It looks like Tumblr has made some real improvements over the last year and I will be taking this blog down and pushing www.jeremyridesbikes.com to my tumblr site.
If you still see this message it means that there is sand in the inter-tubes. It usually flushes every 24 hours. Just wait.
WordPress – You have been great, but I really like the format and layout of Tumblr. I may be back. Keep rockin’
I feel this way after learning something new.
You know you have either been the stuntman or the camera guy in this flick.
mountain bike accident
So I just had to get out this morning.
It has been too long.
At work, we are building something very technical, and as a startup it is just really important to continue battling and knocking projects out. Unfortunately that means more time in front of the computer screen and not in front of the handlebars. BUT eventually you have to take a break and do something different. Today was that day. I realized if I kept going and hammering on the systems I’d burn out. Heck, I may already be burnt out. So I went on up to Forest Park to ride Firelane 5 and Saltzman road.
It was time for the mind refresher. My mind refresher is Mountain Biking. To get out in the woods and flow. Smell the trees and taste the dirt. I do it because I love it.
That is all.
J
I took this photo on Tuesday the 19th. We actually had nice sunny weather. Sometimes I wonder how long it has been since seeing Mt Hood. Well here he is again. I really need to write a blog post on the Indian story behind Mt Hood. It is pretty good.
Jeremy
After chatting with the chiropractor on Friday I learned my pelvis is shifted forward to the right. Which was causing the right leg knee pain I have been getting. If I shift the left pelvis/hip forward the pain actually goes away. I am working on different riding positions to see what causes pain and what relieves it. I am amazed the way the body reacts in motion.
There is a ligament [Posterior Cruciate Ligament] in the rear of the knee that if it is not working correctly forces some uncomfortable pain in the knee after lots of riding. The pelvis being out of whack pulls my leg wrong and after a while I get pain. I thought it was my pedals, which technically it could be since I am locked in via clipless pedals.
This is why you go see the people that study this stuff. Bodies are like systems, you just have to go to the right tech to fix them. Hopefully through exercise and some treatment we can get things under control and spinning correctly.
April 13th 2006. I walk into St Joe’s in Denver a about 5am. I am 198 pounds and have a tumor the size of a baseball in my left sinus. I am about to have it removed in an 18 hour surgery that will change me drastically. Over the next 5 years I will go down to a weight of 165 pounds (thanks to radiation treatment) and then back up to a normal 175 pounds. I will become more healthy than I even have been.
I was told they were going to have to remove my left eye as they thought the cancer had invaded that space. I was told previously that I probably would not be able to have kids after the Chemo. I was told all the worst case scenarios.
I woke up about 3-4 days later. I literally lost those days. I have no recollection of them. I spent the next 2-3 weeks healing in the hospital. Part of that not being able to speak because of the tracheotomy they put in.
I am now cancer free and surviving for 5 years. A lot can happen in 5 years. Leaving Colorado, leaving Hawaii, buying a home in Oregon. Just a lot of things that I can not possibly think of or would have predicted the outcome of. The best, is that little screaming boy downstairs as I write this. He should not by any definition be here now.
But he is here and I am one lucky guy.
Over the years the list of people to thank has increased and there is no way to thank every single person in this journey as I wish I could. So the top three that come to mind are My Family, My Friends, and My many many many Doctors over the years. Thank you, for keeping me alive.
Jeremy
I took some pictures today on my commute in. There was some fog today in Washington Park which was awesome to ride through. Enjoy.
Jeremy
I also got stopped by the train on the way in under the Steel Bridge
NO WAY THROUGH!
Here is my pie in the sky bicycle commuter with style. I think about this stuff while I ride in the rain here in Portland. The Kona Jake the Snake handles the job most nicely, but I burn through brake pads almost monthly during the Winter and am always thinking of N+1 bike.
Actually after going through the list of parts, I think I can actually build this bike! I am concentrating on off the shelf components and stuff you can get at a local bike shop.
Have fun, ride more
Jeremy
What are you dreaming about? Leave a comment or hit me up on Twitter
The List:
Frameset
7005 aluminum frame painted red with black highlight logos (or black with red)
A cross between a Cyclocross frame and a Mountain Bike frame (mountaincross?) with track drops for the Nuvinci hub, rack mounts and rear disc tabs.
Carbon fork that can handle disc brakes, possibly fenders (White Bros 29er MTB fork or Syncros ?)
Crankset
Raceface Crankset
Wheelset
Mavic, DT Swiss, Salsa, or Stans NoTubes 29er rims [Tubeless]
Nuvinci Rear hub – http://www.fallbrooktech.com/nuvinci.asp – http://twitter.com/#!/NuVinci
Carbon belt drive – http://www.carbondrivesystems.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/CarbonDrive
Brakes
Formula disc brakes – http://www.formula-brake.it/en/bikes/r1
or Shimano XT disk brakes
I could go with Avid Elixirs, but I was thinking of avoiding the “Turkey Wail” from their brakes on my daily commute 
Tires
2.0 29er [700c] slick tires [Tubeless] – Conti or Schwalbe if possible. I love my Conti Contacts.
Other Bits
Rounding out the seat, seatpost, stem, handlebar and other fun stuff with companies like Brooks, Chris King and Thompson concentrating on well made components that last.
Extras with Portland in mind
Full carbon fenders from Ruckus - http://www.ruckuscomponents.com/
Rack from PDW - http://www.ridepdw.com/goods/cargo/payload%E2%84%A2
I was able to get a hall pass from the wife and head on out to Scappoose to get dirty on the mountain bike this past Sunday.
I was shocked by the clear cut logging going on. There was a warning put out on the NWTA web site that there would be some trail closures for Winter due to logging on the land. The land is commercial logging and closures and such are to be expected. It just hits me like a ton of bricks when actually seeing it.
This use to be a dense Pac NW forest.
The following pictures are the north side of the road and what this use to look like. My fear is that the north side will look like the south side eventually.
The road. All trails span from this road:
Hidden trail?
A little green on the ground
Onward!
A flower
The elusive Karate Monkey in its natural habitat
mmmmm loamy soft dirt trail
Lots of moss
Enjoy nature while it is there.
Jeremy