Is it Friday yet?????

As I sit at my desk looking over D.N.R water and air reports I am having a hard time concentrating. The thought of loading up and heading for Oklahoma this weekend keeps popping up in my head. I am looking forward to this trip!!! Last night I spent 4 hrs in the basement going thru my whole bike, got tires filled with Stans, adjusted all my ders, started on my setup on suspension. The sag was way off on the rear.
Last year I just climbed on my bike and rode it....this winter I have spent alot of time watching videos on how to set rebound and compression for different situations, hopefully dialing it in and not out!!!! The more I read and watch.....bike suspensions are no different than race car suspensions!!!! Better get back to work....

Wait, are you telling me suspensions can be tuned? And I've just been jumping on my bikes all these years and riding em.

Guess I better get off my butt and check tires, pressure, etc... I had a flat tire after the weekend at Lyle's. Maybe I need some Stan's. BTW-did anyone tell you this trail has considerable cactus, especially if you wonder off the main line. The riding at Lawton is a bit different than most other places I ride. They also paint arrows on the rocks to show you the "suggested" line on the course. The "XXX" and "Skull and Crossbones" at the KV are there for a reason. The first year I rode the "easier by-pass" because I didn't see the "hero route". I kept telling myself, this drop is no big deal. Race day I got a big surprise when I followed another rider into the drop. Ride em cowboy!

I'll be ready to get out of town and rediscover my mountain bike. My butt is formed in the shape of my trainer saddle! LOL.

I had the flat on Saturday at Lyles that my "super special" sealant didnt clog. I actually think that if I had been patient and hit the air to it that it would have sealed. The front tire had 5 thorns in it that did seal. That being said I broke down and bought the bottle of Stans and re-done my tires, Im not going to take myself out of a race over a $32 bottle of the real stuff.
Cactus???? I better head to Jamesport and get some steel wheels because im usually off the trail about 50% of the time!!!

If you have it handy. What is the recipe for that sealant?

I have used Stan's, and I have used Berrymans stuff from like Orschlens, and I have mixed them together. What i like about stans its runny so it gets the puncture quicker to seal it up, but it dries out unpredictably fast may last 1 race may last 2 or 3 but rest assured it will dry out. What I like about the Berrymans stuff is thicker and doesn't dry out, and I think will fix a bigger puncture, but doesn't get to leak as fast and takes longer to get it sealed up. Not good for racing. So I just throw in a bunch of both. I know I have had punctures while running the Stans were the Stans would seal then ya take a hard hit and the stans blows out then you are loosing air pressure then the next thing you know you pop the bead then the next thing ya know ya are doin handsprings and cartwheels it terrain that's not real conducive to that sort of activity. Somewhere about halfway through the first handspring or cartwheel the bike does come lose from your feet, so the landing is a little easier to clear, getting that second handspring or cartwheel in depends totally on your speed. But heck either way makes for a good story. Especially if there is someone else there to see it, and there most generally is. Heck I've got this one story where the guy totally looses his front wheel while in the air. Want to hear it? Should have seen that landing. That story has more to do with tightening the skewer and landings. Ha! Has nothing to do with Stans nor Berrymans stuff keeping the front wheel on the bike, Sorry bout the little side track there.

James, thanks for sharing. Please make sure you take your meds tomorrow a little earlier.

It's not the one wheel take off that gets ya, it's the one wheel landing that does it every time, unless your riding a unicycle. Of course, if youlost your wheel on a unicyle it would be a "no wheel" landing and you would be "forked", or something like that!

hey, I am going to tell the story now.
More in the morning.
Not for sure what time.
Got to go start packing my crap and put some sealant in my tires.

OK, didnt say what morning. SO. I’ll try to tell the story as accurately as I recall. Well maybe a slight exaggeration here and there.
So here we go. Probably shouldn’t mention names. Three and me were doing this not to fast not to slow kind of ride one sunny afternoon at Crowder Park located here in the north mo., Greenhill’s region you know one of those kind of rides. Been a few years back, don’t know exactly what year. But anyway it was the year that this super fast not so old dude had just got a new bike, maybe had been ridden a few times but was still trying to get her dialed in, you now what I mean. Yep, carbon fiber, disc brakes, you talking bout bells and whistles this guy had all the supper cool stuff and is still a super freaking super fast rider. Hey, I am talking fast, not the Jetzens or Batman kind of fast I am talking freaking SUPERMAN fast. We had been riding for a while, ah probably a little over an hour and half. Well I could tell it was just a matter of time before this not so old super freaking fast dude was going to give this new bike a see how well she likes this section here kind of ride. Well he was out front as usual, then me, and then the other two riders were a little back but not far at all. Coming into the fast little downhill section of the north loop up there at Crowder the pace started picking up, so you know, you just got to try to keep up. Well bout one third of the way down this little downhill section there is a little bump maybe a tree root sticking up, well you could hit that and depending on how fast you where going determined how long you would remain in the air, and I can remember thinking, sometimes when I am riding I don’t think much, but I do remember thinking heck yeah this is going to be fun and about that time this super freaking fast dude hit that bump and I was rite on his a... and while in the air I remember seeing his front tire come off and remember thinking, but I did, I thought Oo sh… Well he came down and you know that fork that holds that front wheel, it stuck right in the ground. Well you talking bout handsprings and cartwheels and landings about to haappen, you talking bout entertainment, it all about to happened right here. So, anyway I was approaching my landing and his rear wheel was like doing this touch in go thing something that is commonly practiced at airports and some bike trails. So, I remember thinking, yep I did, I thought Oo s…. Well, anyway my front wheel hit his back wheel, he somehow got loose from his bike, and I am sure the last I seen of him his feet was a lot higher in the air than his hands, and I was doing all I could do to get away from my bike, while thinking this is going to be an interesting landing (because I have been known to land on my face), yep I did I thought that, and to this day, I am not sure for sure if my feet orbited my head or I just did one of those leap frog things were you bring your feet all the up to your head, yep, probably would have to ask the nearest spectators account of the whole thing for accuracy on the matter, but anyway, both of us landed on our feet, and neither that super freaking fast not so old dude or I was even scratched. A good ending to what could have gone really bad. It took four of us probably 5-15 minutes to get those bike untangled.

That’s my story and I am sticking to it.