Adventures in Nothing in Particular

2009-05-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

Man, have I got to get new pictures. To the left is a few from last year. I threw 'um together last night, and it brought me to the realization that I could be taking so many more pictures of random stuff my brothers and I do (ride over, jump off, build, tear down, blow up, etc.) I just finished building a drop off, I need a picture of that too

"Ah the nastalga of the great outdoors and five gallon detergent buckets."
You know the drill,
click the picture for a larger view.

Lowe's Creek

2009-05-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

I got out to Eau Claire this weekend to ride the Lowes Creek mtb trails. There's some crazy stuff happening there. It looks like they're planning on putting in some kind of technical test track of sorts right by the trail head. Flags are everywhere and I spotted a freshly built ladder bridge with a built-in burm. This is going to be worth keeping an eye on.

Police Log

2009-04-18T20:47:00.001-07:00

I found this in the police log today. I know the feeling! If I ever took a bike on Allen Street I think I would try for the downhill direction; it's a big one. The speed limit is 30 there, I wonder if I could break it? I've always wondered that, if you got a speeding ticket on a bike, would the ticket say so? Either way I would frame it and put it on my wall.

Free Rider 2

2009-04-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this game? It's awesome! The basic idea is this: you control a little stick mountain biker dude and ride off crazy jumps and stuff. I'm Obsessed. Here's a track I made:

Isn't that cool?!

When you find the game at it's original site, onemorelevel.com That's all it is, a map editor. You build a map and to save it, you copy the code it displays for you and paste on Note Pad or some other text editor.

What's cool is that you're not just stuck playing your own maps. There are level archives all over the internet, like this one: http://trackmill.com/free-rider-2/. Just click a level and play. People also post up the code for maps they made (on websites and blogs), then you just paste it into the load menu of Free Rider 2.

Don't forget to change your vehicle!
Some maps are made for specific vehicles. Move your mouse to the right edge of the frame to pop out a menu, click on the tire icon and it will cycle you through the different vehicles.

Controls: Left Arrow - tilt
Right Arrow - tilt
Up Arrow - accelerate
Down Arrow - brake
Z - turn around

Here's the code for my level from the video:
-18 1i 18 1i ft 46,fu 46 k6 52 ou 67 q2 6c ra 6e sq 6d u3 68 v2 60 vd 5r vn 5j vv 5a 106 4t,10a 52 107 55,194 u 1ag -2r,1ah -2r 1ao -2p 19e 11 195 u,10n 4q 10o 4u 10q 56,107 4t 10d 4p 10j 4p 10m 4q,15n 42 15n 4e 15o 4r 15q 57 15u 5l,163 63 169 6i 16j 7c 16q 7q 16v 83 17f 8r 17o 98 17t 9d 183 9h 18c 9m,15v 5m 163 63,15n 41 15l 3t 15f 3p 158 3o 14t 3p 14n 3r 14g 3v 148 45 142 4b,141 4b 13s 4h 13l 4k 135 4p 12t 4q 12j 4r 126 4v 11r 53 11g 57 118 59 10u 5a 10p 55,18c 9n 18h 9r 18i 9v 18i a3 18e ad 18g bb 18k bo 18r c3,1cg f0 1jl no,1cg f0 1c9 f4 1jd nt 1jj no,18q c3 191 c9 194 cj 193 d1 199 dn,199 do 19c eg 19i f8 19q fp 19t gl 1a0 h2 1a2 h7 1a6 hd 1a8 hj,1a7 hk 1ae if 1an iq 1b2 iv 1bg jb 1bp jj 1c3 jv 1ce ke 1co kv 1cu lc 1d8 lm 1dj lu 1e3 m5 1ej md 1ev mr 1fa n8 1fk ni 1g2 nr 1gh o1 1h0 o5 1hs ob 1il oq 1iu p9 1j4 pq,1sr 1sh 1u6 1vq 1un 21h 1v4 23l 1vq 27k,1sr 1sh 1qg 1pm 1oa 1nt 1n2 1mv 1mj 1m6 1m9 1kf 1lq 1gl 1ln 1dh 1ld 18e 1l1 16g 1kp 12b 1ku 10a 1ka tl 1jf ri 1j4 pq,1vq 27l 205 2a5 218 2io 21u 2r0 22t 32q 24a 3aj 264 3ik 27u 3q3 29g 3vd 2ck 47l 2dc 49d 2e9 4at 2g5 4dg 2j5 4h6 2lc 4j4 2mp 4jr 2pd 4kr 31a 4mp 38j 4o6 3a8 4oi 3bq 4pg 3c9 4pt 3ct 4qj 3dm 4rf 3ef 4rp 3ff 4ru 3gi 4rr 3i2 4rh 3jc 4r7 3kh 4rc 3lk 4rr 3nb 4t1 3nr 4td 3og 4tm 3pl 4tu 3q1 4u3 3qe 4ub 410 553 4i5 5pp 4j7 5r4 4l8 5tb 4ob 60d 4rr 63c 4s2 63h 4v2 65h 510 66j 57i 69i 5b0 6an 5fo 6c2 5nd 6dr 661 6ge 6io 6if 71v 6kn 7g9 6m4 7pl 6mc 89g 6mm 8b0 6mh 8ck 6m4 8e9 6lg 8fh 6kq 8gh 6k3 8hd 6jf 8il 6ih 8j9 6ho 8k7 6g1 8kj 6en 8kt 6d5 8l5 6bo 8la 6ab 8lc 6a4 8lk 69o 8ls 69h 8m9 697 8mf 690 8n9 68j 8nt 684 8or 67l 8q3 67g 8r4 67g 8s9 67b 8u5 679 8up 67j 8v3 67j,3a7 4oh 3a7 4o5,3ab 4o4 37n 4o0,3ab 4o4 3ab 4nv 376 4nt,3a1 4o5 3a1 4of,3la 4rm 3lm 4rh 3m0 4rf 3mn 4rg 3nc 4rl 3o1 4rt 3oj 4s5 3p6 4si 3ph 4sv 3pm 4te 3pi 4tl 3pa 4tp 3p3 4tp,3au 4ov 3b1 4ot 3b4 4op 3b7 4oo 3bb 4oo,3b4 4op 3b5 4oj 3b3 4oe 3au 4o9 3ap 4o7 3ak 4o7 3ae 4oa 3ac 4od 3ab 4oh,3bd 4oq 3bf 4ov 3be 4p3,3be 4p4 3ba 4p6,3bd 4or 3bb 4oo,1cg fd 1ci kl,1cm fl 1co ks,1j9 np 1it p5,1j6 nk 1io ov,8v7 67i 90p 6a2 90u 6aj 91b 6br 91g 6cp 91s 6di 92e 6dv 92q 6e6 92v 6ej 93c 6f7 94m 6h5 99f 6nv 99v 6op 9b7 6qe 9br 6r9 9ck 6sr 9dd 6u3 9eg 70c 9f1 71m 9g9 73v 9h2 74v 9id 76a 9jd 775 9l7 78l 9np 7am 9pl 7bm 9rc 7db 9t1 7f4 9ug 7h0 a02 7i3 a2s 7k7 a5a 7lm a9e 7o9 adg 7q2 af2 7qa ahq 7qk aj2 7qm ak7 7qr ali 7ra am8 7rs ami 7s6 an4 7ss anq 7u9 ap2 80f apm 80u aqp 818 ato 81g b98 81i bi2 81d bme 81b bna 80p bo8 7vf bop 7tv bpd 7sv bq9 7rs bre 7qc brj 7pj brv 7o4 bs7 7mn bs9 7lc bsm 7jo,8ms 608 8u6 61u 8u6 623 8mu 60d 8ms 608,bsm 7jo btr 7i8 bvd 7h8 c0v 7gk,c0v 7gk c22 7gf,ak6 7qr aqo 7qs aql 7re all 7rb,apn 7rb ao5 7v1,apb 7rg anu 7ui,ank 7rb anh 7tk,ana 7rb an7 7st#1al -2e 1at is,1ap iq 1ag -25,19h m 19r g6,19l c 1a0 h4,3l9 4rl 3l9 4qv,3l9 4rm 3le 4r6,3l9 4rl 3lb 4r5,3l9 4rm 3l6 4r2,3l9 4rk 3l3 4r7,3l9 4rl 3l1 4re,3l9 4rl 3lg 4rd,8tv 621 8tt 677,8to 620 8tp 678,8n5 60g 8mk 68r,8mo 68r 8na 60g,8n6 625 8pi 67g,8n7 62f 8pe 67h,8p1 60t 8on 65g,8p6 60v 8or 65n,8op 663 8ok 67k,8om 65p 8od 67p,8rc 61f 8qp 67f,8rj 61g 8qt 67g,8ro 61i 8tp 678,8tn 677 8rj 61h,8tm 621 8sk 63u,8to 625 8sl 643,8si 646 8r2 66o,8si 642 8r2 66i,8p3 62g 8r0 64j,8r1 64o 8p1 62k#T bbb 7vt

Post and Present Projects

2009-04-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

I go a little stir crazy near the tail end of winter - in between snomobiling and skiing and whatnot- and I get creative. Sometimes too creative for my own good. Last year wasn't so bad, but this year I went a little far.

Here's what I made last year:

It's a 4 x 8' climbing wall. The top is out from the wall about a foot and a half to give it a good back tilt. I thought I'd make things interesting, you know? I made the holds out of any wood I could find. I think I've got some maple on there, but I mostly have pine, sumac, and pin cherry holds. You know me, I strive for quality and strength. You might not be able to tell by the picture, but a good amount of the holds have developed deep cracks in them. That's okay, the way I figure, it makes climbing the thing that much more exciting. You never know when something will break off and put you on your head! It's more realistic anyway, just like a real mountain. I planned it that way, I swear.

Here's what I'm making this year:

Apparently, when you build something in the dead of winter, that's intended for summer use, your accuracy isn't too great. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind, or maybe it was cabin fever, or maybe it was because I was in level three adrenalin starvation, or maybe I've been watching too many mountain biking videos online, but either way, I designed this thing way too freakin' big. Sure, somewhere out there, some nut can ride down this and survive, but I think I just made my self a stoppie machine. So now I have to go put this up outside, and I might never be brave enough to use it. I'll at least never use it more than once. I probably won't be able to use it a second time, if you get my meaning.

Spring

2009-03-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

WHOA!!!

It's finally here! With the official day of spring just a couple of days ago, I might actually have something worth blogging about. I thought I'd give it a try. So here we go! This is it! (Any normal person should be really scared right now.)