w o r d s

Like most sports, mountain biking has its risks. I’ve had a few accidents, falling off the bike, hitting low branches, etc, but so far (knock on wood) no serious injuries. I am pretty careful and I wear a very good helmet and eye protection. Last Sunday I was biking the single-track at Little River Park just North of Durham, when I came upon a branch of shrubs that had fallen into the path right at eye level. I was going at a pretty good clip, and I had my sunglasses on, so I just ducked a bit and crashed through it. As I moved through the tangle of twigs, I felt a twig poke me in my right ear and then a sharp pain. And I mean a SHARP F#%!N pain! So I stopped and checked to see if my brain was leaking out my ear. It was not. I just noticed a couple of drops of clear liquid. After a few Minutes the pain had mostly subsided, and I got back on  the bike and I continued my ride. There was really no obvious reason to stop, and I would have had to ride back anyway.

So after that incident, the hearing in my right ear was all screwed up, muffled, like a bad case of airplane ear. I began wondering if that damn twig had poked a hole in my ear drum. I figured a good test for that would be to see what happens if I pressurize my middle ear. Sure enough - I am able to blow air through my ear. It’s a pretty weird sensation, and it freaks people out to hear a whistling sound come from your ear! So I went to see my doctor on Tuesday. He took one look and said “Yep - you punctured your ear drum.” Then he sent me to a specialist across town. That’s where I went today. He also said “Oh yes - you punctured your ear drum.”

The doctor says that it’ll take about 6-8 weeks for the 2mm hole in my ear drum to heal up. From the location of the hole, near the malleus bone, I was lucky that I did not damage those little hearing bones in my ear. The doctor said that if you experience trauma  in your ear and then you get dizzy, that’s a sign that you damaged those bones. But he checked it out thoroughly, and there is no crap inside the middle ear, and so it should heal just fine. I hope so.  My hearing is all screwed up. And I can blow air through my f#%!n ear! What a stupid, weird thing to have happen.

As of yesterday, days will be getting longer again on this side of the globe. Of course here, in the Old North State that’s not that big a deal, anyway. But I did start paying more attention to sunrise/sunset this fall. When I bike to work and back home, I prefer to avoid the bad light conditions at dawn and at dusk.

Considering that the shortest day of the year is still 9 hours and 42 Minutes long here, I am amazed at the seemingly overpowering desire of our neighbors to string hundreds of lights, and thousands of lights in some cases, all over their houses, trees and shrubs, all over the yards and even on a vehicle (in one case). But it ’s probably not so much deprivation of sunlight around here, as it is the spirit of the holiday season taking possession of their brains and compelling them decorate their yards with, for example, a 10-foot/3-meter illuminated, inflatable nativity. Or maybe it’s just mall-Christmas-muzak and eggnog induced temporary insanity?!

I wonder how popular this Christmas-lights-craze is in places that are much darker this time of year, like Reykjavik, Iceland (4 hours), or Point Lay, Alaska (0 hours)? In Freiburg, Germany (8h 22m) days are shorter than here, but folks are much more restrained when it comes to decorations, at least the electrical flavor (maybe because of their power bills?). And what about, say, Honolulu (10h 50m)? Do the Hawai’ians who celebrate Christmas decorate their houses with lights? I’ll have to ask John next week … when we see him in Charlotte, Michigan (9h 02m).

In Togo I never saw any electrical Christmas lights. Probably because the village has no electricity. And when folks said they were going to “light the tree” they meant it quite literally, and set fire to it. December it the driest time of year in Togo, and so most farmers burn their fields to get them ready for the next growing season. That means there are huge bush fires all over, and on Christmas eve we’d sit on the porch, drink some palmwine and watch the festive glow of the fires all over the mountains around us.

So, Happy Winter Solstice to all, especially those of you who need UV-light treatment this time of year!

I did it! Yesterday, I finally bought a new bike, after I decided to retire my old bike. I got a really good deal on a Gary Fisher Cobia at our local bike store. So I got up at 7 Am today, and took it out on a spin, 10 miles up Guess Road to Little River trail, 7 miles on the trail, romping through the woods, and 10 miles back on the road. Very nice! Those 29-ers are all they are cracked up to be. Comfy on the road, albeit more resistance from the fat tires. On the trail this bike really does just roll easily over “stuff” and it has nice traction. On the downhill the front sustension makes a huge difference, and the disk brakes grip very nicely. Not surprisingly, riding this bike for the first time, I had to fiddle around a bit with the seat etc .. But the biggest adjustment is the maneuvering on the twisty-turns on the trail. You really have to yank this sucker around quite a bit! My old 26-er is definitely more agile in tight turns. But that’s just something to get used to. Overall, I really like the Cobia, and I’m looking forward to many hours of fun with this bike.

Looks like I’ll be retiring my trusted Simonelli bike sooner rather than later. Last week I was preparing the bike for a ride to work, when I noticed that the frame is damaged. Those fat off-road tires I like, wore a hole in the frame! The side of the tire was rubbing slightly against the frame and I fiddled with it for the longest time to get it to stop, but eventiually I gave up. I figured that the rubber would eventually wear off. Instead the steel frame wore off!

That and the saddle stem that’s fused to the frame and the worn out gears and chain now had me come to the conclusion that the time has come to retire the old bike a start shopping for a new one. The frame is now 17 years old and I rebuilt the bike in 2000. We have been through hell and high water together. Snow storms in France, sand storms in Morocco, a rough encounter with semi and another one with a chicken. The two of us have been around the block a bit - I rode this bike in Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo, as well as in North Carolina and Florida A girlfriend left me because of this bike.

So retitiring this bike is not easy. But there are some very cool new bikes out there. right now I have my eyes on a Gary Fisher 29er (the Rig) for roughly a thousand bucks. Seems like great bike. Although I don’t thik I’ll ever have as great a time on a bike as I did with my old Simonelli.

[update 12/2: added the pic of the bike on Fes]

Wednesday morning I rode my bike to work for the first time. It was a nice morning for a bike ride, and it took me about 40 Minutes to get to work - no big deal. However, riding in traffic is really not very enjoyable and many drivers passed me with just a few inches between their right rear-view mirrors and me. I have got to try the Greenway, which might take longer, but it might be more enjoyable. Also, I really need to leave the laptop at work. Riding with a backpack is als a bit of a drag. I think I’ll try it again next week.

When we moved closer Durham in June, I started seriously considering the idea of riding my bike to work. Several guys I work with already do that. It’s a great way to stay in shape and reduce your environmental footprint. So, now that the weather is cooler (less than 90F/32°C) I really ran out of excuses not to try it. Heck, one of my coworkers ran to work the other day, and he lives just down the road, maybe a mile or two closer. So, yesterday I put road tires on my bike and cleaned it a bit, so that I could take it into town.

This morning, I got up at 8:00 and did a test run. At least Sunday morning there would be less traffic. It took me 30 Minutes to get to the office, where I took a 30-Min break, and then I turned around and biked back. The ride back is uphill, and so it took me 45 Minutes to get back home. I think I can do this maybe twice a week. The most direct way to go is not a particularly nice ride, mostly along a busy, four-lane road. At least there are decent sidewalks for a good part of the ride, which makes it much safer. Probably I’ll try to take the North/South Greenway part of the American Tobacco Trail, although that’s not so direct, but it might be a more pleasant ride.

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Two-bedroom secluded brick ranch with biketrail/walking path and large basement in Bahama (20 minutes North of Duke Campus). The single-track trail is a .33 mile figure eight on the 2.5 acres wooded lot. The trail runs through the forest, crosses the creek and climbs a nice hill.  The path lets you fully enjoy the beautiful wildlife and plants occupying the wide variety of habitats on your land. You can hit the trail in the morning for 30 Minutes and still make it to class/work at 9:00 AM on campus (or anywhere in Durham).

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Over the years, in conversations about sports, I have always identified myself as a biker - a mountain biker. Not a particularly competitive specimen, I lack the colorful outfit and fancy bike, but I do enjoy very much taking my 17-year-old Simonelli bike on a challenging single-track out in the woods. We’re just a 10-Minute drive down the road from a very nice 7-mile loop at Little River Park, and I try my best to hit the trail regularly.

The problem is that the park manager closes the MTB trails when it is too wet, to prevent damage to the trail and the forest. That is fine - I support that. So I began to just go for a run when the bike trails are closed. There are two nice hiking trails in the park, and they are great for running. The trails wind through a different part of the park, and run along the creeks and rivers in the back part of the park. They offer a totally different view of the land as the bike trails, which climb up a small hill.

So today I ran 5 Miles on those trails, and it was great! Last night thunderstorms moved through the area, and dumped a 3/4 inch (2 cm) of rain. Right now the redbuds and the dogwoods are blooming, and the other trees are breaking out in an ever-so-tender green. It’s been getting pretty warm, and it was 85 Deg. F (29°C) and the humidity this morning was at least 500 percent. Still, it was a fun run and the forest was really beautiful.

Pretty spring day today - so we decided to head out to Little River park instead of doing chores. First Laura got to run on the trails for an hour, while I helped Jacob practice riding his “thunderbike.” I also showed Julia a safe, easy part of the bike trail she could practice on. When Laura got back, it was my turn to hit the bike trails. This was my first time riding the entire Little River bike trail and I was really surprised just how much fun this trail is. It starts out pretty easy, and you can just do the quick, easy 1-mile or 2-mile loops, which are pretty good for beginners. The back trail, or upper trail, is NOT for beginners, however. The trail has some steep bowls and a bunch of logrolls - nothing outrageous, but certainly a bit challenging and a lot of fun. It’s also a pretty ride, as you climb up this little knoll above Little River, through nice, pristine forest. It’s very quiet, and even on such a nice Sunday afternoon it was not crowded at all. (So probably I should keep it to myself and not even write about it. But if the three people who read this start going there, too … oh well :))

I have to get on that trail more often … next time I’ll take a camera and take some pictures.

This morning I went right back to Tsali to ride another trail. Over night the clouds had disappeared and just a low morning fog hovered in the valleys. The sky was clear, the air was crisp and chilly, just slightly above freezing. Last night, the higher peaks in the distance had received their first dusting of snow of the season (see pictures below).

I picked the Right Loop of the Tsali Trail, because it winds along the eastern side of the knoll that juts out into Fontana Lake. So when the sun peeked over the mountains around 7:45 I was on the sunny side of the trail. As I wound my way out to Windy Point, I had a great view of the lake and I watched how the sun slowly burned of the morning fog that hung over the water. It was very quiet, just a few birds were chirping in the chilly morning air and occasionally a squirrel ran up a tree, chattering anxiously. I met no other bikes but a couple of times shots in the distance broke the peace. It was so quiet that the noises from my bike’s gears seemed loud and obnoxious. I had an awesome time - this is a gorgeous trail! When I returned to the parking lot at around 9:30, there was just one other car - a guy with a bow and arrow who was heading out into the woods for some hunting.

More pictures below the fold …
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A little on-the-road blogging from the mountains. I am in western NC for a couple of days, to install some new equipment at our lab in Sylva. When I come up here I always bring my bike along. This afternoon, after I finally got it all working, I strapped the bike to the car and headed over to Tsali Recreation Area to hit the trails.

It was 42 deg F, with a light drizzle, and a gusty breeze blowing across the mountains - what can I say - a perfect evening for a little ride through the woods. There were three other guys out there, a Welsh guy who lives in the area, a guy from Asheville and a guy from Berlin. I had a little trouble with the bike, and had to turn around after a few hundred meters.

When I finally hit the trail for real, I had an hour of - uh - “daylight” left. The Welsh guy had recommended the Thompson Loop Trail, so I rode seven miles along Fontana Lake and back across some the hills. Fantastic ride! I got back after 50 Minutes, and 15Minutes later it got dark, and I was on my way back to the hotel. I think I’ll go back tomorrow morning for another round, before I head back to Durham.

It’s a beautiful late summer day in North Carolina, gasoline costs $3.20 a gallon, and I reached a personal fitness milestone today, by biking 3 miles around the property in under 30 Minutes. Not that anyone rally cares, but that’s where I was at last Winter, when my bike broke (the free hub). It took me until last June to get my act together to fix it and to get back onto the bike trail around the house.

Since June, this summer’s heat has been relentless, mercilessly scorching and humid. I usually get up at 6:00 AM to ride, and some mornings it was 85 degrees and 100 percent humidity at that point.

Before this summer, I had estimated that the path around our property is about 1/3 of a mile long, and as I now have a bike computer, I know now that it is exactly .3 miles long. So 10 rounds are roughly 3 miles (5 KM). Not sure about the altitude - 50 feet perhaps from the highest point to the lowest?! That would be 500 feet difference on 3 miles.

Now I am teaching Jacob how to ride Julia’s old bike, and Julia is practicing with her new, fancy 21-gear mountain bike ….

Peak Oil can come - my bike and I are ready! Earlier this year, the freehub on my bike broke and I just was too damn lazy to replace it. In June, I got a nice new wheel from the bike shop (Sunrim AT18 with a Shimano Deore freehub). Yesterday, finally, I decided to fix the bike. Laura took the kids to see the new Tim Burton film, and I had over two hours of peace to install the new wheel. It turned out that the rim was about 3 mm off center, and I had to sit down and tighten the spokes on the right a turn and a half to get the wheel rim centered properly.
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