Dirt Bike Camping

The girls decided this morning that they want to go dirt bike camping.

Ride our dirt bikes up into the mountains, setup camp, and stay the night.

Pretty sure we can make that happen.

– b

ADK Cabin Trip 2017

Due to cabin availability, the ADK trip was early this year. We also scheduled it over a bit of the weekend, which meant some of us could head up early on Friday and get more time up there.

Craig, Sean, Scott and myself did just that.  Got up there Friday night to play all day Saturday before heading into the back country on Sunday. Since weekend roadside climbing is typically very crowded, Craig, Sean and I (Scott went climbing with some people he knew up there) headed to a new place to try that required a bushwhack.

We quick spent some time with the map and read the description in the book, then headed off into the woods.

We found ice, but later realized it wasn’t the right ice. The book described it as 40′ to 70′ tall. What we found was shorter and as it turns out in the wrong location.

At least now we know exactly where we screwed up our navigation and where the actual ice is.

All was not lost and there was still plenty of daylight to do some roadside climbing, so we headed to Quinn the Eskimo.

I lead, while Craig and Sean each got a climb on top-rope. I went up a second time to clean the route and rappel in the almost dark of evening.

The next day we headed into the back country.

After the mud debacle last year, pulling the sleds over snow was obviously appreciated. Though the one benefit of not having any snow last year was that we found some new trail side ice on the way in, which we were excited to try this year.

The trail side ice turned out to be pretty good. Some was just tall enough to require ropes, but the rest was a good height to play on.

Unfortunately we were dressed to haul sleds and not to stand around in temps in the teens and falling, so we played a bit but ultimately had to move on.

There were 7 people in the cabin this year, myself, Sean, Craig, Scott O., Jamie, Chris and a new guy named Bruce. Our first day there we all decided to climb Bennies slide to the top.

Bennies is a landslide that happened off of the north side of Lower Wolf Jaw following Bennies Brook. Hurricane Irene made it bigger and more varied at the top.

The conditions were a mix of snow and ice. Ice where the wind exposed surfaces and deep drifts where the snow got caught. About half way up, Craig, Bruce and I decided we’d split from the rest of the guys and pick a steeper more narrow route to the east that appeared to go buy a large overhanging rock that we wanted to investigate. The rest of the group decided to take the main route to the top.

Our route was pretty tough going. The snow had drifted up to our waists most of the way and it was significantly steeper than what we had done below.

In contrast, the route the other guys took remained very similar to what we’d seen below if not a little more icy.

When we reached the point where we needed to cut in toward the over hanging rock that we’d seen, we changed our minds and headed on to the top. After trudging our way through so much snow, the dense snow covered evergreens that we’d have to bushwhack through weren’t that appealing. Nothing worse than getting off course and having snow dumped on your head trying to find something you can no longer see.

The bushwhack from the slide to the peak and finally onto the trail was taxing enough. Thankfully it was short and the peak was within sight the entire time.

The trees on top (elevation – 4K’) had what I call cartoon snow on them – thick and fluffy. It was cold and had been a long day. Time to head down back to the warmth of the valley and the cabin there within.

The second day was a little more open for some of us. Craig, Bruce, and I didn’t have any specific plans. The others decided on an extra long ski adventure to Marcy Dam (where I’ve taken the girls from the other side of the High Peaks.). After spending most of our time on Bennies looking back at the ice on Big Slide, Craig, Bruce, and I decided we’d head there for more exploration. The ice on Big Slide is where we’ve spent a lot of our time in the last couple of years. We’re rarely disappointed, why not go back.

As you can see, there’s plenty of stuff to play on. This was also Bruce’s first time around ice of any kind, so we wanted to pick something with lots of variability.

In addition to the ice we wanted to try and have a fire. There’s a corridor of land where fires are legal and we were within that corridor. Often we ask, “what if you needed to start a fire? Could you find enough tinder/kindling/things to burn in all the snow? Could you find a spot not 3′ deep where a fire could burn?” Granted there wasn’t 3′ of snow this time, but still fun to try.

A little fire, some sausages and coffee. It was perfect.

Time to climb some ice.

As cool as that looks, we only played a little here. This part of the cliff band gets a lot of southern exposure i.e. sun, so the ice is not well formed and was particularly drippy that day.

Below this band is another that is better protected from the sun. It’s not as tall, but the ice was good.

Another key aspect is that it was more vertical than the other stuff we were playing on. The bottom 8′ – 10′ was very straight up and down, which significantly changes the experience. The top half was nice and slopey.

Though the pictures look decent, I really made a mess of it. My feet were never as stable as they should have been and I fell back to all the negative moves you could imagine. It’s really kind of crazy, or actually similar to riding a motorcycle. The moves you need to make to be comfortable and strong on the ice require a lot of trust/confidence in the ice and your positioning. The moves that make you feel more comfortable/protected are horrible and cause great strain. It’s basically the difference between simply standing still on your two little toe points, or hanging from your tools driven into the hilt. You can only hang for so long. You can stand forever. On a motorcycle going into a corner too fast you want to hit the brakes, but that’s exactly what will prevent you from making the corner.

As I said it was short, but enough vertical to offer challenge and practice which I need.

And that was it for the winter 2017 ADK cabin trip. Considering the mild winter we’ve had here at home, it was extra nice to go somewhere where winter is still real.
– b

Lauren Makes Black Belt Club

Coach says she’s one of the youngest to be promoted. Has no doubt she’ll excel.

Yay Lauren!

– b

Some Kind of Sick

Came down with something yesterday.

Aches. Feverish. Stomach pain.

Home today and moving slow.

None of the symptoms I had last night, but moving too slow to make it to work.

Better to get this while home, than on the road. That’s a travel inconvenience I’d certainly like to avoid.

– b

New Dishwasher

Our old dishwasher (a Bosch given to us a few years ago) decided to die last week.

We hate that dishwasher (too small among other issues), so repairing it wasn’t really desirable.

Getting a brand spanking new one wasn’t really in the cards either. If we plan to redo our kitchen/appliances in the coming years (we do), the new dishwasher now would be “outdated” by then.

Next option – Craig’s List

Jen found a brand new dishwasher out of a model home that had been rarely used. When they build these neighborhoods that take years to sell there’s usually a “model” home that has all the premium stuff. When it finally sells with the rest of the neighborhood, it’s premium stuff is now outdated and usually gets replaced. These rarely used/couple of years old/premium items then get sold for cheap on Craig’s List.

Problem solved.

Picked it up Sunday afternoon. Had it installed and running by Monday night. Needed a drain hose extension, which I picked up Monday.

It’s really quiet, and I don’t even have the bottom panel on yet.

It’s funny. None of our appliances match now, and can’t say I notice. I guess it has more to do with resale in the long run.

Dishwasher count since we bought the house almost 12 years ago – 3 (at least).

– b

 

Travel More

Went back to Boston for a quick 1 day meeting last week.

That’s 2 weeks in a row.

Hopefully home until the end of the month.

It’s a good thing too. There’s plenty of shit (work related) to deal with here.

– b

NAGA Feb. 2017 Competition

Abigail participated in the NAGA (North American Grappling Association) yesterday. It was a multi-format competition where they did both gi and no gi matches. This was Abigail’s first no gi match and that went first in the (extra long) day.

She didn’t do so well in her first match, and not because it was her first no gi match. It was more because her head just wasn’t in the game. She wasn’t in it to win it. She only had one match and the girl submitted her within half the allotted time.

After lunch it was the gi matches. She was bracketed with one other girl, but unlike the no gi matches they decided the best out of three would win.

Again she lost her first match. Again she just wasn’t in the game.

We had a little talk, something along the lines of you’re not competing to your potential, then she won the second match 7 to 0.

At stake for first place was an actual samurai sword. We told her it was now hers to lose. If she lost this match, she lost the sword.

Completely fired up she went for her third match and totally kicked butt. She won 11 to 0 with an attempt on an Americana submission, but didn’t get it and obviously won by points instead.

Unfortunately they had run out of swords to hand out by this time in the (very long) day, so she’ll get hers mailed to her.

There’s another competition next month. We’re considering entering as there are a number of kids from our gym who are involved and going as a team (yet competing individually) seems pretty fun for this group.

– b

JR50 Performance Tune

The JR50 has a washer with a small diameter hole in the middle that goes between the exhaust pipe and exhaust port of the cylinder to reduce flow and slow down the bike.

It looks like this.

You can see the new/altered one I have next to the stock one still in the pipe. It connects here to the cylinder.

As you can see without the washer the port is about 7/8″. With the washer and the stock hole it’s reduced to 15/64″. Without getting too crazy I decided a 1/32″ increase was probably a good place to start.

I ordered a couple of new washers for some variability. On the left is the stock washer at 15/64″. On the right is the one I made at 17/64″. Maybe it doesn’t make a difference? Maybe it does? Either way i hope I cleaned it up enough to not suck in a tiny flake of metal and lock up the piston.

I got it back together and started it. Seemed fine. No idea if it’s better until the girls get on it and give me their “seat-of-the-pants” expert opinion.

Though it was decided today, that there would be no more performance improvements on either bike until they started using the brakes. At least on the Honda they can reach the hand brake (but they don’t). On the Suzuki they’re only real option is the rear (foot pedal) brake (the hand brake is too far from the bar and I can’t adjust it). Their complaint is that they can’t feel the pedal with the boots. My response is get used to it. The boots are made that way for a reason, and you will get used to it. So far both of them mostly rely on letting off the gas to slow down or stop, but that doesn’t really work when you’re going down hill. And though they try to use their feet on the ground to stop (flintstone style), it’s not very effective for an 80 lb bike with a 40 lb kid on it.

As a side note. Working on these little things is a bit of a pain. Ideally you need a table. I had the JR50 propped up nicely until I knocked it over. It left a little dent in the 100, before it hit the throttle squarely on the concrete floor and broke it. Though as I look at this picture, I think a lot of my problem is my garage. It obviously needs some cleaning/organizing.

Regardless, ordered a new throttle ($7 + $6 shipping). It should be here by the weekend, and the rippers will be on their way if they’re not skiing instead.

– b

Wasn’t My Intention

To share rides for two hours in the yard today.

 

I had another plan to work on some performance tuning (I’ll post later), but the girls were doing so well and having such a good time we let it roll.

If you’ve been following along, you know that the Honda is in the shop for suspension work and the Suzuki was deemed under powered. It’s under powered on purpose, but much harder to adjust than just turning the throttle stop screw as on the Honda. The plan was to ride a little to judge the current power, then adjust as necessary.

But the girls started ripping around all over the place. This was the first time in the yard since Christmas day when we deemed it to have too many obstacles. Apparently that’s not an issue anymore.

They went each and every way around the garage, the flower bed, the swing set, the oak tree in the garage, and the fire pit. And had very little performance issues doing so.

Obviously we had to make it harder. In addition to the cones, I opened a path past the pool so they could more easily get to the back yard. Now they were riding all the way around the house.

And each time they patiently waited their turn. For two hours.

In the meantime Craig showed up to show off his new bike.

It’s a Honda Africa Twin. Very nice. Very torquey.

– b

Kid Cell Phones

For Christmas we got the girls these walkie talkies. One for each of them and one for each of us.

Works great.

We send them out in the yard or over to the neighbors house and they let us know they are there or want to come home for lunch, etc. with them.

In addition I mounted a 3rd camera in the yard that’s now facing the neighbors yard. There was a giant blind spot because of the garage. We couldn’t see them doing their “fort work”. Now we can.

It’s all good.

– b