New Hoops...



cHub removal from my ragged-out DT Swiss 26er's

Oldie but goodie Chubs & New Stans ZTR Arch 29er hoops



Laced-up with DT Swiss Double Butted Competition spokes w/ brass nipples



The Manimal is working overtime finishing off the new build for me, working his magic into the wee hours of night so that I can have these suckers up and mounted for SSUSA this weekend in Boulder. We're driving out in the new Greasecar and meeting our bro Cameron for some Single Speed Mayhem of sorts. We'll be summiting rocks and riding bikes, sweet. I'm sure you'll want to check back to read all about the adventure, it will be delightfully epic. I'll post up some photos from the road and the story will follow. Cheers!

Windshield Time...

It feel like an eternity since I've had any saddle time. Tonight as I spun through Shawnee Mission Park it was more like windshield time. I thought the imminent rain was upon me but in fact it was thousands of bugs, hitting me like rain as I zoomed down the trail. Thankfully I was dawning glasses and realized after the first bite of natural flying protein, to keep my mouth shut and nose breath for the rest of the ride. Storms are coming; tornado's and lighting and thunder. This is indeed Kansas. We aren't in Oz anymore...and my ride was a good one, alone in the woods just taking it all in...

Support...

O.K., So if you have not read my Kuat NV review, read it HERE. If you missed the Kuat Beta review, check it out HERE. If you want just one more great reason to buy your next rack from Kuat, Go HERE. Like the old saying goes; "You pat my back, I'll pat yours". Kuat is more than a handful mountain bikers selling the best products to haul your bikes, they give back to the community.

Get this sweet shirt, know you are helping those in great need, and of course look good doing it! 100% of the sale price of this T-Shirt is being donated by Kuat to the United Way to help the tornado victims of Joplin, Missouri.

Way to go Kuat! Do it!

Syllamo's Revenge 2011...

Syllamo, It happened Saturday. Was a fine time riding singletrack in the Ozarks for 50+/- miles. It appears that there are nearly 40 folks riding Single Speed alone. A pretty large field!

Check out my race report 'Sweet Revenge' HERE...

Sweet Revenge...

It's Friday, high noon; Time to draw your six shooter and get the hell outta town. That's what The Manimal, FM and I did - headed down south to the great state of Arkansassy, to ride some sweet trail deep in the Ozarks; Silly-mo as we call it.

We'd been getting psyched to do this 50ish mile pain train of an event for quite some time. The Manimal's first attempt and he had high hopes of a good finish and fast time. I knew he'd love the course and my sandbagged description of it (remember "slightly uphill"). I was hoping that I'd finish, not last, and beat my '09 time. FM was hoping top stay on the right trail and get to through the day in style. My 29er SS was rolling pretty at 32/19, Manimal's at 32/20 and FM was rolling queers gears. Just days before, Manimal had broken his Stumpy frame and had to toss together a Kona replacement frame that had previously suffered the same fate. Knowing how he rides...a new bike was not going to conquer the motivation of the Manimal; nothing can.

We arrive at a killer little campsite to meet Timbo and Brookie-Bobby at Blanchard Springs, which is were the race is held. Timbo makes a five-star lasagna dinner in his Dutch Oven and we all chow down a pre-race meal, toss back a cold one and kick back early for some shut-eye.

The Steel-Bitch Ready-to-rock

Saturday morning rolls around and we ready ourselves for the big race. Eight o'clock start and we are off. It's a few hundred yards of pavement to the infamous gravel double-track two-mile climb. I know better than to get in the back of the pack on this climb because all the geared riders toss it in granny right off the bat, and its a cluster f&%k trying to make any headway on one gear. I get out of the saddle an put the hammer down, feeling good and into the single-track.

The Grind...

Things are going good and riders are flowing for the first mile or so until we hit some technical rock climbs that end up causing a big train of hike-a-bikers. The conditions were same as the past two years; rain the day before has left wet rocks and mud to add to the challenge of an already tough course; shit was slick!

Finally after a few miles we get spread out and are able to ride and race pace. I pass a few riders and grab the wheel of my team mate Kay for a few. Kay has some pretty darn good technical skills and I was impressed at how she'd just monster-truck through some hard rock gardens. We roll through the first aid station w/o stopping.

Things are going pretty good until I bash my bad knee into my bikes stem and leave some fleash for the worms. Knocked myself good enough that I was concerned that I might not be in for the long haul. I'd blown out this knee at the Leadville 100 a few years ago and it has not been the same since. I decided to keep plugging and make sure to think positive and not about the pain. Dig deep I kept saying to myself. 

Burnsey Settled-in

It seemed like an eternity, hill after hill, muddy holes and creek crossings. I'd roll through the check points, sometimes grabbing water but was otherwise doing well with my nutrition as planned ans kept rolling. My legs were pretty tired and I was getting worked as the miles passed.

FM Cruise Control

At about mile 32 I was about to throw in the towel. I was hurting. I was being a bitch-ass-bitch. Thankfully FM pulls up and is all psyched and cranking along with a smile on his face, so I grab his wheel for the final push to the finish. He was indeed feeling good and was outta my sights after a mere five minutes of riding. I pushed on alone for the most part from there on out. Occasionally I'd pass some other poor soul who was about to collapse and I'd shout some form of encouragement to them. At some point hear 'Burnsey' form behind me. It was Luke climbing a long and steep gravel section in hot pursuit. He was looking as strong as I'd ever seen him. I had not seen Manimal since the start so I assumed he was way ahead of me and succeeding in his goals.

Manimal Attack

I finally get to the double track and know its a few miles of ludicrous-speed downhill-action to the finish. Thank freaking baby Jesus, I was ready to be done and toss back some beers!

I roll into the finish a solid 24 minutes faster than my '09 time.Not in last place, felt like total dog shit and happy to have finished the race, I've only had one DNF and I hope it stays that way. It was a helluva a good time and I will be back again for sure. Who doesn't need a good a$$ kicking now and again?

Timbo, Burnsey, Manimal & FM

My ethos brothers and sisters did well in the race. Manimal with 5th in SS, Dave with 3rd in SS and Sarah 3rd in Women's Open. The rest of the crew did really well, better than years past as FM knocked days off his time and Timbo actually finished! We were all happy with our results.

You can find awesome event photos HERE (buy some because I can't, I'm broke-ass-beans-and-rice)...

Manimals race report is HERE...

And race results are HERE...

A 'good job' letter from my boys, awesome!

Ethos Poduims...



Dave and Sarah with the infamous Syllamo's Revenge Stone Trophy!



Arkansas Bound...

Jamie, Jesse and I are enroute to Syllamo's Revenge. Psyched for the pain....

 

I Heart My LBS...

Hands down the best shop around.

Get HERE, spend money, tell them I sent you.

Rumble Tumble...

I spent a good part of last night in the saddle...or in the dirt. I'd caught word that BURP was possibly dry enough to ride, and since I had yet to get in a good pounding there this season, I headed straight there for a quick lap after work. The trail was not in as good of shape as I was lead to believe, but I made it happen, walked the muddy spots and fought the loose areas where some asshole had been riding what looked to be, by the tracks left, a fat-tire mini-bike. The Wagon Trail was great. I love all of the technical rock sections and wanted to test my metal on the 29er; all was good. With a heat advisory in effect, I made short work of the trails and then headed over to meet Kauk, Manimal, FM, SCotter, Tate, Davis and TB for some hot laps at Swope.

I arrive at Swope to whitness a hoard of folks prepping to ride. In short order all of the cool cats are gathered and ready to throw down the pain. We jump on the train and head into the business. A pretty solid pace puts us on Woodchuck Run and then into 8-pins. We all ride fairly solid through a section we dubbed 'The Karma Section" and kept the flow going as we passed some jerk with short mans syndrome who flatted bad enough he'd be walking his bike out of the trail, hence the new trail name. [That] in itself is another story...

After a good lap of all that is grand, I get the call that Manimal has arrived and we head back to the trail head to hook-up with him, toss back a barley-pop and prep for another hot lap. Also joining the hoard was the one and only Trail Asshole (he prefers to be called Dick). We all do another solid and painful lap, this time with me crashing my brains out twice; rolling and tumbling like a ninja into the woods, unscathed.

Towards the end of my four hour ride, we were down to three loyal riders who just can't say no to the pain; Trail Asshole, Manimal and myself. I was at this point more-than-done, my legs totally toast and in my weakened state, fell to the peer pressure. We head out to some new terrain and taste the sweetness that I can say is totally bad ass and is making me want a 6" full squishy travel bike. I'm telling you; there are some sweet features coming to Swope. It's gonna be good gnarly (in a good way).

Modifreakation...

I've had a fair bit of trouble finding a replacement for my broken Rock Lobster frame. I've been through a few frames and have not found anything I love. Now it's come the time to take my old Gunnar Ruffian frame, which is rim-brake only and convert it over to the disc brake world.  I am fortunate to have friends in KC that can do just this sort of work, so on Saturday I headed over to Possun's casa with twelve IPA's and the Gunnar to see what kind of magic he could work to get this sucker up-to-date. Just as I had assumed, Possun was able to get things dialed-in and fillet brazed in no time. I now have an old school steel frame that I can run new-school brakes on. This bike had been my devoted winter fixed gear, but now I have plans for this old friend to become my new 26" Singlespeed workhorse.

Fitting the Disc Brake Mount and Bracing

Brazing



Fillet Brazed, pre-finish work.

Ready to build-up and ride!...

Now I just have to be patient enough to paint the frame up right...instead of just rolling with her half-assed and ugly. Maybe ugly is better? Hmmm...

Mad props to Possun for his quality work and for sharing some hoppy beverages while I watched. Psyched!

Roubidoux Roundup...

Nice little race with big elevation at Krug in St. Joseph this weekend.

Ethos is part of the crew making this race happen.

Get some!

Sunday Morning = Dirt Church...

Sunday Morning; a great time to ride trail. There are very few folks out early, and if they are out, they’re being sheep – not riding trail. Being outside is a spiritual thing for me, like church for some or biting the heads off bats for others. Dirt Church is just a term we’ve coined for getting outside, away from the feel of city life and into the woods; far away from work and the daily grind that we create for ourselves.

FM and I rolled out for a solid lap at Swope in yet another bit of perfect weather. FM is psyched to finally have some good tires allowing focus on riding instead of how fast he can change 4 flats in an hour. I’m getting the 29er dialed-in and comfortable. Aside from the jerk on a snow bike that thought we ‘the guys climbing the steep rock garden’, should yield to him as he coasted downhill, things were great. Heck, FM even cleared a few obstacles that he normally has to dab – always a bonus!. Just a good overall non-race crazed ride. I like that, chillaxin’ in the saddle.