Maruishi Mountace MT18

I recently started searching the web for information on Maruishi Bicycles. While I found mention of their touring or commuting bikes (and their website which is in Japanese), I didn't find any mention of mountain bikes. I bought one around 1985 (can't quite remember the exact year), the "Mountace MT18". It featured a lugged frame and a lugged fork (the next year's models switched to a unicrown fork) -- notice the amount of fork rake in the photo.

A decal on the frame proudly proclaims "Original Sports Frame Cr. Mo. Double Butted Tubes", and the bike came equipped with Shimano Deore components, friction shifting for a six speed cluster and Shimano Biopace chainrings.

This bike took me on a fully loaded tour from San Francisco to San Diego in 1988, a couple of fund raising rides for the American Lung Association and has served me well for local rides over the years. I started looking into getting a new mountain bike a few days ago, wound up with sticker shock and realized that because my wife and I primarily ride a tandem I'd never really get my money's worth from a new bike. So it was off to E-Bay to score a good set of Biopace chainrings to replace the worn ones on the bike, and I'll be refurbishing my rolling relic within the next month or two.

Every time I look at the bike I'm reminded of my California tour; the images are fresh and I'm suddenly 20 years younger reveling in the joys of pedaling along the coastline or breathing in the fragrance of the eucalyptus trees in the cool of the morning. This old bike of mine does everything I ask of it, and I can't really justify tossing my old friend into the heap for the sake of something shiny and new. The memories are strong, and there's still the promise of more adventures to come. All I have to do is ask, and this bike will be ready to respond with a good solid ride.

Another Road Trip

Friday, July 25th, 2008. We decided late in the morning to take a drive to Sun Valley, and took the new car for another miles per gallon trial. We must have been very gentle this time around, because we managed to squeak out a little over 41 mpg! (This was all highway mileage.)

Other than that, the day was pretty laid back in that we did nothing outrageous, didn't buy anything that we didn't need (Valerie did pick up a pair of bicycling shorts that had a cut along the front that looked like it would provide better comfort -- we'll find out shortly) and because we didn't drag a bicycle along with us we didn't get any biking in either!

She drove to Sun Valley while I knit; I drove home while she napped. We stopped at a small store and restaurant at a place called Smiley Creek; this store was a popular stopping off place for bicyclists during the American Lung Association's "Sawtooth Pride Ride". They feature tasty burgers, hand scooped milkshakes and if you like onion rings... they have some good ones!

Today I took our road tandem in for some much needed maintenance; our mountain tandem is still in good running order. I'm hoping that we can get out on it this weekend for a little while, once the temperatures back down from the high 90's!

Oops...

I totally let this Sunday slip by without even thinking about a blog update. The big picture says "it's warm in Idaho, and I'm lazy as a result." I'll be back when time allows, but today has been a blur.

What's Blooming?

Something's in the air... and has been for quite some time now. It starts in the lower elevations and through the course of the spring and summer works its way upward. I dread going to work in Boise in the springtime, because when I get there my eyes start itching and soon I'm gouging them with willing fingers, trying to get a little relief from the irritation. I find that I hate going to Boise during this time of year.

Now I'm in the mood to go to Boise, as whatever it is that I'm allergic to is growing nicely up where we live. I've noticed that as we drive toward Boise I start scratching at my eyes, but when we've arrived I feel pretty good (other than the skin around my eyes being sore from the constant scratching). Sometimes I think that winter is the greatest season of all... because NOTHING is blooming!

The car pictured above (horrible photo, I know) is doing its job very nicely. I checked the mileage the last time we bought gas, and we averaged 37.5 miles per gallon. We had mixed driving, so these results were pretty good. On a test run between our house and McCall, Idaho (150 mile round trip, mostly highway driving) we were able to average 41 mpg. All things considered, this particular investment was a good one. If we lived in the Boise area, I'd be bicycling to work and home again. Unfortunately, living where we do (and as far out as we do) has a price, and that price keeps going up at the pump.

I'm a little over half-way done with this "blog" now, as I committed to trying to write a weekly installment for one year. It hasn't been overly difficult, but one often has to wonder if anyone is actually reading this or whether this is just an exercise in actually doing something as promised over a period of time!

In and Out...

I was looking for a topic to write about this morning, and nothing came to mind. It's July 6th... and I wonder what happened on this date... was there anyone of interest born, or did anyone of interest die? (Define "interest" -- as in what does it mean to each person? Obviously it's going to be very different from person to person.)

I did a search to find a website that would list births for each day, and found this particular one. It's wasn't fancy, but it got the job done. I went down the list and decided to find one name in each column that I found the most interesting, or that meant the most to me. For the births it was Nancy Davis (Reagan) in 1923, and for the deaths it was Louis Armstrong in 1971.

It occurred to me that a great game could be made of this by picking a date and having everyone in your mailing list go through the births and deaths column and pick ONE from each that means the most to them. Maybe even off a brief explanation if they feel compelled to do so. It might be an interesting way to see what your friends or family members value.

Also on the website linked above was the video put out by a guy under the name of "Joe American". I've heard about the video, but hadn't seen it before. There's a lot of things he says in his presentation that make perfect sense to the average person in this country, which is probably why it won't make a bit of difference in Washington, DC. If you haven't watched the video, go to the "date in history" page and then click on the play button. (If you only have a dial-up internet connection, you probably won't want to spend all day waiting for the video to load!)

The website for Joe American is a little sparse, and looks like someone got it started and then forgot to finish it, or keep it up. Still, you can visit it if you wish at http://www.joeamerican.us/.

The photo at the top of the page was taken outside of Stanley, Idaho on the fourth of July. The wild flowers are in bloom in the higher elevations, and some of the meadows look more like a sea of violet than of green grass. This is the perfect time to take in the scenery, before the summer heat dries out the lush grass and turns the green of spring to the gold of autumn.