Snow bike racing ....... or not

Last week got away from me, in many ways. It seems like since the start of the new year I have just been treading water. Not in a bad way, but I have definitely been busier with work and home stuff, which is the way I would have it in the winter doldrums. That said being prepared is a dicey subject when you don't really have a ton of free time to plot, plan and connive.

So I missed the start of last weeks Cold Bear Challenge Snow Bike Race. By a lot. Like I started 10 minutes after the unicyclists (yes. Unicycles in the snow. You will just have to believe me. (edit I found footage)). I actually asked someone that looked like they had some authority if I could just jump in, and they acquiesced. So I started chasing.

Given the relatively mild winter that we have had this year I have not really taken the fat bike thing very seriously. Apathy would best describe my feelings towards fat bikes. The conditions have got to be pretty bad to make me want to ride a 35 lb bike with 10lbs of weight in the wheel-set. But I really haven't tried it so I will not knock it.

Anyway, I started late which meant that I had to ride through most of the intermediate field. The LCR crew had us riding the Hillside trails backwards, which was actually a lot of fun. After a half lap I really started moving through the field. I was SS'ing and was pushing a pretty good gear ratio, so I found myself really powering out of the corners and on the inclines. By the end of the first lap I was passing people pretty steady, and then it really thinned out, as the intermediate class only turned one lap. The second lap was pretty solitary. I could tell that I was getting tired as it became harder and harder to hold the lines in the snow and I found myself struggling to keep my front wheel out of the chunder. I managed to catch Eddie Karow, a fellow Battle Creek-er, about a mile from the finish. The result was not what I wanted, but given the fact that I started so late, I was pleased with the ride time. Its fun to ride when you have no where to go in the field but up. Plus a nice lady was offering pulls from a bottle of Jameson at the top of a run up. It was 15 degrees remember, gotta keep the blood thin. Once I finished I handed one of the timers a $10, and thanked them for letting me jump in. They even scored me

Here is some of the Footage that Todd Trembley captured from the Cold Bear Challenge (there is snow Municycling.....brace yourself).

So this weekend I decided to keep it close to home, instead of driving down to Rochester for the unnamed Almanzo ride. I actually made that decision at about 0630. Drive 3 hours and ride for 4 hours on icy roads, or sleep in, Watch the CX World Championships, then ride to Carver Lake for the first installment of the Cold Catfish Cup TT series.

So I decided to stick close to home for some Carver Lake singletrack racing. I really felt like this was the first time this year where there was a well defined advantage to being on a fat bike. I say that not because there was any real advantage as far as being able to go fast, but because the wide tires let you be less judicious about where you put your wheel. I was on my SS with Maxxis 2.1's inflated to about 22 psi. I was able to ride just about everything, but had to be so tense and focused about where I put the front wheel. Since Carver Lake is relatively new singletrack it still has a lot of slightly off-camber trail surface, and if my skinny front wheel got even the tiniest bit off the hard pack snow, a washout was imminent.

Reed and the Angry Catfish Crew sent us off in 30 second intervals, based on how we registered. I went off about 10th and caught my 30 second man about a mile in. Even though the ST is pretty tight and twisty, all of my passing events were smooth and I tried to be courteous.

I managed to not seriously pile it up, and did not get passed but on the last lap I could tell that there was a dude the was putting some serious time into me.

I was pleased with that result, but I came to a conclusion. Riding a fat bike in the snow is like being on a 5 inch travel bike on XC singletrack. You just don't have to worry about anything. Its not a big deal if your line is not perfect, as opposed to when you are on a skinny bike you are trying to stay on a route that is 10 inches wide. I felt like I was having to go sooooo slow to make sure that I kept my front end out of the chunder. It was also a little annoying on the 2nd lap as everything got chewed up. it takes a ton of composure to stay seated and grind up the climbs on the SS without the rear end breaking loose, and I could definitely feel my composure starting to wain as fatigue set in.

I just now found some footage that Heath Weisbrod took on his way to winning yesterday.

It made me think of the conversation I had with Dennis Grelk one time about how doing 10 mph on a snow bike felt like you were on a rocketship. Heath is going so fast in this video, its really kind of scary. I hope that DG is staying warm at the Arrowhead
This almost makes me want a snow bike........

Europe is Irrelevant?

Am I the only person asking that question?
I counted 16 non North American CX Competitors at Masters Worlds in Louisville this weekend, and based on the teams, I think only about 5 or 6 actually traveled here. The rest appear to be expats that now abide in the US.
Last year, the state of Kansas sent more riders to Mol, Belgium for masters worlds than the entire continent of Europe sent to the US this year.

I just don't know what to think about this. It kind of makes me wonder if just 10 Europeans will show up for next years Elite UCI race.
Thoughts?

More effective than syrum of ipecac

This made me throw up.

This and more nausea can be found here
Remember every time you pay retail at a bike shop a hipster get struck by lightning. A responsible bike shop would never allowed something like this to happen.
What reeally made me sick to my stomach was ramming my bike into my garage this evening, destroying a perfectly good Yakima rack. The mountain bike was fine. For the sake of irony I should add, that I did have it set up as a fixie.

The company you keep

Cods wallop.
I should have listened to my parents.
They were always harping about being careful who you hangout with.
You never know what sort of negative influences you will be subjected to.
Thats the problem with hanging out with people like Butch.
You get a little taste of the good stuff and all of the sudden you are in a realm of italian depravity that you never knew existed.
I left my jacket behind last week, and Butch lent me his Castelli Fusione.
Holy nuts.
I don't get up in a hot fuss about clothing much, but that was one of the most comfortable pieces of apparel I have ever donned.
I like it so much that tomorrow I am going to walk into a bike shop and (gasp) pay retail for one.
Given the mild winter we are in the midst of, I am not hedging my bets on buying any skis this year.
Sometime in the next couple of weeks I am going to be doing some shilling. You might notice, that I don't advertise or even really promote sponsors on this blog. Its not that I am not grateful for the support I receive, but that in my mind is business. My blog is personal, and is not something that I put a dollar value on. Brands and products get promoted because people see them being utilized. I utilize the crap out of my stuff everyday.
That being said, I don't have any money and daddy needs a new bike. I promise I will not get all dicky on you, and fill this with daily drivel about straps and a bobble head doll that dictates the nature of my bowel movements.......or whatever sort of ascendancy Mike Piazza has over the wee one.
My goal for this next year is to have a 10,000 mile year, which, granted, is pretty ambitious given the short nature of MN's unfrozen state. Brace yourself.

The Aftermath

The perceived fallout from getting back from a fortnight away from home and not cleaning my bike upon returning home, manifested itself in the form of a Jockey wheel that crapped its pants after the great hog wrestling that was Jinglecross......man....that was a hell of a sentence......channeling Hunter S. Thompson.
I have had to deal with a lot of jockey wheels recently

Above: on the Left are SRAM X-9 Jockey wheels. The furtherset left one I managed to partially crush while riding off a skinny. To the right of it is the X9 pulley (filched off the tandem), only to learn that they changed the design the next model year (shaking fist at the sky). I ended up going to Buchois's (french for Butch) local bike shop to get what I needed. The two pulleys on the right are off of my SRAM Rival Derailleur, but the rightmost was completely seized. There was mud in between the metal caps and the bearing seals and the bearings were pretty well packed with mud.

I cleaned the bearing out as best I could, then blew it out with WD-40. It cleaned up really well, but the bearing was still completely siezed. The bearing brackets and what I could see or the races did not appear to be especially corroded,


After a little thinking and pricing replacement parts I said, "screw it" and clamped the center of the bearing with vice grips and used a chain whip to break it loose. after I forced it free I hit it with a few blasts of WD-40 and then hit it with some compressed air to dry it out. By now it was spinning very freely, so I repacked it with waterproof grease, snapped in the clean seals and put it back together. I should also add that I that taken the whole bike apart for its yearly deep cleaning. I also repacked the external BB bearing that I salvaged last year. I have found that I if I can keep grease in it it remains functional. I just get sick of having to cough up at least 40 bucks every time a bearing craps out.

Togetherness

Just Jill did some family pictures for us when we were back home. She was incredibly patient and got some great pictures. If you are in East TN or Western NC you should consider her for your Family portrait needs.

The Old Country

I am so covered up with things that I think its easier to just let the pictures tell the stories

Gaspar got to visit the Brothers Scott. Jake struggles with the concept that one time, he too, was a small person


Brutus and Barley had a budding bromance


Butch would have approved

Huffing and puffing up the north Boundary Road

Recovering from all the riding

Slaving for the man.

The view from my parents farm. If it wasn't for the prospects of abject poverty I would go back.


Gaspar gets behind the wheel

Image jacked from E. Hoesly's Facebook Album
The mud and the Crud at Jingle Cross. Results were marginal at best, but the honkeys from Nebraska were positively dominating. Its pretty obvious that they are taking it to another level. Mod swept the Masters 35+ all three days, but Noah was just killing it. I can remember when we were pretty evenly matched, but He has really taken his game to a whole other level. Rafal was within striking distance of the SS podium all weekend, and finally took the spot that he wanted on Sunday. Great Job Nebraska! But Nebraskans ain't no one trick ponies. Enter the Super Fans.

Image jacked from E. Hoesly's Facebook album
Good times!
Last night I got my old Reba fork converted over to 100mm of travel. Ali wanted longer travel on her 29er after riding my bike this summer.