41lbs 10oz

Fatty mcfat fat fat

04:42:17

Well I beat last month's time by 1:05. whomp whomp whomp.
The Rohloff performed well. I however did not. My chain popped of about 10 times That was not the worst part. My legs started cramping really early, just after the first 15 miles. The big climb was pretty painful, but I only stopped once. Not sure what the deal was, but it's probably my diet.
The last 9 miles were pretty bad, my legs locked up quite a bit.
Well I've got some diet work to figure out and some fancy new parts to buy(yay! bonus from work!).

Rohloff German for Badass

Ok, maybe not, I don't know German.
First big news:
Paul Howard's book, Two Wheels on my Wagon has hit the review circuit. Tour Divide repost of thewashingmachinepost.net review. Guess who took the photo featured in the review?
So technically I'm a "published photographer". Not bad considering all the crap photos I take. It will be out in the UK on April 1st. I don't know when it will make it to the states.

Bam! Rohloff on a Stan's ZTR Flow with Sapim spokes and brass nipples.
It's heavy, with the crossmark tape and stans goop it comes in at 7 lbs.
Installing it was easier than the directions make you think. Mount the speedbone, and the axle plate with the external box thing and you're done. It takes some time, but it's easy. Setting up the cables was a little harder. The instructions aren't entirely clear, but Scott and I got it working. I'll probably have Oakley Cycles fix it up after the Snake. I'll definitely buy a spare set of cables to swap out before I leave for the TD.

Shifting is a little different. You have to pause just a bit, and it's hard to shift while under a load. It's a bit noisy, but that will quieten down after the break in period.
Bike weight with out bags, 28lbs. :(

Third bit of news.
I'm in Adventure Cycling Magazine. The Oct/Nov 09 issue has a little blurb about the TD, and I am one of the riders in the picture. It's small, and it doesn't mention my name, but it's me in the handsom Tomato Head/TVB kit. woo.
I'll buy a few issues as keep sakes, and frame two of them(tastefully) and give one to TVB and keep the other.

The last Knoxicross was that weekend too. TVB was out in full force. Several were gunning for the Gentleman's competition.


Will won.
The rest of the photos are on Flickr.

Snowmageddon 2010

Snowmageddon 2010!

Nice little cross race in the snow. It was a great way to celebrate the wonderfull weather of last week.
30 minutes. Snow balls were fair game(except the face).
After a few laps I got nice an hot and had to zip down. Which just made me a big target for the kids. After a lap or two w/out a shirt I could hear them yell "open chest guy" as I came near and WAM! No mercy. I fell over a whole bunch, but got up to throw a few snowballs and even squirt them with my water bottle. I definitely didn't win, but had plenty of fun.

4:43:22

Well I finished, so I'm happy. There was a decent amount of walking involved. Especially after the first mile, where we had to ford the creek. It was almost crotch deep and flowing quickly. I ditched my shoes and shocks and walked across. After that my legs started cramping, despite the HEED. So I had to struggle with cramps the whole way. I even over-hydrated and had to go 3 times. The rock garden was pretty awful, lots of walking. Hopefully next month will be better, and hopefully I'll have a fancy pants Rohloff hub.

Right now Cincinnati is covered in about 6 inches of snow. I haven't touched my bike since Saturday. I'm going to have to make up for that indoors...soon.

Lust List

Siren Song 29er Ti rear triangle
Fox 23 F29 Remote w/enduro seals
Rohloff hub and etc
ZTR Flow rims spokes and nipples
Chub Hub front hub
Schwalbe Smart Sam front and rear
White Industries Eno crank and BB
Brooks Swift
Chris King headset
R1 brakes
Jeff Jones H bar

Everything else I already have or will be something cheap.

DNF

21 degrees Fahrenheit plus two creek crossings equals frozen feet.
The first creek wasn't bad, one foot got wet, and a little while later I stuffed a warmer into each shoe and kept on riding.
I managed to go through the deepest part of the second creek and drenched my feet.
Not much could have prevented that even covers and fancy socks.
Well after a few more miles of that I was at the halfway point and had enough.
Randy and Micah kept on going.
What a bad asses.

Sorry no picture of Micah