The Number of the Beast.

Built. It rides so damn nice its ridiculous...fast and relaxed, poised and sharp. It will be such a nice tool for the job.

So its not a proper cross bike, but what it *is*, is a machine ready and willing to do the dirty on road and trail for as long as my legs can keep it moving forward, right from the door. Mix it up, it will cope. Biomechanically, its silhouette means i wont get anything funky going on when i jump on the tIF to ride proper trails or the pinkster to do some touring.

Exactly what i wanted. As ever, thank you tim and thank you indy fab.

And yes, i used an end mill getting this together...i had an old dt swiss thru bolt rws skewer that needed the nut 'massaged' as it was prior to the final relieved nut they make now.



Issues - how to make the fixed rear wheel i built work with a chainline that sits at 47mm at the chainring sits when the velosolo ring sits at 54mm chainline on the hub. Best idea so far (thank you phil!) is to send the hub to a friendly lathe to have its excesses removed and space the ring out a few mm...

Blammo

Back. Lots to tell, but prolly for singletrack. Will post some Picos thoughts as they come though. Biff's shopper held together just fine and we had a supreme time.

In other news the 'Maiden is almost ready. Only hitch: (i had wondered if this would happen) setting it up to take a fixed 135mm/disc attachment cog *and* a singlespeed wheel with road cranks is proving.....tricky. We'll see. At the moment it is freewheeled, because it is meant to be a training tool for the most part, so it mimics the tIF.

Pictures when done. I am especially pleased with the cable routing for the rear brake...

Me and my man.

Are off to the picos. He's packed too...

Project: Iron Maiden.

End mills are your friend.

----sorry for the bluuuueurgh-----


I have mentioned swapping disc rotors. The sharper tacks amongst you will notice im using a 180 rotor with an 185 avid adapter/BB7. Isn't that a bad idea? especially if the pads wear and then hit each other before they hit the disc because 2.5mm of the pad material never gets worn by the rotor?

Well, it would be, but i used an end mill and removed some material from the adapter to allow a good solid contact.

:-)~ All good.

Thats it...

So, kit sorted, and im packing the rest of the stuff up.

In terms of the bike...i have a total weight of 15.1 kg. The bike itself weighs 12kg so i have 3.1kg of kit on it. That is including everything i am taking except water.

My wingnut weighs 1.95 kg. Again, thats inclusive except water. So that puts my kit total for the trip at 5.05kg, or 11.1 lb. Pretty good, i think, and it is noticeable when i am riding that the bike is lighter. It is easy to pick up and carry, which is good.

I only got 20 mins riding today as i have a million and one things to sort out, so i need to get a little more time in to brake (!) the rotors in, then its tear down and shove it in the trico.

Bike prepped.

One of the things i wanted to do prior to heading to the picos was fit new disc rotors. The shimano rotors seem to have a better feel than the avid stock rotors, I wanted to use a rotor with an alloy carrier so it is stiffer, and less likely to bend, and also as it doesnt have the slightly annoying rotational play that the avid 6 bolt to center lock adapter allows.

I got hold of a shiamno xt RT79 rotors - 180 front, 160 rear. Unfortunately, the rear alloy carrier interfered with the disc caliper. The front was ok due to the greater diameter. Chipps had mentioned this might happen, so i wasnt too surprised and instead fitted an SLX RT64 which has a smaller alloy carrier but a similar steel disc. All done and the end mill didnt need to be utilised as the rotors sit slightly more out from the flange, thus making adjustment of the brake easier.

All good.



Next up will be replacing the rotors on the tIF with the same rear and probably a new XT RT76 6 bolt rotor when they come into stock.

The tIF got an ardent fitted on the front (thanks andy!) and this tyre belies its unmounted size with a pretty beefy volume. Hopefully this will be the tyre for shenandoah...more once its ridden.



Now, time to pack stuff up and work out a layering system for the picos...i think i may have to take something primaloft - mainly to bolster the sleeping bags warmth over night...

Locked and loaded.

Today i finally had a chance to get the pinkster loaded up with the new Epic Designs bags, with an approximation of the kit ill take to the Picos de Europa. All works well. I have a few bits and bobs to do to the bike, then we are away. I serviced the rear hub mechanism, replaced front pads and bedded them in. I did notice there is a compatibility issue with the front rotor, brake and fork. The rotor is sitting too far to the left at maximum adjustment of the caliper. Still, it works. I might replace the rotor, as i want to use the alloy armed shimano rotors but we'll see. They have better braking power, are stiffer and lighter than the avids.



The packs are (predictably) amazing. Holding all the gear well without interference to my legs or the bike. They have good adjustment in order to keep everything snug. Front bag is currently holding waterproof and primaloft jackets, along with a thermarest and the bivvi sack. The rear has a wool top, sleeping bag, gas, kettle, coffee maker (thanks shaggy!) porridge and cup. I will likely re-stow stuff and put a little more in the rear, but this gives a good idea of how it will all ride. The kilo lost weight - from removing the Old Man Mountain racks - from the bike is noticeable. The bike weighs 32lb without water, so it'll be pretty light considering.



More as time allows.

Anja

I am certain a report will surface on the moulin site, but anja rocked to a third place at the "rest of the world" singlespeed championships in new zealand.

Ferrari

My man matt got second SS at cohutta 100, first NUE race of the year. Chapeaux.

Yo la.

At shaggy's stag do, we were talking about family guy. I've never seen family guy, so i googled, and look what i found.

Andy Cathcart.

It is with a very heavy heart that I type these words. Andy Cathcart - well known to so many of you - was killed whilst out riding in South Africa this week. All my thoughts are with his partner Rona and his family.

I am proud to call Andy a friend. Over the years I have shared riding, racing and a good deal of sweat and bad music as he produced his excellent work in sports physiology. He has my and many others respect for his tenacious and talented skills as a rider.

The tales that will be told are many, he lived life to the maximum and will be sorely missed. I'll sign off with a comment he made whilst racing across Scotland in the multi-day trans-Scotland race a year or 2 ago:

"Line? what line..."

So with all this Mackaskill...

I thought i'd bring you some... me. Courtesy of a man i owe a lot to for taking such a lovely, flattering picture.

Next generation trials.

The inimitable mr macaskill.

If you can...go see.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

I am getting close to having all the parts to build the new bike. The frame will take how long the frame takes. Having quite a few parts hanging around, it has taken relatively little effort to get the rest - particularly because it will be fixed or singlespeed and rigid.

Despite having parts i like ready to be used, things do change. When they do, it can make for an uncomfortable transition period when i reach for a different bike. Take my recent change to ESI grips. These boring looking tubes of silicon are 'offset bored'. They have more material on one side than the other. Thus they are both narrow, and offer good padding between hand and bar. In addition the silicon is very shock absorbing whilst being incredibly grippy in wet conditions. What this adds up to is less grip strength required to ride. This leads to less fatigue and less forearm burn. All good.

This may sound like a sales pitch. BUT, when i fitted my first pair i was objective as to how they would perform, and actually quite concerned if i did prefer them to what i have used previously. Why?



Well, i can show you my box full of odi lock ons, oury's and bar tape. All of which are now consigned to the useless pile.

I could show you my bikes, that will all require the grips removing and the bars cleaned with elbow grease and iso propyl alcohol to get rid of the sticky goop from old grips.

Even the time required to fit 4 sets (and counting) of ESI grips is not to be sniffed at. Despite this, a package from ESI arrived with my name on it. They are better, rendering my old grips obsolete. Riding the fixed off road for 3 hours on monday and putting most of a day on the tourer made me realise that.

Oh well.

Then of course there is that age old issue of the saddle. Back in the day, I (along with most other people in the known universe) loved the WTB sst saddle. All my bikes had them. Unfortunately some of the rail materials were not the most durable, and then they pulled the design in favour of a more techno look, or maybe because the original partnership dissolved, leaving charlie cunningham and steve potts to pursue other interests. (Incidentally, it was reintroduced this year - back by popular demand?)

After a while, you couldnt find the old sst's without paying exorbitant prices on EBay. Bam, time for a new saddle choice - across the board. I tried a few, initially the selle italia flite as it seemed the most long lived design, and the most widely available. But the flat and hard shell didn't quite work. From there, the slr which was good, but flimsy. Over to selle san marco and the aspide in both triathlon and normal versions. The magmaa came out with similar profile to the sst, which made me wonder. For a year it was very good. Cue investment in 3 of them. Then the magnesium shells started breaking and i wanted to change again. The zoncolan came out, again looking sst-ish with a full nose and hammock shape. It had plain ti rails (which i have found in general to be durable) and a lorica cover which was also long lived. I have now 4 of these saddles with the last 2 having been considerably more expensive and with what the company calls xsilite rails. I hope they are not a lower priced, less durable alternative and that this saddle doesnt get removed from the range too soon.



The longer you ride for the more important these things become. It is almost crippling to learn a new saddle, and once you are there it is nearly worth stocking up on saddles despite the credit crunching price.

Plus ca change...

BMW

I like. From fixie pixie.

All packed up.

When i started looking at bike packing as a possibility - primarily to ride for longer and see more things, but most importantly to minimise the amount of driving to riding areas - there was a dearth of information available as to what to take. As oft pointed out by folk as able as mike curiak, that is because the learning curve to allow you to travel minimally also helps you travel safely and with minimised discomfort. Not so important in the uk, because over every hill or the next is a town, but worth while dwelling on for sure.

Now there are several websites and forums dedicated to discussion of the kit list and packing essentials. Bikepacking is a good start, as is AK spokes.

I thought i'd run through what i took with me and what i will change for next time. Note: the route was well known to me and the conditions were generally stable and relatively good. I have done a few overnighters now and feel comfortable with less than i started out with.

So: first a picture of the bike is needed so i can refer to the bags and then their innards...



The racks are old man mountain cold springs front and rear. I chose them because they have a good record of surviving actual off road touring, and allow me to swap easily between racks and not racks. They have a high weight rating, which i will never get close to, and this gives me confidence. At the time i spec'ed the bike, the 'rackless systems' now so common and so beautifully made by eric at epic designs and jeff at carousel were in their infancy - a few bugs were worked out and i have a front and rear set coming from eric shortly. By using these, you drop 2 lbs from overall weight as you lose the racks. Once you have a minimal kit list they are easily small enough to not challenge good strong bars or seatposts, wont connect with your legs and arent encumbering enough to through the bike off balance.

But, for my ends so far i have used eric's trunk turtles. I think these were developed due to my requests, added to thoughts that eric had been having for some time. The idea is that there is an easily accessible pocket on top of a roll top expandable dry bag sitting on top of the rack. Stuff you need quickly and frequently, in the top. Sleeping and clothing stuff - in the bags. Stable easy and dry.

On my front rack, in the dry bag i have a sleeping matt - in this instance a thermarest light 3/4 job - folded not rolled, wrapped in a sleeping bag - macpac 400g minimal 1 season bag. In the turtle are a pen, a park mini multitool, and 2 packets of super noodles. Chicken curry and mexican chilli flavours. Try before you eat.

The rear roll top has my bivvi bag and termarest packing sac which inverts to become a fleecy pillow when stuffed with clothing. The trunk turtle has a leatherman, a superlight MSR stove, a small gas cannister (with volume of gas left written on it in sharpie) and also a padlock and cable lock. There is also a plastic spork, mini toothbrush and mini toothpaste, and a guy rope for sinching the bivvi open.

The bottles have nuun charged water in them, but the lower bottle has just water, and also holds a cheeky filter for those HMMMM is that stream going to have decomposed cow in it? moments.

Rucksack is a wingnut. There is no better way to carry weight on your back. In this instance i had a hyper 3.0 which needless to say had a 3 litre camelback bladder fitted, and held an MSR ti kettle, with MSR ti cup and coffee filter inside, with a lighter. There was my spare layer (a 200g icebreaker woolie and a pair of wool arm warmers) a buff, 2 energy bars, 2 honey goo blobs, camera, spare tube, chain link, bolts and levers and patch kit. Two packets oat so simple, ground coffee and TP. All in (separate) ziplocs. Mini Soap. Pump, notebook, keys and ipod shuffle. Oh and a hipflask with highland park in it.

I wore a windproof gilet, short sleeve thin woolie and wind proof endura 3/4. Lid, gloves blah.

Thats it.

The route i took was mixed on/off road and never really ventured far enough away from shops to justify taking so much food with me. In fact i came back with the energy bars, porridge and noodles. I did not weigh the wingnut, but it wasn't heavy. The bike had less than 10lb of kit on it including the bags (not including the racks). Pretty light really.

There you go...

Next time? depending on route: i needed another layer, i was cold overnight. Think that may be it as a starting point...

Destruction

Moulin Homage.

So Thursday i rode up to moulin near pitlochry. It was:
a) a route i roughly knew
b) a chance to pay homage to the new team (see the vc moulin blog for a full write up of the trip)
c) a stepping stone to allow me to bivvi with new (less!) gear and then ride on up to aviemore

All these things came to pass, but the ride also became a homage to Buddy. Rest easy.