Dirty Ram for attention purposes. Over the weekend I went on a mini-adventure to an area called the Mower Tract. I find the story of the place fascinating. This was my second visit there, I discovered it last year while wandering around aimlessly.

To get there, you need to drive deep into WV. Past trailer parks that even Kid Rock won't associate with. Then past a prison that is surrounded by a government run cattle farm, and next to a little league field. The ballfield is the last piece of civilization before you drive up a road with some really nice switchbacks to the top of Cheat Mountain.

After you turn off the pavement at the top of the mountain, you travel through the forest on a road that kinda seems like exactly what you expect:

You might even see a forest chicken cross the road:

Seems kinda normal. Until you come across this:

...and this:

.....and this:

At first you think that some kinda tornado came through the area, because of the way that all of the trees appear to be blown down in a strip. But that's not the case. There's bulldozer tracks:

....and then you think that this is the work of a logging company, but it isn't. The forest service did this, and they have been doing the same thing over the past 10 years in sections:

The above pic is at the "edge" of one of the sections. In the foreground is a section that was worked over in the past few years, in the back ground more recently.

The area is a former strip mine. After all of the coal was mined, the mining company bulldozed the mountain back to look kinda normal, squashed down the dirt and planted some non-native pine trees. The theory was that this would control erosion and it would look like a forest again after the trees grew in. The problem is that the soil was borked from being compacted, and the non-native trees only grew for a bit and just kinda fizzled out. Lack of water retention caused issues - The compacted soil and non-native trees don't retain enough water, causing everything to dry out too much. Thus, the area didn't turn back into a forest like it was supposed to. It ended up being more of a tundra than a forest.

The solution is to re-introduce native trees to restore the natural order. The native tree for the area is the Red Spruce. The climate of this particular mountain is one of the few in WV that the Red Spruce will actually grow in. The Red Spruce drop needles that cover the forest floor to retain water, and also grow a form of truffles that are eaten by the West Virginian Flying Squirrel, a formerly endangered and nearly extinct species:

What the forest service is doing is basically conducting mass genocide on the non-native trees, then neatly spreading their remains about. After letting them decompose for a year or two, they are then planting native Red Spruce trees.

They're also making hillside "ponds" to turn into wetlands. This one hasn't filled up yet:

This one is filled though:

Eventually, the area will have the correct trees, the correct moisture levels, a buncha pristine mountain ponds, and squirrels flying all over the place. Until then it's gonna look like a disaster zone though. Fascinating.

I really had no intentions of selling my Jeep, but given current market trends, curiosity got the better of me and I shopped it around. The process was easy, just copy-paste the VIN into the various online tools. After seeing the offers that came back, I took the highest too-good-to-be-true one and now it's gone.

The thing is, if anybody is in the market for a Jeep and can find mine, you're an absolute moron if you buy it. Not because of the options or condition, it was perfectly configured and spotless. Not because of how much I farted in it. The pleasing aroma of my exquisite flatulence has permanently permeated the plush cushion of the driver's seat. I have great farts, the best farts!

Rather, I was paid $6k more for it than it cost to buy new. That's before the dealer adds their profit margin to it. For something that's 2 model years old. If you want one, you can order one exactly the way you want and have it built in a month or two, and save several thousand $$$ in the process.

I enjoyed our time together and will have fond memories. Honestly I might order a new one for delivery in the spring. I already miss doing u-turns and how easy it was to park. However:

Car design is very much subjective, but at the same time the design spectrum usually ranges from universally attractive designs to normal looking to the odd ugly duckling. Sometimes the designs that weren't well received at launch age rather well (Bangle-butt BMWs), and sometimes they become permanent jokes (Pontiac Aztek).

Except in current times, where the industry is producing the largest collective of aesthetically bad designs in memory.

This inspiration for this is the new WRX that's hitting the media rounds today and searing retinas everywhere in the process. It looks like the designer took their inspiration by checking out all of the pickups in the parking lot at Tractor Supply, then vigorously studied the Bushwacker catalog after taking a horse-sized dose of dewormer, and this is what they shat out:

It's not just that. From elsewhere in Japan the Civic has looked a diverse range of stupid since ~2006. Its various iterations since then have taken design inspirations from things such as a spaceship, spaceship that took the short bus, poisonous toad, and what the lead character drives in tentacle themed adult entertainment. The newest version looks like a 50 yr old wearing pants from Hot Topic. The Acura counterpart adds a tramp stamp, and is so embarrassed that it has to hide its droopy rear end in press photos:

It's not just the Japanese that have missed. So have the Koreans. Such as this Hyundai, where when drawing the grille they tried to use the bucket-fill-paint option without closing in the edges and the black spilled over to the rest of the front end.... and then they just left it like that.

The British have somehow made the new Range Rover look like a Chinese copy of a Range Rover:

The Germans, who have traditionally made attractive cars have.... GAHHHH

Also, BRING ON THE FLUGGEGECHEIMEN!!!!

Even pickup trucks aren't safe. A pickup truck is super easy to design. Step one: Draw 3 boxes (front, cab, bed). Step two: Add manly grille. Done. The new Maverick gets this right. Others get it very wrong, such as...

Gas station sushi:

"We outsourced the design to the same people that handle Dell tech support. We told them to draw three boxes to make a pickup truck. Due to a language barrier they drew a triangle instead. When we tried to call back we got caught in automated-menu purgatory for hours and gave up. We're never buying anything from them again. (We'll totally buy everything from them again if they are the cheapest option)."

13 steps to nowhere!

The solution to this disturbing trend is simple: Vote with your wallet and don't buy ugly cars. Whenever people buy ugly cars it gives validation to the designers and they will continue to do more dumb stuff in the future. Do your part to prevent it!

Happy spring!

So I decided on a whim this past weekend to take a trip to the Frederick Watershed to do some bicycling. I'd been told that it was worth the trip by a few others that I've met at enduro races but never had the chance to actually go there. "If you can ride The Shed you can ride anywhere", so they said. The timing worked out that I could drive there Friday, camp out, and then ride Saturday under near-perfect weather conditions before driving back home.

In the interest of fiscal conservation I wanted to be as cheap as possible, so that meant finding a free campsite. After some searching the most convenient place would be a state forest in PA, but that didn't work out because you need apply for a free permit and those take a few days to get. So I went with the backup plan of an undisclosed location in the middle of the woods in WV. It was a little out of the way but there was nobody else around so that was pretty sweet. I also used the opportunity to test out a recently acquired teepee tent with a wood stove, which it turns out is amazing in cold weather:

Anyways I looked up the trail maps in advance and decided that if I was gonna drive all the way down there I might as well skip all of the weenie trails and go straight to the double blacks (red on the map). They're all fall-line trails on the same hill, and I looked up the steepness and the grades at the steepest parts are in the 40% range. After comparing this to some other trails that I've ridden and consider steep, this is right at the edge of my ability levels but doable, maybe.

I managed to only make two runs. The first was the Evolution trail. Everything was going great until I hit the first feature on it, a gap jump of about 10ft. Again this is something that's right at the edge of my ability levels. In hindsight I should have stopped after seeing the jump to make sure I could hit it properly. In reality I was going too slow but unwisely tried to send it anyways, only clearing about 8 ft of the 10ft gap. The end result when my front wheel jammed into the landing and came to a sudden stop was basically this:

I got launched forward and my face hit the ground first, followed by my knees. Fortunately my full-face helmet and pads did their job, but I still hit pretty hard and was a bit shaken up. Nothing broke so I kept going. I did manage to ride most of the rest of the trail. No pics of this one but I did need to skip a few parts.

The 2nd trail I did was Creampie. It was super fun at the top, a little steep and lots of rocks but surprisingly easy with a little speed. Until the last chute, which looked like this:

The camera does not do the steepness or the rockiness any justice. It was difficult to walk down. I suspect the only way to ride it is to full-send and skip over the top of the rocks, which I just did not have the confidence to do, especially with all of the leaves and after a big crash.

I did make it to the bottom though:

And did catch a sweet sunset on the drive back:

Counting the parts that I skipped on the two trails I probably only got a combined 1 1/2 runs done, but I still consider the trip a success. The challenge and the difficulty make it super rewarding, and honestly there's nothing like it on my local trails. I am definitely planning on going there again, but not until next spring when things warm up and the leaves get cleared off.

@limitedtimeonly Ask for a raise at the current company. Don't mention having another job offer, just say that you think you're worth more. If they say yes, then great. If they say no, accept the other offer and resign.

Don't get emotionally attached to a job. The proper amount of loyalty to have to your employer is zero.

With just a few simple tricks, it transforms from a girly bagged mulch mover to something much more respectable and classy.

We are currently experiencing prime Jeeping conditions. Roofs, doors, and pavement are frowned upon as a result. Other Jeeps displaying a proper degree of nudity are encouraged.

@chariotoflove

...........

So last year OutsideOnline bought up a buncha cycling related properties, including but not limited to BikeReg. Starting this year, they've made some changes to the way that you register for events.

To recap, the previous process:

1. Find event
2. Register & pay for event

The new process:

0. Do YoU wAnT tO bUy A mEmBeRsHiP?
1. Find event
   Do YoU wAnT tO bUy A mEmBeRsHiP?
2. Click "Register"
   Do YoU wAnT tO bUy A mEmBeRsHiP?
3. Enter Info
   Do YoU wAnT tO bUy A mEmBeRsHiP?
4. Enter credit card info
   Do YoU wAnT tO bUy A mEmBeRsHiP?
   BUY MEMBERSHIP
   BUY MEMBERSHIP BUT DIFFERENT FONT
   WHY WON'T YOU LOVE ME?!?!?!
   BUY MEMBERSHIP
   BUY MEMBERSHIP OR I'LL BE SAD uwu
   I CAN'T GO ON LIKE THIS ANYMORE
   BUY MEMBERSHIP
   tiny font continue without memebership

I don't want your stupid membership OutsideOnline, I just wanna register for my goddam bike race.

Air travel can be stressful. The primary cause of this stress is other people travelling. In particular the most annoying people in the history of the universe, who all happen to be going the same place as you at the same time as you, and are likely sitting withing close proximity on the plane.

The best way to improve this? By watching an entertaining movie on your electronic device. With headphones on, of course.

I recommend Sharknado 2: The Second One. Why? - spoiler warning - It starts out with the protagonists mid-flight on a commercial airliner. To everyone's surprise, the plane flys directly through a Sharknado. This results in significant damage to the aircraft, along with a number of casualties. The opening sequence ends with the protagonist taking control of the aircraft, naturally after the pilot and copilot get eaten by sharks. A spectacular yet firey crash landing of the aircraft ends the scene.

Here's a clip with a portion of the action:

It's best to start the movie shortly before the aircraft begins to taxi from the terminal to the runway. Of course your fellow passengers will be all nebby and try to look at what you're watching, so if you keep your electronic device prominently displayed they can see the movie.

As the scene progresses and the other passengers take notice, they will begin to make confused faces. So as to say something along the lines of "WTF WHY WOULD SOMEBODY WATCH THAT ON AN AIRPLANE RIGHT BEFORE TAKEOFF?!?!?!?!"

The real magic happens if you time it right. Immediately after the protagonist of the movie crash lands their shark infested aircraft, it cuts to a montage with the Sharknado theme song. This is a very up-beat and happy song. The natural reaction of anybody hearing it through headphones is to smile and do a little happy dance in their seat. When timed properly, this happens at the beginning of the runway, right as the pilot is about to go full send on the throttle.

It's great, because you have a nice upbeat and happy song acting as a soundtrack to the best part of the flying process. In addition, given that all of the nebby passengers nearby saw the entire thing, nobody will try to talk to you for the duration of the flight. Rather, they will try to stay as far away as possible. This means that you will not only have a peaceful and uninterrupted flight, you also can claim the center armrest without resistance.

This top tip is based on real world experience. I hope you found it helpful.

@CarsOfFortLangley Tread Heavily.

@gettingoldercarguy said in Could all of those who complained about Biden's high gas prices please comment?:

I completely disagree with the spending bill's effect on people.

Hopefully those new IRS agent jobs pay enough to afford a Tesla.

I also don't think Biden influenced gas prices nearly as much as people say he did. But I sure as heck hope they admit they lowered with him as well if he's gonna get blamed for the increase.

Totally fine with that. Under Joe, prices went up $3, then down $1. So that nets him with a $2 increase.

@gettingoldercarguy It was Putin's Price Hike originally, so shouldn't we be thanking Putin for reducing the prices? Or is that not how it works?

Or should we not note that prices are still ~$2 higher than November 2020?

Everybody here at least understands basic supply & demand rules, right? Lemme repost the chart for good measure:

Price goes up with rising demand or falling supply.
Price goes down with fallind demand or rising supply.

Neither the President (of US or RUS) can directly control the price. However, they can INFLUENCE the price through multiple means.

Releasing barrels from the SPR increases supply (thus decreases price).

That doesn't counteract the many valid criticisms for the reasons why the prices were high in the first place - Things like campaigning on an anti-oil agenda, appointing a goddam hippie UC Berkeley professor as the Secretary of Energy, crappy monetary policies that drove inflation, crappy foreign policies leading up to the "special military operation"... All of that still happened.

The impact of the SPR release was magnified by 40yr high inflation which has lead to reduced demand.

There's still no way of dancing around the fact that the Biden admin has been absolutely terrible for the average citizen. It's not Trump, it's not Putin, it's not China, it's not the virus, it is directly due to decisions and policies and actions of the Biden admin. The lower on the economic chain you are, the bigger the negative impact. The new spending bill that's going through this week is only going to make that worse. I don't understand how people fail to see that.

@Just-Jeepin I kinda had two modes for mine. Just the top flipped back, or fully nekkid with the top all the way down , side & back windows removed, and doors off.

Agreed that putting the top all the way down makes rearward visibility quite poor.

@ike808 I'd probably get a hardtop with a Gladiator, from my understanding the soft top doesn't go all the way down. May wanna check that though.

I had a Wrangler that I can speak to, it's basically the same from the seats forward. Steering, clutch, gear ratios, and wind noise were crappy, everything else great. Easy maintenance, zero issues.

Not shocked to be honest.

@AestheticsInMotion There are major differences between the 600/1k class bikes and 400 / 650 class, beyond the obvious engine sizes.

The most prominent are the suspension and brakes. It's very much noticeable at street speeds, and more so the faster you go. What is essentially a ZX6 with a 400cc engine would make a great race bike, likely better than a 650 twin although they'd race in different classes.

Going from 4 models in the range to 6, and adding the nekkid options as well means that the lineup will be extremely niche in nature. Honestly I think as far as sportbikes go they only really need 3, a small / medium / large.

@AkioOhtori This vid ironically from the same guy as above. This subject came up before, he said he'd never use this hitch setup on something berry'd in the sand, yet there are other vids of him doing exactly that.

The moral of the story is that you'll get away with it, until you don't.

@HammerheadFistpunch Not shocked, it's a sooper doody buried up to the frame. Looking at the drop hitch the pulling vehicle was probably a bro truck going full send.

That whole unstoppable force vs immovable object thing.

Also Matt's Off Road does this exact thing all the time.