I guess this saga begins a long long time ago, on a dusty “24 Hours” race course in the old Pueblo. I was working for a small San Diego bike company that supported a 24 hour racing team.

We had driven the team trailer from San Diego to Tucson to support Team 24 during the 24hrs of the Old Pueblo. That particular weekend was filled with all sorts of shenanigans, but more importantly I got to meet a spry young fella by the name of Rich Dillen. Although he had suffered a crash, and banged up his knee, he was still in good spirits.

I was taken by his particularly sarcastic nature, and his thirst for beer. He seemed like good people to me. We spent a few hours hanging out in the back of the trailer, observing and commenting on all the things going on around us.

So, that was the first time I met Mr Dillen. I had no idea I’d run into him again seven years later in northern Georgia, at Fool’s Gold.

And then again, one year later at SSWC in Durango. Well, that time was a little more on purpose.

And now, I am pleased to say that we are playing a supporting role in Team Dicky’s  quest to make great bike race. He comes with a level of integrity that is rare in this world. Read his blog. Cheer him on. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to post some video of his sick dance moves!

We’ve been away from the mothership for the last few days, visiting family, gorging ourselves on things like ham and cheese, chocolate and other such bad for you food stuffs that are only readily available during the holidays. I haven’t even turned on my laptop until just now! Quite refreshing really.

In this time, we have managed to log over 1000 miles on the car, 27 on the bikes, 4 big family dinners, and 3 additional Chirstmas’s, presents and all. I’m really glad we’re finally back home.

We dragged our ‘cross bikes down to PA to stave off the holiday bloat. I hadn’t ridden my bike in 3 weeks to the day. I would say “ridden my bike outside” but that should be fairly obvious, as I still have yet to make good on my threat of riding the trainer. We made a 3 hour ride out of a series of back road loops that featured beautiful scenery, and some evil nasty punchy climbs. It felt great nonetheless, and it reminded me that I should pretend that I want to finish SSUSA/AZ in under 8 hours come February.

And now, I’m dead sure that the webosphere is abuzz with the news that Bike 29 has officially taken on an unprofessional athlete. Our very first “high profile” rider.

I had to sacrifice Mandy’s Christmas present to afford him (BMW 530iX sport wagon), but I feel the investment is going to pay off. His dance moves are second to none, I have never seen anyone pop-and-lock like he does. I hope he is as much fun to drive in the snow.

Oh well…

More tomorrow!

I’d like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.

We’ll be back next week with a preview of what is to come in 2010 for Bike 29!

I have always sort of looked at this blog more as a creative outlet rather than a sales tool. I’m somewhat creative, but I rarely have time to paint or compose symphonies anymore, so now I write my thoughts and views for the world to see. In other words, I have tried to keep it personal, with less emphasis on the business side of things.

But, Bike 29 is a business, and one that is very dear to my heart. I feel that it would be wrong of me to not let my readership know of some stuff I have that needs a new and loving home. Here are some of the bikes I have on my showroom floor that need your love.

Any interested parties should call me at the shop or email me for details on any of these bikes. Tell a friend.

Tire! Tire! Tire!

I love tires. Tires are one of the most important pieces of equipment on your bike. The right tire can make all the difference in the world. They are what holds you to the ground.

I have my “out west” tires, the WTB Weir Wolf LT, a high volume, low tread and fast rolling tire. They are pretty awesome in dry conditions, horrible in mud, but surprisingly good on icy roads. I’ll generally run these on winter outside rides, at about 16 psi (tubeless of course). I’ll be running these again in Arizona.

And I now have a new favorite set of “at home” tires. Over the last couple of months, I have found them to be a very good all-rounder in our constantly variable VT conditions, possibly eclipsing my perennial favorite, the Nevegal. The WTB Wolverine feels as fast rolling as the WW LT, but it’s deeper knobs give way more bite in more conditions.

In general, I am a big fan of WTB’s rubber.

From the previous post “Ten Things“.

If you are just tuning in and are too lazy to click the link above to find out what I am rattling on about, I had changed 10 things on Kermit from my Durango set up, and challenged you readers to find them. There were a couple of attempts, and some sass, but no one guessed them all. I also I threatened that I would go on and on about these 10 things, and here it is.

At the very least, it gives me something to talk about while the weather totally sucks.

So Thing 1 was the brakes.

I had some Magura Marta SL brakes on there for SSWC09. The Marta is a lightweight and powerful brake. It also has some cool wavey rotors, and they are choc full of German engineering. They use mineral oil, which is non-toxic, and doesn’t ruin paint, clothing or any other surface other than the insides of the brake it might get on. They are also pretty expensive.

For the longest time I was an avid Magura user*. When I raced downhill, I used the HS33 hydraulic rim crushers, then moving on to the Gustav as the frames and forks were invented to put them on. I was there when the first generation Louise was plagued with brake pads that wouldn’t stay put, and I was there when the near perfect Marta came out. Even though the brakes were sometimes finicky, I was always very pleased with the performance and feel at the lever when they were working correctly.

Then, as if by chance,I managed to score a set of the very first Avid Juicys. At the time, I was not “connected” with the cycling industry, so I considered this a huge prize. Little did I know, that a few years later, the Juicy brake, and all of it’s clever technology would make in my life.

What sort of clever technology? The two big ones are the nifty drip free bleeding, and the easy to set up and align conical washer system on the mounting bolts. The Maguras were a little messier to bleed, and they required the use of shims when mounting. To me, shims = hokey, and not becoming of such an expensive brake set.

So I made the switch, and as I opened the shop, acquired new bikes, I spec’d the less expensive and easier to deal with Avid. My job was/is to fix other people’s bikes, and I had no time to fiddle with mine.

A lot of my friends are using the Martas, as they are great brakes. Recently they updated the design, where they used to be the the “old” IS mounts, they are now 74mm post mount. I say “old” because it seems that 74mm is the new Industry Standard. This makes them way easier to deal with, effectively eliminating shimming to get them to line up.

So I decided to give them another chance. I rode them for 2 months as “I trained” for SSWC (who was I kidding?), participated in, and returned from. Again, I was very pleased with the performance, and was very surprised to see that they had indeed worked all of the kinks out of the design. Save for one. Lever reach.

I have somewhat short fingers, and the new design kicked the lever blade a few millimeters too far for my stubby fingers. While the reach is adjustable on these brakes, it isn’t quite adjustable enough for my needs, no matter what I did. So I replaced them with some Avid Elixir Rs I’d been using on various test bikes. The R stands for Reach in this case, and I can get the lever exactly where I want it without changing the feel of the brake. Plus the Elixir has a TON of power, and is now my brake of choice.

The reach issue actually one piece of a puzzle that was bothering me in Durango, a compound set of issues that I wasn’t really expecting, and took a couple of big rides for me to figure out. I’ll expand upon it more as I bore you to death with the next 9 things. That is, of course, if you keep reading past the title…

*Did you see what I did, I was punny!

What normally happens this time of year, is the onset of “bike ennui”. This is the term I have given to the “what the hell am I going to do until spring?” feeling I get starting in December. It’s sort of like cabin fever, and can drive some people crazy.

I choose to focus this energy in a positive way, and I like come up with ideas that I think will be super rad for the bike when I can ride it again. Last year, I had Ridiculite. and while it wasn’t a total success, there were aspects of it that were very satisfactory. The wheels were one of the brightest discoveries, in fact, I am still rolling on my bladed spoke creations. And all of it is a learning experience, and as we all know, experience is the key. If you don’t try new things, you may not know what you’re missing.

Either way you slice it, it is way better than vacuuming the shop.

This just in…

Here are some glamour shots of the new Niner Carbon Air 9.  The price has been set at $1899, with deliveries on the mediums to be late winter with larges to follow shortly thereafter. The smalls and XLs will be early spring. We’ve been taking deposits on these for a few weeks now, and we are strongly encouraging anyone who is thinking about this bike to take the plunge. I will almost guarantee that there will not be any extra of these bikes of this first batch.

Get yours right here.

And while I wait for mine, I’ve got another project up my sleeve. I’m in no hurry, so I’ll be teasing you bit by bit.

No, no, not the training, I still haven’t decided if I’m going to or not. No, it is now officially not kidding around winter. After a miserable Saturday of 11° and high windyness, it is now also snowing to beat the band. It wasn’t all bad though, on Sunday we did manage a small hike to tucker the dog out before welcoming the spirit of the Christmas into our home. We got our tree, and now the house smells pine fresh.

The TV/DVD equipment has been set up downstairs, so should I (ever) decide to ride inside, that is one less thing I’d need to worry about.

The plain truth is, I like my riding outside more than anything else, even if it is colder than Hoth. I prefer it when its warm though, and I am very much looking forward to SSAZ/SSUSA. It is indeed one and the same event, although the event director needs to put some info up on a website or something. The race will be the same as SSAZ of 2009, which was about 48 miles with 1000000 feet of climbing. I’m looking forward to being warm and outside on my bike, but knowing my luck, it will probably snow in Tucson.

We could still have snow free weather in PA over the holidays. Fingers crossed!

There are a couple of cool projects in the hopper. We are nearing a finalized new “Team Kit” which looks pretty sweet. There is also a cool plan being discussed which I hope to break news on this week too, and it would be pretty big deal for us. Stay tuned.

Wouldn’t you just know it? Just when my knee stops being a pain in the rear, and I was starting to get fired up about riding in the cold, we get hammered with 8+” of wet heavy snow. I think it will be a while before we see the trails again, unless of course there is something to this whole global warming thing.

I used to get excited about the snow, but this year I did not buy a pass at the mountain (cut backs you know, this whole economy thing), and well…

I guess it will be time for me to “winterize” Kermit, which basically means put the rigid fork on. I have a regimen of hill repeats I keep threatening to do. I still haven’t decided if I am actually training for 2010 or not.

And I’ll have to put the thick rubber on the back of the roadie and mount it in the trainer, just in case I decide to make good on the threats I’ve made in my head about riding it 3 times a week.

It might be interesting to hit SSAZ/SSUSA with a little bit of fitness, but we’ll just have to see.