Skinny It Up

The skinny anorexic tire that is the road bike has been neglected over the past year mostly due to the inherent danger that is riding your road bike in Montana...danger danger...people don't generally take kindly to fellas in lycra as they ride their bikes.  After having a couple of projectiles (full beer can & full water bottle) thrown at me while at speed I decided the safest course of action was to stay fat and ride the mountain bike.

I am in Denver for a few days and brought along the skinny tire to ride some familiar territory.  I forgot how fun a road bike can be (am guessing it might have a little something to do with not having to worry and fear for your safety quite as much).  The weather held up and provided a couple of optimal riding days during the weekend.

The skinny had been relatively lonely in the quiver and towards the end of the second ride it reminded me just why it is not a good idea to neglect your bike...with about another mile left on the ride, I got up off the saddle to pedal and did some air pedal action.  My chain snapped like a dry twiggie in the desert.  As soon as it happened I knew the whole drivetrain would need to be replaced considering the chain had several thousand miles on it and the chain rings and cassette would be badly worn.

Apparently skinny's feelings were hurt that it had been neglected and it just needed to remind that it too needs some love.  Apologies to the skinny...here is to trying to incorporate the skinny into the schedule...

TransRockies Germinating

After the amazing experience that was the BC Bike Race last summer, the natural order of events was to look at other stage races.  I talked to a few people at BCBR who had done the TransRockies and they also had really good things to say about that stage race.  The idea had been rolling around in my head for a while and a friend sent me an email this past week asking if I was a GO.

It did not take much convincing to get the ball rolling...The TR is a little different than the BCBR in the sense that it seems to be more of a team event.  Solo riders can either do a 3 or a 4 day flavor of the race, but only teams can sign up for the 7 day full course meal.

In quickly looking at some of the stage profiles, it looks like the distances are similar to the BCBR but there is significantly more climbing (not that the BCBR days were light on the climbing).  My hope is that with more climbing, comes smoother riding...if it is a combo of lots more climbing and equally difficult technical terrain as the BCBR, it will be time to climb deep into the hurt chamber for 7 days.

The scenery looks spectacular, the riding looks hard & relentless - but would you want it any other way?  The big unknown is the weather.  If the rain holds off, then it will make for a bunch of happy riders, if not....well time to go into the next darker room in that hurt chamber.  Cold, wet, gritty riding can make a long day in the saddle a really really long and miserable day in the saddle.  Those are all variables that are beyond our control so time to start focusing on riding and logging some miles.

The timing of the TR will be interesting because it will start the week after I attempt the High Cascades 100 on the single speed.  It will either be a good barometer of where the fitness is and more miles is hopefully a good thing....or the collective abuse and wear/tear on the body will make for an interesting couple of weeks on these more or less back to back events.  Regardless, the fear of sufferage for these events should be enough to get me off the couch and on the bike.

This might just be the year I buy a training plan and put some method into my madness.  I have more or less gone by the mantra of riding, and riding, and riding some more....trying to get out consistently during the week and then stacking 2 bigger back to back days during the weekends.  My 2c is that I have not done a good job of doing 'rest weeks' to let the body recover so perhaps by following a plan, it will force me to follow a more regimented plan.

time to noodle and process what it is that the TR is....

Surly Nate Review

The Surly Nate tire for snow/sand bikes has been a relative new addition to the fat biker's tire arsenal.  Since the fat bike space is growing, there has been a lot of interest in feeding the mouth that is the fat bike industry.  With hunger comes innovation.

As more players get involved in the fat bike space, it becomes a good thing for us consumers as we see the innovation turn into more choices.  Surly came out with their Surly Nate tire this year and I originally had mounted it just on the front thinking the more aggressive tread on the front would help to hook up in the snow/dirt, etc.  I had a Surly Larry mounted on the back.  As a newcomer to the fat bike genre I had no point of reference when having chosen the tires.  I did some research (mostly on MTBR) to read about people's experiences/opinions.  Since Nate is a relative newcomer to the fat party, there was not much out there - especially when it referenced snow.

I rode with the Larry rear/ Nate front combo for about a month and noticed my rear wheel kept losing traction in the snow (and occasionally in the dirt).  I played around with psi a little bit to see if it would help but I was still fishtailing with the rear.  With a couple of Nate's on order, the idea plan was to swap out the rear with a Nate but run in in the 'backwards' direction compared to the front.  The tread on the Nate has some nice knobbies on the sides with more aggressive patterns in the middle.  Below is a picture of the rear tire.  The tire is mounted in order to maximize traction:

 This is the tread pattern for the front - to maximize rolling....

 riding through about 3 inches of fresh:

My observations:

• Swapping out the tire on the back of the bike to run a Nate running 'backwards' makes it feel like a totally different bike!  The rear tire has all sorts of traction and handles snow MUCH better than the Larry I had mounted on there.  
• If the tire does go into the deeper snow, it is so much easier to correct and get back on the better snow without spinning out nearly as much.  
• The rear tire did not fish tail like it did with the Larry on the snow.
• I was able to ride more in conditions / segments where I would usually have to get off and hike a bike.
• You have a better chance at riding through stuff with a little persistence - in other words, with the old tire on it, once you lost traction, it was a done deal.  If you kept pedaling, you would keep spinning.  With the Nate you can subtly change body position, pedal speed while you wait for it to hook up so you can keep going.
• Rolling resistance is worse...the price to pay for a bigger tired and bigger knobs is that it feels a little heavier (well worth the price to pay on rolling though).
• It felt like it was glued to the trail when on dirt - hooked up really well!

All in all, I give the Nate front/ Nate rear combo a big thumbs up!  

That's Phunked Up!

What can Brown do for you?  Brown is FUNKed up!

Learning to Share

As a user of multi-use trails, I am particularly sensitive of being a good steward of the trail and making sure that I stop and chat with any users that I encounter when on the bike, or snowshoe,or hike, or snowboard, etc.....  It just makes a ton of sense for many many reasons.  At the most basic level there is the civic responsibility as a human being to be cordial to other people.  As a trail user we all need to get along.  This is usually a non-issue in places like Montana where there is tons and tons of land and you usually don't have user conflict (unless of course you live in the republic of Bozeman).

Every once in a while you run into people who are very opinionated about trail use regarding specific user groups.  Most of the time if people are that myopic, you can generally agree to disagree and go on your merry way.  Every once in a while you come across a user who becomes belligerent and insists on trying to pick a fight.  Sunday was such a day.  I took el gordita out to Thompson Park and rode the usual trails. On the way back I ran into a cross country skier who turned out to be a real jerk.

He was unhappy that I was out on the trails and went so far as to say 'people like you are what is wrong with society'.  I found this a curious statement and a rather HUGE assumption as he knew not thing uno about me.   Apparently he did not learn to share as a child and subsequently continues to live in the fantasy world that serves only his needs.

The irony is that I was the one who laid down the original tracks over the past 2 months on those trails - including a lot of work snowshoeing and riding to keep those trails maintained.  I had also just finished sawing a big tree 15 minutes prior that had fallen and clearing it off the trail.  The topper though was that this jackass was not even local!  He was uber opinionated and his feeble attempts at trying to belittle me went right back into his bubble-land when faced with my logical retorts.

The irony of all ironies though had to be when I got back to the car and realized that Mr Opinion was driving a truck, had parked it in the middle of the parking lot (so as to make parking for anyone else difficult) and had 2 bumper stickers that read 'coexist' & 'at least we are winning the war on the environment'.  Apparently 'coexist' really only applies to himself and his trail use.

At the end of the day if you want to have a 'specific' experience with a 'specific' user group, then go to the areas that are designated as such.... learn to share while on multi-use trails or stay off the trails...especially if you are not local and have not put ANY work into maintaining said trails.. 

Storm Dodging

The weather forecasters had predicted some of that white stuff was heading our way.  Terms like winter storm watch & winter storm warning being tossed around and we were all bracing for the possibility of shoveling, shoveling, and more shoveling.

There was a cold front from the north and a pacific storm from the west that were on a collision course in Montana.  As it turned out that collision happened mostly north of us.  Somehow, SW Montana has dodged and significant precip.  While towns all around us seem to have gotten hammered with up to a foot of snow, we got about an inch that all but melted away yesterday.  The higher elevations got a little more snow but the relative heat wave has made for slushy conditions so the snow bike has been 'on hold' throughout the week and the dreaded trainer has been dusted off to try to maintain some fitness.

In a weird way, it almost seems like a shoulder season where the conditions are in between for being able to get out and get much done in terms of play.  The good news is we have Pipestone that is a short drive away that enables the play factor...so it is looking like a Pipestone weekend...unless of course the weather changes.

btw - weather forecaster....nice gig if you can get it...the expectation bar is low such that people just expect you to be wrong frequently...not sure there are many jobs like that...although I suppose they do have many a variable to try to predict while trying to forecast!

House is da' MAN

some non-biking related stoke:

bmx vs peloton

it takes a little while to build up but pretty classic....

9zero7 Derailleur Hanger

The derailleur hangers fort he 9zero7 arrived last week and I decided to take a pic of the new vs old in order to reference in case it breaks again.   More than anything, I am curious as to whether it will break in the same place.  The good news is the hanger worked and I would much rather replace a hanger than a rear derailleur so thumbs up!

I would also like to extend a big THANKS to fatbikes as their service always seems to be prompt and courteous.  Thanks fella's!

the new goods:

 old vs new....

January Dirt

Another mild weekend of weather translated into another sesh on the dirt for the fat bike.  It was mild enough that I did not wear the 'winter bike shoes'.  I stashed those away and went with my regular riding shoes layered with a liner, a goretex sock and a light sock over that.  The last layer was the toe warmers on the shoes.  All in all, my feet were comfy but was mostly due to temps being in the 40's.

I have yet to try this system with the winter Lake shoes since it has not yet been cold enough but it looks like our fortunes are changing as we woke up to snow and 9 degrees, but the kicker is that the temps have been dropping.  Moral of the story:  careful what you wish for eh?

In a weird way, it is a bit of psyche to see the snow!  It means that the fat bike will be able to spin in her native environment again - riding the phattie in the dirt is super fun but not the intended primary use.

a couple of pix from the weekend fun:

You Can't Handle the Yard Cross....

now this looks like a rollicking good time!

That's Just How I Roll....Yo'

At some point in December I decided to double up on the rubber goodness that is the fat tire.  I was running a Surly Nate on the front and a Larry on the back.  I noticed that the Larry would lose traction on some steeper downhill sections on dirt.  It is somewhat of an iterative process to figure out the right PSI and tire combo for both front and rear tires which is also variable on conditions.

I tend to run a little higher pressure (around 10 psi) on dirt in order to minimize pinch flat situations.  This was probably a little on the high side but the last thing I want to deal with is swapping out tubes in the cold.  Snow conditions call for even lower pressures and the optimal pressure still eludes me...as mentioned before it is an iterative process and it will take a little time to find the right combo.  In the interim, let the permutations continue as the smile factor will also continue...

In terms of tires....an order was placed for another Surly Nate tire.  The tire came in this week and was promptly swapped onto the rear tire in the opposite rolling direction as the front.  The front has been mounted in the 'fast' rolling direction with the little 'V' running for most efficiency.  On the rear, the Nate was mounted in the opposite direction in order to maximize traction.  The theory is the rear tire will be working harder for traction.

since pix speak volumes (pun sorta kinda' not intended, but maybe)....

 the direction the front rolls:

 direction the rear rolls - notice the direction of the little "chevron v's" in the middle - shades for scale

 mmmm....love me some knobbbies

Air Phattie

Just about the first thing most bikers want to do with a new bike is explore bike & rider limitations.   One of those areas includes how does the bike handle in the air?  Since the 9zero7 bike is 'heavy' and not super nimble my expectations were that it would plug along.

The bike does react like a cross country bike in the air.  Despite my attempts to nail jumps the bike has relatively small wings for her big frame.  But....when there is a will, there is a way.  Sometimes that just means that more skill, more speed, better timing, more spine!  

some of phattie's first air:

Humpty Dumpty Derailleur Hanger

Humpty Dumpty took a big fall and the first casualty of the phattie gordita bike is the rear derailleur hanger.  My first reaction was to get on-line and order a couple more hangers so that we can get humpty dumpty back together again.  I quickly ordered a couple of hangers thinking it is always good to have an extra especially on uncommon bikes where the only place you can order them is via the manufacturer.

That is what I get for taking gordita out on the dirt....the first chink in the phattie armor and I wear it with pride!  It has officially been broken in!  I would think this would be a pretty uncommon occurrence when riding in the snow but it does give me a little reason for caution regarding the hanger going forward (hence the extra - and well it is just a good idea to have an extra 'very hard to find part' in the event the hanger is victimized by my poor riding again).

What I found interesting was as I removed the hanger, I noticed that one of the bolts holding the hanger in place was unthreading a little wobbly...There was a moment of panic where the thought crossed my mind that perhaps the threads were somehow screwed up.  After removing that bolt and threading the other one it quickly became apparent that it was the bolt that was toast...PHEW!

pix of the carnage:

Danger Mouse & Jack White

interesting combo of Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi with Jack White on vocals & art from the guy responsible for the infamous 'The Wall'

Pipe Phattie

There has not been any new snow (of consequence) in the past couple of weeks here in SW Montana which has meant that the trails we had packed down for snow biking are not optimal.  Fortunately we have access to the Pipestone area which is about 20 minutes away.

Pipestone sits about 1,000 ft lower and has more southern exposure which usually means it is in better riding shape for regular mountain biking.  I have made a couple of trips out there in the past week and it has been super fun.  There are couple of patches of snow and a few sneaky ice patches but most of the dirt out there is frozen which makes for super tacky conditions.

The snow bike has been the bike of choice as of late and despite the good mountain biking conditions in Pipestone, the bike of choice was still the 9zero7 phattie.  It is more a curiosity about the capabilities of the big tires on regular dirt than anything....it is fun to test the limits on new bikes and figure out what bike  rider are able to do.

I have noticed the bottom bracket sits a little lower and the bike is not as snappy relative to my cross country setup.  This is a combo geometry & weight issue.  The bike weights about 10 pounds more than my regular cross country bike and almost double the weight of the single speed!  It is great training for this time of year but the moral of the story here is that you should not take a heavy snow bike out if you want to throw your bike around on tight, twisty singletrack.

The upside is that the lower pressures in the tire and the tire width do provide for amazing traction.

It was a good day to be out on the bike - I had the trails mostly to myself.  I heard moto's but only ran into 1 other person.  It was a little chilly but warmed up once a guy started to pedal....all in all, a thumbs up!

2 hours on the bike on a clear day - can't complain....

The Whiskey Off Road

too many cool events, not enough time...

2012 Giro

a little help to get through the winter months...some video candy.....

High Cascades Hundie

Just after I clicked 'submit' I had one of those shake your head moments of 'I done did what?'  In order to get something on the schedule this year, I signed up for the High Cascades 100 in the single speed category.

There is a certain sense of urgency to sign up for these endurance events because some of them sell out rather quickly.  Events like the Laramie and Point to Point sell out in minutes once they open up for registration.  The High Cascades does not sell out in minutes buttttttt it does sell out so once registration opened up on 12/31, it was time to get the planning in gear.

One of the reasons I wanted to sign up for the HC100 is because I have heard awesome feedback about the race from folks who have done it.  They say the event is top notch being very well organized and great riding.  It will also take me back to Oregon where I grew up (further south) - so it will be a homecoming of sorts.

The race profile does not look as abusive as the Cascade Cream Puff with significantly less climbing than the Puff so I hope to suffer less on the HC100 than I did that day at the Puff.  The day at the Puff will go down as the most I have ever suffered on a bike for a combination of reasons.  It was a brutally hot and humid day which led to dehydration for me.  There was a lot of climbing....I was dealing with a gout flare....ok ok, enough excuses - it was just a long day in the saddle and it will be good to try to atone for damage it did to my ego!

I am thinking that the combination of being on the new singlespeed and less climbing should prove to be a better mix.  Regardless, it will STILL be a long day in the saddle with a lot of suffering.  That fear of suffering is what will drive the training - there is nothing like fear as the great motivator.

New Year's Day Ride

What better way to bring in a New Year than a good old bike ride?  We met up with a small crew at Pipestone for the annual New Year's Day ride.

It was my 4th day in a row of riding outside (bear in mind this is Montana in winter) so I was curious to see how the legs felt after the prior 3 days of getting worked.  The little bonus for the day was that the legs felt decent - The joy of being outside riding (as opposed to spending time on a trainer indoors) more than offset  the heavy bike and potentially heavy legs.

The conditions at Pipestone were surprisingly good!  There was not a lot of snow on the ground, and the sections that had puddled up or snowed up were frozen so the traction was relatively good.  You did have to stay on the alert for the renegade ice patches that kept you aware and ready to compensate for the start of the ice slide.

We took the phatties out and I came away pretty impressed with how well the fat tires did in the dirt.  You could really rail the berms and corners as the big rubber just ate it all up.  I was concerned about running low pressure on the tires on the dirt but fortunately there were no pinch flats.  The bike definitely showed its weight when going up-hill.  There were some short punchy climbs that the legs got a little punished but I kept thinking about the reward of the downhill and how it was just good training.

As usual, we explored some new trail out at Pipestone and were pleasantly rewarded with some killer views that looked south towards the Highlands and the Tobacco Roots.  Regardless of how much riding I do in Pipestone, I always...repeat, always find new trail.  There are hundreds of miles of trail out there - much of it made up of shorter loops and it turns into a huge maze of looping trails that loop off each other, back into each other, around each other, rinse...repeat....you get the idea....The good thing is that it is always relatively easy to tell where you based on the 2 roads that make up 4 corners in the Pipestone area.  When you get dumped out on a road, you can always gauge your whereabouts by looking for the Tobacco Roots or the Highlands ranges.

All in all, it was a good day to be out on the bike.  The temps were decent (hovered in the 30's and popped into the 40's for a bit).  The trails were pretty tacky (with the exception of the icy spots) and fun was had by all.

Ride Summary -  just under 14 miles of riding and around 2K of elevation gain.

2012 - The Year Ahead

2012 will be a year of change for us.  It will be a busy year with lots going on and extra effort will have to be put in to chase the fun factor.

My first potential bike event for the year will be phattie related.  This will be a first for me as the phattie bike is still relatively new to me and the fat bike event scene is very foreign to me.  I have signed up for the Togwotee and am looking forward to trying something new and trying to get through either 25 or 35 miles of riding the phattie in the snow.  I have come to realize that the snow conditions will play a HUGE role in just how difficult that day will be.

Unlike dirt, snow changes conditions throughout the day depending on temperature and use...new deep snow means lots of hiking for the phattie bikes.  Similarly, warm conditions that cause the snow to become soft is also brutal to ride (hike a bike) in.  Packed down snow in cold temps seems to be to optimal for riding the phattie.  Here is to hoping that mother nature will be kind to us during the Togwotee.

Other possible events for me might include the True Grit in March, the High Cascades hundie, TransRockies, and maybe even the Dakota 50.  This will in large part depend on how our schedules determine availability for the events but I need to get something on the radar soon so that my mind can wrap itself around the training piece.

The other idea I am toying with is the bikepacking idea.  Doing a multi-day trip through the Big Hole area on the CDT and the Maah Daah Hey are sloshing around in my head too....I almost would not mind trying to do the Maah Daah Hey trail in a day if I can figure out the support angle and just what that might entail in terms of sag/water availability, logistics, etc...all food for thought.

With the New Year comes lots of possibilities - now, to make some of those happen....

2011 Year In Review

2011 was packed with lots of adventure for us. We were lucky enough to explore some new trail, ride some new events, ride some local (and not so local favorities), and even add a couple of toys to the bike stable.

The biking highlight for me had to be the BC Bike Race. It was unquestionably the coolest and most unique thing I did on a bike this year. Each stage had its unique feel and we got to do that for 7 days in a row! The riding was anything but easy with some very technical riding through some amazing terrain. The stages wupped on you until you were off the bike and had a chance to reflect about the highlights of the day. All in all it was an amazingly well organized event that fielded a super diverse group of riders from all of the world. 

The other highlight was the combination of new dirt that we explored. Much of the trail was new to us and it provided for some incredible views of part of the state we had not yet ridden...Some of the highlights included exploring the Big Hole, Hamilton/Sula, new CDT segments in the Helena Nat Forest, & Bangtail Divide trails. They were all serious rides but well worth the work considering the great riding and even better views!

As 2011 wrapped up the world of fat bike opened up to our awareness....and what timing! The snow bikes have extended our riding season and made for a particularly fun new learning curve in regards to bike build and riding style. It has made biking 'new' again. All in all, we have been really fortunate to have explored new terrain and re-visit some local favorites.

The non biking related highlight was getting the Airstream Globetrotter road-worthy.  It had been a long journey in gutting the tin can and getting it to the point where we could take it on the open road.  There are still a couple of minor kinks to work out but it was very gratifying to see the culmination of the last 2 years of work come to an aesthetic conclusion.  One of the last under-takings will be to shine the tin can up.  That will require a fair amount of time but the final product should be well worth it.

Thanks 2011 to a fun filled year, we are looking forward to 2012 with a fat bike view of the snowy trails.