Back In the Saddle

No, not that damned Aerosmith song...I am back in the saddle of a mountain bike again. It also seems that I have (again and again and again) been neglecting the Blog world. New things in life:

• The kid that I own is 16 months old, walking and talking all sorts of crazy
• I am in a bowling league on Thursday nights....my average is nothing to rave about
• I am the proud new owner of a 2008 Specialized S-Works Enduro SL Carbon

I have a few things that I need to "fine tune" on the 'ol S-Works rig, but all in all it is a sweet, sweet rig that will be getting some use before the snow falls. The "list" on the Enduro is going to look something like:

Completely disassemble and overhaul the pivots
Tear down the fork and shock in order to replace the seals, bushings, etc
New cables and jacket
Overhaul the Juicy Ultimate brakes (Juicys are notorious for sticky pistons)

I Cant Handle This Bullshit

Fork showed in the mail today, and all of its oil was everywhere but inside of its legs. I am seriously so beyond sick and tired of people lying through their fucking teeth when selling their stuff...I mean really, how tough is it to be a decent human being?? I have bought/sold an ass-load of stuff on Ebay and have never ONCE had a problem with anyone...then the last couple of things I have scouted have been complete and utter nightmares. To say it bluntly, I'm pretty fucking sick of it. It really isn't that hard to list what "problems" the item your are selling has so the person on the other end has been informed of it and can then make a confident purchase. So here I sit in the same god damned spot I was before...with a jacked up fork that I can NOT ride on. This just reaffirms the fact that people generally equal shit. Maybe tomorrow will be better, but I'm not holding my breath.

"new" bike

So a couple of you have had to hear me bitch and whine about how the new (to me) bike that I just picked up has a whack ass fork and headset in it. Well, the headset is an easy (and by easy I mean cheap) fix....but a new fork, is NOT so cheap.....at least for me because I like nice shit. Anyway, I managed to find myself a bad ass NOS Manitou Sherman Jumper fork and not to mention....wait for it....its.....Winter Camouflage "color". This is a pretty awesome find actually, considering they are looked at as the best jumping fork ever made. Should be enjoying life on two wheels soon again!

Park Tool Professional Stand

I have myself a dank Park Tool repair stand that I would like to sell to someone, as I don't really use it near as much as I figured I would. The stand is a PRS-3 OS2 model...single arm, super burly, will hold any bike you could ever strap onto this hog. These guys retail in the high 4's to low 5's depending and the freight charge could choke a donkey...buy mine for $200, or trade me that sweet ass analog delay pedal collecting dust in your closet, word.

Also, I have a Thule rack that once sat atop of a Honda Pilot that I am looking to part with because....wait for it, wait for it....we traded the Pilot for an Accord. Rack setup includes: 52'' load bars, foot kit, two (2) Criterium stand up trays (the top of the line Thule makes) a 13 cubic foot bag, and a medium sized fairing with only the finest manufacturers stickers. The whole schmere is $400.....better than the $719.45 it retails for. Anything of interest? Holla at cha boy.

New Toy(s) redux

Although I was very excited to get a hold of a nice Telecaster from a gentleman from the City of Angels, I had a feeling deep inside that things would get complicated. Story goes like so: I am the master of spending lots of time on the interwebz finding the best shit for the cheapest-ish price....which is how I found my Telecaster. A nice (at least I assume he's nice) fellow named Larry who is from Los Angeles was selling his 1997 Tele Standard with various electrical and cosmetic upgrades for a price that was about $50 or so dollars less than anyone else out there...not to mention that I talked him into shipping it to me for an extra $25. The upgrades on said Tele were a new Seymour Duncan hot wound Humbucker that fits in a single coil routed mount, as well as a matching hot wound single coil in the neck position....other upgrades were a super nice aftermarket pick guard. After talking "shop" a bit, Larry explained that he builds his own tube amplifiers and ships everywhere which leads me to believe he has packaging down to a science (which he actually did after inspection). Now the part where this turns to shit...a little anyway.

I wait 5 days and a large box shows up on my front porch. I open the box and spend about 20 mins taking the stellar packing job apart and finally get to the guitar. I am so excited to play it I check the tuning quick and realize that there isnt a tuning machine for the High E string....its in the bottom of the box. Upon further inspection of the Tele I find that the guitar is NOT exactly what I was told it was. The Tele was some crazy ass version that was not a Thru Body strung model and instead of having the nice ass bronze compensated saddles it has some whack hard tail with surface rusted hardware....pissed. Not only were parts on the Tele "funny", but the pickups (which are Seymour Duncans) are actually some other model which isn't too big of a let down but still not what I was buying. The body of the guitar has some gnarly marks on it and the fasteners for the electronics are a bunch of crazy ass shit that should NOT be used on a guitar....let alone screwing together some A-holes rigged up compost bin in their backyard.

All in all, I happen to be friends with a gentleman who plays guitar for (and is an experienced guitar tech for) Janitor Bob and the Armchair Cowboys so all is not lost. Worst part about this whole thing is that I have to deal with UPS's claims department....which I would rather rip my penis off and throw it in the woods than have to do. Here's to buying shit that you can actually put your hands on before you buy and transport yourself...

The New Toy(s)

Fender Telecaster in Lake Placid Blue and a Peavey Classic 50 4 x 10

Brief Hiatus

Well hello again world, it has been a while. First off by "brief hiatus" I do not mean that I have taken some time away from wearing briefs....well, it technically could because I don't wear those ball constrictors anyway but....I digress. A few things have happened since the last post I made 2 or so months ago. Most important happening was that I am no longer an employee of Harlans Bike and Tour, nothing to speak of there it is what it is. I now work for a pork producer that offers me 10-17.5k more a year plus benefits ( I say 10-17.5 because there is a monthly bonus that is included at my place of business) ...its a bit of a drive but its fast paced work and has caused me to lose 12.3 lbs in my first 3 weeks of working there....bonus #2.

My last post was about Black Hills Fat Tire Festival so here is the skinny....we drove 5 hours, drank massive amounts of Busch Light, Miller High Life and managed to find 40oz PBR....score! The riding was dank as usual, was able to ride some cool shit that I would have never assumed was tucked away up in those Hills....Jason Jonas is hard at work building our 2nd installment of videos for the annual trip. One really bummer-ish side note about this was that I recently parted ways with the RFX....had some things that needed attending to and selling the rig was the smartest way to go about it. I did however pick myself up a nice Fender Telecaster and a tone-filled Peavey Classic 50 tube amp with 4 ten inch speakers to take up some of my time. I will pick myself up another dirt slaying monster, it will just be a bit later down the road...no biggie!

Lastly, the puny human that I call Ainsley just had her 1st birthday on June the 18th....we headed to Mitchell for a fun weekend of camping, sipping of brews and watching the kid go haywire on a massive cup cake.