Tire choices are all over the place. I myself have used several different tires on winter rides over the years and while I can’t say that any one is better than another, I’ve found several tires that have surprised me for various reasons.

“Back in the day” tire choices were limited. I had one set of tires, the WTB Motoraptor 2.1. This was a directional tire loosly based on WTB’s very popular Velociraptor front tire. I used this tire year round, and while I didn’t ride that much in the winter months, I did get on a handful of rides just to say that I rode all year long. These tires were just OK, but what did I have to compare them to?

The next tire that I found myself riding was the WTB WW LT. At this point I was riding more than once or twice a month, and I had made the jump to tubeless. This is where things started to click for me as far as winter tires go. Despite having a low tread pattern, these tires were pretty big. After experimenting with them a fair bit, I found I liked them at around 20 psi. The low tread was open enough to not get clogged up with slushy grit, and the low pressure allowed them to flatten out on the road surface. The rubber compound was hard enough to act like little traction spikes, and I ran these tires almost exclusively as my winter set up.

I have also tried using the Nano, with similar results as the Weirwolf, but would always find myself going back to the bigger tire. Sadly, WTB has decided to no longer produce this tire in the 29″ size, which I feel is a pretty big mistake. This was also my go-to Rockies/AZ/out west tire. The volume was nice, and I found the traction to be very good on the dry surfaces I was riding them on. There was one terrifying ride on the last section of the Colorado Trail during a torrential downpour while we were out in Durango. But hey, I only brought 1 bike, with 1 set of tires on it. And I’ve worn through my only set of them, which means I had to dig through my tire pile and find something else.

And find something I did. These tires couldn’t be any different than my trusty old WW LTs.

The Schwalbe Nobby Nic came out last summer, and I ran them on my RIP9 for a little while. This particular set is the older rubber compound, which I felt was not the best for our type of terrain if there was any type of moisture. They would get very darty and spin out with almost no warning, and despite the very dry summer we had, there were still some damp days. Because my RIP is my “fun” bike, I put some tires on there that I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about, the Panaracer Rampage.

But what the hey, I figured I’d give them another shot, as I wan’t going to be riding them on any roots or rocks. My first couple of winter rides on them has provided me with a couple of interesting surprises. The grip on these tires is pretty remarkable. At the moment, I’m running them around 30 psi. The adverse conditions I have experienced so far have been partially iced pavement, and hard pack snow on gravel, and a little bit of bushwacking in my back yard for fun. The grip is actually quite amazing.

The other thing I learned, is that the grip comes with a price. They don’t roll for beans! But hey, I’d rather keep the speed in check, and not spin out when I’m trying to put the power down. So far, I’m liking these as winter tires. I’ll let you know how it goes. We are getting a break from the cold over the weekend, it would be exceedingly rude not to take advantage of the prime riding weather.

After attending my first Single Speed event in Arizona in early 2009, I was hooked. Worlds was in Durango later that year, and Mandy and I did what it took to make the trip out there. Durango is a relatively easy place to get to, far easier and less expensive than, say, New Zealand. I registered for SSWCNZ in the of chance that I could make it happen, but sadly it was not to be. Thanks to the modern miracle of internets and Facebooks, I was able to get a small glimpse of the shenanigans that ensued on the other side of the world.

90% of the whole Worlds experience is the party, and only 10% is the race itself. Once the race is won, it is time for The Decider. This is when the right to host the next Worlds is decided though a series of trials and tribulations. In Durango, semi finals was karaoke, and a basketball  game decided the ultimate winner. Fun to watch. In NZ, the ultimate Decider (I think) was a horizontal bungee jumping, where a person was attached to a bungee, and then had to crawl along the ground to see how far they could get. I think there might have been beer involved.

Wouldn’t you know it, the Irish won this time.

This is quite exciting, as not only is a trans-Atlantic trip “relatively” easy, the venue will also coincide with my 40th birthday. I have a hard time believing that I will be that old, but that’s what it says on my driver’s license. Anyway, the event will be held in Ballyhoura, which incidentally, is not very far at all from the McAuliffe castle, home of my ancestors.

I have been to Ireland once before, I was about 15. Sadly, the only thing I remember about it, was being horribly seasick in a tiny boat battling heavy seas on a trip out to the Arran Islands from Galway Bay. My family has done a few trips to the “homeland”, but I have not been back since. I never imagined that I would get the opportunity to go back, let alone bring my bike. Let alone going with a bunch of my crazy bike riding friends. Let alone having a birthday.

Oh man, this could get real ugly. I have only one word to describe it:

SHENANIGANS

How cold is it? Well, it’s so cold that my Tauntaun almost froze.

I think we registered about 7° today, which didn’t take into account the howling wind, which sent the wind chill values into the -20s. Waaa! Most of the mid-Atlandic was pummeled by feet of snow, we got about 3″. They can keep it all as far as I’m concerned.

Today was one of those days that I was happy to have my pitiful excuse for a beard. I have not groomed my face since the end of September, and this is all I can come up with. It’s a little grayer than I remember, but it’s enough to keep me warm, which is all that counts right now. Only 1 month to go before AZ! Which means I have a month to figure out what ironic facial hairstyle (if any)  I will wear.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I did make good on my threat last week to get motivated. I spent 45 productive minutes on the new and fancy trainer. There is no doubt that I have my work cut out for me, but I’m going to make a go of it. The weather is supposed to improve by weeks end, so that I might actually get a decent ride or two outside.

Lots of loose ends to tie up before the weekend, but I wanted to just check in to wish you and yours the happiest of holidays, which ever ones you might celebrate.

This is the first year that we are not going ANYWHERE for Christmas. I’m not sure what to do with myself. I might try to ride my bike if it’s in the cards, but we’ll have to see. I will likely try and tach on as many holiday calories as I can before my “planned pre-Arizona fat purge”. I got Mandy and I a Kinetic Rock n Roll trainer for Christmas, and instead of it being a surprise to be opened on Christmas morn, I was instructed to get it built ASAP.

It seems like it’s going to take the edge of those ever so boring inside rides, but I guess we shall see. That means, the Fluid CycleOps trainer that I’ve had for 8 years (that I’ve ridden maybe as many times)  will be coming to the shop with me for those mornings when I sit around and wait for the various delivery boys do their jobs. Big goals, I know.

My reset happens on Monday morning, with one month to go before the Great American Roadtrip.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

2011 is going to be a busy year for Bike29. There is a lot planed, and I am excited to see all the events unfold.

Of course, as we all know, SSAZ is going to be the kick off event, complete with giant road trip.

The 4th running of our Gravel Grinder will happen on April 10th this year. Registration is already open, and we have increased the field to 200 riders. Mark your calendars, or get signed up.

Singlespeed -a-palooza, hosted by Darkhorse Cycles in Montgomery NY is the following week.

SSUSA will be held in Boulder, CO on June 5th.

The Vermont Mountain Bike Festival is on for July 16-17th. Another rip roaring good time to be had by all.

Darkhorse 40 will be held on July 31st.

And last but not least, SSWC will be held in Ireland on August 27th, just 3 days after my birthday. Awesome!

I’m also thinking about doing the Harpoon Point to Point charity ride, a 114 mile road ride through beautiful scenic VT, ending at the Harpoon Brewery. This happens in mid August.

I may or may not do the VT50 in September, it all depends on if I can get signed up, and if I do get signed up, the weather.

And to top it all of, Mandy has decided that she wants to get a custom steel bike with S&S couplers for all this travel. A good move on her part, she is far more focused than I am with regards to picking one bike she likes and riding it. But there are so many choices. There will be regular updates on this…

It’s going to be a busy year, and I can’t wait!

Randy and I go back a long way. We first met when we both worked at a certain local snowboard factory, and as winter turned to summer, I found out that Randy was somewhat of a baddass on the bike as well as the snowboard.

In fact, he was way faster than me (probably still is). He would administer a weekly beatdown every Wednesday at Catamount, generally finishing in the top 10, and most of the time in the top 5. After the races, there was the grilling. Randy’s grill skills are legendary, we would feast heartily, making those Wednesday nights a little easier to look forward to.

He was also a regular contender at the VT50 while he lived in these parts.

He is also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, and he was a big supporter of Bike 29 from the very beginning. Sadly for me, he is no longer local, but you will find him out in Salt Lake City, scorching up the Wasach on his Salsa Dos Niner. I know he’s got a hankering for a belt buckle from Leadville in 2011, we just have to keep our fingers crossed that the lottery gods are kind to him.

Seems as if the geese aren’t  the only thing putting on weight lately.

I managed my first ride outside this month, which means, if you are counting, my first ride in almost a month. Thankfully I can still claim that I ride “all year”, but it wasn’t easy. It’s been so long that I have pretty much kissed any cardio that I once had goodbye. It is a horrible place to be, and it can only mean that I’m starting over.

I was off the back for pretty much the entire ride, and had no real power to talk about. According to my Garmin, I was hovering around 86% of my max heart rate. 86%! Maxing out at 105%. How is that even possible? That just sucks, and I need to get back on track.

Conditions were actually pretty good though. The paved roads were clear, and it was cold enough so that the dirt roads were firm but not icy. I rode Kermit, and Keller took his new bike on it’s maiden voyage. Temps were in the mid 20s, and it was so nice to get out and pedal.

That first outside ride is cruel mistress though. What worked well for climbing, only came around to bite me in the ass for the descent. I think I will bring 2 pairs of gloves on future rides, one for climbing, and one for descending. The wind pretty much blew through all my winter gear, and I felt it the most on my hands and feet. They are still tingling as I write this, which can only mean bad things. For about 2 miles, I was worried that I might actually have to go to the emergency room to have my gloves surgically removed from the black stumpy claws that I imagined my hands had turned into. Fortunately, I got some feeling back, and after spending the last part of the ride using my “spirit fingers” I was actually able to remove my gloves all by myself.

I have a long way to go.

So this whole computer thing has been most disruptive than than I thought it would be, but I think I am getting it all figured out. I’m about 90% done getting the stuff all sorted out. It isn’t as easy as going to Tashi Station to pick up some power converters you know…

So, what’s up with the obscure title of today’s post?

Well, Christmas is coming silly, and the geese are getting fat. And speaking of fat, I just got in some fat new tires.

The fattest ones, are the new Bontrager 29-4 tires. These things look plenty beefy, with aggressive blocky tread. The casing is voluminous, which leads me to think that they will do pretty well in loose/rocky conditions. The center tread is slightly ramped, which should help with the rolling characteristics of such a chunky tire.

Too bad it’s snowing sideways right now, otherwise I might give them a try.

Also, still fairly big, are the Geax AKA. This is definitely a tire I might consider for SSAZ, it feels a little on the heavy side (haven’t actually weighed it, but I’m guessing it’s in the high 600g range). The sidewall is pretty substantial, which would explain the weight, a compelling choice for resisting all those sharp and pointy things that live in the desert. The tread pattern is a chevroned series of triangular nubs. I bet this tire is fast.

I had also considered the Saguaro, a fitting name for a tire, but I always like to try out new stuff. And hey, seeing as how I’m driving out there, there is absolutely no reason why I can’t pack a couple extra sets of shoes for the bike.

OK, I covered fat.

Now on to Christmas. If you are like me, you haven’t even started shopping for gifts yet. Well, I can help. As long as you order by Tuesday. Here is a list of really awesome stocking stuffers.

YAWYD, everyone loves these.

B29 Wisecracker, everybody needs one.

B29 T-shirts, who doesn’t like t-shirts?

B29 socks. The best.

So order away, if I can ship it out by Tuesday, you will have it on Friday (US only), and maybe you’ll have just enough time to wrap it!

Well, sort of. I now have to set up the new laptop do all the things the old one did, which means install some software, make bookmark bars, enter passwords etc etc. It is by far the most tedious part of what should be an exciting event: getting a new computer.

I will say this though, it is pretty darn sweet. I ended up getting a refurbished Mac Book Pro, I found a pretty compelling deal on a 17″ model, which is HUGE. I am optimistic that the deal is a real deal, and not a lemon. So far, so good. I suppose if it is as good as my last laptop, which I have no reason to believe it wont be, it will do everything I want and then some. I routinely buy bikes that cost way more than this, so I guess I should relax.

It amazes me how quickly technology has changed in the last 5 years. I’m not a computer nerd by any means, but I do appreciate the way these things have progressed. I have no idea what a SDDRAM is or what MHz is, but this thing has a lot of them. I do know that our first computer had 56K of memory, and an 8G hard drive roughly 12 years ago. Now this thing has 4G of memory and a 500G hard drive. Crazy.

Hopefully I’ll have everything set up by the time I go back to work in the morning. I certainly won’t be spending any more time outside than I have to. I just about froze my fingers off putting the Christmas lights up outside at home.

Wow. What a weekend, or as I like to call it “the 4 day weekend I’m not that stoked about”. Here’s what has happened so far:

Friday. My trusty old laptop decided to take a permanent vacation. I am actually a little sad about the passing of this machine. It literally ran B29 for 4 years until it’s big meltdown in January. Yes. I ran this company on a laptop, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. It did a damn fine job, and I figured out that it cost me less than $0.92 a day to own, which is a shockingly low number when you consider how much it costs to put beer in me…
This song pretty much sums it up.

Saturday. Big Christmas party. Black IPAs and I do not get along.

Sunday. Squirrel humanely apprehended and released in a galaxy far, far away. Apparently, these are very territorial creatures, so I hope that it’s new place in the food chain will prevent it from seeking revenge.

Monday. New laptop ordered. Better and more interesting, feature rich blog posts will abound! Also, huge piles of tires are headed this way.

So not all bad, but not all great either. I’m not even going to begin on the rain that is pouring down outside…