This week started off with Dom listing his Orbea for sale online on a few sites and it sold within 2 hours with up to 4 people waiting to be next if the sale in front of them failed! It was wild. We really are in a time where bikes are scarce and in high demand. It helped that we take such good care of our bikes by washing them after almost every ride, keeping up with maintenance and not crashing a bunch. I also got my new pedals that I ordered and was able to install them right away. They look amazing.
I've decided on my bike theme and it is going to be modeled after our Panther Chameleon, Godzilla! With the bright red and neon orange of this bike it was an easy choice. I can't wait to show you the finished product but, I'll give you a sneak peek at some of the upgrades for now.
Wednesday brought a deluge while we drove to deliver Dom's bike to it's new owner. As we were driving home I was getting notification of videos and photos from people showing massive flooding where we are staying. We raced home to make sure the puppies were ok, they hadn't even called for a bad storm. When we got back to the campground 50% of it was under water. Our site was fine as we are almost at the top of the hill. The sites who were near the tiny creek that runs through the campground were under feet of water. Trucks up to their doors! People said that it had been significantly higher just before the rain stopped. Sewer hoses were detached, plants floated away, outdoor decorations were swept away never to be seen again. It was bad. Everyone survived though and no one was seriously hurt.
Thursday my new Fat Paws grips came in and I was so excited to put them on. The color is perfect for my Godzilla bike! We also tried to swap the PNW dropper post, Loam lever and my old seat on to my new bike. I feel like this set up performs better for me and that "real" mountain bike seat is for the birds. lol. My sit bones hurt for days after our first ride. We didn't have the right size allen wrench though so we headed to Lowes for tools.
Friday, tools in hand, we swapped the dropper posts. It took longer than we expected but I'm so glad that we did it. My riding feels so much happier now. And it was weekend time! We checked the apps and facebook to see which trails would open for the weekend after the flood. We were in luck that the next trail we wanted to test our new bikes on was open.
We headed for Horseshoe trail in Grapevine, TX for a little more tech, climbing, and gnar. It was glorious, we arrived at the trail around 10 AM and got a few pictures of these beautiful bikes before we got them dirty again and set up our cameras to record our ride. After talking with someone who had just finished the trail to ask about conditions, we hit the dirt. We both finally made it up the qualifier! The giant rocky hill that starts this trail has been a menace for us since we started riding here. We consistently made it 95% of the way up this hill only to be stopped at the very last rock section before the plateau. This time we brought the big guns! 160mm travel front fork, 150mm rear shock with acktiv suspension made short work of that troublesome hill and off we went! We succeeded at the next climb too. In fact, we made it through 99% of this trail for the first time ever. We only got stuck on 2 parts, the big hill that swings to the left after the bat field and big Mars, as we call it, which is a medium sized rock garden that visually freaks us out. We ended up riding 9 miles in 109° with up to 87% humidity. Basically that means we had the whole trail to ourselves, just the way we like it. :)
After showers and lunch we booked our labor day trip to Bentonville, AR. We are headed back out there to check out some trails we didn't get to visit during our Thanksgiving trip due to how much it rained that trip. We will be there for 2 weeks at the same campground we stayed at last time, Blowing Springs. It is right on the trail head to the back 40 and a great starting place for many of the local trails. We are excited for our next trip.
Sunday it was time to get some hard drives, we've managed to fill our computer and hard drive to the max capacities and are not able to edit videos right now because of that. It was time to upgrade to bigger storage so we can keep giving you great content. It is purchases like these, that are only necessary so that we can continue bringing you great content, that we ask for your support. Please subscribe, check out our Patreon page and pledge of you can, and share with your friends and family. While we were out we also checked out mattresses next door. Our current mattress, while being the most comfortable mattress we've ever slept on, has a mold problem from the high humidity in the RV. We don't want to get sick so we started looking for options that may be less prone to mold and options to help get better airflow under the mattress as well. We took a look at Purple and are leaning towards that but, we are not ready for another big purchase yet.
Sunday was also a busy work day. While I did all the laundry and cleaned up the RV some, Dom took on the job of swapping out our rusty stabilizers that came with our RV for brand new ones that are not peeling the paint off and full of rust, which we though might make them more prone to failure in high winds. He did an amazing job working in the heat and humidity to make our home safer. I also battled the fire ants. I think they won since they just popped up in other places once I sprayed them. That night the stinky smelly Bat finally got a long overdue bath and got his time being puprittoed and fed treats right into his little face. That is his favorite part of the dreadful bath and he got to sleep in the big bed with us that night leaving Tripp to play with any toy he wanted to at any time and sleep in either bed whenever the whim overtook him without being barked at by the Bat. Everyone slept well and we can't wait to share next week with you.
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