I'm Off the Fence

I've been on the fence this fall about whether or not to do a couple of cyclocross races. I've done a few in the past and kind of enjoyed it. A very different style of riding than I usually pursue. The local series is little too serious for my taste, pretty much just road racing on grass. I wish there were more hand up's and guys in skirts.

I'm going to let this video seal the deal for me. I'll still go hang out at some of the races, but I don't think I'm going to pay $ to ride.

Back in the Stable

GSC brought the Dummy back home today.



He had his Kona cross bike loaded on the bike so he could get himself back home

Two Days, Two Bikes

'tis the season.

Two days in a row I got messages to the effect of "got a new bike, mind if I drop by?"

Saturday LO'L swung by with a sweet Kona Major Jake he scored off of Craigslist. He already owned a Jake, but the new bike is a lot lighter with a few carbon bits and bladed spokes.
We did a quick brake job and went out for a rally in the valley.


Then Sunday afternoon Cousin RyeN came over with his long awaited Salsa Fargo. Salsa did a fine job with this rig. Comfy and utilitarian are traits I can definitely appreciate. And Cousin RyeN certainly seemed to enjoy ripping around on it.

Been Needing That

Life's been hectic, winter is coming.
I put in some overtime in the library this afternoon, then rolled home for some dinner and family time. Got a text mid ride that Mrs. BikewRider was out shopping.

Decided it was a good time to take the long way home. Threw a new tire on the back of the crosscheck the other day and hadn't had it on dirt yet. Cousin RyeN got a flat on an old WTB tire early in a night ride this week. We were close to home and hadn't hit the trails yet so we made a quick bike swap and cruised around the woods in the dark on SS 29ers. but I digress.

image from jupiterimages.com

Today peeled off course a few minutes from home and did a quick lap around one of my favorite little loops in town. The leaves are all down, shaping trails that are often wider than I prefer into neat little ribbons of singletrack. Wound along the creek for a bit, then cruised towards home in the fading daylight. The setting sun glowed through the tops of the naked trees, and rode faster than I ought through the dusky woods.

Got home happy. Nose running, limbs chilly, torso toasty. Dinner is on the stove waiting for Mrs. and Baby BikewRider to get home.

-Bike wRider

$0.02 on a Cross Check

A buddy in the southern hemisphere sent me a message the other night (morning for him I guess) and said he was looking at getting a new cross bike and wondered how I liked my Surly CrossCheck. I realized my response might be worth sharing here, so here it is:

I love my cross check! I could go on and on about it, but I'll boil it down to I love it. If you want me to rave on and on let me know, I'm more than happy to do so.

Previous set up: Single speed studded.

I've run it singlespeed, fixed and currently I've set it up nice and tall with flared drop bars (On One Midge) and STI brake lever/shifters. It is super comfortable and can rally off road.

My only caveat is with the fork. If it weren't such a great fork I'd swap it for something else. It has a nice smooth ride, and handles superbly, but for some reason it is prone to excessive squealing/shrieking. Some kind of tuning fork, vibration issue when you apply the brakes. EXtreme toe in can quiet it for a while, but only temporarily. I've tried a few things, but I'm thinking of getting a brake bridge for it and see if that helps.
The new forks have rack eyelets on them, so you could just slap front rack on there and hopefully that would kill any noise.

My ideal Cross bike would be a CrossCheck with disc brakes, and I'm hoping that since the UCI or whoever legalized discs for cross racing it won't be too far off.

THe closest thing I've found so far is the Singular Peregrine.

http://www.singularcycles.com/peregrine.html

At this point if my crosscheck kicked the bucket I would have to seriously consider replacing it with the Peregrine.

Hope this helps fuel the thought process a bit. I can say more if you're interested, and you can check out my blog @ www.bikewrider.blogspot.com for more of my semi random musings on things bike related.

Happy Springtime to ya'

Lest I Feel Smug

Sheck and Allman at our lunch stop

Man, there are some rugged folks around here.

Even better than that there are some rugged women around here.

Lest I begin to think to highly of my athletic, and specifically my ability to ride a bike, all I need to do is look around and my pride will be put in check.

I got out for a long ride yesterday. Depending on how you look at it it was the longest single day ride I've ever done (I've ridden further, and on less ideal road conditions, but stopped to sleep a few hours mid-ride. There were no naps yesterday, and I've yet to find the time to ride a century.) I started the day at a reasonable hour with bacon, eggs and coffee after a short ride to Allman's house. Then three of us set out for a very pleasant long day tour.

I ended my ride a long ways from home where my wife and baby met us with the babymobile. Late in the afternoon Mrs. Bike Wrider unloaded her bike, hopped on and pedaled towards home. I don't know that she intended to ride all the way, but she did. And Allman rode the whole way back with her. Keep in mind that she had a baby a few short months ago, and has had very limited time back on the bike since.

She rolled in just before the 1 o'clock hour. No lights, tired, happy and hungry.

Allman and Sheck rolling along

Today I took the little dude to the local cyclocross races to hang out and watch the crazies ride around in circles. Met a friend of a friend there and in the course of conversation she happened to mention that she did the 100 mile mountain bike race last weekend. If that weren't impressive enough, this has been one of the rainiest summers on record. The trail was a ridiculous mud bath of bottomless puddles according to some accounts. 100 miles is a big ride no matter what the conditions, and a hallucination inducing sufferfest on a muddy trail with multiple mountain passes.

The whole time we were discussing last weeks race we were watching national cyclocross champion Katie Compton put the hurt on the local boys. We were there to watch the men's race, and there are some amazing athletes in the this town. Katie Compton was around this week teaching an early season cyclocross clinic and was the only woman in the men's race. She took it easy the first couple of laps and then kicked it a notch.. Not that she was suffering at all, but she smoked the local hot shots. Definitely fun to watch. Hope she has a good season.

Rolling with the In-laws

A new chainring arrived today from Jenson to replace one that I had blow up on me a couple of weeks ago. I slapped it on and took off on a nice afternoon loop with my father in-law and brother in-law.

Three cross bikes between us, and no tires narrower than 32mm. It typified what I like about riding. A lovely day, light rain to start the ride, and a beautiful location.

We rolled along at a comfortable pace, no one too concerned about how fast we rolled or what heart rates were at, although my brother in-law did take off and sprint up some of the hills. I guess he wanted to get in some intervals.

Our little country loop ended with a swooping long down hill back into town and a stop at Dairy Queen for huckleberry milkshakes before we peddled the last few miles home.

Sappy, I know, but a nice ride is a nice ride.

Tires on Dirt

I've been enjoying life lately. The weather has been decidedly spring like, the tulips are popping up and the riding has been good. So good in fact that I got out on dirt (not mud, not snow) for the first time this year. I got off work this afternoon and caught up with my brother in-law and his family out on a bike path ride on my commute home. I rode with them out to the end of the paved trail and then I rallied a quick dirt loop on my cross bike when they turned around and headed back to town. It felt really good to get some body english going navigating the rigid bike down the trail, definitely different than the lounge chair ride of my freeride bike.

Bro in-law was trying out a new trail-a-bike set up for his five year old, and from the looks of things she was loving it. They even cruised a short section of single track together.

Yesterday Mrs. bike wrider and I got out together on bikes for the first time in too long. At 8 1/2 months pregnant she is looking good and getting some good use out her rockin' maternity bike.

I failed to properly capture the highlight of my day on camera, but I'll try and paint the picture for you. I was stopped at a red light in my truck near the end of my work day and heard the buzz of a small motor.

If you look closely you can see the brilliant cigarette dangle

I looked over just in time to see this guy pass me on his gasoline powered bicycle, ponytail hanging down his back, flannel jacket flapping in the breeze and cigarette dangling from his lips. I was in awe, and I was even more impressed when he blew past all the stopped cars and ran the red light with zero hesitation. The man was a true class act. I did my best to catch up to him and capture his brilliance on film once the light turned green, but as soon as I took this picture he employed some evasive maneuvers and disappeared. I can only hope our paths will cross again sometime.

He twas not just a man, twas a goal.

-bike wrider