the trail.

Accessing the hidden benefits of the frames reactive rear wheel steering takes daring. It requires a skilled rider to push the bike hard enough to gain benefits from the flexible rear triangle. A one-inch square section of tube connects the upper and lower stays to the front triangle. The small contact patch allows the frame to flex laterally on the two square tubes. The theory works, but the paint and aluminum crack around the areas. On later frames, titanium is used instead of aluminum as a frame material.

The aluminum frame has a limited lifespan of about three months. The cracks come so quickly and in such numbers that as a rider you become numb to them. Upon noticing the first cracks, you would order a new frame. By the time it would arrive, the bike could have tens of cracks. Some would connect to other cracks. Strings of little hairline dash marks would ring the welds around the bottom bracket and dropouts. Others would form on or near the head tube junctions. Nonetheless the bike held together and instilled confidence that it would be capable of another ride.

So, why is this relevant? The ideas that make this bike an amazingly fast east coast ride were not exclusive to Bone Head. Gary Fisher has been developing the Genesis geometry platform for nearly ten years. Genesis geometry shares some of the same basic ideas like a longer top tube and shorter stays. The latest generation G2 genesis geometry increases the head tube angle for better low speed handling and adds a custom fork to maintain wheelbase. Gary Fisher has taken the best parts of what the Bone Head had to offer and added safety, predictability, and consistency.

Bone Head Bicycles Inc.

Built in Fredonia Pennsylvania from 1996 - 1999

I have uploaded a bunch of classic racing photos.If you have been racing for a number of years you may be in the slide show.

A 'heads up' for you guys who, like me, may be regular Lowe's or Home Depot customers. During the last month or so I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you or your friends.

Here's how the scam works:

Two awesomely good-looking 20-25 year-old girls come over to your vehicle as you are packing your stuff in. While one helps load your stuff, the other starts wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex, and their breasts are almost falling out of their skimpy tee-shirts. It is impossible not to look.

When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say no thanks and instead ask you for a ride to another Home Depot or Lowe's. You agree and they get in the back seat. On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen October 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, & 24th. Also November 1st, 4th, twice on the 10th, three times just yesterday, and very likely again this upcoming weekend.

I’m bothered when news anchors hype the price of gas to stir up the general public. Although, I have to admit it is entertaining to watch the remote camera crew interview some rube at the pump. If anyone would bother to do the math, most would see that the annual cost difference is negligible. I became interested in this after wondering what the next ten years of economic change will bring. At some point, everyone will have to buy a fuel-efficient car, but that’s my point. Now is not the time to buy a car specifically designed to be fuel-efficient.

 To start, the difference in cost between filling my tank at $2.75 gallon and 3.09 is only $4. If I drove 15,000 miles using premium fuel at $3.09 per gallon the fuel cost would be $1655. The same distance on regular gas would be $1607. The fuel cost for driving a hybrid Toyota Prius using regular gas is $966. The difference in cost seems to be large enough to consider driving a Prius. Now, diesel, the cost of driving a diesel Jetta is $1380. The advantage to driving a hybrid vehicle at this point is small, $689 over gas and $414 diesel.

2006’ Toyota Prius 45 mpg, 2006 VW Jetta diesel 39 mpg, 2005 Honda Civic Si 28 mpg

Consider now the enjoyment factor. The Prius has a real world 0-60 time of 11.3 seconds thanks in part to extra torque from it’s electric motor. The diesel ran the longest time of 12.4 seconds. This is in great part due to the Jetta’s 3306 lb curb weight. Comparatively, the Honda comes in at 4.9 seconds. This is directly related to it’s supercharged 240 wheel hp and 2470 lb curb weight.

Early adopters do a service for the rest of us. They are the front line in funding the machine that will ultimately bring forth a proper hybrid. In ten years when China and India have twice the number of cars on the road as we do and oil is $400 per barrel, I will be driving a 350 hp electric car. Until then I will be ripping by Prius owners while they shake their fists in vain.

The setting for many narrow escapes and a number of moments that are forever engraved in my memory. I have never been much of a jumper, but that is about to change. Now, every of my visits to Ray’s is accompanied by twenty runs through the ramps. I do all of my riding at Ray’s on my Gary Fisher Ziggurat cross-country bike, of course clipped in with the seat jacked up. A long time ago, a pro rider told me that I should do all of my training on the bike I plan on racing. This way there will no question as to whether I can do the move in a race. Practice makes permanent.

On Friday, I had my first jumping related crash. It was a good one, and as usual, wearing denim saved me from more injuries. In the expert section, on the last box jump, I missed the landing traveling in a diagonal direction. In the mix, I somehow managed to break my carbon soled cycling shoe.

If you see me jumping a little crooked, it’s probably my shoe.  I’m in the market for another set.

I have gotten a couple great opportunities lately.  The most dynamic is to be a contributing editor and bike test rider for a new social networking website.  The site is not public yet, but it has the potential to be the largest social website in the bike community. I am sure it will be a lot of work, but the payoff will be a public forum to talk about mountain biking.

I have also been working out the details for a novice day with the Boy Scouts. The opportunity took form through an acquaintance with a troop leader at River Front. Having been a scout, I jumped at the chance to spread the word of Gary Fisher to a younger generation. The scouts are looking to learn the basics of riding and fundamentals of trail maintenance. Wanting to make the most of my time, I thought about scheduling the day like a novice drivers day. The schedule should be bike inspection, tech, on the trail, more basics, lunch, on the trail again for a full ride, followed by individual questions.  

In search of some ideas, I went to Ray’s and picked up Mastering Mountain Bike Skills by Brian Lopes. This book is loaded with great stuff. The way that the author puts complex ideas into words will come in handy with the scouts.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving weekend is here, and another workweek filled with crazy boat owners is over. I will not be able to put this job to sleep soon enough.

Pictured is the bilge of a 32’ Marinette. The owner emptied the engine blocks and coolant water into the bilge. When I opened the boat, I found 10 quarts of oil sitting on 25 gallons of water. We were able to drain the water through the bottom of the boat and a couple of my guys used high-pressure steam to blow the rest of the sick crap out.

The bilge is looking good now, but I'll bet it was a mess before the engines puked out all that oil.

I’m heading to Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park for a ride and to practice jumping.