Ti 2-9

I got an email last week that my bike had showed up early. It wasn't supposed to ship until 4/19, so I was pretty excited that it would be arriving much earlier than expected. 

Light!!

Straight out of the box there was a decent amount of assembly that need to be done, plus I switched out the tires, seat post, seat, stem, and handlebars right away.

A  few highlights:
SRAM XO derailleurs and shifters
Bontrager XXX stem, handlebars, seat post, and bottle cage
Rockshox RL 29 fork

This is my first 2x10 drive train. It is going to be fun. I don't like switching big rings all that often so this should be a nice set up. The rear cassette has quite a range so hopefully I will always be able to find a comfortable gear.

I still need to bring it to the shop to get it set up properly as I don't trust my initial build, and its not worth breaking something because I didn't know what I was doing. It is going to be hard to just sit and stare at this bike for the next 5 or so weeks until the trail dry out. Oh well, gotta get the base miles in anyways...

Bonus! What is this?

L-M-L

This past Saturday was the Lakeville-Millville-Lakeville race, or, my return to riding a bike for more than 12 miles. I had heard grumblings about this race for a little over a year and was interested because I thought that it would be nice to get a race in before the Ragnarok. The race was supposed to have ditches, swamps, pastures, etc. but with the very long winter I don't think it is a possibility.
With the temperatures well below freezing in the mornings, and warming up in the afternoons I knew that the race was going to get sloppy at some point. I decided to ride my Monocog geared at 40x18. It proved to be a pretty good choice.

The start

The race was set for 80+ miles starting at Harry's Cafe in Lakeville. We started a little after 8 with a slow roll out. Once we hit the gravel it was still fairly slow. Over the first 4 miles I was still fairly close to the lead group, but I could tell that they were not pushing it, at all.

Right around mile 9 I started hearing a creaking noise coming from my drivetrain. I have taken the cranks off the bike the night before and cleaned, and re-greased them so my first thought was that I had somehow put them back on incorrectly. I pedaled on as it seemed to be just a noise. A mile later I felt a lot more tension as I was trying to pedal. Having not ridden much my first thought was that I just wasn't in great shape and that my body was already tiring. A long look back at mile 13 revealed that the lockring for my rear cog had some loose, causing the cog to slip all over the place and ruin the chain line. I stopped and spun it back on and tightened it with my hand the best I could and was back on my way. I worried about it coming loose again for the next 30 miles. I linked up with a couple guys shortly after that and we rode together into the checkpoint at Milltown Cycles. At Milltown they had bacon and donuts waiting for us, along with our second set of directions. I got Ben to tighten down my lockring and it was trouble free the remainder of the way. Milltown Cycles is a cool little shop that I have never been to before. I have heard many good things about it, but it is just too far away. After about a 10 minute break I was back on the road.

The second half started out pretty nice. There was some pavement and my water tube unfroze so I had something to drink. I recall about mile 50 the road started to get a little tacky. Dirt was starting to stick to the tired. At one point we went down closed dirt road that was muddy as shit. I made it though most of it, but had to stop and walk a small portion of it. Not fun. From there the roads were wet and icy. I just kept pushing towards the end. Mud was really starting to accumulate on the bike and myself. I wanted to be done. The miles seemed to be going by pretty quickly though despite my 11-13 mph pace. With 5 miles to go I passed 3 people and was determined to not let them catch me before the end. My legs were getting that warm tingly feeling that comes when they are too warm and starting to overheat. I would take a couple sips of water and that seemed to cool them down a bit.

I finished the race in 24th place out of 61 starters. Not too bad for the first long ride of the season. Afterwards in the swag box I picked up a set of Jagwire deraileur cables that I thought would look nice on the new bike. I donated two chains that I noticed had already been taken.

Afterwards I changed and went back into Harry's for a beer and a burger. It was nice to catch up with some people that I hadn't seen in a while as well.

It was a great race, well put on and organized, with the donations going to a great cause.

Thanks to Larry and all the volunteers that made it happen. I'll be back again next year.

My clothes looks worse.

Weekend Post

This weekend was shaping up to be pretty nice, and it just turned out OK.

Saturday morning I was going to ride 50 miles around Afton, but after getting on the SJ for the first time since November there was a strange clicking noise coming from the rear. At first I thought that my hub may have worn out, but decided that it had something to do with my rear brake. I tried to fix it work 15 minutes, but nothing I tried worked. The roads by that point were already pretty sloppy and I was getting cold so I decided to pack it in right away. Upon further examination I think that the rotor was pinging off of the brake adapter bolt. I think that I got the problem taken care of, but we'll see once the weather gets a little better to bring it back outside.

It was not all a loss though. I went to the gym and did an hours worth of intervals and then swam 600m. When I got back from the gym I noticed there was a package at the front door. The shape of it was very distinct and I knew what it was right away. I opened it up and the stuff looked great.

Probably too nice for me.

Now I just need to wait until the bike arrives to put it all together. I was kind of bummed that it wasn't going to arrive till mid April, but with the weather we are having there is really no chance of the trails being dry enough to ride anyways.

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day and I really could have cared less. It was so cold and everyone went out Saturday night anyways. Not a big deal. I went for a fat bike ride at Carver with Curt and Jose. We did 2 laps and the pace was pretty nice. Surprisingly, Curt only stopped once to adjust something. The trail was pretty hard packed with a few icy spots. you can't take the corners too fast out there because the surrounding snow is soft and deep. The bike will sink right in and send you OTB.

Next weekend is the LML. I am hoping for some colder weather, but it sounds like it is going to be 37 and sunny. That is going to make for a wet, sloppy day.

The Disney Experince

15 seconds into the airport and we're taking photos!

I kept saying that if I got hired on full time that I would go to Florida for spring break. Well, that day came and I don't know if I even made it home before our tickets were booked. So last Thursday was the day and we left the cold, snowy conditions for a nice 75 degrees and sunny.

The flight was great and when we got to our rental car they upgraded us from a "standard" car to a mid size SUV (Nissan Murano). It was a great car to drive and the MPG was not too shabby either.


we stayed at my aunts house on Thursday night and then went to our hotel in the morning. we hung out at the pool and drank some beers, had underwater swimming contests, and who could pick up dad contests.

In the evening we ate at some local place and then headed to Downtown Disney to check out the scene and look through all the shops.

It's Perrrrrrrrrrrryyyy

Saturday morning came and we were off to Disney World bright and early.I had never gotten to the park so early, but it proved to be well worth while. Once they let us in we got on 6 rides in the first 45 minutes including Space Mountain. I'm always sure to get on Dumbo first. The line gets crazy long and it's not that great of a ride, but it's a classic. We went by it again later in the day and the wait time was 135 minutes.

Probably the best picture all weekend.

Note how few people are in the background in the above photo. This area is constantly packed with people throughout the rest of the day.

I always enjoy the teacups. Aurora however does not. It was the only ride that she complained about and did not want to go back on again. I may have spun us a little faster than she would have liked, but Cooper had a blast.

The kids are not as interested in bikes as me.

On our way to get a fastpass I saw this sign and needed to get a picture. The GF was confused about what she was supposed to be taking a picture of and I had to explain it to her. The kids are probably thinking this is worse than standing in line for 30 minutes.

Holy shit it's Mickey!!

I think Disney got rid of the "Only one of each character out in the park at a time" rule because it was a lot easier to get a photo with them than I remember.

I'm not quite Gaston, but close

Don't be fooled by the statue, there is no beer for sale here. Just some frozen apple juice thing.

We stayed at the park till the fireworks finished around 10:10. That made for just over 13 hours in the park. What a day. The kids were wiped out. Aurora didn't even make it back to the car before falling asleep in the monorail and I had to carry her.

Sunday my sister came up from Fort Lauderdale to visit with us. We went to Cocoa Beach and had a great time. The water was a little cold but that didn't matter. We still body surfed and splashed around in the waves. Then the kids got into building some sand castles and I was able to relax and catch a tan. There was also a surfing contest going on with some major sponsorship there. It was cool to watch some real surfers in action.

Monday we went to Disney Hollywood (Formerly MGM) This place was alright, but is mostly just live action shows. I was not that impressed, but the kids had a good time, and that's all that matters.

I didn't go on the Tower of Terror because it's not my thing, but I did go on the Rockin Roller Coaster twice. I normally don't care for roller coasters that much and to add to my anxiety ( I think rides are the only thing that gives me anxiety) Aurora was going on these all for the first time and I kept thinking "what if she pukes? What is she screams bloody murder, what if she falls out?) None of these things happened. She screams a little during the ride, and then once it's over asks to do it again. I thought about it and realized I am going to be in deep shit once they want to go to a real amusement park and go on all the rides.

Cooper said we had to get a picture with Disney.

We left Tuesday and headed back to MN. It was a great trip that couldn't have gone any better. Everyone had a fun time and was sad to go. I told them we would take another trip next year for spring break, but probably somewhere other than Orlando.

A side note to this whole trip was the amount of food Cooper ate. I really think he ate as much as me. Here he is at the airport destroying a basket of wings, some nachos, and one of his sisters chicken tenders. He might just sprout up 5 inches this summer. What a beast.

New Steed in the Quiver

Last year out of a general distaste for my Gary fisher Hi-Fi I sold it. The ride quality was great. It got me through 2 Leadville 100's, 2 Cheq 100's, even a Ragnarok. The problem was, it was impossible for me to keep the drive train tuned up for more than a weeks work of riding. It seemed like I just kept throwing money at it to make it function properly. I grew to loathe the bike and would pull it off the rack in the garage wondering what was going to go wrong on that particular ride. Then right before the Cheq 100 my XO derailleur decided to just break off as I was "just riding along" (for real though). I put an X9 on and it worked fine. A couple weeks later at the Cheq it refused to switch gears up front and I had had enough. Off to the MORC forums to be sold. It went pretty quickly and I got the price I was after so that was that. I was sad to see it go, as I mentioned, there are some really good memories, but c'est la vie.

Better Times

In the back of my mind I knew that I would get something again before the next MTB season so that was exciting. I started thinking more and more about what I really want in a bike. What do I like to do, what don't I like to do? I looked at all sorts of bikes online to just see what I thought looked good to the eye. The other thing that I knew was I was going to buy a bike that was ready to go. I spent a fair amount of part upgrades on the last bike, so I wanted to get all of that out of the way from the get go and save some money in the process. I wanted a bike that I could say to myself, barring any of this shit breaking, any upgrade would only be for a frivolous weight savings. I also wanted something that I could see myself riding for several years, not something that just sticks around for a couple years before I decided I need something "better."

So I figured it all out and put in an order for a 2013 model. It will ship mid-April. It's a Ti 2x10 and I'm hoping it will weigh less than 21 lbs.

(Some parts may be different on the 2013 model)

I'm hoping to do a fair amount more racing than I have the past few years, so I should get plenty on ride time on it and the SS might have to take a back seat this year.

Until then, it just putting in road/gravel base miles...

The 6th

Once every 6 weeks the life schedule works out in such a way that my weekend is free (except for hockey) for me to do as I please. This happened to be one of those weekends.

On Saturday I headed out to Whitetail Ridge to ride with Don, Curt, and Jose with special guest Susannah. I got there about half an hour before our planned ride time and set out for a quick lap. There were to snowshoer's in front of me, but they took the first cutoff. After that it was all fresh tracks for me. It was almost easier to ride in the fresh snow because there was no packed groove to try and stay in. It was just free riding. I tried to take a few pictures, but the iPhone gets too cold and then doesn't want to work :(. I finished my lap and then met up for a full lap. The snowshoer's had may there way around on my fresh tracks and packed the trail in a little more. Everything was rideable with the exception of the last 100 yards of the trail before the long straight away. I think that the wind had blown a bunch of snow into the area.
The long skinny was much more ridable than the last time I was out there. I made it to the end of the first log, but the days champion, Jose, made it to the end of the first and second skinny. It was a good ride capped off by some Chipotle.
After that I had to get to our hockey game. We played Hudson and it was the worst ass beating we have taken this year. After beating Apple Valley 5-1 on Wednesday I thought the kids would be motivated, they were not. Final score 15-3. Embarrassing.

Sunday morning we had a 8:10 practice at the coldest arena in the Twin Cities, West Side. The kids got a beat down. We have lost games before where not everyone was trying their best, and we as coaches just moved on. This practice was different. No pucks, just skating hard the whole time. We ended with one of Herb Brooks famous drills: "Red line, back. Blue line, back. Far blue line, back. Far red line, back. And you have 45 seconds to do it."

After that the horn sounded and practice was over. We'll see how they respond at practice today and the game next weekend.

Then it was off to the bike swap in Blaine. Curt came by the house and we were off shortly after. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but had an open mind going in. I started with a quick lap around just to see what everyone was selling. For the most part, it was just old stuff that I'm sure gets hauled to and from the swap every year. There was a lot of nice stuff, but I think some people wanted a little to much money. For example, there was a Campy carbon crankset that was well used and had no BB and they wanted $300 for it. you can buy this part online brand new for $354. If I'm spending that much on a crankset, I'll put up the extra $54 for brand new. The part that got me the most was a hex lock skewer from the same table. I had bought a DT Swiss skewer for the SJ for $1, but liked the simple look and security of the hex lock. They look like this

The pictured skewers, as a pair, go for $14. The ONE skewer, with no brand name on it, this table wanted $25. When I heard the guy say that I held my look at him for a second longer, then set the skewer back down and walk away.

I ended up getting two brand new saddles that sell online for $99 each, for $35 total. One white, one black.

 I am putting the black one on the Pugsley/Monocog and the white one will go on my new MTB, whenever that day comes. I also got the guy to throw in a Crank Bros. eggbeater repair kit, but it turned out to be for the old model pedals.

All in all it was nice to go out there and see what was available, and find a couple good deals.

After that it was back home to start getting all the food prepared for the Super Bowl and a couple beers.

Arrowhead: Can it be done?

The Arrowhead 135 is a bike/ski/run race that starts in International Falls and ends near Lake Vermillion 135 miles later. It takes place at the end of January and is usually bitterly cold. This years bike finishing times ranged from 14h20m (record) to 55 hours...

I've heard about this race for some time and usually just brush it off. There are several things that I don't like about it. 1. It's cold. 2. You can't really go very fast. 3. It requires a bunch of expensive equipment.

1. I am starting to get over this with better clothing and stronger will. I think that spending 2 years in Sicily and 3 in Japan (one with an "endless summer" where I was never in weather below 70 degrees) really took away my bodies ability to handle cold weather. I remember my first two years back in MN if it was below 15 degrees my body would shiver uncontrollably. It was not fun. This winter, I have been riding in -6 with a 20mph headwind, foolishly only wearing two base layers and a jersey top and while I was super cold, my body and mind handled it alright. So my reasons for not doing the race just went down by one.

2. Not being able to go fast is relative to your bodies conditioning I suppose, but there are times when the snow gets deep that I don't think it matters how good of shape you are in, the bike is incapable of going fast, or at all. In order just to finish, this is not a problem per se because you are allowed plenty of time, but it is the mental aspect of going so slow and suffering that makes me hesitate. I've punished myself before, but no where near what could happen out there. So this one needs some work.

3. Gear. Holy shit. This stuff is expensive and it is definitely something that you do not want to skimp on. I would guess that from having really nothing, I'd have to spend about $600 just to make myself eligible, not to mention that ideally I would have a new bike as well...

Factor in all these things, plus the very real possibility of getting severe frostbite, or much worse, and I haven't given it much thought until this year.

I have done enough 100+ mile events that I am sure that I can do 135 miles, and I keep getting that itching feeling that I need to do something new and harder, and this seems like the perfect event. It is going to take some time though. Years. The prevailing thought that runs through my mind when I think about this race is that it's ok to sit on the side of the road in a gravel race and catch your breath, but for this race, that could mean freezing to death via your own sweat. Not fun.

I'm going to keep this event in mind though. Picking up sleeping bags and bivy's here and there all while mentally preparing myself.