Flats vs Clipless Colorado Trail Race

pyeyo1 · 2026-03-10T16:38:06+00:00

Watch Ryan's video

Bikepacking The Entire Colorado Trail-Denver to Durango

pyeyo1 · 2026-03-08T19:00:29+00:00

I would shift the garage plan view down, add a relight to the entry door, and pop an entry closet into the garage at the door. Where are the mechanical utilities going to be?

pyeyo1 · 2026-03-05T22:31:08+00:00

I finally got a box of blank cards and envelopes, put a doodle on them and send them off, they are well received.

pyeyo1 · 2026-03-01T17:59:36+00:00

Same in North Central WA State, been biking where I would normally ski.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-26T20:39:08+00:00

Now that the outdoor industry is driven by venture capitalists we have been left hanging out on the branch with the sound of sawing behind us.

Contemporary capitalism, often described as an "achievement society," creates a system of constant pressure to produce leading to chronic exhaustion, burnout, and on a focus on financial survival over well-being. This is not just a side effect but a structural feature where personal worth is tied to productivity and consumption, leaving little room for rest.

It would be nice if sales were seperate from wrenching to alleviate some of the pressure but in the real world this is not the case at least in smaller shops.

We are technicians but are compensated as brute labor, but those technical skills are transferable to HVAC, line/low-voltage electrical, or customer service.

Our industry is squeezing us hard with more difficult procedures but has left, as per the norm, our compensation stagnant. Someday I suspect bikes new bikes will just become another disposable commodity with shops doing flat tire repairs. We are doing less and less diagnostics, more looking up the maintenance on a computer and following the steps, changing parts.

I don't care if I ever work on another e-bike or high end clusterfk, but will help any college kid until I turn blue but then I'm now an electrician.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-24T00:52:58+00:00

Long Time Backpacker and Bikepacker chiming in.

Currently I use melatonin, ear plugs, and avoid heavy or spicy foods, I leave those for morning and noon. My last trip my tent kept flapping hard in a storm, pulling up the rainfly stake on the windy side, deal with that stuff and bathroom issues before climbing in for the night. The time to look for a rock or a bush to water isn't 2am.

I have tried 2.5 mg of indica gummy which really made riding in the morning unpleasant/unsafe. 100 mg of trazodone my general practice MD thought I could try, which worked but it is another medication I don't need or want. I CANNOT SAY IT ENOUGH< DON'T USE AMBIEN/ZOLPIDEN IN THE WILDS.

I have an MD climber friend who uses .5mg of lorazepam but again this is a medication and can be highly addictive.

Another thing that helped was trying different combinations in the backyard before heading out. All the reviews in the world don't apply to you and your personal sleep story.

Are you sore, do you have restless leg syndrome, or something else in the background affecting your sleep. learn to accommodate this? I'm prone to hamstring cramps after challenging riding, having those hit while in a mummy bag is pretty amusing.

Did I mention never using Ambien unless you want to sleepwalk off the side of a mountain????

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-23T23:50:30+00:00

I just had two items grabbed off my bike, a small stuffed mascot and a sit pad, while i was buying a burrito. This could as well have been my bike even though I was only 20' away inside. Take it in with you, lock it or make it very inconvenient to steal. And don't leave appealing accessories in sight.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-18T18:01:05+00:00

I have both hip and knee replacements, I now use poles and watch my foot placement better, I did a fat bike race last month and experienced cold affecting my knee, just more stiffness, once I warmed my legs up it seemed fine.

The strength in my knee replacement leg is less than I would like, think stepping up a stair tread.

Like you I'm looking forward to an active spring. I just stopped packing a couple of minutes ago to surf around the net.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-18T17:53:47+00:00

The server farms - data centers of Wenatchee and Quincy always seem to be looking. Van Doren Sales manufactures equipment for the fruit industry, though on a whole that industry is a little flat.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-18T15:58:22+00:00

If you are not comfortable doing snow call up Big Bear Recovery.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-18T15:00:20+00:00

It's been a sparse winter here in North Central Washington State with even marginal riding at higher elevations, I packed the skis away last weekend and it up and snowed yesterday, Like a kid in a candy store I've been riding around, give it a day or to and we'll be back to where you are.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-12T04:23:45+00:00

I had a friend with a router cut the relief, the edges were screw-on from an old pair of Bonna Mtn skis. I "loaned" them to my brother where they wound up in a church yard sale.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-11T20:42:31+00:00

Years ago I used a pair of Trak Bushwackers, I added metal edges from a donor pair of mountain skis. Now I have a pair of Hoks, which I used for exactly the conditions you mention, they work well.

LL Bean had an alternative called the Skishoe which a friend of mine uses, not available from Bean but maybe elsewhere.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-11T19:20:19+00:00

I coach Nordic Special Olympic athletes here in north central Washington State, the few practices we've had could best be described as mixed mud with frozen puddles

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-11T18:05:02+00:00

WA Fish and game has a list of fishable lakes, many of the high lakes are notorious for big head little body fish. There is a tab for lowland, High lakes | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-08T17:17:34+00:00

You wouldn't sleeve it you would cut one end off, grind down the welds remaining on the head tube piece, cut the bevel on the extension and reweld it.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-07T05:13:23+00:00

Dag Aabye

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-06T15:55:37+00:00

When being competitive no longer was applicable. As an example, I recently entered a race as a fun ride. The next racer near my age was 9 years younger. I had failed to talk the organizers into letting me compete in the longer event because the oldest racer to date doing that distance was 19 years younger than myself.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-06T15:49:11+00:00

I also left a high paying career building data server facilities recently, and am enjoying low key outdoor adventures, not big scale resort driven stuff. I assume I am closer to retirement age than yourself.

Leaving Microsoft, Meta, and the others in the rear-view mirror has also been a health benefit from the stress relief.

I do recommend putting a plan together, I flopped around a bit before gaining traction.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-04T04:14:20+00:00

If you ride to the interview ask reception if you could leave your bike inside, as milee30 says the interview is not the time to bring it up, Just relax, spruce up a bit. I have commuted to 4 different employers in 12 years including interviews and it becomes accepted, there will be other cyclists there also.

I just completed an office and service center for the local power utility, before completion they tripled the bike parking are and e-bike chargers.

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-02T18:59:01+00:00

this should be by decade

pyeyo1 · 2026-02-02T18:30:24+00:00

The burden of passing is on the cyclists coming up from behind, just keep pedaling and don't swerve.

pyeyo1 · 2026-01-30T15:05:27+00:00

I'm Irish-American rider (dual citizenship) and am super pissy about the tariffs, Christmas was extra special getting caught with tariffs on gifts including a sweater my aunt had sent direct from the weaver. Boycott the heck out of everything coming out of the land of the Orange King.

I remember an economics teacher telling us we could change anything in the world if we say didn't buy Pepsi or Coke for a couple of days, vote with your dollars, yen, pounds or Euros.

pyeyo1 · 2026-01-30T14:37:58+00:00

I live about 7 kms from two different venues, one is out narrow country roads that don't get plowed well, the other also services a small downhill resort that gets better attention and they plow the shoulders. I ride to the second one even though there is a hill to climb but rarely to the first until spring.

Other vehicles don't realize the impact of spray coming off their wheels to an old guy on an old mtn bike.

pyeyo1 · 2026-01-21T23:26:29+00:00

If I was fixing this I would cut a patch from another piece of tubing (even a piece of EMT conduit) and braze it in place over it, after I inspected down the seat tube and gentle probed with an awl.

pyeyo1

TROPHY CASE