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I used to think lock washers worked. They don't.

I bought a Santa Cruz Heckler a couple of weeks ago. Here are my reasons for doing so: -I've wanted to get one for my wife so that we can ride together at my speed with me on my Giant Trance Pro. She doesn't want one. So my devious plan is to have her ride this one to realize how much fun it is so that she'll let me get her one. BUT the reality is that me riding this one TURNED OFF accomplishes the same goal. So instead of speeding her up, it slows me down. But not by much. Last week at Crank and Drank I took off and forgot to turn it on. I was two miles into the ride before I realized it. This should be an example to people that are reluctant to buy one because, "Yeah, but then you run out of battery and you have to ride the huge thing home." Ha! This is not an impossible task. This is a fun mountain bike turned off. -It acts as a life preserver. On my few rides so far I have had it on the lowest possible setting. It is not much different than riding with it turned off. It barely offsets the added 20 pounds of the bike. BUT I know the power is there if I need it. A friend, that's even older than me (yes, I know, hard to believe) with one told me about this. On a Crank and Drank once he bonked "out there" before he got his ebike. He was scared about getting back. No more. -I've been "having" to ride the four routes for the SATN SOCIAL to get good Strava routes in the bag to post up. I didn't really feel like riding one day but I knew that the bike would "save" me if needed. Turns out I never used more than the minimum, but the comfort of knowing the reserve was there was enough to get me out. I got a ride in whereas before I would not have. -This will allow me to go on group rides that I wouldn't be so comfortable with before. I went out to Lajitas with a group last month. They were very accommodating with me. They would ride a segment and then wait at the next intersection for me. That was very nice but I don't want to feel like a burden. Nor am I willing to give up the fun and camaraderie of participating in that type of activity yet. I told the guys at ATX Bikes, where I bought this, that everyone gave me shit about getting one at the Crank and Drank last week. Even though about 15 people gave it a spin, and laughed out loud when they did, of course. The bike guy said, "yes, but they'll all have one eventually." I think that is mostly true and this debate about ebikes yes or no will be looked on in the future as, "why did we even fight that?" I'm sure the hardcore skiers in the past looked at chair lifts with disdain. "Pussies. How can they enjoy the skiing experience if they don't earn it with the hike up the hill?" "This will ruin skiing. The mountain will be full of people now." In reality they just built more ski areas. A win. So there you have it. You know what side of the debate I'm on now! But saying all that I doubt it will be my primary bike. Yet. ps, On my first battery charge, I went 150 miles before it died. And that included the test ride session where everyone used a lot of battery because they had it set to Boost. lol. I personally have yet to use it on Boost power. I can't imagine ever using it.

Just saw this one from Wolf Tooth for $40. Looks like it has good leverage, 8mm, and 2 sizes of torx head. https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/collections/tools/products/6-bit-hex-wrench-multi-tool?variant=39581096345635 For $70 there’s a version with built in quick link pliers, valve tools, and quick link holder https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/8-bitpack-pliers the second might be my new packless riding tool! Usually just have a CO2 and carts held together with a chunk of old tube like a fat rubber band. Always ends up poking me when I try to squeeze in a multi tool.

Opened another new trail section today. The end of Litterbox now comes out behind Water 1 and flows into Black Trac's new (and old) entrance. I hope folks like the flow of this new section that twice crosses the ancient, original Black Trac downhill run. (long ago retired due to erosion) This rolls into the initial wood feature on Black Trac at a better angle than before allowing riders familiar with it to carry speed into the following climb. The new addition brings the total distance to within a few hundredths of a 12 mile loop when every trail is ridden. More to come! Trail conditions were dry. Outside air conditioning was set at 72F.

One of the best things I did on my current (33yo) and previous (53yo) homes before getting them painted was clean up the coax and phone. Looks so much better!

FWIW, I'm loving my Levo, but I just ride it like any other mountain bike I've owned. Only now, despite being old and decrepit, I can ride more often and further that I could otherwise. I keep pace with whoever I'm with, unless they are riding too fast for the conditions (pedestrians, etc.) and then I'll choose a more appropriate pace. Since buying the e-mtb I've been riding much, much more often than I have in years, and I've lost weight, gotten back into trail building, and am in overall better shape now than before owning it. Sure, there are going to be those folks who will make e-MTBs look bad and this will paint all MTBs in a poor light, but, we've had the same issues with people riding on non-e bikes who do that as well. People are a problem. That's not going to change. Blaming the bike for a person's behavioral choices is really missing the root of the issue, isn't it?

I love High West. They're one of 'merica's best whisky experimenters. And they're one of the "craft" distilleries who, IMO, did it right. They didn't try to push out their garbage whiskey as "premium" (I'm looking at you, Garrison, Peerless, Hudson and countless others), and so grossly overpriced that the buyer had to pretend it was good. No, while they were distilling and aging their own whisky, they sourced and blended good whiskey from the likes of MGP, Alberta, Dickel and others (a Scottish tradition) and let you know that is what was going on! In the process, they created one of the top 5 whiskies available in the US, A Midwinter Nights Dram. And now they're blending and selling their own distillate while continuing to source good whisky. I've bought 3 different finished HW Double Rye bottles. 1 was pretty good, and the other 2 were spectacular. The pretty good one was branded Yippee Ki-Yay and was a regular release for them. YKY was finished in syrah and vermouth barrels. It was very popular, and kind of the poor man's AMwND. but it was not my favorite. Another great one was finished in (I think it was) chardonnay. And HW does a barreled Manhattan cocktail that's pretty excellent. And my favorite finished Double Rye, was finished in their own Manhattan cocktail barrels! But Aquavit finished? Yikes. I'd like to try it...I don't think I'd like it.

Dude! Uber!