Tomac Flint 29er SS

New bike day is always a good day. Today I said goodbye to my old friend, the GT Peace 9er. It was steel, real, heavy, and rode great. I traded it for a 2011 Tomac Flint 29er. I also put on an Easton EC90 carbon post and Truvativ Stylo 1.1 GXP cranks. The new parts and the new frame saved me about 3lbs. I do believe that'll be noticeable, and hopefully, the ride of this aluminum frame will be as comfortable as I'd like. Fingers crossed.

The Flint uses AN6 aluminum and has a custom butted main triangle to save weight and to yeild a more supple ride.

It also comes with 3 bottle mounts. Better yet, is that the large frame gives me enough clearance that I can go back to running my flask!
The sweet Bushnell bottom bracket lets me use this sucker as a geared or single speed. SS please.
I'm looking forward to getting out on it. Too bad for my bum ankle, though, as I'm more excited about the new SS than my cankle!

Gotta get back on the horse that threw you

This morning I made it out to Hall Ranch. I didn't have much time so the plan was to take the Tomac on a shakedown ride before Big Fall Ride this Sunday. Kids to school, down to the bike shop and I find a broken spoke on the rear of the Tomac. I had about an hour so I was going to take the full squisher up Antelope, down the rock garden, and back thru town.

With the broken spoke, though, I was relegated to the SS. My normal SS ride is out and back on Picture Rock, but I wanted to hit Hall since we'll wrap up our Big Fall Ride on PR. Truth be told, I kinda didn't want to take the SS up and over Hall since, last time I did, I burped my front tire and ended up ass over teakettle in the rocks. It left me hurtin' for days. Well, when the syrens of the rock garden call, you've got to answer.

I pushed the gear up Antelope and topped out. I lowered my saddle a couple inches, took a breather, and headed down. This time a bit more carefully than last time. Admittedly, a little slower and more in tune with the rigid GT. I made it down in one piece - a clean run without touching the ground. All good. Sigh of relief?

Oh, and speaking of sigh of relief, the "redstone" section of the lower rock garden by the parking lot is in fine condition. The dirt is hard packed and you can hit the corners hard. Much, much better than the old off camber gravel version.

Feeling tired and fatigued, I thought that a singlespeed ride at Hall Ranch would be just the ticket. I was fortunate enough to hook up with Chefrog for a little AM ride time.

The critters were out in force on the Nelson Loop.
The ONLY real moisture at Hall. It can rain now. It's dry and dusty enough that rain ought to make it perfect.
Tuesday ride is 5:30pm at the shop, weather providing. I will not be your ride leader tonight so where you go is up to you. So long as you end up at OB. I'll be there :)

Nordique

We went nordic style again for our last Tuesday ride of the non DST era. To say it was good would be a major understatement. It was fantastic. The freeze/thaw cycle has started at least a little bit on Buchanan Pass. That translates into harder, faster, and more packed in snow. Again, we made it up to the waterfall, but it was less hiking up and less endo-ing down. Seriously good stuff. Good enough that MT had to leaver her mark on dirtydoug's snow crusted back.

Watch out for that log.

Again, the singlespeed was the weapon of choice. And again, I probably could've handled a cog easier gear, but rigid was definitely the way to go. Stayed clean, too!

Tuesday Ride Recap

Last night on our weekly Tuesday niter, we realized that it's still possible to get over 1800' of climbing without leaving town! Up and down some neighborhood county roads a couple of town roads and the Lyons Ghetto Singletrack yeilded about 1900' of climbing in an hour and a half. I'm whoopeed from doing it on the singlespeed. Great rides are still possible even in suboptimal conditions, eh?



Also doubles as a tow rope for when it breaks! Thanks for the photo Keith. It was quite a tow up to Chad's house. I ran out of gas and only made it about 1/2way up the last hill. Maybe that's why my legs are tired?

First Ride of 2010

I had the opportunity to ride on New Years day but I opted out. JRog threw a hell of a party the night before and, even though I spent the evening completely sober ish mostly, I was tired from staying up so late ringing in the new year. I had a chance to ride the bike but I ended up riding the couch instead. And it was good - so good. I can't remember the last time I snuck in a mid day nap and it was quite the luxury. My next opportunity to ride was today and I seized it. My first ride of the new year, 2010.

The day was sunny and in the thirties all morning and early afternoon. On Sundays the shop closes at 3 so I usually roll out around 3:30. Just as the clouds rolled in and started an immensely thick snow shower, the phone rang. It was Chris. "You riding?" "Yep." It was on.

Trail reports suggested that Picture Rock was rideable up to the silo if you stayed on the line of packed snow so we pedaled in that direction. Chris on his On One Inbred singlespeed and I on my GT Peace 9er SS. It turned out to be quite a departure to the riding I had done in Phoenix just a week prior. The rideable line was narrow.



If you strayed, you were in 5-6" deep sticky snow and were out of bounds, the flag was thrown, and you'd have to put a foot down. Sometimes it was harder to get started and we'd end up Flintstoning on a sidehill for a bit. I'm not sure if riding a singlespeed is better or worse in these conditions. They definitely have their plusses and minuses. Only one gear ensures simplicity of thought and reliability of drive train in adverse conditions but it becomes more of a balance and weight dispersion issue when you can't change your mechanical advantage on slick and soft terrain. But they're simple and it makes focus even more necessary.

Big things to ponder now that it is 2010. I was reminded of just how much I loved this trail as a winter wonderland last year. The worn in singletrack is tight. The trails slick and soft conditions mandated maintaining a tight line while riding very loose. It's a good workout for this kind of weather, too. Just enough to keep you warm. We made it up to the Silo before trail conditions deteriorated to an unrideable state.


The descent back was great. Despite the snow and ice, the descent felt criminally fast. Or maybe it was just the bumpy trail and the rigid fork.


Returning to Lyons always feels like home regardless of the approach.


The ride was invigorating and refreshing. And fun. It was just the ride to start off the new year with. Heck, the day's are getting longer. That means it's summer riding season now, right?

Season's Greetings

Seasons greetings and Merry Christmas from one redstoner to all the other redstoners out there.
P-Rock is good up to the silo. But it may just be the new SS On-One Scandal rockin 2.4 ardents. Nothing like a new ride.
Still was laughin about last nights white elephant on the way up. St. Pauli's N.A. and Mike's Hard Pomegranete Cranberry Lemonade...seriously...WTF??? Sir-Mix-A-Lot.

Good ride today

Got out with Doug today for a little singlespeed action on Picture Rock. We were able to start pedaling just as the sun came out full force. The sun felt great but didn't last that long. Up PR to Wild Turkey, then north to the lookout. We rode north Wild Turkey as an out and back. Doug was definitely one with his Redline Monocog - he slayed me coming down Wild Turkey as I pinballed the rigid forked Flight MC thru the rocks.


Picture Rock is such a great singlespeed trail. I especially love it on the bottom flowy sections



Coming back in, the sky was on fire. Hope everyone got out today.



Tuesday ride - South Boulder. This is an opportunity we need to hop on while we can (ie the trail is dry in the middle of winter).