Well, Saturday came, and we had the bikes and the time, and despite the 50 mph winds, we decided to go for another ride. This time we went to our usual PA haunt, Salisbury. The conditions were just about perfect, with the exception of all the leaves down on the trail. Deciphering the “line” was tricky at best, and it became more about guessing which rock you couldn’t see would mess you up the least.

I was not riding up to my usual poor standards, but I attribute that to the loagy feeling one gets after 4 Thanksgiving meals in a row…

… but Mandy was riding well.

There were times that I thought I would catch something lurking just beneath the leaves that would end my ride with extreme prejudice. It didn’t stop me from having a good time though.

We always get slightly lost and turned around at least once when we are here, and this time was no exception. There were some times when we had to stop and get our bearings, and even a couple of times when we had to stop and retrace our steps, but it never mattered because the place is so much fun to ride. Oddly enough, it was the first time that we had both brought our singlespeeds. I always have such a good time in Salisbury.

Despite my ineptitude behind the bars, Kermit was well up to task. I’ve done a bit of tinkering with the set up since Durango. Some of the changes are pretty obvious, others, not so much. I count 10 things. Can anyone spot the differences?

This Thanksgiving was spent down at the in-laws in PA. We loaded up the family truckster and headed south on Wednesday afternoon in a futile attempt to beat holiday and rush hour traffic. We had a Thanksgiving Day ride to crash, one that was put on by the Lehigh Mountain Bikers. They had the 99th Annual Thanksgiving club ride, which was held on South Mountain, an area we had yet to ride.

We got to the trail head parking lot and were surprised to see about 40 or so riders getting ready. Spirits were great despite the gloomy and wet conditions. This is quite a turn out (at least in my opinion) for a club ride, especially on a holiday. We met some of the folks, and got our act together to head out.

We had brought our singlespeeds, the guy right next to us said we were going to be sad, as the trials were all up and down. We told him it was OK, we were from Vermont. He didn’t seem convinced.

The trails themselves were actually very good, well defined, and peppered with the typical PA rock gardens. It required a lot of skill and measured power to get over a lot of them, a feat that was made that much harder with the huge conga-line of riders attempting to ride over the slick wet rocks. I’d say that if it had been dry, it would have been a lot easier, but anyone who has spent time on PA axeheads knows that luck is about 60% of the equation. The trail traffic made it difficult to keep your speed and momentum up. I kept waiting for the riders to get far enough ahead of me so I could have a clear shot at some of the trickier sections, the slinky effect would be in action all morning.

This isn’t to say the the riding wasn’t fun. In fact, I could think of no better way than to spend the morning, riding new trails, and meeting new people. Lots of the riders had been to Vermont, recently spending time at the Kingdom, or going downhilling at Killington. Hopefully, some will look us up on their next trip north.

At one point in the ride, the inevitable happened, crash time. I waited for an extremely rocky sidehill before I flew over the handlebars. It all happened in slow motion, which was good, as my cat like reflexes allowed me to escape serious injury by leaping off of it while it was still flipping over. I shudder to think about the carnage that would happen if I were to land on the big pile of pointy rocks I was headed towards. I landed on my feet about 5 feet downhill from Kermit, the bars spun all the way around, dirt jammed in the left grip and both water bottles ejected. A yard sale if you will. On my way off the bike, I used my left pedal to expose varying depths of fresh skin from just under my knee to just above my ankle. Fortunately, that was extent of my mishaps for the day.

I really enjoy this sort of riding, it’s very challenging, and I am most thankful to have another trail option this close to the in-laws as we are there fairly often. It takes a lot of effort to maintain trails, and the Lehigh Riders do a fantastic job. On our way back to the car, we came across this weird little area, either it was an art project or a hippie commune.

Whatever it was, it was very strange and creepy, but in a cool kind of way. You don’t normally find stuff like this in the woods.

After the ride, it was time for the “big dinner” and a nap.

It was seriously like we were on some sort of team of something.

It was a good weekend for riding. The weather wasn’t outrageously cold, although it was definitely colder than it initially seemed. Dave, Aaron and I got our act together for a Sunday morning spin. Our 30 mile route took us out to Huntington and back on mostly gravel roads. Dave had to break in his new Salsa La Cruz, and this was a perfect ride for such a bike.

We did the ride at a blistering pace, averaging 14 mph, which I found to be pretty impressive considering there was a cold north headwind that seemed to be there no matter what direction we were going. There was even a little bit of climbing, 1669ft on our lollipop loop.

We saw a few folks out hunting, and we even came across this little guy.

Fortunately, no one had to take a tomato sauce bath.

What another glorious day to skip out of work and play bikes.  My winter shop hours are sort of skewed in my favor that way, and with temps hovering in the mid 40s, it became necessary to ride. It also is our good friend Cris’ birthday, so we had to go. Cris owns Factotum Designs, and does all of our shirts for us. He is super good and always gets us our stuff on time, even when I am being a pain in the ass and need 12 shirts done with complicated artwork in a hurry. If you need stuff printed, he’s your guy.

Town Loops is the only place nearby where it is semi safe to ride during hunting season, and it is always a good time. Cris, Mandy, Seamus and myself went for about an hour or so. With the shadows getting longer, and gunshots ringing out from various distances we kept the chatting to a minimum and got the ride done.

Seamus loves his orange coat, it’s crucial this time of year, because he is kind of deer colored.

Another crucial piece of equipment I had yet to test out, was this bottle opener I have mounted on my bike. A birthday toast seemed like the right occasion. Cheers!

I will have to admit, that even I didn’t think you could fit that many in the tin.

The answer is 398 bottle caps. Most of them were Harpoon, followed closely by Sierra Nevada. There were quite a few High Life’s in there, a couple of PBR, and even some Molson. What does that tell you? We like all kinds of beer, that’s what.

The winner guessed 396, and I’m waiting to hear back from him so I can send his prize – a pair of the best socks in the world.

Our own Blue, aka Joe (of Joe’s Trail fame) came in pretty close at 389, but I’m pretty sure he had something to do with some of those bottle caps in the first place. Nat correctly guessed that he had contributed 168 caps. Sadly, they both win nothing.

In other news, I have been doing a bit of clean up in the shop. Now that it is officially rifle season, being in the woods is pretty much a bad idea. Old man winter will also be visiting us before too long, so I’ve decided that some of the demo bikes will be set free.

The first is an XL RIP (08 vintage) in Hi Ho Silver. Included is a Truvative Stylo 2.2 crankset, XT front derailleur, a Pushed rear shock with the high volume air sleeve and a Chris King headset.

The second is a small RIP, with a Fluid 135, King headset, Easton EC90 seatpost and XT front derailleur. This bike you may recognize as Mandy’s, which it is, so you know that it has barely been ridden since she got her Jabberwocky last year.

Both frames are in really good shape, and they really need new homes. Give a call if you have any questions about either.

After a week away, I had quite a bit of catching up to do. Orders to ship, phone calls to return etc, I thank all of the patient folks out there for bearing with me during the last week. For some odd reason, the internet business seems to go gangbusters while I’m away. Maybe I should leave more often…

It’s been a while, but I have finally gotten around to organizing another giveaway:

Guess how many bottle caps are in this tin.

The rules? Simple. Send me an email (george w at bike 29 dot com) with the subject line “Bottle Caps” and your answer.

I will only accept 1 entry per person, so make it a good guess.

You will have until midnight PST on November 15th to submit your answer.

The person closest to the actual number (without going over) will win a spiffy new pair of Bike 29 wool socks! In the miraculous event that someone hits the correct number right on the head, they will also receive a cool mystery prize. I’ll announce the winner on Monday the 16th.

Happy guessing!

Recent weather and scheduling has left me very little free time to do any actual riding, but I did manage to sneak in a couple of quick rides to try and get a better first impression of what the new WTB Wolverine is all about.

On Halloween, we had a few hours of perfect riding weather, where I did ride, but on another bike completely. Then it all went downhill very quickly. Here is the scene during Trick or Treat, some sort of a squall rolled through and sent everyone running. Don’t worry, we still got lots of candy.

My first ride on trail was during the Cycle des Spectres, and while it wasn’t really a full on ride, I did get a glimpse at the capabilities of this tire while conditions were less than ideal. First off, we have a thick carpet of leaves on the trails, masking things like roots and rocks that can potentially knock you off your game. Then it was raining, making things that much more unpredictable. Add the fact that it was also night, and that my HID headlamp completely washes away any definition in the trail, and there we have the first ride.

The casing is big, much bigger than other claimed 2.2s I’ve run in the past. It isn’t exactly “light”. The ones on my bike are around 800g, which that puts them in the same weight range as the Nevegal that is perennially featured on most of my bikes. But, these are trail tires, and not necessarily something I’d use to race on. The sidewalls feel sturdy, and look as if they’d take a serious beating. They Stan’sed up nicely too, holding air immediately.

Going over wet off-camber roots was a little scary, there were times where I had forgotten which part of the trail I was on, but I was actually impressed at the grip, they stuck in places I was sure they’d slide out. These are fast tires too, much faster than the Nevegal.

I also managed a quick ride out on my proving grounds, the Stowe Town Loops. The trail conditions were pretty dry, punctuated by a few mud puddles. The terrain here is varied enough to get a good idea on how well a tire is going to work. You have all sort of roots, loose rock outcroppings, bridges, and a mix of pine forest and hardwoods, practically every type of object and trail surface is available here.

These tires did not disappoint. In fact, the only negative thing I have to say about them, is that I didn’t have them 6 months ago. They were very predictable, and I think that I have yet to truly understand what they are actually capable of. I tried as hard as I could to lean the tires as far over as I dared, but self preservation prevailed. There was an obscenely thick layer of fallen leaves, and I didn’t want to find myself in a situation where I might be on the ground suddenly. This is not to say I was riding timidly however, there were sections in the pines where there were no leaves, and you could lean and dig right in. I’m merely pointing out, that it felt like I could lean them a little bit harder if I needed to.

Climbing traction is good, as is breaking traction, and despite my best attempts to pick silly lines over rock and root infested side hills, the tires stuck like glue. I only slid out once, and that was due to me not really paying attention to what I was doing. Actually, I was riding quite poorly, and I am feeling the effects of my diminishing fitness. Offtober is a cruel month…

I still have to do some fine tuning to get the right tire pressure. I run my Nevegals around 32 psi, and that seems to be the magic number for my weight and riding style on my RIP or WFO. I started at 30 with the Wolverines, went down to 28, and I still think I could loose a bit more air.

The verdict? While I am looking forward to as many rides as I can get in before the snow flies with these tires, I think that they could easily be my new favorite. These tires are the sort that you can put on your bike, forget about, and count on them to deliver a high amount of performance in any given situation. They are fast, grippy, high volume, and they have a cool sounding name. What more could you want?