The waiting game is over and thankfully the building of this race bike is too. I am blown away with the outcome and feel empowered with my new trail weapon. I don't know if I am worthy of such artwork for a bicycle but will certainly put my best in racing this red and black missile.
Big thanks go out to the creator of this shiny new rig, Christopher Igleheart. I've seen plenty of bikes brought to life in his studio and this is by far my favorite and I'm happy to say that it's mine and I'm going to ride the hell out of it.
Possibly with a 29er up front if I have the go-nads to race her with a rigid front end which I don't plan on, well maybe just once. Big thanks go out to Bill and Ant at Western cycle for helping put the finishing touches on this ride. Two things I hate to do...bleed brakes and tweak front derailleurs. Thanks guys.
Now it's off to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in San Jose California before I get a chance to ride it on the trails. Probably a good thing considering the salt, mud and muck on the trails right now. Maybe it'll even win a prise..who knows.
I can't remember the last time conditions in the woods were like this. A thick hard crust atop a few inches of snow. Unbelievable traction (with studs) but scary as hell!
It's cold and icy, and the riding is dicey. We long for tropical vacations- but they're so damn pricey!
when temperatures rose the snow went fizzle - instead of fluffy white powder we got all drizzle. I had to clear the ice with a cold chisel.
The night before it froze solid as steel, I was using my snow blower when it let out a squeal! The sound not good, the situation less than ideal...
I quickly reached for the throttle, but it was though I'd uncorked a Champagne bottle, oil spewed from the machine, like Kenny D when he ruptured his spleen.
now I got no blower, snow removal will be much slower. alas, I didn't break my windshield glass!
Winter is finally here in the north east. We have not seen temps above 27 degrees in over a week, thus I've lost my ambition to ride early mornings. A few of us (Sean, Igleheart and me)had a long run of tues and fri 7a.m. rides but it didn't happen this week due to the cold. Hoping this saddle hiatus will strengthen my will to get out side this weekend. Still on the fence weather or not to do the Jay winter thing. No excuses really not to do it..I got the gear to keep warm, got a place to stay, conditions seem piss'a, George has graciously kicked me down a very suitable bike for the epic, just waiting to hear if I can change around work schedules with my colleague for weekend duties at the airport. The real challenge would be waking early Sunday morning to drive from northern Vermont to go to work. bla bla bla.
I feel the need to pay homage to Brad and his Jamis Exile. He conveniently left it at my house for future use for when he is around my neck of the woods...turns out that was a good plan Bev. It has provided me many a good morning ride in the near-by patch of woods since my race bike has been off getting a make-over. I've been in major purge mode the past couple few weeks selling anything and everything on ebay. Out with the old and in with the new! Shocked at some of the prices that used bike parts can fetch on the open market. Ebay is king. I'm trying my hardest to minimize my spare parts and maybe help out someone along the way. It's tough to part with some of my most coveted components but this stuff doesn't last forever...might as well sell it while it's still worth something and ride the current technology..and new bling doesn't hurt either. Thanks to the guys at Western Cycle for your help ordering all my race schwag and pahts. Could not have built a race bike with out Jamie's support...that or I'd be in the poor house eating rice and beans every night...oh wait, I DO eat rice and beans every night. So as you might be able to guess the frame isn't back from the painter yet...I'm hoping next week. What exactly will "painter's choice" look like? I have no idea.
Seems that I've got a mystery on my hands that requires a scientific explanation and so far I am a little clueless. Realizing that cold weather affects air density making it less dense, particularly under high pressure like in a fork or shock. But some shocks seem more susceptible to loosing air in frigid temps than others...and once the air is lost you can't just pump it back up? actually under some circumstances a pump will still read high pressure when the shock or fork is totally collapsed? Very strange indeed...that's where the mystery lies and why I need help from the science savvy skills of the Myth Busters or at least Beekman's world to explain what happens to render them bunk. Take for instance last weekend. Large group leaving the lot for what will undoubtedly be the best three hours in the entire weekend and blam! Lou's shock looses all of it's cush. Hell, it was worse than that, it collapsed like the positive air chamber leaked into the neg chamber and sucked the shock in on it self. It sucked to be Lou. We tried putting excessive air into the pos chamber (200psi) and the shaft didn't budge. Just stayed bottomed..and come to think of it, I think there was only one chamber you could adjust air volume! wow, maybe I just talked my self through this nonsense. Is a large volume of high pressure air in the pos chamber slowly leaking into the very small volume neg chamber and sucking the whole thing closed? Lou said that this same thing had happened to him last week and the shock company (to remain nameless) sent him a replacement. My thoughts on this...well it sucks...Literally! I don't think it's a good idea to ride my dual air bike tomorrow cause it's going to be 9 degrees at seven a.m. Although with this theory in mind you can reverse the over-inflated (small volume) neg chamber if the shock or fork has an adjustable neg air chamber...unless the seal just blows under the pressure...but then it'l just go back into the pos chamber leaving all the spv'ness (pedal bob characteristic) gone and it'l be like your riding back in the day on your '96 Pro-flex all over again! Oh yeah, hope there's people out there that remember that bike! She's a beauty.What prompted me to think about this was Christopher just called asking why his fork is dead and the pump is reading 150 psi...Put on one of your rigid forks for tomorrow Igleheart, it's going to be a bumpy ride! I think I'll take Brad's hardtail out for tomorrow's loop.
Almost forgot what it's like to slip around on the trails. Don't know if the whopping one inch of white stuff was predicted but Barry and I enjoyed the change of scenery and the added challenge the dusting provided.
Exuding satisfaction is a fine way to describe this past weekend's ride. Displaying a mile -wide smile as i exited the technical and rocky terrain of B+T's yesterday and proceeded to collapseout'a sheer exhaustion. The good'ol legs haven't pumped for 5 hours in quite some time. I was a dope to bring only 40 ounces of H20 and ZERO calories in the way of bars or goo. Bonked?.. no not really... Just exhausted. I literally fell off my bike on the final climb of the day. Too tired to step off the pedals after climbing 2/3 of the way up the frozen hill and knowing I was clad in plastic with all the protection of the many pads along with a full faced helmet. I simply rolled to my right and let gravity pull me to the ground when I ran out of go-go juice on the steep climb. It was a special day of riding from many aspects. It was the first, of what will undoubtedly be numerous epic rides on the remedy. The new trail bike rode flawlessly. Nothing to complain about, many praises for the dually. The fork and rear shock provided a plush ride and took some abuse with some big drops and a couple hucks...I hate hucksbtw, but when riding with Roger and Barry hucks are mandatory. After Barry went home for some family time Roger and I met up with Tom, Mary, Jim, Skip, Lou, and Matt for another loop around the new trails at B+T's. Pretty stellar group if 8 people can ride those trails with out a trail side technical or flat. Although when examining my bike for damage this morning I did have a rear flat...at 23 degree yesterday what temp does stan'ssealant freeze?
Haven't had a chance to get it out on the trails but it's built. Tonight will be it's maiden voyage. Pretty stoked to have the opportunity to buy a new trail rig this season...pushing around this welter-weight might even be good training for enduro's. I have noticed a couple oddities with the frame as I assembled it the other night. Thought it was me, or the way I was looking at things. Maybe a bit slanted... It was late, I was beat so I put down the wrench and went to bed...woke up this morning to have another look at a possible clearance issue with the chainstay. The remedy came with 2.35 tires but the bike was designed to fit a bigger tire. This is where the problem lies...on the drive side the tire has only an eighth of an inch of clearance but on the non-drive side the clearance is three quarters of an inch? I removed the tire and put the wheel in my true stand to hopefully find that the wheel was just out of dish but it's balls on...? Weird. Maybe I am simply chain-stay challenged?...my Igleheart had some clearance issues last year...but that has been corrected with some new wider stays (that bike will be off to paint today and should be back in two or three weeks) I'm pretty confident that Trek will come up with a fix for the problem. Till then I'll run a 2.1 tire out back and wait for a new stay...hell if my local custom frame builder can correct a similardilemma than Trek should have no problem...right?
Update: New wheel and tire mounted (George you should recognize both. It's YOUR mavic XL and specializededuro 2.4) and the tire is almost hitting on the non drive side. Wheel is perfectly dished. I'll just run a 2.1 and hopefully trek will address the issue at some point. I don't plan on hounding them as a 2.1 or 2.25 is fat enough for trail riding but when Highland opens back up I want to have s'more meat on the bottom...I need all the help I can get to keep up with Greely :) It may take them sometime to revise the chain stay but doubt they'll ignore the limitation.
Raw and rainy is better than cold and snowy in January...if you ask any mountainbiker, skiers would not agree. Got out with Barry and George down in Milford Mass. They call it Vietnam but don't know why. Barry said it's because back in the 70's and 80's the area of woods presently known as Vietnam (Nemba) was littered with burned-out jeeps and scattered debris. The junk is gone and some sweet single track has been created in it's place, stunts to play on too.
Welcome Sophia! Congrats to Jeanie and my brother Matthew on the birth of a beautiful baby girl on 1/13/07. Everyone is doing fine. They were scheduled to come home today so my brother is probably changing diapers as I type on the keyboard! Way to go.
This time of year rocks. Especially this year cause the weather has allowed us crazy bike minded people to do what we do in relative comfort...so far. Anyway, This post isn't about weather...it's about preparations for the 2007 ultra mtb series and building a race bike. All the parts are in my treasure chest here to build up a pretty stout racer. Just waiting on Christopher to put the finishing touches on my ride. The frame went in for repair a few weeks back and Christopher has gone above and beyond fixing her up. I was in the shop the other night having a cpl adult beverages with the craftsman and he thought it might be a good idea to weld some more stainless steel uniqueness into my frame. I'm stoked to see the final product. Should be done this week then off to the painter for a couple more weeks. This might be good because the snow will certainly fall by that time I take delivery and won't be able to beat her up too bad before the first race!
Remedy ('re-m&-dE) [noun] meaning; 1 something that corrects, counteracts or removes an evil of any kind. 2 My new trail bike
The freakish warm weather we've received has sped up preparations for spring riding. My local bike shop becoming a Trek dealer didn't hurt either. To be perfectly honest I had not considered a trek before the behemoth brand came to Western Cycle but glad Jamie now sells them. I'd always had a sense that Trek churned out thousands of soul-less bikes to the masses... this may not be entirely true. I Demo'd this red beauty pictured above for a couple days last week, then ordered my own 2007 remedy 66.
A quick review of what I thought of the bike;
It rode exceptionally well. Very active rear suspension = not a great climber but hell, this is a fun machine not a racer. Point this "all mountain" bike down hill and hold on. Fun through the rock gardens and aggressive lines. I was most impressed with how little lateral movement the rear swayed taking into account it's pretty massive rocker link.
Happy to see that Trek outfitted the Remedy 66 with a spot on build. Sram x9 and x0 drivetrain, xt cranks, and a Fox 36 Talas front end. I don't know much about the Bontrager Rhythm elite wheel set, but the beauty of buying a high end bike from a giant company is knowing they'll pick up the repair tab if their parts fail prematurely.
Here's a movie of me playing on a horse jump, checking out the BB clearance and testing the plushness of the nixon and swinger 3 way.
I see that Dave Alden Demo'd the Remedy for Dirt Rag. Read up if you'd like. He did a more complete job of reviewing and explaining the technology that Trek put into this ride.
For 2007 I am going to adopt a daily rating system for each day I choose to blog some nonsense. Ratings will be on a scale of 1 to 5...today was a five. This was something to Cherish... A rainy Monday holiday. Lesli and I off work, chose to start it out right with huge stacks of blueberry pancakes and a subsequent nap on the couch. There was a brief window in time for an outside spin but I did not take advantage. At 2:30 the rain subsided and the sky appeared to brighten. I had gotten my fix on the trainer for an hour while watching various nonsense on the likes of Spike TV and Discovery channel when I noticed the improvement in the weather. Sitting on the trainer for a solid hour is my personal best for "off season" thus far. You're either either sick in the head to enjoy that stupid piece of equipment or desperate for saddle time. I was desperate. Didn't have an excuse for my desperation really. I did get out with Barry and Bill and a few others for a trail ride on G-spot early Sunday. The fun part was cut short when my rear hydraulic cable pooped out of the master cyl. I pretty much knew it was time for me to bail from the woods but luckily I was surrounded by optimistic bike mechanic friends. Good advice from Bill, Anthony and Barry to shorten the cable after some of it's much needed hydro juice slung out leaving a couple inches of air in the tube. Admittedly only a band-aid to the failed crush olive sleeve thing-y but with a few inches of Jim's black electrical tape holding the dripping mess together I was back in business. Not ideal rear braking power but some stopping power. I just avoided allot of the steeper stuff and finished the ride. Was hoping for a solid three hours of road today with CCB but snow and rain thwarted that plan. Planning on a night ride with Jeff and others Wednesday evening. oh crappola...I don't have a bike to ride. I think it's safe to say that a couple weeks off the bike has rejuvenated my interest in saddle time. Let huge base begin! (and hope that the weather cooperates).
Waiting for lots of things lately. Waiting for my steel hard tail to return from the weld table. Waiting for snow to dump from the heavens. Waiting for the sun to set at a reasonable time in the afternoon so's I can grab an after work pedal in the woods. But most of all waiting on Sophie to come into this world. I know my sister in law Jeanie can't wait too much longer. Hold in there Jeanie, not too much longer! For my brother's sake I hope it's a girl cause he's got an extremely pink bedroom.
Got out yesterday with CCB on a nice 2.5 hour road cruiser. One of the longer rides in recent memory as the ride season is winding down. Answered a burning question in my mind...yes, my legs still work. The best thing about riding with those guys is their knowledge of the area and the way they link up the scenic country roads that roll for miles and miles. Hell, I've lived here all my life and still don't know exactly where we rode yesterday. I'd guess you'd say that they know the roads like we know the trails. With temps in the 50's for late December the cyclists in the northeast have gotten an early Christmas gift. I know this weather can't last all winter but wish it would. Got the hakka 300's ready and waiting to go just in case the inevitable happens. Lesli and I have little excuse for not sending out Christmas cards this year. Since returning from Honduras we've been playing catch up with a few things and haven't gotten a handle on the details yet. We appreciate the cards we have received from family and friends and have them displayed on the mantle serving as the only decorations in the house (along with a string of lights to brighten the mood). I'd like to send out some Christmas cheer to some folks I haven't seen in a while and others I see everyday. Have a great holiday.
That's the sound of two bikes rolling down the trail with drivetrains that have far exceeded their useful lives. Can they be coaxed back into smooth working order?...yeah, if you throw a couple Benjamin's at the problem I guess. Money can fix allot of bike related issues... But do you really want to bolt on a shiny new sram chain, cassette and rings for the winter? knowing full well that your only buying time till spring then you'll have to do it again? Well, yeah..if it means that's the only way to fix mis-shifting and broken chains. Having said that Jeff and I are in the same boat, or our bikes are at least. And the boat they are in is a junk freighter floating swiftly out to sea.
Lesli and I are settling back into our regular boring lives after a brief getta way. Traveling is an amazing thing. It changes us, maybe only temporarily. But when it wears off and life is a drag again you know it's time to fly somewhere else. Then there's that small issue of funding the trip.
Some things are meant to be...the sub trip was not. A bit let down but got some extra dives in today as a result of the cancellation. Last night I ran into Karl (Idabel Owner/operator) at the Cannibal Cafe and asked if everything was all set for our dive into the deep. Nope...broken motor on the sub!! Karl was going to scramble to repair but couldn't guaranty the voyage. The trip was doomed hours before when my sub buddy (Al) got a touch of Montazuma's revenge...I told him not to eat the unpasteurized cheese! The combination of events told me that this trip was not looking good. Lesli would have gone but a little voice in my head said to just go scuba diving again today. Going to meet some friends for a couple rum drinks now. Be home tomorrow.
With every day here our bodies grow a darker shade of Brown and the insect bites more redand itchy. We have hooked up with an unbelievable dive shop and have logged over a dozen spectacular dives so far and still have tomorrow to dive more. I chose to sit out the afternoon dive today because my core temp seems to have dropped due to all the deep dives...the sun has dipped behind the clouds today with temps in the 70's. Seems that Lesli has greater dive endurance as she is out with the boys diving without me. I'd share some underwater shots but the camera was ruined on the first day...damn housing o-ring failed! we have our regular digi camera but no transfer cable. We have forgotten about our daily lives and have transformed into our dive persona's. We've hooked up with a bunch that love to drink the night away and talk about vacations and past dives. The Honduran beer, Salva Vida (life saver) is cheap but impossible to get drunk, but luckily doesn't leave you too hung-over. The Idabel trip is set for Friday at 8am!!! Going down with the Submarine's creator and a Canadian professor from Vancouver...Lesli likes to dive but doesn't dig the sub. If I don't return from 2000 feet I'd like to leave all my bike stuff to Jeff W. and Brad B. (you can split it). Daren, I'd like you to have my Willys. My Brother can have anything he'd like otherwise.
Waking up this morning, usual ritual of coffee and reading email. Then reminded of last night's ride with Jeff as I wiped my eyes to find deposits of mud in the corners. Last night's trek through the local state park was messy. I haven't ventured downstairs yet but know that my bike is a damn wreck. No hose outside to wash it down right now cause we're heading into winter. I just leave her near the heater in my basement to dry the thick coating till it's rock hard then just brush off the drivetrain the next day with a stiff brush and apply more lube. Although I noticed my derailleur pulleys aren't liking the abuse. They will revolt soon I can feel it. Toward the end of last night's ride Jeff and I went Zen. Shut out the lights and waited for our eyes to adjust to the darkness. It was a relatively bright night for how foggy it was out. The moon cast long shadows of the trees on the double track in front of us. We cautiously proceeded down the trail, spinning slow in the darkness, listening to the mud squish under our tires, our drivetrains crunching, slowing our breathing, eyes wide open to catch the available moon light. Our pace growing quicker now on the familiar trail, familiar to me not so much to Jeff. You don't consider how quickly a slow pace really is till you blindly spin in darkness bracing for what you could hit at any moment. Fitting way to end a quick ride in the park. Turned back on the lights at the downhill, afraid of nailing one of the protruding rocks and wrecking a calm ending to the night ride. I wouldn't have done it alone. Night riding alone is generally not a fun thing to do.
Here I sit, early morning Saturday. A bit groggy waiting for the caffeine to kick me into action. I am still licking my wounds from yesterday's adventures with Brad and Jeff. Great ride but why is it that a great ride must involve a certain amount of pain to qualify? Just the way it is. Most memorable for this ride should be the amount of turkey consumed. Turkey sandwiches for breakfast prior to riding, during the ride Jeff brought a pound of dark meat in his camel back and post ride we finished off the leftovers along with all the beer in my house.
Thanksgiving at my parents house was a good time. The pouring rain gave us the perfect excuse to skip the after dinner walk and get right down to business with a spirited game of cards.
Here's my sister in law Jean with an apparent good hand. Lesson learned, don't bluff with a woman who's 7 months pregnant even if you are her father.
Lesli and I were taken out early in the tournament. I'm a better bike rider than gambler, but that's debatable. Went all-in with a pair of aces and nine high. My ten year old nephew took me out with two pair. Don't think Santa is going to be stopping at your house this year Christopher...that's right...I am threatening a ten year old.
We have this disaster to be thank full. No one was killed or hurt seriously because everyone was in bed and not walking around the neighborhood when the paint factory blew up. This is the neighborhood where my friend Ken grew up and is about four miles from our house. I believe the house in the center is his uncle's place. Pretty wicked.
You can never tell how a day will unfold. Especially when the plan is to meet a few daredevil friends for a day of downhill mayhem and reckless abandon. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best you could say. Bust'in out the crash pads and full face helmet and forget the limitations of an xc mountain bike as we proceeded to ride everything in the park. Thanks to Bill, Josh, Barry and Jon for a hair raising day in the saddle. Why is overcoming fear so much fun? Like a bunch of kids playing with fire, today no one was burned. We started out on the Race Trail step-up and things got pretty wild from there. Thanks Greeley for shooting videos. Bill and Josh demonstrated my favorite stunt of the day... The gap jump On Maiden Voyage trail. The planets must have been in full alignment because we could do no wrong. That or these stunts are designed and built by a bunch of guys that know what they were doing. Here's a short video I ripped off the net, not us riding but you'll get a better idea of what scary fun is. At the very end of the video you'll see a guy fall off one of the step-ups...I didn't falter in the same way but let's just say I used up one of my nine lives.
One can try to think of everything in regards to preparing for rainy conditions but I seem to forget a key aspect of preparedness. I DID have on the gore socks, the ones I bought over a decade ago and have not let me down. The rain pants, although Jon showed up in shorts cause it was a balmy 67 degrees at 7am this morning. Fenders, a must to rid off the monkey butt. High tech glasses so I could see as globs of filth splat toward my face. So what did I forget? To wash out my helmet...The one with six months worth of dried nastiness. Nothing like stale-salty putrid liquid flowing down into my eyes, nose and mouth to say top of the morning to yaw!
Woke up a bit late this morning for the scheduled ride with a few die hard riders. A die-hard rider is defined as any person who does not take into account adverse weather conditions when making the decision to ride. I was in the company of precisely three of this kind at 7:00am. High five boys. Thanks for a good ride Christopher, Jon and Sean...lets do it again Friday, even if it's sunny and 60 degrees.
Making planz for the weekend...pretty soggy for the final weekend at Highland Bike Park. I'm thinking they'll be closed due to poor conditions but am holding out hope that the lift will be running.
Saturday, the Plymouth race looks good. I have been dragging my feet with ordering cross wheels and tires so will be racing with my mtb wheels again. Don't think that a 700c wheel would help me out all that much anywhoo. May do the C and B race just to get a good effort in.
Couple more hand gestures for the blog world tonight... A big Thumbs Up to Verizon for their kick butt fios internet service. In an effort to save us some cashola Lesli did a little surfing on the issue of consolidating phone/internet/cable. Bye bye to comcast cable and hello to verizon. Free install of the fiberoptic cable, controller box thing, free wifi router (too bad we had one), fiberoptic phone battery back up(for when we lose power the phone will continue to work for 6 hours), and they re-wired our house with new coax and cat5...guy was here for 12 hours yesterday getting everything nailed down. I realize they'll get us in the long run, but till we receive the bill I gotta take them for their word for free installation. Best part is the speed of the connection...Blazing fast. We had DSL for years and this is easily 5 times quicker. To conclude this post...This one's for you...Aetna Health Care. I won't get too far into it... but lets just say as a long time customer I am less than satisfied with your customer service and billing practices. Open enrollment right around the corner...couldn't be soon enough.
Friday's old school cruise around Wachusett reservoir prompted me to think about where technology has brought the cycling world in the past 100 years. Arguably we are the luckiest cyclists in history because we have enjoyed the most rapid evolution of gear known to the sport in just a few short years. Advancements in materials, frame design, suspension design, disc brake technology, wheel technology, super sticky rubber, carbon fiber, titanium, high tech alloys... Every year the gear gets a little better, designs get more efficient, components a little lighter, hopefully a little stronger and always more expensive. Can't wait to see where the sport of cycling will be in 10 or 20 years. Just gets better every year.
1938 Raleigh Record Ace All original, even the tires! Very similar to this one that's on exhibit in a transportation museum in Maine. Good to see the owner wasn't afraid to ride it.
Mike P's daily commuter. A 1940 Elgin. 50 pounds and a tall single speed makes for strong legs.
Christopher on his 1972 moulton full suspension, four speed, and collapsible! not the first fully in history though.
a couple vintage road bikes, a Star and Murray but I liked Warrens mostly original Fuji Ti
remember those pedro's bottle holders? Neither do I.
Hope all is well for everyone and luckily doesn't look like anyone fell victim to an alligator or mud slide.
Hey Harlan, when your back...do you want to go for a ride? It'll be a good one...only thing is it starts out with another 25 kilometers of rail bed...! Bravo!
Barry, George and I got our adrenaline fix this weekend.
George worked out a few demons that had been haunting him. Here's G-man riding in for a closer look at a gap transition. Then cleaning it.
Highland Mountain Park was damn good time. Trails for many ability levels but don't go expecting beginner trails. Rugged as hell. The runs are fast and flowing with lots of banked curves that lead into hits and hucks that will send you for ridiculous air time.
Big respect for the half dozen or so guys we saw (while riding the chair to the top) casually riding the jump trail...the one trail WE didn't attempt. Full of dirt table jumps, step ups and sizable gaps and (photo above^) a wooden roller coaster at the bottom.
Barry's got a few more shots and a movie or two (that I hope he shares) depicting what gravity can do when casing a jump...
All for 35 bucks and an hour ride. Every day should be this fun.
My first Cross race was Sunday. On the hour drive down to Canton I was anxious to get it on feeling I hadn't gotten my fix of "competition pain" in a month or two.
Massive wind gusts kept things on the dry side considering that four inches of water fell just 18 hours before the event. Figured the course was going to be a mess so I installed some mud paddles as a secret weapon to combat the chunky wet ooze that I imagined would be everywhere. Well, got to the race with my 2.2 mud terrain's and to my surprise...No mud. I gotta stop thinking like a mountainbiker. Course was a mix of asphalt and mostly grass on small rolling hills. All the rain that fell the previous day was absorbed deep into the sponge-like turf with not so much as a muddy puddle in sight. Fairly flat, fast, non technical...I was a dead man. Until meeting up with Kerry and she offered me her skinny 1.3 inch wide 26" cross tires for my race after she finished hers. Friends are the best. I stood at the run-up with Roz cheering on Kerry and the rest of the men and women in the early race. Glad I came down to hang and make the day of it. Half the fun of cross is shouting at people you know to pick up the pace when they're really getting their ass kicked (nice huh?). It really helps to have friends in the crowd at these section to yell at'cha and get you moving a little faster. It was soon show time for the B-men. Thom P was there racing his pink single speed cross bike. He had concerns about his gear selection being a little slow for the fast course...I think he set-up for more technical and muddy conditions too. Thom, Glenn Cook, and I missed out on the line-up cause we were gabbing during staging and got stuffed three or four rows in the back of the pack. Probably where I belonged being the new-bie to 'cross on a mountain bike. The start was a drag race. Hell, the whole thing was a drag race. Felt alot like the time trial I did a few months ago but more fun. Early in the first lap while climbing a small grassy hump mother nature smiled on a pack of us and blew a giant gusting tail wind that pushed us up hill, good way to start things. The rest of the time 40mph gusts met square-on knocking everyone around. Must have been most difficult for the people with deep aero wheels and bladed spokes especially on the track portion of the race around the football field in the wide open. I got into a groove and was enjoying the race from the first lap. I was fairly happy with my pace thinking I couldn't push much harder. Then Thom P slipped by me on his pink machine spinning like crazy. Looking strong as he past me and three guys ahead of me. My mission was now to keep him in sight and try to reel him in. This game gave me reason to reach deep and blow-up if I was going to blow up. <-- Something I try very hard not to do in longer mtb races but since this race was timed at 40 minutes who gives a shit if you blow up... I am slowly seeing the beauty in 'cross. Sorry to say Thom flatted at the end of the third lap, after he was gone I tried to keep the same inensity but had no one to chase down. Kept on pace and it was soon over. Good to have this one under my belt, learned a lot. Ended up coming in 25th. Bummed to miss the Elite Women...I tried to listen to the announcer on the loud speaker to catch what was happening while I was back at my car getting changed and recovering from my race. Did however see the elite men rip it up. The leaders made little work of the run-up...was more of a ride-up for a few of them. Most impressive were the top three over the high barriers. Taking a huge risk jumping the 20 inch planks at race pace, and Anthony (3rd over) blazed through so fast that it almost looked like his legs past through the solid wood hurdles. Man, I need a better camera with sound.
Whole lot'a fun riding lately. End of race season and just the beginning of fun season. Couple few night rides with the big bike crew have taught me that I have totally forgotten how to ride my 5 inch travel bike. Feels very disconnected and sloppy, not to mention I can't climb to save my life on the dual squishy right now. Have to work on getting reacquainted with the plush ride because it would be suicide to try and keep up with Roger and Barry on my hardtail. I also forgot how to set up the dually...overinflated the hell out of the rear tire and rear shock and spent much of the night bouncing about the trail with little traction. Sunday I went back to the hardtail for simplicity and to get a decent 90 minute spin around the Fells with Jeff. Did however try something new and ran a 2.4 specialized 2bliss (miracle tire) on the front. Huge air volume and soft rubber compound held lines superbly on the rock strewn trails in Med'fa. Jeff and I did some 'old school style' riding on Sunday - a mix of trials and xc. The kind of shit the old crew would ride in Lynn woods in our early twenties. Balancing while riding fallen tree trunks and jumping logs. Took me twelve attempts to ride a thirty foot log before cleaning it. Jeff got it on his fifth try, bastard. Thanks again George for kicking me a selection of rubba. u da man. Now for a small rant session... Was surfing the usual sites (not THOSE sites) looking for components for next years race bike and was astonished by some of the retail prices. Who has $630 for a freekin crankset that's going to last one season? They're purdy and all, might have to rob a bank for next year's build.
We could have sucked it up and suffered for another week but last night proved to be the night that winter officially started. Lesli and I in our usual spot, on the couch watching tv under a couple blankets. Cold night, raining buckets outside. Lesli got up and I knew what she was up to as she walked to the hall. I didn't put up much of a fight. "Can't we just wait a couple more days?" I quietly said and waited for a response, heard the click of the oil burner coming to life. Shit, the l-o-n-g and painful oil season is upon us. Not going to be quite as bad as last year cause I 'locked in' an oil price. Turns out that sucks.
On a better note, been getting some morning rides in with Igleheart. Got a nice 10 mile singletrackk loop at Bradley Palmer that I hit a few times a week. First ride thru brickends Farm, where they process, well...shit. Big piles of poop. Some days it's pretty overwhelming, other morning I enjoy the mild smell of cow manure. Christopher says it reminds him of England. I've been riding a rigid fork for a couple weeks now with a big 'ol fat tubeless front tire and have grown to like the precision. Maybe not when the ground freezes and the ride becomes more harsh but for right now feels the ballz. Chris built it to be 80mm adjusted, I ran a 100mm fork all year. Turns out the fox 100mm was way wrong for the frame and the 80mm puts me in a much better position to climb and lowers the BB height to 12.5...I was up above 13 inches with the four inch fork.
Bring out your big bike, fat tires and full faced helmets!
Mother nature created these trails with mountainbiking in mind. I thank her for the rocky terrain that we punish our selves on regularly. 71 north shore riders came out to celebrate the comming of fall on Seaside's annual Kahuna ride. It was great to ride with guys that I haven't seen since last year's kahuna.
Our four person group held a good pace the entire 6 hours to cover the 25 miles of singletrack. For you racers out there that's 4.1 mph! And that was quick.
Daren had an impressively strong day in the saddle on his 35 pound steel Wraith with 2.5 inch knobbies.
Running out of pedal power in B+T's with only food and beer on our minds at this point. Headed straight to Lobst'a Land where organizers had planned a buffet of burgers, haddock and tatonka fingers! Looking forward to a double Kahuna on Nov. 24th!
Thanks to my mom for loaning her new Mega-Mega pixel camera this weekend. Lesli made a few changes to enable it to shoot pictures a little quicker to keep up with the action.. I don't usually blog so many pictures or play the sports announcer guy, then again- I've never shot 2 Gig of pictures in one day. Just wanted to share some of these photos.
Georgia Gould (Luna Women's MTB Team) grabbed the win from Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) Wendy Simms (Kona)moved up to take third
Mo Bruno-Roy ripping her final lap to take 11th place
Paul Curley, racing since the 70's! Still ripping it up. Grabbed a podium spot Saturday for vet men +45. The helmet-mount rear view mirror rocks.
Jonathan Card (Cane Creek/Cabato Velo) got the style award for the string of pearls and matching sunglasses.
Matt O'Keefe (CCB) moved up from 43rd Saturday to 33rd Sunday
Todd Wells (GT) placed 10th Saturday and moved up to 7th Sunday. Jesse Anthony Won the u23 cat Saturday but slipped down in rank Sunday probably due to a technical issue with his bike, but just a guess.
Ripping thru the loose corners with little help from the canti's. I was hoping Adam Craig and Carl Decker were going to upset the Kona duo.Barry Wicks was essential in teammates win Saturday and was knocked off the box by Mark McCormack (Team Clif Bar) in a sprint finish on Sunday.
No lack of cheers for home town racer Tim Johnson as he rode his heart out but Trebon tore it up this weekend. Check out Kerry's blog to see how I could have gotten run over snapping this shot.
The waiting game is over and thankfully the building of this race bike is too. I am blown away with the outcome and feel empowered with my new trail weapon. I don't know if I am worthy of such artwork for a bicycle but will certainly put my best in racing this red and black missile.
Possibly with a 29er up front if I have the go-nads to race her with a rigid front end which I don't plan on, well maybe just once.
