Red Breast.

Where have i been? Well, for starters - in London town visiting Gfunk and Hfunk. We had a top time, mostly food orientated but with a little culture thrown into the mix too. For starters we went to Terroirs, a very fine wine bar/restaurant where the wine is both unusual and beautiful. 100% Malbec was the order of the night, and we were joined by gerardfunk - it was great to see him also.



We made it to Moro, where yet again we enjoyed an amazing meal and fine food.

Next day we mooched at the Tate modern, then enjoyed an amazing stew and much mirth. An attempt at non-eating fun was made when we met the horse and made our way (via a dousing on the wet roads) to the Portrait Gallery to take in some views of some influential people. Yes the ballet dancer was ...



...average, the blood-head a bit strange, but the photography in particular was ace. On the way we did some bike spotting. Odd bikes.



Next stop was Soho for some veggie fun at Mildred's to round out the evening.

After waiting forever, the Van Gogh's letters opened a new view on the prolific painter for me. I particularly liked the sketches he sent in letters to his brother Theo. A shame he ended it all by shooting himself in the chest - a brilliant and dedicated man indeed.

It was good to be back in Glasgow to see the P phone, though the robin we found cowering in the kitchen this morning reinforced the feeling that her hunting prowess is improving. Some how, despite heavy loss of feathers and a few bats around the kitchen as the 'phone was pacified, seemed to leave it only a little the worse for wear, and it flew off after catching its breath on the window sill.

Happy days.

Facebook?

Fuck it, i'm back in.

Glentress.

Despite the remains of the snow, chris and myself managed to get a ride in down at glentress on monday. With the crispy snow adding resistance the climbing was hard work. Balancing the required torque and the traction meant smooth riding was key. The downhills were ridiculous. At times dips had filled with snow, leaving you hub deep before you could say "oooof!". There's been the addition of some swoop to the lower sections of the red route - nice.



After 2 hours the build up of filth was a sharp reminder of what winter mtb is in scotland...messygoodfun. Yo!



The glentress huts are almost ready by the looks of things. Perhaps another jockstock is brewing?

Hotness.

Up near 11.

Entry.

entered so far:
Ae Avalanche Enduro.
Bristol Bike Fest.
Kielder Montane 100.

On the probably list:
Brighton Big Dog.

On the maybe list:
10 Under the Ben.
24 hours of Finale.
Skye Sportive.

Module.

You can read a little more about it here.

Metal work.

Been busy doing some more metalwork. That is an 11-34 shimano xt block. I have limited metal working tools, so i didnt do the cleanest job. It ain't bad though.

Initially i clamped the block lightly in my small vice, on the plate for my pillar drill. I'm not sure if it is just the quality of the tool, but it seemed to be very sensitive to where the end mill hit the alloy carrier as to how easily and cleanly it took off material. It slipped a couple of times, as can be seen from the scarring on the alloy carrier, until i hit upon the idea (d'oh!) of wrapping a section of chain around the teeth of the ring to allow me to hold the block more solidly. I then proceeded more easily.

Once i got close to level, i transferred the block to a bigger vice (thanks dad!) and used a dremel with a grinding head to take the carrier down to a constant level as best i could. I used the bevelled sections of the teeth that engage on the freehub as my guide. Its not perfectly flat, like you might get if you used a lathe, but it is pretty neat, and with a 2mm washer behind, and after some work with the file to reduce the height of the chain catching sections on the back of the 34 tooth cog, i have a pretty good 6 speed block.

Next time, i would need to pay more attention to how the end mill hits the alloy. I think it needs to touch it close to the edge, rather than centre onto it. Need to do some reading!



Fun. If you likethat sort of thing....

Wide-o.

My boys are in Strathpeffer. I'm building wheels...

Imelda May.

Going to go and check out the rockabilly songstress on 29th jan in glasgow....recommned checking her out. This is footage of her playing with acclaimed guitar tweaker Jeff Beck. Enjoy.

They see me rollin'

So, the snow melting followed by a further freeze meant riding today was not going to happen.

I hit the rollers again. 1st power test, after a warm up and a stretch was a 12 second max power output - my power meter goes up to 999 watt and my output was somewhere over that. After a recovery spin, i did my first 6 minute test. The idea here is to get some idea of velocity (which is estimated in this case from power) at V02 max. In other words, it is the max power output/velocity you can maintain without going anaerobic. Improvements in this = going faster for longer. The idea is to get this level higher as a percentage of the absolute V02 so that you become more 'economic' with your oxygen.

Waste not, want not. Much, anyways!

So for 6 minutes i punted out 365 watts. I think i could put out a little more, maybe close to 390 or maybe even 400 watts (see later). Which would be pretty good, really. Clearly, the thing that really matters here is the variance over time, not the actual numbers...which is good, because the power meter i am using is not super high tech. Having said that, in comparisons with SRM meters it was pretty good, so im happy to use it.

Later, i went back and did some 440 watt 3 minute intervals, with 4 minutes of active rolling in between. 5 times. The 4th hurt pretty bad, but otherwise it was ok ish....hence why i think i could do a little more over 6 minutes.

So where next? i need to do some more power tests: 3, 12 and 30 mins. Then a graded heart rate test. This will allow me to graph my *current* power outputs, and indicate my lactate threshold respectively (the point at which your heart rate jumps up out of sequence with increasing work).

From there i need to do exactly what i *didn't* do last year - climbing!

I did loads of miles, but in an effort to do different rides and not drive so much, and because its all relatively flat around glasgow, i never got the volume of steeper, off road climbs in that you need to do well at endurance races.

The future starts today.

950g

950g.

DT440, 20mm with supercomps, alloy nipples and flows. Yo. Bomber, wide and light where it counts. Disc side tension 98kgf. Variance is less than +/-4kgf. Thats pretty nice. The non-disc side is 81kgf +/-8kgf. Still within the necessary 10% for a good wheel build. Not sure why its more 'out'. Overall, pretty happy.

I'll build the rear tomorrow as we are still under snow and ice (its minus 8 degree c here) so riding is confined to the rollers.

Session 1: 15 min warm up, 30 minutes at 30kmh 180watts or so with a 30 sec interval every 10 minutes at >999watts up to 70kph (at which point a reverberation through the rollers made the floor boards hum). 'Distance' covered - 16.65km.

Session 2: 15 min warm up, then the same but ramped it up to 215 watts (i used a taller gear). 15 minute warm down. Distance (with 15 minute warm down) 22.2km.

Next i need to do some joe friel inspired 'tests'. A 6 minute max power trial, and max power achievable for varied time scales to get power zones, and a lactate threshold test. This is much easier to do with a geared road bike and rollers than a fixed gear on the road.

Who loves ya, baby?

Telly savalas. Say it loud. Its black and its proud.

Give 'er.

Singlespeed worlds, rotorua, NZ.

Get some.

End of days.

Getting some riding in. Feel like a storm has been raging for a while. Maybe it will clear soon. Its heartening to spend some time communing with nature. Even if it leaves a tattoo on your shoulder to remind you of a bone shaking impact on a new trail...

R.A.W

Been talking to sean. Seems we have some numbers worked out...thanks to cy and dave for additional advice.

104Bronson.

If you are not already reading 104 Bronson, you probably shouldnt. But just in case....

Tinker.

Been tinkering. That there is a DT Swiss 440 freeride hub. But it is a little odd, not that many were made (apparently). For my uses it is damn near perfect. It usually comes with a 9 speed free hub body and needs some dish. This one has equal flange spacing (so no dished wheel). Hand serviceable and will take 6 speeds. It came as a 150mm wide 12mm axle. With a little tinkering, i now have it set up 10mm 150 RWS thru skewer.

Not bad eh?

Have i said before how ace DT stuff is? its all pretty much interchangeable in terms of end caps for 10mm or 9mm thru axle or RWS, quick release skewers or up to 20mm for the front, with adaptors for 15mm, and 142/12mm a la the Syntace system. All beautifully made with exact tolerances, durable bearings and quality finish.

Project Avalanche.

So i had a chance to have a chat with Sean Chaney at Vertigo Cycles. Looks like i have a project to work on. I have no expectation to see this within 6 months but its going to be a good one.

Concept: 29er am hardtail. Influences first and foremost my Jones. Basically i want the same ride characteristics with a 120mm fork. Use is going to be alpine and down grade looning.

83mm bb, with single ring to 6 speed rear on a 150mm bolted axle. I've picked up a hub that makes the whole thing click and allows a dishless rear wheel. (pic is curiaks, hub is the same)



There is a lot of details to sort out, but i'm aiming at a 20mm reba with 120mm travel at present.

For those about to rock....

Roady: tales of misadventure.

So i bought a road bike. After much deliberation and some sideways looks at ebay, i decided it would be best to test ride and then make a decision. With the help of Dave-chops-optional at Alpine Bikes, i was fitted tirelessly on several bikes and given the opportunity to ride them to check for fit and comfort.

In the end i went for a cannondale caad 8 Tiagra, size 54, with triple chainring. Having not had a geared bike for 10 years, and never had a proper road bike, i was impressed that a low-of-the-mid end bike could be as light, function as well and have as many features as it did. I guess thats progress for you.

I then decided to get out for a ride to check this road riding thing out.

Glasgow on a frosty morn led to views as i climbed out to Mugdock and then onto Aberfoyle. First mistake: there is no road from here west...when i have done this previously i have gone off road albeit on flat dirt road. Oh well, over the Dukes Pass it is.

Good climbing. Getting used to the short wheelbase (relatively) and the stiff bb area. I cant see me ever going into the small chainring tho' not in the uk at least. We'll see. It can't weigh that much...

Then click up into top gears and tuck for the decent. Weight distribution good. As was noted when i was trying them out, the 54 cannondale seems to have plenty reach and excellent steering and weight distribution for my size, even though on paper it seemed small.

The road past Brig O'Turk is partially flooded and there is a new trail following the road into Glen Finglas...Hmmm.....

Thence to Calendar, a quick sausage roll and irn bru (its very cold now) and onwards. My plan was vague, i wanted to duck off south back to glasgow shortly, but had forgotten the road that does so led straight back to Aberfoyle. So, onwards to Doune and Stirling. Would i have enough light? maybe....it was a clear day after all.

With a tail wind, the road passed easily as i sped to Stirling. I.m not sure normal reach bars are my thing. I like the length of the stem to the tops, but the hoods seem maybe a cm too far....and i'm not sure i want to move the saddle forward. We'll see.

At Denny it went dark like someone turned the lights out. Again, i had not looked in detail at a route, so even though i wanted to return directly to Glasgow, infact i had to go via Kilsyth. The roads i had been on for the last hpour and a half had been unpleasantly busy. I guess the M80 road works were responsible for the back-road traffic, but i wanted off. The road to kilsyth approaching rush hour, in the dark, with no pavement and lots of winding up and down was horrific. Yes drivers screamed at me with their windows down to get lights, get off the road etc, but what were my choices? i had made a mistake and just needed to bash on, pull off when it got too busy and just try and stay safe.

A puncture in Kirkintilloch as the temperature was plunging meant my plan to take the canal back to Glasgow, and thus be off the roads, was deemed insensible. "trina! help!" i tried to warm up in the Stables pub as trina rushed to my rescue, but i had to hide under the duvet to get my core temp up.

So: what did i learn. Road riding is more than just riding. Planning routes is going to be important.

75 miles took me way longer than anticipated. 5 hours in point of fact. Either my legs are slow, or the gears don't necessarily mean average speed is huge.

Heavy traffic and bad roads are not fun.

I think i want compact short reach bars.

There we go, it isn't straight from Roleur, but its the only tale i have - so far.

Kiwi fruit.

Go register at sswc10nz for updates.

Cold storage.

So last night we came home and the cat was chasing a wee wire coil around. It shot into the bike room and under a set of shelves. Attached to which there are one or 2 bikes i'm quite partial to. I noticed that the shelving was leaning over at a pretty messy angle. Ooops.

Seems as though my old ikea shelves are overloaded and it is time to research some better storage options. Fortunately, it seems to be a pretty good time to buy old warehouse stock...

Sprinter cut.

For those of us with LEGS.

Standing start.

Watch it.

Muso.

So, yes, them crooked vultures album is out. It is good, but its a grower...


Then there is radio moscow who have a new album out - brain cycles. All good. Will be in europe feb ish?

And more...

Things to ponder...

From our Albert "If something worth living for is worth dying for, what about something not worth dying for?"

And Jean Paul "How do you really act in private?"

Not forgetting Franz "Without love, without people, what is a person?"

Do not go gentle into that good night.

What Dylan said.

It is about that time to make some sort of plan. Drifting aimlessly is only good for the none-sentient.

I've already mentioned my thoughts of doing something different on bikes. Those idyll dreams are beginning to coalesce. Saab Salomon Avalanche.

I have also had some thoughts on a bike to use. I'm blaming 2004 ssec champ Dan Darwood squarely, if not fairly for that. More on this soon.

What else? Apart from drowning in H1N1, anyway?

Cross racing is always hard. Perhaps one of the joys of it in Scotland has been the variety of the courses. The last race in Inverkeithing was for me a watershed. I'm going to have a break.

The course was very euro. Essentially an 80% grass, waterlogged loop, with 3 staircases thrown in for good measure. All corners were off camber. The bikes packed up remarkably fast (apart from those that fit fatties fine). With so many derailleurs hanging off i wondered if there would be a rush on singlespeed cross bikes, but with the pain in my arms from dragging my bike around in foot deep mud i doubt that will be the case.

This is all well and good if there is the resource and desire for second bikes and pit crews but for me it forms an impasse. No more for the moment. I'll have a week or 2 off and then re-assess.

And so much for that. Maybe i am weak, but i will not choose to be weak *and* unhappy.

The world continues to steam-roll towards doom, with china trying all sorts to block free speech and the mess in the middle east . Pathetic, isn't it?

Maybe it is truly time to throw my arms up in the air and go hide in the highlands. Who knows?



Meanwhile, it's a case of continuing to claw and scrape my way through the day to day, all the while remembering that which the existentialists held so dear: the challenge is to choose to live.

Kinda diggin' this now...

So: the new wheels dropped some weight. taking off one or 2 extraneous parts dropped a bit more. Then changing the Gore cables to nokon (due to the tight bends forced in the crook of the drops because they are both short reach and compact) improved the feel and dropped some more weight.



20.9 lb. But i guess the real story is that nothing is 'light' and it has bb7 discs. Rumours of bb9s abound, but whether there will be a road version or not is impossible to say. The cane creek short pull, scr 5(compact) levers are great - wide paddles, and the compact reach means a lot less bother in the drops. Better yet, the hoods are fatter and less drooped than the dia compe 987's so the comfort factor is better all around.



The cable routing worked out really tight. Smooth lines i can thank IF for. The steel conduit is carefully bent in 3 dimensions and all the joins are sealed with shrink wrap. Smooth.

It won't challenge for lightest cross bike, but i love it.

Not the way to go...

More on this shortly.

750g from 900g.

So, after a flurry of wheel building, i now have dropped 150 g from the front wheel on the cross bike, and 135g from the rear. stan's 355 29 rims (thanks raoul), to dt revo with alloy nips stuck in place with loctite, and a dt 340 front hub (centrelock) and a 240 ss rear.

Sweet. Rimstrips are Ritchey.

They were hard to build so that the tension average wasn't exceeded (80kgf with less than 10% variation)...i always tend to build to a much higher tension than that....We'll see how they last.

Vicious doldrums.

Here we are adrift in the doldrums of november, december and january. The weather has closed in, just as the light has faded. People are snarling at each other: using cars, or body language to assert their importance just as surely as it demonstrates their inhumanity.

The mast has broken off the vessel, just as much as the community spirit is being worn away by hard effort in the absence of reward, satisfaction or happiness. $10 million may, in time, become cheap at the price.

So we hunker down - holding on to whatever rock exists in our lives - waiting for that precious moment when the wind rises, direction returns and life has, once again, both point and serenity.

A verse from the rime of the ancient mariner:

"All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion ;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean."

(image pinched from here: see all the illustrations by gustave dore for the rime.)

If the shoe fits...

Make sure the cleat is in the right position.



(pic pinched from joe friel's blog - which you should read)

There is a growing body of bike-fit lore suggesting having the cleat further back than would be traditionally proposed is desirable.

Steve Hogg in cycling news makes a good point, and then there is the biomac mxc 2 shoe design. Joe Friel, who is arguably the most important cycling fitness guru on earth at present likes them.

Might be worth a try pushing the cleats a few mm back and seeing how things go...

700 posts, and still waffling.

Yup.

Anyway. Gretna Bikes have a product called a Rothrocker. I'm guessing this is named for the forest near State College, PA, that is home to some awesome trails.
The bike is basically a steel front triangle, with a carbon fibre rear stay assembly bolted on.

The twist is that the stay behaves a little like a leaf spring. It should offer good lateral stiffness, with a fair amount of bump absorption and as a bonus be easy to travel with ... cool eh?

Stupid.

So after losing 3 pairs of Oakley's that i left on the roof of my car (well, 2 lost, 1 pair driven over) you would have thought i'd have learned some sort of lesson. Nope. Rode today, a short technical slide fest somewhere slightly cheeky (that indeed had signs warning me away). Got in my car to head home. About 3 miles of driving later i heard a tell tale rattle from the roof.

Seems that despite saying "Oakleys" out loud as I put them on my roof to pack the car, I had forgotten all about them.

I have no idea how I drove over such a lumpy road for 3 miles with them actually on the roof, nay, balanced on top of one of the cycle carriers. But this time, someone somewhere was smiling down on me and I only sustained a small scratch on one of the lenses, out of the line of sight.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Wheel innovation.

Wheel and real, infact. This last 12 months has led to some real innovation with tubeless wheels, both on and off road. The crank bros wheels were interesting because they had an uninterrupted rim chamber that meant no need for odd rim strip rituals. However, they are in my opinion far from pretty with the alloy 'tab' sticking out and a pretty messy looking spoke arrangement.

I was pleased to see both Easton and Dt addressing the issues. Easton has double threaded inserts in the rim, attaching to straight pull spokes on several new models including the Haven wheelset.



DT Swiss has a keyed insert that fits into the rim and again straight pull spokes.




Both of these look clean and the weight drop the DT Tricon hubs have allowed with the separate flanges tightened onto the hub body is sweet.

And then, you get all sorts of bad ideas...

Chris is back...

Chris Hoy is back...

And, a little reminder.



And comment...

And another...

Clutch

Tickets for Clutch are on sale for glasgow gig thursday 5th at 7pm. Rock and roll ain't noise pollution.

Chris' stag ride

Pictures here.











7 peaks around edinburgh. 5 riders. 5 hours. 2 hip flasks and a damn good time.

End of season: mind wandering.

Hokay: here we are at the end of the mtb season as it were. Yes, there will be lots of muddy wet slippery and nadgery riding. Yes there is 'cross. But looooong off-road rides are probably nearly done for the year.

On reflection, i cant seem to shake the notion i want to add a feather to my boa. Sort of try something new. I was talking to my friend Mr Vitch at the sswc in durango and he was telling me he'd been downhilling on a borrowed bike a couple of times. As in full on big stuff. That got some cogs rolling.

Then there is the influence of Dan's chats about mega avalanche style racing and lately the Trans Provence.

Hmmm.

There is an increasing move towards endurance downhill racing. There is the fall tilt in telluride and, closer to home, the no fuss endurance downhill. Then there are super d's etc.

Even nico vouilloz has come out of semi-retirement to race these type of events.

Of course, i dont think a rigid singlespeed would cut it. Nah, im thinking 5 or 6...a la jeff/nico.



And maybe a dual suspension bike...there are a few with 29" wheels this year that are worth a second and third look...

Santa Cruz tallboy.



Intense Tracer 29.



Turner Sultan.

F.Y.D.

Before the jump off.

Does DZ have ovaries?

So, good enough for Cav, good enough for me?

We'll see. Cycling glasses are a funny one. For *actually riding* you need the right lens, with a frame that gives close coverage to stop crap getting in your eyes once thrown up by the front wheel, whilst not fogging up, and being secure enough to not slip down you're nose obscuring vision and pinching off the nasal passages. A tall order.

Racing jackets are my ultimate, they fulfil all the above criteria. BUT. They are hard to put away as they are hingeless, and they dont allow lens changes for differing conditions. (Ok, ok, so i have other glasses with different lenses....blah)

After searching around, and trying various glasses from the Giro and Oakley ranges (the only 2 i'd consider tbh) i settled on some jawbones. Hincapie is a hammer and he wears them. What could possibly go wrong?

For winter i'll be swapping in the vented yellow lenses (a scottish favourite) and ill report back. Meanwhile you can see P-bomb is totally stoked with them; she thinks i look grrreat.

Palmares

Of the racing i did this year, my results follow:

Blairadam blast: 5th overall, 1st singlespeed
Bristol bike fest: 5th open male
singletrack classic weekender: 7th open male
10 at kirroughtree: 15th open male
Brighton big dog: 20th open male
Shenandoah 100: 205th overall (!) 36th singlespeed
sswc 09: 10,374th ish.

Mediocre, but enjoyable. Bring on cross.

So...

After Shenandoah, we headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway into North Carolina. From there into the Smokey Mountains. Trina has more ace pics, beautiful place, though 3 days out from H'burg and no shower was...tough...but worth it.



We cut west to Little Rock, where we enjoyed a pub quiz at a local tap room - Flying Saucer (where i had my only sierra nevada pale ale of the trip) and also did a pub quiz. At which we sucked. 0 points, seriously. What is Indiana Jones' first name?

Then into Oklahoma...



Route 66, babe.



...and Texas. After an amusing camp in Palo Duro (folk driving 50 yards to the toilet, mosquitoes and stories of the white man's relentless clearing of indigenous peoples) we went north and up into New Mexico.



As firm aficionados of mexican and border style cooking, this part was good. Fiesta time in Santa Fe meant lots of revving in custom choppers...



...and excellent street food.



And maybe the odd margaritas.



Thence to D town. Oh yes.

Larry, Larry, Oh Larry.

Larry - new 3.8" tyre from surly....