Who do we thank for this improvement?

I find it rather amusing that, with something like 12K worth of 29ers sitting in my garage (depending on the timing of test bikes, etc...no I don't own that many scoots), that I chose the least expensive one of the bunch, my steel-is-real(ly kinda' heavy) Jabberwocky SS for my last weekend ride. The ride was about an hour of climbing and another hour of a combination of winding singletrack and fast fireroad downhill, so an FS would have been appropriate.

So why the Jabber? Why, with all that technology hanging in the rack, did I grab the lowest tech one of them all? Is it ignorance, or enlightenment?

"When you can ride across the rice paper and leave no tracks, you are enlightened, Grasshopper." Master Po, Buddhist monk and fixie rider.

One More Ride For The Holiday

Sunday afternoon opened up enough to allow for a 3 hour window of riding. JeffJ and son Ted came along for the ride and I was eager to show them an area they had never ridden before. The wind was up and in our faces a bit, but the climb is favorable to singlespeeds and nice and sandy, so I took the Jabber. We climbed for a few miles and then dove into some singletrack for a bit.


The views were exceptional and there was the first snow of the season on the distant Tehachapis.


Autumn is solidly in place at this elevation. The Oaks here change color and drop their leaves, unlike the Live Oak that grow at lower elevations and stay green all winter. It may not be Aspens, but I will take what I can get.


I took the SS out since it had been ignored lately due to a combo of a sore knee, tire testing on the Lev, and the Epic Marathon requiring my time for review purposes. I missed it, that simple, steel singlespeed, and it was good to get back to one gear again before I resume the testing duties. It was a great end to a holiday weekend - friends, bikes, good times, tired legs. And, better still, I think is one more piece on pumpkin pie waiting for me at home. Sweetness.

The pumpkin orange Jabberwocky, looking like it belongs in autumn leaves.

Epic Ride, Epic Bike.

It seemed like fate, that an epic ride (or close enough to epic for my fitness level at this point in time) would come onto the calendar just as I took delivery of the Epic Marathon 29er.

The organizer was jeffj, ringmaster of the Dirt bags, a local riding group. The course was in the semi-nearby hills of Ojai and consisted of an 8 mile paved climb to the beginning of Sisar Rd, then around 9 miles of pure uphill fireroad, first along a running creek under the Sycamores, then on open mountain side, a few more miles of faster ridgeline fireroad, and then around 7 miles of downhill singletrack, twisty, loose, narrow, rocky So Cal singletrack. 31 miles and around 5ooo feet of climbing. Sweetness.

There were several of us...9 all total...and the weather was perfect with temps in the 60s to the 70s with no wind. Once the pavement connecting part was out of the way, we hit the dirt and began the climb along a running creek under the canopy of sycamores and poison oak.


There were two water crossings before the real climb began and they were just deep enough to be a concern for wet feet.

Chuck is worried his new Giant will shrink to 24" wheels.

Todd goes for it...no shrinkage happened.

From here, it was head down and pedal...and pedal...and pedal. maybe two hours? Not sure. The Epic is a superb climber. I am an average climber. The bike is light enough and all that, but the Brain shock, combined with a lock-out on the Reba fork make for a hardtail-ish experience that is the real deal for long climbs like this. But, the rear shock will open up and take all the sting out of any roughness in the uphill path unlike a true hardtail. Niiiice. Then, for all that hard work, ya gotta stop and enjoy the view.

That arrow is pointing to islands off the coastline of Ventura, CA.

Can you hear me now?

We hit the saddle and took a well deserved break. Much past here my camera batt expired so I cannot show the singletrack, but it is typical So Cal stuff: Narrow, sloughy, off camber, switchbacked, loose, rocky, covered in oak leaves, brushy, fast in places, and steep. The Epic was all I could have asked for. I really expected it to be a bit of a nervous race horse, but not so. Very competent and more.

jeffj (aka circus bear on a bike), stage left.

The Epic in repose.

Smile for your close-up.

Singletrack zoomage.

New Scooter in the 'Hood

OOOooo! Going riding tomorrow. More to come.