This Is My Bike: #3 in a Series

I am a bike slob. I never clean it, tune it, or really touch it except for riding. The last time I went into the shop the owner begged me to clean it before he had to see it again. The bike is set up according to factory settings despite six distinct adjustment points on the suspension system. I have lubed the chain on occasion, but generally only when it’s bone dry. I could spend more time caring for my rig, but I’d rather spend the time riding or doing something else.

I picked this particular bike up in November of last year. I am normally not an advocate of new equipment making a person a better athlete (see the Sizzlin’ post). However, in the case of mountain bikes, I think technology has done a lot for pedal pushers. Before this bike I had a hard tail and rode it on endless cross-country rides. When I hopped in the saddle on this sucker I began riding trails that were previously unimaginable. For the first time I’ve had both wheels simultaneously, and intentionally, off the ground, I’ve ridden skinnies across riverbeds, and I’ve blown through rock fields that I previously had to walk. A full-suspension has opened new doors in riding and has expanded my definition of mountain biking. It has given me the confidence to try new rides outside of the pure XC realm. You wouldn’t be able to tell from my care and maintenance record, but I love this bike.

Talkin’ Trash

My friend Marc emailed me yesterday to tell me about his garbage. Not so much what was in it, exactly, as the fact he was planning to carry it around for the next two weeks. Marc lives in San Francisco, and as part of his work for a design consultancy there, he and some fellow co-workers are running a novel kind of eco-relay. The goal? For each member of the world-wide team to keep and carry all the waste they produce over 14 days; only then can he or she can pass the Glad bag on.

Marc writes: “So far it’s hit Austin, Seattle, China, New York City, and Herrenberg, Germany. It’s been great because the folks participating are not, in general, ‘green’ types, and each location seems to have its own waste disposal challenges. I think it’s been less intimidating to mainstream types than the usual ‘I drive a prius and drink my own pee’ environmentalist stuff.”

You can follow Marc’s progress on the Trash Talk blog by clicking here.

The Big One

We first wrote about Logan Grayling in The Thought Kitchen back in April and followed up by chronicling his exploratory paddling trip in Vietnam in the Collective section of our website. A few weeks ago Logan made the second descent of Johnston’s Falls in Alberta’s Banff National Park. It clocks in at roughly 98 feet. I talked with Logan the day after his descent and he told me he had been eyeing the drop for two years prior to taking the plunge. The only previous descent was made in 1999, by the legendary Tao Berman, establishing the unofficial record for the longest vertical descent in a kayak. For a fuller story check out Paddling Life. You can also catch a glimpse of Logan and his “Young Gun” paddling partners in the August issue of Outside Magazine.