So over the last few months I have had my Jet 9 set up as a trail bike, a do all, go anywhere sort of ride. I had initially set it up with some fairly beefy wheels, Royales with Flow rims, and great big Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.4 tires. This was all about finding where exactly the Jet fits in my stable, while retaining a level of comfort and familiarity with a similar set up to my RIP.

The Jet more than proved itself on the big road trip south. I found it to be a very capable machine.It begged to go faster than I had gears for on the buff singletrack of Pisgah and north Georgia. it flew over the ground when the trails got ugly and rough. It shot around corners like a comet shoots around the sun. It descended like a bike with more travel than it actually had. 

All in all, this bike is a clear winner no matter how it’s built.

So, now is the time when I can build the Jet as I had always intended it to be, a race bike, knowing I can depend on it in just about all but the ugliest of scenarios.

The original build came in at 28.21 lbs, ready to ride (with pedals that is). Not that light really, but totally acceptable for a FS trail bike in my book. The single biggest beneficial weight savings was to be had by changing the wheels and tires to a more svelte set up, and I chose a set of Industry 9s laced to Stan’s Arch rims.

Bling!

I had to seriously think about my tire choice. Having destroyed the rear 2.4 Racing Ralph on a sharp mystery object, it was time to maybe think about getting something a little more appropriate for the bike. I had originally thought about a Maxxis Ignitor front and WTB Vulpine rear, which would be a very fast rolling combo, but with our weather, the rear tire could be something I’d have to change all the time. I’m lazy, so that option is out. I looked at the Karma 1.9. Both Jay Pro and Nat has been singing praises about this tire, but lets face it, Jay is about 155lbs, Nat is 175lbs, and I’m 225. Nope. I need more air volume under me. The next lightest tire I could find with decent volume was the 2.25 Racing Ralph. I am already a big fan of the tread pattern, so it was a no brainer to switch to the skinnier version of the same tire I’ve had on the bike all along.

They roll fast, are predictable when they break loose, and have good bite on our local trails.

I also took the time to switch the cranks from the “all mountain” double set up of the Truvative Noir, to a set of XTR M970s I’ve been sitting on all summer. The gearing changed from 24-36 to a 22-32-44. I measured 1/10th of a pound savings, even after picking up the third chainring. 

So with the wheels, tires and cranks swapped out, the new weight is 26.98. That’s a savings of 1.32 lbs of rotational weight. This is a pretty significant loss, and I’m pretty happy. I suppose if I tried really hard, I could probably get below the 26 lb mark, but then I’d have to compromise on some parts that I’m already quite comfortable using. To me, it isn’t quite worth it. Considering that I’ve already lost the most rotational mass I can safely get away with, I’d call this project done.

I managed to sneak out for a quick ride on it, climbing up to the top of Perry Hill from the shop in just under 30 minutes. I noticed that the bike was much easier to climb. Not only did I feel the lack of  weight in the wheels, I appreciated 2 less teeth on the granny ring. The wheels are stiff and spun up very quickly, and, looking down at my blue spokes, I felt like a million bucks. I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting another set of these wheels in the future.

Here is a piece of equipment that many of us bike riders use and some take for granted. Glasses are a pretty important piece of equipment, not only to they protect your eyes from the sun, they also protect you from sticks and various other things on the trail that can poke yer eye out  Good glasses don’t stop there. Using various lens tints, glasses can actually enhance your vision.

These are the Bike 29 Edition Oakley Radar glasses. I’ve used lots of different glasses over the years, but these have proven themselves to be the best yet. The frames are very lightweight and comfortable, and the rubber “ear socks” and nose pads are quite grippy, even when they are all sweaty.

The lens is the vented G30 Iridium, which is great in variable light conditions. It improves contrast, especially against blues and greens, and does a fantastic job of defining the shadows on the trail, especially in dappled sunlight. The rose colored base tint gives everything an overall “happy” feel. My biggest problem with most glasses, is that when the forward motion stops, so does my vision. All the glasses I’ve used to date fog up immediately, but these vents keep the lens clear on all but the most humid of days. When they do fog up, they clear very quickly once there is even the slightest air flow over the lens.

Another cool feature, is the hydrophobic coating on the lens. When you are sweating like a pig, sweat will run right down the lens instead of beading up and obscuring your vision.

These glasses showed up right before I took off for Fool’s Gold. I used them on every ride since and they have performed beautifully. Included with the glasses, is a soft case that has 2 extra slots for accessory lenses. 

So what makes these “Bike 29″ glasses? This is a totally custom set up, the frames are Crystal Black, with red ear socks and red O icons, and what you can’t see, Bike29 is etched right into the bottom edge of the left of the lens. 

Want some? These glasses aren’t cheap. At $210, many will balk, but the performance is well worth the price. We had several folks at the Festival who had demoed Oakley glasses who were blown away at what a difference good eyewear made. If performance is what you want, and you take your equipment seriously, these are your glasses. Different lens tints are available, so if the G30 doesn’t work for your local trail conditions, we can help pick the best lens for you.

Contact us directly for any inquiry on these or any Oakley glasses.

The lamest title, but quite possibly the greatest day of riding this summer.

We made it up to Harrisonburg VA without incident, had a good night’s sleep at Mandy’s cousin Sue’s house. We set out the next morning into the George Washington National Forest. It was starting to get hot as we scarffed down our bagels and coffee. A short drive later, we arrived at the car drop off, where it was a lot cooler. A quick lesson on what plants not to touch, and we were off.

We climbed up a trail called Georgia (very apropos). We went for about 50 minutes up an overgrown double track with varying degees of steepness, with a few rocky single track spots. About 10 minutes  in I suffered a catastrophic tire slice. The thin sidewalls of the Racing Ralph gave in to something sharp which I had managed not to spot on the trail. After inspection, I found that there was about a 1″ slice under one of the cornering knobs. BOOO!

Fortunately, I had a tube, and I fashioned a boot out of a Shot Blok wrapper. I had to “block up” to be able to use the wrapper, but it was a small price to pay. With the tube installed we were on our way again.

As we got closer to the top, I noticed that the trees were very thin, and that the grass on the trail was quite long. Sue’s husnad Matt explained that there was a huge gypsy moth resurgance. The catapillars had devoured most of the canopy, causing the trees to shut down early. As there is more light available for the underbrush, the grass and other less pleasant plants like nettles were quite lush.

We rode through a bunch of thistles, the kind that leave sticky seed bombs fiercely attached to you. I had about a pound of these suckers stuck to me, all over my gloves, jersey and even on the inside of the legs of my shorts! I spent about 10 minutes trying to remove them with a stick. Not easy.

When we got to the top we were rewarded with a spectacular vista looking out to West Virginia.

It was at this point when things started to go downhill. Fast! By that I mean the blazing descent that followed our scenic overlook. The trail was about 12-18″ wide and ripped down the side of the mountain. As luck would have it, the uphill side was to my left, which is my favored side for blasting down hill, keeping my left crank near vertical, ready to put the power down when needed, right foot down and leaning into the hill.

We had it pinned for about 20 minutes, going over drainages with short bursts of uphill, rock gardens, logs, roots, and a couple of turns I almost didn’t make. Big smiles all around as we reached to bottom, and crossed a rocky dry river bed.

Now it was time for big climb II (electric boogaloo), with a steep sharp hike a bike up some big rock stairs, and another 50 or so minutes of singletrack climbing. I had to block up again, and finished my bottle of nuun water, but it wasn’t in time to prevent the impending and rather large bonk that was about to occur 15 minutes up the trail. I always climb slowly, but was struggling to keep up my already snail’s pace. I got bobbled about in some rocks, and then came off the bike, and couldn’t get a clean restart. So I walked for a while.

I came up on DA, who was also in mid bonk, so I stopped feeling as sorry for myself and struggled on.

After what seemed like an eternity, we caught up to Sue and Matt who were waiting for us at the summit. We hung out for a few minutes while DA and I recovered before starting the final descent to the car. Once we got rolling again, it was clear that we needed to take it easy, both DA and I were right on the edge, and by thet I mean both physically and literally. It is pretty dangerous to go fast downhill after a bonk, you don’t make good descisions, and trying to recover from them can be disastrous. I learned the hard way that the Jet will make you pay for half assed riding, and now was not the time ot get banged up.

As we rolled along I began to feel better, and started to let the bike roll out a little more. The Bloks were starting to work and in no time I was back to flying with confidence, but still showing some constraint. Matt had told us that one of their friends had hit a bear on this trail, and the bear was not stoked and would not leave. Wild animal collisions are at the top of my list of things to avoid.

Eventually, as it always does, it caught up to me. I misjudged a turn, a hard right followed by an even harder left. I came in hot and very high on the outside very fast and found that the near 180 degree right turn was too fast for me to make, even on the Jet. I was in trouble. I was about to overshoot the left turn completely and bounce off down the mountain. At the apex of the left turn was a tree that I managed to get my shoulder around, but not my ass. 

I hit that tree so hard, that it shot my back end around, tire on the ground throwing an impressive rooster tail of rocks off the trail, directly in the slot I needed to be in to exit the turn. On a snowboard, think heelside cutback on powder bank. I screamed in pain and shock, but kept going until I could slow down and stop without getting messed up in a rock garden. I checked myself over, nothing seriously damaged. I waited for everyone else to catch up. It turns out that DA had a spot of difficulty in the same turn, he had come off his bike and had a nice scratch complete with blood on his arm. OK, so now it was a real ride, bonking and blood.

We made it back to the car without further incident, and got back to Sue and Matt’s house for a much needed shower, and a huge bowl of pasta that Matt had whipped up. It was time for us to head out again, this time to PA to pick up the boy, and then make our final push home the following day.

It was when I got home that I found the real casualty of my crash. My camera, that was in my left jersey pocket took a direct hit on that tree, the LCD screen busted. Fortunately I was able to get the pictures off, and while the camera still works, without the screen, I have no real control over the settings rendering it next to useless. I guess it’s time for an upgrade.

All in all it was a great trip, we had an awesome time, getting to meet new friends, and see parts of the country we’d never seen before. We also got to ride in some of mountainbiking’s most legendary terrain for the first time, and I can tell you this, it will not be the last.

I don’t know exactly why, but I always give anything “II” the Electric Boogaloo tag. Maybe it is some sort of a mental issue I have. In my mind, anything named “II” lacks flavor, and needs some spicing up. If you think about it in movie terms, all the great sequels that are truly great have their own name, such as Empire Strikes Back, or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or more recently, The Dark Knight. Lame sequels would include Rocky II, Jaws II, Nightmare on Elm Street II, Episode II and to me wouldn’t even seem worthy of being seen unless it had a cooler title. The one exception I can think of would be Evil Dead II, which is clearly the best of that series, but it would still benefit from the Electric Boogaloo tag. I don’t even know what a Boogaloo is, but I bet it’s pretty cool, but an electric one? Hell, I’d need to see that!

Now that I have that out of my system, here is the continuing saga of our road trip.

We pulled in to the event venue well after dark, tired and a bit grumpy. We had brought a 12 pack of Harpoon with us all the way from VT, which we had the good sense to ice down at our last fuel stop. We found Namrita, co owner of 55nineperformance and race sponsor, got ourselves situated, and immediately destroyed the 12 pack. 

Most of the racers had the good sense to go to bed early, but we ended up hanging out with the infamous Team Dicky for several beers. As it turns out, we had hung out once before at the 24hrs of Old Pueblo about 7 years ago, back when I worked at a bike company, and he rode for said bike company. There was much smack talk, which is always fun. We also met Mike Stanley of Wake-N-Bake Racing, and the infamous Bruce Dickman, the larger than life event annoucer. We stayed up way too late, and finally went to bed around 1am. 

The race started at something like 6:30, which I slept through. I woke up at the crack of 8:30 to overcast skies, and went to set up the tent and start getting things ready for the festival part of the event. Thanks to my wonderful packing job and DA’s help we got the tent set up in no time at all. The new banners look awesome, thanks Dr Jones!

Because of the slow start we missed out on the group rides that headed out at 9, which left DA and I hanging out socializing with the Bruce and Mike. Wee eventually did get our act together and set out for a quick ride along part of the race course. We rode out along a forest road and turned off onto another road that was part of the course which let to a really awesome piece off single track. I got the holeshot and started cranking away. The terrain is so smooth and flowy! The Jet was again screaming though the trees, when the trail started rising up, I applied the power and it simply accelerated up the hill.  Maybe I’m in just the right gear, and am going just the right speed for it to happen, but this is a unique feeling I only experience on the Jet. We stopped to take a picture at this pretty waterfall, and when we were getting ready to leave we saw Team Dicky cruise by. We cheered him on and finished up our ride.

We got back, and started the beer portion of the day. Kris and Misty from Vassago rolled in after experiencing thier very own trip to Dahlonega hell. Some of the 50 milers started to roll in and the area started to get busy. We were selling T-shirts, cogs and YAWYDs, and were making enough to help feed the Jeep for the trip home.

Later that afternoon, after several beers, we ended up leading a ride. I’m not sure how it happened, but I think Bruce threw us under the bus. Who in their right mind would follow two guys from VT on a ride where we’ve never been before? After several beers? Well, we rounded up quite a posse, and went for a 10 mile loop that had a ton of climbing. We left drunk, and came back sober. No one was hurt. In fact, a couple of the guys riding with us, from Addictive Cycles had just finished the 50!

It was time to get started all over again. Unfortunately, Kris and Misty couldnt stay long, so we did our best to dispose of as many beers as we could in the short amount of time we had.

Later on, it was time to hand out the special 29er awards we had arranged to give out.It was a ton of fun, there was much hazing. Team Dicky got the “sexiest 29er” award, the prize was this special B29 wifebeater. Most creative went to the owner of this super custom vintage Schwinn. 29er and fixed, this was a real labor of love.

As the night went on more racers crossed the line. It was about this time that we figured out that we were running out of beer, and that the food was already long gone. DA and I headed back to town to rustle up some dinner and replemnishements.

By the time we returned, the festival was dying down, so we headed to bed. We had big plans on riding in the am before we headed to our next destination, Harrisonburg VA.

The next day, the sun decided to come out. Bruce and a couple of the local crew took us out on some of the areas best trails. It’s right about this time that DA and I came to realize just how lucky we were to experience real southern hospitality first hand. These are a great bunch of guys, we were instantly friends, and they went well out of their way to show us a good time. We will ride again!

Once we got back, it was time to leave. 9 more hours in the Jeep!

The last installment of this exciting trilogy to follow!

Well, a lot has happened ot me over the last week. Too much for one post, so instead of a long rambling and potentially uninteresting post, I will break it up into several small ones.

We set out on Wednesday afternoon, with stops in PA (to drop off the kiddo), Asheville NC and finally our final destination of Dahlonega, GA.  Instead of taking one of our aging heaps into the deep unknown south, I rented a car, which ended up being a Jeep Commander. Picture a big silver box on wheels. I stuffed the tent, banners, tools, bikes, DA’s stuff, my stuff and K-dog’s stuff in the back, and off we went. 

We left on Thursday morning, and with the boy dropped off at the grandparents, DA and I were free to execute some high level shenanigans. First was lunch. We had always joked about the KFC bowl, mashed potatoes, corn, fried chicken, gravy and cheese. All good things on their own, but do they work well together? It was time to see.

It wasn’t that bad.

We got to  Asheville pretty late, just in time to find a place to crash and head right out on the town to forage for food. Once fed, we crawled around a few of the local watering holes, finally staying at the Thirsty Monk. They were having some sort of competition to make a hat out of beer coasters, and DA decided he wanted a crack at the $500 prize. There were 2 hats, constructed over several beers. We were out very late.

Dave did not get the prize, which I think was a terrible shame, as he cleaned out the entire place of coasters, staples and tape.

Morning came, and we found a great spot for a down home southern breakfast. We had originally made plans to go to Industry 9, but they had taken a long weekend. We stopped at a Bio Wheels, and asked directions for a ride. We figured we had about 1-2 hours, and wanted to get a solid ride in. We were directed to the east side of the Pisgah National Forest. We rode Trace Ridge, a long forest road climb that lead to some grindy, hangover enhancing singletrack climbing, followed by a blistering high speed descent. 

We were advised that speed was our friend on this trail, and we heeded that advice. It seemed that just as you were becoming comfortable with your speed, the bottom would suddenly drop out, and you would go from smooth to rutted out in the blink of an eye. Thankfully, I had my Jet on this trip. I could change my mind at any time and pick a new or better line at will. The best part was at the bottom, where all of a sudden, the ends with a sudden and large drop off. I was in the air for quite some time, and when I finally came down, i had to grab two big handfulls of brake. DA was not far behind, and we sat there, laughing our asses off. I can’t wait to go back.

We got ourselves loaded back into the Jeep, and continued our journey south. We were only supposed to be in the car for another 4 hours. Google Maps picked us out a route, which we never seemed to be able to get right the first time. It did take us through some beautiful mountain passes though. The topography of south western North Carolina is breathtaking.

We got stuck behind a rather serious accident near the Georgia border for about 2 hours. Two vehicles had collided and overturned and had blocked the road. Not having a reliable GPS connection on my Blackberry, we opted to wait it out instead of getting really lost and hearing banjos. We were told by a fellow local stranded motorist that this was the same area that Eric Rudolph (1996 Olympic bomber) was hiding out before his final capture.

We eventually got to Dahlonega around 8, very tired.

This is where I’ll break, part II coming soon!

George is out on the road at Fool’s Gold in Georgia, so I’m doing my best to fill in while he’s gone.  m.

With George out of the way and our kiddo happily occupied at the grandparents in PA, I had the entire day to myself. An ENTIRE day to do what I wanted to do. What I wanted to do was to spend the whole darn day riding my mountain bike. 

Beautiful VT mountain bike moment

A little over a month ago at the Vermont Mountain Bike Festival I had the good luck to ride with a fellow from the Jay/Montgomery area of VT. He talked up their trails and promised me a great ride, should I ever be able to make it up there. So this was my opportunity.

Zach's first river crossing. ever.

Zach and I headed up early this morning and met up with Dave and Glen in Jay. First we rode the Christmas Tree Farm trail, which included an absolutely gorgeous section by a river. Zach was riding the shop demo RIP9, and at one point he turned to me and simply said, “I love this RIP.”

bear print

We then headed up and did a trail called The Link. Check out the tracks we found in one of the wet sections. That is one big bear. I’m glad we didn’t run into him while we were out there. And check out the moose print. For comparison, my feet are size 41. There was a wicked fun downhill section, more stream crossings and quite a few pricker bushes to keep it interesting. 

After driving to the Montgomery side of the mountain, we added a few members to our group including Donny who owns FirstTrax in Montgomery and Jay. More climbing, more twisting and a lot of fun trails followed. Though most of the terrain wasn’t as technical as Waterbury, it was still fun and there were a couple of sections that were downright tricky. The mountain bike club up there has done a good job signing the trails and keeping them well maintained. Lots of jumps and stunts on the side of the downhill for those inclined.

Moose print.

We pulled out of the woods and climbed a little bit of road to get back to our start place. They pulled out the beers, the grill and some burgers and we had a fine finish to a full day on the bike. It felt so good to just ride all day with no deadlines, no childcare tagging, nothing else going on. Can’t wait until another day like this comes around again.

Earlier this season, I had officially decommissioned Red 5.1 and sold off many of it’s parts. I had come to the conclusion that I didn’t really need a single speed, especially when  I thoroughly enjoy riding full suspension bikes with all of their gears. When I sold Blue, I took all the parts off of Kermit to build up my second RIP9, and Kermit hung in the shop waiting for my next whim.

Then the Festival came, and along with it, DeeJay Birch and an evil little box of Ti he brought with him.

I couldn’t resist. Ever since I first saw a Boone Ti single speed cog, I needed to have one. And as fortune would shine, I finally got one. Well, 3 actually. I got a 19, 20 and 21 in case I ever decided to play with my gear ratios.

So I’ve been hanging on to this (and 2 others) for a month now, and I finally decided that Kermit would ride again. In this incarnation, Kermit has the Fox fork and Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes robbed from the Intense Spider, and my original Royale SS wheelset. For tires I went with the Kenda Karma 2.2, not the lightest tire in the world, but I wanted a tire with decent volume and good grip. 

So Kermit is back, weighing in at 24.8 with pedals.

Welcome back.

mooo

I heard an interesting statistic on the radio this morning, 17″ of rain has fallen in Vermont in June, July and August this year. As you can imagine, mountain biking has been marginal at best. In fact, I haven’t been on my mountain bike in almost 3 weeks! Fortunately there was a very small break in the weather this weekend.

Sunday started out as gloomy as usual. Nat, Zack and I met up at the shop at 8, with the plan to head up to Easy Burke. The forcast for the Kingdom Trails was better than our local one, and it seemed like a good idea to get out of Dodge for a while. With the bikes loaded up we headed out into rapidly improving skies.

here comes the sun

The morning fog had lifted by the time we got to the Trails, skies were blue and we started our ride. Burke’s soil is generally very sandy, and it drails quite well. There were only a couple of really messy spots, I actually sank up to my hubs once, but for the most part, the trails were a solid 9 out of 10. You could see that they had done a lot of work to keep the water at bay, and it was definitely paying off.  Burke has posted that their trails are 70% open, which is fantastic when you take into consideration the sheer amount of water that has relentlessly fallen out of the sky. Good work guys!

I took the fall for the team on this ride. Somehow, I managed to flip over the handlebars GOING UPHILL. This is not easy to do, especially on a 29er. I was only minimally banged up, so we continued on our way.

My bike developed a nasty creak that worsened as we went on. We stopped just above the notorious Sidewinder trail so I could investigate the source. Turns out, all my lower pivot bolts had decided to come loose, and were creaking and popping at an alarming volume. I took this opportunity to fix them, as I did not want a mechanical that would have me walking out from the bottom of the ravine we were about to ride into. 

I will have to say that I am thankful for modern mountain biking technology. With my Topeak Alien, I was able to remove the cranks, and tighten my pivot bolts with a minimum of fuss. This is not something you could easily do with most older cranks. This was also a good time for me to remove the mud that was packed into every nook and cranny on the bike. I was amazed that the huge Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires could still turn, the mud was packed right in there!

Nat decided to mess around with his bike too.

We finished the rest of the ride without incident, and made our way back to Waterbury muddy and tired. The most important thing was that we had gotten a great ride in without damaging the trails. It was great to get out and recharge the soul.

Well, here it is. I guess that one close look at yesterday’s rear hub shot would have been the dead giveaway.

It is indeed a fixie. Not for the faint of heart.

The bike weighs in at 20lbs without pedals. This may seem a little heavy, but the hubs are not the lightest around. Durability is the key word here. Fixed bikes see more torque than a singlespeed, there is no coasting. You are always going. So we built this thing up bomber tough.

The build:

Medium Lynskey Pro 29er frame. Custom anodized red 32° Phil Wood Fixie/Free rear and KiSS Off Disc front  hubs, laced to Stan’s ZTR Arch  rims with DT Competition spokes and DT alloy nipples. Kenda Nevegal tires (also not very light), Stan’sed of course, White Industries ENO cranks, Ti Phil Wood BB, Bontrager carbon Switchblade fork, King headset, Easton EC90 seatpost and bars, EA 70 stem, a single front Avid Juicy Carbon brake with 185mm rotor, and Ergon grips. Gearing is 32-20.

I can’t wait for a first ride report.

Something else showed up today that was pretty cool, our new 1st edition “premium” bike 29 T-shirts. The logo is our new crest design and it’s screen printed on American Apparel t’s, the color is called “army”, and it looks wicked cool. They will cost $20, and will be on the website soon.