6/15/11

Sonoran Pirates Save a Baby Deer

What a baby deer may look like, since no one took a picture.
This is what happens when you have a group of women on a group mountain bike ride.  Instead of focusing on skill-building, or clearing sweet jumps, they get all sappy with the local wildlife.

Friday before last, Big D was leading a group of women riders for Bella Bikes on what is now a weekly Friday afternoon ride with Karyn sweeping.  They were somewhere on what they believed to be the Morning Choice Trail on Patapsco State Park...I say somewhere because they were lost within 6 minutes of starting out and don't know exactly where they were.

Big D relaxed her vice-like focus from the trail just long enough to hear the cries of some desperate creature, or local child emanating from the forest.  After bringing the cries to the attention of the remaining gallons of estrogen around her, full-blown maternopocolyptic instinct brought the sacrosanct bike ride to an immediate halt.


What the baby deer looked like 6 minutes after rescue.
They discovered...and I swear I'm not making this up...a baby deer fallen down a well.  Yes...just like some BS straight from an episode of Lassy or Little House on the Prairie. Karyn climbed into the well and lifted the deer out.  Here's where everything falls apart.  NONE OF THEM TOOK A SINGLE PICTURE.  So we have no proof that any of this is true.


True or not, it was the only topic being wildly discussed ad nauseum over the dinner I had slaved over.

6/13/11

Saguaro East Closures - Fire Danger



Due to extreme fire danger and concern for public safety, and for the protection of the park’s natural and cultural resources, Saguaro National Park will implement fire closures in the Rincon Mountain (East) District, beginning at noon on Thursday, June 9, 2011. These closures coincide with similar closures going into effect on other public lands in southern Arizona.

Press Release

6/10/11

Whatever Works


 I'm about 94.8% sure Magellan was on-scene when this repair was made.

6/7/11

Civil War Century -- Still Looking for Riders

The ride is filling up.  If any Pirates want to come out and ride this with us...need to sign up soon.  Right now it's just the four of us.


What: Tour in and around Civil War sites in the vicinity of Gettysburg, PA
When: 10 Sep, 2011
Where: I already told you that
Millage Options: 103, 75, 63, 50, and 25.  (If you fly out here and sign up to ride 25 miles I will punch you in your private parts)

So far it's Big D, Chino, Pickles and Karyn riding for the Pirates.  More are welcome and encouraged to join.

http://www.civilwarcentury.com/

6/5/11

Tucson's SDMB Win $50k Grant!



A big congratulations to the Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists who scored a $50k grant from Ford & Good.Is with a little help from Todd Wells.

Good.Is Announcement
www.sdmb.org

Phantom's Giant ATX Pro Build Specs...


I finished Phantom's bike build yesterday with some brake help from Masa. I was planning on shipping it to him on Monday but there is an issue with the back shifter that is gonna set me back a week. It turned out pretty sweet and rides like butter. Here are the build specs...

Frame: 19.5" Giant ATX Pro
Front Fork: Fox Talas RLC
Rear Derailleur: SRAM X.9 (3x9)
Front Derailleur: Shimano XT (3x9)
Shifters: SRAM X.9 (3x9)
Crankset: Shimano LX Integrated
Pedals: Crank Brothers Candy SL
Saddle: Selle San Italia XO
Seat Post: Easton EA30
Brakes: AVID BB-7 Mechanical Disc
Wheels: Mavic 717
Hubs: Shimano XT w/ Center Lock Rotors
Tires: Kenda Nevegal (2.1 Back / 2.35 Front)
Headset: Cane Creek Integrated
Stem: Titus Maxim
Handlebars: Titus Maxim
Grips: Ergon P3

6/4/11

Bicycles for kids age 4-7.



My son is two years old now and rocking out daily on his Strider Push Bike and loving it. I highly recommend this bike for kids < 4 years old. However, it won't be long before he is ready for a pedal bike and my occasional search for light weight kids bike options have left me underwhelmed at best.

My nephew is in town for the summer, has a birthday coming up, and was in desperate need of some wheels. We opted to fill the void and hook him up. After some more research we found that the Specialized Hot Rock series offered the lightest weight bike (I suspect due to their use of aluminum vs. steel frames) for kids 4-7 years old.

We ended up getting him a Specialized Hot Rock 16 (kids bikes are sized by the wheel diameter, hence the 16 = 16" wheels) which as configured in the picture above (sans the training wheels and adding some heavy steel pegs) weighed in at 17.58 pounds. The competitors bikes in this space all come in around ~25 lbs (w/ training wheels) and the Hot Rock was at ~20 lbs before the mods. The bikes are all in the $200 range. Which is pretty steep if cycling isn't an avid part of your families lifestyle. Check out the Specialized Hot Rock series here... Specialized Hot Rock

If you are not sure what size bike to get your kid I recommend checking out this article from livestrong.com... Sizing Bicycles for Kids

Here are a couple of other big name bike companies offering bikes in this space...
Trek Bikes (Masa's daughter loves her Trek Mystic 16)
Giant Bikes
Marin Bikes