Psycho billy snow ride night gents

Hectic hectic.

Been up north sorting some stuff out. Rode in the snow, drank too much beer and discovered a penchant for psychobilly...







The seasons are changing and as the sun creeps from hibernation there is a quickening. The sap flows in the trees, i dont come home in the dark, the promise of long rides and road trips are tantalising.


















The first Pirate Bike event will be soon. So far, it is looking like around 150miles, starting Fort Augustus and ending either in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Details tba.

Take deep breaths. Stretch those lungs. You will need them soon.

Work

So how is the exercise program going?

Hmmm.

Yes, hmmmm.

Went to the gym today. Banged out 21.30 for 6 km on the ergo at max resistance. Then hit the climbing wall and problem solved for 30mins...ended up with a tricky 6B. I'm enjoying climbing again, even if it is top roped and short..still excellent mental and physical work.

Dynamic core strengthening was next. Now? well now i feel wabbit.

Buuuuuuuuut. There is the hint of a little steeliness there. Somewhat of a tempering going on. The rowing was better. Hit full capacity at 450m out and managed to maintain a fair clip.

My issue is i have no base miles in the legs. Its 9 weeks 'til the Finale solo 24 and i reckon i'd be lucky if i could handle a 100 miles mixed at the moment, let alone with sleep deprivation and gradient thrown in.

We'll see...

Yet again the forecast for this week end is bitter winds, severe with 80+mile gusts and snowfall with white out conditions possible from 800m up. Rough. Not perfect for rolling lots of miles.

So mixed feelings. Still, as long as i can increase the miles steadily, without getting ill, i may just squeeze some form out.

Speed of thought

Things are moving fast, including me. The 24 hr solo for this year is Finale in Italy, 9 weeks or so...i can barely ride 6 hours, so that needs some work.

We are accelerating our work on the SSWC...seems to be that time where 'shit needs done' as they say. So 'shit is being done'. Off to Aviemore this week for 3 days to press flesh, view things and sort things. The jury is out on whether we'll be camping. I'd like to but most of the north is under water right now, so it may be silly.

Got 6 hours under the belt on monday. Forecast: 'sunny with occasional showers'. Reality: rain, heavy to moderate for 5/6ths of those hours. Still 60 miles is ok, but i feel like there is a steep slope to climb. Vitally, it seems like the slope is worth climbing ~ my motivation is rising and i think this is the biggest thing...my need to ride just seemed to lesson with the transition from autumn to winter last year, and then getting burned led to a long lay off. I need to open my self up and welcome the pain again.

Uh huh

As you will be well aware there are some fantastically stupid comments made by people who demonstrate their ignorance in full public view. One can immediately quote george w for example, or even our very own tony.

The world of mountain biking is no different.

I was poking around here today, and was astonished to read this:

"The Titanium is able to flex without failing for a very long time. How long? I don't know, but as Titanium is used in aircraft and space station technology, it seems that the chances of it breaking are very slim."

What are your thoughts on that one?


See the picture? Uh huh.

20.9 lb

Is that light? am i a weight weenie?








































IF 29"er singlespeed, built for solidity over time in harsh environs.

The road rat with ...changes...

Effort

Michael Browne is just about to leave the dirt rag building. I'm sure he will be missed. He is a top bloke, approachable, interested and always seeking to tell it like it is. I'm sure he will continue to do so at trek. All the best.

The first reports on this years north american handmade bike show have now been posted and a flickr search reveals some beautiful work. The amount of effort involved is truly staggering ~ a real credit to the handmade bike movement in america. There are so many interesting frames from the bohemian tandem (which boggles the mind) to the wolfhound with adjustable rear drop outs and press fitted 50mm bb bearings, to the purity of the sachs track bike. Feast your eyes and your mind. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=nahbs&s=rec

(pic pinched from aquaholic - see mtbr)

My own fleet has gone through some change. I have started bending stainless steel tubing to fit the Black sheep fork onto the IF, which should all be done over the next few days, and the road rat is now graced with a cut down set of profile airwing tt bars, cane creek bar end brake levers, and avid cantis. The latter required some bodging with a cable hanger bolted onto an extended bolt on the seat tube collar: the rack eyelets didn't give the clearance for dangling...will post pics soon.

Art of noise

Just back from Am Ploc, and we rushed out to see Eagles of Death Metal. They rocked.

Fortunately i had time to grow a quick mustache before we left so jesse wasnt flying the hairy lip solo.


Heard the skull and cross bikes round 2 went off well, naked ness was a feature and i believe beer was too. All good.

The road rat has had a makeover. More when i can post pics of the handiwork.

Summer shape

32:16 pic-bless.




Well, 13 stone 3 today...easy-peasey. Fitness? maybe not rock bottom, but certainly not climbing fast. Races? Mountain Marathon 10 entered. Could it be the very last for telly savalas players' club? as it was the first? who knows... but i sense a party atmosphere developing for this one, as do the singlespeeders of destruction...it would seem there may be some sort of competition on here, and i can bet its not going to be about how many laps we do...

Also got my 'ok' for finale...so the jewel of italian 24 hour races is added to the schedule.

Trina's birthday tomorrow...woop! we are off to Plockton to have a chilled week end and to celebrate with the odd mick coe or IPA.

Then on monday, its time for the eagles of death metal. Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to rock?


Finally, this.

A tale of 2 cities

Interesting few days. Over to edinburgh for a ride with chris (bd boy) and dan. Technical, rock, root, slide and steep session on the stoorie b in rain. All good, but sometimes you just know that technical is not in your forcefield for that day. So it was with me. I did enjoy watching chris and dan push some new lines down improbable things, and even had a go myself down a rock slide, entered by a slippery off camber slope of about 40 degrees, with a 'not good' drop off to one side. It would be a superb photo spot, as you can stand on one of the rocks and catch the rider sliding down from above, round you and then directly below you through the rock chute section....will try to get this one up sometime.

Then back though to glasgow. A wee ride in one of the city parks (pollock) which highlighted that there is some interesting riding within the city limits of weeg, other than mugdock. A real possibility for a skull and cross bikes, but strictly pirate style so don't tell anyone i said that, eh? Also would be excellent for night riding and for a spring pootle with a bag full o' beers. Will raise this when the noah's flood has subsided...

Then back through to edinburgh today for a conference on drug misuse management. As expected some interesting neuro biology stuff...don't get me started on yer mu receptors...and some weak, weak papers. Expected? well their ain't no corporate money in addicts y'know?

Also in todays thoughts is pete basinger..shooting for a new iditarod invitational record and going oh so very well. Follow it on the alaska mtbr forum or alaska ultrasport. Carl Hutchings is in there too...

Obsession

Again, to the gym
Again, to the floor mats.
Again to the 'bosu'.
Again the yoga.

The bosu. Ah yes. Although it bears a striking similarity to a diaphragm, it isnt. Oh no. It is a modern day torture device. It is used for core strength and balancing exercises. Also if you search on google images, it looks like it is used to make people extremely happy whilst being as buff as teak.

Still, it is helping. I am almost totally working on core strength and initial cardiovascular stuff at the moment. I have to say for the first time in my puff, i am actually enjoying the gym experience.
Because i am staying away from the weight machines i can avoid the weirdos trying to dislocate various limbs by hauling too heavy weights too fast and jerkily whilst watching their mates watching them in some sort of homoerotic nightmare chat line advert hell.

Still, whatever lights your candle. I can only wish i was a private physio...or maybe not.

So is it worth it? who knows, but i defiantly feel fitter than 3 weeks ago.

B+W

Awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzoEhhIk5ks&eurl=

Bike fit?

Seems i have my mental teeth in to a willits scorcher. But what about fit? how to decide what i need in terms of size? i dunno...never had anything like it...

From the road rat i'd say i need a 22" ish top tube...who knows?

(pic from fixedgeargallery)

Drunkingham

Steve is an artist.

He is a top notch bloke.

Go to Drunkingham. Be witness and think about buying a painting, or at least a sticker.

(sketch pinched from his site, with very kind regards)

800g

What a day yesterday was. We had family bacon with us this weekend. It was ace. Fun frolics beer trees chorizo whisky late nights early mornings high fives and blessed re lax ation.

Part of the plan was to get a ride in with biff. Though the window was tight to allow for all the other things we were doing, and so we arose at 5.45 sunday, catching one of the most beautiful dawn rides along the bonny bonny banks i've ever experienced. We wove, we ducked, we dived.

I'll try and get a pic or 2 soon.

Later, having hatched a plan to ride with dave and g funk later in the day, i hit aberfoyle with a view to seeing the gloaming with my co-savalas's. Perhaps more laughs than miles, i feel like the sun shone just for us yesterday.

Beautiful.

13.10

And no its not my new climbing grade.

Things are getting critical...i may hit 14 stone if i'm not careful...BMI 27...thats overweight by a full stone. 14 pounds.

Gulp.

Eriksen and magma

36

You know where to look. Someone has finally shoved 2 36" wheels in to a frame. Can you guess which big dutch bloke is peeing himself?

thread

Admin

Post strathpuffer.

Fit new xtr outboard bb.
Send old cups to tim at sideways to have old bearings ejected and new Phil Wood ones fitted.
Fit new brake pads.
Clean Nokons. Work surprisingly well.
Fit new Eriksen seatpin . Works a treat.
Toy with the idea of 9 and 10mm dt axles. Not sure if they would fit or work. But a special man may well have the answer.
Consider fitting the Black Sheep fork...well, its been hanging there a while now...

Trans fat

So its time to buckle down, get fit, lose the extra stone i have gained and generally sort out the lifestyle. I'm looking forward to getting back to work. The enforced break due to the burns and then a (well timed in terms of healing) holiday have left me needing the stimulation of work, as well as a need to get my teeth back into all the stuff going on in the practice.

In terms of fitness, some changes are required. I'm going to stop the press ups and sit ups in the a.m before work, in order to focus on the yoga at this time. My simple collection of back stretches and leg stretches are something i know i cant miss and I'm rushing them to get everything done.

i have joined a gym. Shit! i hear you cry...a sweat box for middle class voyeurs and exercise evaders?! maybe and maybe not. it will allow me to do more focused core balance and strengthening and thus help me ward off the nagging back strain i have had for 6 months.

i also intend to try out a 30 rides in 30 days thing. The question on my mind at the moment is whether to buy rollers. Not sure on this one. Feel free to offer advice...

On a separate note, see this link and check out the hard to validate but still shocking range of hydrogenated oil in chips from the golden arches in NY and denmark for 04-05. Wow. How do they get away with it?

Bikes with curves: a reprise

One of (if not) the most pleasing i have seen. Steve Garro is a super good bloke who is triumphing over a pretty horrific rta a while back. The best rendition of "scoaaaatland" ever heard by many and a hugely tough, gracious and interesting individual all in one. Pic stolen from his blog and checkout his frame building if you are in the market.

Evolution

Visited Ano Nuevo sanctuary the other day, just north west along the coast from santa cruz. The main thing there is elephant seals. These things grow to 5000lbs of blubber and are from the same stock as Grizzlies. And you can tell. When they fight to be alpha male they tear great big chunks out of each other. In an attenborough sense, its pretty amazing to watch. The babies pop out at a mere 90lbs and the mothers hold on to them only for 28 days or so and then ditch them. At this point they have to learn for themselves. They have however gained an immense amount of weight off mummies 50-60$ fat milk and despite being unable to swim, they have at this point a 50% survival chance for the coming year. Probably not bad in natures playground.

Other facts: mum can hold her breath for 2 hours and dive to 5000 feet below sea level. Thats a looooong way down...To do this she pumps all the air out of the lungs and reduces the heart rate from an average of 70bpm to 5, sort of sleeping every so often to keep organs at minimal requirement for blood. At the apex (?) of her dive she gobbles squid and sharks and such and then pops back to the surface.

Does it make you think that evolution is pushing itself pretty hard in some odd directions?

hmmmm.

Another new post

Took delivery of my Eriksen post today. Ti 400mm 27.2 and an exquisite mechanism for holding the rails...

So the IF gets a new on e and the moots gets slotted on to either the se7en or the ro sham bo, allowing the same saddle bar length on all 3 bikes and keeping me happy...

Kent and co were more than helpful and accommodating in geting me the post at the right time in the usa. If you need a dose of the grey metal, i'd suggest giving him a call.

Beer pucks and lena toast

Spent yesterday on a "no gears just beers" ride in the hills around santa cruz. The skin is holding together, and the slow, relaxed pace with frequent beer and vista stops was battery and soul recharging...mike's dog lena toast was the star of the show, finishing a mammoth 9 hour day cruising along side the bipeds on wheels with nary a complaint. Refuelled by 2 tacos i'm sure she could have run on through the night too...

Sanity Cruz

Welp. Got here, and having a quiet few days on account of being a bit stiff around he middle with the burns healing...but managed a wee pedal out on to the cliff top road with fine views of the wharf, the elephant seals, and the surfers who look kind of like seals dotted around the break...all good.

Found a good coffee spot, 2 good beer spots, some very interesting and lovely local folk, popped into the Santa Cruz factory and met a legend or 2 and today we are heading out to one of the nearer local parks.

I'm stocking up on americana bike parts...king cages, wtb 29er tyres, phil lubes and other oddities and just enjoying the time with my wife.

The rest and sea air seems to be doing the trick with the skin, and the constant lubing is keeping it from cracking so i have no doubt i'll get a proper ride in or 2 before the end of the fortnight.

The SSWC 07 announcement went down with the expected flurry of e mails and 'yays' so we're pretty stoked about that. Now a different sort of work will commence.

Trina is beginning to snap off some photos, with a new lens coming from B+H which should add a new dimension too, see her flickr linked through mine.

My Eriksen seat pin is en route, and oddly i am *just* going to miss Kent as he will be at the NAHBS which i'd love to see, but its just too close to the end of this trip...ach well, will wait for the photos...

Ok. we'd better hit highway 1 ...

There goes my hero

We all have a hero, more or less. At least i think we do. In different parts of our life i would think they could be different people too...Gandhi, dave grohl, Einstein, swamp thing etc etc.

In terms of bike racing my hero has to be travis brown.

Music collector, singlespeed racer, side burn grower, product developer and renaissance man.

4 am

No work for a week. No exercise for a week. Minimal movement from the house. Minimal movement in the house. Brain turning to mush. Awoke at 4am. Couldn't sleep and i am not tired. i'm not using any energy. i'm eating really well, lots of vitamins and minerals. It is all going well, the scars are healing. The itch is terrible but it is a small price to pay.

Watched kranked pregression. Kirt Voreis section was wonderful, Ryan Leech (although still gravity and physics defying) less so. Odd. Thought it would be the other way around...there you go...

Off to look at rOsHaMbO... think i'll still take it away, think i'll be able to ride soon...if slowly with no falling off whatsoever.

Over...

Spawn

Pretty sore today. i think my skin is at that stage where it is beginning to heal, but everytime i stand up or move it feels like it is splitting....not nice.

Still, it'll be fine, so no worries.

Been checking out this:

http://www.24hfinale.com/

It may be the chance to do a decent 24 solo...we'll see....

Solo

Over the last couple of years one of my distractions has been trying solo 24 hour races. They are as tough as you want them to be. You can go to bed, you can race in the daylight and dry only. Or you can tough it out to the level of your own pricipals.

A successful solo 24 hour *to me* is 24 + hours of racing, with no more than 30 min stopping, no sleeping, minimal sitting (yep) and ideally no support.

This is not a recipe for winning. It is not a recipe for everyone. However, it is what i aim for. Obviously as the last couple of years has shown, rain and foul conditions couped with none weatherproof courses (are there any other kind?) can easily scupper this paradigm.

At some point in my life (and that may well be this year, in Italy) i hope to squeeze out a decent performance. If i do, then i'm not sure i will rush to do many more. On the whole i prefer long rides which aren't many laps of a course i.e 100 mile races, and then moving to self supported bigger loops.

I am very much looking forward to watching this (if you don't have quicktime, try another). The battle between Gordon and Eatough was one i followed in real time via the internet and on the web and magazines after. Humbling, exhilarating and almost unbelievable physical performances by both men.

Strathpuffer ~ more!

Andy the vegan singlespeeder slapped down a massive 15 laps for 5th place solo...That man deserves a serious beer and a hand shake.

Fixing

It's been a day of fixing. Fixing me and fixing gadgets and fixing bike things. The early part of the morning was spent in Canniesburn burn unit at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow. There, the dead surface layer of skin was peeled off my leg and hip and more bandaging layers applied. Everything seems to be beginning to heal, but i suspect my initial optmism of being back to work (and, soon after, riding) by the end of the week was a little, uh, optimistic. Still the wee chap is healing well, and lets face it thats all that matters.

After collecting a large bag of wrapping and spooching stuff, i got the tube home. Walking is not an option, either is driving and cycling is obviously out. So i jolted around and had everyone stare at my impressive limp (which is half from pain, and half from the amount of bandaging i need) and went home to inspect the remains of my bike. i popped the rear wheel out and pulled off the casette body, easily (one of the many benefits of DT hubs). Everything was a bit dirty but no issues/wear or roughness to the bearing. The axles feels a little dry in the hub. After a quick chat to the fountain of all bike knowledge that is honest, sensible and insightful (dave at alpinebikes) i will book the wheel in for a bearing check and re-grease. It feels fine, not gritty - just dry...dave reckons this may be from the grease getting melted out on the disc side from all the fruitless braking at Strathpuffer. He should know, we were team mates afterall.

The next thing needing my attention was my mp3 player. Unfortunately as often happens when a liberal dose of chaos and mud is mixed with 5 blokes in a camper van, my mp3 had got a bath in beer. Guess what? it wasn't working so well! so in a fit of confidence, i decided i'd strip the bugger and clean it out with isopropyl alcohol. Finding all the tiny screws Sony had used to hold the thing together was tricky, and there was the usual "oop! a bits dropped out, where the hell did that come from?" but it seems to work now, so i'm pretty stoked...

Tomorrow off to see my GP and explain myself...and prolly cabin fever.

Still...at least i'll heal.

Strathpuffer photos up

See Northsport: some good/some scary.

New post?

Out with the old, in with the new...













The Moots post will be gong on the Seven cross/road/thing. the in line Thomson just doesn't work with the h bars on the 120mm stem. A 130mm stem is too long, so there you go. the layback will give a nice position for singlespeeding as i prefer a slacker effective seatangle for transitioning between seated and standing climbing: lets you use different sets of muscles.

To replace it on the IF there will soon be a Kent Eriksen seatpost. same idea, better clamp design, and longer (400mm) so it'll have a little more supoort in the frame.

Of course a bit of tlc will have to be lavished to get the IF working after a fairly heinous Strathpuffer as mentioned. Certainly needs a brake strip and possibly new cables....yes, the Nokon seals were indeed insufficient against Scotland's worst...but to be fair, anything would have been other than hydraulic...

Strathpuffer suffer

Back from potentially the hardest 24 hour race in the ?world. January Scottish winter conditions. Moonless night. Technical course with 18 or so hours of darkness. It was excellent. We rode under the banner of team Singletrack Savalas. Team roster: Johnny Dangerous, Dave Macdonald, the Marquis of Darkness, and Enrico 'Jesus' Gonzales. We ripped, quite frankly, to a 7th place finish despite 20 hours of (heavy) rain, snow and hail. The course ate brake pads for breakfast: for us a set of sintered pads was lasting 2 laps. Granite grinding paste will do that. The mostly fireroad uphill gave way to a rocky and technical downhill which had exposed slabs to narrow bridges over ever filling streams with rocks like marshmallows in chocolate. Only harder. Much harder.

Our man Phil the horse, racing solo singlespeed, had an excellent start and then the reality of a stomach complaint, the battering weather and changing disc pads near every lap bit home. At the rate he was going I would have predicted a win for sure, but as is the way with 24 hour racing it is unpredictable.

There will no doubt be fuller information on Singletrack and the Strathpuffer website (see linkys to the right). Me? I'm nursing around 2 square feet of burn after a litre of coffee upturned into my lap due to stupidity and bad luck. A day in Raigmore A&E left me with a midriff of swaddling to soak up the exudate from the burns and peeing out of a hole cut into an extra from "the Mummy Returns". Ach well, its not as bad as it could have been...

Back in the day

This was it. From Yeti shorts to razor blades. Axos to bum bags. Wow.

Swobo

Got my new J mac knickers. They are indeed the 'bomb'. Wore them for the whole hogmanay period recently in Aviemore (except, oddly, when actually riding. And yes i did sleep in them).

If you are not reading 'how to avoid the bummer life', then you really, really ought to be.

Music week

From Gilles Peterson's epic 2 hour tribute to James Brown on the BBC's radio1 , to me finally tracking down a nd buying a copy of Ape vs Mo wax, it has been a week about music.

My personal listening has roamed freely between Slipknot to Depeche Mode, to The Roots.

Trina also finally purchased a speaker system which - through a transmitter which can be plugged into either a computer, stereo or an MP3 player - will produce good quality sound from a portable speaker (albeit one that has to be plugged into a power source, which is worth it for improved bass sound).

What else? working on 0UtCaSt stuff....issue 19 soon...

James Brown

There will never be another. Rest in peace.

The devil is in the details

And although she may wear Prada, she prolly weilds a set of vernier gauges too.

I went to change the aluminium blocks that hold the rails of the saddle and allow rotational adjustment on my Moots seatpin today. See, the rear sections had distorted around the saddle rails and I had wondered if I had, y'know, over torqued the bugger.




























After that tense, breath held moment of forcing open the top clamp area, I pushed in 2 similar clamps I had left over from an old Control Tech seat pin and which I had decided were the same thing.

Hah! Nope, one was, the other was not...see it seems the top half and the bottom half on the moots are not the same. One has a chamfered edge, the other not, one is narrower than the other also. The 2 from the control tech seatpin were both non-chamfered edge, and thus the overall diameter of the barrel thus formed holding the rails was greater than the originals. So, I sent another quiet 10minutes changing them back again.

Oh well.

Just a few things that have been going through my head recently

1) Dignity: Leaving rubbish around. Claiming you are something you are not. Stepping on others on the way up. Politicians lying. Only seeing what is right in front of your eyes, not the milieu it is part of. Poisoning our children's world. A lack of dignity in all.

2) Time: Too little of it spent with family, friends, self. Ignoring the personal development time known in Zen as 'mindfulness'. The seepage of time as your goals edge further away and deadlines creep closer.

3) Happiness: Is not directly correlated to money. Seemingly this has been proven by studies in the UK showing the National Wealth has more than doubled, yet people are less happy. Is the distribution even vaguely fair? Does gaining wealth beyond a certain point lead to an emptying of the soul? See point 1.

Winter coat

Despite the best intentions, I was always going to don the winter coat as the weather turns nasty and the food and alcohol began to pile up around my ears.

I niggling voice is asking me just what I want to do with next season. Do I want to race? If so what? And if so, how hard? Should I (gasp) train?

Lots of questions and as yet no answers. However, I did invest in some new running shoes. It was one of those afternoons and I just needed to run, but the only shoes I have are trail runners and they rip my ankles to shreds on the roads. So I popped by a running shop called Achilles Heel and got the full intro to running shoes and then tried out a few with the friendly, non pressurising staff. Got me a pair of Asics with an extra squishey sole. I am fortunate (I think) to have non pronating, wide feet so I don't tend to tip over. I am still unclear if this is the case when under the influence.

Anyways, put an hour of tarmac pounding into them and whaddayaknow? they are pretty soft and forgiving. Definitely a step up...(ha ha!)

The thing that I found out whilst embarking on the early season running was that my non generic ipod mp3 thing (made by sony) needs some way to attach to my person that does not utilise the finger and hair elastic method. This is not confidence inspiring and can lead to an mp3 player nasal passage interface if one is not careful. Fortunately, Santa was listening and I am the proud owner of a wee clippity thing which will attach said black box of rock to my chest.

In the past 48 hours I have slept 25 hours. It seems cooking crimbo tea is just too much for a softy like me, and I couldn't cope with the chef's specials all afternoon as I chopped and whisked. So more early nights and looking forward to hogmanay.

What are your plans for the coming 12 months?

Roasted

So we are cooking for crimbo this year. Me and trina and david (trina's bro). We decided on roast beef, as lets face it turkey is always a little dry and disappointing. Red meat also goes better with red wine, and that is the only thing that will save me from a Bloody Mary induced coma, so that is it.

It's been a steep learning curve tho'. We have never roasted anything but chicken and assorted fowl, so beef was a shocker. How hot? how long? how prepare? and how do you time the tatties and veggies.

I sort of felt that because of my chromosome arrangement I would have an innate ability to cook meat by roasting. I s'pose it should be the dowry with willies on shouldn't it? but having studied the usual texts I am faced with trial and error. Today's effort was passable. Not rare enough, too little oil on the bits and bobs in the roasting tray, but the Madeira gravy was good, if a little short on fat.

So: we are almost there, with no more practice runs and a 3kg block of Scotland's finest rolled sirloin to go...

Wish me luck.

Too much, too much

Several things:

Calderfest this last week end. Huge fun, huge riding, huge laughing, huge smiles.

I feel sure the tales will be spun for some time to come...

See flickr for photos: these borrowed from Makinster and Philipdiprose1974


























If you happen to be finishing off a wheel (like, say, my DT rim to DT hub....) and find there is a flat spot in the rim when you have got to the end of radial truing, I found this can be alleviated. Use a 2cm or so doweling and run it perpendicular between the spokes - stand on it, then pull with all your might upwards. At the point you feel you are about to pop out a hernia, you may have a round rim again, like the DT turned out.

Shaggy is a double world champion adventure racer after this week end. Check his blog. I'm sure he'll update when he wakes up. In the meantime, hardcore brah.

Calderfest also saw the first Skull and Cross bikes.

No rules, no entry just horrific weather, super hard course and a few very stalwart gentlemen.

Hardcore indeed.

S S W C 2 0 0 7

As you may well know, I am one of 3 who are organising sswc2007.

So, we put up a wee flag in the corner of the internet and called it our own.


sswc2007

More as soon as it happens.

Shine

Building another wheel. I found the front wheel I was using on my Seven road/cross/road thing was, lets say, less than smooth. the bearings were gubbed, and the axle was bent. Yep, bent. Anyone bent a front axle recently? weird. It was a deore hub, so no great loss.

I decided to build a lighter/better wheel for replacing it, and thanks to dave at Alpine Bikes, I picked up a DT RR 1.1 single eyelet front rim, and a DT 340 road front hub. Together with comp spokes and steel nips this should be a long lasting tough wheel.










The rim has been interesting to build with. I haven't built many wheels that have had anything other than mavic rims and there does seem to be differences in building 'experience'. How this translates into feel whilst riding and or durability I have yet to see.

So far the salsa delgado disc are holding up well, and the 29mm width is so good, allowing super floatation and low pressure. They were pretty malleable to build with which was quite nice, as they didn't seem to spring out of true when approaching final tweaks. The DT, somewhere inbetween I'd say.










I do have a dream wheel in me somewhere, and that is a DT 190 ceramic centreloc front with comps to a delgado with alloy nips. I know I can do it, and make it strong, but the consequences of screwing it up would be pretty har$h...

Speedgoat

Speedgoat is a shop in PA, USA. They have exceptional stock and excellent knowledge. They do a top website too, with a good blog-read-thing.

I am going to copy and paste one of their entries here, as it made me laugh out loud. I hope that isn't interwebrude, and I would encourage one and all to check it out every now and then...

TECH QUESTION OF THE DAY

Q: Number one, on a scale from one to ten how likely would you say it would be to taco this wheel? I ruined my front wheel on my Unit 29 3 days after getting it, and I want to get a new wheelset that I won`t have to worry about. I`ll take some added weight to get a set that is bomb-proof. I don`t really do anything too crazy, but I will be doing stairs and two-foot drops. Also, are the inside of the rims drilled or not? i.e.I want them to be tubeless ready. Thanks for the help.

A: The first part of your question would be completely ridiculous even if you had included your weight and all the other pertinent information necessary to begin to help you with this, but, as you haven`t included any of that information, and it`s very late at night as I`m answering this, I`m going to go ahead and fill in some details and then attempt to answer it.

For the sake of argument, assume these variables:

The "it" in your sentence is Lemmy from Motorhead, who weighs (for the sake of this example) 92.08 kilograms.

If Lemmy, traveling at a velocity of 34.4kph toward an elevation with an overall height of 4.8 meters consisting of steps with tread measurements of 30cm each and numbering in total five, were to be riding your Unit (not bloody likely Lemmy`d be on another guy`s unit, but you know, hypothetically here) equipped with Industry 9 All Mountain single-speed wheels purchased at Speedgoat, and built by a guy named Steve at Industry 9 on a Tuesday with high humidity and consisting of a rigid bicycle frame and fork manufactured of a steel-based alloy consisting of 0.31% carbon, 0.6% manganese, 0.9% chromium, 0.2% molybdenum, 0.04% phosphorus, 0.04% sulfur, and 0.3% silicon and welded with appropriate rod, not exceeding recommended temperatures, wearing an 859g fur costume depicting the character "Ren" from the Ren & Stimpy cartoon show and the 294g habit of a nun as protective headgear, were to impact said elevation in a body position that placed 43.4% of his weight forward of the bicycle`s bottom-bracket shell, and 56.6% of his weight behind the center of the bicycle`s bottom-bracket shell, I would estimate that the answer, using your system of 1-10, would be 6.

Obviously, though, the details matter.

Seriously, you are in danger of becoming lost in a wilderness somewhere between Mountain Bike Action and reality, and we must act quickly to save you! First, you need to experiment with tubeless setups about as much as you need to try snorkeling with that Kona. There is no consistently reliable tubeless system for 29er use (so, no, the i9 wheels aren`t made for tubeless) and conversions are strictly for the 145lb racer geek riding in a well groomed area--preferably indoors (see previous blogs about this). You do not appear to be said scrawny racer-boy, have roached at least one wheel already (albeit a factory-built wheel that wasn`t very strong), and do not want to experiment with lower air pressures. Did you know you can pinch flat your tire with no tubes in it? How about ripping it right off the rim when cornering? Then there`s the delirious joy of the burp, when a rock, impact, or just a corner rolls the edge of your tire just enough to send a delicate spray of liquid latex into the face of the guy behind you (not the bad part yet) and instantly drop your tire pressure down to a rock-crawly 5psi (the bad part).

So stick with tubes for now, and, if durability is your primary goal, get some Chris King hubs laced with 14/15 spokes and brass nipples (not alloy), 3-cross all around, to Sun Rhyno Lite 36-hole rims. You can build them in our Wheelbuilder.

That`s durable. But please also type "industry 9" into our blog`s search and you`ll see that I`m using these i9s on my rigid 29er single, and they kick ass. Ample rock garden use, and I`m 205lbs. Do I think you`ll bust them? I have absolutely no idea what you`re capable of, but are the i9s solid wheels based on what we can tell so far? Yep.

Sustrans

On Monday I cycled to Edinburgh and then back to Glasgow, on my trusty road rat. For the most part I used the National Cycling Network route 75. I have had a mixed time with the Sustrans routes. They make for interesting rides for the most part, and offer a good guide for long distance commuting (I had a *big* timbuk 2 of stuff to take with me and bring back) but they are exasperating sometimes too.

I lost the route a total of 5 times. Of these, I was able to re-find the route 3 times. Unfortunately, when it really mattered, after 9+ hours of riding with a heavy bag, on a 48:18 into the teeth of a very strong headwind (the weather was 'challenging' on Monday to say the least: the reason I had not run to the hills...) and I had been riding (with no lights as I had forgotten them) for 4 hours in total darkness.

It was very pleasant riding past Hillend Loch with a full moon, and then as I came into Airdrie, bam, the route came out onto a road in a new development of housing and it just disappeared. Obviously I didn't want to do the last 15+ miles on busy dual carriageways, in the heavy rain, with a gusting strong headwind and a heavy bag and no lights, so I spent 30mins looking for the route. I went down every side street and did several laps of the area looking for where it restarted. Nope.

Bugger.

Of course, if I had a route guide it might have helped. But I'm not stupid, its should have been slightly more obvious where it went. Ach well...

11 hours on the bike: 120+ miles with the first 60 taking 3.5 hours and the rest, well, the rest. Yep, it was a strong wind.

S m all

It is amazing how incredibly small things can have a much bigger impact. The butterfly effect? maybe...

Or maybe it is simply because we are all so used to things working well, and therefore being inconspicuous, that when they *don't* work, we sit up and take notice.

Either way.

Went for a ride today. Classic Scottish, high winds, very wet under tyre, rocks, roots, waterfall crossings on small shelves, Loch side beautiful...

Also was riding the indyfab, and (no sniggering now) the front brake wasn't up to scratch. it felt for all the world like there was some contamination in the cables. After the amount of effort I put in to get those cables routed and sealed I was a bit pissed off. Still, I reasoned, there may be a simple and easily remediable solutions. And so there was....

It transpires that the inner cable 'sleeve', which I had cut at an angle in order to thread it through the stainless steel conduit and the Avid BB7 body, was protruding by around half a millimeter out of the tiny rubber 'boot' at the bottom of the cable stop on the BB7 casting.

When I actuated the brake, the rubber slightly compressed and the angular cut meant that the rubber pushed directly against the cable as it slid through the sleeve. the more I pulled the brake lever, the more friction.

So, I trimmed the sleeve to a straight cut, replaced the rubber booty and BAM! brakes are 100% again.

That just goes to show...take care of the pennies and the pounds look after themselves, or something....

Seven morphed

While I'm about it, this is the current incarnation of my Seven...it is doing duty at the moment as a cross bike. Singled with a 38:18, and a hotch potch of stuff in order to make 700c wheels work on a 26" frame. It was a custom geometry bike built around an 80mm travel fork, but it works nicely with my Rick Hunter brazed 5 piece 440mm a-c gem of a fork and the ever-so-useful Paul brake combo...quick steering, very fast and excellent power transfer.

Growing a moustache

Recently I sold a 94 Kona kilauea and bought a Cotic Roadrat. The main reason was my growing love of 700c wheels.

Initially, I had a set of flat bars and a long-ish (Steelman) stem on it.

Then I added bar ends, as I am so used to my Jones bars, the 'elbows out' position afforded by flat bars is now uncomfortable.

The Jones bars are far too po$h to use on a town bike, so I picked up some nitto moustache bars.

Here's the results:

Bodge

One of the difficult things about using Jones bars is attaching a race number to your bars. This may infact be the *only* difficult thing about Jones bars, apart from the fact they ruin you for other bars.
I have been messing about in my 'garage' for a bit. tidying up, throwing rubbish away, sweeping and putting up hundreds of butchers hooks on metal tubing attached to the shelving in there with screw in circular fittings. This allows me to hang up everything I need to and then some. Bags, both Timbuk2 and ruck sacks, tools, dry bags, even stem and handlebar combo's that are waiting to be used again.
Almost immediately I started clearing things up a bit, I found a rear reflector bracket. One of those generic kind you find on 99% of bikes sold these days. It has an adjustable reflector on an 'elbow' and a circular bracket for grappling whatever frame tube is nearest. The bolts are cheesy cross-head and the nuts thin and recessed in hexagonal, err, recesses.
So - I sat there looking at it thinking it really needs to get binned, but something clicked in my head. Maybe, just maybe I could find a good use for it.
I checked things out and found that, yes, with a little strip of rubber inbetween the bracket and the Jones 25.4mm 'middle' tube, I was able to orientate the adjustable elbow section (once I had removed the reflector) in such a way that 2 holes pointed directly forwards.
After replacing the cheesy bolts with decent M5 allen key bolts, and the thin nuts with nylocs, I had a 'bodge' part.
The next stage is to utilise the 2 forward facing holes and some wire to allow a relatively rigid number plate holding structure. It will be light, re-usable and most importantly it will mean I never have to zip-tie a number to my cables and race in fear of it catching the front tyre, rubbing all race or worse getting trapped between the tyre and the fork (and yes, in a strong wind, that did indeed happen to me once).
All good. Finished pictures when it is finished.

Apophenia

The Middle East.
Oil running out.
Ex KGB agents being poisoned with Thalium.
Muslim persecution.
The West's Leaders a laughing stock.
Public Opinion ignored.

Apophenia.

Dock cross

Just back from Rosyth docks cross race. Great course shimmied around an area of waste ground, car park and green belt. Winding slimey off camber singletrack and 2 steep climbs. Excellent stuff. Its always so good to ride in the least expected places and find it to be gruelling and fun all at the same time.

The race started very fast with a road flat and climb linking us all into the course. Obviously this favoured a geared rider and the Savalas Players were behind a morass of racers. The next section was the technical singletrack, which was obviously a challenge to some as there were men down everywhere. A few bursts of speed had me sitting in 14th or so, with Chris and Jac not far behind. The carpark and waste section ended in a set of steps, that if you timed well, you could just ride the left side of the steps, preventing a dismount and run - far faster.

From here the course climbed to it's highpoint through trees before a winding descent to the car park again. This was obviously a good spot to rev up and pass riders before the singletrack - where it was very difficult to pass. This I managed on a couple of occasions and after a relatively strong mid race (for me) I was up in tenth. I had lost touch with Chris who was suffering on his 32:18 on the relatively flat and fast course. Jac was leading the ladies, despite feeling a little under the weather.

My choice of the Seven with a 38:18 was paying dividends in that I was able to spin fast enough to not get dropped on the road section. Enjoying the swoopy technical stuff, and being au fait with the roots leaves and off camber corners allowed me to sit behind others and pressurise them before quick sprints to gap them. It worked well, and soon enough I was up in 8th.

At this point with around 10 minutes to go I caught the 7th placed rider, and sat on his wheel as he was racing cannily and I could not find the power for a pass. 2 laps whisked by and then the bell. Still I was sat behind and really needed a mistake on his behalf to make the pass, but it was not to be.

At the end there was a little confusion regarding the placings, and I'm still unclear whether I was 7th or 8th. Chris was a little back, but smiling since he had regained his jacket (it was so very very cold) and Jac took the win.

Best heckle goes to stalwart support Player Marty with 'eye of the tiger, bring it home'.

See naegears pics.

IF update

So how is it going? In short, so far, so good. Several good long rides, in conditions varying from deep mud, to wet sandy grit to moist loam. No mechanical issues (which is nice) and no odd quirks.

The steering is gorgeous. Really, really confidence inspiring in technical situations and at speed. It feels light and maneuverable without being in any way skittish. The ride in general is very forgiving. The Moots post does the job it was meant to and flexes perceptibly, soaking up chatter and bumps. The frame itself is also very compliant in the way that good ti frames seem to be.

The parts are also performing well. The magmaa saddle is the most comfortable I have used. A real find. The stem hasn't slipped (yet), making it considerably less of a pain than the wedge type. The rims do seem flexable. Probably not surprising given the weight and width. But no issues with coming out of true and the softness is probably a virtue given the full rigid chassis.

DT - the best. That's all. The brakes are superb, still light and very responsive with good modulation. With the longer 2 1/2 finger levers on the Paul brakes the system is a quantum improvement over the RoShamBo brakes. The fork. Ah yes, the fork.

I'll tell you no lies: I have never trusted Pace stuff particularly. I think because I have witnessed several of their forks being less than durable. And, of course, there is that old bugbear of the British Engineering thing. But: it rocks. Light, comfortable, excellent tracking and looking good. Time will tell..., but so far I feel misguided at least on the rigid fork.

It is a very, very good bike. As it should be, but I am privileged to have it.

Auchentoshan cross

The Auchentoshan cross event came and went this last Sunday. It was wet, it was windy, it was dark and I was liquid burping tequila. The tequila in question was provided the night prior by my very lovely friend G funk savalas. He happens to have a bottle of competition standard, single village tequila. It is beautiful, rich, sipping tequila totally removed from the rubbish used for slamming. Beautiful it may be, but it isn't the best being burped up on a start line all too early having forcibly ejected myself from my kipsack.

Bang! off we go, to the woeful tunes and Jammie Johnson, the ever ruddy MC, and for once I got a so-so start. Chris on his amazing brown humu kona cruiser cross beast, Jac, going for gold, and Dave rocking the full rigid rig were right there too.

We zipped around the super, if muddy, course and the 20m run up was as hard as it ever is. A nice addition to the course was the double gates, a fluid dismount leap and remount style was rewarded.

The rain battered down mid race but relented as we closed, with poor Chris puncturing on his last lap. Odd given the shear girth of his cruiser beast tyres, and more than a pain in the deep mud he rode it in on floppy rubber. Jac snatched the second place, which must leave her well up in the overalls, and Dave whipped in to finish his first cross race in some style.

All good.