First race and sheets

So, this weekend is my (and most people's) first race of the season. Greenbriar. MD State Championships. Fun.

Oh, and by the way, I'm convinced that fitted sheets are specifically designed to create stress between men and women. You just can't f'in fold those things. I don't care what you say.

Here's Roberts, hard at work at Demo Day. That's Joel in the foreground about to run me down.

No way I would race against him. He should ride a Yeti... That would be called irony.

See y'all out there.

And Finally...

'I'll be home soon, honey, I promise.'

Demo Day Rundown

So, it went off, with a huge hitch... It was wet but the trails were great. If you like riding with a wet crotch, you REALLY missed a great event. The leaf litter and rain got everywhere and the bikes looked bad, but there was barely a spot of mud to be found. The roots were nice and slick.

We had about 50 people show up. It poured early and we all huddled under the tents. Rob from Jamis brought his new white (?) ez-up and the Cdale boys had two 20'x10' ez-ups. Roberts and Ted took care of us. Ted came through when I realized that I forgot grill hardware. Tongs and a spatula later... Way to go Ted. They were made of steel, however, which confused me... Scardaville and Tris showed up with another ez-up so we parked 'em all together and had a little party. The grill got fired up a little after 11 and the maiden voyage was tasty. Way to go Adam for the tag-team grill build.

The CB Team boys and girls really made the event, for me, anyway. HighEndBrian showed up early and hung strong with us until the end. Punga made it and Phillyboy drove the CB machine up.

DT was making cracks about my ass so, of course, he took a picture of it. So, for all of your viewing pleasure (or not, really). That DT is a funny guy. Funny like a rash. A rash on a singlespeed... A rash on a singlespeed with a blog and a sharp wit that I should probably be afraid of if he decides that he wants to start messing with me. Aw, screw it. He always needs a spare bike so BOW DOWN, DT!

Next up, we gots HighEndBrian and Rob (RVV) from Jamis. Both good dudes. You want to steal their bikes, though, so you KNOW they have to be cool or you'll pop 'em over the head and ride away. Brian is lovingly straddling his girlfriend, Demo8. You can tell it's a girl because of the pink headset.

Speaking of girls, here's HighEndBrian and Laura, one of our local die-hard ladies of mountain biking.

We've got a few bikes to point out in the harem picture... Down in front we've got Hillary's Prophet 4x bike that she raced last year and will continue on for 06. Moving back we have Moots Ybb #1 and then my Sworks Stump FSR Carbon bike. Then it goes Yeti 575, Stump FSR Expert, HEB's Carbon Stump FSR, Moots Cinco #1, Yeti 575 #2, Tris' cross bike (I think) and a Jamis XLT hanging up on the right. There were three Epics, some 'cross bikes, jeez, there were like 15 more... Oh, and by the way, Pooch was riding his Sworks Tricross on the loop that I did and was KICKING ASS on that bike! I tell ya, you'd be hard pressed to pass that kid out there on ANY bike unless you are just downright fast... like RickyD. All hail Pooch! And don't think he was dismounting the logs... oh no, not Pooch. That kid was manualing stuff on that bike.

Moots and Yeti seemed to be our most popular bikes. Nobody actually took Brian's Demo8 on a lap (can't blame 'em) but Adam (ATB) managed the 3' timber drop in the parking lot in flip flops on Time pedals.

Can you see Hillary's SDG faux(maybe) tiger skin seat? Oh yeah, nothing but the best. Do you actually need to wear shorts when you ride that thing? I'm just sayin'...

Finally, here's the view of the parking lot. Setting up where it ain't level is one of the least smart things that I forgot to correct from 2005. Oh well. I'll have to level that sucker next time I have a $100k burning a hole in my pocket.

And, for the record, that's Mr Scardaville in the foreground rocking the team colors, getting ready for a lap on the Cinco. Poor kid...

I'm thinking about a Fall event when the leaves are down and we can see some 2007 product. We'll have more flexibility on dates as well. Maybe we'll schedule something to conincide with a trail work day.

Ergonomics class for bike setup on Wednesday night in Chevy Chase. Or is it Monday. Damn, I'll have to check the MORE site. Yeah, I think it's Wednesday.

Damn the torpedoes!

Well, here's hoping... The new grill to be christened at Demo Day. Maybe in the rain, sure, but still.
I'm trying to be 'mr optimist,' but everywhere I look, it looks wet.

We'll probably get a few hours of decent weather followed (or preceeded) by not-so-decent weather.

I just hope nobody gets struck by lightning. Does titanium conduct electricity?

See you in the morning.

The future is now!

Well, here you go. I'd like to thank Iran, Iraq, Detroit, freedom fighters in Nigeria and Texas...

Will we see more riders? Nope. People are already riding who will. The people who can't afford gas probably can barely afford a car and will take the bus. You ain't broke but have a few hundies to throw down for a bike. Maybe you roll to Target or WalMart or ToysRUs and rock something cheap that works but you don't roll to the local shop and buy a $300+ bike to commute on. Hell no.

If you can afford it, you CHOOSE to ride your bike to work with your $50+ lock and $1200 road bike (yup, people commute on those and WAY more expensive ones, see the $5600 Moots below). You can afford $3/gal for gas if you are paying the equivalent of $12/gal for your Starbuckers.

Of course the obvious double irony of the City Bikes sign below the high-ass gas prices is only as ironic as the big-ass City Bikes logo on the big-ass gas-guzzling bread truck with the 350 in it. 8mi/gal, just like a Hummer or an Explorer if you floor it off the line (or in beltway traffic).

Is this pessimistic enough? How about this? We got the 5" travel Moots Cinco bikes built yesterday for the demo day (see below) as well as a few Yeti 575 bikes. I am working on logistics for the event and I have a list of about 30 bikes that we are bringing out of stock. Not bad. There will most likely be about 75 bikes out there. That's rad. I'll try to shoot some pics if I get by the shop tomorrow. I have to go out and drop off flyers on cars (another great irony) for the Demo Day.

I threw the new shock in the Enduro tonite. Progressive fixed 'er all up. It was cool getting into that rear end on that bike (easy now). The self-adjusting bearings and spacers in that link is pretty cool. It's a bit odd to get it squared away, but it's far from impossible and is really solid. You can tell that the shock is not an integral part of the suspension. The front shock eyelet floats on a ball/socket bushing and the rear is fixed (with a little float built in, but no wiggle or wobble). The main shock eyelet bolt is big and aluminum and it fits well in the lower shock eyelet so there isn't some small thing to round or ovalize... like the stumpjumper fsr. We've had a half-dozen or so of those go bad so we stock 'em. It's only been on some of the big guys and bashers. They probably should be riding Enduros anyway, but I digress...

JoFo broke his collarbone without falling off the bike. Go check his blog and send along some good vibes. Here's wishing you well, babycakes.

Trail Work

We had a chance to add a little TTF to the Ridge Trail at Patapsco. It was more work that it looks... Shawn and two other guys helped me out to get this dialed. The only reason we put dirt on it was because we had to knock down the root ball so we would have good sight lines. That way you don't have to slow down if you want to really hit that sucker. It's a solid 3 1/2' on the back side but right now it's running really smooth. I hiked the bike up there with a chainsaw and required gear up the steep fireroad section with all the waterbars just so I could be the first to ride it when it was done. I hit the whole trail, both directions, clean. I rock like the Z car.

So if you are out there, enjoy! Let me know what you think. It may not make up for the rock section that we are cutting out, but it's pretty cool and will be pretty fun.

More to come.

Punga brought me a disc of some music I have on tape, but nothing digital. Some Descendents, some fIREHOSE... Taking me back. I downloaded some Dead Kennedys. Talk about some of the best music ever.

I don't know how I missed it growing up, but I just discovered the Buzzcocks. It's one of those late '70s into '80s bands that you would listen to if you didn't know they were all done. Some of the best technical rock/punk stuff ever made. It's like good Green Day. Imagine if the Ramones were talented... There is just so much music that has been made in the last 25 years or so that is some of the best that WAS EVER made. I found myself telling two different people about Dread Zeppelin today. Never heard of them? Boy, you are missing out. Check it.

Good livin'

While Lars, Uncle Bri and Hillary are racing at the Otter this weekend (today for qualifiers), we've got our own excitement going on.
Charlie whipped this up late Thursday night. The guy is an evil genius. We should have a good turnout so get there early to pick your bike.

We'll have plenty of ride leaders to show you around plus Hillary will be there as our resident Pro DH lady to show the girls around. Skills clinics at 10:30am and 12:30pm. Come ready to ride.

If you have wierd pedals, please bring 'em. We will have SPD (limited numbers) so bring 'em even if you are handy with a pedal wrench.

We'll have some giveaways as well. Not sure what, but I'm working on it. One more thing to add to the list.

First race of the season for the mtn boys/girls is just over a week away. Start with the butterflies in the stomach...

Trailwork this Sunday as well. 9:30 at the Avalon pavillions. We'll have a pretty rad section to open up.

Hot Off the Presses

Have you seen the new XTR yet? It was released to the viewing public on April 1. A full pound lighter than 2006. Whoa. That's what I call a shifterbrakelever!

And this just in from my mole at Specialized: six (yes 6) new frames for 2007. I think we'll see a new Enduro as well. This year is pretty rad with 5.5", 6" and 6.5" bikes so let's see where the boys are taking us next year. I'm booked for their worldwide dealer event in Reno (gasp) in July. I'll send some pics for sure from that. There better be a shuttle to Tahoe, dammit. I'm not getting that close and not hitting up some Tahoe trail...

I forgot

The maiden voyage last week went well... Here's the pre-ride pic. She handles the rough stuff nicely. It's WAAAAY stiffer than the aluminum version. I didn't notice the extra cm of travel (as I expected) but the ride quality is just SOOOO much better, it blew me away. Instead of holding on to the bike, I really feel like it is an extension of me. I was rolling stuff so fast, it was scary. I threw the 2.55lt tires on there for the Sunday ride and it's even nicer than those little 2.2 Nokians (which are really 2.0s but I love them).

I need to get the fork dialed. I just rode it right out of the box without setting the pressure. Those things are so adjustable with the compression damping that I could cheat. I'm running the rear the same as I did last year and that's a mistake. The extra compression that the Brain Fade allows me to run will also allow me to run less pressure and get a MORE plush ride. Ugh, I'm in heaven.

I like X.0 stuff, but I think the low-normal is better for my riding style. I just end up crushing the downshifts during transitions instead of letting it shift when it's ready. I'll have to pull that off and go with the rocket/xtr low normal setup. I'm gonna miss the 1:1 of ESP, but that's it. The crank feels stiff, the wheels run great, I like that saddle. It's the Rival 143sl. It's got a nice seatback to it. Not setback, it's actually got a little shelf that you can curl in to. It give me great control on the bike. I didn't think I'd like it but...

Almost there. A few more tweaks and we'll be in business.

Pick your family, pick your nose

This today from my step-father-in-law...

Guts and Balls

We've all heard about people having guts or balls. But do you really know the difference between the two? In an effort to keep you informed, the definition for each is listed below

GUTS - is arriving home late after a night out with the guys, being assaulted by your wife with a broom , and having the guts to ask: Are you still cleaning, or are you flying somewhere?"

BALLS - is coming home late after a night out with the guys, smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your collar, slapping your wife on the ass and having the balls to say: "You're next."

I hope this clears up any confusion on the subject
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Brilliant. Here's Blazer and Alisha at the blossoms last week. I think he's pointing at the crook from Texas who said he's going to resign today. Finally. Tom DeLay was my porn name. Now I can revive it.

Trailwork this weekend at Patapsco. Check the MORE site for into. Show up. Bring a bike.