Full Body Cramp

Hi, I’m Ade.
Hi, I’m Orven. Nice to kick you in the FACE!!!

Wow. I’m still reeling from the weekend’s awesome trip. Weekend’s like that make it a bit hard to concentrate on the following work week. Anyway, on to the photos!

Middle of the night departure means you get to see the sunrise and that Andy’s a trooper for driving all the way. Even refusing my handjob offers to keep him awake. ‘Nah, I’m good man.’ Sunrise not included in photo. Like. Duh.

Arrived at Dead Horse Ranch in Cottonwood, AZ early Friday morning. The weather’s a bit chilly early in the AM but with nothing over your head but the big open sky it warmed up quick. Especially when putting up a brand new tent for the first time.

The twins got out their tools to help with the tent but eventually got distracted by something else that’s fun. They’re getting big quick.

Cheryl – ‘Air matress? We’re only camping out one night.’
Andy – ‘I’m sleeping next to whoever has the air matress.’
Ling – ‘We have TWO!’

The rest of Friday saw us at Slide Rock Park where you can slide down smooth and algae covered 60 Degree F water. Make sure you don’t wear light colored shorts or else you’ll look like you doo-doo’ed your pants when you get out the water. And don’t try and be cool by walking across the slick shallow side. Or you might fall on your ass and dip your girlfriend’s camera in the water. Which is exactly why I left my 5D in the van.

Saturday morning saw me and Andy hitting the trails. We actually rode the same trail the night before after Chey called us pansies for not riding another longer trail. Glad we did this one instead. Ranger Randy told us his trail record was 34 minutes. Us sea level creatures did it 3x longer. We suck.

Big Sky riding and altitude climbing. The 2nd part lasting for a good 2 miles. I would’ve enjoyed the scenery a bit more but I was trying not to hack up a lung. Did I mention there was hardly any shade?

After sluglishly making our way up the mellow, steady, and at times technical climbing, Andy and I arrived at the first significant downhill section of the trail.

I was so happy that we reached this section the night before that I got carried away and washed out in this little corner. Turns out that tire selection and loose turns don’t mix well. I was still picking thorns out of my shins prior to the morning ride.

Not a cloud in the sky. Yummy.

It’s trails like this that makes me appreciate the 6.6 all over again. Long travel yet good enough XC-ish geometry

Andy likes it, too. Kicking up rocks and stuff…

The trail was littered with ledges that ranged from foot high to about 4 feet and very reminiscent to Slurpee’s loading dock. Guess what Andy and I stuck with.

More ledges

Hey Orvee it was rocky there, too!

We actually ran into someone riding the opposite way. As in up the trail. Over the ledges. On a hardtail. Skillz, son.

But it sucked how the scenery often interrupts the good riding though.

That was our trip to that part of AZ. Didn’t get to see/ride much of Sedona but you can’t ride all the trails at once anyway. I didn’t mind one bit. The amount of people/traffic in Sedona was kind of a turn off. Besides, that’s one more excuse to go back, eh? Anyone?

On to Phoenix, where the weather was comparable to the surface of the sun and where even the local non MTB’ers like to roll on 26′ers. Or are they 29′ers.

Destination: South Mountain. WE MADE IT! Meet at the water tower for the first run down.

Just kidding. That’s not actually SoMo. But at least the twins thought it was funny.

Cheryl picked out a kick ass condo where we can see a small portion of SoMo. We even saw a jogger running up the trails at around hot-as-hell o’clock. We thought he was going to faint as he crested the hill but he made it eventually. And we were relieved. And I laughed. Little did we know…

Sunday morning found Andy and I getting ready to hit the trails. Our friend Bret was busy so he couldn’t meet up with us. Late Saturday night phone calls though found me talking to one of the fastest guys I know. Like Orven fast. Fast enough to podium and get a medal at the SouthEast Asian Games a couple of times I believe. The SEA games is like the Olympics in Asia.

So we meet up with the REAL AUTHENTIC DH CHAMP of the Philippines Michael Borja and proceeded to do the shuttling arrangement. As we try to make our way up SoMo BAM!! The effin’ mountain is closed for a marathon. So much for riding. I had no back up plan.

Mike proposes that we climb. *Insert expletives here*. I’ve always gone down SoMo. Never up it. And going down was already quite the challenge. Now going up? Oh crap. We make our way to the start spot and guess what. It was right behind the condo Cheryl picked out. Near the very same spot where we watched the jogger almost die from heat exhaustion! Bad Karma for laughing maybe?

How much climbing were we in for? This much and more before and after this section.

Notice Mike is the only one smiling. Andy…not so much

I climbed, too. Andy was so proud he gave me a pat on the back.

Anyway, we rode on. Andy and I learned that Mike was not only the downhill champ. But he was also the goddamn uphill champ.

The ledges on our trail of choice made the ones from the previous trail look like those ramps you push the wheelchairs up on. Uphill ledges were like paved road to Mike. Me and Andy just laughed as we dismounted our bikes and told the other how much he sucks. That happened the whole ride down National Trail.

Then Mike would go do some shit like this

Need I say check out how close Mike’s ass gets close to his rear tire. That’s near vertical. And Andy and I were at the nearest go around. Pansies…

Anyway, that’s the extent of the riding photos. There was actually more but we were too busy riding. Now if I can just turn back the hands of time and ride those trails again. Instead, I came home at 9 PM tonight because of work. I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.

Go here for more photos from our weekend in AZ. I mean you got down this far right? Like you’re busy or something.

Thanks to the Goddards for planning the trip. GOOD TIMES!!

Thumper Trail.
Named after the sound that my fat makes when coming down the trails. Actually, Squishy Trail is more appropriate but I didn’t name the trail.

Andy G. will be thinking about these trails while he’s at work today…

And so will I…

More pics to come tonight. Long live road trips…

-Ade

No one does ride report here much so let me start it over.

I felt really lazy to ride this afternoon but decided to go anyways. First, I was going to go to SCST, then changed my mind to Lake Hodges East Side, but laziness won over and I drove to the nearest trailhead, Lake Calavera in MILF Town Carlsbad.

Today's point of interest. Obvious enough, keep going up, right?

Then I got a tiny bit lost..err exploring.

I was actually giggling because I remembered how silly most of the new bridges are at Snake Trail.

The turns were so sharp and the trail builders strategically planted poison oak where you'd overcook them.

I was gonna refrain from profanity but W**&Y%#^, the climb was a bitch to get here. F&^#!

This was a short, rough but hella fun DH section.

I was creaming when I was stopped by the rocks at the bottom of this hike-a-bike section.

Rocks and I go waaaaay back. Hello friends.

To say that the Tracer was slightly overwhelmed is an understatement.

I named this section, Take Me Out, and it's no reference to Franz Ferdinand's hit song either.

Claimed my target and price.

NASCAR is jsut off the distance. Maybe a connecting flight when I get stronger.

Urban Assault??

Not all trails are rocky here, but hell, I sought most of them today. No prisoners.

I thought Flying Monkey in UT was exposed. This is exposure wearing Axe deodorant.

A lady hiker told me, "Yes, that leads you to the bottom, but you can't ride your bike there. It's too steep." I'm all )))))))))))

Yes, it was steep. I was very spiritual and relgious when I touched earth at the bottom of the rocky, droppy chutes.

Some of the cute section while flowing on the way back. Well, I actually still didn't know where I was going at this point but who cares. It's fun.

17 miles in 2.5 hours, with lots of figure 8 and in and out back. Lots of hike-a-bike of my choice. Whatever it was, it's nice to feel slightly better being riding my bike again.

I don’t know how legal most of the trails I venture into today were, but I was lost. That’s like my insanity plea if prosecuted. Long live mountain biking. Long live Ade The Champ.

Clipless pedals have never appealed to me because I come from a strong old-school BMX background.  For one, if you only have one bike, having to wear special shoes just to ride is a big pain in the ass.  Even the Crank Brothers Mallet, with its eggbeater center and platform, is very awkward with flat shoes because there is a ~1/4″ protruding lump rolling around under your sole. Don’t forget that wearing those ‘special’ shoes off the bike will make you sound like a tap dancer and look like a bowler. I prefer to grab my bike on a whim, wearing whatever I want, whenever I want.

I admit, the Mallet’s have been invaluable on xc and trail days but using those pedals for an urban assault session is a sure-fire way to get yourself nutted.  With that said, I longed for a pedal that would give me the benefits of flats AND clipless. Enter the ProtonLocks.

I learned of these pedals in January 2008 and immediately put my order in. I received the product and found that one of the axles (also handmade) fit poorly so I never tested the them to their full potential (ok, I got 4 minutes worth). Almost 2 years go by and I’m thinking these pedals are a lost cause… until a new set showed up in the mail this week.

This is the 2nd iteration of the ProtonLocks magnetic pedals. I’m no machinist but the first gen set look to be painstakingly machined from a solid hunk of aluminum. Now, it’s a refined die cast beauty.

“An alternative to clamp-ons, cleats and cages. No moving attachment parts, springs, clamps or clips” – ProtonLocks flyer

It features:

• Neodymium nickel plated magnet with ~80lb pull force
• Cast A380 aluminum body
• Cro-Mo spindle
• Sealed bearings

SP-ISIS mount ready.

How do they look and feel in my hands?  They are solid units.  A bit heavy, I’ll get them weighed on a scale at work tomorrow.

How big are they compared to the Mallets?  The platform’s footprint is smaller and they are thicker.  I’ll get comparison pictures after I pull off the old pedals.

What don’t you like about them?  I wished they used traction screws instead of the triangular protruding wedges.  Who knows, maybe they’ll work out.

What do you expect?  I expect them to hold my feet better on certain sections of Noble Canyon.  I expect them to collect a lot of iron filings.  I expect them to not replace the PULL I get from real clipless.  I expect them to trash the data on a laptop hard drive if someone puts their bag near my pedals (these magnets are farkin STRONG!), I expect them to be slippery when wet (wearing regular shoes).

Stay tuned for an update after I give ‘em a go doing urban, xc and dh duty.

UPDATE 10/15/09 – Protonlocks vs Crank Brothers Mallet weights and pictures

**I am not affiliated with ProtonLocks.  I’m just a biker that has a love/hate relationship with traditional clipless pedals.