Pregled posta

All new for 2007, the Spyder Sonix paintball marker has so many new features it's a whole new marker! The new marker is built around Spyder's simple and effective operating system, and the new Delrin quick release bolt means it's even more reliable then before. The new bolt comes out with just a pull of the release handle, and goes back in just as easily. The Delrin material means no more bolt o-rings to break! The Sonix includes an aluminum receiver, foregrip, low pressure chamber, a steel braided bottom line air feed and vertical ball feed.

This is a picture from a backcountry ski trip last winter. "the Cross" is the route of the old highway over Galena Pass in Idaho. It is a great place to ski, too!

So, now, 16 things about me:

1. I am the 6th of 9 kids, and the youngest (and tallest) girl in my family.

2. I was born on February 2nd (2/2), which is Groundhog Day here in the US. I often see my shadow on my birthday, and am always happy to have more snow!

3. When the movie Groundhog Day first came out, I refused to watch it, because I was so sick of all the Groundhog jokes I heard for years growing up (my birthday is on Groundhog's Day). Then, I caught part of it on TV years later and loved it! Now I watch it on my birthday every year.

4. I have an uncanny knack for finding 4-leaf clovers. The most leaves I ever found on a clover was 11.

5. When my daughters were 10 and almost 6, I took them to Ireland for a 3 week bicycle vacation, and we stayed in hostels along the way. We had a travel bicycle for three. Best vacation we ever took!

6. For our vacation each summer, my husband and I take an off-road trip on our Ellsworth full-suspension tandem, pulling our camping gear in a BOB trailer behind us. The mountains here are steep, and it is not uncommon for us to climb over 2000 feet in a day, pulling 80 or so pounds in the trailer.

7. We do not own a car, and have not for years. When my girls were small, I pulled them around in a Burley bike cart, and they later rode on the tandem/triplet (it was convertible) with me.

8. If I had to pick one favorite food that my mom made when I was a kid, it would be her apple strudel. I now make a mean strudel myself! :D

9. we own zero cars, but need a garage for our two tandems (a CoMotion titanium road tandem and an Ellsworth Witness mtn bike tandem), two mountain bikes (Carlos and I have matching Moots YBBs), a carbon fiber road bike (my Trek), two kick bikes (Blauwerk scooters), Carlos' old commuter 7 speed, and Grace's mtn bike, plus two BOB trailers and my friend Tammy's bike (which Carlos is fixing for her) in our garage.

10. I collect heart rocks.

11. I scored super geek on the geek test without ever having gone to a SciFi Con.

12. My fastest speed ever on a bike was 64 mph. My husband, Carlos, and I were on a lunch ride on our road tandem, coming down Willamette Street (14% grade!) in Eugene, OR.

13. I am the same size I was in 8th grade.

14. I still have fossil shells I found as a kid. I have a couple of arrowheads I found on a family vacation in Wyoming, too.

15. Both of my daughters were born at home. (they are 21 and 16 now)

16. I can read the tiny print in the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary without the magnifying glass.

In just under two weeks I will be getting married to Natalie, my high school sweetheart. Today I took some time to finish my wedding band. I decided to make my own because I wanted something that I will always have to better reflect on my personality and my passion towards bikes and frame building than some unknown metal from a shiny glass case. I wanted to make sure it had all the materials I use daily to craft custom steel bicycle frames. The inside of that band and the building block of the ring is a cross section of a KVA stainless steel chain stay. It is hard to see in the picture but the are three bands of metal that were silver based to the chain stay. First there is brass that is commonly used when fillet brazing, then there is nickel silver that in commonly used when fillet brazing stainless steel or brazing in stainless dropouts, the middle is a DT Swiss spoke. After it was brazed together precision filing and sanding began, about 8 hours later Bing-Bam-Boom Done! I couldn’t be more excited to spend my life with the woman I love.