It’s amazing how little effort it takes to fuel the stoke.

I’ve spent the last couple of days in my storage unit, after spending entirely way too long trying to print out shipping labels at my kitchen table. What was I doing? Putting labels on boxes. Being busy never felt so good. Even if my efforts took 5 times as long due to an “IT” issue.

the first carload

I also made a bit more room in ye old “warehouse” by passing on a couple of items that I had built for the shop: my old workbench and my craptable. I call it a craptable, but really it’s where the bench vise, bench grinder and several hundred steerer tube ends used to live. It’s a sturdy little sucker. I was able to bequeath these items to my good buddy Joe (of Joe’s Trail), who also helped me stuff boxes. Without his help, I would still probably be there shipping orders in the snow.

hazy shade of winter

Oh, yeah, it has snowed. Several inches fell up high, and we’ve had a dusting to 1″ on the valley floors which means that winter will very soon be upon us. That didn’t stop me from getting in a ride in the Loops. While many of the locals were out hiking the snow capped mountains in search of their first ski turns of the season, Seamy and I had the woods to ourselves.

snowy singletrack

keepin it METAL

Now I don’t know if the ambient air temperature had anything to do with it (28°!) but I had a real hard time getting my bike to move. I felt weak like kitten, a far cry from the strong like bull I felt on my last ride. It probably had more to do with the fact that my last ride was well over a week ago. Or maybe I need a lighter bike…

It has been a month since I handed the keys to the retail shop back to my landlords. Sadly, not much has happened, with the one exception of a quick trip out to my old stomping grounds in San Diego. That was a nice break.

The weather here of course made my threat of riding bikes almost impossible, and my quick trip has reduced the number of rides to a mere handful. Normally, I have Off-tober, but seeing as I wasn’t bound to occupy the shop, I thought I’d enjoy some of that freedom before the next thing presents itself. Oh well… The online store has managed to do a pretty decent business, despite me not really playing with it. And I still have a pretty decent inventory of stuff left over, and now it is time for some deals to be made.

If you head on over to the Bike29 Sale page, you will see some rather crazy deals. So take a look, tell a friend, get a bargain, so I don’t have to resort to doing something like this:

 

The Strip, Las Vegas, NV

On with the show. The Sands Convention Center, one of the most wretched hives of scum and villainy, and also free beer and tequila if you know where to look.

As I said before, I had sat out the last few Interbikes, I’m not really a fan of being cooped up indoors, breathing conditioned air with a bunch of people milling about and touching everything. I’m not a germophobe by any means, I just have little patience for annoying and deliberate gawking in artificial environments. There are also the constant interruptions when you are talking with people, the butt-ins, the “hey, real quicks…”. I find that to be especially annoying, and completely counterproductive. Especially because I have such a short attention span and I am likely to forget what I might have been talking about. I’m of the firm belief that if you are going to discuss serious business with someone, you give them 100% of your attention, and the hi-5s with passers by should wait until said business is concluded. Just an observation, and a bit of a rant. This happens all the time.

The purpose of my visit was very focused, I had a couple of “important” meetings that I had scheduled, and those took place away from the isles and potential interruptions. This ain’t my first rodeo… they were productive, and I came away from them feeling like it was a good thing I had made the plane ride. This left me with a lot of well organized free time to mill about and gawk.

Unfortunately, my point and shoot camera has decided that it is going to take mostly lousy pictures from now on. Most likely a result from being jammed in my jersey pockets on hot sweaty rides over the last few summers. It has outlasted all the others I’ve owned, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. The flash does send up a puff of smoke when it is used, which is rather exciting.

want

Up first is this new crabon bike from Ellsworth. This bike fits in the trail category, along with bikes like the Santa Cruz Tallboy LTC, and the new Niner RIP RDO.

hey, isn't that Mike Maggs?

I didnt get any good pictures of the RIP RDO, thank you camera. So you’ll have to go here to see them. It’s a neat looking bike for sure. And I’m sure anyone glued to Facebook or MTBR last week has seen and read up on it already.

There wasn’t much in the way of awesome new tires out there. I, like The Dickness, feel that anything named for viral video sensation that was over long ago, lacks long term relevance in the market place. Besides, when the tire company in question actually has such tires in stock, it will be 18 months from now, making them even less relevant.
The only cool thing I saw was this:

white walls!

The white compound is supposed to provide a more supple ride. Whatever, it looks cool and I want them.

There are some new 29er suspension fork choices out there now.

"we'll never make 29er suspension forks!" oh, wait...

improving, updating and expanding

Then there was this. I really want one, just like this one. Anyone want to hook me up? It’s a damn good thing it was bolted to the ground…

double want

There were quite a few 650B bikes out there. They looked cool too, but reports coming back from the on dirt demo from trusted sources say that they either rode like 29ers or 26ers, begging the question, do we really need another wheel size?

Intense Tracer 275

The overall vibe of the show seemed pretty subdued to me, almost sleepy. There wasn’t much going on that had people buzzing. I think it might be time for the Marzocchi girls to come back…
Many of the regular players weren’t at the show, instead choosing to hawk their wares at the Outdoor Demo. Interbike is pretty expensive for an exhibitor, I imagine that hard choices have to be made as to which eggs are going into which basket, especially in this uncertain economy. I mean, you could literally do 5 or 6 events in a targeted environment, reach more consumers and have better results for the same cost of being stuck indoors at Interbike along with most of your competitors. There’s a reason why there is a Trek World.

That being said, I don’t regret going at all. It was great to catch up with friends, old and new, and making sure to enjoy some of the local “real”, off Strip flavor really made the trip for me. Vegas is no longer my least favorite place on the planet.

I needed a day off. Actually, I could pretty much use a month, but that isn’t likely. No, instead I took a day to go ride some trails with friends, and get to experience a little bit of summer living.

I love the Kingdom

Don’t tell anyone, but summer here in VT is quite beautiful. In fact it’s the whole reason many of us put up with the rest of the shit we get to deal with to call this place home. Tuesday was a prime example of pay-off.

I had organized a group of similarly capable riders to go out and “crank some miles”, I was hoping for 30+ miles, 4K+ of climbing and lots of trail. I had some aggression I needed to pedal out, and I wanted to leave it all out there.

Well, I certainly left it out on the trail, but for different reasons. The ride ended up being quite a bit shorter mileage wise, but way more fun. We stuck to the Burke side of the trail network, hitting Dead Moose Alley, J-bar, Burnham Down, and then a quick shuttle to the outstanding Jester. It might not sound like we rode that much, but factor in that we rode from town to where we drop in at Moose, it was actually a stiff grind. The trails were dusty dry. The downhills were blisteringly fast. It was hard to not laugh out loud while flying through the dips and berms. It was all about getting happy.

The WFO was the right tool for the job. In fact, since my decision to pretty much ride this bike full time, that evil little demon of bike doubt has shut his little mouth. I no longer care about having the lightest bike anymore. Trickest bike, yes… I mean, come on… it’s me… With all that out of the way, I can concentrate on working towards riding it faster and with more authoritah. I’ve switched the tires back to the Hans Dampfs to I could get a good comparison to the Trail Kings I had been playing with. Big smiles there, but I’m sure you aren’t surprised. I have a long term report on the TKs coming up soon.

 

 

primary colors

What a fantastic weekend for riding bikes! If only I wasn’t so woefully out of shape. I guess when you don’t ride for over a week, it disappears quickly. On the plus side, it kept all my rides socially paced.

Sofa King Awesome

So about them tires. The Continiental Trail Kings were mounted, holding air and ready to go. I was nothing short of amazed. As I suspected, the weight of the tire was a non issue. I set the pressure at 28psi front and rear, and left them there. The big blocky knobs have a slight ramp to them, and and shaped in such a way that eases the rolling resistance, while allowing them to grab on to what ever you are rolling over. I would even consider this tire “fast”, especially in it’s class. I’ll continue to play around with the tires , as they impressed me enough to leave them on Weapon X. I’ll be providing more feedback as the summer ontinues.

The Jett shorts also lived up to their name of “Raptor”. They were pretty impressive. The fit was good, they didn’t ride down, and provided plenty of support and comfort in the chamois department. I never once snagged them on my saddle, but then again, with the Reverb dropper post working, there was  a minimized chance of that happening anyway. I found the hand pockets to be of a useful size and dept. I had my phone in there on my first ride, and actually completely forgot it was there. It made no effort to escape, and was there for me when I decided to update my Facebook status on how much I like the tires.

I can't text and ride at the same time

Plus I look good in them .

The Ergon gloves are continuing their break in. They get more and more comfortable with every ride. They are no longer leaving seam line prints in my hands after a ride, which is nice, but the stand out thing i must say about this glove that I’m really into, is that they don’t bunch up under my fingers. Big plus there.

into the green room

There is fantastic weather on tap all week, so there will be much riding!

 

It’s a constant process. I have 3 bikes that do different things, and they all need love. Rambo has been stealing the spotlight lately, but now it’s time for Weapon X to make another appearance.

I’ve made a few tweaks.

shorter, yet higher

The stem has been switched from a 100×0° to a 90×10°. Pay no attention to that tumor sticking out above the stem, that’s left over from the Angleset days. It will be removed once I’m certain I’ve found the sweet spot.

finally fixed

I have finally outsmarted that Rock Shox Reverb height adjustable post! It is now armed and fully operational.

big meats

And I have pulled the Hans Dampf tires off to try the new Continental Trail Kings. I grabbed a set of 2.4s, which I have affectionately dubbed “The Sofa Kings”, as they have unfortunately crossed over into uncharted territory for me. Four digits. 1050g/1020g F/R. Yes, Sofa King Heavy. But initial parking lot tomfoolery assures me that they roll pretty darn quick, and like almost every other Conti tire I’ve used, I did not notice the extra weight. These tires give me good feelings.

...almost there...

I somehow misplaced my scale, so I have no idea what Weapon X is weighing in at these days, but I’m guessing around 32 lbs. Suffice it to say, once I cross 30 lbs, I don’t really give a damn about bike weight anymore.

measuring up

Also I’ll be testing the Raptor short and continuing my test of the Ergon HA2 gloves. They are really growing on me after 4 rides. With almost perfect weather on deck this weekend, I’m hoping for a lot of trail time. Check back Monday for my findings!

Have a great weekend y’all!

 

MMMMMMMM!!!! I love me that new tire smell! After what, like 14 months, my Continental preseason order is starting to show up. I received the X-Kings about a month ago, which have proven themselves amazing. And now the stragglers are finally beginning to arrive.

Mountain King

Up first is the Mountain King, available in 2.2 and 2.4. I received the 2.4, the 2.2s are still on the way. The tread is completely redesigned from the previous version. The tread is quite a departure from the angled wedges of the old design. I was never a fan of the old tire, I felt the hard pointy knobs on the soft casing made the tire very squirrely. The new tire has an open, blocky, squared off tread. Weight is in the high 700g range, which is respectable for a tire with this much rubber on it.

Trail King

And then we have a tire that I’ve been excited about trying out, the Trail King, also available in a 2.2 and 2.4. Featuring more blocks than the MTN King, this looks to be the sort of tire that competes against big grippy tires like the Hans Dampf. The casing on the 2.4 is huge and round, and the squared off knobs are deep, making me think this might be a good tire for wetter and/or looser conditions. I’m going to mount a set of these up on Weapon X to see how they fair on our now wetter than dryer trails.

Both tires are meant to be run with the rear tread reversed. I do not expect fast rolling characteristics out of these tires, but I do expect lots of grip. I’ll report back with my findings later. It has even ben suggested that they might even be run as a combo, the Trail in the front with a reversed Mountain in the rear. Could be cool… Meanwhile, if you want to try these new tires from Continental for yourself, you can find the Mountain King here and the Trail King here.

 

It seems like the third time really is the charm. The weather couldn’t have been any more perfect, and course conditions were nothing short of awesome. We rallied at the shop on Saturday before caravanning down to Darkhorse Cycles. Dough had called to inform me that he was 45 miles into his ride, with 55 more to go. Dough is a silly person, and you can read about his adventure here. We had yet to leave the shop, and I bet him that he would beat us there (he did).

We made our various pit stops for bathrooms, lunch and beer, and we pulled in to Darkhorse around 4 or so. Mandy got suited up and headed out to pre-ride the course, leaving me to watch the boy, help drink the beer and hang out at the shop. Dough had beaten us there by about 15 minutes. It’s always great to see the DH crew. Once Mandy returned, it was my turn to see what the course was like. I can sum it up in one word. AWESOME.

It featured elements of last years, Palooza, and some of the 40, but run backwards. It was awesome. There were 3 big climbs, and a couple of sneaky left turns that made me glad I rode the whole course. The Conti X-Kings were exactly the right tire for the job. I was feeling good about my bike set up. After my lap, we went across the street to get grub as we always do, and checked in to our hotel.

The next morning came early. We rallied the troops and had breakfast at the Panera Bread in Newburg, then got some to go breakfast and coffee for Dough and Mike Stanley who had gotten in from a demo in Ohio late the previous night. Then it was all about getting ready to race! I had agreed to wear a chest mounted GoPro for the DH crew, there was some media going on, documenting how awesome this event is for the local biking community. I was interviewed pre race, and got a plug in for SSUSA. My my camera mounted, I was ready to go.

I was racing in the Open/Pro category, against all the really fast guys who have been riding hard for months longer than I have. I was quickly put in the way back third of the pack, which was fine by me. The camera was a bit restrictive, and I found that, in addition to my extremely race cut jersey, I wasn’t all that comfortable taking really deep breaths. The 4esque mile prolog kicked up an impressive dust cloud, and then fed us into the woods, where the first bottleneck had a bunch of these goons walking over an old stone wall. Walking!

wondering how that car got way back in there

photo cred GT Luke

The course was fun though, and once the field opened up a bit, I found myself riding mostly alone. My waterbottles were rattling around quite a bit, and I almost lost the one loaded into my side loader. I was able to grab it and stuff it into my jersey pocket before I lost it completely. I’d only brought 2 bottles for the race, so I’d be bummed if I lost one of them. I was beginning to have the first twinges of cramps about halfway through my first lap, so I was making a concerted effort to drink whenever possible. Another minor annoyance, was the blooming of the lilacs. Sure they are pretty and smell good, but they also cause my nose to run furiously, further adding to my discomfort. And then I thought I might have to poop too.

photo cred GT Luke

I got to the beer station in good time though, and was promptly handed 2 beers. It’s like they knew me. I thought I’d rest up a bit and wait to see if Nat was behind me. After a while, I thought he might have been in front of me, so I finished my beer and kept rolling. After a while, I found Ginger, who was all decked out in her B29 kit who was just riding around out on the trails. We said our hi’s and bye’s, and I kept on, and crossed the lap line, and found that Mandy had pulled out of the race with a hurt back. I kept on trucking, getting cheered on by K-Dog who was parked out near where I was to duck back into the woods.

My second lap was less spectacular than my first. My knee was acting up a bit, and the whole not being able to breathe thing was getting to me. I decided that I would just throttle back and ride the rest of the race, I mean, you couldn’t have asked for better conditions or terrain, and I was already out there. My efforts were good enough for 59th out of 70 that started. Could I have done better if I was unfettered with technology and allergies? Maybe. Or had not stopped for beers, um no. Stopping for beers is mandatory at singlespeed races.

We’ll see how the video turns out, I’m supposed to get a copy of the footage I shot, plus my interview, so you may be in for some SSAP moving pictures on a future post. But the best part of the day was what happened after the race. Tune in tomorrow to find out what it was.

thoroughly conked out

From Cyclingnews.com

“It must be confusing for some riders to see the new 650B wheel size now becoming available and under discussion. Not to mention what will bike shop owners think if they have to start stocking three standards of frames, shocks, tires, wheels and forks. How can you still recommend a bike and not confuse your customer?

In that case, I would focus totally on a concept bike shop with only 29ers because I totally believe in the biggest wheel size. I think it would work for 95 percent of bike shop customers just as it works for myself.”

Christoph Sauser — World Cup Champion

You can read the full article here.

 

Hmm, does anyone know of any shops that do this?

In the end, it doesn’t matter what size your wheels are, you just need to use them. Get out there and ride! Have a great weekend!

Preparations for the Gravel Grinder are going quite well. With a little extra help from our friends at MTBVT, we have a few extra surprises in store for this year’s aid station (s?). We will be supplying snacks from some of Vermont’s finest snacky type food vendors, Cabot is on board with a sampling of the worlds most awesome cheese, and VT Smoke n’ Cure will be supplying meatstick and wait for it…. bacon. Yes, there will be bacon out on the course.

After the ride, you will be treated to a fantastic feast courtesy of Frida’s Taqueria. I still have yet to finalize the course, but I expect road conditions to be fantastic due to the speedy and early mud season. Spots are filling up, so be sure to get signed up!

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been asked “what sort of bike should I use for the Grinder?”. We will be riding on mixed surfaces, and there will be a fair amount of climbing, descending and pedaling. Narrows it down right? Well, there is one guy that has done every Grinder to date on a downhill bike, but he is special, because he often finishes among the faster riders on CX bikes. There will definitely be a lot of folks on singlespeeds.

But if there was a special type of bike for this type of ride, this would be it.

grinder ready

I just finished this build for a customer that wanted just such a beast. We opted for maximum versatility, with maximum comfort, so we went with the steel Niner SIR9, matching steel fork, and used Niner’s crabon seatpost and flat bar. Drivetrain is a 1×9 SRAM X9, and the speedy WTB Nano/Vulpine tire combo is mounted on an American Classic’s Terrain tubeless wheelset.

 

If you don’t have a bike, but want to do the Grinder, you should give a call at the shop. I’ll need about a week or so to build you something like this, but you’ll have it for many many miles!