Redemption Time...

 I just entered the lottery to get into the Leadville Trail 100. It was full-on impulse, as today is the last day to register. If I get in, this will be my second attempt at the LT100. A lofty goal of sub 9 hours on the single speed at elevation. You've never climbed as long of hills as they have in this race, ever (see center climb on graph below). A grueling and painful challenge for even the guys/gals who actually have a legitimate training regimen. For real. Would I be crazy to attempt this feat on the Fat Pearl? Now that would be something to write home about.

Time Bonus...

Saturday Night pretty much ruled the known universe.

I'll be posting a full race report soon. Until then, here's a little taste of what went down...

Image by Randy Braley, check out his work...

Saturday Night Live...

All things Pirate go down Saturday Night. 

If you think you can, or if you think you can't - you're right. 

Be there, or die wondering.

One Fat World...

It would appear that SSP made the "Wallpaper Wednesday" shot on Fat-Bike.com this week! 

If you are obsessed with over-sized rubber, take a minute  or ten and visit Fat-Bike.com. Loaded with enough videos, photos, how to's, race info and general fat porn to kill more brain cells than meth. I geek-out at this URL at least *236 times a day and look where it's taken me. Don't die wondering. Enjoy the best! 

Special Thanks (and I mean like special like retarded) to Captain Cuntwat for loaning me his pugs for the ride/photo. Without your White Princess I would never have bought into the hype, nor made the front page of such an rad website.

Fat-Skinny...

Last nights solo ride on the Fat Pearl in photos...

A Little Pave' Starter...

Some Creek'n...

Prairie Love...

Fat-Skinny, sent...

Sunset...

Murder at the Tracks...

Redrum

Registration opens today at 10 a.m.

first 40 peeps get in.

I'll be one of those peeps, you got the balls to join me?

More info HERE

Throwing Bones...

Not to be missed, the 5th annual Bone Bender... 

3 or 6 grueling hours on some of the best dirt in the Midwest.

Mark your calendars!

Yep, that's Burnsey on the poster. 

I guess it pays to race this event every year since it's conception. 

On a scale of 1-10, I give the Bone Bender a "Phuk-Yeah!".

Loose Change...

Last Winter we built some race specific trail for use in the Pirate cXc Winter Night Race Series. Last night, three of us on fat bikes went out to ride one of those courses to see if it would be a good alternate to the 2013 series. Being that these "trails" were made for a one-night only race, we knew that conditions might be rough. None had trimmed or done any maintenance in a years time. Maybe they no longer existed? We were determined to find out.

MaxiThad, PostalJeff and I rolled into the darkness around 8 p.m.. It was pretty cold, maybe 18 degrees or so. it felt like 10. We bundled-up, found the old race loop and went for a lap. We rolled down a now deeply rutted double track descent, across a short creek crossing and into the first series of 4x4 climbs. These climbs are super steep, fairly loose dirt ruts made by local yahoos in their 4x4 trucks. You climb about 30 feet up in 20. Then you ride down the next one - repeat, take a breath along some flats and do it all again. There are seven of these short and steep climbs on the course. Some of which we just could not make it up, and at least one that had dire consequences if you failed - it was so steep that you'd tumble back down the hill with your bike (as I did). Frozen dirt and rock feels awesome to bounce down, really.

Areas of single-track that we had previously constructed had since changed into double-track 4x4 road. Another section of single-track that remained intact had become a major deer highway. At the exit of this deer highway someone had some feed set out and a blind/tent set-up for hunting. There was obvious signs of a recent kill - a trail of blood up a climb into the woods. 

This was a little spooky for us, being in the middle of no-mans-land at night. Fortunately it lead us to this and not the barrel of a gun - a nice and very vintage ladder bridge.

I think PostalJeff shot some video of us phuggin' around here while his rear tire was deflating. Hopefully I'll get that video posted at a later date. Speaking of PostalJeff; he's getting the hang of riding fat bikes (4th ride). His Salsa Mukluk is pretty flippin' sweet!

Nearby there is a fun creek crossing that allows for some good technical riding. There is a steep and rocky descent with only one good line that requires a solid pair of huevos to attempt. If you miss the line you might fall off a six foot drop to more rock, not really an option. MaxiThad is always game for trying lines of trickery, so we played around a bit on this feature, eventually moving on, dreaming of warm toes and malt beverages.

This was my first ride on the Fat Pearl (Surly Pugsley). I'd like to make a few changes in my set-up, like my bars (from flat to a riser) to get a better position for climbing. Climbing seems to be the real challenge on these monster trucks of the bike world. I was generally excited and impressed with the new build and how it rolled over rock-strewn terrain with ease. I can't wait for more snow, and will get her down to the river to sample some deep sand in the near future. Super psyched to be riding a fat bike!

EDIT: Here's that vid...as seen from the eyes of the predator.

Surly Pugsley...

Embrace the Fat!

Finally, the Fat Pearl is complete. She's been months in the making, scraping together parts here and there as I could. Super excited to get out for the maiden voyage tonight with a few friends for an adventure ride, scoping out race courses for Pirate cXc's Winter Night Race Series. 

I'm not going into a bunch of detail regarding the process of this build. It was a learning experience to say the least, and I could not have done it without the help from dozens of folks; for that I thank each and every one of you for your time and experience, and for putting up with my obsessive bike building behavior. Those folks are as follows; MaxiThad, The Manimal, White Mike, Justin Bay, BillyVanilly, Farmer, Forrester Carver, Thomas & Nick @ Angry Catfish, Britton @ Volker, BikeSource, Chris @ Venga Velo, Golden Bike Shop and I'm sure there are a few others I've forgotten.

Here are a few of the parts I gathered...

Last Night we had a wheel building, beer drinking party. Even had the security guy knocking at the door of White Mikes loft due to a noise complaint. If you've ever been around MaxiThad after he's been on the alcohol drip, you know the volume was indeed set at eleven.

Here's the build: 

• Surly Necromancer Pugsley 18" steel frame, Black
• Carver Ti fork
• Surly Rolling Darryl Limited Edition Rims - Grape Ape
• DT Swiss Double Butted Competition Spokes - Black
• Paul Disc WORD rear SS Hub - bolt-on, Black
• Paul Disc WHUB 135mm front hub, Black
• Salsa Skewer, Black
• Thomson X4 90x10 stem, Black
• Thomson Masterpiece 27.2x330 post, Silver
• Surly SS Clamp, Black
• Specialized Phenom Saddle, 130mm
• Avid Elixer 7 Hydro Disc Brakes w/Carbon Levers
• Avid 160 Rotors
• Chris King Headset, Pretty and Strong (pink)
• Surly Knard 26x3.8 120tpi Tires
• Bontrager Race Lite Cage, Black
• Crank Brothers Eggbeater II Pedals
• FSA Carbon Pro Cranks, 100mm BB
• Salsa SS Ring, 34t
• White Industries ENO freewheel, 20t
• SRAM 8 speed chain
• Sury Tuggnut/bottle opener
• Surly Toob Lites
• Surly Rim Strips over Glow-in-the-dark Tape
• Oury Grips, Glow-in-the-dark 

p.s. G-wiz, you can suck-it!

Fatty-Fest...

Check It HERE!!!

Sub Thirty...

New Project Teaser image. I hear under 30 lbs is a worthy goal for a fatbike, and I'm all over that noise.

We set Maxithads wheel in place as a test-fit and all things are going as planned. I've been dreaming of Ti for way too long, and this fork drops lbs off the build. Rolling a Ritchey Carbon bar with a good amount of back-sweep, a King headset, Thomson post and stem, Avid Hydro's, glow-in-the-dark Oury's and FSA Carbon cranks w/Salsa ring. 

Wheel-set is in-the-works , going with Surly Limited Edition Rolling Darryl's (purp's) laced to Paul SS hubs, Knard 3.8 rubber . 

Super psyched to get this ride out on the trail/snow/sand/non-trail. Fatbikes are way too much fun, really. More so than your 21st barfday. 

Season 5...

Elevated heart Rate & Beer, not to be missed... More info HERE.

The Flow of Snow...

The Black Pearl after many nights/days of winter riding

Last night the P-ride was cancelled due to many lame excuses including but not limited to my own " I'm feeling tired, no ride tonight". After sending out this message I felt like a total lame-duck. The ten extra pounds of flesh latched onto my midsection from holiday overindulgence looked me in the eye and said to me, " get the phuk out there and ride you pussy-ass-bitch!" - so I went.

Maxithad and PostalJeff were riding fat bikes at the river. I could follow their tracks in the snow and find them doing what they do best, playing in the deep sand and snow on the riverbank. Riding my plastic skinny tire SS, I knew I might have issue riding said terrain, but it was worth a try - if for no other reason than to get my ass out for some grueling fun, grinding one gear in the cold darkness.

As things turned out, the snow/sand was in perfect riding condition. I followed their scent down river for a good mile plus, rendezvoused, then continued in a threesome on to ride more of the same. Once bored with the awesomeness that is fat bike heaven, we entered the woods to find more perfect singletrack. We hunted down the rumored 10+ abandoned buses that were dropped into the riverbank years ago to "control erosion". We conquered insurmountable climbs, err, rather they laughed in our faces. We spun a lap on the cyclocross course for good measure, as it was a perfect illuminated path of untouched snow.

Two plus hours of wicked fun during what was a cancelled ride that happened anyway, yeah! A damn good time for sure. Thanks to MaxiThad and PostalJeff for the motivation, whether they knew it or not - I couldn't resist the temptation to saddle-up in the crisp night air and burn the midnight oil.

Bike Art/Bus Frame (the orange fork is 20' + in the air)

One of many bus skeletons

20' + up the skeleton

MaxiThad and PostalJeff enjoying some snowy riverside doubletrack

Double-Phat

Hate and Spite......

Happy Phuggin' New years to all, and to all Hate and Spite (stolen from our beloved THADictionary). 

G-wizzard was blowing up my phone with hate messages, calling every cyclist in the metro gay for bailing on the snowy New Years Day ride. I got my spine back, rallied The Silent Killer and we met Wilson and G-wiz out at Swope for some good riding. The snow was perfect; not too slick, not too wet, not too dry - just good. We pushed out a good lap at conversation pace with minimal carnage. G provided post ride beverages which warmed the soul. We talked shit as usual, then parted ways.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend - Dave Wilson, sub nine hours on SS at the Leadville 100

G-wiz hitting a drop known as Faceplant

I'm still off the caffeine so my writing skills are pretty lacking, along and my memory (and riding ability). I might blame it on the New Years celebration at the Lair, where we hot-tubed and torched wedding dresses in the bond-fire till the wee hours of January 1st. A sight to behold, no doubt. Have a great 2013 folks, you deserve it. 

Delicious

A friends wedding dress - post divorce. Yeah, she's bitter 

Burn that dress - Burn off the old year

2012 cX'd off...

A few images of T-Donn and G-Wiz from Cross Off the Old year CX on New years Eve-Eve... 

The little pirates and I had a blast throwing snowballs at the cat 1's, heckling in the form of " Ride Harder Ladies". Good times, perfectly gnarly CX conditions. I can't name one racer who didn't go down in the snowy/muddy slickness at least once. Results are HERE.