Travis, or T-Vo as we sometimes call him, is one of our local riders. Not only does he have a naturally cool “mountain bike name”, he is also one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He’s a dyed in the wool singlespeeder, even though he has been spotted messing around on full suspension geared bikes from time to time.

By day, Travis is a coach for the National Guard Biathlon Team. For those that don’t know what that is, it’s a combination of Nordic skate skiing and rifle marksmanship. It’s somewhat of an obscure sport here in the states, but it’s as big as NASCAR in Europe. That is probably why they are so skinny… Besides that, Biathlon is not only a real sport, but an OLYMPIC sport, one that requires a great amount of fitness and discipline, and Travis has those in spades.

He is a regular at Wednesday Night Worlds, never too cool for school, and can always be found encouraging the younger riders to go for it in their races. His home turf is Saxon Hill, which is an amazingly fun area I have recently rediscovered. And while we didn’t have an “official” team last year, Travis (along with a few others) was always out there flying the B29 colors. We’re really happy to have him aboard again this year.

Look for Travis, racing singlespeed at the Root 66 Race Series this summer, or come by Catamount and do some hot laps with him on Wednesday nights!

Again with the Star Wars.

After the quasi failure of Ridiculite, once again I was hankering for a One 9. The thing that really sent me over the edge was Mandy’s new One 9. It gave me such a rotten case of bike envy…

I call Ridiculite a failure because I had absolutely no interest in the bike. I mean, it was stupid light and all, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I knew that I could have my cake and eat it too if I made some changes, and change it up I did. While it no longer qualifies as Ridiculite, this bike is exactly what I hoped it would be, and you know what, it ain’t all that heavy either.

It’s a lot to look at, but I like it.

Here’s the spec,

• Reba Race, 100mm, Pushloc, Enduro seals
• Cane Creek 110 headset (totally custom – another post coming on this next week)
• Thomson stem and seatpost clamp
• Easton EC70 Monkeylite XC low riser bars and EC90 seatpost
• Ergon GX-2 grips
• WTB Devo saddle
• Avid Elixir 5 brakes, 185mm rotor front, 160mm rear
• Industry 9 wheels, geared rear hub, enduro front, Stan’s Arch rims
• Endless Fibonacci spacer kit
• Boone Ti 20t cog
• King Ti lockring
• SRAM PC891 chain
• Truvative Noir cranks, Black Box Ceramic BB, Boone Ti 32t chainring
• DT Swiss RWS wheel skewers
• WTB Weirewolf LT tires, for “out west” riding

I managed a quick spin on it over the weekend before the heavy rains came to make sure it’s working, and now it’s in a box somewhere heading to SSUSA in Tucson. That first real ride is going to be fun!

That’s right, even though it’s January and is raining cats and dogs here in the north east, it is time to start thinking about riding bikes.I am talking about the third annual Gravel Grinder in Waterbury VT, which will take place on April 18th.  Even though we have expanded the number of spots available to 150 riders, this event sells out every year. Don’t procrastinate, get signed up! Click on the banner link to the right, or right here.

Our first year (2008), we weren’t exactly sure what to expect, so we had planned on 50 riders. Well, the week before the ride, everyone decided to sign up, and I estimate we turned 30-40 people away, and we still ended up with 60 or so on the course.

View Gravel Grinder in a larger map

Last year, we increased the number of riders to 100, and again, we were over full by ride time. We ended up rolling 120 or so.

This year, we are sticking to 150 riders. It does become a bit of a chore to manage things at this level, and we want to keep the quality high, so there will be absolutely no exceptions. Not signed up? Not riding. I hate telling folks no, but I have to draw the line someplace.

There will also be a few changes to the route this year. I haven’t completely ironed them out, but I want to add a little more “adventure” to the main loop. It will be optional for the faint of heart. Look for course details to come in the following weeks.

We will have a yet-to-be-confirmed post ride meal provider this year, I’ll provide details as that shakes out, but I am very happy that this is in the works. Last year, I ran the two grills, and it was a bit overwhelming at times.

Any way you slice it, it’s going to be a great time.

Friday was spent playing hookey from work, and honoring our general manliness. Last year we had a very rambunctious outing to Jay Peak. This year’s location, Sugarbush VT.

I haven’t been here in a very long time. I used to go there a lot when I was learning to snowboard, and I’d forgotten how much fun it is. It is very spread out, and almost “out west” like, partly due to the fact that there is so much terrain, and you have to take a lift to get to the lift where you want to play. There are basically two ski areas, North and South, and they are connected by an intermountain chairlift.

For some of us, it was the first time out on skis or snowboard this year, so we did a few warm up runs on the South resort before heading into the backcountry. We headed into the woods shortly before lunch, our destination, Slidebrook. It’s an area that separates the North and South resorts, basically a big valley. It put us out on German Flats Rd, which connects the two resorts. Will, our tour guide, had stashed a little pre lunch snack in the woods near the road. We then hopped the bus to the North resort and ate lunch and drank PBRs!

After lunch, we played around at the North resort before ducking back into the woods. We went back into the Slidebrook watershed, and found some of the most incredible snow I’ve been on in recent memory. We all had a great time, and a big shout out goes to Shaun for making it all happen, and a big shout out to Will for hooking us up with tickets, beer, and serving as our personal resort guide.

My third One 9, yes third. How amazing is it that we live in a society where we can obtain and replace things so easily…

Seeing as how I already had a “fun” singlespeed, I thought I might try a “serious” one. One that pulled no punches. The whole concept of this bike was for it to be as light as possible, while still maintaining enough durability to hold up under my girth. Something I could “race to win” on, had I the fitness and stamina for such folly.

There really isn’t much on there that is suspect, and there isn’t much on there I wouldn’t or don’t already use on any given bike.

A perfect storm of lightness if you will. The result was a pretty stunning sub 18lb bike.

And yet I didn’t like it. It wasn’t Red 5 or even Red 5.1, in fact, it wasn’t even anything I wanted to ride. I got rid of it almost as soon as I built it. I had a handful of serious rides on it, and felt that it was just too light for me. It’s a preference thing, I like light, but I don’t have to have the lightest anything.

The real problem was that I didn’t actually build it the way I wanted. It’s not as dumb as it sounds, despite the fact that I selected every single part on that thing. Everything was a compromise on this bike. I wanted the Atomic Blue frame, but went with Raw as it was something like 30g lighter (apparently blue paint is heavy). I wanted a suspension fork but went rigid for the weight savings. I wanted Avid brakes but chose the lighter Formulas. I wanted I9s, but the Kings were 10g lighter, and so on and so forth.

Was this a case of Strike 3, I’m out?

I was going to prattle on about bikes today, but now I’m not.

Over the last few months, I have had a little more free time to cruise other people’s blogs. One of those new blogs I have started haunting every day, is the very amusing blog of Thom Parsons. Thom is a spry young feller I met for the first time halfway up the ridiculous climb up to Raider Ridge in Durango at SSWC09. He had just woken up from a mid hike siesta, and had spied some of our crew in the B29 colors.

He perked up and asked if George was around. Apparently he had seen this blog before, and knew of our awesome 29er prowess. Well, wasn’t he embarrassed when he saw me. I arrived on the scene about 20 minutes later, where someone took this awful picture. Sadly, I was recovering from a very uncomfortable Trundle-ectomy, and wasn’t in my best shape. Unless you count Homer Simpson as a shape.

I, on the other hand, was horrified that there was not in fact ” a Cure” waiting for me just around the corner. They lied to me!

Well, we made nice and all, and eventually Thom rode away from us with the grace of one of those gazelle like things you see on the Discovery Channel. Or maybe the grace of a Unicorn, not sure, I was still looking for the Cure.

Well, now it’s late January. Thom has professed to a temporary lifestyle of sloth and hibernation. It’s a New England thing. I get it. I live here too, and it sucks sometimes. But fat you are not my friend, and I’d be willing to bet, that you could still kick my ass in a race to a freshly opened box of DuDos Munchkins.

My little glimmer of hope got a little bit better when Thom announced he was headed out to SSUSA in Tucson. SWEET! Someone else I can gripe about the crappy New England weather and getting fat with. He has also since decided to add 19 gears to his bike, which is something I applaud him for, because now his “singlespeed cred” has dropped down one level closer to mine.

And hopefully he’ll bring his singlespeed to Arizona, and not his new XX equipped steed (which I hear he has named Pegasus). Either way, I’ll be looking forward to crossing paths with him again.

If you don’t want technology to move forward, and you fear change, then you may as well stop reading here.

Picture borrowed from the Hagoromo blog

The latest rumblings around the web are the new 20 and 30 speed mountain bike groups that have just leaked out. Shimano and SRAM reportedly have new groups coming out for the 2011 model year. SRAM has updated the once top of the food chain X0 to a sweet looking 2×10 offering, and Shimano has updated it’s XTR line with a 10 speed cassette, and a double or a triple (really?) crank option.

Picture borrowed from the Hagoromo blog

Maybe a little sour grapes for SRAM getting the 10 speed jump on them, “Oh yeah? Well we got 400 speeds!”, but it’s also rumored that 10 speed will might make it all the way down to the SLX level.

Back in the day, when things shifted to 9 speed, there was a huge outcry from the “retro-grouch” crowd, stating that 9 speed was ridiculous, unnecessary, and far inferior to the 7 and 8 speed drivetrains that preceded it. Blah blah blah… These are the same folks that refuse(d) to give up thumb shifters, cantilever brakes, square tapered bottom brackets and threaded headsets. Well, to each his own I say. There is no real right or wrong when it comes to stuff like this, although many people are more than happy to share their opinions on this subject with anyone within earshot, especially those that will tell  you that these sort of components have no place in mountain biking.

They are certainly entitled to their opinions, as are the rest of us, but I feel we are also entitled to draw our own conclusions as well. The fact of the matter, is that it is almost impossible to stop progress. New products and new technology are what drives this world.

It’s why houses are better than caves.

Why Bic lighters are better than rubbing 2 sticks together.

Why shoes are better than bare feet.

Why riding a bike is better than walking (or running or driving a car, for that matter).

Without progress, mountain biking would not be what it is today.

I was an early adopter of 9 speed. I worked at a shop back then, so it was fairly easy for me to make this jump. It can be an expensive proposition for a major drivetrain upgrade, which is a difficulty for some. But, as the technology gets refined, it tends to cost less to reproduce, and finds its way from the high end to the more reasonably priced groups over time. Ten years later, and there is no high end 7 or 8 speed componentry available. It’s all 9 speed now. And, as you can imagine, this makes some people angry. People love their bikes, and I guess that having the big companies force new technology on them equates to having their bikes unwillingly changed right underneath them.

Well, guess what, that high end train is calling “all aboard”, so you better start thinking about making that jump form 9 to 10 speed. Or if you haven’t even gone 9 speed yet, go directly to 10, because soon, 9 speed will be yesterday’s news.

OR

You can ride a singlespeed and forget all about that technology altogether!

After pining away for my first One 9, I decided that I just needed to get another one. This time, I was able to get a large frame, which suited me much better. I upped the spec a bit more, this time with Easton carbon seatpost and bars and my first WTB Devo saddle. The fork was a White Brothers Magic 100, and the wheels were the first set of Royale Single Speed wheels I built (which are also still in action).

I was finding that the stitching on my Rocket V SLT was irritating my nether regions, so I changed it out for the Devo, which is wide, short and flat, but most importantly, devoid of any stitching on the top. I also swapped my brakes out for some Avid Juicy Carbons.

I felt that it was important that this bike wear a Rogue bottle cap on its YAWYD, as Luke Skywalker was the leader of Rogue Squadron. Sad, I know…

Sizewise the bike fit much better, but due to all the new 29er product that was hitting the market, I didn’t ride it as much as I wished. Red 5.1 was picking up the singlepseed duties, Kermit was rolling as a 2×9, but I was getting the most miles on the Niner RIP9, testing out the various new tires and forks etc.

At some point I decided that Kermit was going to be the sole singlespeed of the fleet, and it was time for Red 5.1 to fly away. That was a rough decision to make, but I had moved into the new shop, needed some cash, and frankly, it wasn’t getting ridden. It sold almost immediately, and as I put it in the box to send to the new owner, I knew I would again regret my decision.

Winter has a way of stretching time out to unbearable proportions. It’s the one-two punch of lack of daylight and  bone numbing cold. It feels as if I have not seen the sun in weeks, the last time I saw blue sky, it was 4°, courtesy of an Arctic air mass that had settled over the region.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a big glowing orb in the sky on Saturday AND the temps were nestled right around 30°. Bike ride time! I didn’t have long, as it gets pretty dark here around 4, and I had the shop open until 2, but it was enough time to get a nice spin to Jonesville and back.

Well, something went wrong. My crank bolt had somehow managed to loosen, making pedaling somewhat of a nightmare. It didn’t come all the way out, but I had no way of fixing it out on the road. Certain gear combos were OK, but they were the high spinny ones. I limped back to the shop, the bike thankfully in one piece. Gonna have to fix that…

It seems as if it was a weekend theme, things going wrong. The hard drive on my laptop failed, leaving me scrambling to make sure business can continue as usual.

But, a silver lining has appeared. We have opened the registration for the 2010 Gravel Grinder. Spots are limited to 150 riders this year, and it has already begun to fill up. You can click this link, or the banner over to the right to get signed up.

The main route this year is going to be a little different to keep things interesting, but the bonus loop on Cobb Hill will remain an option. There are still many details of the course to be worked out, but I will provide updates as things develop.

Sign up!

Unfortunately, it seems as if the mothership has flown away. My laptop has decided it’s all done after 5+ years of diligent service. It is not playing anymore. Kaput. Done.

There may be hope of some sort of resurrection, but I’m not feeling that lucky. It got backed up pretty often, and most of the goings on are web based, so it’s more total inconvenience than a total loss. But it does mean that I might find myself buying a new machine in the not too distant future, and lets face it, these machines ain’t cheap.

I do feel lucky that I have been able to run my business in a very portable and modular way, and on my own terms. This is just a small bump in the road, and even more fortunately, not the end of the world. Not by a long shot. I’m still able to seamlessly blog about my woes, and I’ll still be able to ship all the orders we have received over the weekend.

You were going to get a bonus post about a cool bike ride I had yesterday, along with pictures, but sadly the pictures aren’t available right now.

We’ll be back up to full speed in a couple of days.