My Bob Jackson

I have several bicycles. Maybe too many.

This Road bike was purchased in 1978. I was working in Santa Monica at a customer site and on the drive back to Orange County I stopped by a bicycle shop on Wilshire Blvd.

I don't remember why I was at a customer site as I have several customer service people who did most of the field work.

I was such a sucker as I walked into SuperGo not really needing another bike. I had a MotoB a French bike with sewups that always would flat. Then I was mostly running a lot maybe eighty or ninety miles a week.

I was living in Mission Viejo on the golf course and still had my house in Lake Forest that was either rented out or my daughter lived there, not sure.

So I wandered around the bike shop and spotted two frames on a rack that were too sweet. Don't remember the other (curse of old age) but the Jackson had leather handlebars tapes and had been just put back on the rack after appearing in the LA Bike show.

Not sure how I paid for the Jackson as then I had an American Express Card and did not use other credit cards. Anyway I bought the Jackson and took off the wheels and put it in the back of my Corvette. I was driving a 1977 350 with a T-Top. 

The frame was not white as shown and had a set of alloy sewup wheels. Those wheels were good for several years until the spokes kept going loose. Plus I would ride around El Toro Air Station and get flats and walk back or hitch a ride in a truck. Once I flatted down my Laguna Beach and walked several miles barefoot, you can not walk in old style cleats.

Actually you can not walk far in new cleats unless it is a MTB pedal. My office mate used to drive out at times and haul my ass back to the office so I decided to buy a set of clinchers for the Jackson. 

I moved to another house in Lake Forest and still kept the bike. By now the top tube was chipped so I covered the bad spots with decals. I has always been a roller rider since maybe I was 14 and got the rollers from the bicycle shop I worked at in Santa Monica. Riding the rollers with the Jackson cause my sweat to drop on the top tube and it started to get rusty so I put my son's bike decals on it. My mentor Carl Siefert  taught me to ride the rollers. I lived on Olympic Blvd then and would listen to AM radio playing Dixie Land Jazz while riding.

One day when I was out riding the Jackson while I still lived in Lake Forest a young female rider came along next to me an told me "Steel is Real", that made my day. I had a good friend named Clark that ran a front end alinement business and he showed me his bike that he had bought from an Olympic Gold Medal winner. Clark wasn't riding any more and I really like his bike with the carbon frame and other stuff. 

So the Jackson retired for several years. But it was not forgotten.

The carbon frame was ridden a lot but when I moved to South Pasadena the Los Angeles streets started to crack the frame. I still have the frame in my locker is San Pedro but got another road frame to replace it.

While I was living in South Pasadena I decided to paint my 1938 Schwinn Paramount and after that I painted the Jackson. I masted the head badge and decal and the chrome tips were covered. My paint choice was a poor one as the paint never set very hard. 

The Campy wheels were off another bike I was given after my boat was hit by a neighbor. Another story. The wheels came without cogs and all my stuff was Shimano. After an ordeal on EBay I finally got a working wheel set.

The OEM pedals were replaced at one time with 9/16 newer pedals using an adapter but have now been restored to the real ones. Getting cleats for newer shoes and older pedals was also a problem but I have plastic cleats that use modern shoe patterns but still use the old pedal.

Yes after forty years the brakes really work. Probably better than the rider.

Riding in the Backyard

where my pedal hits

I really don't like to load my bike into my Nissan to go bike riding. Because of the fences and property owners trail heads are two or three miles away so if I feel like riding I ride around the house. Usually my German Shepherd will follow along.

down the path

If I do a figure 8 around the house and out to the mailbox and back my Garmin shows a half mile trip.

I stopped recording the Garmin watch data and the Map My Ride junk as just too much clutter. My old lap time around the Rose Bowl course got flushed.

up the path

The house is on a flat plot but when viewed it appears somewhat crooked. There is a fenced garden below the house and riding off the slope is not a problem but riding back up is so I dug a path on the slope. It is off camber which makes it more fun and not wide enough to stop the pedal from striking the bank. The Shepherd goes crazy when ever I try to shovel. He barks and attacks the shovel blade. So to do any digging he must be put back in the house. 

turning the corner

The ride around the garden fence requires some braking and balance and my balance is pretty shitty.

29 inch resting

Some of these pictures were taken by a Nikon and some from the handlebars with a CamPak Xtreme UHD4K. I bought that on Amazon for less that $50.00 and it actually works but using the MP4 requires reformating to load the video onto my Samsung. Reformating, resizing, reediting, retying a world of "re".

Court House Butte as seen from my
 trail

We go hiking (me and the two dogs) and we use the Nissan because the little Yorkie can walk that far without quitting and refusing to continue. The Yorkie is still a violent sort around other dogs but gets along well with my daughter's dog. 

Happy in the driveway

My cell phone is a total piece of shit and the screen is cracked but it is free. Not sure how long that will last as it was free in California and I ain't there.

in the creek

The POS phone only works if you are close to a tower and although I can see a cell tower in the distance my reception is pretty poor unless you wander around outside.

above creek

My son Dylan is on YouTube and has 60,000 subscribers and needs more cause his car just broke. If you believe in charity around Christmas time send him some money.

In the creek bed

How we communicate has changed as I learn things about my son Dylan from what it see on the tube or Gram. He once crashed at the Orange County Fair during a big jump contest and since he was in the hospital and they took his phone I learned about the crash by watching it on YouTube. Since I was on my sailboat in San Pedro I needed to find out what hospital he was in and started calling all the hospitals in OC.

Up hill towards mountain

For the record this has happened more than once (hospitals and crashing).

I keep my phone turned off as it does not work and the incoming call may not be good news.

Horse trail I ride

Another try with adding pictures

West Fireplace Lee Mountain in Distance

This time I am resizing all the pictures for the blog before writing and editing.

I try to ride one of my bicycles everyday here.

Fog during rain

Happy by bird feeder

In California I would not ride if it was cold and raining but sometimes you get caught while out. I prefer to ride when it is warm and hot weather is okay. October is nice as you have had plenty of time to get in shape. When we lived in Lake Forest (El Toro) you could ride mountains and trails or roads.

At our house on Shadyvale there was a trail right behind the house that led in several directions. You could ride to the beach or mountains.

Happy in the grass

Here in Arizona the County Road only goes west as we are at the end of the road. You can walk into the National Forest but you must go under a wired fence at the edge. Several times I have encountered neighbors protesting my walking or riding so for now I don't go that way. Keep Out and Private Property signs are everywhere. 

early riser

Outside one window by my writing and drawing desk I have a bird feeder and a bird bath. The first feeder was on a table and was constantly being knocked off so I built them higher using discarded bricks.

moon in yellow tree

Sun rises and sunsets can be very colorful but not always. I have three Nikons and take pictures almost everyday. If I go out without a camera hung from my neck I will usually miss a great picture. There are several Cardinals I have been trying to capture with the camera but they must know that and fly away. It is also difficult when you have a dog at your side.

stump rider

This morning I slept in past my early take the dog out at 5:30. For a while at that early time I was seeing a flashing light that was darting about in the sky over by Pine Valley which is on the other side of an Eastern ridge. I appeared to be some time of drone but my daughter said it might be an alien. There are vortexs and strange things in Sedona.

cloudy sky

Today I must take my cardboard from my EBay purchase to the recycling area behind the market.

This is where I see the drone

I bought some warmer tights for riding and wear them all the time. Most folks wear long pants but I am still stuck in "California Shorts year round". On Amazon I got a baseball hat with fur ear flaps to keep me warm.

Tree Top

When I first got into birding I would always search one of my birding books to find out the correct name and identification. Now I just take the pictures as I usually forget the names after a few days. I might have mentioned I forget everything after a few days.

Been Off Line

My Flat Tire Special

My German Shepherd likes to go out early in the morning when it is still dark. There isn't any daylight savings here in Arizona and when we go out it is very dark unless we have a bright moon.

During the day he is allowed to roam around but not in the dark. There are coyotes here and I often see them by the house and in the County Road. The little Yorkie can not go out as he would be a tasty meal so we always he an eye on him.

Using blogger with a slow internet connection can be problematic as unless the files size is small enough and has been resized the upload takes a day or two. So for now no more pictures. The air outside when we go out is about 25 degrees. I am not to used to that. The little dog stays inside until it warms up. 

My mailing address shows Sedona but main Sedona is about 10 miles away. The Village of Oak Creek is 2 miles away and many prefer to call this place Big Park. As I may have mentioned earlier this is not San Pedro by any means. Since August I have seen the sheriff's car twice here. 

My daughter's house and my smaller ranch house is located about a tenth of a mile from the County Road where the payment ends. It is not uncommon to walk to the mailbox and see someone who is lost having missed the turn on Jacks Canyon Road. Often you will see people out of their cars taking pictures of the buttes and mountains. Out county road is Lee Mountain Road and we are across from the mountain which is 6250 feet high while the house here sits at 4250 feet.

There is one market in the village that has been remodeling since I arrived. This week they had a grand opening and reduced prices through out the store. Some products here are lower than California and some are higher but the sales tax is much lower. Gas is much cheaper here. Might be four gas stations on the highway in the village Circle K sells liquor so you can fill up the gas tank and also get tanked,

I spend a lot of time changing tires on my 29 inch bike. Yesterday I put on a larger tire and a new slime tube. This is goat head country. If you have never seen these little devils you are very lucky. Beside being a pain in the bicycle tire they stick to your shoe bottoms and get carried into the house where they lie waiting for a stocking foot.