Ah, summer, the time of late sunsets and warm days, also the season for concerts. It's rather amusing, I won't do anything unless I plan it out way in advance and write it in on my calendar. It will be a busy summer for me this year.
In my immediate future is a weekend camping trip to Sand Dunes National Park. After that is the Bolder Boulder and a Nightwish concert in Denver; Memorial day will involve lots of running for me this year: run a race, then run to a concert. A week or so later I'll be going to the Honda Civic Tour to see Panic at the Disco, and then a couple days later is the Teva Mountain Games. If I get off my ass and get inspired, I might register for the Citizen's Bouldering comp there, but I'm lazy, so we'll see.
After that I get a reprieve of over a week before I fly to Delaware for my grandparents anniversary.
Once I get home from that I'm going to the Warped Tour, which I'm very excited about. I wanted to go last year, but didn't have anyone to go with. It will be an all day long concert with dozens of bands, awesome!
We had been initially planning on going to Anime Expo, but it looks like we won't be able to make it. It's too much time away, and would cost a fair amount of money to go, gas prices are just way to high right now. It just doesn't make sense this year.
In mid July, we'll see the Foo Fighters at Red Rocks. Concerts are Red Rocks are truly something else. You sit on the wooden benches in a natural amphitheater and watch the sun set as the stage is getting the finishing touches, then the music starts as the sun creeps behind you. One has to bring a jacket because it gets cold once the sun sets, but that is not a problem.
Then I have a week long trip to Candy Mountain. Of course, these are just the things I have planned out. If I get my Vespa working, I plan on trying to do a rally or two. And I'm sure there will be plenty of weekend road trips and camping trips.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
A Quiet Weekend in Boulder
Ah, it's been a quiet weekend. It started with me riding my bike home then heading to Anime club for "bad dub sushi night," where we watched terrible anime and then went out for sushi at Japangos. Saturday began with a trip to Longmont to check out a sale at a store up there. I ended up with the Garmin Topo maps of the US for $30, wee! After a quick lunch at Qudobas and errand running at Walmart, Margaret and I headed south to borrow a crash pad and head for Flagstaff Mountain.
We drove the winding path up the mountain looking for Pumpkin and Cookie Jar rock, going way past them, as landmarks on the mountain were much closer than we were led to expect from the map. When we finally found the rocks... well wow... talk about a scary topout; it was a good 30 feet in the air. After a second look at the book and descriptions, the V0 listed also had a note about top ropes and being a good introduction to roped climbing. We decided that a foam pad wouldn't be enough protection if one of us came off.
After studying the map and then giving up and deciding to just drive up the mountain until we saw someplace that looked interesting, we ended up at crown rock and ended up playing for two hours doing loop traverses of the rock. After spending this long on a hot rock in the sun, we were thirsty and decided to head back to the car for drinks: lukewarm water from nalgene bottles.
After refreshing ourselves, we headed back to the rocks to explore a bit more. We heard some monkey noises from a group of boulders and decided it would be worth investigating. As it turns out, Boulder wasn't under attack by monkeys but rather there were several climbers with crash pads under a V0 on Beer Barrel Rock looking up at chalk marks on the Southwest corner. It was decided by the climbers hanging out that we must attempt this route. I decided to acquiesce to their demands.
Climbing outdoors is very different from climbing at the gym. What is a small nub that I would barely consider using as a foot is a killer hand hold. And a huge jug inside, is a skin ripping jug outside. It's interesting, the climb was fine until the topout. Then it just became straight up terrifying. Several times I made it past the crux, I just needed to go over and stand up but I would panic and jump down. Finally, after half a dozen tries I made it over, hurray! I'd made it over, I was the master of this easy V0, whoo!!!
Anyway, after than Margaret and I headed to my place and watched Pokemon in a nostalgia trip and then Rambo. I've never seen Rambo before; it was quite entertaining, but it wasn't what I was expecting. After the movie and some more Pokemon, I fell asleep.
On Sunday, Margaret and I took a ride around town. We initially headed South, then eventually turned East. We rode for a couple hours then had a healthy lunch a Taco Bell. After a stop at the Book Worm (since we were in the area) Margaret and I headed towards home and split up: her to study, and me to putter around the apartment.
I ended up rebuilding and remounting the carburetor for my Vespa. It took me about an hour to do this, but if I were to do it again, it would take about five to ten minutes. I then set to work upon the gas tank. The inside of this thing is covered with rust, so I've had it filled with mineral spirits and BBs which I've been shaking to knock loose rust inside the tank. There is a large nut at the bottom of the tank which holds the fuel tap in place. Unfortunately, I don't have a 32mm crowsfoot, and a deep socket would fail due to the way they mount and there is a long curved metal pipe coming off the tap. There is a special tool called a "Vespa tap wrench" which I've been unable to track down, so I used a large basin wrench. After 15 minutes of grunting and swearing the nut spun free; I'd gotten that stupid fuel tap out (and it was completely coated in rust and debris, so I'll need to replace it).
I'll need to etch out the tank. I do have the chemicals to do that, as well as to recoat the inside of the tank, but I need to get a rubber stopper to plug the bottom of the tank, so I don't spill acid all over my garage. I've been having fun working on the Vespa, and will be putting together the final shopping list of parts to get it working. So hopefully sometime soon, I'll be taking a safety course and riding the bike to work.
We drove the winding path up the mountain looking for Pumpkin and Cookie Jar rock, going way past them, as landmarks on the mountain were much closer than we were led to expect from the map. When we finally found the rocks... well wow... talk about a scary topout; it was a good 30 feet in the air. After a second look at the book and descriptions, the V0 listed also had a note about top ropes and being a good introduction to roped climbing. We decided that a foam pad wouldn't be enough protection if one of us came off.
After studying the map and then giving up and deciding to just drive up the mountain until we saw someplace that looked interesting, we ended up at crown rock and ended up playing for two hours doing loop traverses of the rock. After spending this long on a hot rock in the sun, we were thirsty and decided to head back to the car for drinks: lukewarm water from nalgene bottles.
After refreshing ourselves, we headed back to the rocks to explore a bit more. We heard some monkey noises from a group of boulders and decided it would be worth investigating. As it turns out, Boulder wasn't under attack by monkeys but rather there were several climbers with crash pads under a V0 on Beer Barrel Rock looking up at chalk marks on the Southwest corner. It was decided by the climbers hanging out that we must attempt this route. I decided to acquiesce to their demands.
Climbing outdoors is very different from climbing at the gym. What is a small nub that I would barely consider using as a foot is a killer hand hold. And a huge jug inside, is a skin ripping jug outside. It's interesting, the climb was fine until the topout. Then it just became straight up terrifying. Several times I made it past the crux, I just needed to go over and stand up but I would panic and jump down. Finally, after half a dozen tries I made it over, hurray! I'd made it over, I was the master of this easy V0, whoo!!!
Anyway, after than Margaret and I headed to my place and watched Pokemon in a nostalgia trip and then Rambo. I've never seen Rambo before; it was quite entertaining, but it wasn't what I was expecting. After the movie and some more Pokemon, I fell asleep.
On Sunday, Margaret and I took a ride around town. We initially headed South, then eventually turned East. We rode for a couple hours then had a healthy lunch a Taco Bell. After a stop at the Book Worm (since we were in the area) Margaret and I headed towards home and split up: her to study, and me to putter around the apartment.
I ended up rebuilding and remounting the carburetor for my Vespa. It took me about an hour to do this, but if I were to do it again, it would take about five to ten minutes. I then set to work upon the gas tank. The inside of this thing is covered with rust, so I've had it filled with mineral spirits and BBs which I've been shaking to knock loose rust inside the tank. There is a large nut at the bottom of the tank which holds the fuel tap in place. Unfortunately, I don't have a 32mm crowsfoot, and a deep socket would fail due to the way they mount and there is a long curved metal pipe coming off the tap. There is a special tool called a "Vespa tap wrench" which I've been unable to track down, so I used a large basin wrench. After 15 minutes of grunting and swearing the nut spun free; I'd gotten that stupid fuel tap out (and it was completely coated in rust and debris, so I'll need to replace it).
I'll need to etch out the tank. I do have the chemicals to do that, as well as to recoat the inside of the tank, but I need to get a rubber stopper to plug the bottom of the tank, so I don't spill acid all over my garage. I've been having fun working on the Vespa, and will be putting together the final shopping list of parts to get it working. So hopefully sometime soon, I'll be taking a safety course and riding the bike to work.
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