Project Ride

Megan had a gal come into the Hammer today that told her about a community project. If you haven't noticed, Boise has an influx of refugees living and making their way here. Totally awesome in my book. However, there's a need...
Project Ride's goal is to get 300 bikes, riding gear and parts together to provide these folks with reliable means ofd transpo. And I think we all have at least a bucket of parts that we can let go of, or a light we don't use etc., etc.

Sounds pretty simple to me. Get the stuff you aren't using, put it in a box and email them at: projectride.irc@gmail.com and you can arrange a time for them to swing by and grab the loot. Sorry that I can't make a pdf into a jpg, or else I'd be able to post the flyer for it all. This runs through the 31st of December, so there's time to get it done. The flyer also says that they'll be throwing a race for all ages with food and drink to cap it all off, so stay tuned.

Images!!

Here's some soul stealing that I did over the last week or so. ENJOY!


Ninja gear


Logan, looking all earthy and stuff


Toby and Tate- aka: Farm Team


Yeah, too good to circle out!


Water Polo, Friday night when most of you elected to stay dry






Wayland got gummed


#1 fans

Turkey Shoot

Thankskilling: 10 am

Friday: 1 pm

Saturday: TBA

Sunday: Noon

All times are running in the ish time zone. North Jr High. Watch out, locals. There's a new gun in town.

New Spot on Sundays (For Now)

North Jr. High, 13th and Fort St. Noonish as usual. Mom said so.

Turkey Shoots.

Thankskilling is soon to be upon us, as will a holliday weekend. How about a quick two stop race for the duckets, how about some polo? I'll more than likely to be available all weekend for mayhem and the sort. Patches will probably be mellowed out from all the tryptophan he will consume. I know the trees around the polo area are breathing a sigh of relief. As will my Mom in the subsequent comments, I'm sure. Details to be hashed out this Sunday, and posted here so you don't miss out. Again, like my Mom.

Searching

We'll I thinks that the weather has turned here in Boise for the winter side. This puts a bit of a damper on the whole grass playing thing, which is cool, but we need some good ideas for a new home. Although we have had some rumblings of getting in with the Roller Derby Girls practice spot, I'm going to play nay sayer and think that they're going to shut us down on our idea. So here we are. Homeless, and going to have to think of working our cardboard elsewhere. This is a bit of a preemptive strike on making a bad name for ourselves with Parks and Rec before we can get any sort of dialogue with them for a spot somewhere with some 'crete. This is coming on the heels of a tear down on the grass at The Toe. I don't want to go down the road of "Well, you tore the crap out of the turf at the park" conversation while asking them for something that like anything that's not all wholesome and good and family orientated in their eyes. Just saying.

If you have some spots, post them here in the comments and we can treat it like a forum, or not to keep it on the DL. I've found it interesting that the Sunday after the Weekly's article that no one new showed. Maybe her putiing the "hipster" label on it was a blessing in disguise. What hipster wants to do something that has already been deemed hipster in the press? Kudos to the writer for also mentioning messenger as well, though. I'm sure that it created the ultimate mind fuck for those still trying to figure out where they fit in all of that. Maybe they got a few more listens in on the latest Cursive album while trying to sort out their new conundrum. Who's to say?

Moving on, though. Still some good play out there. The newbies seem to be picking the game up well, and those of us that have been out for a while are getting better as well. Still some dodgy bike riding, but as folks start noticing that there's more to the game than mowing others over, or posting up in a line, things will start getting more fluid. And, again the progression on to concrete or asphalt will help facilitate that as well. One question is where are all the ladies? Sooner or later they will show up to play, I suppose...

Well, here's to one less horse.

PLAY

Times are settling out for playing times for us. Fall schedule is as follows:

Wednesday Evenings: 3:30ish till dark or death

Friday Evenings: Same as above

Sunday afternoons: 11~12ish till dark or death

Of course, I know some of you all are doing your own thing as well, which is cool, and you can always let a Ninja know. Assume that we're meeting at Camel's Back until further notice. Feel free to suggest other times or places in the comments section on this blog post and we can work it in the schedule.

For those who missed this Sunday, you missed much. For instance you missed some wicked hang gliding action. You also missed two seperate dogs taking two seperate shits on the pitch and two seperate owners not picking it up. Megan was steamed (haha I made a pun haha) and picked both sets of duces up. the Weekly was out, thumbs thoroughly emplaced on the pulse of "cool" things going on in our unfair city. And you also missed the longest last point for the last game ever. It was literally one of those everyone is too tired to play offense, so D the the fuck out of each other till someone caves scenarios. Epic. So, yeah.... that's where it stands for now. See you out there. Don't forget my Sparks.

Mallet Making 101 aka. Craft Time

Well then. How does one go about making a mallet? Hopefully this tutorial will set you on your way. Obviously this is just one guy's way to go about this, so feel free to improvise on this stuff. In the true nature of DIY, that is. Just try to not lose a finger doing this. you might want it for later to flip someone off or pick your nose. Just a thought. And about the only safety disclaimer for the process. Okay, there will be one more. Extra points if you can guess what it is.

Stuff You'll Need or Want:



Drill
Hacksaw
Drill Bits: 1/2'' counter sink, 5/16'', 7/64'' bits and a phillips head screw application thinger
5-7'' of ABS high density PVC (The white stuff is too brittle and will break and ruin your day)
Tape measure- Measure twice, cut once!
Sharpie- draw pictures and graphs, mark you buddies show yourself measurements
Ski Pole
Electrical tape- Because it's butch
Tyre Tube
Scissors (Not Shown)
Wood Screw- I'm using #8 1-1/4'' Metal screws here.

Got all your stuff? Sweet! Let's begin then!

The Pole:

Remove Basket and handle. Discard.



Forget they exist. You'll never need them again.

Now a note on length. 32-36'' is recommended. Actual length is to be determined by you. Just remember that it's easier to take it off than to put it on. You should start by hacking some off the tapered end, but you should leave taper on that end, seeing as taper is good, in fact it's great. You'll see why down the road here. Now measure off your desired length It might looky a little like this:



Then cut:



Feel super rad, because you're totally on your way to becoming a polo champion!

The Head:

Got the good black pipe? 1-1/2'' is the recommended diameter. Street hockey balls is what we use for this game, you don't want that mallet eating 'er up, now do you? Go about the length in the same manner as you would with the shaft. Make it long now, and cut to suit your needs.



So get your desired length and make yourself a mark smack dab in the middle.



This is where the power tool comes into play.

Tapping That Head:

Take your 1/2'' bit and drill through the top, but NOT all the way through:



Now get that 5/16'' and go through the hole you just made and drill through the bottom, trying to get it pretty centered, though it's not of grave importance if it's off a touch. You're going to ream that sucker to fit. So, as you start jamming your shaft into it you'll see that, with the taper, the 1/2" hole will get pretty tight. The bottom one won't want to go through. Ream to fit, and if there's any excess, trim it off. In the end it should look a little like this on the bottom:



It should be pretty snug and not allow for lateral play back and forth.

Fixing That Head:

Take the drill, now with the 7/64'' bit and drill yourself a hole. Take it at an angle from the top like this:



Drill through the PVC, into the shaft and through the shaft. Don't go through the other side of the mallet head.

Now take that screw and screw it in. It will be pretty tight, but with some persuasion it will go.



And snug:



You like it? You should, especially if you did it right. Don't bother plugging the ends. That's just a waste of time.


Handles:

Grab that old innertube (cut it with the not pictured scissors), or old bar tape or whatever you think will work. Wrap her up! Make sure to plug the end, as we don't want to have to deal with you impaling yourself or others because of laziness. If you luck out your super old ski pole will be rocking one already. If not, tape, an old wine cork whittled down or even an old handle bar cap will work with some persuasion. Here's what I came up with for this handle:





Now you're ready. Janky or not, you've got your own mallet. No more borrowing or any of the horse rubbish! Dial it out to suit your needs and/or style and get out there and play. How rad is that? Feel free to kick down a Sparks (Black Top) for the help, and we'll see you out there.