Saturday, June 29, 2013

Summer Days


Rippin Ash Canyon on my '85 Raleigh Elkhorn (Photo: Jonny Mandio)

About a week ago I managed to put my regular ride (2011 Stumpjumper FSR Comp 29er) out of commission for a while.  Conditions were perfect up in Tahoe.  Rained the night before and cloud coverage during the day let the dry decomposed granite soak up the little amount of summer rain we see and stay tacky.  I'd never seen the trail so perfect and I couldn't wait to get to my favorite section, a perfect step up step down that flows effortlessly. Unfortunately, I carried more speed than usual into it and snapped my derailleur hangar which, sucked my derailleur into my rear wheel completely twisting it into a mangled expensive piece of scrap.  Bummed I couldn't ride for the rest of the day, I set out to gather the parts to fix my bike.

Since I was already plotting on converting the Stumpy from a 2x10 to a 1x10, I decided to order up the entire kit and get it over with.  As always, the boys at the Reno Bike Project helped me out and filled me in on what I needed.  Now, the waiting game begins as I sit here in Reno watching each summer day pass by.  The parts should be here soon, but I can't stand wasting perfectly good days.  In part, this "downtime" is what got me to finally start a blog.

After two days of waiting for parts and watching mountain bike videos I had to get out of the house. The phone rang, and thankfully it was my brother asking if I wanted to go ride Ash Canyon out in the foothills of Carson City.  Now the question became: what would I ride?  My choices were split between my single speed dirtjumper or my townie 1985 Raleigh Elkhorn.  The choice was obvious.  The Klunker, the grandfather of today's bikes would be perfect for the short smoothish single-track that sits on the verge of sagebrush desert and sierra mountain pine forest in the north end of Carson.

I had been wanting to take the Klunker for a while to see how trail worthy it was.  While my expectations weren't low, I wasn't expecting the amount of fun I had on a $70, full rigid, bull moose barred, cantilever braked bike; thus, the inspiration for the title of the blog hit me like a brick wall.  It was perfect.  What else can take you out of the newest, next, best,  pricey, useless, ridiculous frame of mind that not only mountain biking but sports and society in general induce.  We MUST have the most expensive components, frame, package, whatever to be cool when in reality you can pick up a $70 bike and rip up some trails with your buds, drink some beers and have some awesome stories to tell.

Here's to having fun, the inspiration for this blog and not wasting summer days.

Cheers,
Brian









Friday, June 28, 2013

Let the Rambling Begin

I guess I should start with a little bit about myself.  I am a 25 year old college graduate working as a bartender in Reno, Nevada.  I graduated with a bachelors degree in History with a minor in Museum Studies from the University of Nevada Reno and decided to stay. The Reno/Tahoe area and West coast in general have been my home for my entire life and constantly present new and amazing experiences, adventures and landscapes.  Reno offers up the perfect concoction of outdoor activities anyone can ask for.  As an avid mountain biker, snowboarder and doer of any and all activities the mountainous high desert has mad an everlasting impression on me (and I have yet to scratch the surface).

I'm not entirely sure why I started this blog.  I guess from all the years of going on adventures, they're starting to blend together. They are becoming one, which, in the end that is what they will be and what I hope they will become: a culmination of memories that will add up to one epic adventure.  However, as time stacks up I don't want to risk losing any of those memories.  Hopefully, this will be a way to recall all the good times I've had and maybe inspire new adventures in the future.  Retrospective and prospective.

Also, I wanted to dedicate a space to a sport that I love being a part of.  A place where the weight of your bike doesn't matter. A place where the only seconds you need to be worried about shaving are off of the time you chug a tall boy of PBR and blast down your favorite trail.  It doesn't matter if you ride a klunker or if you're sponsored and ride next year's rig.  The only thing that matters is how much fun you are having. Everyone has a different perception of the perfect ride and that is what makes mountain biking the best sport in the world. Whether you are spandexed up or doing hot laps with the homies on a local shuttle trail the only thing that you need to concerned with is what makes YOU happy. With that being said, I guess that is why I really wanted to start this blog.  I want to document, talk about, philosophize, get stoked on, dream about, tell stories and experience this think we call mountain biking. 

I am new to this, so bare with me.  Get outside and have some fun. 

Cheers, 
Brian Mandio