Crossmax 29er Wheels and Tubeless Setup

Niner Crossmax Update
Originally uploaded by Christopher Bailey

I received my C29ssmax (Crossmax 29er) wheels yesterday, and got them mounted up today. They are sweet! First, I'm stunned by how easily I was able to mount up non-UST tires tubeless. I used some used Panaracer Rampages with Stans. When I first mounted them, I was worried because they fit really loosely. But, amazingly, I was able to inflate them first shot, with a floor pump! This doesn't even work half the time with UST tires (at least in my experience). Very nice.

The wheels ride great. They feel a smidge lighter than my WTB Laserdisc Lites (they should, they're a 1/2 pound lighter, but I haven't weighed the bike to see what the overall weight difference is, given the other factor of tubeless vs. yes-tubes).

Crossmax disc bolts
Originally uploaded by Christopher Bailey

Another interesting bit is that my front 7" disc is now perfectly quiet, whereas before I was getting some rub and squeek, even after several remounting/adjustments. Check out the picture of the disc bolts though - they just go straight through the mount. Wild.

Very happy to have these wheels, and I can't wait to get into some terrain that really showcases the tubeless advantage. Need to go ride MRT again or something.

6.5" Travel Niner On the Way

It's super exciting to see Niner getting close on their 6.5" travel freeride 29er! While I don't see picking one of these up myself very soon, I could in fact see ditching my DH bike, and using this instead. MOre versatile, pedalable, etc. I could use this at placed like Black Rock, Tahoe/Northstar, Whistler, etc. And, for what I'm after these days, it'd be sweet. I'm not as into doing the big drops (well, what were big for me, at the over 6 foot range, but below 10').

This bike has some really well thought out bits: dishless rear wheel, use of Maxle oversize axle and QR in on rear wheel, very short chainstays, etc. Go check it out, this is going to be a superb ride.

My Retirement Tour 2007

Matt and I have finally settled on some dates for what I've nicknamed the "Retirement Tour 2007" (in hopes that there will be more in the future). Matt sold all his houses (yes, multiple), and picked up a small place in Silverton, CO, and a Sportsmobile (SMB) and is now traveling around, doing a lot of riding, traveling, and this winter, chasing powder. He's Living The Life. Since I recently quit my job, and am only now working part time, I'm temporarily, and partly retired. So, I'm joining Matt for about a week to do some good riding. Matt will start off in Silverton in the SMB, visit some family, and then we'll meet up in Flagstaff. We'll do some riding around there, Sedona, etc., then likely head up to Moab for a day, then to Fruita and Grand Junction for more riding, where I'll finally fly back from Junction. Here's a map of Matt's SMB route.

I have chosen to bring my Niner full rigid on the trip, but will be renting a Niner Rip 9 for my time in Arizona, thanks to Absolute Bikes in Flagstaff. I plan to get a full suspension 29er next spring, and it's down to the Rip 9 or Specialized's new Stumpjumper 29er. This will be a great way to get in some serious test riding on the Rip 9. I'm waiting to find out about any full suspension 29ers that Over the Edge Sports has in Fruita. If they have something, then I may rent there as well.

The flights for me, flying from/to Eugene airport, are pretty crappy (i.e. the only flight out of Eugene to Flagstaff on the 13th, departs at 5:40am!), but it's a small price to pay for should be a great trip. During the trip, we'll "live" in the SMB, as we did at Mountain Bike Oregon. This should give us great flexibility in where we want to go on any given day, and we don't have to worry about hotel reservations, etc. We are also thinking we'll take a short side trip to the Grand Canyon, since essentially neither of us have been (Matt was there when we was too young to remember it), and we'll be right in the neighborhood.

While my family is a bit bummed that I'll be gone for six days (especially since I'll have only been home for two after the business trip I have right before this, and then we leave for Hawaii a day after I get back :), it's really something I need to do at this point. I would even like to turn such trips and experiences into more than just something I enjoy, and have been scheming about how I might actually turn this into part of what I do for a living. I give it a pretty outside chance right now (especially since I've been used to the nicer lifestyle afforded by being a software developer), but who knows - passion can take you far!

Also, if you have favorite trails to recommend for Flagstaff in particular, as well as any of the other places I've mentioned, please do tell. I can't wait to ride in some of the new places, as well as revisit places I've ridden, but not for at least a couple years. I will be blogging the trip every day once it's underway.

Waldo Lake Inaugural Ride

Waldo Lake Typical Forest Section
Originally uploaded by Christopher Bailey

Today was my first experience riding the Waldo Lake trail. What an experience it was! This has to be one of the most beautiful trails, scenery wise, I've ever been on. It is also a superb ride. 22 miles of rolling singletrack through the forest, as you parallel the lake's edge.

I began by driving out to Oakridge, where I hit the Willamette Mercantile bike shop to pick up a forest parking pass, as well as the USFS map, which has a lot more detail than the Tread map. McKenzie was there, and gave me some good tips on the ride. He and another guy suggested starting at Shadow Bay, instead of the North Camp, which I'd planned to. This was a much better choice, as it was a fair bit less driving.

Upon arriving at the Shadow Bay boat launch parking area, it was a rather chilly 43 degrees! I quickly suited up, and went looking for the trailhead. It was actually right across from the parking lot, but then that teed into another trail. A bit of map and compass work and I figured out the particular point, and headed out, looking for the next important trail junction which was the key to getting started properly for a counter-clockwise ride.

Once on the trail, it was a joy. Buff, yet frequently rooted singletrack, all rolling. I don't think I did a climb all day that was more than probably a 50' elevation gain. In the 22 miles of riding, it was a mere 1670' of ascent. I turned the gas on, to get warm, and to keep the pace high, as I knew I was pretty time limited today.

I made it up to the North Camp in 45 minutes, at which point it was another bout of exploration to find out where the trail continued. Weak signage, and I had to guess a bit, but it worked out. Interestingly, in this area, the sun peaked out briefly, which was quite welcome. Into the large burnt section of forest I went. This was a real change, and felt desolate. This section started to have a few more technical sections. Nothing overly hard, but kept it interesting. I ran into some hikers here who I talked with for a while, and then another rider. I motored on.

The burnt section ended, and I was back into some truly beautiful areas, right along the water's edge. So peaceful. If it weren't so chilly, I'd have gone down to the water, but I needed to keep going. I then came upon Day Camp, and this cool little bridge crossing a really nice little creek. At this point, I said to myself I had to take some pictures, even if it was just with my camera phone. Also popped a Gu.

Continued on, and not too far after this was this sweet section of shale. It reminded me a lot of Glass Mountain in Tahoe, but not as challenging to ride.

I cranked on for a while, and then came across the most technical section on the trail. The pictures do NOT do it justice at all. This rock chute/slot was very much like the rock slot area on the Watson Lake section of TRT, but I'd say harder. There were two tough drops, but making it harder, was how to make the turn between them.

I had to try this four times, and was feeling like it wasn't going to happen. My fork is also not happy with me, as I managed to scrape a good chunk of paint off of it, as I ground it across one of the large rocks during a failed attempt. On number four, it came together, and while I had a foot out at one point, I rode it all, including having to hop the bike around a bit to make that turn. Sweet!

There was an alternative line that involved going all the way down on the right side, but when I tried it, my rear tire wanted to make sweet love to my ass in order to let me pass, and, well, I wasn't into that.

It turned out that the next about 4 miles included a bunch more technical sections. Nothing anywhere as challenging as this one, but it was a really killer few miles, both of techy descents, and some tricky climbs. Rode it all!

From there, it was a couple miles of, quite damp at this point, singletrack back to the car. There was one climb I was unable to ride. It was very steep, and by now I was feeling the ride, and just couldn't swing it with the 1x9 (it'd have been a trick with a granny gear too, but rideable).

At the car, I quickly stripped off my wet clothes, and donned a nice toasty hoody, and headed off to Oakridge. When I left Waldo, it gotten up to about 46 degrees I think. Arriving in Oakridge it was completely sunny and 68 degrees! I stopped off to quickly thank McKenzie, and ask for a burrito place. Hit Mazatlan, for a bit more than your average take out burrito (burrito on a plate, smothered). Scarfed half that down, and headed home. Awesome day.

Ride stats... 22 miles, 1670' climbing/descending, 2 hours 37 minutes of ride time, about 3.5 hours of total time. Complete set of full size photos here.

Stellar Ride Today, and I Think I'm Back!

This morning I headed to Brice Creek for a ride.  After navigating my way through the 2200 roadies taking part in Cycle Oregon (which I may try to do next year, just found out about it this morning), I arrived at the trailhead, where it was 52 degrees.  Luckily, the slight rain had let up, and the trail was likely to be in perfect condition.  I was riding my Niner 1x9, and was excited to see how the 1x9 worked out on this trail since it's a rough trail (check the potential chain jump), and has some extremely steep climbing.

I took off and immediately began to work up a good sweat.  I had arm warmers and a vest on and shed the vest pretty quickly.  The trail was feeling great, and I was going nicely.  I made it to the trail junction for the waterfall in 45 mins, and started up the climb.  The climb was brutal, and I walked at least half of it.  It was like doing intervals, because the pitches are so steep (even to hike), and then you get a short breather, and then another bitch of a pitch.  All of a sudden I reached the falls, and quickly realized, I'd screwed up again, just like when I rode it with Matt!  I went up the descent!  Argh--I'd promised myself not to do that.  The problem with this direction of climbing, is that it is 700' of gain in 1 mile.  Yep kids, that's a 13% grade on average.  Uh, huh.  

However, I was actually pretty psyched that I'd done this in 25 mins, as memory says it took Matt and I like 40 minutes (of course that day it was also in the 80's, and I know I was suffering on the hike much more).  I thought for a moment that I'd turn around and head back down to enjoy the descent, but then said, no, I want to see how I screwed up and turned too early, so I headed down the other side.  This is a fun descent as well - rolling on the top half, and steeper on the bottom.  Got down, and now know that I have to ride the trail until I get to pavement, then make the 20' hop up the pavement to where the proper entry into the climb lies.  

Now is where I start getting pretty excited about my ride though.  I was feeling good, and so I turned around and rode back up to the falls again!  Ya baby!  Climbing this direction it's also 700' of gain (probably more like 850' given that you do a few mini-descents in there, which I saw were 50' of drop or so), but in 2.5 miles.  As an interesting comparison, this climb I was able to ride much more of, and it took 27 minutes - much longer mileage wise, but the milder overall grade means it only took 2 minutes longer.  Sweet.

I proceeded to ride the full rock wall section, and then up and under the falls, and then ripped the descent.  This side of the descent, being a lot steeper, is just a ton of fun.  And at this point, I was truly in the zone.  I was just flying, and maneuvering the bike like nothing else existed, really working the front end hard, and at one with the bike and trail.  Combine this feeling with the happiness of being able to want to do the climb again, and I was quit high (no Rich, not like that).  

At the bottom of the climb, I could smell the campfire of a nearby camp, and boy did that smell good.  Just added to the buzz.  I also realized how little time it'd taken overall so far.  With that in mind, I put it in race, and flew over the remainder of trail back to the car.  I finished up the ride, in a total of 2 hours, 44 minutes, for 2800' of climbing.  Not an epic by any means, but very stoked.  Further, during various points in the ride, I was doing a lot of standing up and hammering, and it was the first time, in, well, I can't remember, that I actually felt I had some power in my legs.  This was a really big deal for me, and I am just so psyched!  It has no doubt helped, that I've ridden 4 times in the preceding week (which is about 3-4 more times than normal ;-)

The weather was extremely helpful for me today.  As folks know, I don't like the heat at all, so the temps today (stayed in the 50's all day) were outstanding.  I did wind up putting the vest back on on the first descent, and never took it back off (even for the 2nd climb).  Again, just an outstanding ride for me as everything came together, and it is the best I've felt on a ride in a long, long time.  To top it off, I wasn't even tired when I finished, and had contemplated going back out for another lap, but knew that I wanted to save some juice for tomorrow, as I'm hoping to go ride Waldo Lake, which I hear is about 4-5 hours.  

Lastly, the 1x9 worked out just fine.  There were a couple sections I could have ridden if I had a granny gear, but the majority of the super steep pitches I'd have had to hike even with a granny gear.  I had two close calls crash wise: one where I hit my pedal pretty hard going round a corner at high speed, throwing me a good bit, but rode it out, and second where I lost the front wheel in a fast corner, having it slide a ways, but then I think it caught on something and carved out the rest of the turn.  A very good day, can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...

Niner Converted to 1x9

Niner 1x9
Originally uploaded by Christopher Bailey

Yesterday I converted my Niner to a 1x9 drivetrain. Came out quite nice. I used a Spot bashguard and an N-Gear JumpStop to keep the chain on the chainring. I had already shortened up my chain when blocking out my big ring, so that was dialed. Pulled off the front deraileur and shifter, dropping probably 3/4 of a pount. Bike weighs exactly 27.05 pounds now according to my digital scale.

I have also put on a WTB Weirwolf 2.55 LT tire up front, but haven't been very impressed. Here's my review of that. I've basically been riding this bike as 1x9 for the last several rides anyway, so should be great.

WTB Weirwolf 2.55 LT 29er First Impressions

Today was my first ride on the WTB Weirwolf 2.55 LT 29er tire.  I had it mounted up front on my fully rigid Niner.  After inflating it, I was rather disappointed in the size.  It seemed smaller than my Panaracer Rampage 2.35's.  Upon measuring them, the Weirwolf has a wider casing/volume, but the Rampage has wider knobs.  The "LT" portion is definitely true as well, I'd call this tire a semi-knob, as the knobs are very short, and not aggressive.  

I rode the local Ridgeline area, which is mild.  The tire has decent volume, and felt squishy enough, but I did not find I felt confidence with it in the corners.  It was fine on tacky soil, and at slower speeds, but when things got going fast, and there was a bit of loose, and really, I mean, only very minimal loose dirt, covering harder soil, it just didn't feel like it was holding that well, or felt like it was going to go at any second.  I did not lose it, but, I didn't feel I could push it as hard either.

In part, I suspect this tire is not intended for technical, or really aggressive riding, but who knows.  It certainly seems to roll fast, and the large volume is great (although I didn't feel to be much more noticeable than the Rampages).  If you ride mild terrain, and want a large volume, fast roller, it's probably a good choice.  For me though, I think I will likely not be using it much more, but sticking with the dual Rampages, as they simply rock.  I'll put some more rides on the Weirwolf to see for sure though.

Maverick Speedball R seatpost: get one!

I recently put a Maverick Speedball R on my Reign. After only one ride, I can't imagine not having one of these on my all-mountain bike! This thing simply rocks! I chose the Speedball over a Gravity Dropper for two reasons:

• The infinite adjustability within the range of travel.  The Gravity Dropper has two settings, drop 1" or drop 3".
• The more polished/refined design.

Now, the Gravity Dropper may be your only choice depending on your seatpost/seat tube size, because the Mavericks only come in 30.9 and one other larger size I believe, whereas the Gravity Droppers can be had in 27.2, etc.  

What I found, as others told me, is that once you install one of these and ride with it, you will use it a lot!  And indeed I did.  The first ride I had it on was the Middle Fork trail in Oakridge, OR.  This is a trail that is over 30 miles of rolling singletrack.  There is a lot of variation.  The first section for example has a lot of switchbacks (descending), and I dropped the post down all the way for these super tight switches.  Much of the rest of the trail has a lot of medium-level technical stuff (roots, creek crossings, tight turns through trees, etc.).  I love being able to drop my post just a little bit for a lot of this, as I'm 6'2" and being able to simply drop my center of gravity, and get a bit more wiggle room while remaining seated makes the bike perform a lot better.  The Speedball made this so convenient: no stopping to drop the post (or before the Speedball, in many cases I wouldn't have stopped), and then the ability to be right back to full seatpost height when needed.  

I can't say it enough, the convenience factor, of not having to get off your bike, but being able to adjust your post height is just huge, and you will find you use it a lot.

To really drive home how much I like this post, consider this: I am looking at a new full suspension bike (I want a 29er FS, now that I am completely sold on 29ers).  The Speedball is so key to me, that it may directly determine which bike I buy!  Right now I think I'll go either with the new Specialized Stumpjumper FSR SJ 29er, or a  Niner Rip 9.  The Sumpjumper has a 30.9 seatpost size, and would allow me to just move my Speedball over.  The Rip 9 uses a 31.6 which happens to be the other Speedball size.  Phew!  I had thought I would rule out the Rip 9, because my Niner MCR 9 has a 27.2 seatpost and I thought that the Rip 9 would as well, but luckily it does not.  But, that drives the point home - I almost ruled out a bike based on the seatpost size because I wouldn't be able to run a Speedball!  

The Speedball (and the Gravity Dropper) are very expensive in terms of a seatpost ($250 for the remote versions, which you should definitely get - don't even bother with the non-remote versions), but 100% worth it.  This has to be the best accessory I've come across in a long time.

Two Great Rides This Weekend

Matt was visiting for a few days, and we rode on Friday and Saturday. Friday we did Brice Creek, and Saturday Larison Rock. Both were good rides, even if I screwed up and had us do the Falls loop portion of Brice backwards (we probably had to hike 3/4 of the climb).

Matt did a good job with the photos and blogging of them, so check these out:

Brice Creek

Larison Rock

Make sure to check out the photos page - you'll see we rode under the waterfall, and so on.

Also, as Matt said, we know now that we'll almost for sure want to try to get in the Larison Rock shuttle while at Mt. Bike Oregon. I was absolutely hating life on the climb, but the descent was superb, and will be a great shuttle. It's not real long (3.5 miles), so we will be able to tack that on to whatever else we do say on Saturday. Probably a good Saturday will be to shuttle Alpine and shuttle Larison Rock. We may be knackered after Friday's epic, so a couple great shuttle runs will be sweet (Alpine has a few climbs during the descent, but it's probably 17 miles of descent and 1 mile of climbing :)

It was harsh having been off the bike for a couple weeks, and just getting back from traveling, but what a great couple days we had. Matt had also scoped out this great hidden hot springs (we soaked in water up to 108 - or Matt tried the 108 pool, the 106 was plenty for me, and the rather chilly river was fun too).

I also found that that Sport Legs stuff is quite effective (thanks Matt). And, that damn if the lemon-lime Sport Beans aren't awesome tasting (and I think working) when you are seriously bonked out.

I rode my Niner at Brice, and the Reign at Larison. Have the Lyric fork dialed in fairly well now, liking that. Wished I had the Niner on the climb up Larison, but was glad to rip the descent on the Reign. I've upgraded to 8" front, 7" rear rotors on my Reign now (and may go
to 7/7" on the Niner as well), for the long descents here. Makes a really nice difference, as I was getting some fade and such out of the dual 6" I was running before (especially somewhere like Alpine or Crawfish where you're into 5+ miles of continuous descent).

29er Tubeless Wheels

I've been starting to look into a tubeless wheelset for my Niner, since I swear by tubeless on my Reign and DHi. I'd also like to have two wheelsets so that I can keep one with my town nearly-slicks, and one with my trail tires. I am fairly adamant about UST as the tubeless system. I've used Stan's rim strips before and think they suck. Bontrager might be ok, but why did they not do UST and create yet another mechanism - I don't like that kind of thing. I heard Mavic will have 29er UST wheels/rims soon. I checked in with Speedgoat on things, and here's what they had to say.

No, the Stan's rims are not UST-compatible. Neither are Bontragers. There are currently no UST-specific 29er rims, and, given your weight, you'll potentially experience bad times trying to run a converted regular-tire/sealed up rim setup on a 29er (hope you don't ride on rocks). Mavic will be releasing a 29er wheels fairly soon, and it does look pretty damn nice. We may well start seeing 29er UST tires, too, though they'll be from the like of Hutchinson and Michelin only, and will probably weigh over 1,000g each.

Best to wait on the Mavic then, or go with an Industry 9 Stan's Flow wheelset. The I9 stuff is amazing, but we've never had a single order for their hubs alone. Everyone wants the wheelsets, and with good reason. They're just plain excellent, but again, they're not UST.

So yes, I'll be waiting for Mavic. Normally I also only run true UST tires, so it'll be interesting to see what comes out there. I've run a lot of converted tires, but they don't work as well usually, so I've gone with only UST. In 26" wheel land, there are plenty of UST choices in the 2.3-2.5 (and upwards) range these days, so it's no longer a problem. But in 29er land, it may be a challenge for a while.

Cycling Podcasts

I just found the Crooked Cog podcast, courtesy of the twentynineinches.com site. Haven't listened to it yet, but looks like it has potential. I've listened to a couple of Specialized's podcasts. What others are out there that are at least halfway good?

I should note that I'm familiar with VeloNews, Bicycing magazine, Zipp, and various other more commercial entries, but haven't been interested in those. Obviously everyone's taste varies, but if you have ones you really like, lemme know!

Oakridge: Middle Fork Ride

I gathered with 14 other riders for a ride setup by the Disciples of Dirt, which is Eugene's very active mtb group (which mostly amounts to a slew of folks on the same mailing list, who do a lot of riding, and a lot of trail maintenance!). Two of the folks, Andy and Megan, had driven down for the weekend from Seattle. Andy was probably one of the best riders of the group, and Megan hung just fine (and was a Daily Distraction to boot). This was a "Slow Boyz" ride as the DoD group has a few self-classified sub-groups (others include the "X-Men" who are the hardcore guys that are out to win the Creampuff (which makes the death ride look easy), 3 of which we came across going the other way, as they did the 50 mile variant of our ride, primarily on single speeds).

The ride was aptly named Slow Boyz. There were some good riders, but it was a bit of a party ride - each stop was a bit longer than at least I (and a few others) would like, but that's also par for the course with 15 people on a ride! The people were all very friendly and nice, and it was a nice mix, likely age range from about 30-50 (I know one guy was 50). The courtesy level was very high, and the DoD hosts were great about keeping everyone together and ensuring folks knew where to go, etc.

We rode the Middle Fork trail in Oakridge. This is a great trail. There was still snow at the top so we put in a bit lower (Chuckle Springs), but overall got in 22 miles of 100% singletrack! We were out riding for 5.5 hours. During that time I kid you not, we must have done 20 creek crossings, about half of which were not really rideable, and also went over these awesome log bridges (probably a half dozen of them - killer views of the river while walking across - wish I had my camera). The trail was primarily flat/rolling - even with 23 miles, we only did 1100' of climbing, and 2600' of descending.

Not as technical as I'm used to, but I got the impression that it was on the more technical side for the area(?), as there aren't a lot of rocky trails there (technical = rocky, for me). It sounds like the more technical or harder trails there tend to be super steep stuff. I plan to get out to "Heckletooth" and "Larikin" (sp?) soon. Also Tire Mountain and I think it was Black Bear or something. I've ordered up the super sweet laminated Tread maps of all this stuff. And then there's Willamette Pass, which is a small ski area, but does the lift-served stuff in the summer, and puts on a bunch of DH races, etc. I will be hitting this hopefully, as I hear it's quite good. There is also Oregon Adventures ( http://www.oregon-adventures.com/) that does shuttle and guide service. Randy and his crew sported two vans to shuttle us up to yesterday's ride. This was very cool, and I plan to use that service again for sure (as well as possibly some guided rides, so I can learn the trails faster).

Anyway, the trail is a river trail, meaning we followed the river the whole time, crossing back and forth a few times. I rode my rigid Niner (to the disbelief of nearly everyone on the ride - there were a couple Nomads, a few other Santa Cruz's, a Turner, two Reigns, and then a couple hardtails, etc.). The Niner performed superbly! I am absolutely sold on the bigger wheels acting like a form of limited suspension. I won't say it was a plush, but the thing just charged that trail, and I love it. I am fairly beat today - my feet are sore, and my shoulder is sore from all the bike portages over creeks and bridges (I usually hang my saddle on my shoulder, which isn't overly comfy to begin with). I also ran out of water with over an hour of time to go.

After the ride, we hit the Trailhead Coffee Shop, for beers and dinner. The whole thing with at least the Slow Boyz is very social, and it was a fun time. Nice that folks are so welcoming and friendly. THC has got to be making a good half of it's revenue from mountain bikers, as 100% of the folks in there at dinner were post-ride, and we met there in the morning as well, where some folks were grabbing breakfast, we got coffee, etc. Anyway, finally drove home, and rolled in about 10pm. A pretty long day given that I'd met the carpool folks at 8:30am. All in all a lot of fun, and I'm psyched to see the various other trails. I definitely plan to ride with the Slow Boyz again (the Creampuff is not my idea of fun).

Ridgeline Ride Today - Lots of Off-shoots

I rode the Ridgeline trails in Eugene this morning. It's a small place, but boy are there a ton of little off-shoots! I really need to spend some time with the GPS there and map stuff out - so many interesting looking little chunks of singletrack. Today I did the main drop down towards Amazon Parkway, but at a fork at the bottom I went left. This took me over to W. Amazon which lead back to Fox Hollow, which I then rode back up to the park and did another loop on the main trail. Quick and fun.

This was also only my second ride on dirt on the Niner. Definitely still getting used to lack of suspension (I nearly ate it on a relatively mild rooted descent). The bike rolls so nicely though, just have to learn how to ride it better in the rougher terrain. Tomorrow's ride at Oakridge (never been there) ought to be interesting :)

New Bits and Bobs

I've returned from a week of travel, and am very eager to be back on the bike. While I was gone, I received a new Syncros FL Stem, and the Panaracer Rampage 29er tires. This weekend I'm planning to head out to a local, small trail system here in Eugene, with my GPS and maybe camera, and map it out. The trail map I have shows it as a simple line, but in fact, it's at least a loop, and has several off-shoots. Nothing spectacular, but as a fun exercise I'll go map it out and try out the Niner with some real mtb tires and such.

I may sport the Endura Humvee 3/4 shorts again too. I'm still mixed on whether I can pull off the nicker variant, but I like these things a lot. They're nice and light, the cell phone pocket works very well for me for town riding (unlike the review I read - but super fit messenger boy probably gets more movement out of it than me :) They're an ideal town riding short/knicker.

Great 29er Shirt

I am pretty tempted to order this shirt: 29 Inches and Rigid.

Tags: bike, 29er, clothing

A Fully Rigid Transition - Rich's Take

One of my Team Baggy buddies, Rich, had some great words in response to my first real 29er ride, so consider this a guest entry:

I think you're on your way to becoming a fully rigid 29er singlespeeder and you just don't know it yet! Not quite, but I do think you will ride that bike more, and come to love it, perhaps more than any other bike you are currently riding. Here's why, in my own experience, I say that: First, it is a simple bike and will always be ready to ride right out the garage with no fuss. ( That aint no NIXON Fork on there ) and second you will be riding this bike right out the garage, whenever you want, on your own schedule, for whatever pupose your heart desires. In other words this bike will bring you back to the true freedom of the wheels that our first bikes brought us when we were kids. You will get to know the lay of the land in your new community looking over the front end of this bike and so, in a way, it will become your best friend for exploring the local rides available to you. And, I've discovered this for myself on the monocog, because the bike is fully rigid you don't want to load it up in a car and take it to Grouse Ridge. That's a good thing because what it means is that this bike is aching to rock out on the "trails in the hood"! Give me buff dirt roads, give me swoopy "easy" single track near town, give me mixed dirt and road rides that I'd never even looked twice at before on my road bike or my F.S. mtn bike....You'll be out on the niner for short "workout" rides close to town and you won't need to spend an hour prepping the bike, drive anywhere, or scare up a ride buddy, just plug in your i-pod and go ride for an hour or two. A month from now your fitness level will be way up and the sky is the limit as to how far you want to go with challangeing yourself in this regard. Monday, after getting back from Moab, I looked at my tired, muddy, sqeaky, loose pivot linkage, Blur and said "thanks for all the great rides in Moab" and then turned my back on her ( instead of spending two hours cleanaing her up for the next ride) and rode the moncog to Nevada City and back on a variety of dirt roads and pavement. I bought a beverage in N.C. and sat on a bench and watched the middle aged shopper hotties strut their stuff between botique shops ( thinking, "thank God she's not my wife!") before hopping back on my ride and dissapearing into the wooods on the "backside" of town. I'm glad I had the Blur to ride in Moab, but for the close to home stuff, I love the monocog. I think you'll even come to love the fully rigid bit of it. It will force you to re-think your riding style as you've already noticed. You'll find yourself out of the saddle looking for the sweet line that "flows" Once you start riding like that, and you happen to go our for a "real" ride on the Reign, you will be amazed at how well you climb and fly over obstacles in ways you never even considered before. You will be more effecient and fit and ride with a new sense of "flow" and it will all be better than ever before thanks to that rigid 29er of yours! just a few thoughts and predictions from my own experiences....Rich

First Real Ride On 29er

Today I did what I'll call my first "real" ride on my new 29er. By that I simply mean it was of decent length, and involved trails (even if it was a small chunk of the ride). There are two very short trails within town, so decided to see what it was like to ride over to one of them from my house, ride it and come back. The quick of it:

Distance: 13.7 miles
Time: approx 1 hour 45 mins (of which about 20 mins was on dirt :(
Ascent: 2300'

The trail, Ridgeline, was quite buff - with scenery/surroundings that made me think a lot of Skeggs/El Corte de Madera in the Bay area: shady with tons and tons of trees, lush, buff trail with a few small rooted sections. It was actually the perfect intro to a dirt ride on the rigid 29er. It is going to take some getting used to to be fully effective on a rigid bike! The thing rolls really well, and it climbs quite well. But, I did a small little drop off, and wham, uh, ya, there'd be no give at all in the rear end :) Interestingly enough, it's really the rear suspension that I miss/notice the most. I think the front is more obvious, and I'm lifting the front wheel as needed more. I will most definitely be getting some fatter tires for mtb riding (and I already received the Schwalbe Big Apple 2.35 mostly-slicks for town riding). The bike definitely rails the buff singletrack, very direct-drive. Any way you slice it though, it's a fun ride, just have to re-train my brain a bit. One note... I haven't played with tire pressure much on this bike yet I was running the tires pretty hard, mainly cuz I've been riding on pavement a lot. For real dirt riding, I could go lower pressure, plus, as said, I'd use something bigger (I'm riding the WTB Nanoraptor 2.1's, will likely go with some Panaracer Rampage 2.35's).

The ride overall was nice, mainly because I got out for a couple hours on my bike in beautiful weather, and got to be on some dirt (even if it was weak). About 30 mins in I was pretty hurtin' and just bummin' over my fitness. But, by the end, cranking up some seriously steep hills, I was enjoying it a lot, and much more positive. Hopefully this ride, and some others will become a multi-day per week event going forward. Working at home again I'm feeling I'll be able to do that.

Tags: 29er, bike, Eugene