I'm moving this blog because Posterous was bought by Twitter, I expect it to go away far away. So, It's on Tumblr. Get on over and check it out! I'll leave this up until forever or something.
Montana MTB Guy
I'm an average rider that's totally in love with mountain biking. Here I talk about my riding and the culture around that little activity.
Photo: New Day Pack!
Wanting something for my long rides in the middle the Crazy Mountains, I found a deal on Hucknroll.com for the Vaude Tracer 16L.
The pack was solid right out of the wrapping. They're not playing around. The adjustable waist support is a total win and even thought the website said the bladder wasn't included, the pack came with the 3L Hydrapack Reversible bladder. I certainly look forward to using it once the trails dry out. More of a review later this summer when I've had a chance to use it on some long rides.Spring Rides
But it's only momentary, the first few rides of the season do hurt. You're slow, you're achy, and the only thing you can compare it to is the top shape you were in at the end of last season. But you get done and ask yourself, "why didn't I go farther? I feel pretty good" then you fall over at your car because you failed to exert enough energy to unclip your shoe (yes, all true). This all passes as the mornings get brighter, the temperature gets hotter and you start to feel more comfortable staring down the trail ahead of you instead of right in front of your wheel and you spend more time on your bike on that that technical climb than fumbling up it. Then the personal challenges come- that one section of trail, that elusive time- and it's another year of getting away from work, enjoying the great outdoors, feeling the roll of the bike as it moves under me, seeing that deer dart across my path and wondering why I didn't buy a snowbike and ride all winter.
My bars came loose and my seat rattled off
I'm calling it my first ride of the year and it was really. I got the new Titus Racer X out on the trail and did some tweaking on things like cockpit adjustments and suspension. The front fork is now gravy. I need to move the seat forward and down a notch, I need to slide my gear levers over a trigger, get some more firmness in my rear brake (and fix a strange fluttering), and tighten down that headset.
This new bike is so much different, it's super-snappy, it's fast, it climbs like a beast and feels very well balanced. At the same time I felt like I was really riding on the bike and moving it around as needed, I could really settle and feel like I'm "in" the bike. Many bikes I've ridden either have me feeling like I'm sitting way up and over the bike or others like I'm in the bike to the point that it's too large and sluggish. I have grand aspirations this year. Trying to ride after work is going to cause too much conflict between wanting to spend time with my family so I'm going to try and get out 3 or 4 times a week in the morning for about an hour. Then on Saturdays, drop Titus (the son) off at my parents house as is standard right now and take Titus (the bike) on a good 4-5 hour ride while Titus' mom (the son) has her relaxing morning. I'm still undecided about events at this point, but Rapelje is probably a very likely race. So here's to a new season!
I'm Pleased to Announce...
Hadley has shipped, in less than two days, my new hub adapter!
It was nobody's particular fault that we believed Hadley would not sell parts direct given their policies on hubs. But we were wrong and they were more than happy to ship me the part I needed post haste.
So I hope to spend a bit of time this weekend dialing in the new build.
Your BIKE bling Order has shipped
What a welcome email. I just hope after a couple months, it's the right part this time.
Ordered: 1 Shipped: 1 Hadley-H600255-CLR Hadley 15mm X 100mm Thru-Axle H600110 Front Hub Conversion Kit $40.00
Vid: My kid watching Danny McCaskill
(download)
This makes me smile
Open December with a Winter Ride and a Race Schedule
I've ridden several 29ers all full suspension. I didn't really care for them. I did expect a 29er would be great in a hardtail. I had the opportunity to ride my brothers commuter on some limited singletrack in Anchorage but nothing like this. So I got evaluate the 29er and the 2x10 drivetrain. Hardtail is the way to go with the big wheel. Still not my speed. I'll be sticking to 26". The 2x10 drivetrain, I'll definitely be putting on if the price goes down a bit. Sorry, but $100+ for chainset is just too much.
And on to my 2012 race schedule. Two 50 milers and a 24 hour race. Solo. I've never done anything like that and now researching training programs for endurance riding. I'll probably do a couple smaller events nearby as well. One of Montana's elite endurance riders on Twitter @boneshakerbike recommended the following races:
- Butte 100 - http://butte100.com/
- Pierre's Hole - http://www.ph100.org/
- Frog Hollow - http://www.gropromotions.com/HOME.html
He's done a lot of races around the northwest so these are likely the three I'll sign up for. My wife probably won't go so I'll need to schedule time to sleep post race and live out of my 4Runner in the meantime.
That said, I need to keep riding this winter but I'm not actually equipped I think for extensive winter riding. I need several things:
- A really bright light. I have a helment mounted one but it's not bright enough to really hit it in the dark.
- A set of windbreaker-type, outer layer pants. My Northface coat does an awesome job of keeping the bit out in sub 30 weather, but nothing going on the legs.
- A larger pack. I found myself stuffing extra layers in the event something happened, btu then didn't have room for the rest of my tools and a place for a layer I was already wearing if I wanted to take it off.
Unfortunately, two of those things are just plain expensive so I'll be foregoing that now, spin on the bike and rock the treadmill when it's super cold. Anyway, it was a great ride and I may get out tomorrow, but my buddy is selling this above ride and spent a day cleaning it so not too keen on me getting it all dirty. I think I'll aim to respect that and avoid the mud puddles and super-tech, scratch-inducing lines.
...and evidently, I can't change the font back to the standard after adding those race notes.
Winters-a-here and I'm Running
I'm running mainly because my bike is still waiting for the new hub adapters. I ordered the wrong ones, reordered the right ones and shipped the old ones back. I'm not running so much to increase my fitness level (which is a snatch under where I left off running end of the off-season last year) but to maintain. I'm also not running as much so I come to resent it. I don't want to ride as much though because I think there is something to be said for taking some time off and then you can recharge your love for something.
So I ran 6 miles last week and just over 10 this week (4 on Tuesday, 6 today) Nothing special. It's cold, but I can at least get out and ride. The famed Montana endurance ride Bill Martin posted some stuff on his site recently about his 2011 race season results. Impressive firsts overall in just about every event. Anyway, got me thinking about what events I want to do next year.
NEW BIKE!
Excited to have *mostly* finished the build on the new XC machine. I found a good deal on this Titus Racer X frame. Helps that it has the same name as my kid so that's fun. I built it up with mostly everything that was on the old Kona all-mountain sled. Naturally had to pick up new suspension in the 4" category- X-Fusion Velvet RL on the front and Fox RP23 on the rear. I've ridden that rear on so many other bikes this summer, I had to get on for myself and that front fork, wow. So I'm taking it down to the bike shop tomorrow to get some things tidied up that are beyond my skill level. But I'm excited. Very, very excited. Maybe I can get out this weekend?
