For the longest time, I have not been able to address the needs of the small but highly loyal group of Lefty fans. This has all recently changed. A small machine shop in Fresno CA has upped the ante, that among other things, is producing some very specific products for Lefty forks. I guess you can’t really call them forks, a strut is more apropos…

Anyway. The company is called Project 321, and they make a dead sexy Lefty hub. And they don’t stop there. They also make an improved hubcap and bolt kit, in 5 shiny anodized colors.

And Project 321 also makes a steerer tube conversion which will allow you to mount said “strut” on any bike equipped with a standard 1,1/8″ head tube. This is good news for a lot of people, including me, because now I don’t have to stand there looking dumb when Leftyfans come to the shop. I can actually help them now. Here is a Lefty on an Air 9 I recently installled.

Bike 29 team rider Emily Brock just had a custom Lynskey made, and it was built with a Lefty sized head tube (1.5″). I found the P321 crew while researching Cannondale hubs that I could get my hands on, which as it turns out, is not that easy without resorting to ebay. We were finally able to find something worthy to match up with the rear I9 hub of her stealth black race wheels (Crest rims with DT Aerolite spokes). I didn’t take any good pictures of those as they were needed ASAP, and we knew that we were going to be building a set of “practice” wheels for her, which are pictured below.

Just as soon as I can create the item and all the options, you will see the all new Bike 29 Southpaw Wheelset on the webstore. Tell all your left handed friends!

I’m not quite the crazy billboard wearing, doom spraying type, but here is that snow I keep telling  you all about.

No, those aren’t Stan’s Boogers falling from the sky, those are big wet snowflakes.

Needless to say, this is a little bit of a setback in terms of outside cycling, unless it gets really, really, really warm. Close to 2 feet fell, and it’s still coming.

MEH.

This just in!

Way back in October, I got an opportunity to throw a leg over one of these. I was duly impressed with the bike. And really I shouldn’t have been that surprised. This is after all, Fisher’s flagship race machine. It has seen several podiums at 2009 races under Fisher’s team riders for a couple of very good reasons.

It is light. This medium bike weighs just 24.05 lbs right out of the box.

It comes loaded with some pretty nice parts. They did not skimp out on the spec.

The frame is made of Trek’s OCLV carbon right here in the USA. OCLV is light and stiff. The parts consist of SRAM’s high end XO group, with red accents that really look good. The tubeless ready Bontrager Race X Lite wheelset uses a DT hub, white DT Comp spokes and the rotors are the new Centerlock Avid G3 model. The fork is a tapered steerer tube Fox FIT RLC, the rear shock is a custom tuned RP23.

I bet a lot of people are surprised to see that the SRAM XX group is not present. I was a little at first, but the price tag of this bike is a lofty $5400, and the XX group would have sent the price must closer to $6K, which for sure would turn people off.

The performance of the bike is nothing to balk at though. During my short time with it, I found the bike to be very stiff and responsive, and I would be hard pressed to say that there is anything that even approaches it’s capabilities.

The single biggest downfall with this bike is the availability. I ordered this one 5 months ago in October, I’m still waiting for my large, which is supposed to be ready mid-late March. If I was to order one today, it would still likely be a 6 month wait.

For those that are patient, the reward is a truly awesome bike, one that may even take you to a few podiums…

What can I say about this gentleman? Jay Pro was an early adopter of the big wheels, his first was a Salsa Dos Niner. Now rolling on several Niners, a Vassago Jabberwocky single speed, he has been off the kiddie wheels for about 4 years now.

Jay has never been one to back down from a challenge. He has a lot of really fast friends, typically found on the 23c side of things. He is our Token roadie, never to be messed with, and quite possibly, one of the biggest trouble makers in our bunch. To make matters worse, he has actually been training all winter.

Our kids have been friends as long as we’ve had kids.

Jay is a great friend. Fast as heck on a bike, he’s inspirational to those of us that want to attain his speed, a dad, a baby sitter (for adults too), and owner of a hot tub.

Look for Jay at regional EFTA races,Wednesday nights at Catamount and at back yard BBQs all over this summer.

Even though we are still in the throes of winter, it is time to start getting excited about spring. Mentally, this is the worst time of year for me, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but old man winter seldom relaxes his icy grip so easily. We are frequently blessed with random March and April ‘nor easter snow storms, leaving feet of snow each time, which prolongs the wait for sweet sweet singletrack.

This is why there is the Gravel Grinder. Think of it as a bike ride with a whole bunch of your new best friends. If you want to go fast, that’s OK, but it is a social event, so everyone should feel obliged to ride it at their own pace.

Nat I rode it in about 2:45 yesterday, although I did cut out the last hill (Blush). I’m currently thinking I might cut that one out for good, it doesn’t add a lot of distance, it’s all pavement, and you have to cross busy Rt 100 not once but twice. The fun:danger ratio is not that great, but I do have something planned to make up for it.

These developments I will make know as soon as I can.

One detail that is now official though, is that Frida’s Taqueria will be providing the post ride meal. I am very excited about this, not only because Josh (the owner of said establishment) is a friend, but because he makes some of the best food I have ever eaten. Anyone who attended the first Gravel Grinder will remember how good the food was, he was responsible for that too.

Now with his restaurant up and running, he will be providing us with some of the best Mexican food you will ever eat this far north.

It is important to sign up early to be guaranteed a spot. We are only allowing 150 riders, and we are already a little over a 1/3rd full. No day of sign ups this year. Sign up now!

I was going to take some pictures during the ride yesterday, but it was so damn cold. I reckon that when I left my house, it was about 23°, and it only got worse from there. There was a stiff north wind, snow flurries, mud, ice and all sorts of other unpleasantness. Still, 2:45 is a good time considering that it is still February.

I will upload our route just as soon as I can get my Garmin to talk to one of my computers again, until then, enjoy some aftermath pictures of my bike. My bottles froze about halfway through the ride.

Mandy has been hard at work on these for the last few weeks, but now I am pleased to say that we are going forward with this design. Up until now, this has been a super duper top secret project, that only a few people have seen. I love it.

We will have full-zip short sleeve jerseys, wind jackets and bibshorts, and I can’t wait to see them. The trigger has been pulled, and we are in the 6-8 week timeline before we receive them.

We should have a few extra jerseys available after we get the team kitted out, I’ll update on that once I know what is left.

During the ultra long blog saga “10 Things” , I alluded to some coming news on Thing 6. Well, now is the time.

Here is the Bike 29 Wise-Cracker. It fits in your headset spacer stack (1,1/8″), and comes in very handy when you need to open a post ride beverage. It does a very good job at keeping the bottle cap in good shape so you can proudly display your favorite beverage on your YAWYD. It can be had for $12.

Remember, good beer does not come in twist off bottles!

Matt has been riding in a B29 jersey for a couple of years now. He is some sort of machine, and can normally be found riding away from you, or on the podium of what ever race he just finished.

Matt rides a custom Moots YBB, and his training ride consists of either climbing up Lincoln Gap (100% grade, not kidding, it’s steep!) or Bristol Notch.

With the Mt. Snow race out of the picture, Matt is going to be concentrating on longer endurance type events. His favorite event of 2009 was the Pittsfield 666, and least favorite was the VT 50 (along with about 650 other people).

When not destroying the field on the climbs, he can be found ripping on his guitar in his two bands, Ringbone and The Liquid.

Returning to VT has revealed how soft I have become. I’m much more relaxed, but now totally unable to deal with the cold. I think back on the last week, and it is one of the best times I’ve ever had. And it was mostly off bike. Crazy.

photo: Dejay Birtch

… to this.

photo: my cold ass

I want my money back.

I’m still getting together my thoughts on the last week. What an amazing experience, despite returning in worse condition than I left. It was a much needed recharge. I have a lot of really cool pictures that I need to sort out, and I will get to it I promise.

The problem is, there is really no way to describe what happened. The madness of SSUSA/AZ has to be experienced to be understood. If this leaves you wanting more, well, you should sign up for SSAZ11, which will happen before SSUSA11. Then and only then might you start to understand. I mean, I could seriously write a book about everything that happened. If there are any lurking publishers out there that want to give me a fat advance for such a book, I’d consider it.

Let’s just say, that what goes on at SSUSA, stays at SSUSA.

I got to spend an extra few days in Tucson, in which time I got to make yet more friends. Folks I’d seen all weekend, but got to know over the next few days. Ohio Robb, whom Mandy thinks should really be called David, and Andrew from MT/AZ/NJ. And of course, I got to know one of my more enigmatic friends a little bit better, Dejay.

The four of us had a great 3 days together, be it geeking out on laptops on Dejay’s dining room table, going for rides, or the massive hike that almost got EPIC. We shared laughs, ate Mexican food and drank a few beers during this time. While it wasn’t necessarily the glossy drool inducing photos found in your favorite mountain bike magazine, to me, it was the very essence of what mountain biking means, sharing great experiences with friends.