Black box

Just like the mysterious black boxes in 2001 and 2010, the race is consuming all my time.

As a teaser - got a new tool...but what does it do?

Utility

Sometimes i need to do a bigger haul. I still would prefer to use a bike....

Image (and more info) from bikehugger.

Schpeed, ... shingleschpeed

Nice work.

Wheels and breaker bars

I finally got around to building up a new rear wheel to match the front wheel which will be used on the nzumbi. After reanimating the road rat (which got unceremoniously stripped in building up the voodoo) i have given myself the ability to have 2 built up road going bicycles. The road rat, which will be used for errands, going to work and such, has cheap/used/old stuff and is much less of a target for thieves (spit!).

The nzumbi will be built using newer, posher stuff and will act as a miler muncher for when the trails are too maukit for off road riding, or i just fancy a loooooooooooooooooong ride.

I like wheel building. I now dont ride on any wheels i have not built myself. I have built with 3 different manufacturers rims (mavic primarily, DT and Salsa) i use DT spokes exclusively, comps and brass nips for the most part. I use phil, shimano, DT and paul hubs.

The rear wheel pictured i really enjoyed building. I have had the parts for ages: they were purchased so the front wheel (DT RR 1.1 to DT comps to 340 hub) would have a similar looking but singlespeed rear. The 340 hubs differ from the 240 i use as a singlespeed cassette rear in that they have steel axles and are not available singlespeed. This is a shame, as the 240 is really quite expensive...£220 at last count. So i decided to utilise my old favourite phil wood rear hub. Although coming in at nearly twice the weight of the DT, it is big, burly, beautifully smooth and a dream to build with on account of its huge flanges and super wide spacing.


















































Within the hour i had my new rear wheel on the bike.

The rim was considerably easier to build with than my previous DT RR - it seemed far more true initially and far less likely to pop out of true once tensioned correctly. My tensiometer tells me i have a good tension all around so it is either luck, skill (doubtful) or a result of a different rim alloy (possible, i did hear a rumour this has been changed) or the use of the hub. Or a mix...

Anyways, should serve me well..

I also slotted the Hunter forks on trina's bike. Her voodoo was designed around a longer fork than the 420mm P2s that were on it and the geometry should be more relaxed and easier to ride trickier stuff now the 440mm rick hunter 5 piece brazed beauty is in place. With that went an upgrade to a king headset....well, it deserves the best.

So - all we need now is some sunshine!

As an aside, ever wonder just how long a breaker bar you need to remove a bmx freewheel from a well used hub? see the
aluminium scaffold pole in the back ground....?

Iteration X

Thanks to Trev at rockstarracing...titec h bars finish off the beater. Fear the reaper.

Minneapolis

We have a lot of friends there...

http://www.startribune.com/slideshows/rich_media/1344505.html

RIP

When i was an over enthusiastic, serial campag bearing afficionado, and general mtb magazine junky i spent some time working at Williamsons bike shop in edinburgh. This was the only place i am aware of that at the time stocked original bradbury manitou forks, yeti, fat city stuff, onza bar ends, hyperlite bars. etc etc....

A lot of the credit goes to shop (part) owner Phil Williamson for his vision of what was to come. Team Moont always had the best kit.

I was saddened to read therefore that Phil passed away at the age of 44.

Rest in peace.

Read more: www.shandcycles.com

Tooled up

7 men. 4 barrows. A pick up. 2 showels and 4 spades. 2 marttocks, 2 macleods and 2 crow bars. A quarry. Some avon skin so soft.

The course is looking better.

Big thanks to Nash and Dan in particular for their help.

Syriana

Just watched Syriana. Not since watching a portly Russell Crowe in The Insider has a film made me think, wince, fear for the future and angry, all at the same time.

K tree

10 around kirroughtree was a few weeks ago now, and i have had time to digest and dwell on the ins, outs, ups and downs.

Marty and myself travelled down on friday night as the start was early on saturday. We were to meet up with hamish, chris duncan and crew and then maybe have a beer or two after some dinner, and retire to the youth hostel. It all kind of went to plan, except we got a lock in at the local pub and decided it was whisky time.

It was, for some reason, surprising to find ourselves locked out of the youth hostel at 2.30am, but luckily i had the wardens phone number in my phone and as no one would let us in after banging on their windows ("err, I'm not really sure i should let you in, i mean, i don't know you...."), it had to be used.

A short sleep and up and at em.

Arriving at the kirroughtree visitors centre, it was clear No Fuss had all the bases covered, with excellent food, coffee, marquee coverage, screens showing stuff, a wifi area for instant position download and very organised parking, staff and even a small bike mechanic/shop area.

The race started with a police car lead out. The torrential (and i mean *heavy*) rain of the night before had precluded the ride out from Newton Stewart. At the top of a tarmac climb it was all systems go and the usual british enduro crowd revved their baggies and 4" travel all mountain bikes to the max, breaking for the front. It has always been a bugbear of mine that the vast majority of racers at these events (and i do mean to differentiate from those who are enjoying the completion of such rides and the 'racers') insist on battering to the front only to block those who have a realistic chance of doing well. Its harsh, but definitely true, that some folk need to be more honest with themselves and fairer on others at these things.

Still, some high rev overtaking after the initial blockage at the start of the singletrack put me (i think) in top ten-ish. The course rocked hard. After the initial ride out, the course started with a short singletrack tree-canopy, root and rock climb, to a short section of fire road, then a duck along some hardcore whoops to another short fire road connector, then a super slidey, new cut steep drop and an old forest road climb. This continued for some time, levelled then led to a super fun decent on narrow gauge through the trees with rock drops and natural kickers and berms. The next section was the revelation. A long singletrack, technical climb. This is rapidly becoming a favourite for me. Only the other day someone said how strange it was to be sessioning a technical climb, but why not? it is how chris, marty and me learned to ride.

Following popping out onto the fire road for a last climb, a rolling singletrack section led to another steep slider with a sharp right turn onto off camber, wet rock, more rollers and a final supreme singletrack, dipping and snaking full speed/no braking required decent to the finish area.

So back to the race. As i pushed it along the roller sections on lap one *bang!*. I had dropped my chain...Quickly i dismounted and replaced it, but i thought it was a bit odd, as i have never dropped a chain on my IF before. Immediately the same happened again. On closer inspection one side plate had been forced off the pin and the chain was in essence broken.

Oddly, I had looked in my mini wingnut pack and found i had forgotten to pack the spare 9 speed quick link only that morning. But i wasn't too worried, as, yup! id never broken a chain...

Bah!

So, i got to work with the chain tool, knowing full well it was probably a lost cause as it was a xt/ultegra 9 speed chain so you need special joining pins. My mind went back to mountain mayhem where i heard a weird crunch from the drive chain...i wonder if this had caused some damage, but it is all academic now. People i know passed (chris d, marty, alison rushton) all offering help and bits but there was nothing compatible, so i had to leg it back to the start finish area and pick up a new chain, fit it and get going again. The morale took a beating and i almost folded.

Then for the first time this year, i looked inside and found some steel. I promised myself once id never give up another mountain bike race after giving up in exasperation at a 6 hour Trek mud madness thing where we were literally towing our bikes for near 5 km around a very messy drumlanrig.

So, i knuckled down, and started trying to chase.

Somewhere i have my lap times and the first 2 laps after this were pretty quick. I reeled in some riders, and despite the 40 minute loss, ended up around 27th solo after 3 laps. Then i started paying for the lack of base miles this year...the rain came on and the course started to become more draggy. Although there were no major climbs, my 58" gear led to some pain in the lower back and tired hams as i kept trying to force the pace.

Lap by lap i gained but i knew i was never going to get the finish i wanted as we approached the 10 hour mark. In saying that 16th overall solo, and 13th in my class ain't bad...it just has a tinge of disappointment in that it was the one race other than finale i was focused on this year as i am doing no meridas, and probably on account of sswc, few other events from now on.

However, it was really good to see i still have some sort of competitive core when it comes to these things. It was nice to dig deep and find something there...although it is becoming increasingly apparent to me that this year, i have more of an urge to ride in beautiful places, beautiful weather, on new trails with lovely people, than to hammer my body in the forge of enduro racing. Maybe touring really is the way forward.

We'll see.

Fortune

I am lucky enough to call the organisers of the sswc 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 friends. All, at some point, have suggested it would be good to put on in scotland.

This is true, and it will indeed be good.

In addition they have all said it will be tough work. For a race that seems to be free form and random, there has been (i suspect in all cases) an incredible amount of organisation underneath the surface. Our race is no different.

In saying that, as i sit here, tapping away, orgainising, thinking, scheming and worrying, i cant help but smile. I heard today from nick sande of surly and yesterday from jimbo of state college.

It is coming, soon, the time we get (ok, maybe not me...!) to sit, yap, ride and have a beer, somewhere new, meet new folk and just enjoy cycling culture....


phot credit Pete Laing, trail builder of the highest order.

Wolfhound...

Some interesting thoughts and pictures. (pic is frame owners, jn carpernter)

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=3326823

http://www.frameforum.net/forum2/index.php?showtopic=4593

http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181922&page=6

Update

Perseverance is something i seem to be lacking this year. Or maybe its just all the million and one things that are going on - meaning i am struggling to focus on any one thing. Dunno.

The house looks like a bomb site, literally. lots of building work, which is (yup! you guessed it!) taking much longer than initially anticipated. Lots of thought and fussing, and the imminent need of lots of action regarding the sswc...it'll be fine, as long as we do our work...and it's that stage where we need actual physical results instead of concepts and plans.

But it was sunny today so having struggled slightly at Kirroughtree (which i am going to procrastinate on typing any more about, as i want to do a longer write up---it was interesting on a number of levels) i felt i needed to get some miles into my legs. With all the rain recently, a road ride seemed like the thing so i saddled up on the Nzumbi and headed out of Glasgow. The route took me to Strathblane, then Drymen, and from there to Tarbet along Loch Lomond side and over to Arrochar, down to Faslane and Helensburgh and back to Glasgow. Pretty much 90 miles. A headwind on the way out and sunshine and a tail wind on the way back suited the 48:18 well...a good spin and constant smooth peddling with just one meaty climb past an enormous, humming navy ship sitting being refuelled in the shadow of Ben Arthur.

The Faslane 365 crew were just up, cooking and shuffling about as i rolled past...an odd juxtaposition compared to the 3 rows of razor wire, cctv and dogs on the other side of the road.

I had originally planned a bigger route, but wanted to go down the coast section and also my digestive system has been a bit, err, boisterous today so i felt the need to be heading back to civilisation rather than further towards the highlands. A beautiful day.

10 at Kirroughtree

10 hour race at kirroughtree this week end. It was good. The rain was heavy the days before but the trail seemed to shrug it off.

Full story soon, but 16th, 8 laps (errr, 122 km) 4080m climbed...pretty happy, but there are stories to tell.

More shortly, off to see a strange glowing globe that has just been sighted in th sky.

Telly rocks.

Whats it all about, eh?

blogshares.com/


Anyone care to enlighten me as to what this means?

Went for a ride - finally

A ride through the trees above Edinburgh, Pentland hills, in pictures.

Homeless

Back from Mayhem and we have been homeless now for 2 weeks. We have been living out of a bag (each) and a coffee machine in the car. We have been having the bathroom 'done', which means walls down, floor up, new joists, plaster, ceiling, window, electrical supply and lights. Its something we didnt really think about in depth, but put the toilet out of action for any length of time and you just cant live there. Because the floor has need to be replaced (rather than just lined), the toilet couldnt be plumbed in. Then we found we didnt have the pipe that links the cistern to the toilet. A special diameter (from 50-44mm) it seems. Sound familiar?

"A dura ace itso bit m 666 flange sir? otherwise the bike will never work again? (whistles)...not sure you will ever get one..."

What else? being hammering it at the gym. Which is doing my head in. The rain at the moment would put Noah off....the trails are either under water or are just damage...to them and bike. It just is miserable. Its even force me to buy a new piece of clothing. Yes. Forced.

A Pearl Izumi vagabond jacket. Nice piece of kit, water resistant, wind proof, but zip off sleeves (both together) so you have a gilet and minimal stuff to store if you need to divest yourself of part of the layer....good stuff.

Moved up a 'level' at the kettlebells. Pressing and snatching and polish get ups are now solidly in the 20kg bracket, which is good, and the recovery is excellent. Running and 1 hour long blasts on the town bike to fill in gaps between deluges. All in a last ditch attempt to regain some form for 10 around kirroughtree. Im looking forward to it. Losing the Meridas from my schedule has left a larger vacuum than i had anticipated. I need an aim, a goal. otherwise i think i can kiss my season good by. We'll see.

Harlan Price has been putting his if/lefty to good use hammering the Super d races....i have added his blog, which is a good read...just goes to show a good rider can easily make up for not having 4" rear travel...

Ok. Off to drink coffee. On a related note, i now have the solis crema up and running and bought a Reg Barber Maple tall, c flat, tamp in order to really start turning out a decent cup o' joe.

Want some?


(photo courtesy of martysavalas)

mountain mayhem x

So we trundled down to Ledbury for mountain mayhem X. Ten years since we sat huddled in wet tents, around a pile of debris once recognisable as bicycles, with a developing and now permanent aversion to eddie izzard. We joined the usual suspects at hecklers corner and after chris presented us with our new Telly Savalas overalls (ace work) we hit the beers and turned up the chat meter. Seems for some this got a little out of hand as an intruder raged into our campsite and started pushing one of our number around as he couldnt get to sleep on account of our impromptu fire work display.

I dont know. Is the joke wearing thin? how far do we have to camp from the 'serious' folk to behave as we please (ish).

After a relatively dry evening the morning brought rain and the trails barely had time to (sort of) dry out before the start. The event was huge and as we were camped in a corridor of the course, we had an epic time heckling and jeering at friends and unknowns both. Megaphones in full effect, with the cardboard jump of doom and the offering of bloody marys (courtesy of biff) i think we did it right.

Telly was taking a year off more serious racing and our numbers this year were the full complement of 5. Albeit in a 4 man team. Still, precious few laps were done before we decided to call it a day (with a last shout of 'lights are for pussies' from one of our number as he sped off to complete a dusk lap with no lights. Good job we did head to our kip sacks, as the rain really started to get going and it was clear the forecast for biblical downpours wasnt going to avoid us.

Sunday morning was pretty hideous, though a couple of laps were done. Better was the football and bottle rocket shenanigans with the bacon boys and toby after the race was done.

All in all, great fun...emotional even...

Sloth

Hmm. Actually went for a bike ride today, down to drumlanrig.

1st: i was a mess. Not sure if im viral, or just tired/unfit, but turning the pedals was a chore and a half today. Managed 2 laps of the red~black route, which is always entertaining and the roots and rocks and twists and turns didnt fail to keep me on the edge after 2 days+ solid rain. Pretty disappointed in my form. Or lack of it...there is of course a solution to that. Drink less beer, sleep more and ride more. Simple.

2nd: I utilised the Thule 545-1 wheel holders today. Much easier than everything in boot, and much less air resistance than an entire bike on roof. Ace. The carriers needed modified though, as they are all made for front wheels, so a bit of judicious filing and painting and a good bit of brute force to widen to 135 mm and its a good'un.

3rd: Put the first miles on the maxxis cross mark on the rear. Seem good, better climbing traction than anticipated, pretty good cornering/lean, light, slef clearing except in real goop, and very decent braking.


Ok.


Because im interested, heres a link to the Great Divide Race. I reckon it may end in a new fast time. We'll see. Dave Nice may well be the first fixed to finish too, hopefully. Best of luck one and all.

SSUK v shaggy & mel

Last weekend we made the drive to Bristol where we were treated to fine weather, fine beer and cider, fine riding and exemplary organised but super chilled racing at the ssuk version shaggy and mel. BIG hugs to all those who threw in so many prizes and so much effort to allow all the derelicts to have a great time and walk away with schwag, a few bruises and a massive smile.

The riding down there is very good, and buttcombe beer is pretty much the best i have ever tasted...possibly with too much gusto as i managed to sleep through the race. Ach well, it did nothing to reduce my grin at all the funny goings on...especially this...




(photo pinched from CC)