Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Birthday Weekend
Laura and I went over to Moab for my four day b-day weekend. It was a blast. I didn't even take out my single speed as I was hooked on my 30" wheels. So much fun! Enjoy the photo dump!
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
29er Plussssssssssssss
29 plus wheels. What's that you ask? It's a 29 inch rim mounted with 29x3 tires. Surly Knard tires to be exact giving the bike a bigger rolling circumference. I recently had jumped on the 29 plus bandwagon having Pete at Kokopelli Bike and Board out of Cortez, Colorado build me a sweet wheelset that would fit on my current Kokopelli Bike Company fat bike frame set. One bike, two wheel sets. Easy. I now have the best of both worlds of a fat bike and a 29er plus bike. Just change out the wheel set.
The wheelset build consists of Velocity Dually hoops. 45mm wide, dual walled for durability but lighter than the Surly Rabbit Hole hoops. DT Revolution 2.0/1.5 super spokes for weight savings laced to Hope FatSno hubs with Surly Knard 3" 127 TPI rubber tubeless. A pretty sick setup. The Dually rims come tubeless ready and mount up fairly easy. Well, I think they mount easy enough as Pete did the work. I've put roughly 150 miles on these wheels since last Thursday and they roll ever soooo nice. A 1x10 setup rounds off the modification of the fat bike. A 30 tooth Race Face narrow wide chainring up front with a 11/42 configuration in the rear thanks to a Wolf Tooth Components chain ring.
Check out the rig:
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
El Freako Kits
Putting together another order on my kits. Just need to add the Kokopelli Bike Co logo when the guys figure it out. Also ordering knickers this time around. Good stuff from Canari.
Monday, May 12, 2014
12 Hours of Messy Verde 2014 Edition
Yep, that time of year again for the annual 'knife fight' at Phil's World for the 12 Hours of Messy Verde. After finishing the Arizona Trail Race 300 I wasn't sure if I would be ready for this event but it is a hard one to pass up when it's a local race. I think my legs were still in Arizona next to my soul on Oracle Ridge but I gave it my all. My goal was a podium spot. Simple enough. Right!
My legs never felt super from the get go when the Le Man's style run to our bikes began; but not awful either. I started cramping after lap three all the way until the finish. Very odd as I prepped my body well enough going into the race and was surprised at the cramping issue. I just rode through the cramps and they would come back on every hard climbing effort. Typically my Thermatabs work awesome but for some reason I wasn't able to get rid of the cramping issue. I never felt sick to the stomach which is typical for me at this event. I was running Tailwind in my bottles for most of the raceIt was warm out but not hot like the 24HITOP in February and the AZT 300 in April. Whatever. I kept telling myself to keep tough mentally and go! When the mind goes the body will certainly follow.
I have done a lot of multi loop races since the year 2000 and they get ever more annoying with the 'freds' that show up for these events. It doesn't help when the course is all tight single track with little spots for passing. Race etiquette is not part of their nature. I just give them the benefit of the doubt that they are ignorant at this type of racing. I tend to vocalize my thoughts and give them some cliff notes on riding these races. LOL!! On the other hand there are lots of cool people out racing having a good time and using common sense and being considerate at the same time. It's the nature of the event style. It is what it is.
My ultimate goal going into the race was to ride 8 laps and a podium spot to boot. The 8th lap eluded me again and I settled for 7 laps with a 4th place podium placing in the single speed solo category. 116 miles and nearly 10k of climbing. I'll take that to the hardware bank!! Fellow Kokopelli team mate Shawn Gregory took the win with 8 laps. Great effort Shawn!
The Kokopelli Bike Co 29er bike rode great as usual. I had a few issues such as the rear hub on the Stan's wheel getting loose and making a god awful noise. I had to stop twice on lap 2 to hand tighten it. Not sure what the deal is with that but it happened during the AZT 300 as well. Other than that it was a clean ride.
Overall it was a great day with pretty ideal weather. Thanks to Dani Gregory and company on another successful event. You guys rock!
My legs never felt super from the get go when the Le Man's style run to our bikes began; but not awful either. I started cramping after lap three all the way until the finish. Very odd as I prepped my body well enough going into the race and was surprised at the cramping issue. I just rode through the cramps and they would come back on every hard climbing effort. Typically my Thermatabs work awesome but for some reason I wasn't able to get rid of the cramping issue. I never felt sick to the stomach which is typical for me at this event. I was running Tailwind in my bottles for most of the raceIt was warm out but not hot like the 24HITOP in February and the AZT 300 in April. Whatever. I kept telling myself to keep tough mentally and go! When the mind goes the body will certainly follow.
I have done a lot of multi loop races since the year 2000 and they get ever more annoying with the 'freds' that show up for these events. It doesn't help when the course is all tight single track with little spots for passing. Race etiquette is not part of their nature. I just give them the benefit of the doubt that they are ignorant at this type of racing. I tend to vocalize my thoughts and give them some cliff notes on riding these races. LOL!! On the other hand there are lots of cool people out racing having a good time and using common sense and being considerate at the same time. It's the nature of the event style. It is what it is.
My ultimate goal going into the race was to ride 8 laps and a podium spot to boot. The 8th lap eluded me again and I settled for 7 laps with a 4th place podium placing in the single speed solo category. 116 miles and nearly 10k of climbing. I'll take that to the hardware bank!! Fellow Kokopelli team mate Shawn Gregory took the win with 8 laps. Great effort Shawn!
The Kokopelli Bike Co 29er bike rode great as usual. I had a few issues such as the rear hub on the Stan's wheel getting loose and making a god awful noise. I had to stop twice on lap 2 to hand tighten it. Not sure what the deal is with that but it happened during the AZT 300 as well. Other than that it was a clean ride.
Overall it was a great day with pretty ideal weather. Thanks to Dani Gregory and company on another successful event. You guys rock!
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| Pit stop after lap 6. |
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| Podium!!!! |
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| Celebration with LK after the awards. |
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