MEATengines is going to be a little different for the next {hopefully/only} 6-8 weeks as I pay some idiot tax. No, I wasn’t riding. Or even in the forest. Sorry, that’s all I’m prepared to share publicly. Needless to say, Fromme Friday is cancelled for a while.
It’s, of course, my right foot that’s f*cked because that maximizes the inconvenience. A broken bone with some “minor” displacement, so *fingers crossed* for some straight {pun intended} no-knife healing action. I’ll know more in the next 1-2 weeks. In any event, by far the biggest URG is that Claire and I had an amazing {single-speed} ride on Wednesday and, as nice as the driver was, our bus ride today just didn’t quite stand up.
At this time, I haven’t figured out if my downtime will mean more MEATengines or less MEATengines, but at the very least, I’ll keep plugging away with SBTISAOAF and Monday Musings. With that noted, let’s move on to the stuff!
Pedal Onwards
Wow, if you didn’t check out Cy Whitling’s Pedal Onwards this week on NSMB.com, then I would probably just head there right now. I mean, come back later, of course, but there’s nothing I have to say here that’s as interesting or impactful as Cy’s ‘how I got here’ mix of words and artwork. It opens with “The Christian Nationalist cult I grew up in lived up to all the stereotypes:”
I’ll just say, before you click the link above or scroll down to the image I’ve shared below, I understand this could be very emotionally challenging for some folks. I’m sharing it from a place of love and education with no malicious intent and hopefully this counts as fair warning.
I’ll also make the key point that one can be anti-Christian Nationalism without being anti-religious. This isn’t attacking anyone for having faith or regularly attending a place of worship. It’s the same way that being vehemently opposed to Israel’s indiscriminate mass-murder in Gaza is in no way inherently antisemitic {just ask a significant portion of the citizenry of Israel}. Never Again clearly means very different things to different people.
I’m episodically agnostic bordering on atheistic, but if every religious institution modeled itself after St. Andrew’s United here in North Vancouver, I could genuinely believe that churches were making our communities better places. Cy’s experience is a little different than rainbow staircases, sheltering unhoused folks in winter, community gardens, free meals, advocating for a guaranteed livable income (GLI), etc.
Dig Around Monies
I mentioned this in the single-speed piece, SMOOTH, that Claire and I finally published this week, but I just want to shout out Gerard and Chaz again for making time for us. It was an old-school parts-bin bike shop experience, right down to the glance-at-the-ceiling price calculation. We were happy to pay it – time costs money.
I’ll maybe Tunnel Talk about this in the future, but if you’ve walked into a shop, even a shop you patronize, and they’ve had a dig around for you for some used part and didn’t charge you for the privilege do please remember that part has a time cost associated with it. If their shop rate is $90/hr, then ten minutes digging through bins translates to $15.
I’m not suggesting laying out cash when someone says, “We’ll get you next time,” just creating some awareness. And if a shop does charge you a few bucks for routing around for that thing you need, like a BB-mount ISCG ’05 mount, then dude, say thank you and reach for your wallet.
Nina’s Waltworks
On my long list of bike check updates, not to mention ‘Yep, That’s Still Rad’ pieces, is a proper look at Nina’s beloved rig. Wait, 27×2.8″ rubber with tons of daylight and a 142×12 rear hub? How is that even possible? It has a bash guard, WTF? HAHAHA.
Anywho, for now, I’m just sharing this photo because it makes me happy. ‘Sassy Grass’ green Toxik Harald paint job. Wolf Tooth Premium headset in, discontinued, green. Polished Manitou fork crown. NSBillet Overlord stem in a mixed polished face plate with black body mated to a polished Chromag bar. Plus, a custom Jen Green head tube badge {birthday gift}. Yeowww!
Dried Apricots
I’m low-key obsessed with dried apricots lately. I ate a third of a ton of them on my Easter trip with the JacVenture crew, and they’re my new favourite trail snack. Claire enjoys them too, so it’s not just a crazy ‘old man’ thing that I have going on.
I did have a quick internet search to try and determine if I was eating too many {I mean, what middle-aged dude doesn’t need more fibre and antioxidants?!} and the results came back as inconclusive. I mean, everything in moderation, but when it comes to dried apricots, what does moderation even look like!??!
Anyway, I’m low-key considering starting my own apricot-forward fad diet cult, but apparently it costs US$3495 to buy www.apricotlife.com, and someone already bought www.apricotdiet.com. Any other suggestions?
Pendulum (x) Engima
I had a couple of Pendulum-pause moments on truly steep uphill restarts, on unfamiliar trails, in Cumberland last weekend. I’d dab and the pedals spin so easily now, with the new bearings, that when I’d slam my foot back down, the platform hadn’t come to rest at pins-up yet. The quickest little lift and push would have me standing on the pins again, and it’s obvious when I’m not, but I figure it’s noteworthy.
It only happened a couple of times, always climbing, and with experience, it’s a lightning quick correction, but it’s my desire to be an open book with my experiences with these unique pedals from Outlier. It remains true that I receive more inquiries about these pedals than any other product I’ve tested. Though obviously, we’re on a bit of a pause in terms of pushing bearing durability.
On that note, railing my Freeride BMX is magically different with the Pendulum than with other pedals. Simply put, the planted feeling of the below-the-axle foot position makes up some of the difference between my Banshee Enigma’s 418mm chain stays and the 460mm+ stays on my Waltworks (x) WZRD V2.
My Chromag ArctuHawk and V2 are both fun with the Pendulum, but I’m also very happy riding the Wolf Tooth Waveform, Ripsaw, Outlier Void, NSBillet Daemon, and other flat pedals on those rigs. It’s a quick few pedal strokes to adapt to any platform I enjoy. On the other hand, combining the Banshee with the Pendulum creates a planted, trustworthy descender that is still playful.
I think anyone who’s ridden with me on my, very recent, Enigma journey would agree that I’m moving along pretty quick, up & down, for a dad-boded bloke with middling bicycle skills and a rigid single speed.
Okay, I’m going to call it there for a day with just the final addition of a thank you to all our friends who’ve reached out with offers to help out {we won’t take many of you up on it, but it doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate it}. Also, an extra special thanks to Penny for stepping up on incident day to see Claire and me sorted, and also for the chocolate chip cookies.
I think I need a larger batch… I mean, sample size… to confirm if there are any magical healing factors to eating multiple c³.
Larry Talker Tunes
Model-T is pushing a sequel this week. Part 2 of Ian Hunter’s ‘Defiance’ and I’ll admit it’s equally rad even if the artist describes it as “less optimistic” than the 2023 edition. There’s only one issue, which is that we already featured this album on LTT on January 17th!
Still, it’s rad and if you didn’t listen to it previously then I’d recommend you start with ‘Everybody’s Crazy But Me‘ first.
That said, well within our ten-year timeline, I think you’ll find ’23’s Defiance, Part 1, is also awesome. My favourite track is I Hate Hate {especially when it’s blind}, but the whole album goes.
All that said, if I can jump in for a second, the song that I’ve been hearing every time I let my mind wander the last few weeks is this 2021 revisal of Natural Blues that massively powers-up Moby’s hit with the addition of Gregory Porter & Amythyst Kiah.
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