Don't ants ever sleep?

Think I overpacked?

I was an half hour late leaving the house for a S24O outing, that being a Sub 24 hour Overnighter.  That time deficit had me concerned as my goal was the peak of a local mountain that used to have a fire lookout tower on it, now just a steel scaffold and a block building for some electronics and the associated antennas.

It was the type of experience that I think about a lot, but seldom act on; loading up a bike and heading for the hills just to get away and sleep under the stars, then being back home by breakfast.  I have all the gear for it...soft bikepacking bags, shelters of many colors and shapes, home made stoves, etc.  I love the idea of it; getting out and pedaling all loaded up, knowing that it will be the next morning before you get back home.  It actually strikes me as odd each time I do it.  the problem is I don't do it at all, hardly at all anyway.  It is inconvenient.  It is a bit uncomfortable.  It is more than a bit odd.  I need more of that in my all too convenient, comfy and 'normal' life, methinks.

Back on the bike, and as I pedaled out of town and up and up and up, it occurred to me that I should have caught a ride from the wife and gotten a head start to make up for the lost time.

I am not that smart or at least I AM THAT stubborn, so I pedaled on, watching the clock and the setting sun.  It was going to be close and I had a LOT of climbing before I hit camp.  I also did not estimate how slow I would be on a lightly loaded 29er hardtail as compared to my typical times up this paved canyon road on my road bike.  One hour turned into 1.25 hours and that trend continued.  Each section took just a bit longer than I expected.  I turned off the pavement and onto a forest service road marked with all kinds of dire warnings.  Interesting how public roads can be so private all of a sudden.  With no budget to do any repairs or at least no interest in doing so, we have less campgrounds and open roads and trails in my area So Cal then when I was a kid.  It's a shame, really.

And So Cal has recently seen some semi-apocalyptic weather and some big rainstorms.  Brief but big.  The next few miles of steep dirt climbing, a section of dirt that I recently climbed on my gravel bike, was now nearly not a road at all.  The water deluge had been hard and fast and the sand and rock that came pouring out of the gullies had changed the landscape in a big way.  Lots of walking in sand too deep to ride, at least when going uphill.  Fat Bike country.

The power of a bit of water.

SO it was a slow grind to the next sandy pour-out from the hillside above, and a shaky dismount to push over the nasties, then back in the saddle for another 100', rinse repeat.

Tick tock, tick tock.  I hit the saddle that marked half of the dirt climb and time was not on my side.  The next few miles of climbing were better...less washouts, but the water had washed all the topsoil off the road and left miles of hen's egg size rocks and small ruts to negotiate in the fading light.  My legs were fading too and I was sweat soaked, thinking I might stop short of the summit and salvage some light in which to set up camp.

But I really wanted to bag the peak and be there for the night, so I pushed on, hitting the summit in near darkness.  I could not find my Petzl head lamp before I left home, so setting up the bivvy and such with one hand holding a flashlight was less than great.  Down went the groundcloth, then the pad gets inflated, bivy then bag, etc.  About then I noticed the ants.  Lots of them.  Small ones.  Medium ones.  Hmmm.  Shouldn't they be bedding down for the night soon?  Surely so.

A quick search of the surrounding area showed more of the same, so I guess where I was is a good as any.  My bivy sack has a mesh screen head section, so although that was a bit 'enclosed' feeling, it would be bug free.  It occurred to me that I was still in my bike clothes and now as the body heat faded away form the climb, I was getting cold.  Ok...dancing in the dark as I stripped and got into the camping jammies, etc.  The moon rose twice that night.

Morning light reveals the drying rack.

Dinner was hardly the casual affair I had envisioned, snacking on chicken and biscuits as the sun went down and the stars came out.  Rather it was a ravenous moment of gnawing on a hunk of bird in the dark, famished by the 3 hour climb, and spitting out the gristle parts.  Sigh.

How romantic.

I also could not find the bug repellant before I left so I hoped that I would be far enough away from water to be decently mosquito free.  Almost.  I did have 4G phone reception though, so I texted those that cared and laid back, watching the night sky move in as the quickly fading sunset glow moved out.

Stars.  I had forgotten how many there are.  And shooting stars too.  Nice.  You can't see those from in front of the TV in the house.  The only sounds were from aircraft and crickets.  I zipped in and settled down, all snug in my cap for a quick summer's night.  Then the buzzing began.

I know what mosquitos sound like...high pitched and faint.  This was bigger.  And louder.  And it wanted me very badly.  I never tried to see what it was, but it apparently was partying with the ants that also did not need to sleep.  I would hear it land on the mesh screen but I kept my skin a proboscis length away as I never felt a bite.

I drifted off, warm and reasonably secure in my cocoon.

Looking east at sunrise.

Morning happened and the sun was creeping up fast, fog laying in the canyons below.  Awesome.  All packed up...trail mix eaten...bike pointed downhill into a long, rough descent to a remote canyon, wet and green even in summer.  Then a 45 minute climb out of the canyon to the last 8 miles, all downhill, of pavement home.

Ritchey P29...great bike for such adventures.  The seat pack is a Blackburn product I was trying out.

A cycling buddy dropped me a strategic water bottle before the long climb out.

Foggy morning in August as I dropped into home.

Rolling in home I was tired and a bit dehydrated, but throughly satisfied with myself.  I could have planned better and I think the romance with bivy sacks is about over, but the important thing is I put down the remote, turned off the laptop, and denied the tyranny of the urgent and the comfy.

And I learned that ants don't sleep much.

Damn the grams.

My first 29er was a Karate Monkey, which began geared and then, as I acquired another FS 29, was converted to SS use.  I never really loved that bike.  It felt kind of harsh and skittish in rough sections and weighed a ton.

The next SS was a Vassago Jabberwocky.  Despite flaws of its own, and despite the same piggy weight, I loved that bike.  Just loved it.  I have this distant memory of how it used to feel on the faster crappy trails and fireroads like are so common around So Cal.  I could almost recall the way it moved down the trail in a springy yet solid way but it had been so long and there had been so many other bikes in the mix since then, that I could not remember for certain...like a faint odor that lingers in the air, prodding an even fainter memory.

Each new SS had been lighter and 'faster', first in aluminum, then carbon.  Each one gave me a great ride uphill and was exciting to pedal hard, but something else was happening.  Something was being lost in the trade and it happened so gradually that I did not notice.  Each bike was less and less fun to ride, unless I defined fun as how quickly I went uphill. Strava was pleased.  Myself, less so.

But it is hard to go backwards when that means adding grams to the bike you are riding now, or replacing it with a different bike that will be heavier.  The weight weenie within must have its say in the matter.  So the newest carbon SS 29er, which actually is a very nice riding bike for its ilk, hung on the hook, languishing, and I wondered if things could be different.

But yesterday I unboxed a test bike that I was very curious about, in fact I was darn near excited about it.  But with a recent disappointment with another bike I thought for sure would ring loud and clear and speak to my soul but only murmured, I was thinking I might be delusional about this one too.  I was unwrapping something I had not straddled for years now, and as the bubble wrap and blue painters tape fell away, I saw thin steel tubes coated in black like Johnny Cash on Sunday.

Steel. It looks so odd in a world of hydroformed aluminum and oversized carbon.

So the thing is this...is there really something great about a refined steel frame that seems to transcend other materials in an almost undefinable way?  It sure isn't about having a light bike.  This one was built with very good parts yet weighed what one of my FS alu 29ers (with VERY NICE parts) weighs.

And pedaling out to the trail was just OK.  Nothing magical.  The first steep hill was so so and it sure did not scream KOM like the last carbon wonder bike I rode.  But that carbon winged Pegasus was also nothing I wanted to toss a leg over and trail ride all day either.  Fast?  Oh my yes.  You pedal, it answered. But unless you were hell bent on collecting Strava Bling, then it just was not fun IMO.  And although suffering and speed and performance are all part of the ride experience, let's not kid ourselves.  It needs to be fun.

I hit the top of the climb last night, said hello to 'Da Boyz' that were up there, and dropped in on a quick little ribbon of trail that quickly becomes like a luge run with baby head rocks melting out of the ice.  Within 100', that memory came back like a smack in the face, like that faint odor you could not place just became a warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie melting on your tongue and you said "that's it!"  That supple, lithe, springy goodness of steel doing its thing just rose up and I remembered.

And it was just like that all the way down the trail.  I was boosting off of the bigger rocks and dancing through the ruts with a fine mix of precision and give that was just so fun I was grinning all over.  SO IT'S TRUE!  I was not wrong and I had not imagined it.  And I missed it terribly.

So everything is a give and take.  But I do wonder if, along the path chasing the better and the best and the stiffest and the fastest, that were given so much we did not notice what was taken away?

On the road side….

Well, I am on my second road bike of the decade now.  After building up the steel Ritchey Logic bike, a project that really came out well, I decided that I was liking it well enough to dive in a bit deeper.  The Ritchey was built with SRAM Rival 10spd (love Doubletap), an FSA Mid Compact crank with 52/36 rings running into a 12-28 rear cassette, FSA brakes, stem, and seat post, Ritchey bars and tape, Ritchey pedals, and a Specialized saddle.  The wheels were American Classic tube-type Hurricane wheels with Conti 700x25 GP4000s.

It came in at 18.5 lbs with pedals and was really a fine bike.  It rode like a steel bike…smooth and silent... and that carbon fork kept the weight down.  I did a few centuries on it and some all around group rides, training rides, etc.  It was obvious that road riding was not a fad for me and I rode it more than anything else all summer.  But there were a couple of things I wanted to change a bit, so I began thinking about the next road bike.

The 59cm frame was just slightly long in the reach for me.  I was barely ok with a 10cm stem and that was a short as I feel is good for a road bike for someone my size.  It was a great handling bike all in all, but I was thinking I would like to back off the HT angle a bit from the 73.5° setup the Ritchey had.  I was also ready to try a good carbon frame and 11spd shifting.  What I was not ready for was disc brakes, thinking that the refinement is still happening on the road side.  Next bike, for sure, but not this one.

So I began looking around to see what was turning heads and setting the bar for endurance/sport bikes without costing me a fortune.  As much as I would have appreciated the higher end lay-ups in carbon frames like the S Works or Hi Mod type of stuff, I did not want to spend that much.  This was not going to be a 'super bike' build then, but just really, really good.  Working on a budget then, I looked at three bikes that were at the LBS:  The Specialized Roubaix SL4, the Cannondale Synapse Carbon, and the Giant Defy Advanced.  All were similar in spec and weight, and I only was able to ride them in the basic bike shop parking lot situation, hardly ideal.

Reading about the bikes as much as I can, I knew that the Giant Defy and Defy Advanced had set the bar for the endurance road bike market.  I had recently bought my wife the women's version of that bike, an Avail Advanced, and she absolutely loved it.  The Roubaix was where the modern endurance bike met the masses and it was loved by MAMILs everywhere.  But the Synapse had been re-done for 2014 and the new carbon layup, combined with a more sporting geometry than some others in its class, really had me intrigued.  Riding them, the Roubaix seemed a bit stodgy.  The Giant was likely the best of all and had a great, stable, yet fun feel to it.  The Synapse was the sportiest of the three and snapped up pretty well when asked to, but was as comfy as any of them.

In the end, the Synapse worked out the best for me as I was able to get it with a lower spec'd grouppo and work out my plan of replacing the parts and putting my own stuff on there.  So, since the frames/fork are all the same across the bottom few models, I bought a Shimano 105 bike and stripped it.  On went a complete SRAM Force 11 speed group and a compact crank in a 172.5mm length.  I was finding that the 175s that I run everywhere else…MTB, SS, etc, seemed to be a bit tiring to spin all day on a road ride.  I used the same model of Ritchey bars, added a Ritchey stem and tape, and the same model in a Specialized Ronin saddle.

The wheels were a pretty big step up.  A set of American Classic tubeless Argents with special graphics  shod with the same 700x25 Contis looked amazing and are darn light and stiff.  Tubeless ready, but not yet for me.

The end result was a bike that weighs 2 lbs less overall and accelerates and climbs better than the Ritchey, although the steel bike still out-smooves it.  I also got a better fit in the 58cm Synapse and even with a 110cm stem have a cockpit that is 1/2" closer at the brake hoods.  Perfect.  I also got a bit more stability in the overall vibe of the bike, something I notice on rough, fast corners and even on long straight sections of road, in the wind, etc.  Except for the slightly reduced comfort and the loss of some uniqueness, the Synapse has been total win.

Getting Ready to Ride Over Stuff.

Back when I test rode a Trek Stache 8, I was impressed with how much fun that bike was.  It was my favorite hard tail 29er with gears that I had yet ridden.  The combo of a dropper post, 120mm fork, slack 68.6* HT angle with 51mm offset fork and moderate length (17.5") chainstays were a great combo.

And it got me thinking about having a bike like that in my quiver, but I did not need a complete bike, just a frame. However, Trek was not offering a frame only deal for 2013/14.  So I began to look for options to the Stache that had the same vibe and combo of geometry.  I pretty much struck out.  Custom Ti or steel was more than I wanted to spend.  Production stuff was either a miss in geometry or sizing and the one bike I did find that ticked all the boxes was a Euro model and expensive to try to get a hold of.

Well that sucks.

But it did get me thinking about a trail bike hardtail 29er that was more about fun than fast and I realized that if I opened my eyes a bit wider I could include some of the All Mountain rated frames out there.  Canfield Nimble 9, Kona Honzo, etc...short chain stays and slack HT angles rated for up to a 140mm travel fork.  They were not the Stache, though.  Heavier for sure, these were all pretty burly frames.  Super short rear centers are not very good on faster, rougher trails as you give up some 'rear trail' and a longer rear end keeps things pointed ahead and tracking well.  A combo of a 140mm fork, short stem, wide bar, and short CS length can be a nightmare if you are climbing up some steep, narrow trail as the front of the bike will wander and waggle.  So the more open, less technical nature of our trails here and my tendency to be more of a trail rider never seemed to be worth it to accept the extra bike weight and burly attitude of this type of bike.

But I was curious about the whole 'short back/long-slack front' hard tail deal.  It was just not a priority and I dismissed the thought.

Then I rode a Niner ROS9 at Interbike and it was quite interesting.  The cockpit setup was a bit close and wide for my world and the frame was on the small size for my body dimensions.  But even with burly wheels/tires and a 130mm fork, I was having a LOT of fun.  It got me thinking again about my dilemma with wanting a more trail capable hard tail 29er.  I wondered if that, with a slightly lesser fork, say 120mm, a longer, lower stem and a slightly narrower bar, full 2x10 gears, a dropper post and a great set of wheels...well I might be in a happy place with something like a Yelli Screamy or this ROS9.

So I read and thought and read and wondered and pondered and studied geo charts and considered it all.  Till today.

That is when I ordered this.

Just the frame of course (and mine will have gears), but a ROS-9 in a Large size, Grey color.  The sizing for me was a bit of a tweener deal but in this bike, even with the moderate fork/build I will be running, it seemed better to 'size down' a bit.  We shall see.  

The frame is a bit more in cost then many in this genre, like a Kona Honzo, but is less than something like a Chromag Surface.  The weight will be over 6 lbs for the LG frame and that is pretty beefy, but it is also what all the others are for the most part.  There are some things I like on this frame that swayed me over.  First of all, but not the most important thing, it is good looking.  Some of them, like a Nimble 9 are kinda ugly.  I hate ugly bikes.  Function be damned.  It has to please the eye.  The EBB allowed for a lower CG and a 17" CS length.  I did not want to be under that length.  1/4 inch may not seem like much but it matters.  17" was already pushing it IMO.  No sliders.  Yeah, I know that the EBB that Niner uses had teething issues in Gen 1, but this Gen 2 has been solid for folks so far and sliders are warts on a prom queen (besides shortening tubing lengths...a bit of a ride killer although this bike may not care).  It's steel.  I like steel bikes.  The frame is well thought out with Stealth dropper ports, nice block-off plates, and clean routing of cables.  

And another thing...it says Niner on it.  Yeah, I know...who cares?  But hey...these guys are really into big wheels so why not celebrate that?   This is not a bone tossed to the circus wheel crowd by some company looking for a slice of the market.  For Niner Bikes, it is the main meal, the buffet, the whole enchilada.  I kind of resonate with that.

The build will be what I have laying around, but will be nice, solid parts:

• Shimano SLX group with 2x10 24/38x36 gearing.  Shadow Plus rear der.
• SLX brakes with 180F/160R rotors.
• White Brothers Loop fork.  120mm at first, but it can go 130mm or 140mm depending on what feels right to me.
• I need to stretch the cockpit a bit so 100mm stem flipped to get weight a bit forward and down.  Maybe a 90mm if I can.
• 740mm carbon bar from Answer Products.
• Reverb Dropper post.
• WTB Pure V saddle.
• Options here, but I am thinking a set of American Classic Wide Lightning wheels.
• Specialized Ground Control 2.3 rear/Purgatory 2.3 front tubeless.
• Shimano SPDs

That ought to be an interesting blend of parts and I am hoping for a trail bike vibe with a tilt towards fun and agility.  I think this bike will be good, even on epics, as long as I am not looking to KOM all the climbs.  I am hoping for a 28lb build.  We shall see.  

My first instincts about this type of bike may have been right and I may have just made a mistake, but it will be a fun journey in the finding out.

We shall see.  C'mon, big, brown, santa.  There is stuff out there that needs riding over.

Sometimes you have to follow your heart.

Cupids with too much time to think...

The heart is not to be trusted.  This must be clearly understood right from the beginning.  It is a self serving trickster that is no good compass for steering the ship of your life.

But sometimes you just need to follow it anyway, especially if it is not a life shattering decision or anything that will get your name known to the local magistrate.  So that is what I did in large part, followed my heart but not without a bit of hard thinking to back me up.

I bought a steel framed road bike.  Well, a frame at least and the parts to go with it.  And I bet in the minds of most bike riders you might talk to, that decision makes no sense at all.

The heart said "ohhhh!".  But the pocketbook said "whoa!"  And then the mind said "go!".  Or something in that order.  It is all still a bit fuzzy.

And now I have this in a box in the dining room.

Ain't she a sweetie, though?

Why not carbon or aluminum or Ti?  Great carbon is amazing.  It is the best material there is to make a sporting/performance bike from.  But great carbon costs a great deal of money and average carbon is still pretty costly and is not so special.  Great aluminum is affordable and is, in my opinion, better all around then average carbon.  Ti is the stuff dreams are made of in some ways, but great Ti is big bucks and average Ti is no better or may be worse than great steel.

So I had narrowed it down to a very well spec'd alu framed complete bike and was ready to pull the trigger when the bottom dropped out on the supply of that model and things went into limbo for a bit.  That gave me time to think and web surf.  That is a dangerous combo.  And I began to look at other options and found myself at the Ritcheylogic.com site.  And the Logic 2.0 frame set caught my eye.  Subtle graphics.  Thin tubes.  Graceful lines.  All carbon fork.  And I started day-dreaming about riding it.  I had not romanticized about riding the aluminum frame when I was getting ready to buy that.  So what gives?

I found myself thinking about long rides up the coast in the fog while astride this steel framed assembly of slender tubes and tidy welds.   I was pedaling along, mist condensing on my helmet edge, dripping off as I looked down at the svelte, grey top tube.  It inspired me.

It was not all goose pimples and fluttering heart beats though.  It said Ritchey on the side of it and that meant that Tom had his hands elbow deep into the bike's design and construction, even if he did not hold the torch.  And that guy is pretty smart.  It is a modern take on classic road geometry, at least to my mind.  Not a Gran Fondo/Endurance approach, but a classic all-rounder.  And since I am just learning here, that seemed like a good place to begin.

But it was still a tough decision.  It cost me more than the alu bike would and it weighs about a pound and a half more, neither being convincing arguments for buying it.  It is out of fashion, but so am I.  And I have to admit that I got a certain satisfaction when I thought about riding that steel frame in world full of resin injected, carbon wrapped, moulded machines.  Can you imagine the looks from the cycling cognoscenti as I ride past them on the road?  Makes me grin just thinking about it.

So parts gathering is well in hand and soon the wrenches will be spinning in earnest.  Will reality match my heart's desire?  We shall see.

If not, I can always blame Cupid.

Les vrais hommes montent acier.

I slide back in the saddle as I click up a gear and push harder on the pedals.  The French countryside gently rises to meet me and field stone walls flash by in a blur.  A cigarette dangles out of the corner of my mouth, the ash threatening to break off and land down the front of my wool jersey.  I do not care.  My sweat will put out the embers.

I am a man and real men ride steel.

As I pass a roadside cafe' the smell of croissants and coffee wafts through the air and mixes with the smell of the farm, my sweat, and cigarette smoke.  It is a heady and familiar mix.  I wonder to myself...when did I last wash that wool jersey?  I cannot remember.  It does not matter.  "Elle est ce qu'elle est".

I am a man and real men ride steel.

Women watch me as I ride by.  They desire me.  Their husbands scowl.  They envy me.  My cigarette is done so I toss it aside and reach into my jersey pocket for a baguette.  I ride on.  The world does not stop while I eat so why should I?

I am a man and real men ride steel.

My hair does not blow in the wind and the rain.  Chain lube and hair oil.  Is there a difference?  "Non!"  I squint into the rain as it hits my face.  Hair grease...chain grease...a squint into the rain.

I am a man and real men ride steel.

I ride past a group of other men on steel bikes.  We know things.  Secret things.  Man things.  Steel things.  We squint at each other but do not wave.

We are men and real men ride steel.

A car drives up alongside me and the passenger, a French woman with pouting lips and wild hair, opens the door as we stop to talk and says that I am late.  I am French.  I do not care if I am late.   There are mountains to climb.  French mountains.  She secretly wants me...in my wool jersey.

The woman is persistent.  She says I am late for work, turns away and leaves.  That voice?  I know that voice.  When did my wife start speaking French?  I open my eyes and look around my bedroom and the French woman, the pouting lips, the countryside, the smells all come to a screeching halt as the reality of life comes crashing into focus.  Oh yeah.  It's Monday.  I am not in France.  I do not smoke.  No husbands scowl at my existence.  I am late, the world is still not waiting for me and we are fresh out of baguettes.

But there is a shiny, new steel road bike frame sitting in a box in the corner.  That part is real and the road lies ahead.  Ladies...I am on my way!

"Les vrais hommes montent acier."

The grateful dead ride

Saturday was my 'rising up from the dead' ride after the plague visited my sinuses for a few days.  The drugs were working miracles and I was either going to enjoy a ride or die trying.  I sent out a few invites for a singlespeed only ride on a local trail that is a crown jewel of the forest.  The oak trees up there are not the typical Live Oak that stays green all year, but these trees turn color and drop their leaves in big drifts of clutter that gather in all the sweeping corners of the trail, or, at least they do that just as soon as they are done placing acorns on the rest of it.  So what you have then is a stratified layer of detritus that is deadly and lovely all at the same time.

The loudest thing in the forest was our tires rolling through the leaf piles and the occasional "brrrrraaaaapppp" of one stuck against the tire like a paper boy's bike laced with playing cards.  Well, that and our SS induced wheezing and breathing and panting.

It ended up just being Navy Mike and I as all the others were unable to come out and play.  It is great to ride with someone that is at the same level of ability and fitness as you and has nothing to prove.  We rode-pushed-rode-pushed-rode until we were close enough to the top to call it good.  And it was good.  Out of the wind, under the oaks, in the sun, on the grass.  We were unhurried on purpose.

Not dead...just rusting.  New steel and old steel.

 Singlespeed 29ers are just amazing beasts of conveyance.  I never tire of the challenge and the rewards they offer.  I never tire of the amazing creation I get to ride them on, this earth.  Flawed as it is, it is a special place.  Today was just a couple of old guys on simple bikes in a lovely place on a great trail, and we had the good sense to slow down and enjoy it.

Yeah, that could happen way more often than it does and it would be ok with me.  Label me alive and grateful, not dead yet....just resting.

Finding the sweet Spot

Lately I have been riding this bike almost exclusively.  The Spot folks sent out a test bike sporting the latest iteration of the Gates Carbon Drive system, that being the new CenterTrak.  So far the belt has been trouble free and solid except for one minor but annoying issue, but I will save that for later.

This is about steel.  Nice steel.  Nice steel tubes.  Nice steel tubes as used to construct a bicycle frame.  It is not secret how I feel about steel 29er singlespeeds.  A cursory search of this blog will bring up a few missives on my thoughts about that.  However, it had been a long time since I had been on a really nice steel frame, that 'nice' as it is used here, meaning a more expensive blend of higher end, thinner, lighter, and more manipulated steel tubing.  I have been on a few $500.00-$600.00 dollar retail frames and they have been just fine.  Sure, they are kinda heavy, but they do the job pretty well, well enough that I was not sure if spending twice as much+ for a frame like the Spot would really be worth it.

And after riding this for quite a few hours now, I think it is.  I think there is enough benefit to make it worth the step up in duckets for a frame like this. 

Now that phrase, "worth it", is, I admit, controversial and vague.  No one needs a $1500.00 steel frame unless they are truly unique in size or conformation and custom is the best option.  So really, what we are talking about is not really proof of worth, but rather a reasonable return in performance over and above the lesser priced brethren I have been pedaling.

After all, it is not half as heavy, twice as stiff, twice as smooth.....etc.  It is only twice as expensive.  So what do I think I have gained?  Well, it is just a little bit stiffer at the BB, just a little bit lighter on the scale, just a little bit smoother over the trail, and just a little bit spunkier when pedaled hard.  Just a little bit.

But I will tell ya' that "little bit" goes a long ways when you actually ride it.  The end result is enough of a gain to make each ride 'that' much nicer.  Nothing dramatic, but noticeable, and in a world where we spend $300.00 dollars on a saddle or agonize over the latest linked suspension design and whether it solves the mysteries of the universe, a simple steel bike with one gear and just a bit nicer overall ride is enough to make me smile and wheel it out of the garage, choosing it over more than a few other fancier scoots.

It is indeed, a sweet Spot.

New Filters in the photo program

Well the App Store must have sweetened the pot during the last bunch of app updates and I found a new group of photo effects.  Some are pretty interesting.

This one is Film Stock.  Pretty cool.  The Spot Rocker taking break.  I was not tired at all.

T.R., have I told you lately...

...that I loved your bikes?  But, sadly, it was an unrequited love.  When I began riding MTBs, there were two brands that I remembered as being prized above all:  Ritchey and Fisher.  Gary Fisher was still doing some fillet brazed stuff like the Mt Tam but was moving fast toward outsourcing to TIG'd assembly line frames.  Tom Ritchey's work was the I-Ching of bikes IMO.  The Timbercomp was my dream bike.  I even loved the name.  It sounded like something you would want to just disappear on over the horizon, dashing and dancing through the Aspens.

There was a local guy that was the Ritchey 'dealer' and he would do these CRAZY big rides back then...50 to 100 milers when we could barely ride ten miles.  He was a small 'g' god.  Even the production P23s and P21s were very cool, even though they were a bit racing focused for me.

But now we have this:  The Ritchey P-29.  Oh baby.

There is a lot of controversy right now on an MTBR thread on just how pure and authentic this is since it will be made on some assembly line instead of being birthed by hand by Tom Ritchey hisself.  Bah.  TIG is just fine.  Brazing is nice for artisans and allows for some give and take in tubing spec, but really it is not an issue.  If Tom actually designed the tubing, and the P-29 is not the realization of some quirky idea that 29ers need to be sporting some super steep and quick handling geo, etc, then this thing will be at the top of my wish list for a steel hardtail.

Why?

• Well, for one it is just drop dead gorgeous.  Some bikes just look right.  Some do not.  No odd bent top tubes like some broken backed camel, no weird angles or twisted sister tubes...just pure triangles of graceful steel.

• I hope that TR, at this point in time, is not just a bandwagon jumper for the 29er parade.  If he has been on big wheels (and I think he is a pretty tall guy), then I have to believe that he knows how to do it up right.  He sure has the pedigree.  I learned more about bike/frame design in 30 minutes of talking with Joe Breeze then I had learned in years of hanging around other folks.  These guys know what is going on down there and why.

• Pure emotion.  I love the fade color.  Man, that just takes me back.  And somewhere in the back alleys of my psyche is a signpost that says "Ritchey Parking Only.  All Others Will Be Judged Accordingly."

I will never have a Timbercomp, but the dream just got a bit of a B-12 vitamin shot just seeing the P-29.

The wrong gear for every occasion?

I am thinkin' again and it is likely to lead me to an odd place.  I actually rode my road bike this weekend.  It is a bike that most of the time languishes in the rafters on hooks, but every so often, it gets rolled out when enough time has gone by and I have forgotten how much I dislike riding it.

I really can't blame the bike too much, it is just a few parts and some set-up issues that I do not like, but it is a buzz kill for me.  The frame is actually pretty sweet.  It is a hand built steel bike, all mini brazed by Curtlo Cycles, and is a mix of RC2 True Temper tubing with an MTB OX-3 TT for a down tube.  I figure it was built in the mid 90s.  It is parallel 73*, 59cm square, with an aluminum SR Prism fork.  I bet it does not have 1000 miles on it.  Maybe not even 500.  It actually is a very nice riding bike and it just over 20 pounds.

But the parts are killin' me, mostly the shifting and the cockpit.  It has bar end shifters and 7 speeds with a Shimano 600 front crank.  That is fine....I like bar end shifters well enough I guess, but I had the wheels built with some cool Bullseye hubs that were left over from my first custom MTB wheelset, pre-Shimano Hyperglide, as I had the hubs just laying around.  The hubs are light and smooth, but the rear hub takes a thread-on freewheel and the Sachs/Aris 7 speed never indexed right with the Shimano shifters.  It sucks.  The H-Bars have a crazy amount of forward bend and hardly any flat up top, so I look like I am time trialing all the time...the hoods are almost useless as a place to rest your hands.  Not helping this is a stem that is likely 1.5" too long.

And every so often (every time I ride it, about 15 minutes into the ride) I think about upgrading some parts, but the cost of a new rear hub/wheel, the shifters, at least a rear der, maybe a front too, then getting a stem for that old, threaded 1" steerer and new bars....well, it just seems so expensive for something I am not sure how much I will use.  Would I be better off just grabbing a new, close-out road bike?  Maybe carbon?  No soul there, but lots of zip.  Ah, I don't know?  I really like the classy old girl at heart...steel is pretty nice, especially a good custom one.

SO...here I am thinking about all this and, as I stood out of the saddle, pedaling that 39/23 gear that the 7spd allows for, up a long uphill grade, it kinda came to me.  How hard would it be to singlespeed this bike?  Do people even RIDE SS road bikes besides fixie hipsters?  Maybe.  But it is NOT flat here.  Quite the contrary.  But I have come to love the SS off road.  I wonder if it would be the same on road?

Or, as Guitar Ted remarked, "It would have the wrong gear for every occasion".  Yeah, that could happen too.

But it would solve some things for me.  It would be cheap to do.  An ACS freewheel is 20 bucks.  The bars I can handle...and a new stem...well, there are adapters to get a quill type stem to convert to a threadless version so I can use things I have sitting around.  I have shims if need be.

It might be fun.  Well it WOULD be fun, I am sure, but would it be practical?  Maybe not for group rides where I would get dropped on the flats or the fast runs out of the canyons.  But it could be VERY cool for long, solo or coup'la buddies-type training rides.

Of course, I may find that it simply will not work with the hardware I have.  Not sure yet.  If so, I will likely hang it back up and let it sit there another few months till I forget again why I hate it and wheel it out one more time.  Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  That applies nicely to my road bike and I.

Redemption.

Saturday's ride was all about redemption.  The last Ramble Ride darn near destroyed me, both physically and emotionally.  The two rides during the week that followed were uninspiring to say the least.  To say the most, it had me wondering if the party was over.  As you get older, you wonder when the bell will ring signaling the call to take up the walker.  I wonder what a 29er walker looks like?  I bet the bigger wheels are better on sidewalk cracks.

Even Senior citizens like big wheels.

Well, maybe not quite that, but an aching back, lead legs, and pretty much zilch for zip had me wondering.

So this Sat's ride was a bit of the known and some unknown as I was scouting out the next Ramble Ride.  The first loop is a 20 mile section of the forest that climbs for 10 miles on a mix of fireroad and singletrack and it is not an easy putt.  It is one of my favorite rides, but it tests you.  I have several bikes I could pick from at the moment, but I chose the steel singlespeed that I am testing.  Why?  Well, for one, I have yet to spend quality time with it.  This ride absolutely is all that and more.  For another, I love riding my SS and this one is my favorite yet.  And finally, it would be harder that way.  I had something to prove to myself, I guess.

I needed to know whether or not I should be walker shopping. 

And, I am happy to report, I can postpone my walker for another day.  I felt strong all day and rode like the hills did not matter.  I restored my faith in my abilities and proved once again that I absolutely love riding a singlespeed 29er, especially a steel one. 

So here is a toast to long climbs, narrow, acorn covered singletracks, simple steel bikes, and one gear.  And lift your glass a second time to postponing the inevitable...keeping the walker at bay for a little bit longer.

One order of Thunder and Lightning, hold the chain lube.

Last night was quite a show, both during and after a quick ride with JeffJ aka Circus Bear on a Bike.  We have been in monsoonal (monsoonish?) weather as of late.  We get very little of that in my 'hood, although the distant high deserts get it all the time, flash floods, etc.

To begin with, I was astride a new bike that I just had assembled, a 2011 Raleigh XXIX singlespeed with the Gates Carbon Drive set-up.  I am a willing skeptic in that I have been watching belt drives go through all kinds of teething issues and wondering if it will ever meet all the hype.  I hope so, cuz it is kinda cool.  More on that as time goes by.  Another thing that is new to me is a rigid fork.  OOOffff.  How do folks do that as a full time ride?  You really do have to adjust the way you ride.  I always lock out my fork when climbing and just cruising along on my SS, but will open the squoosh valve when things get fast and rough.  No way to do that here.  Lots of elbows and knees getting used here.

The frame sure feels stout and yet has a nice steel feel, but it ain't light, not at the price it sells for.  Not sure if I can live with the fork beat down, though.  I may have to run a squishy fork on there at some point.

At the high point of my ride, since I am still a bit iffy on an SS ride post-surgery, I let JeffJ top out a bit beyond me and I sat and ate some of my wife's killer oat bars.  In the northeast, there was a storm a' brewin'.  On the way home, I had seen huge anvil head clouds rising off the high desert and over the distant peaks of the backcountry.  man, I wish I was up there all bivvied up and in the middle of it.  I sat and watched lightning strike after strike, often with multiple fingers out of the clouds, dance in the darkest part of the clouds just 5 or so miles away.  Hurry up, big Jeff.  Not a place to be in a lightning storm astride a steel bike.

 

Later down the trail and out of the storm's path, we paused to watch the day wind down.  Yeah, it could have been a lot worse. JeffJ contemplates below.

Later that night and into the morning, the gods that dwell under the mountains were up late into the wee hours, bowling and drinking and gaming.  Thunder.  Oh yes, thunder...and lightning and rain.  Sweetness.  Now THAT rocks you to sleep.

Born to ride steel?

Well, that is silly, of course.  No one is born to ride a certain kind of bike material as that decision is typically determined by the needs, predilections, and often, the budget of the cyclist.

But, I do wonder if I am not fated to be (with apologies to John Henry) a 'steel driving man'?  I have waxed philosophic about owning Ti here and here, and carbon fiber here.  I have been sucked into the siren call of at least two aluminum hardtails now and both times I come up short of an emotional tie to the bike.  They do not suck, but they do not inspire my favor either.

"How do you make an aluminum bike?  Start with a steel one and then suck out all the soul."
                                                                                                                                     -  Unknown

Pouring in a bucket of soul

I have to say that I am quite possibly the poster child for steel frames as a hardtail bike of choice.  They meet my beer budget.  They last nearly forever.  They ride smoothly as a rule.  They have a living feel to them when ridden.  They look elegant to my eye in a classic sense.  They seem to go well with 'reverse technology'.  My Jabber looks swell with the old school White Industries hubs and non-external BB cranks.  It would look even better with some WI Eno cranks and a Phil Wood BB, something that I do not think a modern alu frame would quite do justice to.

In the same way that an alu frame feels like a 2x4 with wheels to me, even if it is great pedaling, light, and fast, the steel frame feels more like a leaf spring with wheels, even if it is a heavier carcass.

Less *thunk*, more *twang*.

*Twang* ist gut

And, ya know, like the Germanic Twang inspector above, I will take twang over thunk any day.  I have ridden CF frames I think I could have taken home.  I don't know what carbon does, in general.  It can be *thunk* or maybe *whack* or possibly *thwack*...but it ain't got a chance in h-e-double tooth picks of ever twanging.

Now I still think that Ti could be the ultimate steel bike, but unless the cost comes down or someone makes a geometry that I think is spot-on stock, there is no way I can pop for a handmade Ti frame, not when I could buy two or three steel frames at that cost.  Until beer jumps up to champagne, I think I am out of the market.

I am still expecting another steel SS frame at the end of the year and I am excited about the numbers on the geo charts.  If it is as good as I have heard, I may be a happy man.  If not, there are lots of choices to point to next.  I am even pretty interested in seeing how the new Vassago Black Label frames compare to the standard stuff.  At just over twice the cost, they are in the truly hand-made custom range, but, one would hope, readily available without the wait.

Hmmm...all that soul, off the rack.  Twang included at no extra cost.  Thank the big German guy.