RIP RIP9

My bike is called a RIP9 - Roll In Peace. Unfortunately its now Rest In Peace - I found a crack in the rear triangle last night.

I've got an email out to Niner to see what they will do for me. I am sincerely hoping they get me a new rear triangle even though its out of warranty. I just can't afford a new bike right now!

The ride last night was pretty good, I only wish I saw the crack after the ride, I thought about it a lot as I rode. We had a mechanical near the end of the ride and the mosquitoes were literally swarming. Can't wait for this part of the summer to be over!

The best singletrack in CT?

I often get asked where the best riding in CT is, to me that's like picking your favorite child - picking one is impossible, so I'll list my top 8 according to their merits:

Best technical riding: Mesh - specifically the white dot trail. Its a trail that is 100% rideable, but in order to ride it clean it would have to be a very good day. Negative - a bit of dirt road riding to put together a decent length ride out there

Best overall riding experience: Bigelow Hollow - there are only 13 miles (or so) of trails out there, but if you ride them all its a great ride with excellent views and some killer technical trails (the white trail stands out). I have ridden every trail out there without a dab on various rides. I keep trying to put together that "one ride" where I ride the place front to back without a dab. Its probably never going to happen, but I will keep trying! Negative - lots of bugs!

Highest value, smallest package - Crandalls - I was reminded yesterday that no one would ever call Crandalls "epic", but if you ride all the trails out there its a quality 10 miles with plenty of hills, some technical sections and many turns on tight singletrack packed into a very small area. I am definitely biased, but this place impresses me every time I go there. Negative - its a small area so riding there too often tends to get  a bit boring.

Most unusual ride - Middlesex - considering the exposed rock riding, the cliff side trails, the twisted trails through the mountain laurel - there's not another place like this in CT. Really great riding with incredibly steep, yet rideable natural terrain. Negative - so freaking hot in the summer

Best place to ride when its wet - Case -Like everyone who rides there I have a love/hate relationship with Case, but if you pick your trails carefully, it really is amazing how quickly the place dries out. I've ridden there less than 24 hours after 3" of rain and its perfectly fine. Despite all the "bad" stuff, there are some really great trails at Case as well. Negative - blown out trails and a lot of people (but that can be good too!).

Best mountain biking specific trails - tie - Nathan Hale and Millers - I rarely get down to Millers, its a challenging ride with so many mountain bike specific features its incredible. I don't do the bigger stuff, but I truly appreciate the effort that went into that place, and its always great to ride where there is stuff I won't do. Nathan Hale is mountain bike paradise - so much flow, technical bits, rollers, it really is a great place to ride with well thought out routes and trails. Negative - this is going to sound weird, but sometimes I think these places are too perfect - sometimes I want to ride on a trail that is not made for a mountain bike (see Bigelow Hollow).

Best non-technical riding: Salmon River - I don't ride there often enough, the trails out there are amazing - flowy, relatively smooth singletrack where you can just pedal and make things happen. Every time I ride there the entire group of riders is smiling. Pretty universal praise for this place. Negative - the trails can be difficult to follow as they loop back on themselves.

Crandalls this morning

I have today off, so naturally a ride was in order. I went back and forth on MTB versus road, figuring the road would be more comfortable, but I went for the woods ride at Crandalls.

I love that place, its really great that we have this place to ride so close by. I only did about 8 miles, but they were quality miles. I had planned on doing the 10 mile loop, but I started over heating so I cut it a bit short. I saw two riders out there including my brother - good to see others enjoying it too.

It wasn't muddy, but I was sweating like crazy so anything kicked up by the front tire stuck to my legs, leaving me with a pretty high definition line once I took my socks off.

Anger Buddy plays the garage gig

Brett who plays guitar in Anger Buddy (the band I'm in now) has a keg party every year and we set up in his garage to provide a little entertainment. I guess this is our third year of doing it. When I was breaking down the studio this year to move everything over I was really considering if this was worth it, there aren't that many people at this party and not many of those in attendance really pay attention to us. I don't say that to be negative, but its the reality of this party.

While I think all of us in the band would like to play more gigs, we are also all realistic about what kind of gigs we would want to play. We all have kids and day jobs so we're really not interested in doing bar gigs where we get out at 3:00AM or something. I did that a bit with a band called Version Larry I was in 10 years ago. I hate to say I'm too old for that, let's just say I'm wise enough to know what's in store for me if I stay up that late (if I can stay up that late).

All that reality aside, it was amazingly fun. I really enjoyed it more than I should have. We have kind of evolved from a 50/50 covers to original ratio to where we play almost exclusively originals now. We played almost exclusively originals in Version Larry, so I know what that means - most people in the audience don't have the patience to listen to something they've never heard before. I had a couple people come up to me during the party and say how much they enjoyed a few of the songs we played, which felt really great.

I linked to three videos of us playing below - I am kind of disappointed with the selection of songs that ended up being recorded, (and I know they should all be linked in one post, but I'm too lazy to figure that out). I think there were songs we played better than these. Of the four songs, I think "A Revenge Play" is probably the best - despite the fact that we just started playing that song probably a month or so ago. "Find a Reason" is of the same vintage, but it hasn't quite jelled yet, its getting there. I think I have only gotten through it two or three times without messing up - its a relatively hard song to sing and play at the same time. I have to get to the point where my fingers know what to do without my brain paying attention to them so I can concentrate on singing. The other two songs are good, but I am not happy with the energy level in either.

That's the Bass of Case in the video, man I love that bass, it really cuts through nicely too!

We have gotten pretty good at the non-verbal communication when playing - this takes a long time to develop and its not something you can talk about or "work on", it just happens as you get familiar with people and their playing. I wish I could see Brett's expression better in the video, at the end of "A Revenge Play" I can see him trying to will me to stop jamming and end the song, that non-verbal communication doesn't always work :-D

Anyway, playing the keg party was a lot of fun, and makes me want to find some other places to play, where maybe there would be more people.

A Revenge Play

Find a Reason

Odysseus Says Goodbye to Calypso/Glad to be Gone