Fish Slime

I got out again today and decided to just head back down to Deckers since I can make it there in about 25 minutes from the house. After coffee was downed and waders were dawned, I made my way to the river. Just like the other day, I was seeing a lot of fish right away and it didn't take long before I was hooked up with a Rainbow. Most of the fish landed today were in the 12-14 range but they were actively feeding. Things are starting to happen but we need water or it will be an ugly summer. 

This is one of the leanest fish I've seen in a while. I don't think this thing ever knew it was hooked even when I was holding it. Hardly fought at all. 

This was during a break.

This section is pretty skinny with a few deeper holes here and there. A lot of fish were set up in the shallow riffles and midges were very productive.

I couldn't help but take a peek under the bridge on my way out again today. I can't seem to pass up the chance to throw streamers. I rigged up and looked under again. This bridge is really tight. Even in the water, you would have to duck down quite a bit to get under it so getting a cast in is tough. As I was looking in, I could see a fish busting the surface while feeding. I got giddy and started casting. The only way to make it work is to use a crazy side arm cast and it's gotta be super fast each way to keep the fly off the water and to keep it form hitting the side of the bridge too. I can almost cast it all the way in but need to feed in some line. After one twitch I was hooked up. This one wasn't quite as nice as the one from the other day but I'll take it. I know there are bigger fish hiding there.

Spring Break is almost over now and then it's back to work. On Monday I have an interview with another district. I'm excited and hope it goes well. I need to iron my Garanimals.

I had a dream...

Yes...the other night I had a dream. Sometimes you wake up and barely recall a dream you had and then bits and pieces start coming back to you during the day. This was not like that. It was all so vivid and real. I was fishing. Doin' my thang. It just so happened that the person I was fishing with in my dream was none other than Conway Bowman. For those that don't know, Conway is the host of Fly Fishing the World. While I'm sure he's a nice enough guy I secretly hate him because he gets to fish in all these kick ass locations. He probably gets all kinds of gear too and crazy amounts of ass. Boy band ass too. I mean...that's what chicks want. Dudes that smell like fish. I know Heather digs it. 

Anyway...there I was. Bombing the bank with big ass streamers. I was killin it. I kept seeing one fat brown after another to the net. Conway, on the other hand, was not doing so well. In my dream, he let me use his rod. No...despite the jokes that my wife made, this is/was not a sexual innuendo. He seriously let me use his fly rod. I figured it had to be a ploy to be able to say, "Well...I couldn't catch fish because I had to let this hack use my fly rod." Touche Bowman. I landed just as many fish with his shit as I did with mine. Suck it. 

I couldn't help but think of that dream when I got to the river today. Now...I loves me some streamer fishing. Also loves me some streamer fishing at night. This was not the situation today. The flows were shitty. In fact, I don't know that I've ever seen the water this low. The sun was out. I had a double nymph rig on when I left my car. I damn near cut my finger off at the car. Totally my fault for keeping such sharp knives. The gal at the General Store was nice enough to not make me buy a whole box of Band Aids and I was on my way across the street with a little spring in my step. Right away I started spotting big fish. I don't fish this area much because it sees so much pressure but the Dream Stream is iced out and the flows in the canyon aren't worth the hike in. And...I'm on vacation. I stood there watching these fish feed for a few minutes before carefully slipping down to the bank. After a few casts they spooked. They slid right downstream and under a bridge. I had an egg pattern leading (kind of an attention getter) and then a Top Secret midge. I have a real problem walking away from larger fish that are obviously smart. 

It was like they were communicating with me. I said to myself, "Self...big fish are big for a reason. Why did they slide down and just to where I can't get a nymph to them?" I looked up at the sky in a bit of frustration. I looked back downstream and under the bridge. Then it hit me. "It's ALWAYS overcast under a bridge. Perfect streamer conditions." Without hesitation, I bit line and started putting flies away. Removed weight and balloon. Shortened a perfectly good leader and grabbed a Barr's Meat Whistle and tied it on. I worked the front portion of the bridge for a few minutes and then let things swing back into the dark shadows. The further back I wanted to get, the harder it was. Finally, I was side arm casting to get as much distance as possible. BOOM!! The surface broke and I could see the head. I couldn't believe it. Here I was on a non-streamer day below a bridge with a 18" fish on.

I muscled it right out the way I went in (when a nymph rig would have had me going spelunking through the shadows). The hook set was perfect. I revived her and she slid back into the shadows. Seemingly, no worse for the wear. I've had much bigger fish on during the fall run but this was cool today. I'm in a bit of a state of transition and questioning right now, career wise, so I was thrilled to see that my instincts were good.

I got back to my beat up car and found that I still had half a cup of coffee. It was cold now but still good. God I love fly fishing.

Kitchen Remodel

Today I was able to get the kitchen all back together so the cabinet renovation is now complete. When I started this project my plan was to have it all done by the time our friend came in for a visit and he gets here next week so I timed it pretty right. I had several people asking if I would post a timeline of sorts for the project so this is it. 

The kitchen started off looking like this. I painted it red a few years ago and now hate it which really sucks because the ceiling on one side is probably 16 foot and a real pain in the ass to do. Our house is not big but we like it that way. It's easier to clean and we figured we could really make it look nice for less money. Heather and I both hate oak but we didn't necessarily wanna do new cabinets entirely so we started looking at our options. We found a cabinet transformation kit from Rustoleum and decided to go that route.

This is a huge job but you can do this to pretty much any furniture. We previously did this to a nightstand, dresser and our bathroom vanity and really liked how it came out. The first step involves removing everything. I threw out all the hardware and set up some saw horses and plywood in the garage so I'd have a place to work on the doors and drawers. Once everything is apart you do the first step which involves using a chemical and Scotchbrite pads to de-gloss the surfaces. It basically removes all dirt, oil and just enough of the finish to rough things up. This step is hard only because it hurts the finger tips to scrub that hard for that long.

Next you take the bonding coat and start putting it on. We went with espresso for the color but there are quite a few options to choose from. This is a pretty quick process but you need to be careful to really follow the grain and not apply too much or it will look sloppy in the corners. The hardest part was the actual cabinet doors (mainly the corners where this coat can pool up). You also need to be careful that the coat doesn't run.

Originally I used small finishing nails to elevate the cabinet doors but I didn't like it. I ended up painting each piece on a stool before putting it back on the plywood to dry. After one coat you wait 12 hours and do this step again.

Next up is a the glazing. This is actually an optional step. It's almost like a stain. Very runny. You just quickly brush it on (again being careful to follow the grain) and then immediately wipe it off with the provided lint free rags. This step gives the furniture a bit more depth and character. This dries for 6-8 hours. Then you get to the last step which is the top coat. The top coat is probably the most difficult step of the whole process. It's a clear substance that truly looks like glaze from a donut. I constantly referred to this step as glaze. It's almost like painting light glue all over the furniture. It is very important to not cover the same area twice as this mucks up the finish. It's also very important to cover everything though as this is what really protects the furniture and makes cleaning easier. A lot of people really complain about this step but it's not THAT bad.

Here are some finished shots from one side of the kitchen after I had installed new hinges and handles.

Here it is today after putting it all back together. The section under the sink is the last section I did. I was dreading it because of the Lazy Susan's but they weren't too bad.

Next up is counter tops (still trying to decide between granite, stainless, concrete, etc.), sink and faucet, and new paint. Also on the list is a new stainless dishwasher after this ugly white one gives up the ghost. I just have a real hard time replacing an appliance like this when it works fine.

2013 North American Handmade Bicycle Show

The show was in Denver this year and Heather and I went up to check it out yesterday. I didn't know what to expect. While there were a lot of really nice bikes there, it was strange at what really impressed me and what I just glanced at and walked right past. It was a bit of sensory overload when we first walked in but I quickly found my bearings. There were quite a few fancy road bikes and quite a few fat bikes. Neither of these are really all that interesting to me. The issue with most road bikes is that my neck just can't handle it any longer. While I think fat bikes are neat, I haven't ridden one yet and even though I would love to have one, I just don't spend hours looking at them. 

Lately, what's been catching my eye are more touring style road bikes, Monstercross bikes and SS 29ers. I saw this bike right after walking in the front door and immediately wanted to check it out. The bars are still way too low for me but if they were higher and used a Woodchipper bar I think this would be really fun. It's by Shamrock out of Indiana and I just dug the little details on it. I normally do not like lugged bikes either but I sure liked this one. 

This is the kind of bike build that I have been spending a lot of time staring at. This bike was built by Ground Up out of Colorado Springs. This particular bike belongs to Fixie Dave Nice and he used it for Tour Divide last year. It's fixed, front brake, funky bars (would love to know what bars they are), Middleburn cranks, and just no nonsense. Very nice.

This black beauty was made by English and the customer is the owner of Black Rainbow Project bags out of UK. The bags were burly but will serve him well on the Great Divide this year (which was the inspiration for the build). Lot's going on here. Alfine internal gear hub with a Gates belt drive. If that ever fails then the front 135 spaced hub that has a SS belt cog on it can be swapped to make it to the next town. There is a small rack on the front that is curved to support the roll bag. The arm rests for the aero bars are integrated into a kind of custom stem thing (really similar to the one I have from Moots but much cleaner). The frame bag uses braze on mounts instead of straps so the paint won't get rubbed off.

This townie SS from Guru would be a really fun bar bike. Loved the gumwall tires. The paint was nice too.

Blacksheep had some bikes there that I just didn't understand (like the dual suspension fat bike) but, like I said, I don't have much experience with them. I did kinda like this SS which is unusual because I don't like too many curved tubes in frames. I usually hate curved down tubes. I'd ride it though.

Independent had some nice stuff but a lot of road bikes and a lot of geared mountain bikes. Loved this purple color and the baby blue behind it (kinda looks like my Salsa).

This was another favorite and, ironically, not really one of the craziest at the show (and I don't say that to be disrespectful). This bike was built by Reeb out of Lyons, Colorado for Chad Melis. It's a belt drive SS, steel frame, Niner fork, On One Midge bar (which really caught my eye), Cane Creek levers, etc. Pretty simple rig but, again, between this and Dave's Ground Up, I actually thought about theft. 

Like always, I generally do not discuss work here but I'll make an exception today. One of the students that I work with is in a welding class. This is a class that's hard to get in but I made it happen for him. The budget in my district has been utterly fawked for the last 7ish years and I still cannot believe that we have been able to keep both our metal and woods classes running. Most schools are not fortunate to have shops like these (more on the particulars in a second). Anyways...my student needs a bit more help than what his teacher can give him so I have been spending some time in there with him one on one. He needs to make a project to show what he's learned so we started it on Friday. This student loves to draw with paper and pencil but it's really hard for him to branch out beyond what he knows. I was hoping that welding would be a different way to do art for him and broaden his horizons a bit. We decided to do a spin on a really well known beginner welding project. A basic cube. My idea was to leave the top off the cube and make it into a pencil holder for him to use with his art pencils. We will also put on some attachments for other tools before we're done. 

We decided to use 14 gauge steel for the project. This is the computer operated plasma cutter. This thing is really nice. The shop has about 5 manual plasma cutters, half a dozen each of MIG, TIG, stick, oxy-acetylene welders, and every tool needed to fabricate some pretty impressive things. About 5 years ago I made a spare tire carrier bumper for my Jeep. Anyway...this is the 4x4 pieces being cut out. 

This beats cutting them out with a cutoff wheel or angle grinder any day. Next I prepped all the edges with a grinder. When I started the first one, I was amazed when the student jumped back about 5 feet from the sparks and said he didn't wanna get hurt. It's gonna be a process. 

I didn't get any pictures of the tac welds but I will this week. A cube is a great project because it incorporates so many aspects of welding (tacking, different types of welds, inside, outside welds, etc.). The student was really scared when the sparks were flying as I welded this area. The same guy was scared of the saws in his woods class before I went in for several classes and helped him out so I know we'll get him sorted in the weeks to come. A lot of teachers are overwhelmed with students like this but I love that this one is cool with me coming in and getting in the booth with him when he simply can't devote that kinda time to one student just for safety reasons.

Yesterday was glorious up here. It was almost 60 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The sun always feels so warm and intense up here. Bodhi was loving the deck.

We ran a few errands down the mountain and met this little guy. His name was Capone and I would have taken him home.

There's a store in Springs that always has the funniest books. This one contained photos of nothing but rear end shots.

On the way back up we decided to stop in and see the folks at Front Range BBQ for dinner. They have the best smoked artichoke hearts.

That's about all I got for now. Today is the end of week 5 for the Insanity workout. The next 4 weeks are supposed to be the hardest. I don't know how I've done it but I've lost 2.5 inches off my waist. Sorry for the random kinda posting. I just haven't been doing any crazy adventures lately with doing Insanity, working on the kitchen, weather, etc. After Insanity is done I will start riding again. I have been wanting to ride the Kokopelli Trail in one effort for years now and I think this might be the year for it. Soon I'll start prepping for that.

Get out and do something today.

Kitchen Update

The kitchen project is coming along nicely. So far I have completed 3 areas of cabinets and I only have one left. The more I get done, the more I hate the rest of the kitchen like the paint, counters, etc. 

This is the last section and it is going to be the worst because of the stupid Lazy Susans. This area will probably take me 2 weeks because I'm busy lately. 

I think I've posted this view before but it's nice.

When I open up a bottle of beer, I have a bad habit of opening the drawer that holds the bottle opener, opening said bottle, and tossing the opener and cap back in the drawer. I don't know why I always do it but I do. Heather hates it. A couple years ago I cleaned out this drawer and have a bag of caps in the garage. I hate to throw them away but I don't know what to do with them. I've seen people do some pretty dumbass stuff with caps like make belts or earrings or other crap but that seems silly. This is a lot of caps but it doesn't even put a dent in the bag. 

Hope

Well I talked to the folks at Hope yesterday about my little dilemma with the front hub. Surprisingly, they had never heard of what happened either. At least the sales guy hadn't. He put me in touch with the tech guy and, according to him, this is a common problem on all hubs. He says the thread lock that comes on the rotor bolts can make it quite difficult to remove them. I have removed plenty of rotors and have never had this problem. Part of me was hoping that I might get a hub out of the deal but I'm not mad with Hope at all. I like these hubs. I do NOT think this is normal. I'm not sure what caused the issue but I have an idea. I did not use the stock SRAM Torx bolts on the rotor because I don't like Torx bolts. I replaced them with allen head bolts. In this picture you can see some discoloration and rust. My guess is that the grade or material of the bolt was not what it should have been. I'm over it now. I love these hubs. Unlike my WTB hubs, these have not left me stranded. I have never replaced the bearings or freehub and they are obnoxiously loud which lets the mountain lions, bears and hikers know I'm coming long before I get there. I will be using the Torx bolts from now on. 

Yesterday I also spoke with Mr. Curiak who originally built these wheels for me back in 2009 (he was also alarmed after I told him what happened). Then I realized I had better try to replace the rear rotor before I told him to only build me a front. I had the bolts soaking for 24 hours in penetrant oil. The heads on these stripped as well. Then I used the Dremel again and cut a slot for a straight blade screw driver.  

I also decided to use a bit of heat to persuade things. Even with all of this, it took an amazing amount of force to break the bolts loose. After they were out I chased the threads with a tap and cleaned everything up and then installed the new rotors and re-adjusted the brakes. The back one is fine (although the pads are still being bedded in) but the fronts are useless because the rotor just doesn't sit right with only 5 bolts in it.

My wife is so cool. She knows I have been giving serious thought to an ITT on the Kokopelli Trail in several months so she is buying me a wheel. I'm kinda bummed because I was hoping the next wheels I bought would be from Industry 9 but it will have to wait a bit. Thanks for supporting my riding H.