Comments on: What If You Never Did Anything But Race? (Breck Epic Race Report, Day 4)

By: davidh-marin, ca

davidh-marin, ca — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:41:26 +0000

@MattC Best LOL today(but’s it’s early still) about your garage. Kudos to you for your rescue effort, as abbreviated as it was!

@Clydesteve It seems we have the makings of a great guest post….”my favorite first bike story”. There were those of us there at Davis USHoF Museum who recognized many of the ‘old time’ bikes as ones we once had(mostly me).

By: Clydesteve

Clydesteve — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:38:50 +0000

@davidh… You had a purple metalfalke stingray, TOO!? My Dad got me my first full sized bike used. It was a Schwinn with the springs in the saddle and baloon tires. 3-speed Archer-Sturmey ‘transmission’. I was seven. It was so big that Dad removed the seat and I rode around with a rag wrapped over the seat cluster. (Developed huge thighs – always rode standing up!) When Dad saw how much I rode that thing, he went back and got the single-speed 26″ wheel Raliegh road race bike I really wanted.

This freed up the Schwinn cruiser to become a Sting-Ray. I stripped it completely down, prepped and painted the frame metal purple flake Krylon, then added ape hanger bars and a huge plush white banana saddle to make a monster Sting-Ray. It was ready by the time i grew into it.

By: FujiPixie13

FujiPixie13 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:24:30 +0000

Fatty, I usually ride by this philosophy on the road, however, the other weekend, I used your word “snotulum” after almost sneezing myself off my Fuji 50 times because ragweed pollen had invaded my nostrils, windpipe and lungs. I wanted that next rest stop so badly….and it seemed like it was days to get there from mile 9 where the sneezing started to the next rest stop at mile ~32. Even longer from that rest stop until mile 51. It was horrible, but one of the most beautiful autumn rides I have done. Trees changing colors and leaves falling as we spun along. Hated that I felt so blasted miserable…even with allergy meds! Made a gorgeous ride one of the most grueling of the year for me. :o(

By: MattC

MattC — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:34:58 +0000

@davidh…one of my fondest childhood memories was when my little brother and I slipped thru the fence onto airport property (we lived outside of town on a big chunk of private land in Sheridan WYO bordering the airport land) where there was a small pond drying up, and we gathered up all the water-snakes we could find (we were saving them you see) and put them all in our garage into an old unused aquarium…I recall we put a small rock on top to keep them from escaping…well, that didn’t work of course…our mom was an RN working nights…she came home the next morning and there were snakes EVERYWHERE…we had to gather them all up and put them back in the pond. Apparently not everybody likes snakes.

By: GJ Jackie

GJ Jackie — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:49:41 +0000

When in the middle of a crappy day/week/year, it’s so hard not to worry about when it will end. “How much more?!” is always on my mind.

Thanks for the reminder to focus on enjoying the ride.

By: davidh-marin, ca

davidh-marin, ca — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:51:14 +0000

@AK Chick. I remember that!! you did a great imitation of the ’snake bite lady’ from the movie Bananas.

@MattC I’m sure the snake stopped his ’strike’ when he realized what a ’scrawny’ meal you’d make! Glad to see you try and give the snakes some space, after all ‘snakes are people too‘….or is that the other way around? As a kid I remember riding home on my StingRay (purple flake finish) with a 6ft Gopher snake wrapped around my arm…mother was so pleased…hah!

I always find the rattlesnakes in the middle of the steepest sections of trail…why’s that?

By: AKChick55

AKChick55 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:19:37 +0000

Thanks for the latest Breck Epic installment!

One of the best parts of living in Alaska is that we have no snakes, ticks, poisonous spiders, scorpions, fleas or West Nile virus carrying mosquitoes (at least not yet). Well, there are poisonous spiders out on our air force base, but they are brought up by the planes and don’t spread. However, this puts me at a serious disadvantage when traveling down south (and peeing in the bushes or behind the outhouses at the first rest stop at LIVESTRONG Davis – had to pee, couldn’t wait). I digress…

By: MattC

MattC — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:05:58 +0000

We see rattl’rs here on the mtb trails all the time…they like to lie across the trail like a stick on sunny warm days…and won’t even move if you carefully ride around them (never crushed one yet…tho I did bunny hope one in desperation on a downhill once).

Last year I saw one when I was on the ROAD bike ofa all places…he was lying on the side of the road (JUST off the pave), all coiled up and snoozin…I think I woke him up cuz as I rode by (my gaze was looking up and to the left at the switchback ahead) I heard an evil wicked hiss…looked down just in time to see the HUGE wide open mouth and huge fangs lunging at my bare calf…and then he stopped his strike just inches from my leg and pulled back into his coil…I didn’t even have time to crap my shorts and it was over! Had he bit me, well..I was miles and at least one big climb away from any help (no cell phones, and no reception even if we had them)…it was the biggest rattler I’ve ever seen…his mid section was as big around as a baseball. He didn’t even get a chance to rattle it happened so quick.

That one scared a few years off my life I imagine…tho I like to think I have good karma w/ the rattlers, cuz I’ve never killed one…some of the guys I mtb with say to kill them all whenever you see them…I say live and let live.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:04:28 +0000

I like to see snakes on the trail, (certainly more say than the mice that chewed the wires under my car at the trailhead). Have you noticed that snakes usually hide before you can get a camera out of the seat bag? I have even run over a snake, in sand at least, he was gone before I could stop and go back.

I think my optimism would fail long before a 23% grade.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:35:01 +0000

Yup you got it right on !