I hope everyone reading this had a bit of a break and recharge, and a wonderful Christmas, if that’s your jazz. As 2024 lays down to be the nurse log for 2025, I wish you and yours all the best in the coming new year.
It was a bluebird morning for the last Fromme-Friday, and final SBTISAOAF of 2024. Larry Talker ducked out on his music duties to join The Clairebarian and me for a short pedal with excellent dirt, and a blend of brutal and beautiful light shining through the trees.
After our ride, I stopped by Guido’s (since 1967) for a trim today. Benaz, Joseph, and co. have been cutting my hair for around twenty years. Going back to before they owned the business. I mean, minus the last few where I’ve just been shaving it off myself whenever it grows long enough to bug me. You know, ‘new year, new you’ and all that.
The Widening #1
When we saddled Claire up onto her new steed we understood that one cost associated with the longer reach measurement and her ongoing growth curve would be a new handlebar every year or two. It’s fully possible that Claire will never ride a bike bigger than her size small secondhand Samurai, she doesn’t come from tall folks. But, as her arms get longer and her shoulders get broader, and her torso gets taller, we’ll continue to grow her handlebar and maybe eventually add 1cm to her stem length.
Just as groms grow in fits and spurts, so too does their gear. Everything is either too small or too large. Or if it’s just right it’s about to be too small. Actually, sorting out gear for a ten-year-old is not unlike choosing gearing for a single speed. Chances are, you’re wrong.
Today was Claire’s first ride after the jump. We went from the 600mm bar we moved over from her 24″ wheeled Marin to a 680mm bar. The way the controls are situated (close your eyes and set up your cockpit) Claire’s riding roughly a 640mm setup right now, with a couple bonus centimeters of protrusion to either side. She likes this setup and it probably means we’ll get an extra year of growth from the bar.
Push-On Precept
How easy is it to use the Tusk safety-wire pliers that I bought from Gnarly Parts in the ‘wack? This time around, Claire wired her own grips. Blue of course. I took care of the spray-paint and slide on duties, and poking the cut ends into the grips for safe keeping, but it’s always nice to have your grom do as much of their own bike work as possible. Especially if they’re interested.
Claire runs the same soft ODI Longneck grips as I do, just in a shorter length. I sometimes wonder if she’ll run this setup forever, switch to lock-on grips as an adult because they’re easier, or maybe run rampant with the push-on option experimentation as I’ve done.
I have other favourite grips, including the Chromag Wax on my V1 ATB/groad/commuter, but the mix of not thin and not thick and not firm but not squishy of the Longneck is certainly the closest to my unicorn that I have found.
MEATengines ‘T’s
Beyond limited-edition, this year Nina surprised the family with custom MEATengines T-shirts as a gift. A little Cy Whitling artwork on the front (thank you always, Cy) and an inspirational (hahaha) message on the back.
I’ve already been asked (which is really nice) but there are no plans to make MEATengines kit to sell. BUT, I really appreciate that folks are attached enough to this thing that they would actually consider reppin’ a shirt. Nina had these printed Vancouver-locally by the nice people at Firebird Prints and I’m told that pretty much any urban or suburban center in the world has folks willing to small batch a ‘T’ or two.
So, throwing it out there, if you really want a MEATy-T, send me an e-mail and I will single-use (or micro-batch use) honour-system license {not for resale – as if – or any of that} the logo file so you can get your own printed locally to you. If purple is not your thing I also have a black logo.
Shelob’s Eulogoy
About The Ride, Volume 1, Issue 1 has shipped to folks who ordered it and is for sale in select shops (in B’ham only, I believe). If you’re Vancouver adjacent and would like a copy I have a couple extra the only issue is that the shipper tossed them on the saturated slab outside my apartment so they’re just a touch water warped.
They’re still great though! Plus no shipping cost and your CA$20 goes to support interesting original mountain bike media. If there are any takers, you can pay me and I’ll forward it to Cy.
My favourite piece within is called ‘Shelob’s Eulogy’ and to do it a great injustice it’s Julie Goeman’s story of spending all her monies to buy into her dream of mountain biking. It’s a wonderfully written and serially sentimental love story to a life-changing bicycle.
“I slept on a mattress on the floor and she slept next to me leaned up against my dresser. She was the last thing I saw every night before I fell asleep and the first thing I saw when I woke up. I didn’t ride her for the first week bc I was so scared but I thought she was beautiful.“
My own piece, well, I’m very clearly in the nascence of learning to write for a print format versus the bright-screen-scrolling of the internet and it’s a bit of a slog. Put another way, I’d do it differently next time, especially because the subject matter is so keenly important to me.
About A Photo
What’s Tutti smiling about on this grim, wet, cold hike-a-bike snow ride? It’s not because she’s looking forward to reaching the top so she can post-hole her way down two trails one knee-to-hip-high step into the snow at a time. It’s also not because she can presciently picture her feet being warm and dry a couple hours from now.
Some adventures go as planned. Others, well, they do not.
As I remember it, this is the exact moment that Tutti is picturing a gigantic F*CK JACLYN sticker for the back of her truck. A die-cut demonstration current to our times that would have any Albertan tipping their cowboy hat in recognition of her effort.
Anywho, I was spending a bit of time trying to organize my photo archive and came across this shot from Easter a couple of years ago. It was a pretty brutal day with cold (thankfully light) rain from above and snow from below for about a third of the descent and there were not enough emotional support layers to go around. But, everyone sucked it up.
Learn to suffer with a smile and they’re all great rides. Right, Tutti?
MEATengines Best Of ’24
So, once again, I’m late to the best of ’24 awards party but that’s okay because it’s always better to be best than first! Hahahahahaha. I mean, what brand doesn’t want to post an image of the image of their highly coveted MEATengines ‘I’m A Delicate Fucking Flower’ #1FG and recycled cardboard award front and center on their website‽
“Welcome to the MEATengines take on cycling-content-creation’s lowest-of-low-hanging fruit. Around an entire week, or so, of ‘Best Of’ awards where we (I) choose a single product to top categories so diverse in terms of both use-case and price point as to render any verdict irrelevant.“
This year, I’ve added a shiny new MEATengines Best Of tag for easy year-over-year searching.
And that’s a wrap on the final SBTISAOAF for 2024. I hope that you’re still enjoying this series as random and unwieldly as it may be. Hopefully we’ll see some additional interesting product review opportunities in 2025 but regardless, the musing about mountain bicycling will continue on Fridays and other days of the week as well.
Happy New Year!
Larry Talker’s Tunes For The Week
Model T decided to ride bikes this morning instead of submitting some music recommendations, so it’s homework for him instead. I’m remise that I’m a few days late to share Small Town Titan’s wicked cover of Mr. Grinch so instead, in keeping with the season, here’s their cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and, as a bonus spin on top of that, Marcy Playground’s Sex & Candy .In keeping with the rules, both recorded in the last decade!
Heck of a voice, tight band, doing their thing. Pretty rad, eh Terry?
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