Post. I need motivation. Bye bye.

First XC race!

Jeez its been a while since I posted. Its been a busy month, with exams coming up and lots of biking.

Anyway, the awesome folks at Budu Racing host the race, and it was great. The weekend the race was held was a beautiful day, a rarity in winter Pacific northwest. I was feeling good about my result, and stayed to watch the expert race. I'm still jealous of their bikes and skills.

And here comes my version of a banana bike...

It was a little muddy... but a good time. I look forward to their next race on the 6th.

Building junk.

When Im, bored, also know as when im not biking or doing homework, I think of dumb stuff to build. Such as this "truing stand". I saw a block of wood and a broken fork and decided, hmm, let me try this. and then it fell on the floor and broke. So I moved on past my grief to bigger and better projects. Such as my ladder. Not a ladder ladder. A mountain biking ladder. I practice falling off, and occasionally, balancing on it. This time, my project worked! wooooo!! Then a bigger project. My submarine. Built in school, it is my second favorite item, after my bike. A max range of 20 feet, turtle-like speed and sloth-like reflexes. But i love it, i drive it around and go up and down. My type of meditation. Well, I'm off to make some other random thing.

                                                                Sam

                                                                 The submarine

                                                               Bottom of my Ladder!

The "truing stand"

Its Beautiful Out

Ahh, winter in coastal Washington. The sound of rain, the bone chilling temperature of said rain. You probably are think,"That must suck to bike in.". The answer is no, not as long as your motivated. As said in my last post, I need motivation. Positive motivation. Like food, such as a carrot. No unpositive motivation, such as a whip. I guess I'm not a donkey.... anyway, back to the ranting about weather. I personally love the rain. Getting muddy is one of my favorite things about mountain biking. If I was a redneck, I would have a big truck and go mud it. Anyway, oh darn, now I've lost my train of thought. Again. Ah yes, rain. I also think always biking in the rain makes me really enjoy biking on dusty single track in the middle of the summer, sweating through my jersey. Such paradise only comes when the sun shines the longest...... And I will enjoy it when it happens.

                                                Sam

Motivation to ride.

Everyone has those days, when its raining outside, that you would rather curl up on a couch then get up and exercise. For me my main form of exercise is mountain biking. I have ways to get myself pumped up to ride. One of my main sources of motivation is looking up videos of biking on youtube. Another source of motivation is Kent's bike blog here. I also like to look on craigslist to see what bikes are out there. When I combine these three things,  can find the motivation to bike.

Hobbies

When I first started mountain biking, components, and bikes, seemed alien like. I didn't know the difference between my Mongoose, picked up at Walmart, and a quality mountain bike. I learned the hard way when my fork broke in half and I ate some dirt. Cheap bikes are a fine starting point, but as your skills improve, try to make your bike improve too.

                                                            Sam

Thoughts

I often wonder, what is so much fun about biking? Is it the pure independence? Is it the ability to get away from your worries? Is it the escape from engines and noise? Or is it just the primal urge to go, to move?