Splittie Prowder Interface

As the splittie season started, it was time to do a little fine tuning on equipment...First up was a quick swap of the climbing heels...time to upgrade from the single height to the dual height option.  It was a straight forward swap from Voile to Voile.  

I saw a Prowder interface too that looked interesting.  It was aluminum and it piqued my curiosity.  I figured I would swap out the Voile interface with the Prowder on the old 'rock mojo' and see if it felt any different.

The installation was fairly straight forward too.  On the surface, it looked like the interface would keep the boots/bindings closer to the board which seems like a good thing.

After installation, I noticed that the interface was almost too low.  When sliding the bindings on, it scraped the topsheet up.  If this was the new board, I might have shed a tear but fortunately it was the rock board so it was more of a lesson learned than anything else.

A couple of quick observations upon installation...the machining of the parts was not top notch with screws and plates not working seamlessly.  It took a little wiggling and wrangling to get everything on and secure.  It does make me wonder about the quality control and more importantly the long term prognosis with wear and tear in the backcountry.  It is nice to have a guinea pig board to test it on before committing to the 'A' split...

The ride proper seemed about the same.  I need more time on the board to come to a conclusive opinion but so far, so good...some pix of the upgrades/changes below:

random artistic snow stoke

You can't do that on skinny tires....

Splitboarding - Todd Lake

I decided to rally for a quick trip up to Tumalo on Saturday for a hot lap...I was unsure how heavy the recent snowfall was going to be and there is not better way than to get out and find out for yourself.  The skin up was like going up the snowshoe highway!  There were lots of folks plodding along uphill.

As I ascended, I poked the snow with my ski pole and the snow felt 'light' so I was hopeful I would not have to skin back out downhill!  That has happened to me before on Tumalo, especially with the NW wet concrete we get!

I transitioned into split mode and was able to maintain enough momentum to make it all the way back down.  There were a couple of spots where I had to use my poles to push myself along but I just opened up and let er rip!  I had to lean way back on the board and try to keep the nose up.  It was almost more work going downhill than it was to climb up!

It was still great to be out and getting an understanding of the snowpack.

On Sunday, a small crew of us went up to Todd Lake to explore what was new terrain for us.  Dutchman Sno Park was full so we had to backtrack back down to the new Sno Park by Kiwol Butte. It meant it was going to be a little bit of a sled ride in to the Todd Lake area but it sure beats skinning all the way in and back out!  All good!!

We got up to Todd Lake it was turning into a bluebird and perfect day.  The recent 14 inches of snow was enough to cover the terrain enough so you would not have to worry too much about downed trees, etc.  It was our collective first time up there and we were all surprised by how good the terrain was.  The snowpack was solid, the snow was perfect, and the weather was hard to beat too.

The runs are not very long but there is tons of terrain to carve turns on.  We ended up doing three laps and even managed to ride back to the sleds without having to skin up!  Good day indeed!
Todd will definitely go into the rotation of local play spots.

Splittie - First turns - Tumalo

rallied to get out and get a few turns in...decent coverage, great snow...good to be out...

Cross Crusades Halloween Cross

After being stuck at the back of the pack for the start on Saturday, I was anxious to get a better starting position on Sunday thinking they would just reverse the order on Sunday.  My group was the 2nd to last to go but somehow we got placed in third position for the start on Sunday.  So much for my theory of reversing position!  It meant it would be a mid-pack start after all the call ups were done.  It was still a much better position than the prior day so thumbs up!

The vast majority of riders were in costume and it was pretty cool to see the creativity of the field.  Some people wore minimal costumes in order to be able to throw down on the bike.  My costume of choice...Elvis!
Elvis was in da' house...or more accurately in the field.  I can only hope that people did not see me as 'fat Elvis' - doh!

The race went OK.  The course was awesome but there was the usual bottlenecking during the first lap until the pack had a chance to thin out.  There were a couple of minor changes to the course on Saturday with the most interesting one being an alternate route on one of the tight corners where you could dismount and take a slight short cut over a couch....yes, a couch!  The couch was set up on an uphill so it was difficult to get over as it was big and bulky, and soft.  The first few laps over it were OK, but as the legs got tired, it was more difficult to be aggressive while trying to wrestle the couch.

The weather was awesome, the course was great, and the riding was more fun than the prior day mostly because I was in a part of the pack that had spread out a little and was able to push it a little harder.

I am still befuddled by the Cross Crusades starting order and results but considering I was not where close to getting a result, it is all good!  I look forward to more befuddlement next year!

Cross Crusades Deschutes Saturday

The CrossCrusades rolled into town this past weekend and it got many of the usual suspects out to ride the cyclocross races on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday was the more 'serious' race day since Sunday is known as Halloween Cross where everyone is encourage to wear a costume or you will suffer the consequences of heckling and harassment if you choose not to.

For some reason, the Cross Crusades and I have not seen eye to eye.  My luck has been poor in starting position and it seems like I spend the whole race trying to catch up to everyone who started in  front of me.  This year was no different.  I was in the 2nd to last group on Saturday (starting position is based on a random order of your last digit on your #).  The last group gets a coupon for a free 6 pack of beer...the 2nd to last group gets a crappy start position and....no beer...weahhhh

As usual, the course did not disappoint.  It was relatively fast, without a ton of obstacles or sandy pits to have to hike through.  There were a few bottlenecks.  Everything was rideable but unfortunately the bottlenecks forced you off your bike as people were not riding through some of the more technical sections...which meant if they were not riding, you were hosed.  Such is the benefit of starting at the tail end of the race where you are at the mercy of those who got better starting spots.  C'est la vie.  It was still a great course and a good day.  I was able to pass a few people but clearly was not able to make up the ground lost before the race even started thanks to the starting position.

I figured the crappy starting order should bode well for next day as theoretically, if they reversed the order for Sunday, I would be in the 2nd group towards the front.

The race itself was good.  I never felt like I could really open up though as there were tons of people and it made it challenging to pass. I need to learn how to get more aggressive on some of the passing lanes but it is all part of the management of the race as there is obviously a ton for me to learn!

Some pix thanks to Kurt!

Ochocos Round & Lookout Pix

Ochocos - Round & Lookout Big Daddy Ride

Trevor and I rallied for a double whopper ride last weekend.  I had done the Lookout loop of the trails that were up for grabs in the Ochocos but there was still the proverbial bee in my bonnet regarding unfinished business with Round.  We decided to double up Round Mtn & Lookout Mtn and make for a nice long day with some gnarly climbing for extra spice.

We cruised through Prineville on our way to the parking area...on the way we second guessed our turn-off despite it feeling 'right'.  The problem was there was no road signs so I had to go by memory which in and of itself os definitely not fool-proof, although you could argue the 'fool' part of that.

Soon enough we were parked and readying ourselves for the ride.  I had borrowed the wife's bike since my bike was still en route from the Tour of the White Mtns in Arizona.  Fortunately for me, she had a brand new toy to play with so I obliged and tried to put the bike under some stress.

Our ride started out along a long road climb which was a nice warm up for what was in store.  Trevor and I kept commenting on all the hunting camps set up along the road as we made our way up the mountain.  We heard a series of chainsaws along the way and figure this was probably enough of a deterrent for the hunters that they might be elsewhere.

We crested the first ridge at the top of the pavement and then the road turned to trail and the trail offered us a first glimpse of the mountain in front of us that we had to climb up.  We made our way along the ridge line until the trail kicked up and got mean.  We were able to ride the steep terrain and switchbacks until it got really mean towards the top.  We were forced to take our bikes for a little hike as we worked our way up.  Eventually, the angle eased back up and we were back on our bikes pedaling to the summit of Round Mtn.  We took in the views and looked forward to the downhill that awaited.

I was still trying to get a feel for the bike as it was all new to me.  The handling felt twitchy and I was just starting to understand what the bike could do going downhill...and that is a lot!

We bombed downhill (although the downhill included some punchy climbs) until we hit the paved road.  At this point I knew we were connecting into the Lookout portion of the ride...Climb #2 coming up!

I remembered the climbing heading up Lookout as much more reasonable (via the Independent Mine trail) and I did not remember any hike a bike.  It was a slow grind up as we crested and eventually reached a higher elevation than we had on Round.  We took in the views and anxiously looked forward to the awesome descent that awaited!
I told Trevor lunch/dinner was on me if he could clean the whole descent.  Lucky for me the most technical section of the trail was at the very top so I was let off the hook when we hit a really sharp and hard right turn.  The next few miles were steep and had consequences in terms of wrecking on the trail onto a bunch of big sharp rocks, or going off-trail and stumbling down the steep sidehill.  Fortunately we both made it through without consequences and we just kept gobbling up the trail that presented itself in front of us.  The descent continued to provide miles and miles of satisfaction and I started to get an appreciation for what the bike was doing.  It was amazing to not have to worry about picking good lines (as opposed to being on a hard tail single speed) and just bombing through stuff.  The bike just kept handling everything with ease!

All too quickly we were back at the car and felt like it was a really good day in the saddle...albeit with some tired legs and big smiles.

ride details below:

Tour of the White Mountains - 50 miler on the Single

I planned a biz trip down to Phoenix to synch up with the TOWM event in Pinetop, AZ.  It is the same guys who do the Whiskey event in Prescott so the bar was set high.

I had sent my bike down via FedEx Ground and put it together the day before the race.  We left Phoenix in brutally hot conditions and the good news was that we would be gaining a fair amount of elevation to get into the mountains and more importantly, cooler temps!  Pinetop sits at around 7,000 ft so the temps were really pleasant once we got there.

We had a great crew who planned to ride.  We were fortunate enough to lock down a cabin about a 1/2 mile from the race start/stop.  This was super convenient as we could just roll up to the start without having to worry about driving, parking, loading, unloading, etc.

The obligatory race check-in was uneventful other than trying to figure out what the real elevation gain was going to be for the 50.  I had absolutely no idea if I was geared appropriately for the race so all I could do was suck it up at this point.  After picking up our packets, we had a beer and tried to learn whatever we could about what was in store the next day.

The race graphs were saying there was only 2,600 ft of climbing and for some reason I was not buying into this...50 miles is a long way to only gain that amount of climbing.  I just wanted to make sure they had not erred on the side of a major mis-calculation to the upside of that elevation gain.  Unfortunately answers remained elusive so it was time to put on the big boy pants and come to terms with the 32x17 ratio I had been riding for the last month.

I had no idea what to expect of the race.  My race prep was minimal as we have been in cyclocross mode for the last month and it had been a long while since my last long ride.  This was going to be interesting...and at elevation no less.

We headed over to some friends for a great dinner to carbo load and prep for the next day.  I had to be up at around 6 so I could get my stuff together for the 7 a.m. start.  It was difficult to figure out how to layer up for the day...the start was going to be cold (in the mid 40's) and it would then warm up, but just how much would it warm up??

Soon enough, the clothing logistics were under control and I was coasting down the hill to the start.  We all shivered at the race start until the start.  The start was pretty fast as it was either flat or slightly downhill on a road for a while.  As usual, I got passed up by the geared crew and I tried settling into a comfortable, but brisk pace.  Disaster was averted a few times as people were getting squirrely when they passed me and then darted right in front of me to lay on the brakes...not sure why people do that?  It is a road with multiple lines...why they choose to try to pass right before an 'obstacle' where they then slam they brakes on, is beyond me...bear in mind these 'obstacles' were little puddles of water...or a drainage, etc...

We hit single track pretty quickly and it was time to settle into the pace of the conga line.  People were still a little anxious and you could feel the conga line was a little nervous as people tried to sort out position.

The trail slowly worked its way uphill and things seemed to somewhat sort themselves out after about 45 minutes.  Soon enough, we were into the alpine where some of the shaded spots still had frost on them.  The terrain was awesome and the trail just as good.

At about mile 24, a bunch of us missed a turn...there was a hard right turn at a junction that was really easy to miss.   The obvious line was to go straight and the 1 (yes, ONE) flag was behind a tree what could not be seen very easily.  Suffice it to say, I rode until I saw a bunch of folks coming back...all saying, turn around, we are going the wrong way.  We re-traced our steps and found the trail we were supposed to be on.  I added on a couple of extra miles but the biggest pain was that we were now bunched back up again!  It was a bit of a cluster again and people were getting their freak on a little as they felt like they wanted to try to pass a bunch of people to regain 'their spot'.

Eventually, things returned to some semblance of normalcy as the field got spread out again.  I blew by the first couple of aid stations but opted to stop at the 3rd one to re-fill my water bottles.  I had been battling cramps since about mile 15 and tried ignoring them thinking they might go away.  At about mile 30, I relented and swallowed a handful of electrolytes but all it did was keep the cramps from getting worse.  I backed off the pace for a little bit and tried to let the race come back to me before I completely seized up.  Coming out of that aid station, the course got mean!

Four miles after that aid station, we hit 'the wall'.  It consisted of an incredibly steep section where everyone was grunting and groaning their way up a steep trail as they took their bike on a stroll through the woods!  We all just snail paced our way up the trail until it finally relented and I was able to ride again.  Everyone was happy to get back on their bikes but the hike a bike always seems to zap it out of me.  At this point, I knew the climbing was behind us so it was just keeping it together enough to finish up.

Soon enough, we linked back into trail that was being shared by the other race distances and things got busier again.  You had to stay aggressive to pass people but for the most part, people were great in letting you by if you said something.

The last few miles seemed to drag on forever but somehow that seems to always be the case regardless of what race you are doing and what length it is.  The last few miles were a little bumpy and it was good to hit the road but unfortunately that meant the geared guys were able to reel me in!  That is just how the cookie crumbles in single speed land...

Overall, I thought it was a great event on some incredible trail.  One of the things I enjoyed about the race was how much of it was on trail.  There was little dirt road so it felt like you had to be mentally engaged or else there were consequences to zoning out.

Post race, we all hung out and drank free beer provided by Sierra Nevada.  Somehow I even managed to place 5th in the SS category so I got a little trophy for my efforts and suffering for a little over 5 hours.

We celebrated our collective finishes with some great Mexican food and a hearty margarita followed up with more beers...

Mr Macaskill...

no words needed....

CX Thrilla

October is here which means that the local Thrilla' Cyclocross series just wrapped up.  It was a series of 5 races held each Wed evening and it was a great taster of getting the heart-rate pinned for 45 minutes.
CX is great training for me since I am usually on long rides where I try to keep the heart rate lower and keeping me from going anaerobic.  CX is the complete opposite...it gets you redlined right off the bat!  The first few races are always a rude awakening as it takes a while to try to ride into CX shape.

This year was no different.  The first couple of races really really hurt...gasping for breath and inhaling dust along the way.

We wrapped up our last race last night and the legs started to feel like they were rounding into shape. It still feels like I could get more fitness gains for CX but the progress feels good.  It felt good to be able to push the body a little more over the past couple of weeks.  There is still a ton to tweak as I feel like my technique has miles of improvement ahead of it...I have yet to unlock the secret beta for mastering turning on those skinny wheels!

This is supposed to be a taper week for me since I am signed up for a 50 mile mtb race this weekend so  hopefully I did not do too much damage last night.

As usual, the scene at the races was awesome...lots of camaraderie and harassing!  and of course a little beer drinking after the race!

Shipping Bikes 101

I learned something new on Monday....the local pack and ship stores mark up shipping rates through the roof!!!

I went to the local package store to ship my bike to Phoenix.  The bike was already packaged in a nice hard shell bike box so the store did not have to pack anything.  They put the box on the scale, took the dimensions and gave me a price.... $197!!!!!!  shipping a bike ONE way GROUND from Bend to Phoenix!!  So it would be another $197 to ship it back.  After I picked my jaw off the ground I asked them why prices had tripled since the last time I shipped a bike.  They gave me a blank stare and had no reason.  I quickly pulled a 180 out of that store and hustled over to the local FedEx facility thinking it might be a little cheaper.  I thought there would be a markup at the package shop and I figured it would not hurt to get a 2nd price.

The folks at the FedEx facility were super helpful and a lot nicer to deal with.  When they gave me a price of $67, my jaw again dropped to the ground!  Same shipper, same package, same destination and it was 1/3 of the price.  Sign me up!!!

Lesson learned - if you want to ship a bike, take it to the local FedEx facility where they won't triple the price all in the good name of markup!

Unfortunately this might change at the start of the new year as I believe FedEx will be going to a 'volume' pricing model where big bulky boxes (regardless of how heavy or light they are) will have to pay more...hmmm, sounds an awful lot like a bike box to me!  doh!  It might be time to start considering bike rentals if prices go up too much.

Vacation - MTB North Umpqua Trail

We woke up in Sunsent Bay on the coast and decided to get an early start and hit the road as we started to make our way home.  The plan was to head over to Roseburg and then find a place to camp along the Umpqua River and ride a couple of segments along the river trail.

Fast forward a few hundred miles and some windy 2 lane road and we found a great campsite that was relatively empty right on the river!  Cha Ching!  We quickly settled in and made our way down to the river where we relaxed as we listened to the flowing water.  We did not have any neighbors in sight and it felt like we more or less had the campground to ourselves.

After unloading and setting up the tin can, we unloaded the bikes and did some quick maintenance.  We were parked close to the Marsters section of the trailhead and decided to ride without much of a plan but to essentially head in one direction and turn around at some point for an out and back ride.

We ended up riding 2 segments of the trail: Marsters and Half Creek.  Each segment had its very own character.  Marsters was a little higher up from the water and took you through some dense forest.  It certainly had some tek sections that were steep and loose.  There were a couple of hikers that we passed along the way but beyond the initial run-in with the two hikers and their dog, we had the trails all to ourselves.  Erin and I mentioned how the trail blew away the Mendo area trails and were finding humor in the best riding of the trip being 2 hours away from home!

The Marsters segment eventually defended back to the river and we decided to take a quick detour over to the horseshoe bend campground to check it out...For some reason those campgrounds were much busier and we realized how we had lucked into a great campground with little traffic.

We returned to the trailhead and instead of heading back we decided to continue downstream on the Calf Creek section.  That section immediately started with a climb that took us back up into the trees but it was interesting how this segment had a very different flavor than the previous section.  It was generally closer to the river and also took you through a burn area.  We snaked our way along the river until the section gave way to a trailhead and decided to turn around and head back..

The return was just as fun since riding the trail in the other direction gave you different views and seemed like it rode differently.

The most surprising of thing to me of the ride was just how much climbing it packed in!  We rode about 20 miles and there was over 2,800 ft of climbing!