Merry Christmas!

We sent the greeting above to my family scattered around the world. It was supposed to be a more ambitious project involving location shoots and costumes but in the end, it only required a tripod, an hour of our time and some video editing software. Sometimes simple is best.

It has been much more of a low key event than in seasons past. We went for an enjoyable family ride up to the University and looked at the entire Monterey Bay from the vista point at the top of the bike path. Now we're drinking rum and eggnog and waiting for our family to arrive so we can enjoy a feast.

Merry Christmas!

Mountain Biking with your Preschooler

Jade has outgrown the Wee-Ride and has graduated to an Adams Trail-a-Bike. Our last mountain bike ride with the Wee-Ride was the Flume Trail up at Lake Tahoe in August.

We got the Trail-A-Bike for her 4th birthday and she was a little too small for it. We started with the top of the line Alloy 7 model - it has 7 gears and lighter that the other models. We could justify the expense since it will be used for many years to come. I'm a bike geek so I customized it to improve the components and ergonomics. We put on narrower bars, a smaller seat, Grip Shift and pedal blocks. I taped the shifter to the goose neck bar so she can't use it - perhaps I'll teach her how to shift next spring. The new components helped out quite a bit and even dropped the weight of the bike by a pound.

We have been enjoying riding as a family in and around the Santa Cruz area since September. Jade-O looks like a mountain biker - only smaller. She has her own CamelBack, gloves, glasses, windproof jacket and lycra shorts. Our rides are a little slower with the Trail-a-Bike compared with the Wee-Ride and we have to stop for A-frames. Every ride gets better all the time as Jade's endurance, skills and strength improves. The video shows a ride that we did at the beginning of December.



Mountain biking parents should consider taking their kids out for a ride. It's a great way to enjoy the open space with your kids. For us every weekend is Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.

A mountain bike for the snow!

Here on the central California coast, we can ride year round without worrying about snow. For others, the winter snow covers their favorite riding spots and they may have to put the bike away for the winter and take up another sport. Now we have the Ktrak. Check out the video by clicking on the What the heck is Ktrack link.

Leave it to the crafty Canucks in BC to figure out a way to ride all year round. This just demonstrates that BC riders are pushing the sport in new directions.

This device raises all sorts of access and advocacy issues. How do you advocate to get these machines on the chair lifts? At least there is a possibility of actually riding up the mountain.

The Ktrak redefines the term "freeriding".

Dirt Cheap Mobile Audio Video

Last Sunday we got stuck in that hellish traffic jam on I-80 West on the way back from Tahoe. It was the first real snow this season and chain control and speed limits were in effect. This was also the end of the holiday weekend and people were returning from Reno and Tahoe. According to Caltrans, 1 in 4 drivers on I-80 have never driven in the snow. So speeds were slow and we were stuck on 80 for a few hours.

Jade had not got her proper sleep since Turkey day and had been a little whiny over the weekend. Being stuck in traffic was looking to be a nightmare. Fortunately for us, I found a dirt cheap way of creating a mobile audio/video entertainment system.

I used a video iPod, a set of portable Altec Lansing iPod speakers, a DC to AC power inverter and couple of bungee cords to create a audio/video system on the headrest of our Subaru. It's a great thing that I keep a power inverter and plenty of bungee cords in the car. I bought the Altec Lansing inMotion IM3 portable speakers back in May for my NorCal camping trip and I continue to find new and exciting uses for them. I used the red bungee cord to attach the speakers to the headrest. The iPod is docked to the speakers through the interface at the bottom. This interface also holds the iPod in place and was not designed to withstand the vibration from stop and go traffic. I uses the blue bungee cord to secure the iPod against the red bungee cord and this stopped the vibration. I connected the power adapter to the power inverter which was plugged into the car DC outlet in the cargo area.

I had the insight to download some preschooler TV shows like "Wonder Pets" and "The Backyardigans" from the iTunes Music Store before we headed up the mountains. Jade knows how to control the volume but she still doesn't know how to operate the iPod. The result is that Jade was cheerfully amused for a couple of hours while we were cursing Californians who cant drive in the snow.