Trail Riding

Andrea

Air 9 Carbon

I received a shipping notice early last week, and, to my surprise, it said that the A9C would arrive Christmas Eve. So, I bribed Matt with French toast and a computrainer to get him to sit around my house & wait for the frame delivery while I was at work. However, just after we polished off the French toast, the FedEx truck miraculously appeared… OMG!!! I was giddy.

I packed the carbon goodies into the Element & headed to work. When I arrived, my suspicion that I have the best job and co-workers in the world was confirmed. The office was packed full of coffee, food, and alcohol, including a keg of homebrew that one of the managers had brought. At lunch time, the owner of Outdoors, Joe Royer, delivered lunch for all of the employees. I worked on building my bike in between helping last minute shoppers pick out random stocking stuffers (if you recieved a set of Swiftwick socks under the tree, you’re welcome ;)

Today, I packed up and headed to Mountain View to test the new ride. I figured since I’d switched to a rigid fork that I’d go easy and try the red trail first (which you could essentially ride on a CX bike). I really can’t describe how awesome the ride of this bike is. You just have to ride it yourself. It’s incredibly stiff, and the handling is what you expect from the likes of Niner (they aren’t a “bandwagon” company that’s started producing a line of 29ers just to cash in on the 29er’s popularity, and it shows). Like I thought, the carbon fork is going to take some getting used to. So far it seems like a good choice- I like to stand a lot when I ride SS. The rigid fork makes that method of climbing feel much more efficient than a suspension fork.

Anyway… I only rode the red trial. I planned on adding a green loop to the end of my ride, but when I arrived back to the parking lot after the red, I realized that my car had a flat tire. By the time I changed it, I was frozen, and headed back to the shower. Tomorrow, I’m planning on an epic blue/green/orange loop. It will involve much more climbing and rocks, so I should have an even better idea of the capabilities of the bike. So far, though, I’m incredibly impressed…

Andrea

Singlespeed- Memphis Style

Looks like the A9C singlespeed is finally happening…

Unlike fellow blogger Dicky, (who is keeping his current level 4 classified top secret project, well, secret) I’m horrible at keeping these types of things a secret.

This time, I’m taking a break from the usual red anodized parts and giving my ride a touch of Memphis style with some gold touches (still needs fake diamonds… working on it): hubs (Hope, of course), chain, brake lines, seatpost collar, and headset spacers (maybe a headset in the future, but the frame comes with one, so I’ll stick with that for now). I’ve even got half a mind to find a local hotrod shop that will anodize my Thompson goodies. Bling bling, indeed…

Of course, I know it’s possible to get gold nipples (snicker) and chainring bolts, but those are two places where I’m sticking to brass and steel (respectively). I’ve learned the hard way that those are parts where saving weight/looking fresh aren’t worth the loss of reliability/durability. Trust me… it’s been incredibly tempting to click “add to cart” every time I’ve seen the box of gold DT swiss alloy nipples. Just typing that makes me feel bling-greedy. I keep reverting back to the mental image I’ve got of my current wheelsets, sitting on the truing stand with worn out-looking red nipples, and how I have to use the “tight” spoke wrench on them to keep from stripping anything out.

Trust me, stripped nipples are no fun.

I’m expecting parts to arrive next week. Hopefully my X-Mas Syllamo adventures will be on a blinged-out carbon monster.

Andrea

2010 Jet9 Small Frameset

For sale…

I got the Jet9 recall frame back near the beginning of July, and I can count the number of times I’ve ridden it on both hands. Seriously- once at Syllamo, maybe 5 times in Colorado, and at once at ORAMM. It’s been sitting around looking pretty since then. It’s got the requisite cosmetic paint dings, but overall, in really nice condition.

I’m taking the shifty parts off to use on an A9C frame, so I’m selling the frame & headset.

$1000 OBO.

I’m not going to take the parts off of the frame ’til I am ready to build the A9C, so I don’t have any current “bare frame” photos, though here’s what it looked like when new (without a headset):

Andrea

Syllamo- the Google Earth Adventures

After using Google Earth to find some really fun stuff to add to local road rides, I wanted to see if there was anything of interest in the area near the cabin at Syllamo. I’ve always wanted to figure out a way to get up & down the mountain to Hwy 5 without using the death trap that is Hwy 9 (the road that takes you from the White River to the cabin neighborhood). To my surprise, there is a whole network of unmarked roads just across the highway. We found our way down and back up without too much trouble.

We also explored an abandoned forest road (apparently part of Old Hwy 5) that cut across the Orange and Blue Trails. The end result was a little less singletrack that what we normally get on a Syllamo trip (also, in part, due to halfway bonking on Saturday and an Arctic airmass w/25mph winds on Sunday). We still rode through the requisite rock gardens, ate catfish, and put some Christmas lights up on the cabin as a surprise for my parents (I wasn’t going to post the photo or say anything on here about it, but since they said that they may not make it back over anytime soon, I figured they’d want to see).

Speaking of rock gardens- SYLLAMO’S REVENGE IS AN NUE RACE IN 2011!!! That’s right… 100 miles of racing on my most favorite trail system ever. Can’t. Wait.

I feel like I’ve been a little off my posting game lately. Eh. It’ll come back like rock garden mojo…

Andrea

And, in squishy news…

The Jet9 is back in working order now.

Following the Fool’s Gold brake destruction, I took the Avid brakes off of it to use on my One9. After much unsuccessful cleaning/bleeding, I finally sent the Formula R1s off to Formula for service. They have a quick turnaround, and the tech I talked to was very nice. They replaced the diaphragms inside both brake bodies (they’d apparently imploded when the pads wore through to the backing and the pistons extended too far), a piston, and cleaned the grit out from behind the pistons. All done at no cost to me other than shipping. Thanks!

Though they did take a fair amount of bleeding (lots of air trapped in the calipers), and a little cussing and shimming to get centered/not rubbing, they are now back on the Jet… though I might swap them back over to the One9 since I find them irresistibly sexy in both looks and feel (also part of why I call them the “high maintenance boyfriend” of hydraulic brakes).

Ryan and I are heading to Syllamo this weekend, but I’m going to leave the Jet at home for now. It’s all shiny and clean, and therefore looks really nice in my living room.

Andrea

Syllamo Sunday

I realize that my previous post about Saturday’s ride at Syllamo was rather brief, but it was generally an ordinary (if you can call it that) ride at Syllamo- lots of rocks, some hike-a-bike, and a nice 3 hours of enjoying the singletrack. What made it even nicer was watching Ryan get better & more confident at riding his single speed through some of the rocky stuff (first time singlespeed on “real” trails for him).

Sunday was a fun change from the usual solo riding. We met up with a couple of friends from the Roadbikereview Lounge. The original plan was to ride the Yellow trail, though that was foiled when Scott went face-side down when he got squirrley down one of the hills. He broke a shifter, bar end, bent an axle, and generally roughed himself up in the process.

I’ve done more than one trailside singlespeed conversion out there, so I helped him rig his bike to a suitable gear, and we made our way back to the red trail (much more do-able on a broken-ish bike). After a scenic lap, we drove down to the green trail for a touch more rock garden and overlook (Scott hiked while Ryan, John, and I rode)

Even with the technical difficulties, it was a great morning with friends on the trail. It was a nice change of pace from the usual solitude that comes with riding such an isolated trail system. Looking forward to next time!

Andrea

Syllamo!

It’s been a while, but Ryan and I are packing up the single speeds and heading to Syllamo again this weekend. It’s been long enough since I’ve ridden there, that I’ve never actually had the One9 on those particular trails. Unless, of course, you count the epic fail that was my attempted Summer ride a few months ago. Still got scars from that one.

Hopefully the green trail logging that I’ve heard about recently isn’t as horrible as everyone says it is. Somehow, though, I doubt that. I’ve already got 1 mile of brush-infested logging area on my adopted 4 miles of orange trail. It was nearly overgrown by May this year. Unless the Forest Service can provide volunteer trail workers with Roundup and a backpack, there’s no way that the logged parts are going to stay clear. I keep saying that I’m going to write an email to someone, but like most other people that complain, there’s a sizable gap between what I complain about and what I’m willing to deal with in order to be lazy and do nothing at all.

At least the fall colors will still be pretty.

Random point of interest: Remember my Formula R1s that were trashed at Fool’s Gold? I ended up sending them in to Formula for repairs. The diaphragms inside the brake bodies had imploded, and one of the pistons needed to be replaced. I asked the tech if there was a different model that he’d recommend for extreme conditions such as those, and he (rahter snidely) informed me that there was no brake of ANY brand that would continue to work when the pads were worn through, and that there would be riders at La Ruta on Formula Brakes.

Uh, yeah.

I guess I should have clarified that what I really meant was “what brake will I be able to service at home following a race of brake pad doom the magnitude of Fool’s Gold?” The damaged piston, I understand- that’s going to happen to any brake once the pad is (literally) gone. The imploded diaphragms? Not so sure that every brake will experience such a malady. I think I’ll put the Formulas back onto my Jet9 since I likely won’t be racing it in adverse conditions.

Speaking of components, I’ve decided that I’m going to be slightly more open minded on component choice when it comes to building my next mountain bike. It’s mostly the availability of some sweet employee pricing on either major manufacturers (SRAM and Shimano), but it’s also a little bit of “hell hath no fury”… I sent a race resume and whatnot to the Grassroots folks at SRAM a couple of times and never got so much as a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” back from them. That doesn’t mean I am automatically a Shimano person now, it just means that I’m willing to at least research the latest/greatest Shimano componentry before I decide what’s going on the A9C that I’m hoping to get in December…

Well, that was random.

Andrea

Decisions, decisions…

I’m going to be getting a new MTB this winter. Ever since I saw the first photos of the Air9 Carbon, I’ve wanted one. Not only is it dead freaking sexy, but also the frame is compatible with gears or SS because the BB shell is sized to accept various inserts from EBB to BB30.

There’s a problem, though- Outdoors, Inc. does not sell Niner Bikes.

Don’t get me wrong- I can find a place to buy my precious A9C, but the thing is, I can get something like the Scott Scale 29 RC for a good bit less through the Outdoors employee purchase program. Other than a 15mm thru-axle/fox fork, it comes prettymuch kitted out how I would build the A9C if I were to do such a thing as ride one of those crazy geared bikes. The problem is those pesky gears- the Scott isn’t really made to be a SS frame. I know there are conversion options (I’d probably try something like the White Eccentric ENO hub), but I’m still hesitant.

The Air 9 Carbon is just dead freaking sexy…

A9c

I haven’t computed the exact cost of each one, but I know for sure the Scott would be a smaller hit to the pocket book- even if I had to build up a separate SS rear wheel. I’m having a hard time selling myself on that idea, though, because I have LOVED my Niners, and the A9C has been my dream bike for more than a hot minute.

What does The Brickhouse Readership think?

Edit to add: Of course, I’d love it if Outdoors would sell Niner. However, there is already a shop in town that sells Niners, so they aren’t really looking to add another dealer in the same area.

Andrea

Womble Weekend

Before I get started, you should get to know everyone by their proper nicknames.

First, there’s Todd the Antique Gun Show:

IMG_0685

Next, Magical Mystery Tour Dave (talk to him if you ever need toilet paper while you’re out on the trail):

MMTdave

Josh the Eye Candy (yes, that’s a crescent wrench in his pocket):
tool

And yes, he gets two photos…

IMG_0690

Razz:

razz

…and Zane- a.k.a. “Sandy”

sandy

Day #1 started with MMTDave bringing his bike out of the car with a flat tire. The Antique Gun Show apparently keeps an air compressor in his truck, and tried to seal it up tubeless, but it was flat within the first climb/descent of the trail (which also happened to be within the first 5 minutes of hitting the trail). After a couple of attempts at keeping it tubeless, he eventually stopped and put a tube in. I have a hard time getting into the groove of things when a ride starts with halfwheeling leg-ripping contests, so I was happy for the short breaks.

trail

As I previously discovered from my first trip to ride with Todd on the Womble, it’s customary to ride at close to a race-type effort whenever new guys (or girls) are in the group. Eye Candy Josh and Sandy were both “n00bsauce.”

We headed south from Highway 88, crossed the Ouachita River, and continued south on the Womble until we reached highway 298. From there, we hit the road. And more flats. This time, Razz discovered that his rim had a burr in it. It was rubbing a hole in his tire. We eventually booted it and headed up through Sims…

ssers

Being on a singlespeed on the road only sucks if you’re the only SS there. Luckily, there were 6 of us. We eventually hit the forest roads and made our way up a doubletrack climb to the Ouachita Trail. On the down side of the climb, MMTDave had another flat. Sandy stayed with him to lend him a tube and supplies, but soon found out that tubes kept in seatpacks for extended periods of time will have holes rubbed in them. Razz also flatted again soon after. I tried to lone my tube to him, and found that it was also damaged from my seatpack.

So, we decided to bail at the next forest road and head back in to Todd’s place for some refreshments.

after

afterR

ladies

The remainder of the afternoon was spent telling fish tales and bragging about who could find the most awesome “new guy.” As soon as it started getting dark, I was out cold, and didn’t wake up until the coyotes decided that 4:30 AM was a good time to have a coyote party in the woods… or whatever it was they were doing. I can’t complain too much- at least it wasn’t post-12-hour techno.

Day #2, we were much more successful at keeping the air on the inside of the tires (with the exception of Antique Gun Show). We headed north up the Womble and, after some sweet hike-a-bike, hit the Ouachita Trail on top of Round Top

IMG_0696

The descent was awesome- a little rocky, a little flowy, a little fast… something for everyone. We eventually made it back to where we’d left the Womble and made our way back south to where we’d started

womble

Apparently next weekend will be “battle of the new guys.” My entry into the horserace is Matt, who is visiting Todd’s next weekend and will likely blog all about it once he’s home and out of his coma.

I’m trying to have the carbon cross blinged out and ready for Cyclocrunk, which starts tomorrow night (don’t click that if you’re offended by rap music and/or cleavage, in which case, you should probably get off of the internet right now). Considering I haven’t trained at ALL for cyclocross this year, I’m hoping that no one shows up, lest I get my butt kicked.