… 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…

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…

On Saturday, Mandy and I loaded up the Pugsleys, boy and dog to attend the first annual Winterbike. It is a winter fun bike festival held by our friends at MTBVT.com. Actually, it was a veritable who’s who of cycling aficionados from all over VT and beyond.



There was a large fat bike contingent, more than I’d ever seen in one place, but conditions were so good, you could have ridden your regular skinny wheels, and many did. All in all about 80 folks showed up to partake of this stellar event. The weather was perfect too, a big high pressure mass had settled over the area the day before, and with no cloud cover, radiational cooling brought the temps well below freezing overnight. Blue skies made the colder temps easy to bear. It’s been so warm lately I was half expecting it to be a total slush fest, but this little injection of cold air helped keep the trails in primo shape.

Mandy went out with the main group of riders, while I hung out with K and Seamus. Before too long, another dog showed up to the party, and Seamus was otherwise preoccupied updating his facebite status. It was really just a nice day to be outside, and I realized my biggest fail was not bringing a bike for the boy. Oh well, next year.

After a while, riders started trickling back in, and before I knew it, I was handing the kid baton off to Mandy, and I headed out solo on the trails. I ran into Ryan, one of our illustrious hosts, who decided to pedal back out with me. We shot the shit, caught up on our nefarious plot to make this year’s Gravel Grinder the best possible event ever (next to SSUSA) and proceeded to climb the most ridiculous hill I have ever ridden up on a Pugs. It was UP. In fact, I remember Mandy telling me at hand off about this really amazing downhill, and I was riding up it.

The good news is that it would wind us up at the comfort station, which Ryan had arranged to be as comfortabl as possible. He said he was inspired by our aid station from GG2011. Well played sir.

mmm refreshments...

The fire was nice, as was the keg, cheddar and hooch. Ryan made me a cocktail of VT vodka and Waterbury’s own Cold Hollow Cider. It was amazing. I forgot to mention, that I was a bad dog owner while hanging out at the registration area. Seamus had taken off with the folks that owned the other dog. He was having a good time, and was thankfully hanging out at the comfort station. He likes to hang out where the fun is. He also left the aid station before I did, bad dog…

fire is cool

Eventually, I rode back to the base area, where I caught up with everyone else, and Seamus. The circus was about to start. There was a 6x snow DH Chinese Downhill race for all the spectators, run by Knight Ide. Knight is an icon in the VT mountain bike world, responsible for much of the gravity fed trails on the Mountain side of KT, and he had spent quite a bit of time prepping a course for this very spectator friendly event.

untouchable

super awesome 6X

Brooke Scatchard eventually ended up with the W on his Lefty equipped Pugsley. Brooke is a trail builder, and responsible for many of the trails in Chittenden county. He is also an amazingly skilled rider. He is probably one of the few people that can outgeek me in bikes, and what makes things even worse, is that he is a tinkerer. He comes up with weird stuff.

like this

But anyway, I got a chance to ride his Pugs (wheels on both ends), and I have to say that I am sold. I took his bike out for a while at the end of the day and was amazed at how having suspension changed the capabilities of the big tire when grip is questionable. Actually, I wanted to keep riding, but it was getting late and the sun was dipping lower in the sky. Sadly you’ll have to wait until next winter to find out what I find out about squishy fat bikes. I’m hanging the ‘Raptor up for the summer, except for one maybe last ride …

St Paddy’s Day Pugs Crawl! You probably wont need a fat bike, but you will need a bike. We’re going to be meeting up at the town end of the Stowe Rec path at 3pm on March 17th. If this is the sort of nonsense you can truck with, then meet behind the white church in the Village. Or, meet us along the way!

deepness

I know a lot of my friends are super happy about the snow that fell here over the weekend. They deserve it. I’d be bummed if I had bought a pass this year, the ski conditions have been meh at best, but at least for now there will be “freshies” for those that seek them out.

I don’t mind this little delay of spring. I have that bike with the big tires to play with…. Mandy and I set out for a trundle in Sterling Valley, but found that the snow consistency was not quite prime for riding. We brought beer just in case.

trundling the gnar

I had attempted a pub crawl on Saturday night, but as I was by myself, I didn’t do a very good job. Resort town bars are not my scene, and paying a $10 cover to get in to one of these bars was not something I was too terribly excited about, so I trundled on. I did make it to one bar for a beer, but made it a point to stay for one and go back home. The best part of my attempt was the ride itself, but then I got to thinking how much fun it would be to have a pub crawl on Pugsleys. So, if you aren’t doing anything on St Pattie’s Day, and you have a fatbike, let’s do a pub crawl! We’ll meet at the Stowe rec path parking lot behind the church in the lower village at 3pm on Saturday March 17th.

Pubsley

It would be wise to plan accordingly, and have either a place to stay, or a designated driver.

Also, do not forget my assault on local eardrums tomorrow at 2:30 EST. I have my set list together, and I think you will be in for a treat. You can stream the show over the webs by clicking this link, just make sure you can turn it up real loud.

And in other exciting news, Maiden announced US tour dates for this summer.

Keep it METAL!

I managed to get one more trundle in before the weather turned foul, and my trip to AZ, and this time, I was prepared. Ponte and I were going to re-attempt the ride I failed on so miserably last Sunday. We even left early enough to get prime conditions. It had been pretty warm since the last time I was out, so the snow had settled a bit, and the cold overnight temps had made for some good crusty conditions.

golden morning

We made our way up the Catamount Trail. It was full on golden hour, which was quite pleasant. The conditions were really good, there were lots of different tracks out there, snowshoes, skis, moose, and some weird bird that had huge feet. We made the climb up to Billings Rd with only a couple of breaks to catch our breath. The cold air can really take it out of you.

throwin' down the Gauntlet

I claim the first descent down the Gauntlet on a bike this year! This rock feature is quite nasty and has taken quite a bit of skin and blood from me over the years. It’s rocky, finny, ugly, and there is only one way down it. The price for failure is pain. Not today though!

Further down the trail we got to a well groomed snowmobile track and made our climb up to Peak A View. A moose had been up there post holing through the track, but our big tires floated right over the craters. As the sun was creeping up, the track was getting softer. Peak A View had been skied, there was a good pack on the trail, but because it is a little steeper and tighter there were a couple of sections that had to be walked.

almost to the top

the view I was looking for

Once we got to the top, we were rewarded with one of the nicest views you can ride to. I really like it up there. Coming down was really fun. I have to say that there is something exhilarating about descending with one of these bikes. They are somewhat cantankerous in nature. They don’t really like to change direction once they get going, and with uncertain snow firmness, there is an element of danger that is kinda fun.

Ponte droppin' in

We headed to Lauren’s Loop, an old school favorite of mine in the summer. There was only one set of ski tracks going down, so the pack was quite narrow. It didn’t stop us from riding the trail as fast as possible. It was the soft snow just to the left that stopped us, well, me anyway. I lost the front wheel and it dove away from me, my momentum took me over the bars at a high rate of speed. Ejection. I did a full flip in the air before landing down trail from my bike. Snow can provide a really soft landing, and I was very grateful for that.

eject!

After remounting, and several failed attempts to get going again, we decided to abort this trail, in favor of getting out of the woods before the sun made the snow too soft to stay on top of. We doubled back and took the snowmobile track back the way we came. It was mostly downhill, and extremely fun. We were out for about 2 hours, in perfect conditions, and it really made me glad that I didn’t buy a ski pass anywhere this winter. It’s been extremely bad for snowboarding (pouring rain right now), but very good for biking.

it's called the Bridges Trail for a reason

While I am very excited to ride in 70° weather, it is only a short reprieve from winter. At least I have something to look forward to upon my return. So many more trails to explore…

I had my first trundle fail this weekend. I thought I was being smart and came prepared to deal with any would be trail issues by bringing my pump and a mini-tool on my ride on Sunday.

a nice day for a trundle

I had a free morning, and although it was cold (-15°), it was bluebird skies and it was supposed to warm up into the 20s. I wanted to try and climb up to Peak-a-View in Sterling Valley, because it was a nice day for pictures. Well, because I had slacked and waited too long before setting out, the sun had had some time to work on softening up the snowpack. The track was well defined and quite packed down, but I was punching through with increasing frequency which was only making me frustrated. I ended up letting some air out of the back tire, and it seemed to help.

I continued my trundle into the woods, where the shade had done a nice job of keeping the snowpack nice and firm. I began my ascent, and was encountering more and more sunny spots where the snow was getting soft. My front wheel didn’t seem to want to stay on track, so I figured I’d stop and let some air out of it.

Well, that was my mistake. As I unscrewed the dust cap, the valve core came with it and all the air whooshed out of the tube. Much cursing ensued. I had to get to my Camelbak, which was under my jacket (in my attempt to keep it from freezing) and wrestle with my pump. After about 10 minutes, my arms tired from filling the tire with air, I went on my merry way. It takes a really long time to fill one of these big tires even to something like 6-8psi.

About 5 more minutes down the trail, the tire was flat again. I was mad. Again I had to get my pump from my Camelback and deal with the valve core that simply was not interested in doing its job. After about 20 minutes, and 3 attempts at getting the tire to hold air, I had to pull the plug on my ride. The valve core kept coming out with the pump.

flat

Completely irate, I had to walk the bike out of the woods. At least i was only about a mile from the car. I think I was most upset about he fact that it was such a nice day. it was well into the 20s by the time I got back to the car, and it was quite glorious out. Oh well, I’ll hopefully have a nice run of weather in AZ next week…

I chalked this ride up to a new learning experience, the moral of the story being “don’t mess with your bike on trail”. If I hadn’t screwed around with my tires I probably would have had a much better ride. Also, I figured out that early mornings or late afternoons/evenings are probably better times to roll on the bike, it definitely helps to have a much firmer surface to trundle over. With temps in the mid 30s all week, I won’t be getting any more saddle time on the Trundleraptor until my return from the southwest. This means more trainer hours, and I even have a glimmer of hope that I can ride one of my bikes outside once the roads clear up.

 

So after my first ride on the Trundleraptor, I began formulating some opinions. It is certainly a very fun bike, it adds some versatility to my harem of other really fun bikes, and it brings it’s own set of strengths and weaknesses.

The biggest downfall of this bike is of course, the weight. It is a tank, but that is to be expected. The wheels are where most of the weight is locked up, it’s just the nature of this beast. The Rolling Darryls are among the lighter rims out there, the cut outs really save a significant amount of weight over the Large Marge. I opted to use SuperComp spokes to try and get a little more weight savings, but I still would up with a wheelset of 1350/1420. That’s just over 6lbs of wheels, not including tires. And guess what, those tires ain’t light either.

There are also not a lot of options for the specific components to these bikes at the moment, but that is changing. Only a few short years ago, there was only one choice for tires, the Endomorph. Now Surly has an array, and they even have a folding version of the Nate coming out. There are also more choices in frames and forks out there, so there is growth in this category. It will be interesting to see what there is for fat bike offerings in 2 years. It sorta reminds me of 29ers 6 years ago.

On the plus side, this bike is a total blast to ride. I really look forward to learning more about winter riding. If last year you told me I would anxiously be getting ready to go ride in sub zero temps, I would have accused you of being on crack.

My last thought, one that occurred to me while riding yesterday, is that no one uses Indiana Jones quotes. I think this is a shame. Sure Star Wars quotes are awesome, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is a veritable goldmine of quotables. I’m going to do what I can to rectify this.

How ironic it is that my first test ride of the Trundleraptor is at Stowe Town Loops? I guess it isn’t really too surprising, unless you factor into the fact that the trails are completely covered in snow. How fortunate that I was riding a snow bike…

heading in

First off, I have managed to misplace just about every piece of cold weather gear I own. Having moved twice in the last year, it’s not really much of a surprise. After some frantic digging around, I came up with what I considered a pretty sorry excuse for appropriate cold weather riding gear. A set of really baggy snowboarding long underwear, some Clouveil Schoeller soft shell pants, a DeFeet wool t-shirt, my Niner wool jersey, my Endura softshell jacket, 12″ Sockguy wool socks, Keen Summit County boots (super clunky but warm) and last and incredibly least, a pair of $12 flannel lined leather work gloves from the hardware store. Ambient air temp by the time I got into the woods was a solid 0° according to my car.

Town Loops sees a fair amount of snowshoe traffic in the winter time. Being centrally located to a bunch of hotels, it offers a nice alternative to the seasonal visitors that may not be skiers, or those that just need a break from the mountain. There are actually dedicated snowshoe loops, and many of them criss-cross the trails we ride on in the summer. I decided I would not interfere with the nice snowshoe trails, and stick to the MTB trails as best I could. It wasn’t too long before I was trudging up the first set of switchbacks to get into the woods. The cold air was searing my lungs, and I was not in a happy place. I was hacking, sputtering and worst of all not breathing well. I pressed on though, hoping that all this motion and violent chest convulsions would somehow keep me warm. It was only working a bit. My hands froze into claws almost immediately, but my body and feet seemed to be doing OK. I was hoping that if the rest of me was really warm, maybe it would eventually reach my hands.

no one here but me and the deer

I got to the main doubletrack which was nicely packed down. I hopped back on the bike and started pedaling again, and then I found that on the downhill, the windchill was something I wasn’t really ready for. Somehow, the sudden blast of frigid air equalized my body temp into something that was actually quite comfortable, besides the frozen paws. Through all of this, Seamus couldn’t believe how much fun he was having, he was bouncing through the woods in his little dog bliss. I turned off the main drag and headed onto the first section of singletrack, where I was the first set of (bike) tracks. The trail runs along the top of a ridge, and the snow was about 3″ deep. It was pretty tough going, but I managed to maintain traction, and enough leg speed to keep my momentum. At least for a little while. I made fresh tracks for a while, until I took my first opportunity to join the nearby packed down doubletrack, just to get a break.

As I passed under the power lines, I saw that there were a few options to go places that were packed down. My original plan had me riding the Town Loops though, and guess what? No tracks. Oh well, off I went, riding a lot more than I thought I would. I had to walk on some of the short climbs. Dismounting a snow bike is a little different on trail. When your foot touches the snow, it doesn’t stop until it reaches something that will support your weight. Let’s just say it was awkward, and sometimes a bit painful in the personal region. Getting going again was just as ungainly, but I found that with a quiet upper body, no sudden moves and deliberate power down, you can get going in almost any amount of snow (within reason). I reached the “top”  near where Charlie’s/Zogs comes back to the Loops having ridden a lot more than I expected, and then it was time to descend.

Wow. Slightly different, but easily adapted to. Being used to sliding down hills sideways on a snowboard definitely helped out. I have to say that I was beginning to have a really good time on the bike, despite the burning lungs, screaming quads and frozen claws. Shortly after the first downhill, the trail merged with one that was packed down and was going the way I wanted. By the time I reached the bridges, the one with the 3 humps in it, I was cooking right along. Until I hit the first hump, where I promptly exploded all over the trail. There was a lot of snow obscuring the actual bridge, and I misjudged the edge and plowed off to the left. Fortunately, my snowsports background has me quite used to hitting the ground at much higher speeds in much deeper snow, so laughing, I picked myself up, dusted off and kept on trundling.

The trails were pretty well packed until I got to the top loop (blue?), but the pack went to the left, I was headed to the right.

locals know where this is

I claim first descent of the year on a bike on the finny rock thing!

Then it was some more trudging/stumbling/riding until I got back to packed trails. I’m still amazed at what was possible to ride. The snow was a lot deeper back here, maybe 6″ or so. Had it not been for my pedals dragging in the snow, I feel I could have ridden much more of it. It had me wondering is 170mm cranks would have been a better choice… Still, back on the packed trail the bike was a dream. I really enjoyed anything that pointed down, and really had to reign it in in a couple of spots. The little red devil on my shoulder was telling me to jump off this tree and bink off that rock, it was so much fun.

bailing, this time not flailing

Alas, I was running out of time, which figures as my hands were beginning to get warm. It was time for me to head out of the woods, and since it was mostly downhill, I came back the way I went in. Well, obviously it was much faster, and I found myself back at the car in no time. My loop took me a little over an hour, but as always, these trails did not fail me. I have a much better understanding as to what is possible with these bikes, as well as a few ideas to set them up better for our terrain.

Like what?

See you tomorrow, Indiana Jones

You’ll have to check back tomorrow.

 

Finally, after a two week build process, I have finished the assembly of the Trundleraptor. That is what I have decided to name this bike. I ended up having to order a crankset for a Moonlander, and substituted the spindle with one for a Pugsley. Somehow, I managed to make it all work the first time. Only a couple more months of winter, and I want to put some miles on this beast.

it's trundle-icious!

The result is a pretty fun machine, and one that I can’t wait to get all snowy. Amazingliy enough, after a brutal few days well below zero, it has started raining here. I’m not afeared though, this ought to help the snow pack down a bit for when it gets cold and stays that way during the day, which should be later in the week. My parking lot test ride was enough to let me know that the components will work well. The Nates seem to have a very tenacious grip, even on the icy pavement. They almost sounded like a studded car tire as they rolled along. I think they will do just fine on trail.

trundle-tastic even

The build out is as follows:

Large Pugs frame and fork, King headset, DT 370/Surly 135mm front hub laced to Rolling darryls with DT SuperComp spokes, Surly Nate tires, Thomson seatpost and stem, Ritchey 10D crabon flat bars, Avid Elixir CR brakes (185/160 rotors), Ergon GE1 grips, WTB Vigo saddle, Jagwire Rip Cord cables and housing, X-9 trigger shifters and mid cage rear derailleur, Shimano SLX E-type front derailleur, Surly Mr Whirly double offset cranks w/22-36  rings, 11-34 cassette, and my vintage KORE DH flat pedals that are about 15 years old.

All together, this bike comes in at an impressive 34.6lbs. I’ve got a flask cage on it for “warming” drinks, and I’ve also added a couple of Knog Frog silicone LED lights on the front for marker lights, and a Knog Beetle blinky on the back for a little extra visibility.

Now I get to learn about what to wear while using one of these machines. I have a pile of old softshell jackets and pants from my days as an apparel brand manager, which will hopefully come in handy. I’m very much looking forward to this process.

 

 

Sunday marked the 3rd annual Frozen Onion winter bike race, held in Hubbard Park in Montpelier. It is a fundraiser for VMBA (Vermont Mountain Bike Association), and even though I was not able to participate, it looked like a lot of fun.

Team29 rider Nat decided he was going to have a crack at it, and I decided I would go along and support him. Having solo parental duties precluded me from joining in. The course was a short lap around the park, maybe about a mile or so, and was done in a lap format. Riders could pick the amount of laps they wanted, ranging from 2-4. It was more of a fun event than an actual “race”, but there were good prizes for the top 3 in each lap category.

And away we go!

Nat kicking in the afterburners

there was some good carnage

this fat bike thing is really catching on

off camber descent into a sweeping right

Despite being a short course, it was really all about the fun. I wished that I had figured out a way to have ridden, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me. I’m glad I went though, I got to see some folks that I typically run into randomly out on the trails in the summer. It was a good day.

Yay! A prize!

And Nat got 2nd in the 3 lap race. A couple of poorly timed crashes kept him from the W, but he was pleased with his result. Way to go!