text: Climbing through the ruins at Palenque I found some graffiti from the early 1800's. Its nice to think that that is like yesterday in the building's lifetime. I play the same game for massive old growth trees, like wondering what the world looked like when they were just saplings. Though with these old civilizations its more like being the eyes of a certain stone. To see the beginning, the floor plan, its first foundation. Generally all that eventually lead to the distasteful hierarchy, heartless slavery, the sacrifice, the wars, battles fought and the city's general life and living conditions. Also to not even know about bicycles and coffee to even miss them?
  Palenque
  Bonampak
  Posted by bikegreaseandcoffee at 12:24 PM 6 comments:
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  Friday, December 3, 2010
  A little slip into the seething and looming jungle
  We`re now spilling out of Chiapan highlands and plowing down towards the Guatamalan border. Though we wont be crossing into Guatamala yet, and really just licking the border while heading up to the Yucatan. This route of jungle canopy, waterfalls, swimming cenotes, and maya ruins has got us as giddy as the spider monkeys we´ll see along the way. We´ll be up dating our route with the SPOT but I won´t have a new posting here for a few weeks. I´m developing an allergy to computers so hopefully some time cycling in the jungle wilds will cure it?
  Posted by bikegreaseandcoffee at 8:24 AM 4 comments:
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  Friday, November 26, 2010
  I just wonder how many will become ninjas?
  1 out of every 1000 baby sea turtles survive. Turtle poaching was made illegal in the 90s but still they are hunted quite often for their meat and eggs. Not just by humans but seems like every other animal also wants to make snack out of them. I licked one but it really didn't taste very good.
  We wanted to help out and do what we could to increase the chances for some of these little guys. So we went to the turtle sanctuary in Puerto Arista with intention of putting in some volunteer time. But we found there was not much for us really to do(at least at this one). William and his uncle Toni who who pretty much run the place had crashed the truck into some poachers a little while before we got there. So there was no going out to collect anymore eggs at the time. All there really was to do was lay around in a hammock and wait for the previously rescued incubated eggs to hatch. Just before sunset the little guys that hatched that day were counted and carried down to the awaiting ocean. It was a fantastic scene to watch them scramble into the surf, see them swim off to their new under sea world and only hope that the ones we touched would have a better chance at survival. Don't skip them into the water, they don't like that!
  Posted by bikegreaseandcoffee at 3:11 PM 5 comments:
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  Samu's first 10,000 miles and something of a long awaited review
  Samu the Savage Mule has come of age. With flapping colors and gear spinning persistence, together we have heaved across this milestone. Let this post stand as his bike-mitzvah and my way for saying thanx for carrying me the distance. He is the brain child of many past tours. A compiled frankin-bike built from the hard learned things that failed or I would have like to have done differently before. His theme is beefy off-road self sufficiency. His length supplies the extra space for carrying the supplies while the wheel base supplies the stability for the weight of extra supplies.(su-P-lize!) And he is fun to ride.
  A few of his highlights are:
  A 48 spoke rear wheel with meaty "Down hill" rim by Halo (nothing takes a beating more than the aft wheel. If there is one place not to skimp on the touring bike build, its this wheel. More spokes= stronger wheel. Popping spokes and a collapsing wheel is the thorn in the side of so many touring cyclist. In my opinion, if yer going out for the rugged long run, its best to put the extra spokes in the wheel in the beginning... not one at a time later on, on the side of the road!)
  Mechanical disk brakes (Why build a fatty wheel set and then cut their life short by wearing through the rim's braking surface. Also for better stopping power in wet and muddy conditions.)
  Schmidt Dynamo Hub This front hub has been effin' fabulous. Hands down the best dynamo hub on the market. There is virtually no drag while it cranks out 6 volts of power. I rely on this dude for superior lighting as well as charging various batteries while I ride.)
  Spiderflex Saddle By far the most durable and comfortable "nose less" saddle to be found. It takes some getting used to but is far more comfortable in the long run. Plus it will keep yer Nads from getting operated on.
  Outboard bearing crank set There is a lot of debate in this matter. Many argue on the side of square taper cranks and being able to find bottom bracket replacements easier in far flung places. As this has some truth. Square taper cranks have been around since the 30s and the outboard bearing crank system only hit the mass market in 2003. But the nice thing about the out board bearing is being able to replace just the bearing and not having to get a whole new bottom bracket cartridge/ spindle. The bearings are lighter weight for carrying spares and can be tapped out and repressed in any kind of mechanic shop. I'm running Shimano XT hollow tec2 cranks and here is the story to prove my point: I bought them used off an unnamed douche bag down hiller. So I don't know what the wear on the bearings were before I got them, but in any case I rode for a year and a half and 10,000 plus miles on them through every condition. Though just the other day I noticed a bit of play between the cranks at the bottom bracket. Further inspection showed one of the bearings crunchy and needing replacement soon. Oaxaca, the next big city I found a shop with after market 24mm Enduro bearings at a 1/3 of the price of the new Shimano BB. A bit further along in Puerto Escondito at Tello's shop. I pulled the cups out of the frame and tapped the press fitted bearings out with a punch and hammer. I found that a 1 1/8 headset crown race was the perfect diameter to use as the drift (you never want to push on the inner race of the bearing). So this steel crown race lined up nicely with the outer bearing race to press fit it back into the cup. I put two blocks of wood in the bench vice and the cup, bearing and drift inbetween them. The bearings slipped right back into the cups and I had them back on the bike in minutes. This was such a easy process and I soon realized that I could have left the cups in the frame and used only a flat head screw driver, a rock, a block of wood and my little crown race drift and done this on the side of the road. Plus the new Enduro bearings are a bit beefier that the stock ones. These bearings can be ordered from any bike shop in the U.S. or bought at most bearing companys. They´re like carrying the weight of a golf ball and four plastic spoons (standard pic-nic issue white). Yea, Shimano tells you right on the cup "do not dissasemble" but what ever. They also tell you that their chains are not compatible with any other and I've been running a half Shimano half Sram chain with no explosion problems.
  Other things of note: 8 speed drive train for longer chain life. Shimano Saint rear derailure. Salsa bash guard (this has saved many bent and mangled teeth on my outter ring) Titec H-bar and Ergon grips for paw, shoulder, and assneck comfort, Schwalbe tires.
  And for the big "what the hell is that" feature Xtracycle is a great little company whose been cranking out the long tail bikes for some time now. A great concept and good design for what they are. But any one wanting to get a bit belligerent with one finds themselves with durability issues A.K.A snappage. So this was rectified with the Surly Big Dummy frame. A strong option but then you are locked into the length of it all. I dreamed of something slightly shorter with the option of unbolting it and having a hardtail Mtn bike again or for making a smaller bundle for shipping if needed.
  I got my mitts on a good priced broken Xtracycle free radical frame. These bolt into a standard bike frame at the rear drop outs with an extension arm that lays a tongue across the chain stay bridge. The problem is that all the downward force transfers to this little tongue. So if they get over loaded or hammered on in rough terrain this appendage likes to snap right off.
  So the Free Radical frame I got was broken at this vital link. (Thanx to the fantastic kindness of Mike Stangl for opening up his metal shop to me!) I set to work hacking it up and expanding on it right away. I brazed back on the broken off tongue and added some extra gussets for strength. Then cut 10 inches off the back end of it and built the top end giving it another connection point to the frame. This is what really made all the difference. It takes all the pressure off the lower link and in addition also stops a shit ton of the torsional flexing when loaded. I feel that its all the bonus of the long tail with none of the draw backs.
  P.S. the funnest part was milling down old crank arms to make the free radical connection backing plates.
  Posted by bikegreaseandcoffee at 10:15 AM 4 comments:
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  Wednesday, November 17, 2010
  Splatter fest!
  Man... Its really been a sweet run. I don´t even know where to begin. Hence the splatter fest. theme! This posting is all over it self. Like a sesame street activity. I´ll let you match the picture to the blurbs.
  In Oaxaca we met Wolf and Javier. Two other cyclists mobing about sothern mexico and Guatamala. Together we rode the fantasticly windy, potholed old road to Perto Escondito. The first cyclists we´ve ridden with in Mexico and I think its mutual that it was a damn good time! Cheers and Prost! Good riding with you guys! Take care!
  In Zipolite we ran into our friends from the Huasteca (The ones we snuck into ¨the bridge of god¨with) and had some cold beers and loungy beach time.
  Fresh water streams, road side mezcal stands, goarging feast, sweet camp spots, epic moutain climbs and breath vomiting vistas! FOMO fits prevail! Its all there all the time. Just going on. Makes me itch all over and feel faint yet twitchy
  Tucked into A corner of Peurto Escondito you can find: Bicitodo/Bike Center. At first it doesent look any different than any other simple bike shop. But get inside and Meet Tello and every thing changes! He is an extremely friendly guy who has had a long career of bicycle mechanics and racing. He also leads tours into the surrounding mtns., speaks perfect english and is up on current and high end parts. If you are touring and need service, dont even go to the other shops and have them shrug at your problem while they wrench a tire off a rim with a claw hammer. Just go see Tello at the bike center!
  Oh yea... We found the Ocean
  We had been on the coast for about a week and still had not found ourselves the hidden beach cove we had been looking forward to. South of puerto Angel we took a random turn down a dirt road that plummeted us back shore side. Though it felt like it, we wern´t completly alone at this beautiful little paradise. There was a small ritzy hotel on the far side of the cove. Kelly went over to just let them know we would be camped on the other side. They said¨"There is No camping, sorry". Well, all beaches in Mexico are Federal propperty which means public. We stayed two nights telling each other "No camping".
  Were off now to see about helping out some baby sea turtles make it into the big salty.
  Posted by bikegreaseandcoffee at 10:23 AM 4 comments:
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  whaahwaahahahhaa...splash
  Kell wasted no time. This was the scene seconds ater reaching the long awaited Pacific.
  Posted by bikegreaseandcoffee at 10:13 AM 1 comment:
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  Friday, November 5, 2010
  Ricardo "Monte Alban" and the Fantasy Island
  Sorry... We found no small person named Tattoo but, we did find these rather old and well placed rocks!
  Every now and again when no one is looking we sneak off and play tourists. Its a nice break from our regular daily habit of Gringo Cyclist.
  Monte Alban is an ancient Zapotec capital supposedly first inhabited around 500 B.C. with a 360 degree view of the surrounding peaks. Its long and sorted history is well more than I feel like typing so check here.
  It was great ride into the mountains above Oaxaca well worth a snoop around (even if the catacombs are blocked off, taking all the real fun out of it) .
  Posted by bikegreaseandcoffee at 7:33 AM No comments:
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  Tuesday, November 2, 2010
  An inert and beautiful onslaught
  Many nights between here (Oaxaca) and Chapala we found ourselves crawling into our tent at night and remarking dreamily at what a great day it was. This happens often but recently it has seemed so much more in repetition than usual. Maybe the barrage of meeting great people, finding fantastic camp spots and a complete submergence in a busy, interesting and often beautiful landscape had something to do with it? maybe?
  So... As you can see these pics. are pretty much all over the map. Especially if you are looking at a Mexico section for Morelia to Oaxaca.
  This kid was just killing us with how cute he was
  A street dance party we jumped into during Dia de Muertos
  Camped out waiting for Led Zeppelin tickets
  Dia de meurtos cyclistas
  most kids had store bought costumes or just a rubber mask. This girl was my favorite
  the royal pig-pen procession
  the spiders are as big as pigeons down here
  We hate camping actually. especially spots like these!
  I want you to kill all the gophers!
  Keeping watch over the cornfields so no one trespasses.
  She said she wasn't coming out... ever.
  Some days this is what we get stuck having to look at. Damn our eyes.
  Nope. This ain't Kansas
  Andy and Toby. Andy was a great kid! Toby was a little troubled. Man, what a weird dog.
  What the hell has that cat been eating?
  The Morelia fast ride. Yep, I was the only one on a European flat bar, front suspended trekking bike... wearing sandals. The front three munched their chamois trying to drop me. It felt great to be on a lighterish rig hammering flat out.