that's a wrap...

yeah, well...feels like this little adventure has run it's course.

Life changes, new focus's are found
and there're only so many hours in a day
and days in a week.

So, pretty much pulling the plug.

BUT.....if you're desperate,
if you're a real world friend in need
or previous customer, there's always
a chance I might be able to help you out.

Shoot me a note via personal channels if that's the case,
haven't been checking the cog email too regularly.

thanks for everything everybody,
learned a lot and had some fun,
see ya'll on the trail, peace.

wellll....

yeah, I dunno.

more and more often this thing
feels like it's run its course...

I still have some cogs on the shelf,
still have plenty of rings.  So if'n
you're looking for something,
probably best if you drop me
line first before hitting that
order button.

Good chance I can help you out,
but I might also be out of a particular
tooth count, so it might be a wait....

So drop me a line.

thanks.

currently out of 16's btw.

Been a while...

Yet again, been super blog slacking.
Busy over the last year-ish, moving up the chain,
now VP of my Trout Unlimited Chapter.

Daunting.

Did buy a new skinny tired machine this summer,
and broke the wiz bang carpet fibre 29er frame.
So it goes.

Just a couple recent pics, so you know I'm still alive,
and yep, still making cogs, drop me a line if'n you need
one, or have any questions..

Feeling Festive

Whipped up some
creations at the vise...

Enjoy the season ya'll!

yep.

I've gotten a few queries.

"You still makin' Cogs?"

yep, TomiCOGs are still
available, rings in all sizes
also, all for 8speed chains,
9's are tight, don't expect these
thangs to work w/ 10 or 11.

that said, been getting more
involved with TU, working
on a casting instructor cert.
should be a fun journey..

went to Maine for the first time,
beautiful place.

the latest latest.

man, how 'boout them Holidaze? good times 'eh? treated me well, lot's of to and fro, and thanks for the continued interest in the cogs and rings, ya'll kept me hoppin'. Saw some new sights, reacquainted some old with the new-ish. Very generous consolidated gifting enabled me to pick up a DSLR, lots to learn, gonna be fun for sure. Looks like I'll be at Westminster, figuring to have a selection of cogs and some rings, hope to have some of the roadie/cross sizes along. Anyway, enough with the marketing... Finally visited Valley Forge, finally.

It snowed in WV, finally.

Spent New Years in town, walking to and from is awesome.

Went back to Wv for a bluebird Saturday.

Found some quiet on greybird Sunday.

The Falls of Blackwater, I need to fish that.

went to Montana

Big sky country,
caught some trouts,
took some long walks
w/ my ladyfriend.
It was good.

Gettin' some press...

Hey All,

Yep, still here, just being quiet, livin' life, pursuing other things not bike related. Little buddy Dicky pointed me to some press, looks like the samples made it the Rag ok, thanks for the write up Karl.

Do have plenty of rings also, all sorts of sizes if you're looking for something that takes a long time to wear out.

Other pursuits, if'n you're interested...well, the skiing was pretty lame this year with an abnormally warm winter....guess we were due after the last few epics. And with the warmth and the new digs I've finally settled into, been fishin' a good bit more than peddlin', but we'll find that balance soon enough with spring in the air and trails to be swooped upon.

big happenings..

dang, it's been sooo long,
time sure flies when you
move into a house.

Apologies to all if I've been
slow on feeding your
cogaliscious needs.

Never bought a house before,
quite the undertaking. But
workshop is moved, fixed tooth
inventory will be refreshed
shortly and we'll be back into
the rhythm pdq.

New place is pretty damn sweet,
I sure dig classic old stuff...love
these floors.

Welll...

The end of ski season was good times. Got kinda warm locally in Feb, thought it would be an early spring, then March was the Lion it can be, with goofy bouncy roller coaster weather all up thru to the now. 39 & raining yesterday afternoon. Last WG session I made it to was fun fun fun for sure...

winter reprise from WVski on Vimeo.

Been a wknd warrior on the pedals recently, enjoying this retirement/sabbatical from number plated glories. Good times fixed and coasty style depending on the mood. And of course, have been sneaking out to the trout streams. Fishin' is still just a bit slow, but one more shot of warmth and the bugs should really start to turn on, which'll get those trouts looking up. April should be a good month!


see ya on the trail or the stream, or maybe 'round town, Carlisle is finally getting bike lanes, whoot!

yep, still here...

it's winter, been up the
usual winter stuff. working
in the basement as needed,
playing in the snowy hills
as much as possible. Yours
truely wearing the head cam
at ~3:00, WhiteGrass sure is
a lot of fun.

January Sunshine and Snow from WVski on Vimeo.

December was
good times also...

White Grass local powder hounds and rippers from WVski on Vimeo.

catching up..

Hey all, yep, still here.
Still making up cogs and
rings as ya'll need 'em.
Spent the summer not
riding like I have before.
A gunked up cranky knee
had me worried, mix in
a bit of pedaling burn out,
and it was a pretty chill
season regarding the two
wheeled mistress. Did
get out to some events,
helping behind the scenes,
always a nice change of pace...

So, I finallt got the MRI done,
and guess I really should've
listened/believed in Dr. Evil,
and saved myself that hit
from the in$urance
deductable. But, damn,
never had tendonitis quite
this bad before. I needed
to see what was going on
inside. No doubts, ya know?


Back to spinnin' a bit on
the road and stretching and
doin my interpretation
of the yoga flow and
rubbing in the arnica.
And, shit, that damn
knee of mine is actually
feeling better, go figure.

Not willing though, not yet
willing to trade my Saturdays
on the stream for pedaling
long distances. Harassing
those trout is great balance
to the elevated heartrate,
sometimes dizzy tunnel of
the Sunday ride....

Autumn is here, colors
are changing in the trees,
in the water. Got up to
explore the Little J a couple
times now. Got turned
onto it after reading about
the recent electro survey.

Survey says that it's pretty
much a wild brown fishery.
Not stocked, not too many
hold over fingerlings, mostly
wild streambred browns, cool.

Great day up there last wknd,
best day of fishin' I've had
in a while. Hungry & feisty
wild fish, best one went 15ish
on the guesstimated ruler,
average was a solid 12.
Freely rising to a dry presented
in that just oh so right way,
good times....

And the local brookies!
BLING! The males are starting
to strut their stuff trying
to impress the ladies and
are soon to get it on, producing
the next generation, sweet.

Meeshow is an amazing place,
world class riding, world class
natives, and it's all right out
the door. Damn, I sure am
lucky to have such an incredible
backyard playground.

wow, is it May already?!

man, time is flying.
I've been slacking
on this here cog
bloggityness, sorry.


Still around, still shakin',
still sending out the cogs
& rings as ya'll request 'em,
but not riding much. Just
spinnin' around town for
now, I've got a tired knee
after an epique ski season.
A knee that needs some
'time in the shop' I'm
figuring, professional
opinion forthcoming.


Soooo, was figuring to kick
back the bike intense focus
anyways this year, and
reacquaint with neglected
pastimes. If the pics haven't
clued you in, yeah, I've been
fishin' a good bit. Trout
streams, have you looked
at a map? There are so, so,
so many out there to explore!

Goings on...

It's a New Year! Whoo, hooo, hope your celebrations treated you well. Judging by the small uptick in orders, I'm guessing the little blurb about the cogs in Mtn Bike has been making the rounds, good stuff.

Finished off the riding season w/ a whole lot of fun on the JabberFixy, rippin' fun group things, then it got cold and snowed. And it's kept on snowing! So, I've been skiing a good bit, exploring new places, seeing new sights, good times in the cold air and high hills of WV. So, I'll pre-apologize for any order delays, trying to keep within a week turnaround to get the cogs out, winter travels could screw with that though...so don't be shy and give a holler if you're in desperate need.

Well, that's pretty much the goings on, figure/hope to play in snow until March-ish, maybe turn some pedals here and there if the weather suits the mood, we'll see. Until then, have fun out there, rubber side down and thanks to everybody for supporting this endeavor in '09. Here's to 0-10 baby!

tinkerin'

There was a thread on MTBR a while back about using a TomiCOG w/ a Centerlock adapter. Wasn't too enthused about it, since I had no need at the time, and I honestly wasn't that familiar with the Centerlock setup. Wellllll, I did a little tour a few weeks ago, and slummed thru a testy achilles issue that arose due to a lot of loaded bike hiking. If only I had a gear that was one step easier than the 32:20 I was spinnin'.....

Well, how to do that? Definitely not a fan derailleurs now a days, mostly due to the zen destroying noise of chainslap clanking and banging. And ripping off a rear mech out in the middle of nowhere would be a bummer. So I picked up one of these, clean ss style chainline and the same stock gearing choices available that I run single, 18 or 20, makes for a super ez switch from geared to single to fixed:


And it uses a centerlock disc mount. Since I have no experience with internal geared hubs, and since Shitmano doesn't exactly rate the Alfine for mtn bike duty, a back up plan is in order.


Pictured is an 18t and it just clears the hump from the pinch bolt, but looks like the ID of the cog needs opened up a smidge. Bit of time w/ the Dremel or a decent round file will take care of that. I think this plan is a go, 95%. Still need to check out the chainline, been reading blurbs here and there that it isn't a direct match to the drive side of the Alfine. But even if it's off by a chain width, ~6mm, should be good enough to at least let me pedal out of the woods and make it home should the IGH eat itself...time will tell.

livin' high on the cog

Breck Epic pics:




more on the Smug.

racin'

Stoopid 50, qwik recap:

neutral leadout goes beepbeep! Go! sorta,
do take a hard tempo flyer, then latch back
and tempo once more. follow super smooth
locals Matt & Billy across Tussey, caught by
ElkBuckPete on the descent. Crush Thickhead
in a hurtful focused manner, get a gap when
you can.

Flow across Indian with Buck then keep the
tempo rolling on the approach to Beeyootiful
and it grows quiet behind, hmmmmm. neck
gets sore from all of the over the shoulder
glances. Just keep pedaling, all day long.
Beautiful trail was dialed fixy sweetness,
then steady gunning in the woods, walking
the cramp zone tightrope thru the fireroad
transiitons and get into a good back n forth
with Chip on the way to Aid2.

Had a quiet goal of a top five on the fix.
Unknowingly, I was battling for it, didn't
think we were that far up.. Crush Thickhead
again, slum down Detweiler, get caught. Chase
Chip the carrot and hit it one final time up
Gettis, get out of sight, way out of sight.
Couldn't stretch it far enough though, caught
at the bottom of Bear Meadows. Reality of
Laurel Run settled in, Chip got dibs & I was
glad to be done, happy to get down it clean.
Cross the finish line, come down off the edge,
queasiness no longer containable and empty my
stomach once back at the car, neat.

6th single, 17th overall, 4:45/50ish for fifty.

Breck? I ain't skeerd,
the work is all but done.
Breath deep.

writin'

another cut n paste:

so, as ya'll know, or did know,
until the short term got wiped.

I'm going to the BreckEpic to
'race' the fixy. Part of the deal
was that I spam the shit out of all
ya'll, then you vote, then I write
and race for 'free.'

Well, I've been writing, and even a
bit of proof reading, and now these
articles are begining to appear...

First here: My BreckEpic Page

Then they'll move, hopefully soon,
over onto my host site, Bike Magazine.
BikeMag.com, neat, huh?

racin'

man, wow, been awhile, I need to keep on top of this bloggy thingy, lots of goings on....for content, here's a cut n pastes from the other blog, spring Michaux race:



other thoughts on the weekend.
sounds like everybody who dared
themselves to get out in it, found
something, learned something
from the event.

the course, if you ponied for the 40,
and got around that bastard, fkna.
props. props for even toeing the line,
gnarly out there, eh? guessing that
most all that were out there, got a
fresh taste of Meeshow that they
weren't quite expecting. The rain
definitely didn't help, but I'm still
optimistic about what we'll find next
time we get out there. I've seen Abby
in rough shape, and heal pretty well
afterwards. Not the same, ya know,
but has definitely evolved after the
Enduro ran across it. Enjoy those
stashes of Hanzel&Grettal while you
can...I'm guessing Pedro & I got the
final virginal trek from 20 to 30
while out marking....it was sweet.

My ride...yeah, disappointing if focused
on the results sheet. meh, though sorta
bothered that the legs were just, absent.
Theory upon leaving the homestead was
that either a: Good legs are good legs,
no matter what you ride, or B: Legs don't
show, and it turns into a special Sunday ride.
Make sure to bring something home from
the experience. Choice of steed from the
stable was not the wisest for racing, but
made the most sense w/ A & B in mind.
Or, ie that's my excuse for being a dumbass.
Previous mentioned lack of surfiness and
brutal overgeared conditions made for high
output slow going. Never really got on top
of the gear, which makes for a long day,
did try to open it up on Michaux Rd and felt
like I moved fwd in a positive fashion, then
a nice break at Aide two, catching up w/ MikeE,
then a solid push across the clearcut kinda
had me looking further forward. Then reality
and a need for a break from the not-zen like
focus before dropping onto Moss. End of Moss,
brake pads went squirrely. Oooops, guess they
are kinda worn, huh? Contemplate rolling back
to car right then and there when visions of a
failed brake Canyon enter the fore.. But
said fuck that, I'm getting around this
loop, one more time. Bend the spreader
springy dingy out of the way, or at least
not clicky clack into the rotor.

Then slummed, a lot. Cold, queasy
stomach, 24hrBigBear reminiscing,
yay! Out of the muddy leaves, pick
up a PayDay on LowerCanyon that I
probably dropped yesterday, cheers
Jake!. Solid food=yum, sorta. More
semi-conscious social time at Aide 3
w/ Jake& Travis, then Bender snapping
pics. Then found a cozy corner of
the pain cave to excavate and found
that 'just fucking get me home'
mindset, proceeded to block it all
out, put one foot in front of the
other w/ the mantra = "No fucking
way will Breck be this hard. move it."

Lars was a welcome face in the Mudbank
mist. The surprise ending was no surprise
for me, although the total bonkage just
before the right off of Logsled wasn't too
inspiring. Fun challenge though on the fix,
trying to sneak thru clean as can be on
Shake&Bake, being lazy with line choice
and trying to just make it work.

Breck won't be, can't be, nearly that miserable.
I hope.

(pics yanked from Bender!
clicky make biggy)

Hammer down, Colorado bound!

yes, Yes, YES!!!!

Wanna thank all of ya'll for the support.

I'm going to Breckenridge!!!!

Thanks to everybody who took the time to vote,
this is gonna be an interesting journey for sure.