Hobby Integration

Hey guys, it's been a while. I've complained before about work taking up too much of my personal time, so I'll skip most of that. Lately, when I have had free time, I've been packing up my two youngest kids and hauling them to the closest body of water to partake in our newest family hobby-fishing. I'm a complete novice when it comes to fishing but with some internet research we've had overwhelming success with the minuscule panfish at a nearby pond and the slightly larger bluegills in Trinity River. Bluegills are about the only fish I can identify at this point. I have integrated my newest hobby, fishing, with my bike rides along the Trinity River.

Some little pond fish my son caught recently. I have no idea what it is.

We've caught about a million of these little guys. I've been crushing the barbs down on our hooks and releasing everything we catch.

I picked up this telescoping rod and reel combo at Bass Pro in Grapevine.

This easily fits in my pannier.

I had the day off yesterday and headed off down the Trinity Trails looking for a decent spot to fish.

My Trek 930 do-everything bike laying on the riverbank. All of my fishing gear was packed into the right side pannier.

The water level was really low in certain areas due to ongoing construction along the river. I fished a couple of areas today but didn't have much luck. No big deal.

I've made some changes to the Trek. I replaced the knobbie tires with a cheap pair of commuter tires from Performance and I swapped the flat bars for a set of back and neck friendly North Road bars.

I ditched the Grip Shift stuff for a set of inexpensive but highly effective thumb shifters. As of this evening I've replaced the cork grips for a more utilitarian set of black rubber lock-on grips. I plan to add one of those Wald Giant Delivery Baskets sometime in the near future.

The ride home. It looks like the leaves are finally changing color.

Sunday Afternoon Ride 10-16-11

I wanted to take the Trek 930 out for a quick ride. It's not set up the way I want yet but it will do for now.

I took the rack off of my Takara and mounted it on the Trek. My old Wright's saddle was sitting around gathering dust so I mounted it as well. The knobby tires and Gripshift will be replaced sometime soon.


My camera bag seems to be right at home resting on top of the stem.


I've been meaning to check out this drainage canal.




I came across a hawk in this area. He would swoop down and glide in front of me at tire level and then head up into the trees. This happened several times. I initially thought he was upset that I was riding through his territory but then it looked more like he was waiting for me to flush out a meal for him.


There were a couple of pipes to hop over.




This was as far as I could go to the west.


The far wall dams off the water to a small lake in what I believe is a retirement community. I turned around and rode back east, passing the spot I entered the drainage canal.






This is as far as I could ride to the west. It's a pleasant spot despite the bits of trash that have washed into the creek after our recent, and desperately needed rain.

1995 Trek 930

My work on the Univega Mixte is on hold till next payday, new size 13 shoes for my enormous 14 year old son took up most of my extra cash (I get paid once a month). I had nearly forgotten the Trek 930 mountain bike hanging on a rack in the garage. I bought this bike from the original owner back in 1999 when I was living in Abilene, Texas. It was for my oldest kid but we never got to do much riding together. I then gave this bike to my brother-in-law a couple of years later. He was living in Kansas at the time and was having financial difficulties. This bike ended up being his main form of transportation. He and his family moved to Fort Worth about a year ago, I ended up with the bike once again. I replaced the tubes and rode it around the front yard a few times. That was the extent of my riding this weekend.

It was tough finding photos of a 1995 Trek 930. I figured I'd throw these photos up here as a public service.

Excuse the grime, this bike is in need of some serious cleaning.

7spd cassette, STX cranks, STX derailleurs, Alivio hubs, and lots of Trek's Matrix stuff

The bike was originally equipped with cantilever brakes. I switched them out soon after I bought the bike. I'm debating whether I should restore the cantilever brakes.

I used zip ties instead of routing the cable through the guides. I was probably in a hurry.

Quick release seatpost collar.

This saddle and the rims were the items that allowed me to determine the year model of this bike.

I'm not 100 per cent sure what I'm going to do with this bike but I've got the urge to replace the grip shift stuff with thumb shifters. I've got a pair gathering dust in a box somewhere.