Rain-out consolation ride

Well, since the road trip was a wash out, Ed the Tall and I headed out on a Sat morning to a trail a hour or so away that should bear the wet weather pretty well.  We ended up getting 3 hours or so of single track riding on our single speeds, Ed on his beloved Selma, and I on the SS Stumpy with the new SID World Cup fork on there.

Ed had never been there and so it was a treat to show off the trail and it's joys.  We seldom get the chance to ride as much singletrack as you can handle in a day.  Typically the trails in SO Cal are pretty short in length, but this one goes for miles and miles.  The soil is mostly decomposed granite so it bears up well in wet weather.  We were dressed for some soup but it never really was too bad at all.  I am sure glad that we had a rack for the bikes though instead of shoehorning two sloppy 29ers into the back of my trusty 3.  I was using the Kuat NV Core rack and that was solid and stable for the trip.  I did have to take off my tool bag from the saddle to eliminate some handlebar interference.  Super easy to get bikes on and off...very nice.

Ed had geared down for the cancelled trip and I never did, so I was jealous of his 32x21 gearing and 180mm cranks.  I need to regear when I come here again.  34x21 is not enough for this trail and my old legs.  And I think I am moving back to 180mm cranks to see what that feels like after being on 175s for a while now.  We shall see.

We both had on those Gore Phantom II jackets we bought on sale and those have been just great for this season's use.  I peeled the sleeves off to see how it was as a vest and sleeves or not, the jacket is a great balance of water shedding, warmth, breathability, and, most especially, wind-proof-ness.  Love it.

The carbon Stumpy is a very competent bike and although it is not a 'trailbike' SS by nature, it never held me back.  The SID fork with the RCT3 damper was stunningly good for SS use.  I ran it in the middle platform position with the low speed compression dial two clicks 'in'.  Fabulous for the way single speeds are ridden.  I had a stable fork with basically no bob out of the saddle but it would move when I needed it to with only a feeling of 'firmness' to the travel.  Super, super, super and the open setting was so much better than the old Fox it replaced.

Sweet bike for sure.

I think that trail requires more riding and soon.  You can make this into a dawn to dusk trail day if you have the moxie.

Clean bikes...for now.

Gore Phantom jacket with sleeves removed.

Red version of that Phantom soft-shell jacket.

Brothers of the knicker.

Got camera?

I have had a few cameras lately, mostly glorified P&S stuff, then the iPhone camera which is pretty darn good for a phone camera.  But, I wanted to step up a notch into a 'real' camera, something that has the depth and versatility to allow me to grow along with the equipment.  I want to be a better photographer, learn the basics and beyond, and become more of a craftsman.  Changeable lenses would be a real plus but it could not be too big or heavy to carry along on a ride if I so desired.  So my priorities were to have better pic quality than a typical P&S, lens choices, small size relative to a full on DSLR, and not cost the moon.

So, I got this.

The Sony NEX5N sits at the top of the new micro 4/3rds camera line and came into my hands from a fellow cyclist/blogger and 'real' photographer, GNAT.   I first shot some stuff at Sea Otter, but I was just getting to know the camera in a very basic way and shooting bikes for the web is hardly art.  But this weekend I took a trip with the missus and brought the NEX5N along to document it all.  

I was playing with many of the modes and stylings for the first time.  Very interesting stuff, some of that, but I was very happy with the results.  I think the Sony was a great choice and has hit all the targets I had in mind.  I picked up a case that sits across my chest right between the shoulder straps of a typical hydration pack and allows easy access for bike rides.

Now I just need to grow into the camera a bunch and that I am very much looking forward to.  Here are some shots...non bikey stuff...that shows some of the results.  Most of this is in camera with some minor post correction and, of course, cropping. 

Will this turn into a photo blog?  Not likely...yet...but I am excited to learn new skills and grow in another area that interests me.  Good fun.

Some of my favs for one reason or another.