Friday, May 06, 2011

Long Overdue Update

After a lengthy hiatus, and just like the warm weather I have returned. Have been spending the majority of my time (when it has not been raining that is) on two wheels, or working on them. I have my new GoPro camera and have a semi-decent editing setup on Ubuntu.


And a slighter older video:



I've also picked up a Honda XR400R with plans to ride in Colorado for a couple of weeks this summer. I've already pulled the head and done several other maintenance related items. I'll try to get a video of it up soon.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

2010 Sub-9 SuperD MTB Race

First post in a while. Have been keeping busy with many things, the most recent of which was the removal of my wisdom teeth.

Last weekend was one of my first "real" mountain bike races. This was the first annual Sub-9 SuperD located at Brown County State Park. A great 5.5 mile downhill (mainly) race. I ended up finishing in under 30 minutes (27:45) which was my goal. All in all it was a great event (a little disorganized earlier in the morning) but everyone was super-friendly and made the event a blast. It was well worth the drive and I will certainly be doing this again next year!

They did have an on-site photographer and I ended up grabbing a few photos:

2010 Sub-9 SuperD (1)

2010 Sub-9 SuperD

2010 Sub-9 SuperD (2)

Here's a Video from the event that gives you a good idea of what it looks like from the bike:

Brown County Super-D Race from Nicholas Martin on Vimeo.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Five Day Florida Foray

Decided to take one last vacation for the year and retreated to what we thought would be warmer weather.Well, Florida apparently experienced a cold spell for the duration of our trip. Even though it was a tad chilly, we still made the best of it and had a blast.

After an exhausting 13 hour trip through the night down after a full days of work:
DSCF4208

DSCF4213

The first order of business was catching an hour or so of sleep, and then jump in some boats on Juniper Springs.
DSCF4218

Juniper Springs (58) (Custom)

Juniper Springs (4) (Custom)



DSCF4230

DSCF4241

We got to see the mandatory gator:
DSCF4235

DSCF4238

And of course all the life that has already hidden itself back home:
DSCF4227

DSCF4222

DSCF4272

DSCF4276

After that we decided to go jump out of an airplane at 13,500 feet:
DSCF4242

DSCF4255

DSCF4257

After that it was onto Santos Trailhead for some two wheeled fun:
100_0588

Ichetucknee (30) (Custom)

Ichetucknee (32) (Custom)

100_0592

100_0591

Santos Trail (5) (Custom)

Santos Trail (9) (Custom)

Santos Trail (8) (Custom)

Santos Trail (7) (Custom)

They had a really nice free-ride park. After riding 15 miles, apparently I am no expert rider as I went down a couple of times.
100_0593

This is actually the shot taken a split-second before the crash. Still sore and rashed up a bit a week later.
Santos Trail (15) (Custom)

It was a blast, but very exhausting and I'm glad to be back sleeping in my own bed.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Fall.... and falling.

The weather has been very nice as of late, and I decided to make the most of it before winter sets in. A few friends have bought some hardtail mountain bikes and have been on the trails. I've also invested in a little more gear (gloves, bike rack for the Jeep, etc.) to make things a little easier. So far we've had some rough crashes, but no broken bones (I think...).

Here's a little ramp over a ditch that is quite a bit of fun.
Mountain Biking (4)

Mountain Biking (3)

Not much action here, but its one of the only non-blurry photos I have. My camera does not agree with the high speeds and low light conditions in the forest.
Mountain Biking (5)

I shot this one from the hip, but here's a buddy getting ready to go down hard.
Mountain Biking (2)

A fun little teeter-totter:
Mountain Biking

Cool composition:
Mountain Biking (7)

Monday, November 02, 2009

Monster Mash!

Another great Halloween under the belt! I figured I would throw some photos up of the costumes.
Halloween (1)

Halloween (Custom)

Halloween (2) (Custom)

Monday, September 21, 2009

Draggin' on the Dragon

Well, I finally got around to ordering some of the pictures from the Dragon. Here are a few highlights

The both of us:
lores-Dragon1

And these are from Tuesday when I could get out and carve up the turns when traffic was light in the morning:
lorez-killboy3

lorez-killboy2

And here's the final one (I love the yellow line on the road in this one):
ZeeFoto1_small

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Dragon Slaying...

Just returned from my first real vacation in about 2 years, and I'm exhausted. However I'm spending my time posting this rather than sleeping. I'll just start off with the most appropriate photos, the start of the trip. Here's the Jeep with everything loaded. Yes, the trailer did not help with gas mileage on the 1200 mile trip.
DSC01662

Of course no trip is complete without some sort of equipment failure. Here's me attempting to diagnose why the running lights were not working on the trailer. After about 90 minutes of this we decided to just leave and take our chances. At least we had turn signals and brake lights.
dscf3985

Here is the main reason for the trip to this location, the roads. There is nothing like this in Indiana. It seems like everywhere in this area has nonstop curves.
DSC01795

dscf4045

dscf4062

dscf4058

And you always have to be safe on these roads!
DSC01675

Cause you never know what kinda crazy people are behind the wheel...
DSC01674

Here's the folder with a little doodle for the Itenerary and reservation details.
DSC01783

And we did manage to sneak in some photos before riding off to motorcycle Mecca.
DSC01744

Look closer!
dscf4014

When your bike is one year younger than you are, sometimes it needs some good ol' TLC. I did manage to get quite a few comments on the old Hawk, you really don't see to many around.
dscf4012

And of course someone's always out to ruin the fun. (Actually the officer was very courteous and was just trying to make the place a bit safer. I've read there have been 4 deaths on the Dragon so far this year...)
DSC01794

As always there had to be some fun when we were not on the road...
dscf3998

DSC01771

I wonder who's winning at Indian Poker?
DSC01775

Apparently Tennessee is into team spirit!
DSC01773

We also managed to make it out to the Appalachian Trail and hike around 5-6 miles.
dscf4081

dscf4098

And view some of the life out there you don't get to see in our part of the States.
dscf4076

dscf4093

And of course some of the nice scenery.
DSC01788

dscf4005

We also went rafting on both the Ocoee and Nantahala Rivers, however due to the 'damp' conditions the cameras were left in the car. So I needed to pony up the cash to the riverside photographers to get a hold of these, although I think they were worth it:
Rafting (1)

Rafting

I should also have some photos of me on the Dragon from the roadside pros. It might be a few days however, I have a lot to clean up tomorrow!