29 July 2008

Mountain Bike Observations: Why Mountain Bikes Suck! *And The Weekly Lean Look Update

God Bless long titles! They make anyone who might want to Digg this really have to work for it! OK, so I'll start with the Lean Look Challenge weight info, followed by why mountain bikes suck. I knew it wouldn't be pretty after the Saturday night beers and burgers at the loge at the ball game. I told myself I would allow for a slight slip on Saturday, but I'm afraid my slip was like falling down a full flight of stairs. Last week was 193.8, this week might have been sub 190 had I not partaken of the Saturday evening feast. Friday I was at 190.8 and I was psyched! I don't follow over the weekend so come Monday I was sickened by a dead even 192. The only saving grace is in the measurement process I noticed something. Apparently all of the hard work IS actually working! Measurements came out to 16" Neck, 37" Waist for a 21% Body Fat! So my body fat measurements have gone from 25%, to 23%, to 21%, so I guess that's cool, right?
Enough of that,now: mountain bikes suck! Yeah, you heard me right, mountain bikes suck! Why do I say that you ask? I'm glad you did, I'll tell you. So I was riding with Kyle Friday, I think I mentioned that yesterday, and we were riding trails in the Metro Parks. We had just come back from riding some roads, and were tooling around trails when I almost went over the top of my bars. This is where you, once again, ask "why?" and once again I'm happy to oblige with an answer. However, I'll first give you a hint as to why and let you try to guess. OK? Good, I was not trying to stop, no? OK, Nor was I going down a particularly steep hill. Give up? The headset on the bike had rattled loose and the thrusted forward with me leaning forward on them, causing my to bottom out my chest on them. Yeah, Lesson 836b: Apparently it's ALWAYS a good idea to check all bolts and screws before you ride. Did I mention I never got the manual with a bike and being a guy NEVER check thing like bolts and screws. Needles to say, it hurt and I felt like a jackass! Second time riding with kyle, first time I go over and become wrapped in the bike while virtually at a complete stop, and now this. The super cool part about this was I saw a Park Ranger truck at the trail head with a bike rack, and the rack was open sans bike, also I he passed a while back when when I stopped for Kyle on a hill, so I knew he couldn't be too far ahead. He was riding a cool Fuji Police Issue bike, for the record, and it was pretty slick. So, for the record, if anyone knows the Lake Metropark Officer who is Badge 22, tell him thanks for having the allen key in his kit Friday night! Tightened the bad boy up just in time for it to be too dark to continue any serious riding and left for the night. Oh well, at least I got back to the car OK, and I guessed I learned a valuable lesson, right? I wonder what else is loose?!
Well that's about it for now, until tomorrow!

5 comments:

Highwaymunky said...

A couple of thoughts.

1. Well done on loosing the inches and body fat, keep it up!

2. MTB's do not suck what ever their state of repair... you suck!

3. As for " being a guy NEVER check thing like bolts and screws."
You TOOL!

4. As a fellow larger gentleman I too have discovered that if we rag our bikes and do not take care of them they will kick you in the ass at some point!

Take the time to clean & maintain you bike, it should be like romancing and then making love to a beautiful woman...... eh....what?

Even I've lost what I was trying to say.

Glad you're OK. Any good scars?

Cycling Phun said...

1. Thanks.
2. I do no such thing...
3. Yeah, I know.
4. Yes, yes they will.
What's funny is I just broke and cleaned the chain, had some work done to true the rear wheel, tightened cables... bolt and screws? Not so much. Don't know why.

Bluenoser said...

They make pads that go over MTB stems for folks like you Phunster.

-B

Cycling Phun said...

nice... real nice BN. ;)

gwadzilla said...

I am still not sure why mountain bikes suck...

I am trying to lose some weight
but I am no weight weenie... cause weight weenies suck

mountain bikes are the perfect tool for the task

if your task is mountain biking

the same goes for road bikes