Category: Photos

There’s that jump.

We got to Stephens early and stuck around for a bit until after the snow started. Just wanted to hear the sound of snow falling on the leaves. What can I say, it just brings back good memories of winter magic. LOL.

Side note – I’ve been trying to teach a friend of mine into riding the jump at top of Trestle for months. I show him how I jump it. He watches and listens to my pointers, but he’s just not ready to take the jump for himself. I don’t push. People need to decide for themselves when they are ready. So today as we got close to it, I said, “There’s that jump”. Then he pulls ahead, says “What jump?” and just went for it! It was glorious to see him finally send it! A minor victory and I’m happy I got to witness that.

Unleashing The Spirit of Temperance Wick’s Horse

The first ride of 2024 for me was at Lewis Morris, because I woke up and felt the spirit of Temperance Wick’s horse calling me. Legend has it that Wick was accosted by mutineers of the Continental Army who tried to steal her horse in December of 1780. She made a cunning escape, then hid the horse inside of a room in her family’s house. Talk about a house smelling like a barn! Anywho, so the mutineers left the Jockey Hollow area for Princeton on January 1st 1781, and that is when Wick freed the horse from the confines of the house.

Between that and having a lot of wonderful chefs and bakers in my family and having to burn off all of the holiday food and desserts they’ve been generously feeding me over the past few weeks; a ride at Lew Mo was much needed. Not the best photo, but I think it captures the spirit of a horse who has been cooped up indoors and is finally free to do what it was born to do. Ride free in 2024 friends!

It Repels Mosquitos and Bobcats

Amazon wanted to know if the UNICHE Bike Presta Valve Cap met my expectations. Boy did it ever!!! It may not look like much, but I’ve been saving up all year for this upgrade. In name it is a mere Presta Valve Cap, but in reality it is so much more than that.

Because of the advanced aerodynamics of this part, it really changed the way I am approaching riding. I could feel the difference right away from the moment I fastened this cap to my bike’s valve stem. When riding up steep hills that I have struggled with so many times in the past, the streamlined contours of the cap seemed like it did all of the hard work for me. It didn’t just take the air that I was cutting into and displace it so it traveled the opposite direction behind me. It took that air, displaced it behind me, but then it actually wrapped around the bike, turned around and funneled that air directly behind my back, and then it went in the same direction as my travel and it actually pushed me forward*** (please see schematic engineering diagram below, which visually illustrates this concept).

Another advantage that I took note of is that it emits a sound frequency which is inaudible to human ears, but it fends off mosquitos, gnats, ticks and spiders. And that’s just with one cap on one tire. If you put caps on both tires, it doubles the volume of the pest control frequency and that repels black bears, bobcats, venomous snakes, hikers, dog walkers and whatnot. It is written in the owners manual that this nightmarish sound haunts the dreams of pests, so they are deathly afraid to go anywhere near it. When not riding, I will be wearing one around my neck.

Another advantage of this cap is the particular shade of green. There is nothing technical, mechanical or scientific about that. I just like the color green. Best $7.50 ever spent.

Here is a technical schematic that demonstrates the efficient aerodynamic properties of this advanced Presta Valve Cap.