Objective Jerk
Army Veteran Asshole that is learning to love Jesus. I use my MIC / Platform as a form of "Therapy", no schedule, no script, just whatever is floating my boat at the moment.
Objective Jerk
MOUNTAIN BIKING MISHAPS AND WATER WOES; Living in the Philippines.
The Objective Jerk returns after a busy break to share his latest adventures living in the Philippines, from well water challenges to an epic mountain bike upgrade saga.
• Well water in the Philippines is very hard, corrosive to metal, and filled with algae
• Living without reliable city water means using filtration systems and occasional cleaning with vinegar
• The family has adapted to Filipino-style "tabu" bathing using buckets rather than standing showers
• Plans for a proper well house with water softener will eventually support adding a dishwasher
• Impulsively buying the wrong size dropper post led to purchasing a completely new bike frame
• Finding quality mountain biking components in the Philippines requires research and persistence
• Creating an internal cable routing system required creative problem-solving with magnets and boot laces
• The new Kenz frame will allow for upgrading to 29-inch wheels in the future
If you have any stories about your own mountain biking adventures or questions about expat life in the Philippines, leave a comment or send me an email. God bless, I'll see you next time.
Again, thanks for hanging out with me!
Please feel free to comment or send an email to theobjectivejerk@gmail.com
What's going on is the Objective Jerk, and I am said jerk, what's going on? It's been a while. It's been a while I've been busy, just yeah, just kind of going somewhere, doing something every day. So it just kind of. You know, the time I record the most is when I'm just kind of at home with nothing to do, and so then I'll get like bam, bam, bam, bam, a bunch of episodes recorded. But yeah, I had a little bit of a break. I guess I still had like 40 minutes worth, I think, on my last month and I wanted to do at least one more episode to get close, but I didn't. I just got busy doing stuff. But good, busy, you know, it's not like it was like chaotic and or anything like that, it's just good stuff. I guess yesterday, man. So a little more. Uh, mountain biking. Well, let me, before I get into my mountain biking.
Speaker 1:So I don't, I don't really plan on talking about politics or any kind of news headlines that are going on right now. So if you're one of those that likes my takes on that, I'm sorry, but I mean, I don't know, I seem to always end up throwing something in there, right, like the stupid WhatsApp or not WhatsApp, whatever the thing, whether journalists was able to access the, you know, the meeting with secretary of defense and all this kind of like what the, I don't know. It's just kind of a weird situation. But not going to talk about it, no, it does kind of seem like somebody messed up in the Trump Like, how did they get that guy? Like there's somebody kind of screwed up, but what's funny is this guy, when you look at what they were trying to, what they charged Trump with the having, you know, I don't know the lingo and stuff, but it's the exact same thing that this journalist has or done. You know what I'm saying? So it's just kind of funny. Stupid liberals, anyway.
Speaker 1:So, living here in the Philippines right, I tried and share, like instead of me, just like, oh, it sucks to drive here. So I think I've talked about it before the water system. So they have city water here, but it's not 100% reliable. So most people that have city water also have a well, because where we live on the island, you dig a well, you're going to hit water. Most likely. We have a pretty good one here where, where we live, which is probably why you know, that's why a lot of crops and farms, um, were started here because they had good access to well water, um.
Speaker 1:But it's like more and more people are building houses on these, on these properties and stuff. So like when I moved here, there was the house next to me and then the other house over there kind of next to me, and there was just nothing but farm, farm, across the street, open field. Now it's like there's a house across the street, there's a house right there. It's like it's just going crazy, just like it does in the States, I guess. But so we just have well water and we could put in city water, but it would cost a lot to run the line and then again it's just, it's just not really worth it. I mean, if they were putting it in, if they were running a line down the street or something and like hey, do you want to have city water whatever? Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I would do it, but I'm not going to go out of my way to pay to have it, cause, like when we moved here there was no internet. They had globe, wireless kind of whatever, and it kind of sucked. We paid extra to have fiber optic ran to our house. So then once we did that people could get on behind us, and then they just kind of kept it going and stuff. So we paid a little extra to have it brought to our house, you know, and yeah, it would be a lot more to run a water line, so not going to happen, anyway.
Speaker 1:So we have well water, and I've talked about before well water here is very hard, you know. It eats up metal, it's corrosive, it's filled with algae and and and hardness, you know. So, um, we we do have like a little simple, like little water filter, um, just like three filters that we, you know, we try to change out every month, but sometimes it takes it's like two months or something. So we'll change those out and it helps kind of keep the water a little cleaner than if we hadn't. But regardless, though, it still kind of stuff builds up. So every couple months I need to, like when I change out the filters which is what I just did is I'll throw a bunch of vinegar in in the last filter cylinder.
Speaker 1:And then I used to do it with the showers too, because we had they have the showers here, but like the water heater was like the water would come hit the heater and then the heater would heat up the water and then you'd take the shower right from there. So it was like a little and it worked great at first, but I think the hard water was hard on them and so I used to, you know, do the vinegar thing and I'd run the showers to clean the shower heads and this, you know, and everything. But after a while it's just like they kind of quit working. They wouldn't heat up, and so we just been doing the old school filipino tab, which is just you have a bucket in your shower, you fill it with the spigot or the faucet they call everything faucet here, whether it's outside or not and then you just have like a little pail and you bathe yourself. So that's what we've been doing for almost a year now.
Speaker 1:I want to say, and it's fine really, I don't sometimes do I miss having like be able to sit there and stand underneath a hot shower. Yeah, sometimes, but it's so hot here that I don't know. But when it is colder in the wintertime, like what we just got done doing, you know, my morning routine was I'd get up, make myself coffee and I start putting kettles on the stove to heat up some water to add to the kids, you know, bucket of water so they can have a hot shower, or tabu is what they call it. But now it's getting hot, so it's going to be less of that. So it's like springtime here, but it's hot as hell, um, at least, you know, compared to what it normally is. So so, yeah, so they do have water heaters here, it's just not, you know, it's not like in the states where every house has a water heater.
Speaker 1:You can get, um, some smaller ones or like a one which I think we're thinking about doing eventually, but but anyway, so I was just doing my changing out the filters and I was putting vinegar, you know, and I then I run the washer and let the washer run with that vinegar to really kind of clean out the washer and everything, run with that vinegar to really kind of clean out the washer and everything, and just some stuff. Like it's not the, the, the housing for the filters are just kind of wearing out the thread, so water is kind of leaking and you could just see they're just, they're just deteriorating, you know. And so I had to put some plumber's tape on the thread this time and got it to work, but it's uh, it don't got. I don't got much longer.
Speaker 1:So I mean, we have like a well house, but it's not finished. It's just like a, an area where they dug the well initially when they built this house and that's where the water pump is. Um, and then we, we built like a little tower on top of it and put a tank to keep water in there, because when we first got here we were running out of water a lot, so we had that tank for when we run out of water, then we just do gravity fed and have some water. You know what I mean. And when we run out of water, it's not for very long, it's maybe like a day or something. You just have to turn off everything. But what ended up happening is like the water level will sometimes for a minute get below where the water pump nozzle, whatever the end of it is at. So if it drops below that and then comes back up, it gets this air pocket in the line and it won't fill up with water. So you have to turn it off and you have to prime it and you know stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So, um, it's like we don't like not have water for you know long periods of time or anything like that. It's just um. So when, when we got here and we were kind of having problems with it, we were like, man, let's just put up a tank so we'll always have water, so when there's no water we'll have gravity fed. So we got something, but we actually don't. We haven't even used the gravity tank for like two, over two years now.
Speaker 1:So, um, we got to get that frame little tower which we spent some money on the metal steel. They're going to have to cut that out. I don't know how they're going to do that, but we're going to hire somebody. Get that tower out of here, um, and I think we're going to just take it to the farm where we have some goats and stuff looking to get some more animals, and but maybe put it there. So there's, you know, the water tank, so there's some gravity fed for the animals or something. I don't know. We gotta figure something out, but anyway, so remove that and then finish that building the well house, close it, put a roof, put a door and then get a new pump, get, uh like, a water softener, water filtration, just like, do it up inside that little well house and then put new lines to the house and Bob's your uncle. There we go. Good to go. So that's kind of the plan. It's a lot of money, but I don't want to have to buy the filter system that we have now. Again, I mean it wasn't like super expensive, but it's not cheap either. So it's like I'm going to spend some money. Let's do it right.
Speaker 1:Because my wife wants to get a dishwasher. She misses having a dishwasher. She didn't grow up with a dishwasher, obviously, and then living in the States, you know she was like man, this is nice. So she kind of misses that. Um, and to be honest, so do I. So not that she's the only one that does dishes, she actually sucks at doing dishes.
Speaker 1:Like, when I do dishes I'm a little anal, retentive, so it takes me longer to do. So you know there's a big pile of dishes and my wife doesn't. You know she'll, she'll get through, she'll do them and then if my kids do it, probably similar. But when I do it I'm meticulous, I'm a little slower, but my dishes, when they're done, they're crystal clear and they're clean, because I constantly clean out my sponge as I'm doing dishes. You know what I mean. I hate when people put the sponge in dirty water, so it sits there. You know what I mean. So there's like little things I'm a little anal about. I'm not like a neat freak or anything, but there are certain things that just so, when I do dishes I I sit there, I do like all the plates first I'll wash them and get nice and soapy, rinse it, rinse my hands, make sure they're all nice and clean, go through, and then I do bowls and then whatever you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like I do it in a certain way and I do it really well. Like my wife will clean like a dirty plate, right, Like maybe there's some food on it, but she'll scrub it, whatever, and then she'll set it aside to rinse later. But there's still the stuff that was on that plate is still in the sponge and she uses that to clean the next plate and I'm like no man, you gotta rinse that out. You gotta rinse it and then add some more soap if you need to or whatever. So I go through more soap. But when, like my wife, does the dishes or the kids, you go to put dishes away and the glasses are spotty and some stuff is kind of greasy, like you know what I mean and I'm just like it's like I get tired of doing the dishes all the time but at the same time it's like I like I'm done, right, you know. So yeah, a dishwasher would be nice because I'm tired of either doing them myself or having dirty clean dishes. But yeah, so that's kind of the plan.
Speaker 1:Get that water. I just got done doing it and I called her. I was like we might have to, we might have to do that sooner than later, because that thing, like I never had any problems with it and then all of a sudden water. You know, I put everything together and I turn on the water and there's water squirting at me and I'm like what the hell? So I had to put plumber's tape. And then I noticed a little release valve is kind of leaking and I'm just like and you can just tell it's just from the sun, and you know, we've had it there almost since we moved in those filters. They lasted a good while four years, over four years, something. So I mean, you know, they definitely worth their money, I think. But yeah, it's time to upgrade.
Speaker 1:Speaking of upgrading, all right, so now on to the bike. Holy crap, man. So a month ago or so or whatever, I got a new drivetrain for my bike and so everything was good, right. So my bike is a size I don't even understand. Every brand has different sizes and it's just annoying. So I have a Specialized and it's a 19, which is like a large. But that's a large back in 2008,. Not so much a large now, you know what I mean. It's not as long, but my bike is good. I love my bike. So my plan was to maybe eventually buy a bigger size frame and start buying stuff for that, and maybe, within like a year or something, I'll have a new bike hardtail that's a little bigger.
Speaker 1:And then, while still keeping my Specialized right, and then while still keeping my Specialized right, so I decided to upgrade my son's bike a little bit. I bought him like a cheap French suspension fork it's still air, I mean, it's good enough, you know, but it's more on the cheaper side, you know. And then what did I get him? He got new hubs, new wheels, wheels and new tires for his bike. And then, while I was doing that, I was like a little impulsive and I bought myself a dropper post. And it's, it's a good dropper post. It's pretty, um, I mean, it's not like super expensive, but it's, you know, a few hundred bucks.
Speaker 1:And so I bought this dropper post. I'm like I'm going to put this on my bike and I have an older dropper post which was more on the cheap side, so it doesn't have the inner cable system. It's like out, you know. And so I'm like I'm going to get that one fixed for my son, so he gets a dropper post, you know. And I got a dropper post and everybody's happy, right? So I buy this dropper post and I didn't think but I, I got the, you know, I open it and then it's like oh crap, it's internal. Well, so my bike is 2008. It's not really set up to have internal cables in it, right? So, and you can't, you have to, you know, because it goes. It comes from the bottom of the post, from inside the tube, the seat tube, you know.
Speaker 1:So I had to figure out how I was going to get the cable out. So that means I was going to have to drill a hole in the frame, not happy about, and then run the cable up to my gear shift so I can use it. So I did some research, did some planning, did some thinking, and what I did is I drilled a small hole in the bottom end of my seat tube on the backside so it would come out there. And then I just had the cable run in the same channels that my front derailleur system was on, Because the bike came with a front derailleur and it had the three gears up front and then you had like six or eight in the back or whatever. So I removed that and had just the single gear in the front and then it got, you know, so updated and upgraded my drivetrain and everything. So then it removes, you know, all the gear shifting from the left and all the cabling for it. So but it still has those little components on the frame and everything. So I just, you know, I ran it on there and I'm like, oh, this will work out, great, cool.
Speaker 1:But the thing is I couldn't leave the covering, the sleeve or the what do they call it, the part that goes over the cable, the black part. You know the cable slides it through. So I had to, I had the black, so I had the cable come out so far, and then I had to cut it and it was just the cable underneath it, like the original derailleur cable, and then it would get up to the front at the headstock and then go right back into the cover of the cable Am I making sense? And then it would go into the little toggle switch and everything was good right. So I had it all set up. I was all happy. I'm like all right, this is going to be awesome.
Speaker 1:I go to stick my dropper post in and it doesn't fit. My old school dropper post size is like 30.9. And the new standard kind of dropper post is 31.6. So it kind of was like really close. I put a little bit of grease on to see if maybe I could kind of work it in there and it went in a little bit but it just wasn't going to work. So I was like crap and then I could not get the damn thing out. So to get it out I had to get like a big crescent wrench to kind of tighten it around the end and kind of tap it so it would come out and doing that kind of scratched up the dropper post and then me cutting those cable, the black sleeves.
Speaker 1:The bike shop was like we can't really take that back, which I understood. I was like we can't really take that back and which I understood, you know I was like. So I was just like, I was, just I was pissed at myself, like how the fuck did I not think to look at the size, like I just totally brain farted all that. It's like something I knew, but I just it, just I didn't even think about it. I don't know if it's because I was just excited to get a good dropper post, I don't know. So I was pissed, I was pissed at myself. And then the bike shop's like well, we can get you a frame that will fit the dropper post. You know, and I'm like man, fuck you.
Speaker 1:I spent so much money with this uh bike shop, um, but they were like. She sent me some pictures, uh, of these frames and she says you know, they're cheaper frames, but they're well built and these ones in particular have some minor scratches, so they're even cheaper. So they're. So they were like 3,500 pesos, so that's like 50 bucks, roughly right, which is like I'm like I don't know about that. That seems a little too cheap. You know what I mean. But they look good. And then I did some research on them and, from what I can tell, they seem to be decent. They're just like a, you know, like a cheaper brand. That's not branded and it's like the only frame I guess they have that's for like enduro mountain trail riding, which is what I do.
Speaker 1:Most of the frames and most of the stuff they have there is just people ride on the road with their like all-terrain tires. I mean they can go on dirt roads and stuff, but most people ride their bikes on the road, which I don't understand, because people here are so bad at driving. I don't know how there's more people on bikes dead on the road. So I will, I won't ride on the road. I just don't trust people here. But I don't even without that. I just I never like right, I like riding on the trail, I like being in the woods and that's what I like to do.
Speaker 1:And you know, some of the problems I had when I first got here was I trusted the. You know there was other bike shops and I was like, hey, I need to get this. And I was kind of like I just kind of figured that them seeing me big guy, whatever that they would, I don't know. I just put a little too much faith in them. But they were putting. You know, I had like cheaper derailleurs and cheaper stuff. That's more for just road riding, not for aggressive trail riding, because I ride, because I'm a big guy, so just my weight is going to be hard on my bike, on everything. And then you know, I mean I don't sit there and go off huge jumps and you know big drop offs or anything like that. I mean I go over some small stuff and this and that, but I do ride aggressively, you know downhill and doing some. You know so the bike needs to be some, you know, so the bike needs to be pretty good for that.
Speaker 1:So I went through a period of breaking derailleurs and all this kind of stuff and I was like trying to like what's going on? Help me out here. You know, it's like I don't know. So finally I already talked about it. But I got to a point where it's like I gotta, I gotta just get, I gotta get Shimano, just pull the plug and just get it, and you know, maybe do things myself. So I did all that. I talked about it before drivetrain, I put all that in, and so everything was good, my bike was good.
Speaker 1:Fast forward to now. My dropper post don't work and this dropper post was expensive and I couldn't return it. So I was like, maybe I can sell it. I was like, but then so, like I said, the bike's like hey, what about this frame? So I did as much research as I could, but most of the videos. So there's lots of brands of various things, like bikes that are over here in pacific, whatever that you don't find in the States. Yes, they have, you know, giant or specialized, you know you can get those bikes, but they also have their own that are here, right? So it's like I don't know, like I see them, like Mountain Peak is one and some other stuff, and I don't know if they're good or not. You know what I mean, because I just some other stuff and, uh, I don't know if they're good or not. You know what I mean, because I just I don't know, and so I did as much research as I could, but most, like the youtube channels that we're talking about, is somebody who's you know, talking about the frame or whatever it was in tagalog. So I couldn't, I didn't know what I was saying, um, but, like I said, from what I could tell it seemed to be a decent frame, but but I was still like man, it's cheap though.
Speaker 1:And then so yesterday I was really antsy because I was supposed to go riding yesterday but I couldn't because my bike, I mean, I could have. I could have removed everything and put my old dropper, but in my I had my wheel off and I just had. Like my shop was in a mess and by the time I got to that point I was just burnt, tired and so so I didn't go riding. So I was starting to get a little antsy and I was like I want to get, I need to figure out something. So I researched the frame and I'm like it looks pretty good. I was like, well, I'll go check it out and then, but maybe see if they got something else right, so I bring my bike. But I didn't bring my dropper poster, but I took pictures of the size to confirm. But I should have brought it now.
Speaker 1:Again, I don't know, I never claim to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, that's for sure, but man, lately it seems like. But anyway, so go to the shop, okay. Uh, she shows me the frame and I'm like, man, it looks pretty good. I mean, you can tell it's like it's not. It's not, you know, specialized or whatever, but it's, it's good. Right, you know, you could just. And she says, like that one is the best frame that they have for my kind of writing, my style of writing.
Speaker 1:So I was just like, oh, but I looked at a couple other frames. I was like, well, what do you got for, like maybe double that price? You know, I could go like you know seven, 8,000 pesos or something, what else you got? And I was kind of looking at some other ones, but there were just certain things that didn't I don't know. So I kept coming back to this frame. So ultimately it was like you know what? All right, let's do it, let's just I'll just do it. So I picked this frame. It's a Kenz, that's what it is K-E-N-Z Kenz frame. I think they just do frames.
Speaker 1:So I left my bike there. I wish I would have brought my dropper post I'll talk about that later and we went to the mall while they, you know, took everything off my old frame, put it on this new frame, everything but the dropper post. So while we're there, they call me and they say that they don't have the connectors for the brakes, cause I had like some generic brakes on. They were hydraulic but they weren't I can't remember the brand name and they're like and I'm like, I'm like, oh my gosh. I was like, but let me guess you have Shimano brakes there. She's like, yeah. So I'm like, okay, fine, put puts.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was wanting to put Shimano brakes on there eventually, but I'm, you know, I tried to do it in increments, not spend all my money at once. So I was like, all right, just put them on. Um, then now I got, you got, you know, that's done, I guess. And then so they got it all done, put the new Shimano brakes on and everything looks good. Um, but then they didn't have a new chain, because so this bike is longer than my specialized, so the chain was too short. But the chain was like brand new. I just bought it a month ago and I had the rest of it at home. I just had to connect, you know, and they didn't have 11 speed chain, they only had 12, so that's fine. So I had to put the dropper post on myself, because I left it at home, and then put the chain on, right, right.
Speaker 1:So I get home, I'm like, here we go, I'm getting ready. And then it's like, so this one has the internal. Now it's not like nicer bikes, maybe like carbon bikes. They have. Like, the channel runs through the frame, so when you put your cable it'll just run right through and come out the other end. Easy peasy, right, easy peasy, japanesey. I think that's better than lemon squeezy, but anyway. But this one doesn't. I mean, it has the openings to stick them in, but then getting it out on the other end that's a different freaking story.
Speaker 1:So I knew, you know, it was going to be whatever. So I tried a couple of different things. None of it was working. So finally I, so I had a few magnets. You know that I was like I don't know if it's powerful enough, but so what I did is I got an Allen key that I don't really use. I cut it, so it was just a straight whatever, and then I taped it to a boot lace and then I put my bike up on the end and I dropped it down in there and I used the magnet and I would sit there and listen for it to kind of kink because it would, you know, pull it, and then I would just move it towards the hole and then, sure enough, it came out the hole. So I was just like, oh, thank you, jesus, right, so that wasn't so bad.
Speaker 1:Um got that in there and then um, but then I remember I said I cut the sleeves for the cable, so like I put it back together, but I ended up not needing it really except for one, so I messed with that. I had to get this hard rubber kind of adapter thing. It's not for this, it was just something I found to connect the cables and I just wrapped it in some electrical tape. So after about I would say about two hours I got the dropper post in and working good, and then had to get the chain. So then I had to connect the chain that I removed when I bought it brand new, connect that back and then run it through, measure it, disconnect, you know whatever, and so just it was a, it was a hassle.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm like I said, I'm mechanically inclined, but I I've only done stuff a few times, and so it's like it's just you know, I'm not I haven't done it so many times where I'm just like there you go, done. I have to kind of what I got to re-figure it out again, and it was just like oh. So finally I got done, though, and I'm just I felt so much better, but I haven't ridden it. Yet I asked my bike buddies we have a GC, you know and I was like, hey, anybody want to go riding? Nobody answered, so I went to Mass this morning instead, but tomorrow, whether I'm by myself or not, I'm going to take it riding, but I'm still a little scared, just because it seems to be fine. But man, I don't know, we'll see. I hope it's. I hope I have this frame for years, riding it, no problems. I hope so. I mean, I'm never gonna take it off a huge jump anyway. So I mean, I'm sure, maybe, if I went off a big drop off or whatever, possibly, you know, like four foot or more, maybe not, not, though Probably more of the wheels or something, but but uh, the nice thing is, though. So I have 27 and a half size, uh, wheels, which that's the biggest I could get on my old frame, or I could, you know, I could have put a 29er in the front, but so now though, I can put 29s on. So I will, eventually not right now, my wheels and stuff are not brand new, but they're not old either. So I'll wait a little while and then put some 29ers on.
Speaker 1:And Bob's your uncle, right, dude? Where'd that saying come from, anybody know. Because I say that occasionally, but then my kids would just be like what the crap is that? And because it freaks them out so much, I say it all the time. Now I would say it just because they're like what the crap? And you're stupid, dad, like what does that mean? I don't get it. And so now I say it all the time Bob's your uncle. I know it's like a British thing, it just means like good to go, you know. But I don't know where it stems from either. But I've been talking for a half hour, so let me know in the comments where Bob's your uncle came from and send me an email, you know where. Send me a comment, a like whatever. Anyway, if you got any stories of your own regarding your mountain bike or something, let me know. You got questions about what it's like living over here for me in the Philippines, let me know. All right, again, thanks for hanging out. God bless, I'll see you next time. All right, bye.
