We took our new bikes up to Red Butte yesterday to try them out. Two things, I'm way out of shape! And, once you've ridden a Fat Bike you'll never want to ride anything else. They are SO capable and have limitless traction. You can pick and hold any line you want and they just go through or over. Altair said she felt more confident on one than on a regular mountain bike. I can still go like a bat outta hell on one going downhill. I forgot how fun and freeing it is to ride. We're planning on riding every weekend as long as the weather is nice. I want to be able to ride up to Dog Lake on my birthday.
I took pictures of Altair, hard to take pictures of myself. :)
She was smiling most of the time.
A gorgeous day! Looking North towards downtown SLC.
I was so proud of her! She rode all the technical sections without any incidents. Pretty good!
I think it's been at least 6 or 7 years since we did any "real" mountain biking.
Everyone we would run into would say " Look at the size of those tires!"
She got a new helmet (a day early) for Easter.
I knew it was a perfect day, this JD was parked as we were leaving. Must be a sign!
We spent the better part of yesterday outside again. I got the garden disked up so it will dry out a bit so we can plant potatoes and peas. Skyler found the daffodils in the front yard and had to smell everyone of them. He also discovered that a tractor tire makes a great toy and is fun to carry around.
And since Blogger sucks again, these aren't in order. Again. Sigh...
Mmm!
This tire probably weighs half as much as he does! He would pick it up and scream "HEAVY!"
"See the daffodil?"
"It smells nice."
Roll the tire!
"HEAVY!!!"
He'd bring it to me so I would roll it back across the lawn.
"I need a break."
He eventually figured out how to roll it on his own.
I drove down and met Altair at Saturday Cycles yesterday afternoon to pick up her new Fat bike. We purchased it late Saturday, and Mark, the owner, had to order her complimentary pedals. Her pedals didn't make it, but we took the bike anyway. After I got it dialed in and tuned up, (nothing against Saturday Cycles, I just know what I like on my bikes and am way more particular) she rode it around the yard with Skyler in chase.
The frame is so small, it's like a BMX bike to me! (I threw my old Speedplay road pedals on until her new ones get here).
Skyler thought this was the best game ever, chase Mommy!
Closer...
He was getting tired, he never had a nap yesterday and was running out of breath chasing her.
Look her smile! These bikes automatically put a smile on your face! I've also never had a backyard big enough to ride bikes around in before. :)
Someone is rather pleased with her purchase.
This is what I'm doing today:
Working on getting all of our green waste in this FREE dumpster!
Skyler got to see the truck drop off the dumpster. Every time he sees the dumpster now he shouts "DUMPER!!" He cried when the truck driver left, he really wanted to get in the truck. :)
Skyler pretending to "fix" the Gator like me when I'm working on cars.
He must have seen me doing this recently to Grandma's car. He kept saying "fix it".
The fuzz stopped by down the street yesterday to apprehend what appears to be a druggie. I think it's time for a chat... I don't want this to become a habit. We live in a nice, clean neighborhood and I want to keep it that way for Skyler.
Nice job W.J., go ahead an park in front of the driveway.
You can see said druggie's head above the far mailbox. All kinds of items went into an evidence bag!
We also found Altair a bike! Saturday Cycles had the last Mukluk 3 in stock! We stopped by there on a whim and were betting each other whether or not there would be any Salsa fatbikes in stock at all. There was, the one we bought. I'm so excited to have a riding partner now! We're going to be blazing all over Utah this summer. As soon as my damn toes heal...
She got the Blazing Orange color. Trust me, pictures do not do this color justice. It's gorgeous! Now I need to figure out what to do to customize her rims like mine...
Pretty much everyone that knows anything about me knows I like all things mechanical. Even more so, I like mechanical things that are powerful! You may remember this post, about the Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo program over 40 years ago. Yesterday, Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon.com) and his expedition team recoverd Saturn V main engine pieces!! from the ocean floor. This is unreal!! Yes, his money could have saved homeless alligators or fed starving children, but it's his money and he can do what he wants with it. :)
A preserved engine from the Smithsonian. NASA used this one for study of it's gas generator. Gas generator exhaust plumbing is above the man's head.
Some interesting tidbits on the main engines of the Saturn V. The F-1 engines that powered the first stage of the Saturn V rockets burned 6,000 pounds of fuel EACH SECOND!!!! That's one ton of refined kerosene and 2 tons of liquid oxygen!!! EACH ENGINE CONSUMED THE SAME AMOUNT OF FUEL!! There are 5 main engines on that first stage. That's 30,000pounds!! of liquid being burned, per second. These engines are rather simple, yet fascinating on how they operate. Basically, there's a gas generator that uses rocket fuel to create an exhaust gas that in turn goes across a turbine, that in turn is connected to a turbo pump that pumps the fuel to the main engine injector plate. The injector plate is at the narrowest point of the rocket nozzle. NASA has also ressurected the gas generators from the F-1 engines to explore past rocket engine technology and help create new technology. Oh, by the way, a gas generator used on the F-1 engine created 55,000brake horsepower!!! To put that much power into perspective, a turbo pump on the main engines could empty an Olympic sized swimming pool in 59 seconds!
Now, if you have 14 minutes to spare, I give you the Saturn V F-1 rocket engine. Turn up the sound!!
One final note, the sound of the first stage being tested was heard 45 miles away! It rattled windows 13 miles away!
It snowed here again last night. Not too surprising, it snowed the night Skyler was born 2 years ago. That was April 30th. In the meantime, I backed up Altair's phone on the iMac and downloaded all of her photos recently. I found this one of Skyler on the 4020 on the farm in Nebraska. The weather will get better, my toe will hopefully get better too.
Sadly, this tractor is mostly a silage blower tractor now. When I was Skyler's age, it was the biggest and most powerful tractor we had.
My broken toe seems to have had a bit of a relapse, it felt like there was a
needle in the tip of my toe all day yesterday. This sure is fun!
