Descending is the Crack Cocaine of Bicycling

[Jeff Gross]

Deodorize shoes or sneakers.  Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight.



Descending is the Crack Cocaine of Bicycling

The ride up Palomar Mountain this coming Saturday will be the most challenging ride of the century series. An early start time of 7 AM will help get us home around 3 PM. We will climb the East Grade from Lake Henshaw and avoid the crazy and noisy motorcycles, and descend the curvy South Grade. Save a bit for the scenic but unpleasant slog up Valley Center Road past the casinos. No bonking and no falling down!

The descent down the South Grade is hair raising. Descending is the crack cocaine of bicycling. It is exhilarating to push the limits of your bicycle, with the wind in your hair, the sun warming your back, and the centrifugal tug of a tight curve. It is also like other addictions - alcohol, drugs, gambling. Descending like a rock gets your juices flowing in a rush, but you have less risk walking into the casino at the bottom of the hill. Sucked in by the thrill and the desire to keep up, cyclists are one bump from a helicopter transport. The South Grade has claimed the lives of many motorcyclists over the years, like Icarus flying too close to the sun. Slow down and enjoy the views, and you will get to the bottom only minutes after the others.

Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds.  Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling



Stolen Bike

Darcy Eaton is owner of Her Revolution, partner store to our title sponsor. Darcy's husband Ray had his bike stolen this past week.

My 2010 Jamis Xenith T1 was stolen from my garage in Carlsbad within the past couple of days....(Bad feeling to get suited up, ready to head out for a ride, only to discover your bike is gone from the garage rack).  :-(

Please keep your eyes/ears-out for this bike:

2010 Jamis Xenith T1 (Black, Blue and White)
Reynolds Strike Wheels (Thank you Nytro/Reynolds for our Team Rehab United Sponsorship!)
SRAM Components
Easton Attack Aerobars (Frog Green Tape)
Speedplay Pedals

Thank you!

Ray Stainback
Terramarman@Yahoo.com 760-802-2500

Eliminate odors in dirty laundry.  Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.



Happy Memorial Day from the Beach

The height of summer - time to stock up on bike tubes, and bottles of beer and sunscreen. Higher SPF numbers do not mean the sunscreen lasts longer, but that it blocks more. All sunscreens lose effectiveness in a couple of hours and need to be reapplied.

This is a good time of year to give yourself a skin cancer check. Go to http://www.dmgnc.com/Portals/0/pdf/body-mole-map.pdf and print off an instruction sheet, and take an inventory of your skin. It has body charts for you to locate and describe each skin spot. If you also take pictures, you will be able to note changes over time. Take a half hour, save your life.

Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.



Check Your Head

Check your bicycle headset for looseness. If your headset has freeplay, it can lead to a high speed wobble that is very difficult to control.

Grab your headset with your right hand so that some fingers are on the headset, and some fingers are on the bike frame.
Push your bike forward and back with your right hand.
With your left hand, apply the left brake (front brake). Keep pushing your bike forward and back with your right hand.
The headset should be rock solid in the frame. Any ticking that you feel should be tightened.
If you use your braking hand to help push, you will introduce side to side steering that will disguise the test results.
To adjust the headset, there are three screws: two on the side, and one on top. The side screws lock the adjustment in place, and are loosened first and tightened last. The screw on top dials in the adjustment.
The opposite of a loose headset is one too tight. Lift the front wheel and turn it side to side. It must be loose enough to turn smoothly and freely.

Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing them.  It will keep them smelling fresh.



How much is this house worth?

The best free online real estate listing information is at http://www.Realtor.com. Updated every 15 minutes, it is the next best thing to having my subscription as a REALTOR to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The problem with most sites is information that is out of date, incomplete, or contradictory. Trulia, for example, rarely deletes listings when they are sold or removed from the market. An appraiser will look for the 3 best comps and adjust them to the subject home according to features (most notably square footage). A great automatic estimator is www.homesandland.com, which summarizes results from www.homegain.com, www.eppraisal.com, www.zillow.com]www.trulia.com[/url, and [url]www.zillow.com.

Wet a Bounce sheet, hose down your car, and wipe love bugs off easily with the wet Bounce.

Bike lots,
Jeff Gross
jeff@fullcommitment.com