18 June 2009 - 14:08Hot Wheels

Yesterday I built a set of wheels for a customer that I thought were pretty cool.

It’s a set of the new white Stan’s Arch rims laced to gunsmoke Hope Pro II hubs. Spokes are our standard DT Competition in black with silver alloy nips. Both Aaron and I thought they were pretty fly.

These wheels were destined for a Jet 9 that I finished shortly after the wheels. The frame is an XL, built up with a Fox F29, SRAM X9/Shimano XT drivetrain, Thomson seatpost and stem. The weight came in at a respectable 27.5 lbs sans pedals.

And speaking of Jets, I had a great race on mine at Catamount. Nat and I headed down for Wednesday Night Worlds for our weekly dose of punishment. This time the course was the Pink course, otherwise known as the dreaded Hill Side. There is a lot of climbing, power sucking open grass sections and despite some really fun and tricky singletrack, I really dislike this course. After a warm up lap, we got ready for the 3 laps that counted.

I’m really starting to like those Conti Race Kings. They held fast on the big sweeping grassy turns, better than I expected. Fortunately, the conditions were quite dry, allowing me to get comfortable with them on the first lap. 

I didn’t get passed by the 4 lap riders until that last grassy climb, which I was totally OK with, because it was just one guy, and he is fast.

I also didn’t see Nat, save for a few times when I looked back and saw him 2 turns behind. He has a great excuse though, he fell off a bridge last weekend, about 5 feet into 20″ of water. He was still very banged up from that, but he gets props for getting out there and doing 3 laps.

I ended up placing 4th in my race, and 9th overall. Not bad for someone who hasn’t gotten a good bike ride in in over a week! I’m paying for it today though… I feel like I’m about 80 years old.