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New Tires!

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:30:54 +0000

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.

The Most Important Meal II (electric boogaloo)

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:46:52 +0000

Back again with another episode of breakfast sandwiches. I don’t always have time to make my own, and so I have to rely on the offerings of others.

mmmm.... bagel

This is probably my most purchased breakfast, egg and cheese bagel and a large cup of French Roast. I get it from the bagel shop just across from the shop. Like a wise man once said, give me convenience or give me death, and this is as convenient as walking across the street and coughing up $5.25. I’ve definitely relied on this breakfast before rides and road trips alike. Very dependable, consistent, and pretty tasty. Plus you have a choice of the different kinds of bagles. The one pictured is a sunflower one, but I’ll bounce between everything, sesame or poppy depending on my mood. If I’m feeling like I need that extra boost, I’ll get bacon on it.

Flower Power Race Report

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:48:43 +0000

No, not me, this guy:

lining up

K-Dog decided he wanted to do his first race ever this weekend at Catamount. It was the annual season opener, the Flower Power race, which Bike29 has sponsored in years past. He lined up with about 8-10 other kids, also racing the cadet 1/2 lap category. At go time, he didn’t get the holeshot, but he powered his way past the bigger kids, and showed his strength climbing the first steepish grade to make second place.

cranking the climb

He did a good job of following the course, even making the Cadet Cutoff, made famous by Bob Parker (inside joke). After that, the kids disappeared into the woods, leaving us parents wondering how they were doing. After a little bit, the lead kid came trucking out of the woods, so I was hoping K was not far behind. I had no idea what the course was like beyond the big field, so I was hoping it wasn’t too difficult for him, but before I knew it, he came rolling out of the woods. “I’m in second place!”

pew! pew!

He was looking good, and seemed pretty happy to be out there giving it everything he had. Then he disappeared over the hill again. He reappeared a few minutes later at the bottom of the course, and he had caught the lead kid. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to make the pass, but he did stand up and give it full power up the hill to the finish line for a solid second place finish.

strong finish

Atta boy!

It became pretty clear to us that he is ready for a bigger set of wheels, the kid that beat him was on 24s. He was very fired up about riding after the race though. Looks like we’ll be regulars at Wednesday Night Worlds this summer.

Reminder for the Weekend

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:54:56 +0000

Remember folks, not only is it Mother’s Day on Sunday, it is also Cylofemme. So go out and buy some flowers and a nice present for yer mom, and then take her for a bike ride. She put up with a lot of your crap as a child, so go ahead and make her feel special.

We’re having our ride on Sunday at 4, meeting at the shop. Come ride with us! Families, kids, moms, dads, grandmas, but no doggies please. Hope to see you there, you’ll be joining in on 147 different rides in 13 countries!

New Flavors

Wed, 09 May 2012 04:24:40 +0000

It was going to be “Flava in your ear”, but that really doesn’t make any sense, considering this post has nothing to do with your ears. It does have a lot to do with hands though. More importantly, gloves. I’m picky. And I like new stuff. And I need new gloves. For the last couple of years, it had been in my best interest to get my gloves from one place.

TREK

But now, I can do whatever I damn well please, and I’ve resumed offering the products that a) I like, and b) are good. One of the reasons I started my own bike shop was so I wouldn’t have to sell mundane, ill conceived “me too” products. Let’s just say I’m getting back to my roots.

So, I’ve been in the market for new gloves for about 2 years. I still wear my trusty Oakley Factory Pilots, when I can find them, which have provided 4 years of faithful service, but are now showing signs of giving up. Not bad for a $20 glove. I like my gloves to be simple. I don’t need padding, extra seams or frills. They need to be light, comfy and above all, fit. I’ve had some craptastic gloves in my past, so my tolerance for sub par shit is less than 1 ride. I’ll peel them off and ride bare knuckle if I have to.

I first became aware of the Ergon gloves last year, when I crashed the Topeak Ergon Training Camp. The gloves that everyone (except me) was wearing looked spiffy, and my interest was piqued, but I had to wait a full year before I finally got to get my hands into a pair. That isn’t important. But this is. I bought a pair of HA-2 and HE-2 gloves to try out. Yes, I bought them, which allows me the privilege of being completely honest about them. And we should make clear right away, that I don’t waste my money on crap when I could get it for free. These are not $20 gloves though, so my expectations are going to be a bit higher. These gloves are $40, which is still quite reasonable for a good pair of hands, only if they hold up.

So let’s have a look shall we?

HA2

HE2

Both gloves have nearly identical palm construction. Minimal fabric, silicone brake grabbies on the pointer and bird finger, with a bit of extra padding under the heel of the palm. I’m guessing that this little bit of extra material is designed to work with Ergon’s paddle style grips, I’ll let you know how that is. Visually, the most obvious differences between the two are the way the thumbs are put together, and the closures at the wrist. The HE has a more textured thumb, while the HA is perforated.

Shockingly good fit

The HE fits amazingly snug, yet very comfortable right off the bat.

funny fingers

The HA was a little tight at first. The silicone application over the fingertips of these gloves made my fingers feel like they were being pinched I’ve had these gloves on and off my hands a few times, and the fit seems to be improving. The silicone seems to do a good job of keeping the glove from bunching under the fingers when you make a fist, making them suitable for punching dogs right in the snoot.

POW! Right in the kisser

The one true test of a great bike glove, is one you will never see in any bike magazine glove shoot out. The pull tab test. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to open a beer with my teeth while riding my bike. There are few things more disturbing than metal on teeth to me, but when you need to open a beer, dammit you need to open a beer. All of my future glove assesments will include this test.

slip and fail

purchase! winning!

So far, funny fingers aside, the HA is showing it’s merits early….

The Most Important Meal

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:57:05 +0000

So, one of the things that I feel is necessary before a bike ride of any length, is a good breakfast. Being properly fueled is very important. One of my favorite breakfastes is a sandwich. Egg, cheese, maybe bacon.

mmm... sandwich...

I think I make a pretty darn good breakfast sandwich. I use good local-esque ingredients, and I generally eat one of these every day, but sometimes I run out of ingredients, or don’t have time to make one. I have become somewhat of a connoisseur of breakfast sandwiches, I have my spots that I like to go to, so I’ll be doing a breakfast sandwich shootout, on which I’ll judge the meal on presentation, value, and most importantly, tastiness. Mine is obviously the best, so we’ll use that as the “control”.

Damn. I’m hungry now.

RDO Speedwagon

Mon, 07 May 2012 12:55:14 +0000

Finally! Some nice weather. I had made my very best attempt at getting out and riding during the week, while still taking a much needed couple of days after SSAP. I had been having some issues with the outsides of my feet falling asleep, which was quite uncomfortable, especially after 26 or so miles blasting around Stewart. Something was to be done. After some consulting with M2, a little cleat position fiddling, everything seemed to be OK.

My first ride was an out and back up Camel’s Hump Rd, a little jaunt from the shop, featuring a stiff climb after a good warm up. This road had been nearly washed away during Irene, and the rebuilding process took a while, finishing up in early winter. They seemed to have managed to find a way to make it steeper and longer. The good news, foot pain gone, the bad, post race tweaks to the bike need to be made. The rear wheel is no longer straight, and the dust coated chain sounds like a Sherman tank. Still, it felt good to get the legs going again.

I also bagged another climb mid week, which was awesome because Seamus got to go with me. He loves riding bikes. I headed out to Cotton Brook on a chilly damp morning, and made the ascent, about 3 or so miles of elevation gain with grades ranging from “this isn’t too bad” to WTF?”. I figured out that Seamus’ top speed is around 25 mph on the descent, so I had to keep it reigned in on the way down. He found a big mud hole towards the end, and came back another color.

into the clouds

Then Saturday came, and it was glorious. Blue skies, and perfect riding temps. My schedule had me free for 2 good rides over both days of the weekend, and my mind was racing trying to figure out where I would go. And then I got a text from Mandy saying I had a package at the house, which happened to be the one I had been waiting for the last half of the week. I needed a part for JayPro’s Niner RDO, which was necessary for it’s completion. Seems that they forgot to include the BB cable stop/guide at the factory, making running the cables impossible.

RDO Speedwagon

Instead of riding, I cranked up some tunes, and spent the afternoon finishing the bike. It came out super nice, full XX build, Stan’s ZTR Race wheels, Fox Talas 120 fork. 22.55lbs. No joke. This is the bike Jay will be slaying on at the BC Bike Race.

waterfalls are pretty

So Sunday, I spent my morning on my own RDO, which I had also mounted a Fox Talas on. More on that in a future post. I pieced together a nice little ride from my place, hitting some of the local favorite spots, plus a few that I hadn’t been to in a number of years. About halfway through the ride I became really hungry, so instead of forcing a bonk, I called it and went home and made a big pile of steak egg and cheese tacos. Mmmm, tacos…

Cyclofemme

Fri, 04 May 2012 13:08:49 +0000

Here is a little something that is picking up momentum, and is poised to become a big something. My friend Sarai, owner of Girl Bike Love, is starting a revolution of sorts. May 13th is the inaugural Cyclofemme. It’s a movement to get more women on bikes. As we all know, cycling is a very male dominated sport. I for one would like to see the balance shift towards the other way, if not for the sole reason of seeing less sweaty dudes in spandex.

Cycling can be intimidating for any beginner, and Sarai’s goal is to level the playing field in a way that includes everyone. Register your ride for Sunday May 13th, bring the whole family. Have a great time.

If you are so inclined, come ride with us in Waterbury! Meet at 4pm at Five Hills Bikes in Waterbury, Vermont for an easy going mountain bike ride. We’ll cruise the in-town trails, climb up for the gentle loops on Perry Hill and stop for some champagne to celebrate the day.

The Littlest Ninerd

Tue, 01 May 2012 11:11:24 +0000

After the race, we were hanging out with Mike from Niner, talking about this and that, and then he busted out the new extra small Niner EMD. I’ve had great success getting vertically challenged folks on small Niners, but this new frame size makes big wheels available to an even wider range of riders.

How small?

How about a 4ft tall 8 year old? I was so proud of him. He wanted to ride it as soon as he saw it, so we let him do some hot laps around the parking lot for a while, until I decided he needed to see what it felt like on trail. There was a small piece of singletrack that was part of the course not too far from where we were hanging out, so I took him down there to see what he really thought of the big wheels. We must have hit that section 10 times. Again dad! Again!

You can see the smile on his face in the video. He had the best time, and didn’t want to stop riding. Now what does that tell you about a product? And the funny thing is, that this XS EMD probably weighs about the same as the 20″ kids bike he’s currently riding. He had no problem controlling it, he just needed a little help getting on and off.

Now I’m not about to give an 8 year old a $2700 bike, but it sure was good to see him have fun rolling around on the big wheels. It definitely got me thinking about his next bike, and how it shouldn’t be a heavy unwieldy tank. I also happen to think that there might be a bunch of smaller 26″ bikes up for sale before too long…

Paloozad

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:15:33 +0000

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