Sweet as...the SSWC'10 New Zealand report.

With daylight saving and jet lag conspiring to have me awake at 5am this morn', i thought i would use the time to put a few words down on SSWC 2010 in Rotorua, New Zealand.

The first thing you need to know about New Zealand is that it is a long way away. Unless you live in Australia, you're going to have to be in transit for quite the long time before you set foot on its emerald shores. As it happened, i needed a bit of headspace, so 38 hrs of sitting on planes or in airports was ok by me.



Once i rolled my toyota hire car onto Pukuatua Street it took about 2.7 seconds to locate Zippy's coffee place and a further 14 seconds to order a cup of liquid energy. About 4 seconds after that, i bumped into Damo and Libby from Cog Bike Cafe and despite my total lack of personal hygiene it was hugs and smiles all around. At that point i knew i was finally at SSWC 2010.

In short order, food was consumed and i caught up with the local crew of Anja, Tristan, Leif, Ollie and Rossco. Minutes (or so it seemed) later, my bike was together and we were flying along some of Whakarewarewa forest's famous, buff singletrack.



Created over just a few years, Rotorua's riding is extensive and seriously smile inducing. The elevation is not great, the trails are by-and-large flattering and the redwood forest with its myriad ferns is one of the most beautiful places i have ridden.



Of course, local knowledge helped me hit a lot of good trails very quickly, but if you were to visit, trail maps and local group rides seem incredibly easy to access.

After a fine meal with Anja's dad i retired, utterly broken, to bed. 48 hours+ with no sleep and then a good bike ride in fresh air will do that.

Next day we again hit the forest for some uplift action. Basically a big bus with a large bike trailer would haul our lazy asses up the hill, then we would bomb down. My bike repaid the karma by falling off the trailer and being dragged a ways up the hill, but the damage was minimal and i could easily keep riding.



The only issue was my numerous punctures, no doubt caused by removal of the tubeless rimstrips and replacement with minimal light strips that were doing a poor job of covering the spoke holes.



After, we went down to town for more refuelling at Zippy's just as some more of the usual suspects began to trickle into town. Jacquie Phelan was around - somehow remembering everyones name - Dejay, jake and the Ohio crew were around...



... and Chewie was busy cracking smiles and telling story. Billy and Morgan showed up after an urban bivi at the airport.



No doubt a few beers were drunk and then a few more. Then we did some 'bear racing'...dont ask, i cant really remember...









All too soon, there were chalk lines where the few had fallen and after a very late night pedal into the hills with a spattering of rain i again fell deeply unconscious. I could get used to this!



The blighty squad were in attendance and while they removed areas of skin on the street/luge in town or owned the trails, i got my bike back in working order...

Friday was a bit of a blur. I'm sure we rode. I'm sure beer was drunk. I'm sure we attended the pre race briefing and i'm sure we went to the incredibly accommodating Copper Donkey pub after that. Taxis may have mowed Possums down. All too soon it was race day. The course was some 20km ridden twice and after a huge rolling donut race start that saw me and John dead last (at least before some cheeky queue hopping - all in good spirit of course) the 900 or so riders ran for the hills. No doubt having 800 riders in front of you as you hit singletrack will lead to a little walking but the banter was well worth it. The sun was shining and the trails were wicked quick. Just as i began my second lap i heard some marshals talk of the race winner but i was just looking forward to winding through the trees again. As the heat increased, my water bottles ran dry and a couple of energy-beers robbed me of any impetus. I spent some time sitting in the shade watching riders whip by and on remounting to ride nearly had wee-jOn beheaded as i slammed into the back of my saddle due to an inopportune T-bone from a wandering rider. No worries! another few minutes in the shade settled the sicky feeling....

Costumes seem to be integral to singlespeeding in New Zealand...and there were plenty of good ones. However, it was an Aussie that stole the show just as it was a Kiwi (Garth) who pipped Schnell for the tat at the last beer slam. Aussie Heather took the honours for the girls and our Anja took 4th.



After a last minute ride around the end of the sulfur-belching Lake Rotorua...



... and a blissful wend through the redwoods it was time to bid farewell to John and Joni as they took off to tour the South Island and i jumped in the toyota to head back to Aukland for another 38 hour transition back to the rain and cold of Scotland.



Fortunately, my wife hadnt laboured in my absence and so: onto the next adventure...



Reflecting over breakfast in Hong Kong airport, i knew my time in stinky-town had been a most egg-cellent trip...

Black Owls

It is not often that a singlespeeding musician saves your life, but it happened to me in Rotorua, prior to the singlespeed worlds.

Dave Butler, gracious and talented vocalist and drummer of the Black Owls pressed a copy of his band's new album into my hand, with a nod and a wink i *knew* he knew i had driven from Aukland in a rental with nothing other than the radio to listen to. Sometimes that can be good, but in New Zealand, well, not so much. As i say, he saved my life: June '71 is a great album.

The Black Owls rock. That is all you need to know. I would *highly* recommend picking their albums up....its easy to download, or get from Amazon, but id recommend buying a physical copy - the art work is superb....

SSWC NZ '10, yo!

Ok. So Minneapolis was my first singlespeed worlds, in 2000.
Then i was in Wales for 2001.
2002 i headed over to Downieville.
In 2003 i was in Australia.
I leapt 2004 (where the venue was Berlin, but came back strong for State College in 2005.
Then in 2006, we all went to Stockholm in Sweden, at which time my Bros and me won the right to put the race on in 2007, Scotland.
2008 i travelled to Napa.
The next year we hit Durango.
Next week i will be in Rotorua, New Zealand for my 10th singlespeed worlds.

From what i can tell, i may be the only person walking the planet today to have been to 10 worlds. Chewie is a possibility but off the top of my head i cant think of anyone else who has been to that many.

You'd think i'd have learned by now. Guess i'm just stoic, eh?

SO much to say and too little time...

Fortunately, i wasnt wasting time...know what i mean?

Supposed to be.

I'm supposed to be at the first cross race of the season. But i'm not. Riding stoke is low. I'm just up: upstairs had a party last night and i didn't get much sleep. It's raining. Blah.



So instead i picked up a magazine and started flicking though. Magazines are sort of distilled stoke to my mind. Or at least good ones are. Not like books, too many pictures and often very temporary.

There are several magazines around i rely on to get me though times of low-stoke. A new one has recently joined that list: Privateer.



I know some of the people involved, so it was always going to be special to me. But thats not that unusual. When you've been throwing a leg over an mtb for 22 years on a relatively small island, you do get to know some of the movers and shakers.

But having sat this morning with a cup of coffee and read a significant portion of it, i know that it is a unique british bike magazine.



It is no secret that the team behind Rouleur are behind Privateer. Rouleur is a pretty serious magazine. Road riding is pretty serious. The quality of Privateer is that it follows the adult, cerebral themes of Rouleur, but catches the irreverence of mtb'ing perfectly. It has no tests, no interviews with the latest feather-fringed day-glo cover star, just good, solid comment, history, general interest mtb articles for those who have already cut their jib.



Issue one ranges in topics from the older style of multidisciplinary race (as they all were, and recently have been reborn with the fantastic singletrack weekender), through experience of the Megavalanche, to reflections on the retro bike scene. My favourite? a photo essay on the bike mechanic by Geoff Waugh.



I suspect that if it will appeal to you, then you already know it will and probably already have it on the coffee table.



What a pleasant way to spend a morning. Better than cross? .... maybe...maybe!

A break in the clouds.

Two days of sunshine gave me a window. Saturday saw the nth running of the 'Skull and Crossbikes' series. We met in edinburgh and pushed onto a secret location where bags of beer were dumped and a course hastily routed.



With minimal fuss, we "go!"ed and after 30 mins + a lap of a torturous & technical cross course i managed to pick off the leader with just 20 meters to go -sorry, John! it was hell bent for leather over the last lap and it took 2 Guinness to get the heart below 180.



With a sunny cross race and ride with good friends on saturday, sunday gave me the opportunity to punch it up the A9 and head for Aviemore. The aim was to complete the loop i started a few months ago, but foreshortened due to hail.



This time the sun beat down and gave a marked contrast to the wind-blown snow on the saddle before Ben Macdui (Beinn Mac Duibh - the second highest mountain in the UK). No grey man of macdui spotted, but a couple gnarly old hill walkers were amazed at the presence of an mtb up high.



The snow filled in gaps between the rocks and made for a few nail biters until i ggot a few hundred feet lower.



The descent from Macdui to Loch Etchachan, past Derry Cairngorm, was perhaps the best trail i have ridden in the UK. It wasnt gargantuan tech, but the constant rocks and steep corners, with gasp-worthy views and the effortless traction on the narrow gauge trail all added up to a spectacular experience.



From here i dropped down to Loch Avon. I dont know if it is fully rideable, but i certainly had to walk sections and swallowed my heart after a particular near-O.T.B occurance with a long drop as consequence.

My hopes were high that the trail you can just see below, cutting west to east up the face of Stob Coire an t-Sneachda, on the north side of Loch Avon would be rideable, and take me to the eastern end and thus allow me to take the Lairg an Laoigh, a pass from Glen Derry to the Ryvoan Bothy and back to Aviemore.



Unfortuantley, the trail was just a mess of boulders and loose peat 'roofs' that would give way, and drop my ankle deep between the rocks. With the bike on the shoulder the whole time, progress was mind-bendingly slow and i was pretty lucky to escape battered and bruised but without a broken ankle. Needless to say, i decided to climb to Strath Nethy and follow that down to the Ryvoan Bothy. I knew the trail was supposed to be boggy, but i felt i couldnt keep risking it on the side of Loch Avon. Initially, my fears were unfounded - and the view was incredible.



Shoulda coulda etc etc. It took 2 hours 45 minutes of cursing, shouting, dragging my bike, disappearing into bogs up to mid thigh, wading through water logged heather and just general not-fun-ness to get to trail i could ride - not a moment too soon as the gloaming was all around.

8 hours. A huge mix of incredible and brutal - probably a microcosm for back country biking in scotland right there.

Next time, south side of Loch Avon? Push on to Braemar and make it an overnighter? who knows....

Unexpected impact coming from leftfield.

Im trying to stay away from re-posting stuff you can easily dredge up on the internoot yo'self. But its interbike, and i do get all excited at interbike time....

This is Adam Craig's race bike as photo'd by Competitive Cyclist at interbike...



So, lets get this straight - (click it and bigger-ise it). That fox fork has a ti one piece tapered steerer/crown?



Shit! that IS rad...

Photos lifted from Competitive Cyclist's stream on flickr...well worth a good look.

Weak.

Its been an odd week. Early on i heard about ex prime minister Tony Blair being awarded the Liberty Medal for his part in the Northern Ireland peace process, specifically the Good Friday agreement. Hmm. This is the same Tony who could so easily be branded as a war mongerer for little more than personal gain. Clinton, as he awarded the medal, said Blair "continues to demonstrate the same leadership, dedication and creativity in promoting economic opportunity in the Middle East and the resolution of conflicts rooted in religion around the world". Maybe that is why Nelson Mandela, who knows a thing or two about freedom and cultural/religious conflict was "breathing fire" down the phone to the prime ministers office when Blair decided to partake in the invasion of Iraq.

Then we had the Pope's visit. Glasgow was pretty much shut down on Thursday. Who knows what efforts have been made in London, now, as protestors must be seen as a real risk. Not surprising, given the accusations directed at Ratzinger with regards the sexual abuse perpetrated by priests of the Catholic church and his handling of the church's reaction.

I struggle with the notion of organised religion. There are far too many issues with power, financial gain and sectarianism for me to see it as a pure force for good. Where it becomes intertwined with political machinations i become particularly negative.

The aid for the Pakistan flood victims is another area where humans are suffering due to these messy conflicts. It would be naive to think that the support for the Taliban within Pakistan is not having an effect on the West's somewhat sluggish and inadequate provision of relief. Even where support is being provided, the sound bites and political posturing continue. Who is trying to buy who's support and for what ends?

Who knows.

None of this has helped me feel any less old and worn out this week. Taking part in endurance based activities, there is always a battle to remain healthy due to the hit your immune system takes in the time after a prolonged, hard effort. After kielder i almost immediately have fallen foul of a bug that has had me on the throne for an almost mesmerising proportion of this week. Working in health care is a bummer sometimes. The exposure to bugs is high and it doesnt take much to knock you down. I also managed to trash my back. Cycling is an activity that puts the back in a pretty shoddy position, yet requires it to work very hard indeed. For a long time now i have been doing core strengthening and stretching exercises to minimise back problems. Unfortunately, this has led to a relative weakness in my Infraspinatous, Rhomboid major and Trapezius. Having tried to address this over the last couple of weeks i threw said muscles into a massive spasm on Monday then compounded the problem by going back to exercising too soon.

To top it off, P Phone has fleas. We've tried treating her for them, but getting a cat to do anything they dont like is, well, like herding cats....



One thing that has amused me this week was picking up a bunch of ti and aluminium bolts and drilled washers. Sean at Vertigo cycles will be building another bike for me. Over the last few weeks i've become interested in the weight weenie-esque passion of tuning bike parts and for this bike i'm going to indulge a little. Hey! why not?

Non essential and non shear loaded bolts will be replaced with Aluminium. In other areas, i'll use ti. Components will be picked for function and durability. The aim of the bike will be racing. Pure and simple. It will spend most of its time as a 9 speed, but will have the option to be a singlespeed. It will also have the choice of either a suspension fork (current front runner is a Reba xx with lock out) and a niner tapered steerer carbon rigid. Weight isnt the primary concern but im going to try and run a tight ship.

Should be a lot of fun.

I need to cover this fully sometime...

Remembering a trip a couple of years back to the spanish pico's...



Some snow on the high ground...



Plenty of sunshine too, for an evening ride up to a refugeo...



Then dropping down into the gorge...



Head for heights needed...



But you get some good riding in...



Meet a few locals...



Enjoy more trail...



And, well, more trail!



Not a bad place for a ride...

Metal for breakfast.

My music tastes are pretty varied. One thing i admit to is a love of heavy metal. Simple, powerful, visceral.

Warp Riders, by The Sword hits the nail on the head. I think the thing that attracted it to me at first was the likening of the vocal style to Clutch's Neil Fallon. Not sure about that, but its excellent stuff. Even gets away with being a concept album....really! dont let that put you off!...

Go here or here to read reviews and to listen to some.

Cross.

Gah. Put my back out early in the week. Managed an hour of kettle bells yesterday, but paid for it today. Because its cross season soon, i took that pain and ran with it. An hour on the road bike, fast, into the wind.

I dont know how many cross races i'll do this year. With the baby on the way and with the (short) trip to New Zealand, i'm going to miss a lot of the tight season.

If you are interested in checking it out, see scottish cyclocross for details.

Meanwhile...

Kielder 100 report.

Get it here....

Um. Dugast with Mountain king tread anyone?

Tubular tyres with my favourite tread to edge/enve tubular rims?

I'm kind of twitching with want at the moment...

Mini me.

Mini tools, eh? Usually total cheese. Bent-wire-formed allen bits that dont have good tolerances. Often bulky, or fragile, or awkward they need to work on the odd occasion they are required and if they dont you will often have a long walk out.

So: i did a lot of looking, digging for info and scouring the internet and picked up two minitools that - after first inspection - i am happy to try for awhile.



The key points here are they are small, solidly made, have good tolerances on the tool bits, have most of what you need and nothing you dont. Mainly though, the bits have a square cross section where they interface, allowing much less independent flex and movement, increasing accuracy, feel and torque. Its possible the Soma Lo Pro 8 may not be able to generate enough torque for some uses, but we'll see. I do have a 8mm adaptor that fits on a 6mm allen head that will fill in the obvious gap (that the new Genuine Innovations flat stack II will have i believe)

More as time goes by...

Find/Home.

Last night we went to the Glasgow gala premier of Find, a new film by Mark Huskisson on Reset films. It was really very good. To tell the truth, i'm not really into bike related films. They are fine, but often lack insight into the personalities (unless of course the subjects dont *have* personalities!). Find is insightful. It helps that a lot of the scenery is stunning - from the Basque Country to the Scottish Highlands and the people filmed are some of the more interesting and colourful in the industry: Hans Rey, Danny Mac, Peaty, Rowan Sorrel and Rob Lee. My wife (who isnt a bike nut) and myself (i am) both found ourselves laughing out loud and enjoying the stunning imagery.

Find is a step up from Home, Reset's first proper mtb film, which was itself very good. The scope, scenery, sound, editing and overall feel are all superb. I would really recommend getting hold of a copy.

Here it comes again...

Back from Kielder 100. Mixed bag. Reportage will be on VC moulin. Will put a linky up when i've thought about it all.

Using the recovery (read: lazy) few days left before going back to work to build some furniture, do some clearing out and attend to the DT hub i've been trying to service.



The problem is that the aluminium spacer that stops the 2 cartridge bearings in the freehub 'rotor' body getting side loaded died when i punched the bearings out. I have a newer DT singlespeed hub and basically the spacer washer *should* be able to be moved around (when the hub isnt being compressed in the drop outs) to allow access to punch the beairngs out. But it didnt want to move when i tried. It had become slightly lipped, due to pressure from the rws rear thru axle i suspect and it was sort of fixed in position relative to the bearings. So: what to do? DT dont make it easy to service the rotor itself. The rest of the hub is REALLY easy to service, but the rotor is a send back or replace item. Hmmm!...

The parts box showed up nothing of great use. Some washers, but either too thick or too thin. Hope hubs use a similar system, but not similar enough. Their spacer is 2mm thick or 14 or 16mm thick although it has the same inside diameter. Also the 2mm one is steel so less easy to work with.

My options here are to:
a) cut down then hand file the 14mm thick spacer you can see in the pic.
b) find a local machining firm that will do this for me.
c) try contacting DT swiss again.
d) try and get a whole new rotor body.

None of these really seem that ideal...for various reasons. Filing is unlikely to get accurate enough parallel surfaces for bearing longevity. A local machine shop that will do maybe four or five (for future use) 15mm i.d. 1.7mm thick aluminium spacers? seems unlikely. DT havent proven easy to contact on this matter and new rotor bodies are expensive and it would be pretty wasteful.

So. Here it comes again. I need access to good metal working tools and the skills to use them.

Well, i suppose it *is* winter soon - plenty of long evenings....

Rolling the dice...

I'm off work this week. Really need it. Havent had a break in ages...Of course theres quite a bit on the to-do list...so i decided to try and get a big -ish ride in early in the week and recover sufficiently to give the Kielder 100 a proper go. Looking at the weather, sunday and monday were going to be ok pretty much country wide. I've had an urge to ride the east rim of the Lairig Ghru then drop down to Derry Cairngorm since dan suggested it to me a few weeks ago. The Vertigo was dusted off, a sensible range of clothing packed and i set off for the Cairngorm early sunday morning. The weather looked like it should be breezy up top, with strong gusts, and a chance of rain at around 1-2pm ish. I was anticipating being out 10 hours at least, so an hour or so of rain wasnt terribly worrying.

On the way up the weather came in, but it was the Drumochter pass so i didnt get too upset. 5 minutes later, things went south. There was *a lot* of motorcycle traffic: it was Thunder in the Glens - the Harley meet in the highlands. As the weather deteriorated, the mix of rubbish drivers on the A9 and lots of motorcyclists doing what motorcyclists do meant one thing. As i descended to Dalwhinnie, the traffic slowed suddenly. In the middle of the road was a car with 4 people trapped in it and the bonnet smooshed in. Another car was off to the side and a motor cycle, or what was left of it, was spread over the road. it looked like the front wheel had imploded. Off to the side the motor cyclist was lying in a heap, roughly covered with a blanket. There was no doubt in my mind he was dead. Several motocyclists were directing traffic via a slip road, and the 4 passengers in the car were all talking and moving, they just couldnt get out. There was nothing for me to do, so i drove on. Needless to say the emergency services came tearing down the road and yet again, it was a nightmare as freaked out drivers were pushed to the limit of their meagre abilities to control their cars on the road. I dunno, maybe drivers need to be assessed more regularly or something, but there was very nearly several further accidents as panic set in.



Regardless, i made it to Aviemore with a need to get out into the hills. Life needed to be lived. The rain hadnt stopped, but it wasnt heavy, so i stuck to my plan and quickly readied to get out into the hills. I aimed up the Coire Cas path but by the time i reached the ski centre i had to take shelter. The wind was battering the hillside and the rain was thick and heavy. I was well into cloud and there was no way of knowing if this was just a front, or it was time to head down and go home, tail between my legs.

Regular readers may well be aware im pretty fucked off with the weather. Its sort of pointless, as it is not something that can be controlled, but the fact remains. I stood under the eaves of the ski centre and looked at the map and waited, hoping that the weather might let up. There wasnt really any sort of viable alternative from where i was, other than to retrace my steps and go down. After 15 minutes or so, i convinced myself the weather was improving and decided to head upwards anyways. How bad could it be?

There was some riding and a lot of carrying as i ascended around 400m across the face of Cairn Lochan. All the time i was in cloud, and the gusts of wind nearly knocked me over. As i gained the shoulder of Cairn Lochan it started hailing. Hard. If i got cold enough now, i was in trouble, so i sheltered as best i could in a cleft rock. After 5 minutes, it was decision time. Mountain craft is an interesting term. I suspect really it means the mix of common sense (which, of course, isnt) and experience. I knew heading up was isolating me in big mountains in big weather in cycling shorts and a windtex jacket. But i couldnt wait any longer: there was no way i could tolerate being as cold as i was. I had to move either upwards in the hope the weather settled, or downwards and admit defeat. Upwards it was.



Part of my decision was that the combo of strong wind and hail meant facing into the weather (ie heading downwards) was going to be painful. After about another 50m or so vertical gain, i found myself on the east edge of the Lairig Ghru. the weather was being deflected by Creag An Leth-choin and though visibility was little over 5m i decided to push on. The path was great fun to ride. Rocky, lite-technical, absorbing riding. As i started to descend down to a saddle before the bulk of Ben Macdui, i realised that i needed to turn back. There was no way the weather was good enough to descend down to Derry Cairngorm, with any chance of making it back out. Therefore, i needed to turn around post haste and deal with the headwind and rain/hail.



When i Stopped for 2 minutes to cover my face in a makeshift balaclava (thank you buff) i was almost immediately cold. Shit. This was not good. Back to the edge of Coire An Lochain i coped, mainly because i didnt have to use my fingers. But the descent down to the ski hill was steep and aggressive riding. As soon as i stuck a finger on the brake lever it froze and became as useful as a stick of wood. 3 times i went over the bars on the way down that trail. But i needed to ride to drop fast. At a degree for every 100 feet or so i was in dire need of lower altitude. As i got to the Ski centre the rain upped the ante and i was soaked in seconds, but i was more sheltered and after a quick massage i began to get feeling back into at least some of my digits. My toes were gone, and my little and ring fingers were still useless.



I headed off down to Glenmore, with white noise in my head. Another bastard of a day. Then i remembered the path via the Chalamain Gap up to the top of the Lairing Ghru, which would allow me to take the Vertigo down one of the premier descents in this part of the world. A handful of skittles, peanut m&m's and honey roasted macadamias as the sun finally came out and the world didnt seem such a dark and violent place. A climb past a herd of reindeer (with an albino amongst them) got me to the bottom of the Chalamain Gap in good order. Initially rideable, the gap is primarily a scramble. The rocks are large and loose. Lots of movement under foot, so i was cautious.



No one wants to break an ankle or worse up here. The other side was very, very boggy, but afforded a beautiful view into the Lairig Ghru. A couple of bedraggled walkers were making their way out of the pass, all talking of the hideous hail they had endured. Water flowed freely down the level section of the Lairig Ghru, but as i reached the descent down to Piccaddily everything clicked for a brief 5 minutes. The Vertigo sailed the roots and ripped the corners on the singletrack high above Allt Druidh. Several times the Panaracer Rampage was outgunned by the slick roots and i whipped sideways, but the bike just dug in. It was a truly sweet descent.



It was a foreshortened day with only 6 hours in the hills but the bad weather left me happy to find the car. Yet again i found myself cursing that i wasnt handed a meteorological break. I will gladly sell this slightly used soul to whichever deity controls the Scottish weather.

Of sliding and smiling.

Was out riding yesterday with the boys. Missed one ride on saturday, as i was putting the 5 speed system together for the Jones. It is a temporary affair, mainly for the Kielder 100 which is creeping up pretty fast. The word on the street is that there is a fair old amount of fireroad, as there surely would be in any 100 mle off road race in the UK.



(thanks to bike love for the chainstay protector! carl had slipped one into the last bag of team kit.)

I didnt do last year because i was doing the Shenandoah 100 which was on the same day - during which i cracked pretty horrifically and was about an hour slower than i wanted to be. A lot of the reason for that was i used a smaller gear than i had previously. On singlespeed at SM100, you either have a very smooth spin and use a small gear to get up the climbs, or you use a bigger gear that allows you to motor the fire road and accept walking some or most of the climbs. Previously i was in the latter camp, but last year i spent several months spinning to try and learn to go as fast on the smaller gear. Problem was i was out of shape and pretty exhausted from work and SM100 was right at the beginning of the trip so i had no time to get myself together. Needless to say i sucked hard. But it was an experience.

I'm kind of getting over my need to do everything-all-the-time on a singlespeed. The vertigo has taight me the joys of not only using gears, but also having suspension. Theres a new project in the works from Sean which i'm really looking forward to. I've been compromising BA to use for some more xc orientated trail and i'd rather keep him meaty, beaty big and bouncy. Anyways, more on that later.



So once i got the 5 speed together i snuck out -despite the mizzle- to try it out. It functions well, but i underestimated the gear for what i need and am going to use a 36 tooth ring. Setting up the e13 xcx in the correct orientation was a witch. I think because i use a king bb which has less material proud of the plate for the chain guide, meaning the tool has very little purchase. Still, got there in the end. the 17-19-21-23-25 sprocket block is a dura ace cassette that i cut and filed down to fit better on the DT singlespeed freehub. If i was very careful i probably could cut some material off the back side and maybe -maybe!- squeeze a 15 tooth king cog on the outer section to get 6 speeds, but its really pretty usable with the 17 and an aforementioned 35 tooth e13 g ring. I dont need the low end as low, so a 36 should make it pretty good.

As mentioned this is a stop gap. The new beast will be a 1x9 (option to 1x10) and will have an even better spread.

I've also become increasingly interested in photography. I've previously only used a Canon elph, which is a pretty basic but tough compact. I decided to invest in a Canon s95 which came into the shops this weekend after playing with Chipps' s90 and getting good advice from him and Mr Makin about what i needed in a camera. The initial results are on my flickr. I was using the bracketing feature to check out the capabilities of catching riders in low light on an ISO limited to 400. It worked pretty well, though the bracketing meant i got some odd shots. I have a LOT to learn, but having a bit more manual control is useful. Its also very useful having a wife who is into photography and can explain some of the principals in words simple enough for a caveman-point-and-shooter like me.



(Hambo at speed - as ever clicky to make biggy and CRITICISE! - i need to learn!)

So far i've been impressed with the results - the camera is capable, i just need to be able to use it consistently.

Ok. Monday. Its raining everywhere. I want to be in the hills. So it goes.

When light isn't light enough.

Damn.