T.Vo was tearing it up at the weekend long Verge CX Series held at Catamount this past weekend.

While us “50 Lemmings” were preparing for our death march, Travis was looking fly on Saturday (when it was nice and sunny).

OK, due to extreme laziness and poor planning, I had to surreptitiously interrupt my SSWC report with my lamentations of a muddy day spent on a bike in southern VT (9h:17m to be exact – it totally blew). I am still in a southwestern state of mind.

Durango was such an overwhelming experience, it’s hard and somehow unjust to sum it up in a few words. So I am throwing a few pictures up there, because as they say, they’re 1000 words each right?

Enjoy.

I can’t wait to return.

Just like I-5 in the west  is “The 5″, the Vermont 50 is “The 50″. It is the big race to do in these parts. Folks train all year to do this race, and because it is at the effective end of most people’s cycling season, it is the race where everyone puts it all on the line.

50 miles seems like a long way to ride for some folks, but when you really think about it, it isn’t really that far. 50 miles. Can be done in less than an hour by car. Mandy and I did SSAZ in February, which was 50 miles on singlespeeds. Last week we rode 20+ miles of singletrack (albeit mostly downhill) in CO in the rain at altitude, and made it just fine. 50 is a lot more than 20, but I think that anyone with a reasonable fitness level can do 50. It’s actually pretty easy to do on a road bike.

So what does 50 miles in VT feel like? Well, it totally depends on the weather. When it’s dry, its pretty awesome. When it has rained heavily since 2am before the race, and continues throughout the day, it’s pretty damn awful.

We started in the dark at 6:20, and I wouldn’t cross the finish line until sometime after 3pm. The results have yet to be posted, but I imagine that all but the first 10 fast guys through the course did a lot worse than they expected. Goals were reset. I know that I had planned on a sub 7 hour finish, but threw that out the window promptly after the first muddy hill. After some mental re-calibration, I just wanted to finish.

Amazingly enough, I wore the right combination of clothing. Despite being soaked all day, I was able to function fairly normally. I felt good for the most part, although my knee wasn’t exactly happy with me. It got a lot more angry with me as the day went on, and I’m still hobbling around like someone twice my age. Several hundred mountain bikers on a muddy trail does some very horrible things to that trail. We were through the top soil on many sections.

I am a little upset that there wasn’t some sort of a rain course planned out, because let’s face it, it’s Vermont, and the weather here is slightly less than consistent. All the singletrack we rode was DESTROYED. Plain and simple. The gravel roads that connected much of the singletrack were also in really bad shape. When a maintained gravel road has 2″ deep ruts from bike tires, you know it’s bad.

I ended up having to push my bike up many of the hills, the mud was so thick that it gummed up my wheels, suspension, drivetrain, brakes etc. At one point, my bike was so heavy I couldn’t even lift it. I almost took my camera out of the 2 plastic bags that were protecting it to take a picture, but the way my day was going, I would have dropped it into the mud and never would have seen it again.

To sum up:

Fuel: I only stopped at two aid stations, one to get water, one to get Heed. I somehow managed to fuel myself quite well The cramps that were starting to nip at my calves around mile 35 were somehow squashed (Hammer Endurolites), and never were a problem again. I managed to eat my Hammer gels at the right time, I even had a new sawdust flavored Hammer bar, which tasted awesome with the dirt that was encrusted around the bite valve of my Camelbak.

Attire: I normally rock the Oakley baggies, but in this instance opted for some Endura bib-shorts. I also represented and had my B29 jersey on, but I had it covered up with my Fox wind vest, so you could only see the “29″ on the sleeves. I also had on some wool arm and knee warmers, but I would have to say the single most important part of the outfit was the B29 wool socks. They were indispensable. Even though my feet had a really hard day, I was never cold, and I had no chafing or blisters. And that is because wool is friggin’ awesome!

Conditions: Absolute shite. The worst mud I’ve ever seen. I estimate I had to walk around 20 miles of this race. I crashed several times, but fortunately the ground was so soft it didn’t hurt very much. There were a couple of spots where walking was even dangerously slick. Heavy rain all day, with bouts of even heavier rain. Once you are wet, it doesn’t really matter, but I remember thinking to myself “is it raining harder?”, and the answer was yes, it was.

Outcome: I think that the 9 or so hours it took me was a pretty good time, considering the amount of walking that went on. I lost a pair of Oakley O-Rokrs on a steep downhill section where I remember crashing 3 times in a row. I was too busy getting up and out of the way of the 20 or so out of control people that had minimal bike handling skills that were exploding all around me. I wasn’t about to get run over… I only had 2 mechanicals: chainsuck so bad that I had to remove the chain completely, which is really hard to do when your hands are just cold balls of mud. I figure I lost at least 40 minutes dealing with this annoyance, but besides that, it was actually smooth sailing.

I finished the race. The worst one I have ever done. But I finished.

Race day.

Like a smart boy, I went to bed around 10:30  the night before the race, and I even managed to keep the partying well under control. I drank lots of water. I was ready. We woke, had some tasty breakfast burritos form the avant garde cafe across the street, and we got our “act” together.

I had to deliver a Niner Carbon fork to Durango Cyclery for a customer, I decided that rather than ship it, I would just hand carry it on the plane etc. While I was there, I did something rather bold and impulsive – I bought a cog.

After the previous day’s ride, I thought it might be a good idea to undergear the bike a bit, so I could make the climbs a little easier. I bought an Endless 24t cog, with the hopes that it would be easier to climb than the 21t I have had on Kermie for the last year. This turned out to be a mistake, and a boon at the same time.

I installed the cog on the bike, got myself dressed and ready to go. Mandy and I went to hang out at the start line, shortly thereafter, Dicky had left a while earlier to attempt to get pole position. I have never seen so many people getting ready to do the same ride. I have heard that the numbers were s few as 900, and as many as 2000. Rest assured, there were a ton of people. We even came across some of the ones we knew.

At the crack of 11, we rolled out onto Main Ave, and the race had begun. What I have failed to mention at this point, is that it actually was a little bit of a race. We had to make the cut-off. The trail we did yesterday was about 10 miles, and we had to finish it in 2:30hrs. Anyone not finishing the race would be pulled, and would not be able to continue on to the second loop. Our pleasant stroll along the ridge took 2:19hrs, but we were only a few folks deep.

Come race day, a whole bunch of people were trying to get to the top, and it took FOREVER! 50 minutes to make the climb in fact. This was not going to bode well for folks attempting to beat the cut off. There was a lot of standing around.

Meanwhile, across the valley, a thunderstorm was brewing. It was dark and we heard many a rumble of thunder. And we were going up on to a ridge, which was quite possibly the stupidest place we could have been during a thunder storm. Fortunately, the storm stayed far away, and we were able to continue our saga precipitation free.

The Mistake

The undergear. I was unable to maintain a sufficient pace at the start, and I found myself spinning as fast as I could go, all the while slipping behind more and more riders. Mandy  passed me. Some dude on a 16″ wheeled bike passed me. I was starting to feel a bit bummed out, as I knew I should be way ahead of where I was. Altitude hadn’t really been a problem for me on this trip. Was I hypoxic? More hungover than I thought?

My regular gear is 35-21t, which is a 5:3 gear ratio, every revolution of the cranks I travel 48.3″. I switched to 35-24t, which is as it sounds, a 35:24, with 42.3 gear inches to be had at the turn of the cranks. It was no wonder I was falling behind.

Ultimately, gear ratios didn’t really matter as we were standing around waiting to push our bikes up that stupid hill.

Once we got to the top, we were greeted with the first aid station, and the only aid they had was Oskar Blues beer. I passed, and went on to the ridge.

The Boon

What was a terrible gear choice before, now became the best decision I made all day. I was geared just right to ride MOST of the ridge. I definitely walked all of the big scary precipices, but I gave it a solid try to best the big, gnarly, slabby, rocky, evil, loose and did I mention hard? trail. I was starting to click riders off, passing them 2 or 3 at a time.

I admit, I was starting to feel a little bit better about myself, especially after I passed Mandy who was walking. I rode – ha ha! I was moving!  In fact, I had walked most of the hard stuff the day before. I imagine I rode maybe 50% of the ridge on practice day, race day I owned 80% of that ridge. Awesome!

Then I crashed. Hard I didn’t even have time to get out of my pedals, and I had to be assisted off the ground. The nice person that helped me off the ground watched the whole thing, and he was worried for my own personal structural integrity. I fell hard enough to break a bone in a normal mortal, yet amazingly, my huge fat ass actually took the impact. I wedged my left cheek between two big long sharp edged rocks that ultimately prevented the bone shattering impact that would have claimed a skinny person’s tibia.

After being helped up I de-tangled myself, and, puffing up my pride, I was passed by a few fast folks with better skills than my own. I realized then that something was wrong with the front of my bike. There was a rattling that was very persistent, and not that cool to feel while trying to negotiate the SSWC. It felt like a loose headset, or a played bushing in the fork. I stopped to check it out, and when I was getting myself packed back up, Mandy caught me, checked to see if I was OK, and kept on keepin’ on. All that was left was the big baby head strewn descent to the start/finish line. I could do this.

The start/finish line was at the bottom of this. The end was nearer than I knew. I missed the cut off. Mandy did not.

She takes great delight in the fact that I was the first to be culled from the herd, but while she was out riding her bike, I was back at the hacienda having a beer and a nap. I was done, and I was glad. I’d ridden as much of the SSWC course as allowed, and about as much as I could stand for one day.

I did only half of the race, all because I stopped to check out my bike.

I missed a bacon aid station, a whisky aid station and another beer aid station on the second loop. Dicky had a terrible second lap, ultimately being passed by our own Maggs. There was no water out there. People were taking naps. I admit I am a little bummed I didn’t see any of this.

There is always New Zealand…

After our muddy melee, we were offered the opportunity to go check out the “hard” part of the SSWC course.

There was much bicycle cleaning going on at our place that morning. I am amazed I even had brake pads left. The almighty Magnatron (aka Mike Maggs) and his buddy Carl from Philly showed up to do some last minute tweaks to our individual setups before we all set out to see the sights.

Our little hacienda turned out to be in a very convenient location indeed. We were right at the base of the climb up to the trails where the event was being held, and Matt McFee from Hermosa took us out to check out what was the gnarliest part of the SSWC course. It started out as a road climb up behind our place, then it ducked into the trail for a powerline climb. And this was the easy part.

Then came the hike-a-bike. Many of you readers out there may have heard about the hike-a-bike already. It is not like anything I have ever carried my bike up before. Holy crap. I have heard several mutterings about just how steep it is, from 26% to 75°, either way you slice it, it is really effin steep. And it is long too.

The result was a magnificent view over the Ft Lewis campus towards Durango. Wow! Maggs was so moved he called someone…

We were up on Raider Ridge, and by the looks of it, we were on a hiking trail that followed the ridgeline. And wouldn’t you know it, this was the way we’d be going! It was some of the scariest stuff I’d been on in a long time. It was very rocky, and some spots left zero room for error. I walked a lot, and my knee was starting to become very angry with me. This was some very hurky jerky uber technical riding.

You could see all the suckers -whoops I mean riders hiking up from below.

The kicker: it was all deceptively flat, and pretty much everything required some sort of a power move to get up and over. Damn! It was also very exposed, not only to the sun and elements, but also to the big drop to the right. It was in your head all the time.

I probably rode about 50% of the ridge, scared out of my mind. We finished out  the last descent into the start/finish area, which was a feat of strength and cunning all in of itself. Baby head rocks that hate you and mean you great physical harm prevent you from getting to the bottom unscathed. My brakes actually even stopped working completely, and smelled like the charred bits on the ground near a runaway truck ramp.

A super tight corral let you know where you were:

The gauntlet had already been thrown. The “powers that be” decided that the cut off time for this part of the course was 2:30. We did it in practice at 2:19 at a lackadaisical pace with lots of stopping.

We ended things there. Had some beers. Went out for dinner. Went to bed wondering what the hell was going to happen tomorrow…

What a crazy trip this has been, and this is going to take a few posts…

After waking up totally dehydrated, and with a slight tinge of a Belgian beer hangover, Dicky, Mandy and myself got our bearings and had some nice greasy breakfast. While I wasn’t sure I was going to keep it all down, I eventually won. Then we went down to Durango Cyclery to drop off our extra special SSWC beer coozies and register for the race.

The next step was to retrieve our bikes from Hermosa Tours, get them built and then go ride!

Hermosa was running a tour up to the Colorado Trail, which we got in on. About 14 of us crammed into the van, and we rolled up a long set of switchbacks way out into the mountains. Our ride was going to be about 20 or so miles, 18 or so all down hill, and all of it singletrack. Sounded like fun to us!

We were dropped off at 10400ft, to a cold and stiff breeze, and to the sound of rumbling thunder. I had forgotten just how quickly the weather can change up here, and felt rather stupid for not even bringing anything warm to wear. Fortunately, Mandy had a wind jacket and some arm warmers (that I immediately capitalized on) and we began the descent.

Well, not at first. There was this double track that was ever so slightly uphill that we had to take to get to the singletrack. It sucked. 10400 is legit, there is not much air up there!

Once we began to ride the singletrack, the group spread out. While the rumbles of thunder persisted, we were still in the sun, and we were moving. It was a little weird being out of breath descending, but once I settled into my groove I stared to feel a little better. Some of us regrouped about 5 miles downtrail, where things started to get really rocky. We had been riding next to a mountain stream for quite a while, and then the trail turned up. This must be the uphill part of the ride.

We were climbing for about 15 minutes when the thunderstorm was finally and suddenly upon us. It was raining, and it was cold. At this time, the camera went away in a plastic bag for the duration, and sadly there were no more pictures taken that day.

Ironically, it was at that point, that things got really interesting.

We were very far away from any sort of help. The numbers of our group was dwindling, as some succumbed to flat tires, or other such pestilential mechanicals. Being out in the wild, we made sure everyone was all set, made sure that person staying back had a buddy, and kept on keeping on. It was raining. And it was cold. And is was getting late in the day re:DARK. Ultimately, we were a very wet quintet.

Even our group had issues, we split up once but we finally regrouped again at the top of the “up” section of the downhill. By then, it had stopped raining, but the trails were a slurry of water clay mud that had to be experienced to be believed. My glasses were too dark, but not wearing then would result in about 1 lb of dirt being flung into my eye every 10 feet, so I kept on hosing the lenses off with my Camelbak every so often. Eventually, we got into a groove and started to haul some ass, my hands, frozen hooks on the handlebars barely able to check speed with my brake levers.

Imagine hurtling though unfamiliar mud drenched terrain (did I mention that I was running WWLTs?- worst possible tires for these conditions!). Mandy said I was throwing huge 20ft  rooster tails of mud off the back of the bike, which must have been true, as my body and face were taking care of the 20ft roost from the front. I have NEVER been this muddy in my life.

Then imagine everyone freaking out and suddenly, spastically and uncontrollably sliding to a halt. I came up on the scene a little late as I had stopped to rinse my glasses, and saw the almost carnage of 4 riders slamming into a cow. Yes. A cow. And there was not just 1 cow, there were many. Well, at least it wasn’t raining anymore. Now it was just the cold, oncoming dark and cows we had to worry about.

After everyone calmed down enough to rationally ride again, we set off. We were about a 1/2 mile from the first en-cow-nter (sorry, I can’t heppit!), when we came across a young bull that wasn’t in the mood for any of our crap. It wasn’t about to let us pass, but we persisted in our harassment. While trying to get the stupid beast out of our way, it finally took off. The same way we were going.

So here we are, in the growing darkness, chasing a cow down some singletrack. We probably went another 1/2 mile before we got to a point where we could try and shoo the cow off the trail so we could pass. Well, all of us except Mandy got around the cow, and by now, that cow was PISSED OFF. Mooing and snorting it came after us, and we had no choice but to pedal on or deal with the consequences.

That cow could really move! I kept stopping to wait and see if the cow would stop chasing us, but it was ever so apparent that the cow was now running away from Mandy, who was trying to regroup with us. Well Mandy ran that stupid cow down for well over a mile. I kept them in sight for most of the time, but the cow was fianlly looking a bit haggard. We eventually  found a good spot to try and run the cow off the trail, which we ultimately did, regrouped with Mandy and took off again, because now that cow was REALLY mad, but too tired to do anything about it. You could see it meant to harm us in it’s eyes.

The trails down low were a lot dryer, and now we were out of the big mountains and into the foothills. We made some good time, but it was now a race against dusk. Durango was in our sights but we still had a long way to go. After bashing my pedals into rocks and logs for 10 miles, my EBB had been knocked out of position, and my chain was beginning to slip. Oh, and I had forgotten to bring that extra long 6mm wrench I always bring for just such an occasion. DAMN! Any extertion on the pedals and POP! Oh, this was going to take a long time….

When we finally got to the  trail egress it was as black, as, well, night. At this point I could only soft pedal, but this was OK, my superior coasting ability helped me get back to downtown Durango faster than anyone else in the group. Then I had a couple of blocks to walk uphill before I could softly pedal back to our place, where I was last in line for the shower.

I had mud in places I didn’t know mud could get to, like UNDER my eyelids. And yeah, I had a lot of mud “there” too… I never would have thought that I would have the wettest, muddiest epic ride this year in Colorado… Go figure… But I would do it again in a heartbeat!

More tomorrow!

The journey could almost be described as epic.

I hadn’t been awake for even seventeen minutes before I killed a deer with my car. Deer are so dumb for hanging out in the middle of the road, but it was me or them, and I’m sorry to say, I was going to make it Durango. The damage to the car was limited to my front right headlight assembly, which I guess is lucky for me.

The flight was uneventful, we even arrived early. We picked up all of our stuff which also miraculously arrived, got our car, picked up our traveling companion and then we got on the road.

We had a nice late lunch break in our 7 hour trip at this very unlikely stop just outside of Salida. The fare was eastern food or western food. Pad Thai or burgers. Weird, but very tasty.

We arrived at our place at 7, tired, hungry and ready to sleep, but we rallied and met up with these goons at the Ska Brewing Company, where a majority of the post race shenanigans will go down on Saturday.

There is a lot of cool stuff happening there besides the really great beer.

The next step is to pick up the bikes from Hermosa Tours, forage for food and go ride!

I figured that while I am in the air and on the road, I’d pass along some very important information regarding the Niner Jet 9.

For those that don’t already know, Niner has issued a recall of this frame, and here is the information on how to deal with this issue direct from the horse’s mouth:

We have been very hard at work analyzing the issues with the Jet 9 so that we could fully understand the warranty cases we received to provide a definitive solution. This analysis included destructive testing, metallurgical study and FEA computer modeling. Using these methods we examined the quality of the base metal, filler material, heat affected zone of the weld, structural design and finish quality of the frames. We built over 20 new prototypes and tested them in every way imaginable.

In light of test results and after many hours of discussion on how best to serve our loyal customers, we decided to voluntarily recall Jet 9 frames with serial numbers from P8071682 to P8400454. These frames risk welding defects in the front and rear triangles that may lead to a premature failure of the frame. Unfortunately, there is no way to visually check for these weld defects. We must require that you stop riding the frame immediately because a failure could occur at any time. We ask that you communicate this to your JET 9 customers ASAP and ask them to stop riding the frame immediately because of possible failure..

We cannot overstate our concern in regards to these issues, and are investing significant portion of company resources into correcting the issue in the most expedited manner. Niner puts a lot of care into producing bikes that we are proud to put our name on. Our goal is to provide excellent customer service and we realize that ths recall is a huge inconvenience. The amount of time we have put into this testing process has caused production delays, leaving orders unfilled. We know that customers spent hard earned money on a Niner and now we are asking that you to send the frame back for replacement. For some people this is a second time. We cannot begin to explain how sorry we feel about this, but we promise we will make things right and thank you for your purchase, understanding and support.

2. THE SOLUTION

Instead of continuing work on an interim solution using the current Jet 9 frame, we decided to move ahead with a complete redesign. We developed many new features for the R.I.P. 9 and W.F.O. 9 frames that will greatly enhance the new Jet 9:

• Tapered head tube to accept new 80-100mm tapered forks

• Hydro-formed tubes for added stiffness without increasing weight

• Forged frame pieces for added stiffness

• Same great geometry and travel as the previous Jet 9

The bottom line: Every current owner of a Jet 9 under the voluntary recall will have the option of receiving a replacement frame (front and rear triangle). Your new frame will be reassembled with your current linkages and shock before we ship it to you.

We are already in the prototyping process for the new Jet 9, but delivering the redesigned model will take some time to accomplish. We hope to start shipping new frames to customers in late Winter or early Spring 2010. This could be at long as 6 months from now. We understand this is simply not a viable option for many of you. In effort to accommodate varying customer needs, we offer several options detailed below.

3. YOUR FRAME REPLACEMENT OPTIONS (menu bar)

Option 1 (Available until October 31st)

I want to keep riding and use this opportunity to grow the quiver - Purchase a different NINER frame at an extreme discount. Ride your new bike while you wait to receive your free replacement Jet 9 frame. In the long run, you end up with two bikes at a really good price.

Special Discount Pricing:

R.I.P. 9                    $800 (discount of $999)

ONE 9/S.I.R. 9        $300 (discount of $549)

AIR 9/ M.C.R. 9       $300 (discount of $499)

E.M.D. 9                  $150 (discount of $349)

The Fine Print: To take advantage of this special discount pricing, we must have the JET9 returned to us and in our hands before a frame ships out.  We want to get these frames of the trails ASAP so these silly prices hopefully are some motivation.

Option 2

I would rather own a R.I.P. 9 – Make the permanent switch to a RIP 9 at no charge. No replacement Jet 9 frame will be shipped.

Option 3

I have the patience of a saint. I can wait. – Receive a $150 gift certificate towards Niner gear while you wait to receive your free replacement Jet 9 frame.

4. CREATE A RECALL CASE FILE

For the fastest response, we are advising customers to create their ticket directly through our online system. Frames will be fulfilled in a first come first served basis.

1. In the upper right corner of www.ninerbikes.com , click on Niner Store

2. In the upper right corner click Register or Log In. If you have not

registered with us before, please create an account.

3. Click on My Account

4. Click on Contact Support

5. Under Subject type in Jet 9 Recall

6. Enter your phone number

7. Under Product type in Jet 9 and then press the tab key. This will bring up a list of Jet 9 frames below, please select your frame from the list.

8. Under Case Type, select Jet Recall.

9. Enter the serial number located on the bottom bracket shell of your frame.

10. Please include ALL of the following information in the message box:

1. Primary Contact / Company

2. Shipping Address

3. Choice of Jet 9 Recall Frame, if applicable (size and color)

4. Choice of Discount Frame, if applicable (size and color)

5. Choice of R.I.P. 9 Exchange Frame, if applicable (size and color)

6. Choice of Gift Certificate towards Niner gear

7. Credit Card Number and Expiration Date, Billing Address including Zip code

11. To finish, hit the Submit Button.

A confirmation email will be sent to you and our recall team verifying that your case has been submitted. It will also contain instructions about how to return your recalled frame. Please follow the instructions carefully to ensure prompt handling of your case.

Thanks,

Niner Bikes

While this is a bit of a disappointment, I think that Niner has stepped up to the plate, and they’re dealing with this issue in an exemplary fashion. I know that my replacement Jet will be just as baddass as Bad Horsie was.

… and two is for the show, why can I not seem to be able to get ready to go go go!

After a nice relaxing weekend, it is time to start getting things in order for my prolonged absence from the shop. Aaron is the man in charge, and I know he is up to snuff. I’ll still have full email and internets access throughout the trip. This means, that short of a few hiccups, I can still do business in a practically seamless fashion. It will be like I’ve never left. Technology is cool.

The relaxing weekend in question was our annual Burke mountain biking weekend. Now in it’s tenth year, attendance is at an all time high. It started with a small group of friends, which grew to a few more good friends, and then everyone started having kids. It is a logistical nightmare to plan for such an event, but it is so worth it.

Picture 3 days of riding bikes all day, then having a big feast with family and friends who are practically family, and maybe a few to several cocktails. And a keg of Switchback. Let us not forget Shaun’s margaritas.

Mandy even had fun

JayPro pretty much sums it up.

Joey on the way up to J-bar

G-train on the J-bar

Now its crunch time. There is unpacking and packing still to be done. What clothes to bring? What am I forgetting? What will my costume for the race be? I hate packing for trips. Especially far away trips that require me to bring lots of stuff. I forgot to pack my underwheres for SSAZ, which I didn’t find out until too late. Thank goodness for Target.

While making sure that I have remembered to bring absolutely everything, you can rest assured that our beverages will stay cool!

And if you are really lucky, you might get one of these

Does anyone recognize the ship on the shirt?

SSWC is looming.

I still have to make some definitive tire choices as my bike needs to be in a box and on it’s way to Durango no later than Wednesday. I haven’t managed to figure out what gear I want to run either, but part of me just wants to say “screw it”. I have a 35-21t set up, on old XTR M952 cranks. They are creaky, but still good, plus the OG Spot Brand Spiderless 35t front cog is practically a bike geek’s collector’s item. I also have a Boone 21t rear cog, which I am not about to give up so lightly either. What to do…?

The whole tire thing is a problem for me as I have an entire shelf of tires that I like to put on my bike at any given time. I run Nevegals pretty much exclusively on my “fun” bikes – bikes that I set up one way and forget about. They work awesome here, but out there, I know I have something on the shelf that is better, or at least faster, and maybe even lighter. I may go back to my “dry” set up that I used in AZ, or I may go back to old faithful.

Everything else though, is pretty much set in stone.

The wheels will be my “prototype”  I9 Classic SS hubs laced to Stan’s Arch rims with DT Aerolite spokes. Yeah, Aerolites. For those that don’t know, they are bladed, and are typically found on road bikes. They are 100g lighter per wheelset when compared to similarly built wheels with standard spokes, and I’ve found them to work very well for me so far. This event will really put them to the test.

This seat and seatpost have held my fat ass up ever since this bike was new and ding free, so no real reason to change a good thing.

I was very generously given a nice new set of Magura Marta SL brakes by master Magura tech guru Jude Monica. I have always liked and traditionally used Magura brakes pretty exclusively for several years, but when the Avids came out, I sort of faded into their camp. Aaron gave me the full on pro set up. Mine have Magura’s performance pads, which hit really hard, making stopping a one finger affair. I feel it gives a little less modulation, but damn these things stop you fast. 180mm rotor front, 160mm rear. I still really like Maguras… I could easily be swayed back…

The front of the bike has a Reba Team on it. I’ve been super happy with the performance of the newest Reba platform, and I have several at work in my stable. I really like the tuneability of the dual air spring, and the Black Box damper has allowed me to find the sweet spot when dialing in the high speed compression adjustment. It’s great for riding the singlespeed, and I pretty much have mine set up in a way where I don’t mess with it during a ride.

I was also very generously given a few pairs of grips by Jeff Kerkove of Ergon, one of which is now on the bike. I had been using the GX-1, but have made the move to the GX-2. The big difference is the little carbon flavored bar end. My bars are the same width, but these extra little hand holds really make the difference when climbing, and we all know there is going to be a lot of climbing in my future.

The bars are my ever present Easton EC70 Monkey Lite low rise bars, this time left at their full 660mm width. A Thomson stem holds it all together.

Purple King headset, 2009 vintage (heh heh heh, sorry G-Ted). Look at it shine under that black stem!

I’m feeling really good about the bike. Despite my physical setbacks I’ve had this year, I think I am as prepared as I can possibly be for this trip. I know the bike is going to be up to task. With the exception of the wheels and grips, Kermit is pretty much unchanged from the slap upside the head that was SSAZ09. He’s ready for battle.

I now I have no choice, but to fulfil the triple destiny of the single speed. Pedal. Walk. Stop.