Friday, November 21, 2008

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29, Single, and Rigid

29, Single, and Rigid. No, this isn't about a single 29 year old porn star. It's about a bike. Not just any bike though. It's about a fully rigid single speed 29er, a Walt Works to be exact. Last night (20-Nov-09) was my first experience on one and I must say, I'm in love. After cracking my Paragon frame I've been in need of a loaner until the replacement frame comes in. I've been itching to take a single speed 29er for a spin and fortunately there are enough single speed 29er advocates out there that I was able to secure one for a ride.

The bike was custom made for a guy who is about the same height as me but weighs more than I. Needless to say there wasn't a lot of  shock absorption with my weight bearing down on the rigid fork. Also contributing to the ultra bumpy ride was the tire pressure. I didn't even think to check it until we were about half way though the ride. It was WAY to high for me. Yet another reminder that the bike belongs to someone a bit heavier than I am. It seemed to be a pretty slow turning bike too. I'm not sure if that's just they way it was designed or if it was just me getting used to a different geometry.

Despite the fact that the ride beat the crap out of me I had a great time. I'm definitely more interested in getting a single speed 29er. However, I have yet to decide weather to go fully rigid or not.  

(I have to give credit to treadlight for the title of this post. I stole it from his SWAMP forum signature. Sorry TL but it was so fitting!)
 
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My Bike


  • Frame: Monocoque carbon, G2 29" Geometry
  • Fork: Fox F80RL 29, 80mm travel, custom G2 Geometry 51mm offset crown, air spring, external rebound & lockout
  • Headset: Cane Creek ZS6
  • Crank: Shimano XT FC-M770
  • Pedals: Time Atac XS Carbon
  • Front Derailleur: Simano XT
  • Rear Derailleur: SRAM X9
  • Shifters: SRAM X9
  • Cassette: SRAM PG950 9 speed
  • Front Weel: Bontrager Race Disc 29
  • Rear Wheel: Bontrager Race Disc 29
  • Front Tire: Bontrager Jones XR 29x2.25"
  • Rear Tire: WTB Nano Raptor 29x2.1"
  • Front Brake: Avid Juicy 5 hydraulic disc
  • Rear Brake: Avid Juicy 5 hydraulic disc
  • Handlebar: Bontrager Race Lite Big Sweep OS
  • Stem: Bontrager Select OS 7d
  • Saddle: Specialized Avatar Gel 143
  • Seat Post: Thomson Elite 27.2 x 410mm 16mm SB
  • Computer: Cateye Micro Wireless
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Monday, November 17, 2008

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Cracked

I just found a crack on my 07 fisher paragon frame. I've heard about them cracking, I just didn't think it would ever happen to mine. I just hope that Gary Fisher replaces it. I can't afford a new bike!




This is really going to put a damper on my training. I'm not really sure what I'll do while waiting for the replacement.
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First 25

I completed my first 25 mile training ride on Saturday morning (15-Nov-08) at Santos. My initial plan was to get 30 - 40 miles in with a 10 - 12 mph pace, however, the pace was set at around 14 to 15 mph right out of the gate. Needkes to say I didn't quite get 30 - 40 miles. I quickly realized that I couldn't maintain that pace for long. Fortunately the group didn't mind waiting for me to catch up. It was probably the most tiring training ride to date. Riding with guys of that caliber (specifically Luis) will defiantly force me to improve my skills, speed, and endurance. 
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Monday, November 10, 2008

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Santos Sunday


Sunday was a long and tiring day. Not one of those dreaded long and tiring days though. It was more like a whole day of being a kid on Christmas eve. Excitement!!! This wasn’t excitement from Santa’s presents though, this excitement was from Santos’ presents! Yep, that’s right, I went to Santos! This was my first trip there and It couldn’t have been better. I was in great company with Luis, Kevin and Wayne. The weather, probably in the mid 70s, was absolutely perfect and the humidity was low. We rode a good range of yellow (easy), blue (intermediate), and red (hard) trails.

My day started fairly early with the alarm clock sounding at 5:30 am. I got out of bed, showered, ate some breakfast, and loaded up the bike and gear then headed over to Luis’ house. Apparently Kevin had been so excited that he forgot to set his alarm clock back for DS and showed up at Luis’ an hour early. Needless to say he was ready to hit the road by the time I got there. I transferred my gear and bike to Luis’ truck and we were on the Interstate by 7:10. With a short stop off to pick up Wayne we were in the Santos parking lot by 9:00 and hammering down the trails by 9:30. We started out on some yellow trails (easy), working our way to some blue trails (intermediate), and then on to some red trails (difficult). I was impressed with the seemingly endless miles of single track out there. 

We rode most of our warm miles up on blue trails but a majority of the 18+ miles we got in that day were done on the red trails. I was quite obviously the weakest of the 4 riders but I managed to do ok, especially considering that this was my first trip to Santos and I wasn’t familiar with the trails. The guys were great about it though. They would wait for me after each difficult section at which time we would all discuss any difficulties we had or didn’t have. They would also give me pointers on things that might help me through areas I was having trouble with. It was a great learning experience for me. 

After the ride we loaded up the truck and headed straight to Sonny’s for some southern style home cookin. I, of course, had the fried cat fish! Mmmm! During the drive home we were stuck in some pretty nasty traffic but we managed to stay sane through most of it (I was asleep). I rolled into the drive way around 7:00 pm. 

What a day!
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

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Lesson Learned

While watching TV a few months back a commercial for one of those reality “caught on film” shows caught my attention. The slow motion clip was of a downhill racer who’s bike simply came apart as he was flying down a hill. He bit it hard and the bike tumbled the rest of the way down the hill. This incident probably could have been avoided had the rider simply inspected the bike before he began his decent. I have recently learned this very valuable lesson for myself. Fortunately my lesson didn’t end in the destruction of my bike and a trip to the hospital in the ambulance.

During my last couple rides I had been experiencing a few creaks, squeaks, groans, and component malfunctions. I’ve listed a couple of the symptoms below along with my reasoning for dismissing them.
  • Creaking noise coming from the bottom bracket - I simply attributed this to typical wear and tear and figured it would soon need replacing. After all, the bike is a year and a half old.
  • Chain skipping / Auto shifting. I’ve never been very talented when it comes to the adjustment of rear derailleurs. Assuming that I had incorrectly adjusted it I just kept on pedaling.
  • Difficulty getting clipped out – I’ve been having issues with the SPD type clip and muddy conditions lately. The trails were wet during my last ride and I just figured my pedals and clips were getting packed with mud and clay.

After having so much trouble with the chain skipping / auto shifting I decided to take another look at the rear derailleur. Reading the step by step adjustment procedure on www.parktool.com I began re-adjusting the rear derailleur. After a few turns of the adjustment screws and barrel adjuster I was confident that the derailleur issue was solved, however, during my adjustment tutorial I had noticed that the pedal felt “wobbly”. Looking into this strange finding I noticed that a few pieces of the pedal were missing. Specifically the nut that secures the outer edge of the platform to the inner portion of the pedal. Technically the pedal can still be used but I don’t think it’s a good idea to have exposed parts so I purchased a new pair.

The next day I was planning on going for a short ride around the hood just to get some miles in. Since my new pedals weren’t in yet I decided I was going to borrow my wife’s pedals. While trying to take my old busted pedals off I noticed that my crank was loose! It was so loose that could slide it back and forth through the bottom bracket. I quickly decided to cancel my ride and work on the Bike…again. I threw it up on the stand, took the crank off, and inspected everything for damage. Fortunately there was none. I re-greased everything and re-assembled it. With a few turns of the crank I verified that it was now tight, however, it revealed another issue. The rear derailleur adjustment was off again.

It was then that I realized that all of these issues could have been avoided had I simply done a little routine maintenance. The bottom bracket noise was a result of the loose crank. The rear derailleur auto shifting was due to the side to side sliding motion of the crank. My issues with clipping out were due to my broke pedal. Yes, I felt really stupid after this epiphany!

I need to start paying more attention to every creak, squeak, groan, and component malfunction. However small they may be, they are all symptoms that need to be addressed as soon as they present themselves. I need to start thinking of my bike as a person. When my wife starts displaying symptoms of a cold or a flu we make sure she goes to the Dr. When she falls and sprains her ankle we make sure that we address the issue whether it’s just icing it or having a Dr take a look. If these issues aren’t addressed she could end up with serious permanent damage. Things aren’t very different when it comes to my bike. Fortunately nothing had to be damaged for me to learn my lesson, especially me!

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