I was behind this week with work (I'm always behind), so the manager suggested I give some simple tasks (ridiculously simple - repacking new products for sale) to someone. I had to open one of the boxes he's repaccked for some reason, and everything had been thrown in the box without being wiped down or put bacxk in the plastic or anything. No customer would be happy buying a product and it looking like that when they opened the box. I pointed this out to my manager, and she agreed that that couldn't happen, and "suggested" that I should re-pack them all properly. So I repacked them all, because if I didn't, it would be me that would have to deal with the return and get yelled at by an angry customer.
Sorry about the rant - I'll end it there (though there is more).
I went riding yesterday on Mt Tzouhalem. I was out for about 6 hours overall, so was quite short on water. They should have a water tap in the parking lot up there.
I rode up singletrack from the far side of the parking lot, and despite making two right turns and expecting to end up somewhere down by the Providence Farm trail, I came out on the main fire road opposit the bottom of Toxic Tea Cup, so must have ridden Blue Balls backwards. I rode up Tea Cup, then crossed over and came out at the top of School's Out, as I wanted to see if Finality was climbable. That steep down at the end of the trail is definately ridable - I've just got to find the balls (and preferably a bike with a slacker head angle!). As is customary for me on Finality, I took the wrong trail up. Every time I've ridden that I've gone the wrong was at some point, despite there being very few (3?) intersecting trails. The trail I took disappeared into the bottom of a stream bed, so I turned around and found the right trail (with a big sign that read "FINALITY - to Field of Dreams"). Riding up Finality apparently requires more skill and lung capacity than I possess, as it took me quite some time, mostly pushing. From the top of Finality I rode Field of Dreams, Upper Tea, Little Dipper, Y Connector, up the fire road to Showtime, Luc's Skywalker, Fluid, Toxic Tea Cup, Blue Balls, and somehow ended up on De-analyzer, and rode down to Providence Farm.
I really had a great ride today, and want to ride more often and I want to visit the North Shore, and maybe make it to Mt. Washington or even Whistler, which means I'm in the market for a squishy bike. They make some great 6" travel full suspension "all mountain" bikes that can handle stuff like that, but can be pedalled to the top without much trouble, and would be awesome on trails like we've got at the Tzou. I really seem to be pushing my bike at the moment - I guess I should learn to pick smooth lines rather than riding straight through the middle, buut that's always seemed a bit backwards to me. If I'm going to take the smoothest way, I might as well just go for a road ride. I think bigger tires would help. My bike currently has more noises coming from it than it has components, and when I push it in the corners it feels like the front wheel is going to snap in half (or maybe it's the fork, but more likely the wheel).
The Trek Remedy seems like the perfect price, but you'd think big brands would be cheaper, but $4550 for a Remedy 8? I could get an Intense Tracer VP for that!
I'm not sure what to do here though:
1) Buy the dream bike (Intense Tracer) fully built, and live on packet noodles for the following two years
2) Buy a cheap used bike that will last me a year (hopefully)
3) Buy a cheaper new bike
4) Buy a Tracer frame, fork and front wheel, and use parts from my Rockhopper to build it up, and replace as I can afford (or as they wear out)
Number two was the obvious way to go, but looking around, the cheapest bike is probably going to come in at about $2600 for a Pitch Comp, which has an almost identical build kit as my current bike (meaning the same slow-to-enguage rear hub, bendy front wheel, not great shifting, crap brakes, coil fork (though it's a better fork), etc), and it's more "trail oriented", and not so "freeride-ish". I thought "boutique" bikes were expensive, but it seems as Trek, Specialized and big brands keep raising their prices, the small builders have kept prices the same, so there isn't a lot in it really, especially when you look at the well-specced stuff, though big brands obviously have the lead on "entry level".
Comments welcome (as long as they justify 1 or 4).
I'm really fed up with work, and thought that if I want some time off (maybe a week, or even just a four day weekend), that I should do it now, as work will be busy for back to school soon (and will stay busy into autumn). I was told that I don't get paid vacation, since I'm regisered as part time employee! WTF? Part time? I work 40 hours a week, plus 2-8 hours un-paid overtime. I'm angry.
And to top it off, someone pointed out to me at work on Friday that I'm scheduled to work today. I asked a manager, and he said that I'v got to tidy the tech room, as the dust and untidiness is unacceptable. That ticked me off. I can't keep it tidy when everyone else uses it as a dumping ground. And not only do I have to do this on a Sunday when I should be out riding, but he didn't even bother to mention it to me. Oh, and the tidying shift will be followed by a three hour, entirely un-productive computer department "meeting" (read as "lecture").
Total distance: 27 kmToral time: 4 hrs
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