Am I now the King of the Mountain?

Look what the UPS man brought me! I could not pass up the coupon deal from the Interbike Demo Days. Continental was offering a great deal on a limited order of Mtn King tires, so I opted to try some 2.4" 29er tires.

I mounted them on the SS Monkey running tubes on the DT Swiss 7.1TK rims and they are hardly a 2.4 to the calibrated eyeball. I have not actually measured them, but they are a decent enough size for winter/spring riding and the open and generous knobs should work well.

So far I like them. Tremendous traction and hook-up in corners, especially now that the soil is kinda moist and packed down. They roll pretty well for an agressive tire too, much better than the Eskars IMO and they are rounder in profile so I like the way they turn in when used as a front tire.

Longterm we shall see, but so far they were well worth the $.

2008 Highlights: Single Speeds

"...One Gear to rule them all, One Gear to find them,
One Gear to bring them all and in the darkness bind them..."

Very loosely taken from the Lord of the Rings, with apologies to Mr Tolkien, Gandalf, Frodo, and Middle Earthers' everywhere.

Gears were invented to make cycling better. They allow us to compensate for uphills, downhills, headwinds, steep and gnarly climbs and tired legs. Mountain biking without 27 gears is silly. It would show we have not evolved. It is stupid. It is hard. It is also fun, challenging and addicting.

Just like that Ring of Power, it kinda calls to you and whispers things into your ear. "Come to me and pedal. One gear is all you need. One gear of power. One gear of fun." Your friends will not hear it at first. As time goes by, some will join you on your quest. Some will never understand and as they see the hardened body, the far away look in your eyes and the spittle dried on your chin from the last heart crushing climb, they will be afraid. They will run away from the power of the One Gear.

But not you. You will hold it closely, keep it safe, keep it secret. The One Gear of Power.

My Precious.

2008 Highlights: Road Trip

All packed up with someplace to go.


I love road trips. I have a goal to do at least one a year to ride somewhere new. This year I had planned to head to the Brian Head area of southern Utah and get on some of the stuff like Thunder Mtn or part of the Virgin Rim trail. Then, an offer came up to head to Moab with a group of slickrock newbies. They had never been there, I had, so I was the de-facto tour leader. I had one condition in going, and that was that I would arrange to ride as much of the Whole Enchilada ride as was practical for our group. I had never done that ride before. If that was around when I was in Moab years ago, I bet it was secret or not even blessed by the gov'mint powers that be.



So we were off and the results are here. Road trips are potentially fraught with peril and ripe for discovery. What a killer combo. Road trips get ya out of 'da hood and into new horizons, new trails, new faces. They may be across the state or across the nation, but they all promise the same thing: Come away to me and ride here. Here is where adventure begins.



It is a siren's call.



So, some advice for your own road trips:

• Do enough research to have a good time. You cannot know everything before ya go, but too much ignorance can ruin a trip before it gets going. Maps, good fitness prep, etc.


• Be flexible. Keep an open mind and be ready to change plans or modify stuff to fit the moment. We were planning on riding Gooseberry after Moab, but ended up here as a change of pace. It was a last minute thing, but it was a great decision.


• Choose your co-road trippers carefully. This is not the best time to head off into new and strange places with folks you cannot get along with or are not up to the quest in fitness or ability.

Road trips. Gotta love 'em.

Chillin' on a Saturday morning

No pics. Sorry. My Sat morning opened up a bit so I joined a group ride in the mtns north of home. With a cold storm coming in for Sunday, today was chilly up there. The ride began in the low 40s and dropped to the upper 30s up on top of the hill. 3 singlespeeds this ride and I set a new record for a long ride with one gear...4 hours, mostly singletrack, lots of climbing. Very cold. It was a good ride to try out the Specialized Fast Trak tires. More thoughts on those later, but they are named well.

Getting late and I think I am still thawing my toes from this morning. Man, my feet were bricks of ice. Gotta fix that.

To bed now.