Sandwich 50 enduro

Fat Bike Fest.

2012-02-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

Last minute decision with some peer pressure from Chuckles had me loading up the fat bike to head up to Elk River for the Fat Bike Fest. Just an okay turn out but the conditions probably kept people at home. Winter racing is somehow less fun with no snow. No moto course this year which is too bad so straight to the racing. We did 2 prologue laps and I kept the pace and breathing within my stated goal range of just going for a ride. Into the singletrack is was really icy. Studs would have made a big difference today. Played the old game of trying to surf from spot of traction to spot of traction. Had one big yard sale when I decided to follow Heaths line. He had studs but I couldn't tell and just thought he had a good groove going. About 3 past me as I tried to collect myself and my water bottles. I passed maybe 1 or 2 back and then basically held that spot. Some of the 26 inch bikes with studs caught me but otherwise there wasn't a lot of company where I was riding. Second lap the ice softened a bit and the studs chipped up a little bit f a groove so the lap was a little easier. In the end I finished in 12th. I had wanted to finish 10th since the payout was the top 10, but Rich and Co went to 13 and I was in the money anyhow. It was fun to see all of the different fat bike set ups and I was happy I didn't see any other Carvers, so I had the only unique bike there. Great awards and food afterwards too. The only down point in the day came at the end of the trip home when I am pretty certain my traveling companion or one of his family members pocketed my limited edition Lady and the Tramp DVD.

Eastwood Conditions

2012-01-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

There has been a good amount of packing going on out at Eastwood and I was able to ride for about 2 hours this am. However the weather hasn't really allowed for a good set up of the base. What we really need is a some super cold temps to harden the snow up and then it would be perfect out there. Right now a fatbike can ride about 80 to 90% of everything with a little bit of pushing where the uphills are real steep or the snow drifted badly. Currently I wouldn't recommend anythig but a snow bike as I think in these conditions they really are a "game changer" in that even wide 29er tires will have you walking at least twice as much and maybe more. Of course any packing is good packing, except the type happening in the parking lot.

Whore. . . . .

2012-01-20T22:40:00.001-08:00

Frost. Went out for a little midnight shenanigans on the fatbike tonight since the wifes work schedule may not allow for much or any riding over the weekend. Snowmobile trail was pretty good. Not groomed but enough sleds had been over it and it was cold enough that it was solid. Ended the night with donuts in some guys yard.

Musings?

2012-01-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

This morning was cold so I decided bottles would sort of be beside the point unless I wanted to train with the extra weight of ice cubes on my bike. So I rinsed out the grime that was left over from the almonzo last year from my camel back and decided to try that for the first time in winter. Normally my core is really dry and warm in these temps with the layering system I use, but with the camel back I got wetter and colder. I am wondering if it's becuase the camel back causes everything to fit tighter and compresses my base layers more. Usually my coat is loose fitting over everything else but with the 72 oz camel back it was tight. I am wondering if something like the racerback would work well. Slimmer fitting and closer to the skin.

Also my front and rear shifting stopped working for a little while and then started again. Chucky Cheese thought it might be because my bike was warmer in the garage and then went right out into the cold causing some condensation. It could just be really cheap cables and housings too.

Fresh Coat

2012-01-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

Well this weekend I decided to ride Eastwood both days as it seemed like the perfect amount of snow to get packed down and then let the next couple of days of freeze thaw make it rock hard (that's what she said). I ended up just short of 100 miles out there and I would have put in the extra half lap in the dark today if I had thought about it. Saturday morning was cold, -2 on my garmin, and the conditions were slow. I was running really low pressure, like 3 or 4 psi and just focused on not having to walk. I think I averaged about 4 miles an hour. I was dissapointed to see that I didn't have first tracks when I entered the woods, but whoever was out there before me with a Larry/Larry combo must not have had much luck because they cut over to the edge after the first section, which was a too bad since the first section was really bad with drifted snow, but after that corkscrew, cardiac, lightning tree were all pretty easy to ride. So I made first tracks on those and then the open field and Cardiac 2 as the fatbiker out before me seemed uninterested in riding the challenging stuff. I also tried to make first tracks on as many obsticals as possible and even gave the long tree skinny on the downhill section of the edge a try. I came off about the highest point but managed to stick the landing.
Sunday was about 30 degrees warmer and I packed the trail down good. The same sections that were tough on Saturday (beginning, feild, East section 2) were tough again due to snow redrifting. If the trail doesn't get post holed by people and dogs it should set up really good by tuesday night.

Breath in, Breath out

2012-01-13T07:58:00.000-08:00

Well the snow finally fell, not as much as I'd hoped though. Mostly light blowing snow that won't pack down and is too thin for the snowmobiles to hit the trails. Might try to hit up Eastwood on what will be the Carvers first ride onn snow. Commuted yesterday on the fargo and the ride home was slow. Took the long way to stay off busy roads that were coated in mashed potato snow. Hit the douglas and noticed a familiar set of tracks. Couple of blocks later I spotted the suspect. Mr Chucky Cheese on his untested, unapproved 907 fatbike. He wasn't wearing a hat, but he was having no problem with the weather due to his helpful breathing apparatus;

The Future is Now (or the end is near)

2012-01-10T14:49:00.000-08:00

Some of my loyal 6 readers will have already caught this, but if not here it is
http://salsacycles.com/culture/prototype_talk_full-suspension_fatbike/

So a full suspension Fatbike is in the works. To be honest I am of mixed feelings on this bike. I certainly thought that carbon would come before suspension, although I am not sure either is necessary. Certainly before the current explosion a full suspension Fatbike wouldn't have been useful since there weren't many places to go for short fatbike rides. the Fat bike was birthed and driven by epic snow events like the Arrowhead and Iditasport. A full suspension design doesn't lend itself well to racks, or frame bags. Also the terrain that these events typically traverse doesn't usually call for a full suspension and I have serious doubts about whether the seals on a rear shock (or front shock for that matter) would be able to hold up in those ultra cold temps. However now we are seeing more and more singletrack being groomed (usually by snowmobile, which cast a slight pall on our sport being green) so maybe a bike without the ability to go epic has a place now. Also the suspension that the tires on a fatbike provide don't really act as supsension as they aren't damped so you mostly just bounce. On the other hand packed snow has a way of smoothing everything out to the point where hard stuff becomes easier and suspension isn't really necessary. One thing I do wonder is if suspension set up really soft would actually help the bike float better as it absorbs some of a riders weight shifts? Also the traction would go through the roof, but efficiency would certainly be hurt. Either way salsa obviously heard I was on a ti frame and they had to make it obsolete. I do like the tapered head tube. On thing is certain; If they build it GT will cum.

Profile of a Bike

2012-01-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

Frame: Haro 10 inch (strider clone) Chromoly
Fork: Chromoly
Drivetrain: NA
Wheels: Thermoform plastic Mags (Tri geeks keep your hands out of your pants)
Tires: Foam Rubber (inferior to normal rubber because they get slippery on dusty surfaces)
Seat: White Padded oversized with handgrip for awesome tricks.
Handlebar: Riser Bar
Light: Cygolight expillion relegated to strider bike duty after numerous fails but still better than a trinewt.
Stem: Slammed for extra awesomeness.

Didn't fatbike race this weekend because I can't summon the motivation if the snow isn't on the ground. I ran a track meet instead. I was looking forward to Triple D but that is off the table too as without snow I just don't see the point. Although I will be intersted in reading reports to see what people end up riding. Did anyone see Ben Witts bike? Someone should let him know it's only a metric century and there isn't a mandatory overnight or anything.

Maybe Tomorrow Carver Snow Bike.

Homemade pogies

2012-01-02T14:51:00.001-08:00

After yesterdays late term abortion of a ride I needed something to shore up my spirits. I didn't have pogies yet for the Carver Snow bike and I was thinking I would go with the cheap, but super ugly fleet farm snowmobile ones, or spending a pretty penny on the barmitts for sale at the local shops. We were out running errands and a stop at the fabric store had me deciding to try to make my own. I got a couple different types of fabric and actually tried to make my first pair using a quilted insulation sewn inside rip stop nylon. However once all the space was taken up by the insulation they were a bit to constrictive and although the nylon was called ripstop it was apparent that it would tear and the stiches pull out wherever I drifted too close to the cut edges. So these were my second attempt using material that feels a little like pleather or that stuff some people use for picnic table covers. It has a sort of cottony backing that adds a little insulation and reinforcement. The Cuffs around where the cables exit is secured with velcro. I went with this maroon color becuase they didn't have black and my other choices were various shades of white or blue. Overall including the material for the ones that didn't work I spent 23 bucks But I have alot of material left. I could make another set for $6 knowing what to use and how to do it. Overall considering this is the first time I have tried to sew anything since 7th grade home ec class I am happy with the results.

The view of them from the seat area including the excellent planet bike lunch box bag. Much easier to get open on the bike than my old Jannd frame bag.

View of both of them. I tested them out over several hours at Eastwood in about 19 degrees with a lot of wind and they kept my digits toasty with fairly thin full fingered non winter gloves so they should serve the purpose. If I was going to make another pair I would make the cuff that comes up the wrist 2 inches longer. Otherwise they offered me good warmth and the ability to use my bar ends and shift/brake uninhibited.

The western side of Eastwood including new/beginning singletrack, corkscrew, cardiac and lightning tree is very icy. The center and east section of eastwood are ice free, as is the field and actually the far west stuff across the road (mounds/gas can/twister) are completely ice free as well. Must have to do with the way the hills face and the direction of the wind. Another inch of snow would have been perfect.

One the drive home I saw someone riding a black fat bike south on circle drive near quarry hill with red wheels on it. Wierd! I wonder if his was a fixie?

Epic Fail

2012-01-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

I guess its just one of those days. I woke up at 6:30 expecting a couple inches of snow. Instead I saw a coating of ice with about a mm of snow in the grass. About par for this winter unfortunately. Undaunted I loaded up the snow bike and headed to eastwood thinking there would be less wind and ice in the woods. I was right on the wind part but the ice was think on at least 50% of the trail, at least in the west part of the trail system. The snow bike was doing just okay with the ice with really low pressure and I was comfortable riding slowly, but studs would definately be the way to go today. Anyway about 20 mins into the ride I noticed my seatpost slipping again (its been a constant problem with the new bike). So I stopped pulled out the multi tool and started cranking down the seatpost clamp bolt. And of course it snapped.

I have already rounded out one of these bolts last week, but luckily I had an extra. So my ride was done epically early. I went home and inspected the bolt. Man was it light and clean looking. Pulled out a magnet and sure enough the bolt was aluminum. That is not the place I would put aluminum bolts on my bike. So I dug around and found a black clamp in the parts bin with a nice steel bolt and man was I able to put some torque on that thing. Shouldn't slip now.

Only problem is that it's not red so the aesthetic of the whole bike is off. Maybe a new alloy bolt for the broken one? Wonder how far the rasc ride will go on this ice today?

It's starting to look a lot like 2012.

2011-12-28T07:00:00.001-08:00

This was the view that greeted us last night during the weekly XRC meat up last night at Eastwood. This is right as you come up the short hill into the field.

While 2012 is an election year and will be remembered for awesome buzz word battles like; prolife vs prodeath council, education vs. pre-emptive retaliation, conservative vs teabag nutjob, blacks vs republicans, real riders vs fatbike/fixie hipster posers, and lets not forget ligers vs tigercorns. One thing this year will not be known for is snow. The outlook doesn't seem good for snow before the first of the cold bear series races, and while I love the format of those races, without at least a little snow on the ground I am not sure I will be motivated to take the start line. This time of year I need a mental break from the norm much more than I need a physical break and racing hillside completely dry would seem too much like summer racing to me. But there is still a week and a half and and a few inches of snow could make all the difference. Now make like Herman Cain and get ready to grope your way into 2012.

Arrival just in time for the real fRawChestHair.

2011-12-19T21:39:00.001-08:00

I suck at blogger so these pictures are all just dumped at the top and certainly the format will probably look even worse to anyone reading. I got the build most of the way done tonight and even rode it around a bit. Overall I am pleased with the frame and everything went together smoothly. I think the colors combined with the deck of player cards I packing taped in as a rim strip makes this one of the sharpest looking fat bikes out there and the Nates certainly give it an aggressive feel. Here are some observations I made tonight;

Ti looks good on a snow bike.

I like bar ends.

Presta Valves on fat bikes are stupid. It would be great to use an air compressor instead of 100,000 pump strokes to fill these fat bastards.

Canti Studs on the pugsley Fork. Are you kidding me? Is this 2002?

No front brake because I ordered a 100mm spaced fork and the brake calipers rub on the spokes. I'll be trying to remedy this, but the issue combined with canti studs means this fork is probably not long for this world.

This fat bike is heavier than it should be at around 32 pounds without the front brake.

Lastly my front Nate is noticably larger than my rear. Like freakishly so. I am thinking they might both stretch a bit over time.

The Stork is bringing another delivery!

2011-12-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

And I had to get the new ones room ready this weekend.

My garage is really the only room in the whole house that I have any real control over. As such I believe it's worthy of some small mention. First on the highlight list is located at the far left of the picture and it's a full size furnace. Super high efficiency and rated for about a 3000 square foot house so heats the garage up lickety split. The floor of the garage, although dirty in the picture, is treated with Behr garage floor sealer and paint with silica sand added to the paint to give it a fine sand paper like texture even when wet. Lastly I will point out the workbench; which is 3 feet wide and 12 feet long. Made entirely of steel. It is fully powered and has a row of outlets along. Also has 4 steel caster wheels with locks in the corners. It's the most heavy duty workbench I have ever seen, it was hauled down here on a flat bed, and worth every penny.

Although it looks like a box of junk, it's actually everything necesarry to build a new bike minus frame and wheels.

This is like an I Spy. Can you see the plaque from Cable Classic?

More essentials; wheel truing stand, bench vice, and the trusty wheeled utility cart to hold everything when your working on something at the repair stand.

Farg-hoing

2011-12-12T05:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Morc, the fargo pimp slapped your trail this weekend. The fargo Gen 1 is the most versatile bike in the world. Gen 2 fargo is gay. Reason number 1 and the only reason I need. Gen 2 can only fit 58 mm tires. Also note to salsa: 58mm is a 2.2 tire, 59 is a 2.3. Gen 1 running 2.4 with generous room to spare. Not for long though as the best winter ever keeps on rolling leading to a need for these:

Ousted

2011-12-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

Most of the people I know who ride bikes with me are men. Besides the special parts required to make us men we all generally have one other thing in common and that is that occassionally our spouses are less than pleased with our bike related purchases. Let me put it this way, we all buy a lot of over priced crap that we don't especially need for our bikes and some times we choose to downplay or completely ignore these purchases when settling up with the wife. I mean they just might not understand why I needed that XTR cassette when my bike came with a brand new xt, or how come the shimano 300 shoes cost 4 times as much as the 181's when they look identical. So as men we maybe don't tell them the entire truth and maybe we ignore the need to tell them until an appropriate time. Hell, for the small stuff; derialluers, tires, brake, and other things they won't notice has changed anyway, we maybe forget to tell them about anyway. I mean they already contend that you spend to much time with your bike(s) anyway, there's no need to let them know you spend to much money as well. This brings us to my story.

Readers or friends will know that I recently had a much loved bike stolen from me. Naturally when this happens there is left a void inside of you that can only be filled by replacing said bike with a new bike. Upgraded naturally as replacing it with the same level bike means the bad guys win. So I was looking for a new cross bike, but a cross bike has limited use in minnesota in the winter time. Also I like the cold bear snow races. And it being the year of the snow bike had me feeling lots of peer pressure. So I started looking for a snow bike. Long story short I had a tough time deciding and many of my options were being sold out. I finally pulled the impulse trigger when I found a rare titanium offering that could be put together exactly how I wanted it. Sure it was a little more expensive, but I was using insurance money I hadn't gotten yet to pay for it, and it's not like I was adding to the fleet, just replacing. Easily justified. Of course my wife knows it's the holiday season with all of the gift buying that includes, and she also knows I haven't gotten her a gift yet. So I just wasn't going to tell her about it until after all of that stuff was settled. Problem solved from my end. I even hurried home one day to erase the message the bike builder had left on our dinosaur phone line.

Of course I told my close riding companions about the bike. I mean what's a new bike purchase if you can't metaphorically measure penis's with your riding buddies bikes. This is where it all went wrong. See one riding buddy told his wife, who happens to spend kiddie play date time with my wife and so told my wife about my new bike purchase. My wife promptly sat on the info for several days, giving me time to come clean, which I never did, before confronting me with said information.

Which brings us finally to the moral of todays overly long post. Bro's don't tell thier wifes about another bro's new bike purchase, if the two bro's wifes spend any amount of time together. That might as well be the same as tattling. Bro's don't do that to one another, it's Bro Code.

First snow ride.

2011-12-06T20:55:00.000-08:00

Had a good group out at Eastwood tonight for the first singletrack ride. Despite the explosion of fat bikes there was only one out there tonight. The other three of us were riding hardtail 29ers with low low pressure. I was feeling the rim on the fargo every time I went over a root. If your up for a snowy cold ride on a tuesday night we are riding at 6 from the big parking lot. If the snow really packs up out there we may end up switching to the douglas trail or doing lots of shorter laps that we can pack down out there. Speaking of the climax of snow bikes I was feeling left out, and since the theft of my much loved cross bike the stable has been looking a little empty. Something new is on the way. Here is a little teaser picture, ignore the endo as I will be running nate.

Buy the Dream, Live the Dream.

2011-11-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

For Sale:

Fargo size medium

Full XT build

Fenders (cascadia )

Front and rear racks

Frame Bags

2 sets of tires (2.1 semi slicks, 2.4 winter tires or nokain studded tires your choice)

Bike does everything really well. Have used it as a winter bike and commuter. Swept the A category at the hillside winter races last winter. Great gravel or touring bike. looking for $1300 but that price includes everything.

Night Cross Race Cancelled

2011-11-21T11:52:00.001-08:00

I really only had 1 person say they were interested, and since my cross bike was stolen I'm not that interested anymore either, so the Cross race for nov 22nd is Cancelled.

Stolen Bike!

2011-11-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

I was planning on riding state cross this weekend. With that in mind I rode my cross bike to work in order to get a little workout in immediately after work yesterday. Unfortunately when I came out of work my bike was gone. Nothing left but a cut bike lock. Here are specs on the bike.

Raleigh RX 1.0 57cm

Easton ea90 slx wheelset with racing ralph cx tires

trp cx9 brakes
serial number EK3C33275

Here is the best picture I could find of the bike.

Here is an actual picture of the man stealing my bike. This is him walking up to my bike where it was locked up. In the next frames he rides away on it. Obviously I am a realist so I know I probably won't get my bike back. But if you read this and want to forward it to people who ride and would be interested please do so. I am offering 250 cash for a reward as of now.

Lights on!

2011-11-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of posts, but the home computer went kaput and I don't like blogging from work. But the computer is back on line. I don't have time for a lot of posting right now, but I wanted to let the 2 people who might read this know we are planning a night time cyclocross race at Eastwood on nov. 22nd. That's next tuesday. Race time right around 6:30. The ski lights will be on as long as there is enough interest. There is info on the RASC board. This will be a fun event, but if you want to blog about it and count it as a sub canadian championship event I would be fine with that, just remember this isn't crit rules, there are no sitting out laps and then counting yourself as a finisher.

Beer Hand Ups

2011-08-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

We had a good turn out for the Tuesday Night world Championship time trials at Eastwood last night. Charlie took top honors after the worlds first quadruple dab by Matt Kurke. Change is on the way though and starting in September the Tuesday night focus will shift from MTB to Cross. The plan will be to start the races at 6 sharp, and do a set number of laps (8-10) of an approximately 3-4 minute lap that will include a run up, 2 sets of barriers, sand, grass, double track, and a little singletrack. Mountain bikes and Cross bikes are encouraged. I will be constructing the barriers and they will likely stay out there for the fall. I will be bringing beers of the suitable cross nature for the first Tuesday.

A frame pump in the spokes of a Hot Chick!

2011-08-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

Spent about 2 1/2 hours last night clearing downed trees and trimming parts of Eastwood last night. Tonight is time trial night and we are hoping for a good turn out. I know a lot of you are getting to the point in the season where motivation is lacking, maybe your fitness isn't where you want it to be. Heck maybe you've even been girled out on the douglas. Embarrassed because although there isn't anything hotter than a fast girl on a bike, your unable to impress because of the spare tire. Well Eastwood tonight is the perfect time to turn it all around. And I can almost guarantee no one will girl you.

Where have all the Cowboy Cyclists gone?

2011-08-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Retirement 2.0. Yep that's right, 3 weeks ago the Turner (which was decaless because I'm not a corporate stooge) broke in at least three places. Last week I built up my other frame, but I needed to finish the Mont Du Lac course in order to have 7 races for the series. I have also been noticing a lack of motivation lately. It's like everywhere I looked during the month of July all I saw was lycra clad roadies cat 6 training in pacelines on the douglas trail. It's like where have all the old school riders gone? Where are the guys who will suit up, hop on a carbon bike set up to take on any road surface under the sun and just pedal for 10 hours. They didn't even know which direction they were going until the tires hit the street. Where are these people now?

Everything has changed in the long while (2+ years) I have considered myself a cyclist. Now its all about heart rates and altitude tents. How fast can you do the douglas trail run (12 parsecs is my record) is now more often heard at the start of a group ride instead of how far are you epicing today.

Add to all of that the Roving bands of Eriks riders and the vigilantes patroling the bike paths ready to frame pump in the spokes anyone faster than them and it's like Mad Max out there on the douglas trail. Makes me wish for the solitude of the -15 degree january days out there again.

Will I be back, well lets not call it a comeback, but I will be out at Eastwood trimming the trees tonight and I might have a bike with me. If you've amazed me and actually read this far I will have extra tools out there of the gas powered variety and I plan on riding afterwards if it's dry.

Hopefully this time!

2011-05-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

You'll probably need to click on the image, and then click on it a second time to zoom in to make it readable.

More pics!!!!!!

2011-05-19T06:01:00.001-07:00

Well, Al Farrow, one of volunteers took a bunch of pics and forwarded them to me. Thanks Al!

See them HERE on flickr.

Note: The last name Farrow is famous for endurance races similar to the Sandwich. Although Charlie had great fear of the Sandwich and did not participate, he sent his brother Al as a representative/spy for information gathering. Maybe a run at the 2012 title?

2011 Results

2011-05-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

Do you know a Black Guy?, and the results are in.

2011-05-18T13:58:00.001-07:00

While slaving over the results this year it occured to me that we have yet to have our own Jackie Robinson, our Charlie Sifford, or even a Larry Doby. This occured to me while looking at the results. I was thinking "if anyone is going to ever beat Brendan, we're going to need to break the color barrier here." So there you go. There are 350 days to recruit from this point so do your part to integrate America and finally break that glass ceiling forever.

Apologies on the late results, but here at the Sandwich 50 estate just north (but still well within) rochester, our super computer that runs the household doesn't have Excell so I was forced to figure things out during 10 minute breaks at work. Plans are already being made for next year, don't worry next time there will be more meat. It is the sandwich 50 after all.

Pics!!

2011-05-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

First off, race pics can be found on face book here and here. There are a ton of pics and thanks to Barry Schmitt for the permission to use these!

Alright, so we are still working on getting results from paper to computer. Figuring lap times for 70 riders over 7 laps takes time, so please be patient. My partner in crime, Kuske, is fixing that all up. What I do know is Brendan Moore and Rebecca Sauber are your 2011 MN state enduro champs!! Not sure who snagged the duo category.

Also, let it be know that the Hobo Camp is not officially part of the race, but we welcome them and are sure glad they show. Do not thank us for that doing, but instead thank their fun loving attitude towards all things related to bikes/beer/and bacon. They handed out 13 pounds of bacon during that day. The top pic is of the Hobo Camp after some of the rebel raisers had left. Thanks Wookie and crew!!

The rest of the pics are in no particular order, just finishers with their prizes.

Game on!

2011-05-07T04:29:00.000-07:00

We are going to look at the course, but fully expect to start on time today. Rochester received very little rain.

Who is ready for their crack at being a MN champ?

Game on, delay, or reschedule...

2011-05-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

...these are our options as the race approaches and rain threatens. Stay tuned to this blog for any possible updates, but we fully expect to be racing on Saturday. There may be a small delay though.

Also, along with goodies that I am sure you are all baking up to share (hint, hint), we will be grilling up complimentary hot dogs again again as racers wrap up their fun. It is byob, but plates will be provided.

The prize table looks to be filling up once again with similar goodies as last year, so make sure there is room in your car for the drive home!

It be coming up.

2011-05-02T08:48:00.001-07:00

Some race notes for the big day.

-Wed is the last day to register.
-Race starts at 9am, registration opens at 8am. This is simply picking up your number. All under the shelter next to the ball field.
-Prerace meeting is at 8:45am.
-You are allowed a cooler for each racer. There will be a designated feed zone in a shaded area. No tents, it will be a circus enough out there.
-Trails are a tad wet from the recent rains, forecast for the week looks good. Saturday calls for rain, but that will change 3 times before race day.
-Matt Kurke was seen with a Chinese monk doing meditation and riding the course blindfolded.
-This IS THE MN STATE ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIPS.
-If you complete a lap you are a finisher. Just because you may not finish all 7 laps does not mean your effort was in vein.
-There is NO WATER at the park, truck your own in please.
-There IS a bathroom (at least there will be before the race).
-We all love potlucks right? Please bring a treat/food to share in a disposable container.
-I was mistaken, alcohol is allowed at the park for those that choose, but no kegs, got that?
-We heard the homeless man that handed out bacon last year has been lurking around the park again.

Course map

Map/Directions:

View Larger Map

Q & A with the defending champ.

2011-04-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

As the second year of the Sandwich approaches we had a chance to sit down for coffee with the man that took top honors last year, Matt "Kuske" Kurke.

Sandwich 50 Enduro: Hi Matt, tell us a little about your big win last year.

Matt "Kuske" Kurke: First off thanks for taking the time to show off my domination. Well, Eastwood contains my home trails, tight and twisty would be the best way to describe them. I was able to build a gap early on and hold it until the end, that is what racing is about.

S50: We heard the time gaps were starting to come down in the last lap, what happened?

MK: Well, very early in the race I identified Charly Tri as my biggest rival. When Charly suffered a mechanical as we first hit the singletrack, I did what my buddy Contador would do, attacked! With my intimate knowledge of the course the other competitors had to succumb to the fact that that was not going to be their day. Charly made his way back through the entire field and we had a fun finish.

S50: You attacked a guy when he was down?

MK: Hell yeah I did. This is racing, I am out for blood. I'll put the f***** in a tree if I have to. I own those trails and am not about to let that go on. Also, my wife appreciates it when I win because if I don't I come home and take my frustration out on the dog.

S50: How has the training been going?

MK: After last year some people kept asking me what I was on. What am I on? I am on my bike busting ass for up to 2 hours a day, what are you on? I am working with the best European doctors to moniter my health and properly prepare. I have good sensations.

S50: Okaaay. Anyways, how is this year's competition looking? The race is the state championship this year.

MK: I am not afraid, let's say that. Charly will be back, but his face and a tree have a date if he plans on passing me. Brendon Moore is an overrated hack that that will suffer on this course, plus he thinks he is Ross Schnell now because he rides his Trek Remedy every where. Brendan will probably back out again like last year because he is afraid of me. Cody Larson? Well, my extensive plan of creating a knee injury in his mind only has worked and he is visiting the hospital more than training. In fact, all those riders on the start list are schmucks and I have game plans to take them all down again. All will bow to me at the end of the day.

S50: You sound pretty confidant.

MK: All will lose to this warlock, duh! I am rolling a Turner Nitrous with Race Face cranks y'all! Sure the frame may be discontinued and the crank company bankrupt, but I got this SOB color coordinated! It is an all white frame and everything else is red, like blood, like what will come out of anyone's ears if they try to keep pace with my flow.

S50: Alright, thanks for the time Matt, as interesting as it was.

MK: You're not getting away that easily. You are going down too. Put your f****** elbow on the table cause I am going to show you how men arm wrestle.

S50: Ummmm, I think we have enough, we'll see you at the race.

MK: Come back here you wussy! I'll take you down! You, coffee maker behind the counter, arm wrestle me you weakling............. (Volume fading as we leave the coffee shop)

Update

2011-03-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

As we try to make this the biggest celebration of all things really cool we are in the works to acquire Rebecca Black to sing during the race. She is best known for her hit song "Friday". After all, the eyes of the world will be watching to see who is victorious in the MN State Marathon Championship.

Here is the video of her hot new song.

So far...

2011-03-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

Is Donald Rumsfeld a lizard results so far:

Yes: 13
No: 7

Riders

2011-03-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

We be getting riders signing up ya'll. As a reminder you need to sign up as a RASC member within 24 hours of receiving your confirmation email.

Click the roster on the right to see who is all in.

Want a chance at the MN Championship?

2011-02-28T06:43:00.000-08:00

Alright, so registration is in 3 days. Here is the stuff you need to know.

When to register: Registration starts at Noon on March 3. Veterans get to register at 11:50 because they have proven their love, newbies have to earn it. Any registration sent before these times will be sent to Iowa to die.

How to register: You will need to send me an email at charlytri (at) yahoo (dot) com. In the subject line it needs to say "grilled cheese" (without the quotes). If it does not say this then you don't know how to register and Iowa be your registration's final resting place. Only one email per team is needed.

What to send: Your name (or names if you are on a team), your city, your gender (man or not man), and if you think Donald Rumsfeld is a lizard (yes you have to answer this). As a reminder, there are no man/man teams.

Cost: Technically free, but you need to be a member of RASC. You have 24 hours from your acceptance in the race to prove to me that you are a member. You can send your electronic confirmation, or ask me to double check with the President (a pain for me). You can register here.

Not wanted: Complainers, whiners, and cheaters are not allowed in the race. If you are any of these we are sorry for you.

It's on!

2011-02-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

It is back, 50 miles of world class singletrack at Eastwood Park. This year we are declaring it the MN State Marathon Championships. Why? Because no one else has claimed that title.

Anyways, some info
When: May 7th, 2011 (The day BEFORE Mommy's Day)

Where: Eastwood Park in Rochester

Why: Because we need to remind the certain park users what the park is really for and to raise money for trail improvements.

Cost: Free, if you are a RASC member, more details here

Categories: Man, Not-Man, and 2 person. Note, there will be no man/man teams, see the "why" section as to the reason for this.

Who: You if you are lucky.

How: Magic.

Registration will start at noon on March 3rd, "National what if cats and dogs had opposable thumbs day". E-mail will be used once again, veterans will get a chance to register 10 minutes early thanks to their undying love for the Sandwich. More details to come.

Back to the Failure II

2011-02-08T07:23:00.000-08:00

Following up on yesterdays post about good and bad products I thought I would post a follow up on some others I thought of.

Bad:

Specialized Gloves. My wife loves them for thier feel, but it's telling that she goes through several pair a summer even on her light riding schedule. I tried them as well and had one pair not even last a full ride. The others were threadbear much sooner than they should have been.

ESI grips. Racers love these foam grips for thier weight and the feel. However I haven't had a pair last more than a couple of weeks before the ends get so worn down I can see the bar. If they get wet they turn into a motorcycle throttle/sponge. It's lockons or bar tape for me.

Panaracer tires. I don't need to explain this one. Just try to think of someone you know who uses them. Can't think of anyone? Neither can I.

Mount Borah Jerseys. I own two of them and a friend of mine owns another, all of them have failed along the zipper seam.

Planet Bike Fenders. I have 4 sets, all of them have had the composite clips break requiring me to drill holes in them to make them still usable. The peices are finicky and easy to lose. Why do I own them? Not many fenders out there for a 29x2.1 tire.

Good

Schwalbe tires. Best I have ever used. Combine light weight with good wear, and effective tread. Plus they convert to tubeless easier than any other tire I have tried.

Cygolights. The first light I ever owned was a cygolight and it has to be 12 years old now. Not only does it still work, but the battery still holds a strong charge. Impressive for a halogen with a NiMh battery. My newer cygolight mity 400 is probably my favorite light I have ever tried.

Merino Wool Baselayer. It holds moisture pretty well, but that doesn't really matter since it keeps you toasty even when wet. Great at regulating temps and can be worn more than once between washes without becoming to repulsive.

Triflow. For winter riding there isn't anything this stuff can't do.

Nissa crew cab pickup. Honestly for transporting a lot of bikes and gear there isn't anything better than this truck. I have fit 6 bikes at once in the bed with room in the backseat for gear. It can get me in and out of just about anywhere and combined with the bed mounted rack has been the perfect bike hauling companion.

Honorable mentions for either category.

Race Face: I have broken a lot of raceface equipment and they haven't warrantied it, but I still run two cranks from them so I guess I can't quite give it a designation yet.

Planet bike Blinkies. Super bright, so much so that I once had an irate drive sceam that I was giving him a stroke. Still he couldn't not notice me. But I have broken a lot of them either at the brackets or the lens. Several of mine have been left at railroad intersections or the bumpy bridge crossings of the douglas.

Shoe covers/booties. If the goal of these is to tear and fill the toe section with compacted snow then they would get the full 5 stars. The reason I didn't put them on the list is that I think the only intended purpose of them are rides between 40-60 degrees on the road, where they might be just adequate.

Rochesters snow removal equipment. A bobcat and Grader were never intended for snow removal. I don't know how kids could be safe if they had to walk to school in this town. Also why do they stop plowing the sidewalks where they do. Can anyone give a good reason why the river trail going from downtown towards mayowood stops at that little rise before the gardens?

The Price of Failure

2011-02-04T11:18:00.000-08:00

Over the years I have put some serious miles on some serious equipment. Unlike a lot of serious cyclists I know I very rarely replace things every year. I prefer growing old with something if I like it. This really has allowed me to put some products through the long term ringer to see what they are really made of. Mountain biking is a seriously hard sport on equipment, particularly if you ride through the winter conditions like I do. So here is a list of the bad stuff I have used, and the good stuff I have used.

The BAD List;

1. Night Rider lights. My trinewt is the biggest peice of junk I have ever used for lights. The cord doesn't connect well, both bolts that came with the mounting hardwear have broken, and my battery indicator light has never worked despite being sent back to the factory (which took a 6 week turnaround). All that would be forgivable if I thought it was a fluke, but the others I know of out there suffer from the same fate. Some of thier other lights might be okay but it did take 3 generations of their usb commuter light to feature a flash mode, so something tells me the problems aren't just with this model.

2. Crank Brothers pedals. I have used them for years and managed to break every single pair I have ever used from the $450 ones on down has broken on me in a relatively short period of time. I would gladly update all my pedals but it seems to expensive and they only brake one pair at a time.

3. Hayes products. In my experience thier brakes are heavy, a mess to bleed, and the pistons seem to corrode and stick or just plain desintigrate with time. I have owned 2 R7 fork and some older mars and skarebs and all of them have required frequent maintenance and warranty work. My current one needs seals every 3 weeks or so to keep air from bleeding into the lowers and creating a stuck down situation. For all that I do like their dampening system.

4. Sram cassettes. Maybe this doesn't apply to the new generation 10 speed stuff, but I haven't tried that so can't comment. Otherwise on any bike that comes with a sram cassette if someone were to ask me what to upgrade first it would be to put on a shimano XT or XTR cassette. They shift sharper no matter what s company stuff you are using and they last longer. You might not believe me unless you've tried it.

5. Fisher Frames. The only frames I have ever broken have been fishers. The only frames I have seen broken the last 3 years have been fishers (6 of them). It took me months to get my warranty and when I did they sent me a frame with longer travel and made for a proprietary fork. So I needed a fork, headset, front derailuer and different shock mounting hardwear that wasn't included. In the end it cost me more than a new bike.

honorable bad mentions; lake boots, am classic freehubs, phil hubs.

The Good List

1. Easton. Anything they made I would trust with my life. I once had a carbon post stuck in a broken frame and through trying to get it out I managed to break the frame even worse but the post stayed rock solid.

2. I9 hubs. Some people might have a problem with the looks or the proprietary spoke design. But I have had my I9 wheels for 3 seasons and I haven't had to touch the hubs. Still spin as smooth as the day I got them and the freehub still works perfectly. Three seasons is a lot without having to even lube something.

3. Craft Winter Pants. These are flawless. If you haven't tried them it's hard to explain, but they work from temps of 30 down to -20 with no problems.

4. Bontrager contact points. Bontragers seats, posts, and handlebars are great items that always seem to fit well and work great.

5. Shimano. I know right now there is a strong contingent that thinks SRAM is the be all of mountain bike shifting, but I think that is a result of a sort of counter culture reaction to Shimano left over from about 10 years ago. What I know is that I have Shimano xt and xtr stuff from 10 years ago that still shifts like xt and xtr stuff should. I haven't had an XO piece of equipment last more than 2 seasons.

Snow Dog type of Morning

2011-02-03T07:14:00.000-08:00

While I am getting just a little bit burned out on the sub zero temps with 8 feet of snow pack on the ground, the overnight lows do mean one thing; the trail will be hard packed. Headed out at 5:30 this morning with windchill temps reading at -22 making this my coldest ride wind chill wise of the year.

It was so cold I decided a facemask is a must. As you can see the Snow dog chewed it up some before we headed out.

Truth of that is that I actually don't have a face mask, balaclava, or neck scarf for some silly reason, but I knew with the windchills I would need something extra for my face. This face mask has been serving as my blade guard for my ice auger for the last 4 years or so. Smelt a little like oil, but I figured that would just keep things well lubed. Pulled a windbreaker hat over it and away I went. Kept me warm. Guess I might need to buy a real blade guard now and keep this little gem for the cold weather. I mean its not like I am going to go out and spend money on a nice face mask or anything.

Snow Dog eats the Cold Bear

2011-01-31T13:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday was race number 2 up at Hillside park. Once again it was an excellent event put on by the dirt wirx crew. They really know how to do it there. Temps were a little warmer for this one and the trail wasn't quite as firm.

Recap:

Start got off a lot like last time only I chose to start in my middle ring for the road leadout. This definately slowed my start down and allowed one of the other advanced riders to lead into the prologue lap. The prologue lap was a little chewed up so I just focused on staying smooth and upright. A minor tangle happened while passing one of the first pugsley's I came too and the leader gained a small gap on me. The first lap was mostly ridable, though slower than the first race out there. Whenever I saw the leader I tried to count seconds and it seemed like I was staying about 25 seconds behind him. I was riding fairly easy since the key seemed to be staying up right and trying to go too hard was counter productive. We hit the end of lap 1 and the gap was still the same.

Lap 2 started and the trail changed dramatically. The surface was really chewed up and for a little while you had no choice but to run anything remotely uphill. I caught 1st place relatively quickly and then started reeling in pugsleys still ahead of me. I think my success was due to the fact that I can run, and so I just accepted that I would need to run and just didn't fight it and try to ride everything. As soon as I came to a section that looked iffy I dismounted and ran, which was faster anyway. The last part of the third section was mostly rideable, then the 4th section started out rough again. The end of the 4 th section was rideable and then all of sections 1 and 2 were pretty much rideable. One mistake I made that might have made a big difference was that I never stopped to consider lowering my air pressure. When I finished I realized I could have gone quite a bit lower and maybe been able to find a little more traction.

In the end I won and the body felt pretty good. Hopefully I can make it to the snow bike season finale next month.

Ohhh Oh oh ah Ho HO hO

2011-01-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

Wake up Michelle and Barack, let them know that it's on.

Snow Dog Gets pulvarized

2011-01-24T12:05:00.001-08:00

So on my ride home on Thursday night I wasn't paying attention and took a digger on part of the snowmobile trail. No problem I crash all the time and my body handles it just fine, only this time something was amiss. When I started rolling again it seemed like my left lever was loose. Then it was even looser, I later realized the bar tape is the only thing holding it on. So the snow dog needs a new brake lever. The problem is trying to decide if I go with the same tektro lever, or switch to a hopefully better shaped cane creek long pull brake lever. Another option is to Ebay an older aftermarket set of Campy ergo power nine speed shifters and then I could lose the bar end shifters, but I would have to use problem solvers on the disc brakes. Either way the Snow Dog was out of commision this weekend. Which was just as well as I was out enjoying the Balmy weather on Lake Winnie up north of Grand Rapids.

The Fargo's Naming Day

2011-01-20T07:47:00.000-08:00

So out the door this morning with one goal, The Fargo has come of age and it was time for a good old fashioned naming day. Cold temps and hard snow greeted us as we hit the trail in search of it's true name in spiritual journey fashion. As the sun rose I knelt in the snow, the smell of the outhouses in Douglas wafting over me. I was nearly finished with the bottle of Cognac I had brought with me when a feeling flooded through me and a bit of poetry entered my mind unbidden:
"The winter sunshine was playing a jewel-like symphony of light as it reflected off the myriad freshly fallen snow flakes from the night before."

It hit me then. The Fargo's name: Snow Dog.

It's symbolizing a creature not quite in it's element, but comfortable there anyway. From here on out I will be relating my adventures aboard the Snow Dog. So finished with the bottle and the name it was off to work.

Revengence of the Pogies part douche

2011-01-17T22:15:00.000-08:00

So I think the pogies are finally in thier final form. Modifications including cutting a longer slit where my hands go through, removing the velcro altogether, and then removing a ton of material that hung down on the bottom. Now they fit snuggly with just enough room to brake and shift. Still plenty warm as I rode nearly 5 hours with them Sunday with warm hands the whole way in single digit temps.

Trail was good, but not great. All these little snowfalls are leaving the surface loose. Would have liked to take part in the great Northern Reach Around for Peace (http://charlytri.blogspot.com/2011/01/slurpee-summit-summary.html ) And I was kind of bummed about the missed chance to do the triple D, but theres always next year.

Hopefully the roads clear up as I have missed three days commuting now since the start of December and those hours spent going to and from work really add up.

Cold Bear Fargoing

2011-01-10T20:23:00.001-08:00

Quote from the weekend; "That's a really cool bike matt, looks like it could do pretty much everything"

Well yes, including apparently race singletrack in january on the snow for nearly 2 hours.

One draw back is that if your feet come off the pedals for any reason whatsoever you are going to knee the shifters and then the chain is going to start jumping around. Otherwise it handled itself nicely.

Compliments to the fatbike class, there were a lot of them out there and I think I enjoyed seeing the different set ups everyone was running. Brendan may have had the lightest setup out there, including the full carbon anthem that was out there.

Top notch event that I hope to make it back to again this winter.

Final quote "You don't need to pass, I'm finding my f$#king flow" hollywood in about DFL 7 minutes into the race when I had already made up the 2 minute stagger. The world champ baby.

REVENGENCE OF THE POGIES

2011-01-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

So my pogie set up has only been used on my cross bike as it doesn't allow me to ride in the drops and work the shifters on my Fargo. Plus so far this year my glove set up has been sufficient. That all changed on Tuesday when cold temperatures combined with a mellow pace resulted in cold hands with a little pain on the warm up. So the pogies got the last laugh. So a new plan was developed for my pogies. This one involved cutting a long slit (that's right) along the thinner opening and closing up the earlier cuts and original hand openings so that I could run them upside down. I also had to cut and reattach the velcro that came on them so that I can wrap the velcro around the bars to hold everything in place. Even with my poor stiching and resorting to green thread I managed to run out. So the large hand holes were closed up by cutting big holes and threading old shoelaces through them and then tying them shut. This has the Bonus?? Of allowing me to reopen that end should they ever find their way onto a flat bar bike. I figure once I am done with all of the modifications on this pair I will buy a new or second pair for next season and can just make one modification with what works. The picture is from this mornings trail session testing them. They work well enough and I can ride in the drops so that is an improvement. Hands were warm the entire ride even though the bottles froze up faster than any other time this year.

This picture I am calling "There Be Endomorphs in them there Hills"

Other important updates for anyone who reads this junk and is planning on racing the 50. It's a new year which means it's time to renew or start your Rasc Membership. The Sandwich 50 costs nothing but we do ask everyone who enters to be a Rasc member as that covers our butts for insurance. Plus Rasc membership is important to help protect and increase recreational activities in and around Rochester. This years membership fees will help out mountain biking directly through trail signs atEastwood. We are currenlty working on theses and will have two sets made. One for an advanced loop and one for intermediate/beginner as well as a kiosk and trail name signs.

Another idea I have for this year is to have Rasc pay forad build some nice solid cyclocross barriers that can be stored out at Eastwood but used anywhere they might be needed.

Someday through the hard work of Rasc we will probably gain trail access somewhere, Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but maybe tomorrow . . . .

The Way Back Home

2011-01-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

I had the chance for a more unique ride today. My wife wanted to visit her mothers so I had the day free north of the twin cities. My parents live on the Rum River and years ago we used to snowmobile and nordic ski along it in the winter time. Then on the morning of my wedding I rode my bike down it for the first time. It was a great ride. So I loaded up the Fargo and started heading north on frozen water. The river twist and turns a lot so it's great for scenery. The surface wasn't great as most of the snow had melted into slush and frozen solid, I was barely finding enough traction.

If you click on this picture you can see that there is open water on both sides of the main channel here, that's pretty common on the river as the water moves pretty quick along the edges and combined with the sun beating the tall banks the ice can stay thin along shore. Just stick to the middle and all will be well. Until . . . .

I hit this section about 35 minutes north of my parents house. I was half expecting this as during the summer it's shallow and rocky here. On my wedding day ride I was able to ride over this section, but that was in Feb and a cold year. I figured the warm temps of late last week probably caused a lot of run off which would have swelled the river slightly and busted up the ice. Obviously it was frozen solid enough at some point for sleds as plenty of the tracks go right up to the open water. I know they skip right over the open stuff sometimes (don't think the Fargo didn't want to try) but this was about a 100 foot stretch.

Luckily I had a back up plan for if the river turned against me. I headed north from this point and rode to the excellent singletrack trail at Hillside Park in Elk River. They host races here all winter and the trail was perfectly groomed for any type of tires. Singletrack goodness happened next.

A view of the grooming work, some awesome on the trail art, and the last picture was supposed to be of some deer walking across the bridge but I was too slow on the shutter to catch them. Great ride, special shout out to my bontrager mini frame pump. That sucker is tiny, easy to use, and the inline gauge is simple to read.

Ended the day bummed about not gettting into the Rag 105 but that's the way a lottery goes I guess. Not sure what the 20 hours I got in this week are for now though.

New Years Eve Ride of the Decade!

2011-01-01T16:06:00.000-08:00

It was New Years Eve so everything has to be titled more epically (that's a word). Started before the sun heading towards the trailhead. Going south the snowmobile trail was rock hard after 40 degree temps the day before and low teens overnight. Lots of potholes from where somebody unthinkingly was walking thier dog on the soft snow. Turned back around and headed North and the trail was great until I got to the first dirt road crossing after the town of Douglas. Here someone had left a big long rut where they had tried heading down the trail on a fat bike. After that it was north to Pine Island where I encountered the first spots of ice. headed East out of pine island then north towards Mazeppa. Here the trail crosses a lot of fields which meant there were some good hills to climb, but at the bottom of these hills were large ice fields from the day befores big melt off. At first I was riding around these ice, then I started just trying to bomb over them. This worked great until I hit one and the front wheel broke through. Went in so deep the ice pushed both water bottles out of the fork mounts. I went over the bars and slid along the ice. Had to tip toe back so as not to break through again and pull my bike out of the hole. The water under the ice was deeper than I thought so I went back to riding around the ice. Eventually came to a spot where the trail crossed a small creek that had swollen and was running over the crossing very fast. Could have tried to cross but the crossing was complete ice with about 2 inches of fast moving water so a failure there would have resulted in the call home for a ride pretty quick. So had to back track to 52 and then turned south and followed the ditch snowmobile tracks into oronocco. Then joined back up on the snowmobile trail and headed back towards douglas and then home. 4.25 hours on the bike and home just after 10.

The Bike setup was a Jandd frame bag with polar bottles on the fork mounts. In those temps they will keep from freezing if filled with warm water for about 2-2.5 hours. So they get drank first. Then I have two thermos bottles on the frame that I fill with room temp water and they will stay unfrozen all day long. The dark blue one is even shaped like a bottle so fits the cage nicely. Simple trek computer works even in sub zero temps but could use a light so I could see what time it is before the sun comes up. The light is the excellent Mitycross 400. No Pogies as I like to be in the drops on my Fargo.

Dude, where's my car . . . . Fire!

2010-12-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

No pics today, just decided not to be distracted by the presence of a camera and I had a lot of ground to cover. Wouldn't you know it but the day I leave it is the day I run into the most worthy thing lately to photograph. Just heading downhill towards the douglas trail crossing from my neighborhood there is a car deep in the ditch. At first I thought someone was still in it because it looked like a flickering dome light was on. Once I got closer I realized it wasn't a dome light that was on, it was a fire that was slowly dying out. This car was major torched. I looked at it for a minute and decided to ride on. Only later did I think that I should have probably alerted the authorities since it's unlikely they would have left a car fire untended to just burn itself out.

Headed North and then West on the snowmobile trails mirroring my route from Monday. Trail was slower today without the super low temps helping firm the top up. I had to dismount and walk one of the big hills on the way towards oxbow for lack of traction. Made the oxbow crossing and turned south on the snowmobile trail towards Byron. Trail after Oxbow gets a little boring and consists of mostly field crossings, but still better than suffering on the road. Trail turns right at Hwy 14 and runs parallel towards Byron. Crosses 14 right in front of DQ but I resisted the urge to stop in for a little blizzard buffet breakfast. Headed south from byron on the trail towards Salem corners. Trail is still fairly boring but does wind around a little with a few open hills to climb. The wind was bad on this section and I had to walk a 100 meter stretch that had drifted really deep. Once in Salem corners I turned East on Salem Road and took the road into work. Passing the blue house on 6th street behind Saint Marys with the most spectacular icicle display I have ever seen occur naturally was another great photo op.

Warm temps mean the next couple of days won't be on the trails for me as it will get to soft for my tires. A hard freeze coming this weekend could make for good conditions, or as a riding buddy put it "luge like" conditions that could make it tough as well.

What goes around, Grooms back around

2010-12-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

Heading west this morning I ran into a section of trail the groomer must have been over late the night before. Middlering first tracks.

Fastest snow ride I have ever had. As the sun came up the trees were totally covered in hoar frost. By the end of the week it looks like were in for a weather change so needed to enjoy it while it lasted.

Christmas Fuel

2010-12-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

Santa didn't bring me much for the bike this year, but he did bring me some of my favorite on bike fuel like the barber shop pole candy cane pictured. I made good use of all that fuel I've been putting into my body over the last few days with a long snowmobile trail ride this morning. I made good time on hard packed trails out to pine island. I started heading east on the fork towards 52 and then south to oronocco, but decided to turn around and retrace my steps because I had a hunch that conditions like those might draw out some of the big guns like J-No or JP. Sure enough I hadn't gone 15 minutes before running into JP. So I had company on my journey south to the trailhead. Topics of conversation mostly revolved around how awesome the fargo is on hardpacked snow and if anyone in this city could build a 29 inch wheelset. headed in with a few hours in and inlaws in the way. More fueling will comence for tomorrow mornings trail slog. The snowmobile trails are great right now, any tire bigger than a 1.9 should do fine so get out and ride.

Riding in a pogie wonderland

2010-12-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

Modified the pogies today to try to get a little more functionality out of them. Modifications involved cutting a long slit (that's right that's the word I am using) and then sewing on a couple of buttons creating a cut out for the handlebars that then gets snapped into place. It's easily the worst sew job I have ever seen and the buttons are too weak, so thats all going to have to be redone once I have more time and see how they perform. My hope is that the button will give enough support to stash stuff in the pogies bottoms without the tops getting pulled down by the weight. Anything I can do to make winter training for the Big 50 mile dance this spring easier is worth it.

AWWWWWWWWW Pogie patrol Ohh!

2010-12-21T07:43:00.000-08:00

So the cummute into work yesterday with the 18 dollars fleet farm snowmobile pogies went well. Experimented by riding with thin gloves and with temps in the high teens my hands were almost too warm. Parked the bike outside and went into work. Sometime during the day the snow started falling (again). No big deal I had my pogies and would be comfortable no matter how slow the slog. Of course I didn't think about the fact that when your hands aren't in the pogies the opening points a little skyward. Came out to find to pogies full of snow. Well that lesson has been learnt the hard way. Otherwise I used them again this morning and they do keep your hands warm, but not being able to use the drops is a drag plus all the extra material looks a little ametuerish and can block your light from being visible to the sides. This pair here looks like the ultimate in winter pogies;

They run about 90 bucks but they look like they'd work for any type of bar and they'll probably be the last pair of pogies you ever buy. Plus you could probably stash food in them. After christmas I might be getting me a pair.

Gauntlets and V-Brakes

2010-12-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

Made some changes to the Cross bike this weekend. Got a pair of pogies, but the guys at the sports store called them handlebar gauntlets. Apparently pogies sounds femme, I guess nothing is straighter than calling them gauntlets like something out of dungeons and dragons. Anyway I also switched out the brakes to V-Brakes I had sitting around. The canti's had fine power and feel, but they didn't clear the fenders and they stuck out so far they bruised up my legs during mounts and remounts. So the fender and pogies made for a nice clean and comfortable gravel cruise yesterday. Pogies don't really let you ride the drops, but they'll only be used on the coldest of days. V-Brakes with travel agents problem solvers really don't feel that great so by next year they might be switched to something else.

The Fargo gets whats coming to it.

2010-12-18T04:36:00.000-08:00

Recently someone posted some hate mail to the fargo in the comments section of another post. Obviously fueled by Fargo envy they posted some pretty malicious stuff. However they tables certainly turned once they needed to borrow stuff of the Fargo's in order to go play in the snow and pretend to race this weekend. They've promised to pucker up to the fargo in thier own blog as well.

Note: I was not there to chaperone during this experience they had together, but from the looks of things, hands were not kept to themselves.

Random thoughts on ride yesterday:

1. Rochesters city trail system is fun to ride when the snow gets deep everywhere, but why do they stop short of the doing all of the trails? Why can't they plow the section out by cascade lake and why doesn't it go to the end of the Mayowood section or through bear creek?

2.The snow sweeper they use for parts of the trail system moves about as fast as my small snowblower.

3. If it is designated as a bike lane/route they should require the plows to try to keep the lane clear instead of a deposit for slush like they do for the section on valleyhigh.

4. TransIowa absolutely hates rookies. Thier disdain for the rookie class amazes me as an event coordinator. If F-Ted only wants a few of his Salsa buddies to show up for the weekend then that's what he should post instead of posting constantly demoralizing "answers" to peoples questions. He acts like part of the problem is that he's posted all the info before, but news flash; not everyone checks your blog daily or has the time and patience to look through the hundreds of blog posts you do about the race. Maybe post the info in a helpful place, like the race's website.

Flagon of Gravel this weekend.

knee deep in the dead

2010-12-16T05:20:00.000-08:00

Left the house for a ride last night headed towards the snowmobile trail after noticing the groomer had gone over it earlier in the day. Lets just say the trail was not quite what I had expected. It looked like smooth super hard packed snow, and in some areas that's exactly what it was. However that hard pack was still on top of about 12 inches of soft stuff and when you broke through you broke through all the way. Numerous front wheel dives sent me over the bars. Should have bought Jo Mamas ugsly but the color was just too horrendous. Plus all those "custom" touches that required a power cutting tool. Ahh well, guess I will just have to wait until the trail firms up some. Did get to see the new mountain dew can of Jo Mamas in action. All I can say is . . . . frame seems a bit small. Now it's off to make first tracks on the way to work.

Bike Swinging

2010-12-14T21:21:00.001-08:00

So with the big weather event this weekend I played a little bike swapping on Saturday. It was up early (6am) to ride the fargo on the snowmobile trails. The weather really started in hard at that point and before long the inch of new snow was turning into 4 inches of new snow and the going got slow. So headed back home and switched to the cross bike as the tires really cut thru the snow better and stuck to the tarmac. Unfortunately the amount of traffic even at 8 am was making the roads rutted and dangerous so not as long a ride as I'd planned.

Unfortunately all of this getting up really early to ride before work has finally caught up to me in the form of a wicked cold. Really it's not the getting up early, its the going to bed late. If you ride 15 plus hours a week but only average 5 1/2 hours of sleep a night, eventually you have to pay that dept. My body is finally collecting and I have been sidelined since saturday with a bad head cold. Too much hacking to ride much in this cold weather. Still riding to work every day though. The southern most section of the Douglas that they are keeping plowed this year is really nice for getting to work.

Winter wonder muck

2010-12-10T05:45:00.001-08:00

I think that brown sludge like snow mixture that coats minnesota roads and shoulders during the winter is my least favorite thing to ride on ever. Skinny tires can cut through it in a straight line, but as soon as you start turning it just slides around on you. Fat tires roll over it easy enough, but they spray it everywhere and you constantly have that floating sort of uncontrolled on top of it feeling. Then theres the fact that it ruins bike parts faster than anything else we have around here. Fresh snow seems to clean my bike as I ride and the only thing to really worry about is the chain. This winter sludge on the other hand contains equal parts water, sand, and salt making it the ideal contaminant for bikes. Yesterdays 2 hour snowmobile trail ride was slightly damped by the final 30 mins of road to work. Anyway at least I have a heated garage for cleaning the bikes off. I should see if I can fit the fenders to the fargo with the 2.4'S.

Time for a Concept. . . . Body!

2010-12-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Recently I was sort of put in my place for suggesting that a couple peoples concept bike (which does imply that's its an original idea) is basically just a copy of several off the shelf bikes. Of course its really hard to come up with an original idea in the world of bikes, but when these two started talking about it they did make it sound like it was thier original idea for a gravel road race bike. Its not a problem if you just want a custom bike for customs sake, but don't discourage the existing bikes that are out there. Especially maybe don't talk about all of those existing bikes being too heavy. Sure with a custom bike you get to choose a tubeset that might be a little lighter, but my point is are you going to notice one pound in Frame weight.

If you close to your ideal weight and in great shape then yes you will. I know for a fact that at least one of these guys is carrying around a spare tire and hasn't finished a single "race" he's started this year.

There are a lot of people in that boat however, even I admit that I'm not the best I could be. I however know that a custom bike isn't the answer. The answer is getting out on the bikes I do have a whole heck of a lot more. There's no substitute (in frame material, geometry, or custom colors) to just getting out and getting on with the tough work of improving yourself. Pedaling more, and eating less will do more than any custom gravel road rocket. Also if your someone who writes about bikes, being able to ride one decently might give you the credentials to be posting reviews and what have you. Just a thought.

Snowmobiling

2010-12-05T21:10:00.000-08:00

The combination of colder temps and a little more traffic made the snowmobile trails easily rideable on the fargo running low pressure. Still not perfect but probably as good as I can expect without a full on fat bike. J-No and Jo Mama along this morning. Nothing got cold, no one crashed, and we captured a perfect snowflake:

18 hours of exercise on the week counting commuting, weights, runs, and bike. Good portion of those hours are only possible because I ride to work everyday.

Eastwood a no go

2010-12-04T22:17:00.000-08:00

Decided to call it on eastwood tomorrow morning after getting out tonight and seeing how soft the snow was. When its this powdery you just can't pack a good line to ride in even. It just keeps moving around. Ohh well gravel again tomorrow.

On a positive note I was able to convert the Salsa's wheels to tubeless today. Used the cut tube method. This involves stretching a smaller tube over the rim with no tire in place. Then slitting the tube down the middle so the two edges hang over the side of the rim as close to evenly as possible. Then you wipe down the inside of the tube to remove the powder. Put the tire on over the cut tube being careful to leave the edges overhanging. Fill tire with sealant of choice. This next part is the trick however. You need a small thin paint brush and liquid latex mold builder. Paint both beads with the latex pretty thickly and then you should be able to inflate the tire with just a hand pump. Then set the tire over a vent or in front of a fan to cure the latex. Once thats done use a razor blade to cut off the extra tube thats hanging over the rim. The excess latex should be easy to rub off with just your fingers. Using this technique I was able to run my 29x2.4 tires at 10 psi with no burping tonight.

Even with the low psi the Pugsley Jo Mama was on easily outperformed the fargo on these kind of snow conditions.

Sandwich 50 snow ride!!

2010-12-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

This weekend we are supposed to get a couple of inches of snow. Perfect chance for the pugs to hit the singletrack at Eastwood. As some might know there is a snow bike party/mukluk introduction this weekend in faribault and although I won't be attending the party. Eastwood will be a perfect spot for an afterparty that actually includes the bikes and type of riding everyone in faribault will be only talking about doing. So Sunday morning eastwood parking lot. We won't ride the whole trail but probably sticking to the trails that pack easily and don't criss cross the ski trail. Still loops will be in the 30 plus minute range. I will be out there by 8am but will probably plan on riding for a long time if people want to show up later. Also don't miss coming just because you don't have a pugsley or similar. A couple of inches of snow is easy and fun to ride in plus the other bikes out there will be packing the trail. So just show up with whatever bike you ride. Low tire pressures and let it roll. See you out there.

Pictures from the trail this morning. Me and the Fargo+2.4 inch tires equals 3 hours of winter singletrack fun.

I always like riding in the winter because it's fun to figure out what model tires have been on the trail before you.

Crossing this morning.

2010-12-01T10:42:00.001-08:00

Took off this morning on the cross bike for a little bike practice before work. Rode over two hours and took in several laps of the microcross course alongside the river.

That was frozen solid, but there was a layer of ice under the dusting of snow in a couple of places keeping things interesting.

Then I cut through quarry hill and hit up Eastwood for a bunch of laps of what I think would make a great cross course. Not sure on length though. Is 8.5 minutes too long of a lap?

Eastwood was in great shape and the temp felt 15 degrees warmer in the trees. Kind of made me feel guilty for not getting out there more on the mountain bike this fall.

On a related note does anyone else use the camel back insulated bottles? I have two of them and two of the Polar style ones. My experience is that the camel backs freeze up at least an hour sooner than the polar ones. Anyway maybe I need to host a Sandwich 50 cyclocross this weekend at Eastwood. Anyone willing to show?

Lastly arriving to work sweaty.

Ohh the weather outside is Fargo!!

2010-11-30T20:56:00.001-08:00

I just have to drop fargo in every post I make from here on out. Although now that the fat man of Iowa is trying to shame someone into making him a free custom bike maybe the time for the fargo is past. If you know who I'm referencing I think one of the great aspects of all of his posts is that he is basically describing either the fargo or the cross check, but he claims those are both too heavy. As if an extra pound and a half of frame weight matters when your carrying at least two spare tires on your gut. He should save his money for Jenny Craig then maybe he'd finish at least one gravel event he enters next year.

On other news I wussed out on riding tonight, although I did ride to and from work, because the winds were just miserable. I can ride in almost any weather, but once the wind starts blowing I get miserable fast. Should have gone to eastwood. With this light dusting of snow and low temps the trails are probably perfect for riding. Probably an early AM mission tomorrow. 35c studs the name of the game.

Karmasutcher

2010-11-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

Last night I played off like my ride this morning was a boxing match. Well I guess I should have nocked on wood. More on that later.

Layers are important when it's cold and windy out. Not too warmly dressed this morning though.

The sun rises in the east but at least it settles in a fun location.

Obligatory fargo looking epic.

30 seconds later the road threw a knock out punch to my face. Guess I should have ridden with studs. In the dark icy dirt road looks a lot like dry dirt road. I was amazed at how much ice I had already ridden over without noticing once I crawled back home. Then it was off to Saint Mary's for half a dozen stiches. Lessons learned; regardless of what bike will be more comfortable you should always ride the one that's safest. Obviously I should have been on the cross bike with studs. Don't worry though the Fargo is fine, Repeat the fargo is fine. Just to be certain I am flying it to central Iowa for a quick full check up by the guitar doctor of Salsa. If he says it's okay then I know were in the clear. Final pick of the aftermath.

Prizefight

2010-11-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

The bell rings at 6am tomorrow. Rolling gravel and probably some snowmobile trail along the douglas. Hopefully some company rolls out with me or meets me out on the open road. How many rounds am I going, lets just say its a title fight.

2.4 X29 inches equals some big rubber to take the sting out of the blows. Hopefully they handle the ice if theres a lot still out there.

Thanks-fargo-ing

2010-11-25T18:29:00.000-08:00

Woke up at 5 am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. So thought it was time to suit up and take the fargo out on the dirt. Rain and sleet last night kept most of the pretenders at home hiding under the sheets, but the light dusting of grainy snow actually made for good traction everywhere I went except for the short sections of clear black top.

Hit the trails early enough that I was making the second set of tracks on where I joined up the trail. The joggers tracks on the trail before mine? Mine from 9 pm the night before. So first and second tracks for me. One water stop on the way;

That's right, when its 5 degrees out real men drink straight from the stream. I was heading out for a final loop when I was hailed from behind. I turned back to the intersection and there was J-NO kitted out in full Arrowhead set up including pug. I should have known a proud member of the XRC would have been out. I'm sure the duluth ladies social club known as the DBD were tucked in cozy looking up mummy bad stats online while we turned out the miles. We turned back north for another hour of snowmobile time before heading back home. 4.5 hours later I figured I had made room for quite the thanksgiving dinner. Probably heading out for a long one Sunday. Unless the signal is seen before then.

Cross Work

2010-11-23T21:07:00.001-08:00

Last summer at the Sandwich 50 two guys rode cross bikes. One was on a normal cross rig and the other was on a way cool monster cross bike. Neither man looked happy after that singletrack on that kind of bike, but it got me thinking that a cross bike might make a good addition to my stable. Last year at this time I had a Steel hardtail built up with xo and a Sid world cup fork that I used for most of my winter commuting, my other bikes were both high end race oriented full suspension bikes. So for this area I just wasn't set up right. Then in the spring the dragon bit the dust with a cracked non replaceable derailuer hanger so I bought myself a connondale bad boy commuter which is basically a mountain bike with 700c wheels. Unfortunately the frame only had clearance for a 32c tire and the mountain bike geometry just didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Remembering the cross bikes on the singletrack from this spring I got back to thinking that some type of cross or monster cross bike would probably better suit my needs. So after winning the Grey Ghost for the second time in a row this fall I decided to treat myself to the rig pictured above. Its a Raliegh RX 1.0. I am thinking it will be my everyday ride to work bike this winter because studded tires for it are cheaper than for the fargo and if I just leave studs on the cross bike and the 2.4 tires on the fargo I can have both options based on the snow/ice conditions for all winter long and I probably won't have to switch tires all winter. Which would be a major bonus.

The bike does have a couple of changes coming. First of course being studded 35c tires and fenders. Next will probably be a switch from the racelite saddle thats pictured to the more comfortable racexlite saddle chuckles was kind enough to hook me up with. Also the bars are 40cm and they need to go up to 44cm for the mix of snow and dirt the bike will see. Lastly the brakes are being changed to XTR V-brakes with problem solvers travel agents, which should give me better braking through the worst conditions. The light on the bike will be my main commuting light, its a trinewt that has had the back drilled out and the handlebar mount affixed for good. It's been useless as a helmet light anyway so hopefully it finds new life as a commuter light.

Anyone got a long ride planned for thursday morning? Could be a brisk one.

The Best Around, Nothings ever gonna bring you down!

2010-11-21T20:47:00.000-08:00

Gravel goodness this AM. I joined the XRC riders for gravel, rain and a few frozen over passes as we rolled along. Conversation was stimulating and mostly revolved around just how awesome the Salsa Fargo is for just this sort of long grind. Both XRC members were (despite thier membership to XRC) on lesser steads. Below is a picture of the from now on infamous bike.

Bike set up is a stock Salsa Fargo. Steel frame. 36 hole wheels. Touring gears. Cygolite mitycross 400 light. Trek incite computer. 4 water bottle holders. Jando frame bag. Once I got home and the bike had proven itself the last piece of the build was added.

Hopefully clicking on the picture makes it big enough to see the awesomeness.

Inspiration

2010-11-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

This time of year a lot of people are into making lists. I've seen lists of the years best products, lists of the best places they've ridden, and even one goofballs list of people he thinks did awesome things at the races he entered. I decided to do a quick list of the top things that have inspired me bicycling related. This isn't meant to be a meaningful list of great moments, but rather things I actually experienced that stuck with me.

1. The Rockshox RS-1

Suspension made bikes cool to me. I had always ridden BMX and just assumed all bikes with gears were 10 speeds regardless of the size tire and therefore meant for parents. Coming from snowmobiles and dirtbikes I immediately recognized suspension as the way forward and it made bikes look cool. Nothing inspires like lusting after something. What has always amazed me is that the very first RS-1 suspension forks had lockouts, an andjustable air sping, and semi effective rebound control. Suspension would move well backwards before we came back to that technology. My red trek with RS-1 suspension fork was stolen out of my garage one morning after I had reffed soccer games and mowed lawns for an entire year to buy it.

2. The first solo 24 hour racer

This guy registered himself as a team by listing himself 4 times. I don't know if the performance was remarkable or not, but it was cool. And it lead to the creation of national series all over the world, an official world championship, and eventually the spin off marathon races that are reviving mountain bike racing in the US.

3. The original Red Bull Rampage

Despite being a public relations nightmare for groups trying to gain ground in the access battle. Red Bull was amazing because these guys were going off of stuff that only someone with a parachute would jump off. I remember showing the video of it in the livingroom and family members who hadn't touched a bike in decades thinking it was so cool. That's why it was inspirational, people outside of biking thought it was cool.

4. Dirt Rag

Lately I have thought Dirt Rag has gone downhill a little bit. But back in the day it was far and away the best publication out there. It inspired me to commute by bike (all but 13 days last year), and gave me my first exposure to cyclocross bikes and alternatives to the mainstream bike industry. They didn't have the flashiest most expensive bikes, but they had more heart and soul in thier writing than anyone else and that inspired me.

5. Mike Ferrentino

The magazine Bike had a definate freeride big mountain feel to it before 2005. I just wasn't into that kind of riding, nor was it available to me. Then Mike took over writing and although he only spent two years there, he shaped it into a magazine that captures the reasons we ride and rediculous of it all better than anyone else does. He still inspires me today with his column in BIKE, and his amazing column in Singletrack.

6. Tour of California in February

For us in Minnesota this was a fantastic break from the weather. I remember for our honeymoon my wife and I decided to go to a northern Minnesota resort for skiing, snowmobiling, and general outdoor activities. We got there late and found out the snow conditions were so poor the hill was closed and the resort was so emptied that they closed the restraunts for the week. We drove to a nearby restraunt bar and were basically alone there with only a couple other patrons. I asked the bartender if we could put the race (in it's second year) up on the big screen. My wife and I shot pool and watched the stage. That week we never skied, but we did get out for some riding despite the weather.

7. Inspired Bicycles

This video by Danny Macaskil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o) is one of the most amazing things I have seen with a bike. Each time I watch I see something he does that I missed the time before. Sadly his recent follow up titled Way Back Home doesn't come close to the level of riding seen in Inspired Bicycles. Just watching it makes me want to ride, even though every single thing he does it out of my realm.

8. Illegal trails and thier builders.

IMBA is a recent power in the mountain bike world. Before them a lot of what got built was illegal or unsanctioned and my guess is that it's what most of us started riding on. Nowadays it's great to be able to go to Land managers and tell them that they can give us permission to make professional trails, or illegal ones will continue to be built.

9. Long dirt roads.

Not everyone is lucky enough to live close to somewhere near where the pavement ends.

10. Thors rainbow jersey.

Looking Forward

2010-11-18T09:13:00.001-08:00

We are only able to look forward by first remembering our storied past.

The Sandwich 50 first took shape during the long training rides the winter after Steeplechase was shut down. Before that the organizers were involved in running that race as part of the MNSCS series. In my mind Steeplechase had the best course of any of the races at the time. Obviously whoever planned it was a mastermind of race logistics and flow. At the time a lot of the grassroots dirt road races were just getting going and the WEMS series in wisconsin was a popular race series. We decided that a grassroots race similar in feel to the gravel road races, but with singletrack instead of long open roads. Minnesota lacked a true marathon mountain bike race so the decision was made to make the race long, hard, but retain the grassroots feel we were looking for.

We didn't do the event the first summer after we thought of it because we needed a summer to get Eastwood into shape and enough trail to make it plausible to race on for that distance. The name was born during that period of time, but that's a story for another time (trust me there is a story).

The following winter we made plans for the race, and if anything we were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to pull off for a first year event. A lot of that has to do with all of the racers "getting" it as well.

So for next year there are a few changes that will likely happen.

First; Race date will likely change to a week earlier and probably on a Saturday instead of Sunday.

Second; There will be a team category this year, but there won't be any Guy-Guy teams allowed as that category is already filled to capacity out at Eastwood.

Third; We will probably have space for 75 entries this year (Each team of 2 will only count as 1 entry).

Otherwise the registration will be the same as last year so Make sure you are a Rochester Active Sports Club member if you want in.

Last a picture out at Eastwood to remind us of warmer times as we head into winter.

Race Captures Hearts, Minds, and Imaginations of the World!

2010-08-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend there were quite a few races in the midwest, but one stands head and shoulders above the rest. It has set itself apart with the level of difficulty and competitiveness of the event. The length combined with the climbing makes this one of the great Icons of sport. Of coures I am talking about the Murphy Off-road Duathalon.

I was lucky enough to gain the blessing from my lovely wife and daughter to attend this event for the second time in my life and once again it did not disappoint. Also I decided once I got there to try out a new running style. Basically it has to do with some over use injuries I have been experiencing and my theory that they aren't being caused by my increasing age to amount on time spent training ratio, but actually due to the establiment telling us that we should run a certain way. So I wanted to go back to the ways our ancient ancestors ran. They didn't have the fancy running stuff that we do. So for this race I spent a lot of time at como zoo watching our true ancestors the monkeys and gorilla's. So for this race I ran in a hunched over flat footed fashion and used both my legs and the knuckles of my hands to propel me forward. And low and behold I won the race for the second time. I didn't win by as much this time as last time, but I am pretty sure it's because second place must have been a high school track star. Now I have a victory as well as carpel tunnel in both hands and several compacted vertebrae to show for the weekend. Maybe our ancestors were able to run like that a lot easier because they were 4 feet tall and weighed 100 pounds. Well nothing to do but keep at it.

Also with this victory I am declaring myself the best. Period.

Also there was a small race in afton some people might have thought was tough this weekend.

Eastwood is in really good shape with lots of trimming having gotten done recently and the new section on the west side open and ready for riding.

Farewell TRI GUY

2010-06-18T07:20:00.001-07:00

Mark Carey (seen above) was the 4th place finisher of the Sandwich as well as helping us set up and take apart the course. Beyond that Mark was a great guy well known in the Rochester athletic community for being a constant fixture at the tuesday night track workouts, mountain bike time trials, tri time trials, and leading Tri bike workouts at Rochester Cycling and Fitness. When I first met Mark he was new to mountain bikes but he impressed me with his enthusiasm to ride and pick up the techniques that many of us thought of as second nature. Mark continued to impress with with his constant steady improvement. He was getting faster every single time he rode. I'm comfortable saying Mark has moved into the category of elite rider and I think we'll all be sorry to see him go and his absence will be felt at the Tuesday championships. So Thanks to Mark for sharing the good times, good luck to both you and your wife, and we hope to see you back someday.

The Aftermath and "The First and Last Name in Mountain Bikes"

2010-06-17T12:33:00.001-07:00

This site was primarily for the promotion of the the Sandwich 50 mountain bike race and so since the race it has been quite. I figured it could however use the occasional update since a lot of the Rochester area riders were actually reading it for some silly reason. So I figured it would be another way to get the word out about goings on and trail conditions and such at Eastwood. In the aftermath of the 50 the trails were about as buffed out as they could get. Then things started to get overgrown, then for some reason a few holes were dug and some big machinery was moved around on the open field leavins some bumps out there.

The overgrown parts are sort of being fixed on an ongoing basis and if you have time it would be great for everyone if you picked a small section of trail and lopped the weeds back. We will try to get something in the works at some point regarding trail work. As far as we have been told there are no plans for the land the field loops are on right now, but that land is not park owned and could potentially see development in the future. We have always been aware of that and if it happens it will be unfortunate but something that we will have to deal with. Unless you want to buy the land, I hear it's going for about 750K.

With the rain we've been having this June the TT's have been cancelled for about 3 or 4 weeks running so hopefully with some dry weather those will get up and running again shortly.

The news came out this week that Fisher Bikes will no longer be a stand alone brand and that they will only exist as a collection of bikes through Trek. The top of the Sandwich 50 field was made up entirely of guys riding either trek or Fisher bikes. 1st, 2nd, 4th on Fishers, while 3rd and 5th were running treks. Now I have read a lot of the PR blurbs out there and have seen a lot of opinions on both sides of the story, and the stuff from Fisher and Trek sounds really positive. However I was a huge fan of Klein back in the day and I remember trek had the same types of PR put out when they bought up klein. You know bigger distribution, more exposure etc. How long did that last? Trek also says that Fishers market share wasn't big enough to justify the costs associated with engineers and marketing. However anyone familiar with Fisher knows that the Fisher superfly was sold out in it's original production run, and the superfly 100 was back ordered for about 5 months. Apparently fisher market share was still big enough to justify expanding his bike range into 2 other categories (road and cyclocross). So what do I feel is the real reason; I think it was simply a matter of Trek needing 29ers and needing to eliminate the "competition" fisher the fisher brand was giving it's trek dealers. See although Trek owned Fisher not all trek dealers were necessarily Fisher dealers. Fishers had thier own distribution. So the Trek Dealers were getting absolutely killed by not having 29ers to sell people. They asked Trek for a 29 but a Trek 29 was never going to be as well recieved as a Fisher 29er because Fisher was one of the first on the scene with 29ers and has cred whereas a Trek 29er would look like a ripoff and the dealers would still lose sales to fisher dealers. Add to this the fact that Fisher's Road bikes were actually a little ahead of Treks with tapered head tubes and bb92 and suddenly Trek sees a threat in a company it owns. The loser here is the independant Fisher dealer that didn't want to do Trek and maybe you and me. Because if Fisher hadn't been a stand alone company ask yourself would we have had the major advacement of 29ers, G2 and fork offsets, DRCV shocks, and how about the grassroots Fisher crew race teams? Trek has always been a little corporate and slow to change which is why fisher could be so successful in thier own advacements. Just my thoughts on the loss of another iconic brand.

Prize time!!

2010-05-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

Pics of the race can be found here and here.

The prize table held many goodies to the deserving. We went all out to get the most top quality merchandise into racer's hands. Here are the big time riders with their big time loot. Although we did not go seeking sponsors, we did have prizes show up on their own. Thanks to Bob Marhefke for adding BBB glasses, Squirt lube and Ritchey lube to our table.

Results!

2010-05-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/document/0011/3362/Sandwich_Results.pdf

The results are linked above. I won't racap my race other than to say that I was broken by the end of lap 7. Instead I will just tell a few quick stories about the day.

I was the first one to pass the bacon stop and at that time it was one guy leaning against a surly big dummy. Every lap after that the set up became better and better and the crowd got bigger and bigger. It was like a midlap party that cheered everyone up every time they went by. It was definately a highlight of the day and mountain bike racing is missing that kind of element on a regular basis.

The singlespeeders were going through chains. I think I counted 7 broken chains. Yet they kept on turing over laps.

One guy rode the big boulder to skinny every single lap and he completed the race.

One guy skipped the big log pile in the field on the first lap and instead wiped out on the slick grass going around it.

Bikes were broken left and right, but no body parts were seriously injured and that's always a good thing.

Looking at the lap times you could tell the course started out a little wet and dried out over the next 3 laps. People got faster through lap 5 in some cases.

Cumulatively we probably burned 50,000 calories out there.

One of the crazy guys on a cyclocross bike finished all 7 laps. That is one tough dude.

Let me know any other good stories from the day as I am sure I missed some great stuff.

We will be back next year. Probably the same name, maybe a different format (teams).

Calm Before the Storm

2010-05-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

Checked out the course at about 6pm. Some wet sections but no more precip for the evening. There will be some greese tomorrow but nothing mountain bikers can't handle. Thanks is advance to anyone who is volunteering, bringing a dish to share, or racing thier hearts out. Hopefully we're going to have a good time out there.

Awesomeness!!

2010-05-07T18:45:00.001-07:00

So one of my main goals for this race was to show up sporty a not so great mustache. One problem though; my wife hates facial hair. So was born the plan for a secret mustache. The premise was simple. I would act like I was to busy or forgetful to shave for several days. Then when she started asking about it I would pretend like I was about to shave but just hadn't gotten around to it. So basically I would be letting my beard grow out. She finds a beard slightly less freddy mercury than a mustache, so I figured I could milk it for a day or two that way. Last night she caught on. "Why haven't you shaved yet." I could have lied but instead I looked her straight in the eye and said "aren't you going to your mothers for the weekend in the morning."
So she won't get home until saturday night or sunday morning and by then it will be too late. Unfortunately my mustache doesn't grow as fast as I would like but come sunday morning something will be seen. So my question for everyone out there is what style do I go for? I have a good growth all over (except neck so no neards) so do I go for the handlebar? chinstrap? gotee? mutton chops?fumanchu? Post to the comments your thoughts on this greatest of male achievement. Yes I am doing this for extra attention. I will also hope to win the 26 inch wheel mustache class at the race.

Race notes; Please don't preride before noon on Saturday May 8th if you can help it. Out doing Maintenance tonight and the course was under a lot of water that will take time to dry. With the cold temps overnight and in the morning expect it to be damp until early afternoon. Also there is a running race out there inthe morning so they may have certain parts of the course taped off or blocked. If you see them out there please cheer on the runners. Always want to encourage respectful and appropriate use of the park.
Race morning sign in will be under the picnic gazebo on the west side of the park. The prerace meeting will take place at 8:45. 9 am sharp the race will commence with an interesting and fun prologue.

Less Gears, . . . . . More Attention

2010-05-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

So I have been an on and off fan of Twin Six for years now so I usually look forward to the T-shirt of the month emails I get from them. (No that isn't the May one that I have pictured.) But this months brought back to mind a topic that I have often ranted about on rides. Why do singlespeeders think they deserve more attention and special mention all the time. The thing is, it's still a bike, and it's obviously the bike you feel most comfortable on. So ride it, or race it or whatever, just don't ask for special attention because of it. I know some people who read this ride dingle speeds around and let me make it clear, I am not anti single speeds, just anti special attention. I mean what if I designed a t-shirt that simply said "I can afford gears,. . . .But I don't make a big deal about it."

That being said if you can complete the Sandwich 50 on a singlespeed you deserve mad respect, just don't go asking for it.

Hammer and the Nail

2010-05-05T07:52:00.000-07:00

Monthly Tuesday Night WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP of Eastwood last night. Great turnout with about 18 people out there. I'm sure times are up on the rasc boards so I won't bother reposting. Charlie Tree kept up his winning ways pulling off the W. He may have been helped out by a few ill timed crashes out there. I wasn't the hammer or the nail. So I guess that made me the wood?? Here are a host of pictures from the night for your viewing pleasure.

Unibet takes odds.

2010-05-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Unibet out of Europe has taken odds on the winner of the Sandwich 50. It looks like Matt Kurke is the overwhelming favorite with 100-1 odds. With Matt Kurkes undefeated status at the awesomest person in the world comps, on the exact same course of the Sandwich, it is looking promising for the man. Combine this with his experience in longer races and the shear domination that his Turner Love Bug posses, it is clear to see why he is the overwhelming favorite. Now assuming that God intervenes with Matts divine destiny there are others waiting to take the top spot.

According to Unibet, everyone else in the race is given an equal 1-1000 shot of taking the overall. The organizers of the race have already ordered a 6 foot tall trophy with Matts name emblazoned on the front and a full sized bust of Charly's head made with cheese will adorn the registration table.

When contacted Charly was humble about his non-chances. He did want to remind everyone of a few things on the race.

-There will be no water available at the start. It is BYOW.
-There is no day of sign up for the race
-The race starts at 9am, and riders will be forced to stop at 6pm, not a minute after.
-There is no alcohol allowed at the park.
-The directors have a potluck planned for late into the race, ie. dinner time. Please, please, please consider bring a dish to pass. Pack it into a cooler or whatever. What way to end a fun day of riding then with other riders and a bunch of food? The race will provide meat and buns (not the variety often found at Eastwood).
-Bring food for the race, we'll be out there for awhile. Several hours.
-There are gas stations and grocery stores about a mile away.
-This is for fun, no attitudes or we'll stuff you into the Green Saturn.

Take The Dirt Road Instead!

2010-05-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

It's been raining a little bit in the past week, but with the Sandwich looming you can't let the training slip just because of a little moisture. So you just have to rely on some age old wisdom... when the river runs red.....

So we are in the final week countdown. Is your bike ready? Is your mind ready? This course doesn't care how many Buck hill races you've won, or how many real races you've ducked in the past to go to races where you know you'll beat the other three riders. This course will test your skills, endurance, and possibly balance once you get dizzy from all the turning.

Logistical stuff that's been mentioned but should be mentioned again;

There is plenty of parking at the race. Most of it within 100 feet of the course start and finish. At no point will the course be further than 3/4 of a miles from the start finish line. There is a porta potty on site. There isn't running water on site, but there will be a couple of large containers for race use, but when they are empty that's it so plan on your own.

If you don't know where Eastwood is, it's off of East Hwy 14 just heading east of Rochester. If your from out of town the Easiest way to get there is to take 52 to East 14. Stay on East 14 for several miles and the park is on the right hand side just past the college.

Monthly Time Trial Championship of the World this Tuesday (may 4). Course will be the sandwich course if you need a tune up.

Grooming the Course!!

2010-04-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

A little under two weeks away from what will surely be an epic showdown between man, bike, and Eastwood twisty turny singletrack. I was out clearing the course of any large sticks. It was taking to long to pick them up so I just used a combination of my chain deraileur and spokes. It's looking nice out there.
Next tuesday (may 4) is the monthly TT championship that will take place on the course of the 50 if you want a preview. For now The course

The Course preview: Right now a lap is looking like it's a little over 6.5 miles. There will be a prologue lap as well. The course is about 70% tight and twisty singletrack. 30% open field singletrack. 10 % ski trail/double track. Before anyone mentions it I know that's 110%. That's because the sandwich will demand more than 100% of your best. The course will pass right in front of the picnic gazeebo which will be race HQ and the best stretch to put your feed zone. Also there will be a stretch right in front of the gazebo that will be taped off as a neutral zone where you aren't allowed to race through. This will be where the volunteers will take down youre number.

In current events news: Quick movie review. I saw the Ten Commandments this weekend and all I can say is totally predictable. I mean did the director think I hadn't read the bible before hand. Basically I knew what was going to happen before it ever did. The special effects were okay, but I mean the miracles? Please I enjoyed that stuff the first time in Bruce almighty and Evan almighty etc. What? this is supposed to be a cycling blog??

Roster/race Update

2010-04-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we are technically down to one left on the wait list. With a few weeks to go it is a safe bet that we will have more people drop out. What does that mean? You can probably get in, but you need to sign up now!

The race will be 7 laps plus a prologue. Currently only 2 people have been able to get close to the 30 minute mark for one lap. Most are mid 30's.

Just an FYI, you will be considered a finisher by finishing just one lap. You do not need to complete all 7 laps to finish.

TT and Weekend Trail Work

2010-04-21T06:29:00.000-07:00

We had TT number 2 last night with another fine showing. It's always great to see some new faces and their was some fine talent out there as well. The picture above is the lap that we run and it will be basically the same for the sandwich 50.

There will be trailwork this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday to finish up the last piece of the trail taking us off of the ski trail at the end of lightning tree. We will be meeting at 7:30 in the big parking lot. Bring gloves, a rake if you have it, and loppers if you have them. Also a chainsaw if you want to and are confident in using it. I will have pulaski and mccloed tools for actually cutting the trail in. I am on call so both days we will plan on working until 10:30 or so. Make sure to bring a bike to go for a ride afterwards.

Charly-my chain broke this morning on my way to work and since you are the team mechanic and I bought it at your shop I figured you could stop by while I am at work and fix it for me. It's parked right behind my building.

TT #1 is in the Books

2010-04-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

The first time trial of the year was Tuesday night at high 6 oclock. We are planning on doing these every Tuesday that the weather cooperates. The First Tuesday of month will be a special championship of the world edition. Here are a few images from the first edition. If I didn't catch you with the camera this time my apologies. The camera spends most of the year in my truck and as such it's batteries were giving me low warnings the entire time. Also it's from 2005 so most peoples phones take better pictures. Anyway first up is the prerace meeting and eyeing up of the competition. Everyone was talking about that white bike on the ground. Word is it's a super secret 19.6 pound Turner with ceramic bearings in the jockey wheels:

here is someone entering the final section of the trails. Sorry I don't know who but I am zoomed out too far. Looks like I actually caught two people:

Triguy finishing the race strong:

The Bob of Bicycle sports still finds time to break legs at the local rides:

Other local riders stops the clock:
Dave puts work in on the trails and enjoys the fruits of his labor:

Above (penn cycle shorts) is the Rochester Legend Gary Gross. At left is everyone recovering after the race.

Drop out

2010-04-13T13:54:00.001-07:00

We just saw this on Velonews:

MN Champ Fears the Sandwich 50

The state of MN has seen a formidable professional mountain biker dominate the MN series in the year 2009, taking the win at almost every race with dominating force. Looking to expand his repertoire, the man with the giant calves, Brendan Moore, decided to tackle a new race in MN, The Sandwich 50. "It sounds like a fantastic race", said the series winner earlier this year, "I look forward to it".

Things change. As the date loomed ever closer our mountain bike hero had second thoughts. He worried about the distance, the rumors of phenomenal singletrack, and 2 riders specifically; Charly Tri and Matt Kurke. "They are the Eastwood Ninjas", a Rochester local was heard saying. Yes, Charly and Matt bring fear into the hearts of those that ride Eastwood (and those that lurk as well). So off our MN favorite went this last Easter Sunday. With his children reaching out to be with their Dad and his wife stuck at home dealing with the daily needs, Brendan set out to ride the famous Eastwood trails.

The man in the green Saturn remembers that day, "I was just sitting there when some guy came through on a mountain bike. He kept hitting the trees with his calves. It was like he was not able to master the trail". It was reported that our local hero was frustrated and discouraged. He knew racing "The 50" would only end in his inability to to break the skill of Charly and Matt. With his head down, he made his way home.

It was rumored that he took his frustrations out in his man cave. One, then 2 beers were consumed. Stumbling and slurring his speech, he was reported to be riding down his street on his child's strider bike. Reverting back to a time when life seemed much more innocent.

The next day he would send an e-mail that would only confirm to the rest of the world what he already knew. He didn't have it in him to race The Sandwich 50. You can see here in the picture as part of Brendan's mental regression he fashioned a Velorochester onesie to race in. He can be seen now challenging 5 year old's on his street to races.

We here at Velonews hope Brendan has a speedy recovery.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So the good news is that one of our people on the waiting list is now in. Porter was thrilled with the news.

Time Trial

2010-04-13T10:55:00.001-07:00

The first time trial is tonight. Meet in front of the smaller parking lot at 6. The course will be the same as the course used for the sandwich 50. So it's a good time to get out there and see what's in store.

Putting the Hammer to the Course!

2010-04-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been out riding Eastwood yet this year you should really plan on it. We have been out for 4 trailwork sessions this year and things are really shaping up. Still a little more work to be done before the race including some permanent signage to be completed before the race so people can follow the race route before hand.

Notes on the course;

-Will be about 7 miles in length and about 95% of that will be singletrack. The other 5 percent will be open grass and ski trail.

-Most of the singletrack is slow with lots of turning. This course isn't about legs nearly as much as it's about being smooth through the corners.

-There won't be any water crossings.

-The course circles and stays close to the start finish area so if you have a mechanical or problem on course you probably won't be much more than a quater mile from the start finish area.

-The course climbs about 550 feet per lap. All short power climbs.

-Dual suspension, hardtail, cyclocross, there will be people out there with everything and nothing more appropriate than the other as long as it can last the long haul. Here's a sneak peak at what I will be ridin;

Turner Nitrous Powder Coated White

Fox RP23

Manitou R7 MRD

Industry Nine Wheelset with ZTR CREST rims (red hubs and red spokes)

XTR drivetrain (shifters, front and rear derailuers)

Race Face Dues XC crankset 175mm anodized Red

Formula R1 disc brakes (most powerful I have ever used).

Eggbeater Pedals

Bontrager XXX lite seatpost

Bontrager RXL seat

Salsa Promoto Carbon Flat bar @ 660 mm width

Cannondale C4 110mm stem

Small block 8 1.95 rear and Rocket Ron 2.1 front tires.

Nokon stainless housing and cable system.

Ashima Air Rotors

Stans sealant.

Bontrager xxx lite side load water bottle cage.

Weight without ride on board: 19.6 pounds

Very Nice.

2010-04-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Lance Armstrong put's on old jersey, scouts Eastwood for possible Sandwich 50 race attendance.

Later it was he was heard saying that he doubted he would race as he would not have the balls for it.

Getting the course dialed.

2010-03-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

The trails are looking real nice. We are starting on some new singletrack for the race and have cleaned up a bunch of the course. It is good riding out there right now!

Sweat Equity

2010-03-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Theres a reason the guys who work trails ride those trails the fastest. The trail pays you back for the sweat you put into it. Saturday AM raking session at Eastwood for anyone intersted. Thinking 10-12 using lawn rakes so bring one if you have it. Also gloves and water.

"How you been Charly, looks like you lost a little weight"

2010-03-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

This was my favorite quote from the group ride last night. My response was; "Yes and I got about 5 years younger and way way handsomer."

Ride went well overall but the group dynamic on these group rides is kind of intresting to watch. There is always ultra safety guy, he was calling out cars that were crossing roads about two miles west of us at times. The there is ham pedaller, he likes to half wheel the other paceline any time he's up front. This means he likes to be ahead of the parrallel rider by about half a bike length no matter what. Several times he was just left out dangling 10 yards in front of everyone. The other classic is the guy who is always riding the bike that is totally messed up but he's learned to live with it that way. Last night it was a seven with a really out of true rear wheel and a freehub that would turn freely for about 2 full pedal rotations before catching. The rider wasn't bothered by either.

I was riding the cannondale bad boy with cyclocross tires. It's not the perfect choice since the wide flat bars and mountain bike geometry aren't great for head down pavement pounding in groups. But I like it that way since I think I have to work a little harder and it makes for good experience since the Cable Classic stays in groups for a good portion of it.

Otherwise my rides look like this in the morning;

The Bad Boy rest between commuting duties; Check out the little girls bike, someone probably stole that to make a quick trip downtown and now it's been sitting in that rack for a week while some little girl doesn't have a bike to ride. The world is full of d-bags.

Quick Kerkove Face Picture to end the post, I hope he wins the sport class of the ouchita challenge again this year:

You show me Yours!!

2010-03-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend your ever busy race planners got out to the course to start the spring projects that need to be completed before the race. We have been planning on extending one trail for a couple of summers so that we eliminate the longest section of ski trail and reroute some of the existing singletrack off of the striaight up straight down fall lines it runs on. We got a lot of work done but it's still a long ways off. This tuesday if the two or three people who read this are looking for a good whole body workout we will be out there at 5 pm in the main parking lot for 2-3 hours of good old trail building.

Quick Rant: Someone posted that everything was ridable at Eastwood and that you should just ride around the wetter spots. First off I don't know who Paul C is but theres a good chance he isn't going to be working on the trails this summer with us. Secondly not only is it muddy, but there was actually two spots of snow still in the woods. Just for the record, in the spring the moisture isn't just on the surface of the trail, it's actually frost working it's way up from 5 feet below the surface. This means the trail is soft for several feet down so even if it doesn't look like you are doing damage, the spots you rode over to early in the spring will sink lower and become water traps during the summer. Once the trail is dry and buff moisture only affects the top inch or so and the damage you do is less. So if you know Paul C thank him for posting that the trail is open long before it should have been and encouraging riders to damage the trails. We saw a couple while working saturday.

Other Race notes: If you want to get on the waiting list please just go through the normal proceedure for registering including registering for RASC. We are full but we have had several people drop so the waiting list remains at zero. If someone drops we will go to the waiting list and take riders on a first RASC member listed First Rasc member in basis. So you'll need Rasc membership, but something tells me if you go through the hassle of getting Rasc membership you'll probably get in the race.

Laps will be around 7 miles in length. Maybe a little bit more. Without repeating anything.

We are going to try to get signposts up by middle of April that will be more permanent and the course will follow these directional signs the entire time so people will have at least a couple of weeks to preride the lap. Also watch for weeknight time trials.

I am thinking pest creepy mustache contest with a special prize. Comments?

Come on in.

2010-03-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Like the passenger seat of an Eastwood lurker, we have room. We had our first drop out so we have room for that one lucky person.

Edit:
Well, looks like we quickly had a person ready to fill our passenger seat, so we are full once again. I guess if you wanted to get in before than you should have gotten on the waiting list.

My New Haircut!

2010-03-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

So readers will know that the Dragon which usually preceeds large scale meteorolgical events in Rochester (due to it's speed creating random low pressure zones and temperature decreases in it's wake) was ready to be put to pasture after basically everything going bad at once this past weekend. Well I figured a cyclocross bike might be the ticket for me, but I was intending to use it to ride to work every day, plus training rides, and the occasional group rode ride. I was worried that a cyclocross bike might not be the best tool for the job. So I stopped in to see the good folks at http://cycling-fitness.com/ After perusing thier cyclocross fleet I couldn't make up my mind if that's what I really needed. I was worried about the 1 water bottle mount on some of them and the lack of fender mounts, plus they seemed like they might only last 1 day parked outside my building on at the bike rack.

Then I spied a unique bike at the front of the Shop. A cannondale Bad Boy. Basically a flat bar road bike with 29er wheels running slicks and mountain bike components. Disc brakes, clearance to run large volume cyclocross tires, or full size 26 inch mountain bike tires. Three water bottle mounts for epic amounts of gravel. Full rack and fender mounts. Everything on the bike is Matte Black and even the decals are flat black and hard to make out unless they have headlights or a camera flash on them as they glow a sort of yellow gold for safety. The fact that it was built with mountain bike components meant it was all interchangable with my other stuff and might last a little longer with day to day road grime. So I made it my own and threw on a pair of 35c cylcocross tires. Only hiccup was the fenders I bought for it were for a mountain bike and thus didn't fit.

Trek Computer, Planet bike Light, and 48-38-24 gearing make it road ready. Not sure that the granny gear is a necessity but maybe I will change it some time. It had a cheap seatpost and seat, but that slid right out and the thompson and botrager seat from the dragon slid right in.

On a bike purchase related note, recently a major retailer pulled thier sponsorship of the MNSCS series and the Spring cup (which was a major fund raiser for MORC). If your in the market for a new bike you should evaluate your priorities before going into Eriks. Last night I watched the Owner of Rochester cycling and Fitness repair a flat for a 10 year old kid who couldn't pay. Last time I was in Eriks they had snowboards, skateboards, and winter ski clothes. I guess the decision is yours.

Unrelated it was 50 degrees outside yesterday and the triathalon club was setting up trainers and thier time trial bikes inside for a spin workout after the shop closed. Nicest day of the year so far and they are spinning indoors. Tri people are wierd.

Also what are the aerodynamic advatages of a time trial bike if you are indoors on a trainer??

Metric ton of dog poop

2010-03-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

This weekends totals;

2 tubes
one chain
3 chain rings
Cassette
2 lights (trinewt and stella)
Lots and lots of dog poop right where I tried to change one of my tires. Seriously it was on the tires, my gloves and I dropped a tire iron in it. Saturdays ride was wet and foggy. Sunday was warm and sunny. Both days cost more than any rides I've been on in the way of trashed drivetrain components and two broken lights. It's new bike time soon.

Global Warming.....The meats spoiling faster!

2010-03-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

Now that the roster is at least temporarily full (if youre in but don't have RASC member ship done get on it) I can take a break from the constant 24-7 race promotion I have been doing. A few notes for racers:

1. No handups, but you can have a cooler or whatever to hold your water bottles along the course.

2. We have the gazebo picnic shelter rented so you can put stuff in there and the plan is to have a volunteer around during the race. Also there is a grill in the gazebo for food prep and if people want to bring stuff potluck is also highly encouraged.
3. There is an outhouse.

We here at the deli have been getting out for some classic gravel riding

It's not all hard base miles though when we go out to ride. Here we found a neat little kicker on the side of the road. As you can see the 29er's have no problems;

The 26 incher has a little problem. This is what we call eating a road kill sandwich.

Here is my very best Jeff Kerkove Face picture. It takes practice to get these. This was my 4th attempt at it.

Here is the roster if people want to check up on who is in the race.

http://sandwich50.blogspot.com/2010/01/roster.html

Also we will be doing some trail maintenance out there once the snow is gone so be on the lookout for that if you'd like to help out. Also if you know anyone who would volunteer to hold a clipboard and mark racer laps off let us know as well.

Get in line foo'.

2010-03-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

Like a fat guy leaving Old Country Buffet, we are full! There is a waiting list that I suspect will get some people into the race.