Bloody Mud

Physical challenges are always fun because of the perceived limits. The mind sets the bar, thinking the body can not go past a certain point. Hence the saying mind over matter. The body certainly has it's limits however the mind will almost always limit the body before the actual limit is reached. 

I intended to train for it. The mud gauntlet that is. A local version of the recently popular mud obstacle races. This too was something Ive wanted to do for a few years and somehow fell to the wayside. I feel asinine it took that long but thats all part of the recent life change of mine. 

More to the story, I intended to train for it. I haven't legitimately run since the police academy (about two years). The race was only a 5k. Training was not done. None the less I committed to it. Yes Im sore and tired. Much to my surprise I did rather well. 2nd place actually. Truthfully Im very impressed. To the point where I think that I should train appropriately especially if I can do that well without any. 

The event was fun, weather was beautiful (70s in April), the course was challenging and definitely did pit your mind against your body. Im excited to yet again acquire another past time. 

Oh the food was great too, local bbq that I grew up with. There really is nothing like reaching your limits. I cant understand how some people can go through life and have no idea what any of their personal limits are. Its freedom inspiring. Its living. 

Of Wolves and Hops

Spring is here and it's time to live some more. I'm overdue for a day trip so there ya have it. Wolves are fascinating animals and due to their dwindled numbers they arent exactly seen often. 

Life is good. No responsibility. Just lay around. 

Gross. People. 

Someone feed me!

Food!

Size comparison. Definitely bigger than your average dog. Seemingly docile when in captivity. 

Group howl fest. Nothing less than amazing. Bring a chill to anyones skin. 

Gray wolves come in all sorts of colors. Including gray. Go figure. 

Life is simple when your only goal is to acquire food. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned. 

This big fellow had a peculiar look to him. 

 

Eyes bigger than the rest and eerily solid black. Turns out he is 100% blind. After finding that out it was pretty obvious when you watched him move about. The sanctuary was a cool place, well worth the drive and small cost. 

On the way home there was a mandatory pit stop. How could I not?

Crocs are not allowed everywhere!

One can only imagine what the scrap value of this copper sink is. Whats worse is that is the first thought I have when I see a nicely crafted copper sink. 

The brewery itself in action. 

Thats a lot of beer! The bottling machine is quite the site. I dont remember the numbers but it pumped out a lot. 

Government. Has its hands in everything. Next came some history. 

Retired barrels and the machine that filled them. All locked up in a century old man made cavern. 

Caves are pretty cool. Approximately 50 degrees. 

100 years of moisture will wear away anything. I still wanted to climb it. 

On my way out this caught my eye. Its scary yet amusing how we can predict our future, as that right there is describing exactly where this country is now. 

Its only natural to follow up beer sampling with chicken wings. Successful day trip complete. 

Build

I love building things, pure and simple. Seeing the final product is great. The pride of knowing that I made something. Learning new things and skills along the way. I took it upon myself to build a mountain bike from the frame up. By all means it wasn't a huge project but still presented challenges and served a purpose. Ive picked up mountain biking again, yet another hobby to fill my voids. I thought it would be great to build a bike the way I wanted. The ability to put one together meant Id collect the tools and knowledge to further maintain my bikes. Something that would pay off in the long run.  

Got to start with a frame and not just any frame. Every piece of this build serves a specific purpose. The goal was to build a bike that can tackle most situations without being too overweight, low maintenance and mid to upper quality components. I went with a steel hard tail frame for all those reasons. Fairly inexpensive but solid. No rear suspension to worry about. 

Bicycle standards are ridiculous. They change about as often as computers. My bike was considered obsolete before I even started. However I knew what I wanted and Im stubborn. Pressed a few parts in. Fortunately I spent a good amount of timing with research so everything lined up. 

First major obstacle was the fork. I was determined to have a specific fork but they dont make them anymore. New forks that could work are unreasonably expensive. Easily half the price of the total build. It was winter so I had time to look around. Eventually I found a reasonably priced lightly used fork that fit all my criteria. I was close to giving up and changing my plans, glad I didnt have to. 

Starting to look like a real bike. The wheelset was another big decision. So many variations, sizes, price, etc. Again I had a pretty keen idea as to what I wanted and exercised my patience. Holiday close outs and end of year sales provided most of my components. 

Spring is near so it was time to finish it up. For the most part things went well, until I got to the tires. One of the recent changes in bicycles is tubeless rims and tires. I took a risk and thought it would be cool. Immediately I hated them. Most regular tubed tires are easy to change out and service when in the need for a repair. These tubeless tires were harder to mount than motorcycle tires. Say I did get them on and I get a flat when riding, there was no way Id be doing trailside repair. Perhaps my tires and rims were a mismatch but the experience was enough to scare me back to the old tried and true system. 

99% finished project. All that is left is to shorten the brake lines and tune the drivetrain. Havent taken it for a test ride yet however Im pretty excited. It'll be fun to ride a one of a kind bike as there will be no others out on the trail. The experience comes at a price though, as my total tally exceeded what a new factory bike with similar components would cost. I didnt build it to save money though. Building is all about the experience and do I love it.