wd40

sucks out there all day, now. wheels down at 8:30 this morning and I was dying after 2 miles. heat index when I got done was only 93. felt like a total pussy, looking at that number. the whole trail is about 3.25mi, with 1k ft of climbing. tuesday afternoon was just as bad with half the humidity on mellower trail.

no stinkpots at all. I learned most of what I know about sailing, windsurfing at Bird Island. the rest I learned hanging out in the trapeze of an old Hobiecat 16 on LT, a buddy bought for $500. but all that goes waaay back. pre-oughts. speed on the water like that is addictive.

interesting. those spots are totally on the other side of the lake from where I was. the ramp I'm talking about is on 2341, well upriver from Spider Mountain. lake's relatively narrow up there with a lot of submerged brush and whatnot, although looking at it again, the little cove it's on, facing SW, would put me in the main lake much quicker. I'll have to take a look at those spots you mentioned. Thanks.

you're welcome

oh, no. there goes Tokyo

been probably 10 years, but I finally got to take my Force 5 out, yesterday. Buchanan. nice sandy beach at the back of a cove to rig up and launch from, but tight, with the wind blowing straight off the shore. nice shakedown, and the hull was bone dry when I got it back up on the trailer, which was nice (fixed a leak during the hiatus). anyone know of any ramps/parks on LT that have similar terrain? Windy Point is closed, last I checked, and I assume most of the other county parks are, as well. there's a public ramp further up LB, but it's on a small, rocky cove, iirc. geared more toward motorboats.

anyone else read this in Alice Cooper's voice?

fixed Looks great! there's one sherman there in the middle of the last pic that I swear has a Dracula face in the camo pattern, with a big yellow dot on his forehead. but I'm probably just a little punchy from my ride, this afternoon.

7:45 start, this morning. Lanced some boils, so to speak (literally, on a particularly chunky/tight switchback where I nose-wheelied in the middle and fell against a swiss-cheesy limestone boulder...more of an ex-foliation). humidity seems to be calming down. would have felt great had it on almost any other trail. felt well enough afterward to grind up a nearby hill to do the gdh run. anyhoo, at the first rest stop, I asked my buddy, who's a bit of a mtb wrenching wizard, about a noise coming from my crown/headset area (swapped out the headset bearings a month ago, and it won't go away). pretty sure now it's the bushings in the fork. 2x, if you hadn't already figured this out or fixed it yet, have someone hold the front break while you hold the fork and rock it back and forth with some fingers where the stanchions meet the seals. if there's play there, or up where the stanchions meet the crown, there's your answer. so now the dilemma I'm faced with is: the cost and insane lead-time for a fork service these days, or buying a new fork, which will likely mean a new front wheel, since mine is non-boost. or see if I can get an adapter kit to mount my current front wheel on a boost fork. bikes, man.

the last of some brisket enchiladas. nuked from orbit, just to be sure.

very nice. you got access to a press brake, or did you buy that shelf off the shelf? that's one of the other little projects I have on the list for mine.

pm Derka

I heard recently that when you're exercising, your sphere of funk can extend 30ft. so the 6ft rule is kinda pointless, as are the rules that state masks are to be worn at all times "except while exercising", like they have at Angel Fire. definitely been in train with some ripe individuals. one time, a juicing fanatic farted and the guy right behind him gagged strenuously and repeatedly. the rest of us behind barfy got a greatly diminished dose, fortunately. then there's those artificially-wet face slappers... so, strive to be the lead dog, I guess. or just stay home.

"Why do the call you 'Lassie'?"

this. anyone want some high heat paint? I'ma leave mine "clearcoat", I think. fuck all that surface prep. @RichUT: you're probably gonna hate that firebox door. it looks cool AF, but if there's one thing I'd do different on mine it'd be to make a bigger door. or think about some kinda handheld chute you can poke in there to feed it. I gotta rig up some outriggers to jack mine up to keep the tires off the ground for longterm storage.

wtf is happening on my living-room end table?

duck dick

<$14 on Amazon. I get 'em at Oreilley's up the street. if that mesh back is really important to you, don't bother. these have a layer of foam on the back and over the knuckles. they're for working on cars. again, I'm just not that sensitive to it. they feel no different to me heat-wise than the boatload of Fox gloves I burned through twice as fast at twice the price. plus, Fox kept fucking with the wrist closure, which seemed to get progressively less reliable with each new model. and the touch screen performance is surprisingly good, even on my Lifeproof case in the stupid-humid conditions, today. fwiw.

2x, my opinion on gloves probably isn't very relevant as it's just not an area I'm very sensitive about. my criteria are: longevity, protection and price. I wear automotive 'pit crew' gloves. I wore Mechanix Wear for a while, but they kept getting fancier and more shittily made. very moist down here today, too, Al. seriously thick, hot air. "thought I was gonna die". but here's a very small section of RPR. all I had time for this morning before meeting the family down at the lake. about 10 pages back I posted some stills of one of the jumps in this video. they filled in the gap, which probably saved some lives. so the mental block went away. based on where I was landing, I'd have cleared it, despite the headwind all morning on that trail. don't get me wrong, I still suck at jumping. but my brain's not running around like Jonathan Mardukas in the 1st Class cabin so much anymore.

I almost didn't mention it at all. but then I figured all the Team MILLer chuckleheads would come in here, rapidly tapping THEIR moobs and setting me straight. fucking Surly, man.

to be fair, the word Mueller (with the common mispronunciation, "mule-ler") sounds like a euphemism for taking a dump.

I've been up since about 3:30 this morning, trying to ruin a couple briskets, briefly setting myself on fire and fighting with my chainsaw. nothing to drink but some (unproductive) coffee and a couple fizzy waters. I'll be lugging a pile of used beef up and down the hill at RPR in the morning, before spending the rest of the day just down the street from there, in/on the lake.

moar pics of ur tanks, plz