Me and the Moonlander!

[XploreBaja]

I took my Moonlander to Scorpion Bay - Baja Peninsula for 2 weeks and just returned. My bike was a huge hit among my surfing/biking friends. We surfed in the day and rode when their was no surf. Last day of the trip I finally jabbed a cactus in the front tire resulting in a flat. We railed the sand dunes, the beach and all over the bluffs.

I love this bike!

http://youtu.be/I-7X5tmAwqk

Tim aka dirtnewz

 

[nwoods]

Fun video!

 

[Drewdaman]

New pugs in town!

Hi Justin,

I recently read through your thread and really enjoyed it - thanks for taking the time to so carefully document and photograph your trips, and share them...very inspiring!

And if you ever want to go for ride together, let me know as I'm in Pacific Beach and just got a Pugsley Black Ops (aka "Neck Romancer" by some, but not by me!), and a sweet bike rack by 1upUSA.

Happy Trails,
Drew

 

[Gear]

I picked up the Moonlander last weekend. This evening was the most I've ridden it so far. I ran across this great photo op on the way home and had to post it. Its not too bad considering the lighting and the fact I took the picture with my phone. I should get to the delivery write up and pictures this weekend.

View attachment 108783

Hello Bruce, Great bike and cool photograph. I look forward to riding with you at the next Overland Event.

I took my Moonlander to Scorpion Bay - Baja Peninsula for 2 weeks and just returned. My bike was a huge hit among my surfing/biking friends. We surfed in the day and rode when their was no surf. Last day of the trip I finally jabbed a cactus in the front tire resulting in a flat. We railed the sand dunes, the beach and all over the bluffs.

I love this bike!

http://youtu.be/I-7X5tmAwqk

Tim aka dirtnewz

Now that is what I wanted to see. The Moonlander in Mexico!!! Outstanding, I need to get down there again. It has been way to long. Thanks for posting the video.

Hi Justin,

I recently read through your thread and really enjoyed it - thanks for taking the time to so carefully document and photograph your trips, and share them...very inspiring!

And if you ever want to go for ride together, let me know as I'm in Pacific Beach and just got a Pugsley Black Ops (aka "Neck Romancer" by some, but not by me!), and a sweet bike rack by 1upUSA.

Happy Trails,
Drew
View attachment 110596

Hi Drew, Love the Black Ops. I will PM you my info so we can get out and ride.

 

[Gear]

Critical Mass - June 30, 2012

Critical Mass ride. Summer Time in San Diego. Weather was perfect. Crossing over the I-5 freeway in route to Balboa Park.

Miles took us around before the ride to see a few of San Diego's oldest bridges. Cool finds close to down town.

I really liked the swinging bridge. Cool single track below has me wanting to come back to explore.

We stopped in at Burger Lounge. Two Thumbs UP!!

The contrast of our tire/frame sizes was interesting.

The starting line at the fountain in Balboa Park.

Heading out! The nights ride had a lot of people and the group got split somewhere between Logan Heights and Down Town. I did manage to get a long ride in at the beach between the roller coaster and Garnett Ave.

Distance 38.3 miles
Elevation 1203 feet
Moving Average 10.4 mph

 

[Gear]

MIA - Family Road Trip - June 2-12, 2012

MIA - The family and I took off on a 10 day road trip to Lake Powell. Hence the silence on this thread.

The boys brought their scooters. Here Nathan is gapping the curb. We tried the Walmart Camping. All sum it up in one word "noisy".

Our destination, Lake Powell.

Here is the photograph from the one bike ride I took. More of a reconnaissance of the marina since it had been years since I had last been there. The one big negative to Lake Powell is do to its National Park status you are only allowed to ride a bicycle on roads. This really caps the opportunities for riding.

Instead we played in the canyons and took adventures with our friends boat.

Hot hot hot, we spent a lot of time cooling off in the water.

One day we made the trip out to Rainbow Bridge. I enjoyed this trip which is only accessible by boat or a 16 mile hike.

Distance 3.9 miles
Elevation 184 feet
Moving Average 8.2 mph

 

[Gear]

La Costa Preserve - July 15, 2012

This morning Dave and I did our Sunday morning bike ride. We took off down by the Carlsbad Fire Station and then up and over La Costa Preserve via the Switchback Trail.

Heading for the tunnel that leads under Rancho Santa Fe Road.

At the top by the Boy Scout Kiosk.

Did the trip counter clockwise which is opposite of how it is usually ridden.

Distance 8.3 miles
Elevation 1093 feet
Moving Average 7.2 mph

 

[globalsunset]

Very lovely bicycle mate, love to see it put to good use. Would love to add one to my stable but other members of the household are less convinced that the bicycle room needs one more

 

[NotAMog]

Moonlander goes to Mammoth

Just a quick hi-jack of Gear's thread.

I took the Moonlander to Mammoth last week and spent a day at the mountain bike park.



It definitely isn't a replacement for a full suspension free ride bike with 6+" of travel but it does really well on the moderate trails. The performance in the deep pumice gravel prevalent at Mammoth more than met my expectations. I kept expecting the front tire to wash out but it never did. It just floated over everything. 10psi in both tires yielded the best performance and ride comfort.

The big tires fit in the special red 29" trays of one of the bike trailers for the trip up to the main lodge but the other trailer had equal size trays that didn't fit well but Moonlander could be secured to the trailer with a few rubber straps.



The dirt proves it is a real mountain bike



Moonlander meets (Surly) Ogre at the Mammoth Brewing Company. There was at least one other fully ridged mountain bike in Mammoth.

 

[Gear]

Just a quick hi-jack of Gear's thread.

I took the Moonlander to Mammoth last week and spent a day at the mountain bike park.

View attachment 114582

Awesome Post Bruce. Thanks for sharing. It's helping me get motivated to get back on my bike. Busy summer with the family!

 

[Gear]

Paradise Point - July 20, 2012

Another one of our staycations lead to this little family outing around Paradise Point in Mission Bay.

I really like the Google Earth image of the ride.

Distance 2.4 miles
Elevation 71 feet
Moving Average 6.2 mph

 

[Gear]

Critical Mass - July 27, 2012

Miles and I headed out to another Critical Mass on July 27, 2012. We started the ride off by touring around Mission Bay. Here we are cutting thru Sea World.

I then stopped in at a local paddle/kayak shop. I keep eyeing one of those inflatable Stand Up Paddle boards.

Making our way around the harbor. I spotted this Blackman Fish Machine(first dock far right boat). We had a similar boat growing up and our family of 5 use to go to Catalina on it. Brings back good memories!

From their we made our way out to the main jetty. Pretty Cool area to look around. We spent some time looking at the large red jellyfish that were floating by.

Finally we took off and headed up thru Old Town to Hill Crest, for a bite to eat at Burger Lounge. The staff at this location are outstanding!

The starting point for another Critical Mass Ride.

Distance 44.8 miles
Elevation 1309 feet
Moving Average 10.2 mph

 

[Gooseberry]

OK its a bad sign when friend of yours owns a bike shop and wants to meet you on a your ride RIGHT. Well about half way through a Pugsly is comming the other direction and its him. We swap bikes and I get to ride the pugsly the rest of the ride and had to play with the tire pressure a little but hada blast.

The funny thing is we had talked about the Moonlander months ago and how I wanted one once I sold the redline but only glanced at the puglsy. He felt the pugsly had was better equiped for the price( I'm cheap ) and he went to utah for a bike demo and rode all of them.

Still want the Moonelander but I do like the tire selection on this one ( ya he ordered a alternet set of more aggresive tires but no tubes I had to laugh )

SO I have the puglsy and my bike in the van getting ready to head to dinner and as he is walking away goes " I do not plan on getting it back have fun"

Was I just played or what?

 

[Gear]

Around the Mountain - August 10, 2012

Well the time has come to get back on the bike. I am getting out of shape. So here is to hoping that I am posting up a lot more in the near future.

Today's ride I simple went up and over the hill into San Marcos. Followed up by riding around the mountain to the house. I did manage to find a few new sections of trail that I had not been on.

I found this back door into a fenced off area. I am going to look into whether or not I am able to ride in here. It leads to the lake in the picture above.

Distance 14.3 miles
Elevation 1372 feet
Moving Average 9.4 mph

 

[Vegakat]

Thanks for the updates Justin, Looking forward to more, but it is good that you are getting in some quality family time!