Climbing.... with a Lady!

Yep, that's right.  My girlfriend just climbed Independence Monument in sneakers, on a super windy day - gusts up to 60 mph according to the weather man.

So I just had to put my arm around her so she wouldn't blow away!

Our friends F and S were along for the action too.  It was good.... and scary..... to be lead climbing again.  I was glad for a toprope on the last pitch...

Who's that guy reflected in her glasses?

We made a pi shaped apple pie for church potluck.  Its so nice to be living only 7 miles away instead of 300!

Our expressions here are just..... priceless.  Oh Yeah.

There's also two more bags out to a couple Horrible Mean Trolls right here in Grand Junction.

Tabeguache

Wednesday I finished finals and the first half of school, Thursday morning I hit the trail for another try at thru-riding the Tabeguache Trail from Grand Junction to Montrose. The first 50 miles has no reliable water and is really hot. I had to take breaks in the shade every half hour or so.... and was dreaming about the water pipe at Big Dominguez Campground. Mmmmm water. MMMMM.... sweating out lots of salt - good thing I started with 6 liters of pre-salted water to replenish!
9 mile hill...hot stuff.

There's millions of these yellow guys up on the Uncompaghre Plateau.

The (Divide) Road goes ever on and on....

Somewhere up there I missed the turn off for the Roubedeuix, which I was partly planning to skip anyway - my legs were shot.... I was crawling, even on a perfect dirt road. So I actually didn't ride any of the second half of the Tabeguache Trail proper, but rather continued on the Divide Road to the top of Spring Creek Trail, and rode it all the way out to Lower Spring Creek Trail for a nice interesting finish. After gravel grinding on the Divide Road, I was ready for a change. The mud, roots, stream crossing, and swamps of upper Spring Creek were a welcome relief and a taste of New York trails, but without the mosquitoes. The more technical riding was also more entertaining.

Then, best of all, I was picked up at the trailhead by my friend and fellow conspirator Fritz, who packed that night to ride the Tabeguache the other direction - I ride to Montrose, drop him off at the trailhead, drive his car back to Grand Junction, then he rides here on the Tabeguache, I pick him up, and then he gets back in time for work Monday morning! It was a hard trail... my legs are done in for a few days, but it was certainly a good challenge.
Stats for those that care:
Hours ridden: 14 day one, 11 day two.
Miles: 133 total plus another 11.3 to the trailhead.

In sewing/job news, I'll actually be working 30 hours/week at the Grand Junction Math and Science Center, teaching kids day camps, sewing will be part time on top of that but I should be able to keep up with all your orders just fine - much better than during the school year!

Most exciting of all, my girlfriend is moving to town tomorrow!

New Sewing Machine!

Well, I finally broke down and got a bigger, stronger sewing machine. This guy is one step away from an industrial machine, while still being portable. Perfect for my needs right now. Yesterday I got to crank out a 22" Karate Monkey bag and a custom narrow bar bag (for road drops) on it, and it works great. Its nice having a big motor and a real walking foot.
Its a Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1



Got the binding foot with it to put interior binding on faster and more accurately!

Then after sewing I drove out to Fruita and rode techy singletrack for a few hours. Its been way too long since I've ridden dirt....


Over spring break last week I got to go for a nice trip with my amazing girlfriend and her dad!




Well, time to stop procrastinating from my lab report. Only 7 more weeks until I'm halfway through enginerd school!

Bring on the orders, come May.

That's right... you heard me...
Cleaveland Mountaineering is sewing full time this summer!

So come on, swamp me in orders - come May 15th or so.
Until then I'm cranking stuff out on the weekends when I can, and doing crazy enginerd homework all week.


50 lbs of oatmeal by bike 10 miles, plus 15 lbs of books and 3 lbs of nuts.




CM Marketing Director Fritz had a sweet ride up on the rim of the Black Canyon.


More Jones bike radness (from the summer...) I have the pattern here and can do them up no problemo.

And I even managed to defy the impossible on this one by fitting a 3 L bladder into the left map pocket. I had to invent a few new tricks for that one. (Seat bag wasn't made by me)


Well, time to go play with Schrodinger's Equation!
Thanks again for your support of American Engineering Domination.

Snow!

The fat front is finally done and needed testing. So I conned F into coming (never hard) and S came on XC Skis, and we headed up to Grand Mesa....

They say when the skiing is bad, the snow biking is good.... well, today the skiing was good...... thankfully I brought them. One of these days I'll get up there in good snow bike conditions, but for now I'm glad to have had a little taste of real winter weather.












Thanks to a few great deals I got this fat front setup rolling for about half off retail. This Surly hub last saw hard labor in Alaska, so I got a killer deal on it - with half dead seized bearings - from Mike Curiak.

The rim is a 44mm Echo Trials rim from Webcyclery. Sure its a touch narrow for fat tires, but it is light AND cheap, plus a tougher, narrower rim will be better for rock riding with it. Works for me.

While out skiing today a realization hit me - an idea so incredible for bikepacking bag development I might just have to try it. Classification: Top Secret for now. Prototypes need to be designed and tested.

Back to the books. This is gonna be a fun semester.

Winter Canyon Exploration, bikeless and glad for it.

Way back in October, I had to pull the "Mission Abort" lever on a Tabeguache thru-ride.... but managed to find a fun canyon to explore on the return trip, that quickly turned into full on no holds barred hike-a-bike.

So after plotting to go back with bikes AND climbing gear for months, I finally got back up there, this time with a Quality Girl friend instead of bikes, which was an excellent choice. Much more fun. She even wore out my smile muscles! Bikes would have been completely and utterly useless on this one. Even on the dirt road section, there wouldn't have been very much riding between the sugar snow cover and mud.

There were a few fun little downclimbs

And the back to bagk rappels were easily dispatched with. Great tree anchors, easy take offs, not too big or scary.

Then afterwards, we just had to go to Denny's for some dinner. It was a Siriusly fun day! Thanks Lady!

In other news, C.M. is back sewing again, school starts again Tuesday, and I might just be bored stiff this semester with only 13 hours of classes, tutoring, sewing, talking to a great lady, and once in a while riding a bit.
Bring It ON.

Over break in NY my dad and I got up to Chimney Bluffs for a bit of hiking! Tons of fun, and a lot warmer and less windy than last time I got up there...




Thanks to you all for making the first full year of C.M. a lot of fun, and thanks for your support of American Engineering Education DOMINATION!

Don't forget to let your inner six year old imagination come out once in a while

Shipping Day!

Well, my finals week sewing marathon finished yesterday, so today is shipping day, and tomorrow I fly to my parents in NY for Christmas.
The 10 item 5 customer list got knocked down to ZERO!


Magical central divider partial bag with spots for 2 water bottles for a Tour Divide bound Moots. If you want to fit a 3L bladder in the map pocket, this is how it works...





Specialized Epic Down Under. Crazy dimensioning work done thanks to paintbrush.



And, I even managed to sneak in a ride on Saturday - with snow!



In other news, the commuter hit 1560 miles this semester and I didn't once drive to school!






Count them up.... 5 Priority Shoe Boxes and a big cardboard tube, and a total of 16 sewing projects on board. A fun couple miles dodging cars and drafting off of two over-sized load trucks, and I wore the Santa Hat too.



Thanks again for your support of American engineering domination.

Merry Christ-mas!