OK, so if you were reading yesterday, you will know that today’s post features a bunch of stuff that I am getting rid of. For money. All the charity stuff is gone, but I can assure you that the prices are tantalizing, you know I like nice things… Some of this stuff I will be sorry to see go, other stuff can be replaced. But for now, it makes the most sense to let it make someone else happy being used, rather than making me unhappy and broke by sitting dormant.

The Trundleraptor

Shocked? Well, they say last in is first out, and this is true. This bike is fun as fun can be on snow, and has definitely saved my mental bacon, but where I am headed, this bike is unnecessary. Know I’ve been geeking out on it’s replacement…

Build spec is: 20″ Pugsley frame + fork, DT370.Surly hubs laced to Rolling Darryl 85mm rims with DT Super Comp spokes, alloy nips, Nate knobby tires, Surly Mr Whirly cranks with xtra wide spindle to clear those huge tires, WTB Vigo saddle, Thomson seatpost and stem, Easton EC70 bar, SRAM X9 shifter and derailleur, Avid Elixir CR brakes. Oh, and a very rare Chis King purple headset. It’s sort of a maximized Pugs, and I’d like $1500 for it. Would like to sell it locally as shipping this beast would be a small fortune.

The Gozarian

Yup, seeing as how all the cool places I used to travel to ride are going to be within a day’s drive, I won’t need this frame any more.

$650 – worth it for the S&S couplers alone. Plus you can run a belt on it if you are so inclined. The frame is a large Niner SIR9, modified to be single speed only.

SRAM XX 2×10 group

$1200 OBRO and you can tell me what size rotors (180/160/140) to send with it. Brakes are the World Cup model. Crank is the BB30 version, cassette is the 11-36t, and includes a new in box BB30 bearing set up. Very, very low miles on this group.

Rock Shox Reba SL

Enduro seals, fresh rebuild and oil. 159mm or ~ 6,1/4″ steerer. $200

Formula  Oro Pro brakes

No rotors, used but twice. These are good stoppers and are perfect for riders with smaller hands. They didn’t work for me ergonomically, so they got stashed in a corner a long time ago and forgotten about. $150, remember – no rotors.

All of this stuff is good stuff that needs a good home. I take Paypal or ca$hmoney. If anything here tickles your fancy, please let me know and I can arrange to have it in your hands as expeditiously as possible.

And if this ins’t enough stuff, I’ll probably find more to post tomorrow, along with another announcement that is completely not bike related.

 

 

… at the Cirlce K

woah

The last couple of days have been filled with all sorts of goings on. I can tell you that there are some big things cooking behind the scenes at B29, some rather important things. I’ll be able to talk about them soon.

I did manage to squeeze in a ride on Kermit on the record breakingly warm day we had on Monday. 71° was such a pleasant temperature to go bombing around w/ T-Vo at Saxon Hill in Essex. No arm warmers or bulky jackets necessary. I’m always amazed at how fun this network of trails is, and baffled that I only ever seem to ride them once a year – right at the end of the season. Probably because my local Stowe trails are so much easier to access.

With hunting season upon us, there are only a few areas that are “safe” to ride. Although, this is VT, I’ve seen flannel and guns on these safe areas more than once. Generally, they are just passing through, but it’s still unnerving. I tend to avoid the woods all together this time of year. Hunting season is relatively short, and since I’ve been riding my bike in the woods since March, I’m totally OK with sharing.

Sometimes, there is December dirt, but I’m prepared if there isn’t. I have the Trundleraptor ready to go…

I’ve gotten quite a few quality rides on this machine so far, and I have to say I’m impressed. To some, the idea of a full suspension singlespeed might go against the very concept of simplicity – the single speed way. I suppose it’s true, but like Han Solo once said “hey, it’s me!”. I like to tinker, and why have limits if you don’t have to?

Bikes are supposed to be fun, and if I can’t have any fun on a bike, then why ride it? Rigid singlespeeds are fun, but only under certain conditions. I can’t ride one on super technical terrain very fast, or for very long. Adding a fork definitely helps things out, allowing me to ride longer and more comfortably. Still those longer rides beat me up. I mean, I can still DO THEM, but I feel terribly banged up anymore. Enter the next level of singlespeeding, front AND rear squish. My Niner Jet 9 RDO was hankering for some tinkering.

Having ridden just about any trail I would ever want to ride on my SS locally (there are ones I don’t), I can say that without a doubt, this weird bird flies. And flies well. Having put on a good show a couple of weekends ago over in Sterling Valley, and the Kingdom, I got another ride in on my locals, which basically was the deal sealer. I only had to walk one hill early in the ride, but that was because of lack of fitness and a cranky knee, and it is a steep assed hill. I’m not too proud to walk when I ought to.

something that should have no place on a SS?

So what makes it work? Oddly enough, it’s the rear derailleur. With any full suspension bike, you are going to have to deal with chain growth. Some grow more than others, just the nature of the beast. Niner’s CVA design has minimal chain growth, which makes things a lot easier for me. In a geared scenario, the rear derailleur handles the changing chain length by allowing the pulley cage to pivot as it needs too, which is how your squishy bike works, because the cage changes position relative to what gear you are in. If you take a look, one might bounce up and down on their FS bike, you might notice the cage moves a little bit. Now take away all the rest of the gears. Now you have a lot of extra chain flopping about. Now, as you don’t need all that extra chain, you can take as many links out as you can to stretch that cage out as far as you can while still allowing it to move. Again, the key here is that the Niner has minimal chain growth, so I can get that chain pretty darn tight and still have some movement on the deraiileur. Also important to note, you’ll want to use the shortest cage derailleur as possible to use the shortest amount of chain possible. Road derailleurs work great.

the transmission

Chainline is pretty crucial too, you don’t want it feeding onto the cogs at a funny angle, or you run the risk of having the chain walk off on you at some inopportune time. That is not fun. I run a shift cable through the barrel adjuster and anchor it right where I want it to keep everything lined up.

And pedaling induced suspension bob? Yeah, you’ll have some of that. But thanks to the miracle of modern rear shock technology, this is greatly minimized. Now, obviously you aren’t going to make a full blown DH bike into a singlespeed. This sort of nonsense is really only applicable to XC rigs, with short to mid travel. I found that the aluminum Jet was an absolutely fantastic choice for this with the Shreddie Van Halen experiment. The CVA suspension design, along with a few others do a pretty good job of isolating pedaling force from bump force, so if you have a smooth out-of-the-saddle pedaling style (like me!), you aren’t going to have much of an issue.

Shreddie

So why would I do this? Because I can, and so should you! Here’s to the next level of singlespeeding!

Get out there!

I have all sorts of things to write about, and my internet at home crashes. It’s still down, and it has been extraordinarily frustrating. I still have updates to bring you on the Santa Cruz Tallboy LTC, my polo bike, the shop, and a few other things that have happened since the last time I was able to write. Unfortunately, I can’t just write anywhere. I need to be able to be creative, and let’s just say, the shop is not the place for that. That is where the work gets done, there are far too many distractions to get a good stream of thought going.

The good news, is that since my return to “health”, I have been spending quite a bit of time on 2 wheels. It’s really been helping me get through quite a bit of personal turmoil and anguish. I spent the weekend riding bikes with Dough and Ginger, we had some pretty awesome time. Saturday, we rode in Sterling Valley, and hung out at Peak a View for about an hour, sitting in the swings and talking, before finishing up our ride with some Lauren’s Loop, Kent’s and Godstreet. It was very relaxing.

Sunday was spent up at the Kingdom. We rode for about 4 hours, hitting some of the old favorites, and learning some new ones. The weather was picture perfect, a quintessential VT summer day. I saw a ton of wildlife, one of the benefits of being in the front and letting the love birds ride together. I almost hit a deer on Poundcake, and sent a baby black bear tumbling off into the woods on West Branch. I was piloting the RDO SingleSpeedwagon, which is becoming one of my favorite bikes of all time. Not only do you get the silence of the singlespeed, but you get the speed and control of full suspension, which is the only reason I can think of that allowed me to sneak up on these woodland critters. I’ll spill the beans on this bike in greater detail at some point in the future, but I can tell  you this, FS/SS is my new jam.

Until then, here are some images I grabbed from the weekend. You would have seen these if we are face friends or you follow me on instagram. I love instagram.

 

Its no secret I have a serious bike problem. At the moment, I’m in the process of thinning the herd. Tough times for all, and maybe I don’t really need 17 bikes anymore. I choose to think of it in terms of cooking. A sauce that reduces over a period of time is almost sure to be tastier than one that you just throw together and serve immediately. Right now, the sauce is very very good.

I’ve dabbled in this medium before. Some of you may remember such experiments as Pandora and Shreddie. Well, I’m here to tell you that the 3rd time is indeed the charm. However, if you were to tell me that my 3rd attempt at this would have a 120mm fork, I would have looked at you funny. This bike is straight up bonkers.

Bonkers I tell you!!

I had put the v1 version of the RDO Speedwagon up on the chopping block as I am in need of funds so that I might acquire a new B29 Executor. The Saab is getting on in years, and I have no Astro Mech to keep it running smoothly. But I had also sold off Rambo, my go to singlespeed A9C of 2 years. Yup gone, just like that, and all that is left is a pile of leftover parts. I had fully intended upon replacing the bike ASAP, but after my race at the 40, I’m not so sure. At least not yet.

I spent the best part of a Friday night after the shop closed abducting parts form my other bikes to make this project work. Breaking the rule of “don’t mess with your shit before a race”, I cranked up some METAL and went to town. Some would call me crazy, I call it winning. I proudly present the v2 version of my RDO.

I robbed the rear derailleur from my road bike to use as a chain tensioner. Sure, its a SRAM RED mech, and might be a little excessive for the average guy. It’s what I had available, but most importantly, it really works. You can use any road or short cage rear derailleur for this application. I looped a shift cable through the barrel adjuster to set the pulleys in line with the chain, and voila. I never once threw the chain while bouncing over the rock gardens of Stewart.

shifty bits repurposed

I also had a BB30 XO crank laying about. I did have to buy the 104mm spider though, so I could run my e*13 34t chainring.

cranking it up a notch

Overall, the bike is a hoot to ride, which is really all that matters. It weighs 23.7lbs, which isn’t a whole lot heavier than the A9C it replaced. Being able to have the control and confidence of a full squish bike is so much fun, and paring the gears down to one makes for a way different ride. The suspension on the RDO is pretty darn efficient, so with the right pedaling style, bobbing is at a minimum.

It's the best!

Good times! But I think I am going to run a 22t cog out back for riding around here…

Late for my race report. Sue me.

This last weekend was my 3rd appearance at the Darkhorse 40. It’s a fun race. This time however, I was only responsible for 20 miles of the 40, as I was racing in the co-ed duo class with Ginger. When I signed up for the race, I was out in Tucson for SSAZ, and Ginger was undecided as to wether she was going to want to race or not, but I let the offer stand to spilt the race up with her. A few months after we returned to the East Coast, she had made her choice. We were going to run the race as a team. But she was still not decided as to wether or not she was going to race gears or single.

I had signed up for the expert singlespeed category, so I was semi commited to running what I brung. I made the offer to Ginger, if she raced singlespeed, I would wear a dress. She accepted.

I look good, I mean, REAL good

Now, some people might feel odd about my decision to dress up in women’s clothing, and they are entitled to their opinions. However, I grew up in a country where it is perfectly acceptable for men to dress up like the ladies.

I did it as incentive to get Ginger to ride her singlespeed, but mostly I did it because I thought it would be funny, and I didn’t get to play dress up at SSUSA as I didn’t ride.

Well, I was the only one wearing a costume. But, all the ladies thought I looked good, and I have to say, I was a lot cooler than I would have been had I been wearing my tight and brights. The dress is pretty much made out of the same stuff bike clothes are made of, only I was pretty much pretty much topless. I did have some issues with the hem snagging my saddle, but I was able to deal. In fact, my only real issue was that the bow jiggled itself untied very quickly.

So about my lap. I was overgeared. Stewart is a bit of a bastard. The singletrack is punchy, and the roads that tie it all together are flat. And I am out of shape. I probably would have been fine on my A9C with the 34/20 I picked out, but I was lugging 3 more lbs of bike with me. Which bike? The Speedwagon. More on that tomorrow… But alas I was behind my gear most of the time, and with the near 90° heat with a bizzillion % humidity, I was a hurting unit. I walked a lot of stuff I could have ridden if I had just a bit more MO. I still managed to turn in a lap time close to my goal of 1:45, and I stopped for beer twice, and water. I only had 1 bottle available to me on the bike, no place to stick a second on my hot little outfit.

When I could get speed though, I crushed. FS SS is the jam. In fact, I am not replacing my A9C at all. Nor am I selling my RDO. I will be offloading some sweet parts pretty soon though so stay tuned  for that. It just makes things so much more fun, and to not have to worry about which line to take through the rock gardens, well… Needless to say, the RDO is getting repurposed.

I tagged out with my partner, and off she went, leaving me to get changed and hang out while everyone else rode 20 more miles. Or not. Half of the WaBrah contingent pulled out after 20. For good reason too. Our crew is so banged up it isn’t even funny, and Stewart was hungry. I had a beer with DH George while getting changed at the car, and he said that about 65 had already DNF’d, and at least 3 people had been pulled from the course in bloody heaps. I was stoked for my 20, and hoped that Ginger was having a good enough time to get hers in too.

smiling is winning

Turns out, she was!

We somehow missed the protest window, which put us in 5th place. We would have had 4th had we been more vigilant, but oh well. We both had a blast, and that is all that mattered. We were still one place away from prizes, but we both know that we gave it a good solid effort.

 

 

And that is a wrap. Almost. SSUSA came and went a week ago, and I’m still dealing with the aftermath. A lot of people were here, close to 200 riders. I’m still getting a lot of thanks from a lot of people for the event, but I feel that everyone should know, I had a huge amount of help and support from others.

Mandy had a large hand in designing the logo, organizing the course, marking the course, calling some shots and doing a lot of piddly little things that no one else wanted to do. Her prize? A t-shirt and a bottle of booze of which is TBD.

I also need to thank my friends for all their help and support. Doug & Ginger, Shaun, Matt, Ian, Keller, M2, Rosy were all there to do the day of dirty work.

Ron Murray from iRide provided a lot of help massaging the course into the sucker punch it was.

Scott Search for riding sweep and making sure everyone got off the course alive. Huge help there.

Taylor at Capitol Offset Press for the number plates.

Jonsie at Factotum for the amazing shirts (once again!)

The Alchemist for providing a pretty killer “aid” station on the first part of the course.

Drunk Cyclist for providing the mother of all “aid” stations.

MTBVT, Ryan Thibault and Jake Goss for organizing the photobooth. The pictures came out awesome.

Tabbatha Henry Ceramics for the 1st and last place awards.

Our pize sponsors:

Twin Six, Ergon, Blacksheep Bikes, Club Ride Apparel, Velocity Rims, Stan’s No Tubes, Walz Caps, Paul Components, Niner Bikes.

The Black Owls for the rocking good music on Saturday night. Amazing.

And of course, thanks to everyone who came out and took part of what our little corner of the world has to offer.

We’ll see you next year in Minnesota!

 

…now where was I..?

heading back out

Oh yeah, the DC aid station, where those that did not stop were heckled to “come back and get their aids!”

Well, with the front of the pack making such ludicrous time on the course, I didn’t have a lot of time to hang out. It was time to get myself and the kegs to the finish line and get set up before they got there. With my army of volunteers in tow, we hauled our butts to the end of the line, with a small pitstop to grab a sandwich. A good thing I did too, because it was pretty much all I would have had to eat, with the exception of the 2 doughnuts I was able to yoink from Dough before finally making it to dinner.

It seemed that no sooner did I get the banners up at the finish line, that the first guy blazed through with an improbable gap between 2nd place. I was at first questioning wether or not he had cut the course in some fashion, but T-hom assured me (also comng in at a scorching pace), that this dude was no joke, and his time was legit, although he probably did not stop and get his aids. Shortly thereafter it was a steady stream of riders for the next few hours.

how fast? 2:38. really fast

At first people didn’t know they had finished, they were expecting another evil rooty climb, and didn’t stop until they were chased and yelled at. We, the course organizers decided that a nice easy finish was a just reward for all the ridiculous climbing. But after a while, enough had finished and it made it that much easier to corral the riders, where the race turned into a keg party in the woods.

just like high school

In a spur of the moment decision, Mandy and I decided that we would give out the awards and have the derby for the belt, lest we be stuck out there after dark  As there are only 3 awards in singlespeeding, first man, first woman and DFL, this didn’t take long. First place male was Paul Simoes, and first place female was VT’s own Kim O’Connell, who had raced an old converted Fat Chance Yo Eddy! How awesome.

The derby for the belt was held, and although there were a good amount of people hanging out, not many of them seemed to want the belt. The rules are simple: ride any bike but your own, hands on the bars, and keep your feet on the pedals. Foot comes down, and you are out. There was a little pushing and dirty derby happening, but it came down to Dejay Birch winning the mens belt for the second time, and Kerry Montgomery taking the ladies. As the host for this year’s event, I was not allowed to participate, but I can tell you that I will be hopping on the bike for some derby next year.

getting belted

After some prizes were dispersed, it was time for the hosting shenanigans. Of course it was a good old fashioned VT syrup chug! Seven toed the line, but it was a neutral party, or actually an anti AZ party, that put down a pint of Grade B in an alarmingly quick manner. So fast in fact, that I didn’t even register, as I was watching a very close race between AZ and PA. Ultimately, it was the fastest chugger’s choice, and he chose Minnesota. There was a bit of protesting from the PA crew, but it was decided.

There were a few more folks to come through, including the DFL. I had a call from our sweeper, Scott, who said that he was close by, and that everyone was accounted for. We started to break down the party, many folks had left to take naps or get some grub. And lo and behold, VTer Wil Blanchard finally crossed the line to win DFL. According to ScotT who escorted him across the line, he had the best attitude the entire time, which is always great to hear. The course was rugged, and it was nice to have someone earn DLF for a change, instead of “winning” by taking naps or slacking off.

Sadly, my camera ran out of batteries right after the belt derby, but there are more than enough images and even some video on the FB page. Go “like” it if you are so inclined.

My summary, and the credits, will follow tomorrow.

The 5th running of what has become the “official” unofficial singlespeed race is now history. I will admit that after “winning” hosting rights last year in Boulder CO, I had no clue what I was actually getting myself in to. Sure, I’d been to the last 2 events, but I was not really expecting what happened this year.

The madness began with a certain madman from AZ showing up at my shop on a rainy Thursday night. Mandy had been out on course in the afternoon doing some pre-emptive marking. It is not a fun job, but she got done in time to meet us at the Rez for dinner. It was after dinner that we all decided it would be cool to meet up at The Back Yard in Stowe (local super dive bar) and get our pre-party on. We closed the place down.

even Seamus had a costume

Friday came too early, and I had to be at the shop to meet and greet all the folks who were coming into town to play bikes. While I was shop bound, Mandy was out marking the 28-esque mile, 3500 ft-esque of climbing course. Lots of folks were rolling in, and while it was nice to get to meet and hang with some of them -Pat from AZ rode from the airport in Burli to my shop, where I was able to reward him with beer. Shortly thereafter, Eddie and Namrita O’Dea showed up, and then B29 rider Chris Muddiman. Being a Team 29 rider means you have to help me schlep kegs, and Chris helped me wrangle 111 gallons of PBR into his truck for Saturday. Then it was off for a quick bite, a change of clothes and up to the Matterhorn, a Stowe apres ski favorite, for registration.

Another late night had me rallying early to get the final details organized, mostly the aid station items. Team 29 rider Dough was very helpful in selecting “dough”nuts, chocolate covered ones to be exact, and he made short work of getting rid of half of them before we got back in the car. I almost lost my hand trying to grab one. We all got ourselves to our appointed positions, me with last minute/slacker registration, course marshals to their appointed spots, supplies to their designated areas etc etc.

Amazingly enough, the race left at 10 on the dot. I did have a bit of fun and made every one gather as close as possible around my podium (Scottie’s truck) for my pre race diatribe before I simply uttered the word “go”.

go

The course pretty much featured everything that there is to offer in Stowe. The route was figured out by Ron from iRide, Stowe’s real bike shop, Mandy, and myself over a few beers a couple of weeks ago. We put a lot of effort into the it, trying to showcase everything there is here, without having to do laps or get way out into the boonies. Managing a big group of riders in this area is tough, you can get pretty remote if you aren’t careful, and if something goes wrong… well, no one wants that.

The first half of the course is pretty rugged. Sterling Valley to be exact. It took me 2:15 to do it last weekend, albeit hung over. I figure it was a good gauge of how long it might take the average person to do the ride. Upon arrival at the mid point, one was greeted by the mid point “aid station”, hosted by Drunkcyclist. Lots of things other than water and nutrition here. I will admit that I was slightly horrified that the fast guys were here in less than 1.5 hours…

well stocked, for a bar...

Come back tomorrow for the second installment!

It’s hard to believe that the 2012 edition of SSUSA is going to be here in less than a week. I’ve been furiously tying up loose ends, crossing t’s and dotting i’s, and generally wandering around in a state of wondering what I have forgotten. I guess that is what lists are for.

The course is set. No I will not tell you where it is. You’ll just have to find out on Saturday along with every one else.

pretty

I rode part of it on Saturday to get some course miles and elevation. One of the underlying issues with SSUSA is the battle for DFL. I’m wondering if I should enforce some sort of a cutoff for certain sections of the course, lest we wait all day for those running the gauntlet for the prestigious title. We got things to do man!

Folks are going to be arriving over the next few days, and I have a metric ass ton of work to do in the shop. Time to get cracking!