Life.

Life. It's what happens when we're busy making other plans. Other plans like what this post was supposed to be - a) written for Monday and b) all about being Back in the Saddle again. See, Monday was supposed to be my first mountain bike ride since I took a tumble last fall. And I had this whole plan for pictures and talking about friends who we rode with and shaking the cobwebs off and how awesome it is to have riding friends in Bethany Jane and her sweetie.

This post is supposed to be filled with photos like this

Review: Rad Dog's "Release N Run" Collar

Just about the only thing I enjoy more than playing with fancy new bits for my bikes is playing with fancy new bits for my dog. Stop laughing, you know what I meant. In April, the lovely folks over at Rad Dog were kind enough to ship me one of their Release 'N Run collars [Link!] a few weeks ago. Essentially, it's a basic fabric flat collar, only someone had the absolutely brilliant (not sarcastic) idea of sticking a four foot retractable leash inside of it. Now, at the time of writing I've only had it for about a month, but considering the use I’ve gotten out of it already I expect it will be one of my most-used pieces of hardware.

Prepping for the maiden voyage, where we met mud galore with no issues.

The Conondale Range

Soaring gum trees, crystal clear creeks, lush rain forest, and rugged mountains.

Do you think you have what it takes to ride the Conondale Range?

Mountain in the Mist - Bellthorpe

Product Preview: Race Face Flank Leg Guards

I love what I do with The Mountain Bike Life. Not only do I get to share my passion with people but I also get to try out new products. If you have been following my writing over the years, you know that I am a bit of a gear whore, so you can imagine how stoked I am that Race Face sent me a new set of Flank leg guards so I could compare them to the old ones that I have run for the past few years.

A Tale of California Trails

[ED: Please give a warm TMTBL welcome to our newest guest poster Jenn! She comes to us from beautiful Whitehorse and will be sharing with us once a month, check out her Flickr and Blog to follow more of her awesome adventures.]

Spring has been slow to, well, spring in the Yukon this year. So, In order to escape winter’s last gasp and to celebrate my 40th birthday, I took off for a week of riding (and, let’s be honest, wine) in California with four close friends. On April 27th I boarded a plane and flew down to San Francisco.

April 6, 2013 at Fish Lake, Yukon.  Winter was long this year.

The Not So Known Origins of Mountain Biking

The origins of mountain biking can be easily pinned on natural human curiosity or desired practicality. We know that the Buffalo Soldiers, or 25th infantry, rode iron bicycles from Montana to Yellowstone in the late 1800's. They were trying to be practical, which it wasn't exactly. While they technically were the first to ride off-road, the originators of mountain bike style we use nowadays actually resided just outside of Paris in the mid 1900's.

Commute by Bike?

Last month in English class I was assigned to read a nonfiction book and write a persuasive speech that is related to the book. After stumbling into Book Shop Santa Cruz in Downtown Santa Cruz, I naturally wandered to the cycling shelf of the Sports Section. The book that piqued my interest the most was The Enlightened Cyclist by Bike Snob NYC. Bike Snob is the pseudonym for cycling writer Eben Weiss. The Enlightened Cyclist talks all about bicycle commuting, so I thought I would enlighten our blog readers on bicycle commuting.

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.”- Ernest Hemingway

The Roman Road to Sparta

This is not the article that I planned on using for this particular publish date, nor is it one that I thought I'd write. This is a by product of several different aspects of my life all conspiring together and ending up in a pretty big idea. Like many big ideas that have gone before it, there is the opportunity for adventure and the joy of personal success. There is also the chance of failure, disappointment and battered ego.

There are a number of circumstances that have lead me to need this adventure and the single most influential is the fact that I got 110% sick of the dehydrated disc problem that I've had for the last few years.

650B Part 2 The Build

Finally got all my gear back from the brake study, now just waiting for the data from it. So that means I have my frame back with all my rear brakes again.....yeah. With the Avalanche on the stand I can start to loosely put on my gear and check clearances and fitment. I did get some 650b tires too. So let’s take a look at how it is all coming together.

The Mistress V2.0

It's been a little over a month now since the frame switch to the Chromag Samurai frame. I had been planning to write about what my spec was prior to getting the frame but held off till it was in my hands and being ridden.

Now one has to keep in mind that this is a dirt bag spec as I don't go for the shiny bling components. Haven't for years as I realized long ago that while that stuff was nice I could get just as much fun and ride time out of parts at the dirt bag level.

Chromag Samurai 19" frame. The 2005 edition which I acquired used. Build By Mike True Love.