For the first time in recent history, Mr Bribe, Karel Valenta was pushed early on in the race to bribe your way to a victory (he actually bribed himself a win in the May race that didn’t happen), following cupcakes, beer and massages, Mr Bribe pulled out the big guns to run away to victory.

While lap times aren’t here, due in part to allowing all riders to hit the course at once, there were some very fast times thrown down on the day, despite that not one complaint was heard with respect to on track attitude, I’d like to thank the riders for that and it proves you can ride fast and still have a good time.

The solo field was very hotly contested as well with only 11minutes separating the top two after 10 hours.

Anyway, for those wanting them, here they are, the 10 hour results… go on, click here to get them.

G shall be along later this week with a bit of a blurb about the event as he saw it and a little story about Mr Bribe. He’s claiming his tardyness has something to do with moving and loosing hs broadband connection last week. Likely excuse….

Lenny

PS: As our mailout list does not seem to have every rider on it, if you know someone, or have a team member that did not get mail from us, please send them the link to this page.

You see… Waaaay back in the day I first began singlespeeding because I viewed it as a simple way to dump a kilo or so off my bike. Think about it for a second: No derailleur (200g at least), no heavy cassette (300g or so), no shifters (another 200), no front mech (another 150) no triple chainrings, no cables… Bingo, 1kg straight off the top! I was riding a light weight alloy frame (Yeti ARC) and with some carbon bars, a Ti seatpost and a kevlar/carbon saddle that nearly cut my butt in half (before it broke) I was in (fairly) low mass heaven.

Okay, so the SS bit was good, and after a dalliance with shifty stuff again, I’ve gone back there. However, I decided that light but uncomfortable was not for me. I ditched my custom tweaked air sprung fork for 100mm of plush Fox Vanilla steel spring, I binned the Kevlar saddle for a 500g Brooks B17, the ally frame is gone and replaced by a steel On One Inbred, my SPD pedals are gone and replaced with flats so I can dab a foot without thinking about it…

So far so good until last weekend when I was out riding and a buddy said “Hey, can I have a shot on your SS?”. Happy to spread the word I was only too pleased to let him hop aboard, while I rode his Anthem for a while. Nice bike, really quick, but the fork had so much pressure in it, it was basically like riding a rigid front end…

Okay, so the only downside to my SS is weight and I don’t want to give up the Brooks, and yet Niner make a carbon rigid fork that at 550g weights nearly a kilo and a half less than my Fox Vanilla… (You can see where this is going can’t you?)

Yes, having foresworn the dark side of weight weenieness, I now find myself awaiting the arrival of a rigid fork (albeit a very nice rigid fork) to pop on the front of my steel framed “heavy” bike.

Watch this space (for a bloke in his late thirties bitching about how much his back and arms hurt).

EDIT: Update

Back, arms wrists etc are fine, a decent puffy tyre up front (2.35 Lopes Bling Bling or 2.4 Conti Mtn King) and you don’t even remember that you’re not on a squishy fork for most terrain.  Handling is great, bike doesn’t feel unbalanced.  I’m sold.

But there is more to this that a bike porno on my living room floor. A big part of my role at Mountain Cycle is ‘product manager’, in other words, the dude who makes to call as to what parts go on the coming year’s bikes. At first it sounds like a trip in the candy store but after you get into it, pour over spreadsheets and try to determine what will make someone buy your bike over the other (or not), it becomes a lot more serious. After all it’s all about the end number and speccing what would be your ideal bike when it’s your own cash and you are building one, in fact is something very different when you are speccing for 1000 bikes.

As I mentioned in by post about the Taiwan Cycle Show, there is a dearth of stuff available, more than you can ever know what to do with. Some of it defies imagination some of it is total crap and some of it is really cool. Interestingly when you look at what bikes come build with, one has to wonder why some of this cool kit never sees the light of day on bike shop floors. For all intents and purposes, what we see year after year is pretty much the same stuff, different graphic, different colour.

I don’t have an answer as to why this is the case. I have my suspicions, especially after working within the machine of the bike industry but I’ll leave them as that. What I do know though is that the ‘omni branded bike’ as I am calling it, is limiting some of lesser known, yet rather cool stuff that actually will make your riding better.

In my 10 boxes of stuff that I have been sifting through are several small packs of grips. I remember the meeting with the company, where we saw pretty much every style, type and form of grip you could ever think of. We also saw grips you could never think of, some really ‘whack shit’. Our search was supposed to be simple, find some lock on grips, like everyone else does. I mean, that’s what everyone else does, right?

In the line up though several grips took my eye. The first was a pair of lock on ‘foamies’. If you do a lot of XC, you’ll know that your hands get sore and the majority of lock on grips do nothing to help that. Oury have always been the choice of the astute but foam grips are the next step. The pair I was playing with felt really good but not being on a bar, you can never really tell. The second pair was a real blast, lock on grips they were but wrapped in bar tape. Yes road bike bar tape. Any bar tape, put it on the grip and off you go. The idea was novel but had a lot of merit. The wood grain tape was just trippy!

At the end of the meeting we organise samples of the boring, what everyone does grips, you’ll what they are as they are probably on your bike now, and I organise samples of the foamies and the taped versions.

Today I pulled them out of the box and put them on a couple of Easton bars to see if they still felt as good as they did sitting around a meeting table. To my surprise (and relief) they actually felt better. Lockon grips that are actually soft, that’s a novel thing and something I am sure many riders will love. I am so impressed with these grips that I have selected them for the 2011 bikes. And there’s the thing. I know I’ll get some flack for it from sales, not because they suck, which they don’t but because they are not like everything else on the market and different is, different. As we all know, different is scary.

So what’s the moral of this tale? None as such, other than different is good and I feel many product managers out there should try it on rather than take the easy road of the ‘omni branded bike’. It’s one thing to say spec only what people want to buy, but how do they know if you only offer them the same thing year in year out?

g

30 hours door to door, 15 hours day one (13 hours riding), 290 km, 8 hours day two (7 hours riding), 130 km, 7 hours mid-ride rest and sleep, 1 hour fog, 7 hours sun, 3 hours overcast, 5 hours rain, 7 hours darkness, 40km state highway, 30km urban roads, 300km rural backroads, 40km off-road path, 10km singletrack, 0 freewheels, 1 gear (42:17), 1 toolkit, 1 sleeping bag, 1 set warm clothes, 1 toothbrush and toothpaste, 2 rear lights, 3 front lights, 5 muffins, 1 cooked breakfast, 8 salami sandwiches, 1 panini, 1 cinnamon loaf and jam, 1 dutch honey loaf, 1 portion hot chips, 12 litres water, 4 espressos, 1 chocolate milkshake, 4 hills too steep to ride up, 6 hills too steep to ride down (without dragging brakes), 4 disused railway tunnels, 8 logging trucks, countless friendly greetings, 0 close calls with traffic, 1 close call with an angry dog, 1 close call with American tourists (in a disused railway tunnel), 1 hour riding at night with no lights, 0 punctures, 0 mechanical problems, 0 house keys (forgotten), 1 hour frustration trying to remember where the spare key was, 4 numb fingers, 2 bruised buttocks, 1 sense of satisfaction, 2 well-earned beers.

Paul Smith

No longer will those wanting to access the back end of the trail (and the future trails under construction) have to conquer the red loops  Camel Back hill in its entirety, a 1.2km climb from the bottom of the chute up some moderately steep terrain.

The new addition effectively gives a bail out point toward the top just as the steepest and more technical section of the climb looms. Once on the trail it’s all down, onto Little Falcon Road and then the descent continues. In the future this trail will provide an easier way into the trails north of Little Falcon which are about to begin construction.

Bridge entrance to the trail

Trail starts its descent

Pi11wizards berms to hold you on the trail

Drainage

Chainsaw Artwork

For those who know Glenrock, the volunteer works to date have involved the reworking of the “shit happens” climb from blown out fire trail to a quality single trail section, and the tweaking of BJ’s.

What has been achieved is a testament to not only the build crew who give up a lot of free riding time, but also to the faith the NPWS have placed in those volunteers. Trail wise, these sections of trail are now not only more enjoyable to ride, but they have also proven to be more weather proof and ultimately in the long term, sustainable.

While I do think some of the access solutions contained in the draft POM for Glenrock are very positive for general XC access, other areas of the management of mtb use are fundamentally flawed (I will touch on that in a separate post in the near future). That said, I do think this has been a giant leap of faith by the NPWS to allow the trails to be worked on to ensure sustainability has been successful and the results do vindicate the risk that was taken.

Its a start, and quiet a big one that should have ramifications to other areas in NSW. Lets hope we start seeing this sort of work repeated elsewhere in the NPWS system.

Before Work – Step up into BJ’s

After Work – Finishing touches and aggregate needed on B-Line

OK, keen observers out there would know I haven’t really ridden a bike offroad in a long long time. I fact my last excursion into the bush was at the Sydney 24hr back in early feb. Well on the weekend I got out and got the Ye Olde Proflex all dirty and dusty again.

I’ll have to admit to a lot of trepidation and fear before going out on this. I’ve been told to go out and be active, just not push the limits and let my back settle in again after 6 months of inactivity. My initial plan, probably very flawed, was to go for some light DH shuttles. Hmmmm, maybe not the best idea for a shagged back, so at the last minute I ditched those plans for a cruise around awaba and a beer (or two) at the end.

Now, despite being told to go ride gently ( not that I know any other way) and not grind up any hills, the thought of getting out again still scared me. Would I have the legs to get around, would my back hold up to the bumps and stress and would I actually like riding after such a big break.

Those questions were answered pretty quickly. No, my legs were not going to carry me far. Stopping, under the guise of stretching, was the order of the day. Probably need to work on some fitness and thankfully those riding with me didn’t take the piss too much. Fortunately the back held up, all though I didn’t bother to attempt to ride anything that resembled a slope nor did I hit any real speed. But for me the biggest thing of the day was how much I had forgotten how I love to ride my bike.

I’d forgotten just how cool it was to get out in the scrub and be free on the trails.

Within two corners I can easily say, I am in love with riding my bike again. I don’t think I really realised what I had been missing while I was off the bike, maybe it was a conscious decision to forget so I didn’t go crazy. One things for sure, right now I am almost obsessive in my quest to find excuses to get out and ride (shame its belting down rain).

Maybe there is a point to this ramble, maybe its true that you don’t miss things till they are gone, although in this case I didn’t realise how much until I got it back. Just don’t take your riding for granted, or too seriously. Enjoy it for what it is, an escape from the mundane things that we have to endure from day to day, A break from reality and weekday stress, a complete and utter drain on financial resources (OK, that’s not a good example, but you get my point).

Yes, I’m back on the bike and I couldn’t be happier. Now, if only I had another bike………..

Little did I know, at the time I was performing this “random act of tweed” that an entire tweed cycling sub culture existed.  Yes, like most other misfits, there’s a group for folks like me, somewhere out there in the interweb.   Not only that, but there’s a tweed cycling subculture right here in Canberra.

“Hey, you should go on the tweed ride.” someone said upon seeing the photos of me as an uncoordinated idiot sweating my brains out at Sparrow Hill…

Some time later, an invitation turned up in my Facebook account to come along to Canberra Tweed 3…

Having obtained a leave pass from my significant (and utterly cycle apathetic) other, I tootled off this Sunday last, to Garema Place in the centre of Canberra to see who and what would emerge from the undergrowth.

To my amazement, over the course of some 15 minutes, a range of folks appeared, dressed similarly to myself, some sporting full suspension mountain bikes, some hardtails, some modern cruisers an town bikes, some fixies and some retro pieces of vintage goodness.

At a leisurely pace, off we pedalled, over the Commonwealth bridge, across behind the Art Gallery and High Court, around to the Carillion where costumes were judge, heels were cooled, hair was let down, and the collected assemblage of some 40 individuals basked in their non lycra retrospectiveness.

Following this, we headed onwards to a venue for drinks, at which point, the 21′st century intervened and I had to make a departure in order to rescue my wife from our daughter.

No racing, no speed, no technology, no pressure, just folks enjoying getting out on bikes. (and no abuse from passers by)

Does life get better?

“Tonite I’m gonna party like it’s 1949…”

I told myself a little while back that I was going to only try and post meaningful discourse (to me in anyway) or entertaining/inspirational things. Prolly will last about a month and then I’ll start throwing up random shite again.

I stumbled on this this morning doing the rounds. As per my post about iPod apps I like and use, this one’s really interesting in helping people work out all those little niggles on their bike. The concept is totally interesting and signifies just where media is heading, especially the media that Apple (love them or hate them) is moving into the market. What I find most interesting about this is where once you had a book, which might or might not have been out of date or was soon to become so, this App should and could in theory always be up with all the latest. What’s more, unlike a book, you can have this with you when you need it most… when you are out on the bike. The interactivity is also far more intuitive than trying to leaf through a book to find a particular niggle, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and a picture that goes ‘bing’ is worth who knows how much?

You can grab it here, if you are so inclined.

g

It was time to buy the Lad his first real bike. The past year or so in his ‘like-a-bike’ proved time well spent as his sense of balance grew to the point that he needed something more to do than push. Now I know buying a ‘kid’s bike’ is fraught with all sorts of dangers, mostly to do with the total crap they pass off as kid’s bikes these days. So rather than going to some big box store and picking one up cheap, I decided to the the ‘right thing’ and go to my local bike shop… LBS. Now where I live in Sydney I have several choices. Towards the city, down Oxford Street, is the well executed store that’s bang on the demographic for the areas it’s in. They have kid’s bikes but based on my past experiences with them, their ‘too cool for school’ attitude, means you basically have a target painted on you the minute you walk in (read paying them $100 service charge for shortening brake hoses), so there was little chance I was going back. The other option was the smaller, much less cool shop in the opposite direction up in Bondi Junction, where I bought the ‘like-a-bike’ in the first place. They seemed OK then, so why not again?

Be it a mistake or not, a week ago I headed down with the Lad to scope out the options. While there was next to no choice, something that didn’t bug me because at that level and price, the only thing that changes is the colour, we found a bike that looked like it fitted the bill. We (the Lad and I) stood around, looked at the blue and decided the green rocket on it is a definite feature. The (what I presume was the owner) and I discussed the machinations of kid’s bikes, had a look at the 2010 colour options and decided that with a wee discount, the blue was not a bad option. More to the point, the Lad decided that the blue was the go… but I think that was more because he thought liking the colour there and then would deliver some instant gratification. Well, no, the shop guy (SG) said he’d build a fresh one sans training wheels and if he could find one, throw on a kick stand instead. Good deal as I noticed some nice scratches on the floor model.

A week later and I realise I’d better go get the bike, there was riding to be had on the weekend! Back to the shop on the Thursday afternoon to pick up the bike I put a deposit on but what panned out I have grown increasingly pissed off about.

With a smile I say that I’m there to collect the bike I ordered the previous week. What I got back was that a new one was not built, as promised, because when the time came there was not one in stock to be built (so much for onscreen inventory). Apparently the distributor as well was plum out, though at the time the SG thought they had a wad of stock and was considering picking the lot up. Instead I was getting the one on the floor. OK, right. Sort of unimpressed because if this was the case, he made no effort to call me and ask me if I’d be happy with that – they had all my contact details and there’s a big difference between a brand new one and a floor model, especially when it has scratches; but maybe he thought the wee little discount (for last year’s stock) meant he didn’t have to? Running the sale through the till, I expected a better discount, the SG may not have noticed at the time, but originally I noticed the floor model had a $165 price tag on it. Instead, they tried to run it through at the ‘new’ price, quite a bit more than the sticker price which had since been removed from the frame.

“So that’s the price for the scratches too?” I jibed to the nice chap behind the counter.

“That bike has no scratches, I put it together before the gentleman arrived”, SG says from behind the work stand.

So I walk over, get the bike and point out the scratch that’s down to the metal on the head tube. “Oh yea… OK, I’ll take another $5 off”

!!

The final price was around $50 odd more than the original sticker price of the ‘floor model’. No small amount when the entire bike was sub $300.

I feel pissed that I was ‘taken’. Maybe not intentionally, that’s a speculation, but taken definitely by a ‘they are schmucks so won’t notice’ attitude held by a segment who work in bike shops, SG being one such person. I could have made more of a deal about it and if the bike was a bigger bike I would have. But I get the feeling SG knew I needed the bike, knew the Lad had his heart on it and knew I’d ultimately go with it to not let the Lad down. In other words, I think he knew he was taking me for a ride (no pun intended). And he got away with it. What shits me more is that today, when out and about with the bike, I noticed several other to the metal scratches on the frame, not to mention the shitty assembly job I discovered when doing some adjustments.

When I walked in the shop originally, he was bemoaning to another customer the fact that he recently had to relocate and rent was costing him double and while I guess there are shafters in every segment of society, I hate seeing it in the bike industry because there is no need for it. Instead though of choosing to do a stellar job in keeping me as a customer, SG chose to shaft me and as a result I’ll never set foot in the shop again, period.

The upside of all of this is that the Lad loves his bike and has a brand new head bruise to prove it. He didn’t notice the scratches and I made sure everything else was right. I think he’ll be a rocket when he finds his wings and really, his smile is that’s all that counts :)

g