Looks like we made it...

I woulda "celebrated" my ten year anniversary of working for The Firm at the beginning of 2022... but... whatever.

I said whatever, Tom.

I got what I wanted after my decade of diligent delivering, which is more paid time off.  Don't get me wrong.  I like a paycheck, and benefits are nice, but what I really want from work is the ability to not go there.

So given a bit more time and a free airline voucher from some canceled-due-to-covid travel... that happened... some time ago, I decided to do something with the free airborne can yeet across the country and sign up for the Moab Rocks Stage Race. 

The first new-to-me stage race I've done in some time, but what really mattered the most is that it fit in certain parameters:

My "free" travel has to be completed before April 8th.

I'd probably be fit enough to finish a three day stage race by the end of March without having to try too hard.

Dahn Pahrs lives close enough and is going, so ground logistics are stupid simple.

I've ridden in Moab several times since 2001, my first being the weekend after 9/11... which was about as surreal as a mountain bike trip could get.  Being "out of touch," no TVs, no social media on phones (shit, no phones), sleeping in tents, and wondering what's going on outside of the desert in the real world.  I've ridden in Moab aboard my Santa Cruz Bullit, a 42lb Craftworks FRM 125, the Tallboy single speed, my custom Stickel Meatplow V.6, and the Vassago Meatplow V.8 from the highs of Burro Pass and Hell's Canyon all the way down to the edge of the Colorado River.

Now I need to figure out which bike to take with me in a few months.  I haven't ridden anything other than a single speed at a stage race, and I've only done my first La Ruta and a couple Enduro™ stages of the Trans-Sylvania Epic with a squishy fork.  I've been having sooooooooooo much fun on the Radimus that it's so tempting, but then again... I like to do things in my own particular...

Idiom, sir?

Yeth.

I'll figure that out at some point.  At least I have something big to look forward to on the radar that isn't months and months and months and months away.

Side note and nothing even close to a seque.

Member when I flatted on day one of my trip out west last year in August (and also cracked my rim)?

That Forekaster was torn at the rim and punctured where you see that clot of TruckerCo Cream II.  It sealed well enough for me to pussyfoot my way back to the van.  That was only my sixth ride on that tire.

Maxxis sponsored "athlete" or not (thanks for making 2022 my 12th or 13th year?), I wasn't planning on just pitching the tire in the trash.  That said, I had other tires on hand and little desire to mess with any patching or plugging...

I took the tire off when I got back home from that trip so I could send the wheel in for warranty.  I rinsed the tire out, tossed it on the side porch to deal with someday... and it was ignored for months.  Somehow all the injuries and sadness took my interest in fixing things down a notch.  I eventually got tired of tripping over it, so it was moved to the darkness of the laundry room to stay forever (or until I ran outta tires).

That is up until I was gifted some free time at home thanks to my Covid exposure at work.

I assumed I'd need a coupla plugs in the hole at the rim and also if I pulled the scab off at the tread, there would probably be some air loss.  I'd put off the repair because I didn't wanna pull a tire off an existing setup to mount it, air it up, and fix it.  Messy business just to fix a tire I didn't need right away.

I membered that I had those XT wheels still, and they were non-tire shodden.  I got my plugger loaded with bacon, mounted the tire, went out on the porch to use the air compressor, and prepared to get all stabby with my tiny baconator tool...

and no air came out at the rim.  So I pulled the scab off the tread... and still no air loss.   Let the whole things sit for twenty four hours...

mebbe I lost a little bit of air.  Not a clue if it came out of one of the holes or just loss at the bead because I put zero sealant in the tire to reduce the messiness of the whole operation.

Anyhoo, just one more testament to the efficacy of TruckerCo Cream II.  It works.  It just does.  I'd say " nuff said," but I'll never stop saying it.

Never nuff.