Mississippi Car Zombies!! ONOZ!

[Desert_Donkey]

Ok. So my previous lame post didn't get deleted, so now I will just take the opportunity to rant at ramdom.

Rode home from work Friday, lots of headwinds but no rain (Sweet). Was looking forward to an uneventful trip home when all of a sudden I notice that I'm losing air from my back tire (Dammit). I pull over and check the tire and find a 4mm long sliver of stone which has pierced the tire and the tube, creating a slow leak, and me without my toolkit (Yes, like a dumbass, I left it at home). So, I air up with the trusty frame pump and ride on until the tire leaks out, air up and go again. This happens about three more times until I reach the Dollar General store on Elk's Lake Road. As an added bonus, some jerkoff in a huge green Suburban honked his souped-up train horn at me and yelled obscenities as I tried to get to the DG store. He declined my invitation to come back and discuss the matter.

I go in and cast about for whatever adhesives I can find, and stumble upon a two-pack of Krazy Glue near the counter, which I pounce on greedily. Outside, I pull out the offending stone sliver and stick the nozzle of the Krazy Glue into the hole and inject nearly half the tube's worth into the hole, working the nozzle around to ensure complete coverage. Then, I waited. And waited. And waited. An old co-worker of mine drove up to the store, and stopped a while to chat, and by the time we had finished catching up on old times, the KG had set, and I aired up to about 30 pounds and went my merry way.

Amazingly enough, the Krazy Glue held up all the way to the house, but the tire was a bit low and rolled sluggishly. Not a bad trade-off, since it was either Krazy Glue or walk my bike the ten miles or so all the way to 4th Street.

This morning, I aired up to 55 pounds, and the Krazy Glue still holds, so I guess I'll see how durable this quick-fix really is when I ride home today. THIS time, however, I have my seatbag installed, with a spare tube and a patch kit, so if the glue blows out, I'm covered.

Hopefully, I won't run afoul of any irate car zombies today!

Laters,

KH

[Desert_Donkey]

Well the Krazy Glue held up marvelously on the way home yesterday, and the tire held good pressure all the way.

Traffic wasn't as bad as the other day, and a couple of folks even waved at me, which is a plus.

Ordered an OldManMountain Sherpa rack for my bike as well, which I can't wait to see. I've heard good things about OMM's products, so this should be good. Now I have to re-install my brake bosses.

Slowly but surely my mountain bike is taking shape as an on/off road commuter. Why an all-terrain commuter, you ask? Oh, you didn't ask? Oh, well I'll tell ya anyway:

The roads around here, especially out in the county, are abysmally bad, covered with crumbling potholes and heavily littered with broken beer bottles and bits of various vehicles. This makes for somewhat rough going even on a good day, and a FS/XC rig is a lot more comfortable to ride on such a surface. Also, I am frequently forced off the roadbed and into the grass or the mud, due to the road having little or no shoulder, so again, FS/XC just makes sense. Plus, the heavier bike is a better workout on those hills.

More chronicles later...

[EZROL]

South MS drivers are the worst!!! I also live in the Hburg area and have had my share of obscenities shouted at me...but what can you do with ignorant people?

If you want to put that mountain bike back on some dirt we are building some trails off Longleaf Trace just past Jackson RD. Let me know if you want directions.

We need all the riders we can get!!!

Matt

[Hob684]

Hey DD glad to hear the Krazy glue held up... next time you need to use it (anywhere) breathe heavily on the surface to be glued (think cleanin some eyeglasses) and the glue will set up faster. Krazy glue = cyanoacrylate blah blah blah water makes it set faster.


How's the ride from the apt? whats your round trip dist?

[Desert_Donkey]

Hob684,

I haven't installed a headlight on my ride yet, so I don't do the early morning ride. My wife drops me off at work and then I ride home. The roads I take out in Dixie are entirely without street lights, so a Nightrider light set is definitely in my future.

I'm working my way toward doing three round trips a week, and eventually commuting to and from work the entire week. I have to get used to being on the bike again, as it's been three years since I've ridden regularly. My sit bones are still getting used to this.

I clocked my trip last Friday with my GPS, and it's 18 miles one way, from my office door to my apartment. Depending on traffic and weather, I can usually make it in about an hour or so.

Matt,

I'd love to get directions to the trails. I have a buddy here on post who just bought his first mountain bike, and he's itchin' to get it dirty. I never did show for that trail building day that I had contacted you about, since I had gotten to bed around 0345 that morning and did NOT feel like waking up early. Plus, when I finally got up, I noticed that it was raining outside, and I said to myself, "Self, you ain't getting out there in this crap. Let's go back to bed."

[EZROL]

That was not a good day to work...though I was out there for about an hour before the heavy rain started. The first trail starts about 1/4 mile west of the Jackson Rd station on the north side of the trace. There is a really steep 4 wheeler trail with a dead pine leaning across it. If you climb that hill you will see the start of the trail on the left.

We will be working Sunday on the new section which is a little farther down the trace on the south side where the pipeline crosses. We have about 40 acres to work with so we should be able to get about 4-5 miles of trail.

Trail work starts at 1pm and bring your bike because we will ride for about an hour after working.

Matt

[Desert_Donkey]

Matt,

Love the trails! I'm glad I came for the work day on Sunday, but now I have to get a new wheelset so that I can make an easy swap between my street and trail tires! Just when my wife thought I'd stopped spending money on this damn' bike!

I'm getting ready to make the ride home after work today, and would you believe it, the Krazy Glue is STILL holding pressure. I'm interested to see how long this stuff holds up.

My new rack from OldManMountain is the bomb-diggity! This thing is rock solid, and will hold 50 pounds of gear. Sweet.

[EZROL]

Glad you made it out ...you were a big help!

We will be back at it this weekend starting on the new section. I'll let you know when.

Also, I talked with Chris at Moore's bike shop today and he said you might be able to hook us up with some GPS. Let me know.

Matt

[Desert_Donkey]

I have a GPS receiver that I've zip-tied to my stem, and I use it to clock my time and mileage on my commute. I've got it set on the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS), and it will give me a ten-digit grid reference wherever I am. Ten digits will put you right on top of a point, to within a few feet, so it's pretty accurate.

I can use the GPS to log waypoints, and the more waypoints I use, the more accurate "picture" of the trails it will produce. I am trying to locate a topographic map of this area that I can use to plot the waypoints, but haven't located one yet. The ones we use are 1:50,000 scale, which is way too small to be of any use, except if we want to land a helicopter or drop artillery rounds on a part of the trail.

[EZROL]

I have access to some fairly good topo maps through a buddy that works at MDOT. I will get a couple printed sometime this week.

Matt