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…An Axe To Grind…

Published April 9, 2011

This is the Pulaski that was used to chop out most of the roots on the single track at River Bends. I’m heading out tomorrow to do some more trail work, so tonight I set to sharpening the axe side with a file. The adze side is quite dull, but that’s acceptable for trail work as it’s mostly used for bench cutting. There isn’t a great edge on the axe side, but as this edge sees most use being plunged into roots buried in dirt it should be acceptable. After another four hours of trail work it will likely be rounded over and quite nicked up.

With the weather turning nice I took a look at River Bends’ current trail layout and found an area where roughly half a mile of trail could really add to the system, and now that a nice route through it has been identified it’s time to get building. If things go according to plan this will expand the single track by roughly half a mile using relatively flat land on a somewhat-plateau above the paved paths and may even offer nice opportunities for log piles and other trail obstacles. I flagged the route tonight, so as long as the tape flags aren’t pulled down by noon tomorrow we should be able to make good headway on this piece of trail.

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New Trail Work Saws

Published April 6, 2011

Last year I purchased this bypass lopper from Corona and I’ve been very happy with it, so when it was time to purchase a small(er) hand saw I went with one of their models. This afternoon two new tools arrived, the Razor Tooth Raker Tooth Saw – 21 in (RS 7160) (seen above) for serious trail-work sawing and the Razor Tooth Folding Saw – 6 1/2 in (RS 4040) (Photo) to keep in my backpack for small jobs. These were purchased as a replacement for the Sven-Saw which I left behind on the trail after Erik, Nick, and I cleared some serious post-storm deadfall from River Bends.

I’d considered buying another Sven-Saw as it was quite convenient to carry in my backpack and only pull out when needed, but the setup/teardown made it a little difficult to use, and the cut depth limitations inherent in a bow saw occasionally caused problems. I’m hoping that this saw, particularly with its raker teeth, will be perfect for most of the trail-side sawing that I have to do.

Since the 21″ Raker Tooth saw doesn’t come with a sheath and its blade is quite pointy I decided to make one out of some salvaged Coroplast. While not as durable as a dedicated holder, it should suffice to keep things safe from it in the trunk of the car and keep me from cutting myself while carrying it.

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Free Coroplast!

Published April 6, 2011

Coroplast, or corrugated plastic, is a very handy material, but it’s often hard to find small pieces whenever one needs them. After purchasing a new hand saw via Amazon a few nights back I realized I’d need to build a cover for the blade to make carrying it easy and thought that Coroplast would do the trick. So, I stopped by the best source of free Coroplast: a busy intersection.

In this area (and I presume many other parts of the country where cars are the preferred method of conveyance) companies will often place signs on the corners of intersections and leave them until they are taken or they blow away. These typically sit just below line of sight for car drivers and do little but serve as visual clutter. In the past if walking by them I’ve taken them down and thrown them away, but this time I took a couple for reuse.

So, thanks Kennedy & Ide Complete Home Remodeling and Crown Moldings ‘N More for the free Coroplast. Just like the unsold condo dealers, pyramid schemers, and personal ad sites before you I’m sure you’ll continue to do your best to ensure that our neighborhoods are littered with your advertisements. While taking them down and throwing them away is somewhat satisfying, reusing them is even better. Still, it’d be even better if you’d refrain from the suburban equivalent of flyposting.

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Dented Salsa Delgado 29’er Race Rim

Published April 5, 2011

Originally I was going to post this photo of the sun setting over River Bends, taken while out on my first proper trail ride of the year, but then I dented my rim while screwing around in the parking lot post-ride and thought that it would be more interesting. More specifically, I tried hopping over a curb ad moderate speed (~10 – 12 MPH) and did it wrong, slamming my rear wheel and all my weight into the curb. The impact was both felt and heard as a resounding metallic TWONK as one sidewall folded in. Surprisingly the tire didn’t pinch flat nor blow off the rim.

After a rather unpleasant day at work I headed home and found myself with just enough time to quickly eat some cereal, change clothes, and dash up to River Bends for a first trail ride of the year before the sun set. So, I did. The trail is pretty much ready to ride, with only a few small slick/muddy spots which aren’t too difficult to traverse and which shouldn’t damage the trail. I pushed myself a bit and am already a little sore for it, but it felt really good. Riding trails is something that I really missed over the winter, and even being limited to the ~40 minutes that I was able to ride, my head felt clearer and all thoughts of broken things at work (and effort required to fix them) went away. I need more of that…

…and I guess I need to rebuild my rear wheel.

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2011 Trail Work at River Bends

Published April 3, 2011

Yesterday afternoon Jon Boughner and I headed out to River Bends to do some trail work. We ended up finishing all the major points that I’d wanted to hit:

· Rerouted the return loop entrance to make it flow better and not involve any sharp downhill turns. This should also eliminate a user conflict area.
· Rerouting a quick (and blind) uphill near the seasonal loop split-off. While ridable, this hill would catch some people off guard and would likely end up full of brake bumps after a few years. the new section should flow much better.
· Moving or marking (for later cut-out) any downed trees. There were only two that we couldn’t move by hand!
· Bench cutting a few previously built sections which needed a bit more work.

While out there we also ran into Pete and Mark as they were riding through. They stopped and helped us with a bit of the initial work on the return loop entrance reroute, and then test rode it to check that it flowed sufficiently. Later on, Mark returned with his friend Brad on another ride and they were able to do a few test rides of the second reroute, but unfortunately this route was still a bit muddy and they left a significant rut through the center of the trail. Thankfully we were there to stomp this section flat before it has a chance to dry in that bad shape.

The rest of the trail is also still fairly muddy so I won’t consider it ridable until the rain stops and things can dry a bit further, but it’s definitely coming along nicely. It’s pretty much set for now, and I can begin thinking about a bit of expansion that I’m hoping to do.

Here’s some photos from yesterday:

· Jon Boughner standing on top of the new return loop entrance to River Bends.
· Mark Senyk and Brad riding through a brand-new reroute at River Bends.
· Me (Steve) standing on a reroute at River Bends which eliminates a steep, blind uphill.
· Another photo of me (Steve) on the hill-eliminating reroute.
· Pizza cutter rut left in fresh mud at River Bends.
· Detail of the fresh rut at River Bends.
· Jon Boughner standing on the new River Bends return loop entrance.

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Burger King Cheese Fries (Flavored Potato Snacks)

Published April 1, 2011

Do not be like me. Do not buy these. Do not eat these. Not even if they only cost $1. Not if they are given to you. Not even if this photo of shiny, extruded, yellow “cheese”-colored dust-covered pieces of starch make your mouth water.

While initially tasting good, the profound amounts of sodium and odd artificial flavors screwed up my mouth for a few hours, and the salt contributed to me feeling sleepy and out of it.

These are in a class of food that should not be eaten.

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Underberg ist gut!

Published March 31, 2011

This evening Danielle and I visited Nitsches Meat and Deli, a local German food shop, so that she could pick up a sausage for dinner and take a look around. While there I picked up a three-pack of Underberg (Official Site, down at time of posting), a very nice bitter herbal digestive that Jeff introduced me to a few years ago. Designed to be drank all in one go (to help settle the stomach) I like to sip a little then down it. The herbal flavor is wonderful, and it really does calm down an upset stomach.

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Tripel Starter

Published March 31, 2011

Here is a one quart yeast starter made from one cup of light DME (dried malt extract), 1/2 teaspoon of yeast nutrient, and one Activator pouch of Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey yeast. After this grows for a few days I hope to use it to make a somewhat-clone of Dragonmead’s Final Absolution (BeerAdvocate review), a top-quality Tripel that’s won it’s fair share of awards. With any luck the batch I brew will be equally good, but I probably won’t know until autumn as it’s supposed to age for six months before consumption.

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Failing at Furnace Repair

Published March 28, 2011

For the last two or three winters my furnace would occasionally have a problem where it would fail to ignite and be left in a lockout state requiring the thermostat to be switched off then back to heat before it’d reattempt ignition. Since this was only a minor inconvenience and not repeatable I’d opted to fix it later. Suddenly this past weekend my furnace started seriously misfiring and failing to light, resulting in barely any heat on Saturday night and no heat at all on Sunday night.

Since I’ve done a bit of electronics work in the past I set about trying to troubleshoot this myself, and just after midnight this morning I was convinced that the problem was likely the main control board, Carrier part number CESO110018, as seen above in my furnace. Lacking a schematic it was difficult to troubleshoot, but I thought that it was not sending enough power to the ignition unit and thus the ignition was simply failing. So, this morning I rushed out to Behler-Young‘s Pontiac location and bought a drop-in replacement, ICM Controls‘ ICM 271 (PDF) for $68.73 (after tax). Hurring home and installing it before work I found that I was wrong; it wasn’t the control board.

I then called Mike’s Heating and Cooling, the trusted local place which replaced my air conditioner five summers ago, scheduled a time for them to come by, and set off to work leaving Danielle home in the cold where she even had to pile a robe on top of Roxie to keep her warm. The repair person arrived later in the afternoon, checked the furnace, and $285 later ($166 in parts, $79 for the service call, $40 for half an hour of labor) the ignition unit was confirmed defective, replaced, and the furnace put back into operation.

It’s a bit disappointing to have failed to repair the furnace myself, but at least it’s up and running again. Overall it’s not terribly expensive, as in the 9.5 years I’ve owned this condo I’ve likely only spent $500 on furnace maintenance, including replacing the humidifier and periodic furnace filters, but I still wish that I would have solved the problem myself.

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