Work has been incredibly busy the last few weeks and hadn't much time to blog. Doesn't mean I'm not biking. Last Saturday, I did a brutal 20 mile SS mtb ride. It was brutal for a few reasons. 1. I had wings for dinner the night before. 2. I was out late. 3. I'm still getting used to the 32x19 gearing I started running. Nothing like knowing you can do more but, your body telling you, "NO!" I guess every now and then you need a reminder that diet is just as important as riding all the time.
The next day we did a 52 mile road, rail trail, and singletrack ride. We were supposed to do a century but, it got pushed back so others could have time to get in shape for it.

It was nice to have my road bike stripped of all it's commuting gear. It's nice and light now. We did have one flat on pavement about 30 miles in. Not on the single track with big rocks and roots everywhere. On the paved rail trail right after someone made a comment about a flat...

Of course the spare tube had a slit in it and we wasted a CO2 on it before we discovered that. Luckily, I always carry a pump and CO2. I've had my share of CO2 failures and pump failures to know better. Once we discovered the slit, I patched the original tube and we were on our way.

While I was going downhill on one section of road I was close to 38 mph and I started getting crazy front wheel wobble. Scared the crap out of me. I never experienced it before so naturally, I loosened my grip and took weight off the front while braking, making it wobble even worse. I thought I was going to be skinned alive. I finally managed to slow down enough for it to stop. Later on I researched it and found out that you need to add more weight to the front and grip the frame with your knees and hope that fixes it. Scary.

A few weeks ago my wife's uncle gave me a 1989 Trek 1100 aluminum framed road bike with a cromo fork. It rides beautifully. Since, it was just sitting in my shed and I liked having my specialized without all the commuting crap on it. Yesterday, I decided to set it up for commuting for a while. At least until after our century.

I think I need a shorter stem on it but, I'll ride it a week and see. I might just need to raise up the current one. I need to get a battery for the computer and see if that works, too.

My wife wanted to go for a ride yesterday so, I took her to the local rail trail. I took the Dolomighty. You get lots of stares and smiles on that thing.

Finally today, me and a friend took a trip to Delaware to ride White Clay State Park. I love that place. It's pure trail bliss. IMBA helped in building it and the Trailspinners do a fantastic job of keeping up with it. A lot of skinnies throughout the park, rollers, climbs, creek crossings, a skills park and about 30 miles of trails. Can't beat it.

I just love my Raleigh XXIX. It's pretty much perfect. I would like to put a 180mm rotor in the front but, other than that I think it's my perfect bike.

Finally, Found Dirt!

This morning I woke up dark and early to head far east to the land of good drainage, New Jersey. Batsto Village to be exact. It's fast and flowy. Nothing technical at all. Super flat. I don't think there was one time where I stopped pedaling. Either going down or up. Total I think it's about 23 miles. Good way to kick off the season!

They did an awesome job of marking these trails. There are mileage markers every few miles and half way through the 19 mile loop here is that map kiosk from the above picture. They have that at the start of the trails, too. Every trail is color coded.
As you can see the terrain is sand and pine needles. It must get really dense in the summer time. I am also testing a new cockpit setup. I'm testing to own a set of Carver ti handlebars. I think they're 710mm. A little bit wider than my 680mm. I also put on a 65mm SunlineV stem. My other one is a 90mm. I loved the setup but, my left arm was asleep the whole time. I had that trouble before with this stem. I think it puts me in too much of an upright position. I'm going to swap back to the 90mm next time I ride.

The Beast...errr... Dolomite has arrived!

And it's sweet! Sweet looking at least. I only got to ride it from the back to the front of my shed, so far.
I was busy the first night tearing things apart and regreasing everything. I swapped out the handlebars, pedals, brake levers, and stem for stuff I had laying around. The fact that I can do this is one of the reasons this bike is better than your other Walmart bikes. The BB5's I was planning on using didn't work with the brake mounts. So This morning before work I quickly swapped the stock ones back on. They work pretty well. I've been planning on upgrading my SS's rotors to something higher; at that point I'll use those mounts and put the BB5's on. I need to get some seat post shims so I can use the one I have laying around. I'll probably wake up early again tomorrow and work on it for a few minutes before work.

The frame had some skuffs on it from packaging I imagine. Stickers are a little bubbly. I'm probably going to rip those off and have a "Walgoose" sticker made or something to make it look like it was an expensive bike.

I planned on getting starting on drilling out the wheels tonight but, our sink drain started leaking so I had to attend to that. Of course I had everything but, the one little washer that makes all the difference in the world. Such is life.

Dolomite is on it's way!

My Mongoose Dolomite should be here the end of the day on the 11th! Can't wait. I already got my spare parts waiting on the work bench to go on it. I'm going to drill the wheels out per fat-bike.com's instructions before I even put them on. Of course once I get it, spring will be rearing it's beautiful head around the corner. Average temp for the beginning of this week will be in the 50s. I'm actually going to be able to shed some layers for the commute in to work! Of course by the end of the week there is a chance of snow with lows in the 20s.
Speaking of commuting. I got a flat tire on the front last week. I fixed it rode it a few times, just went out to the shed to toy around and it was flat again. ugh. There are a cuts in the tire. So I switched out the Mavic Aksion tire that came with the rim to a more burly 25mm all weather tire that came with the bike when I got it. Hopefully, I like it. I think I should be rolling on a fatter tire anyway. Anyone have a recommendation on a 28c tire?
Remember my cracked shoe? Well I finally took it to the LBS. I thought I was going to have to take it in and wait for the Mavic rep to look at it for the warranty stuff. That's the way the LBS made it sound. So I was going to wait til it was warmer and could switch out to my too snug road shoes. I decided to take them in on Saturday. He swapped them out for a brand new pair of a different model. saweet! New stuff is always fun!

Now available

The Mongoose Dolomite is now available at Walmart.com Mine is expecting to be here on March 17th. bummer it can't be sooner!

Mongoose fat bike (s) recap

Last Thursday, Mongoose and Walmart released the 20" Mongoose Massif.

This obviously made everyone waiting for the Dolomite refresh Walmart's page a million times a day. A couple people were able to pre-order the Dolomite direct from Pacific Cycles last week. Rumor is that they shipped them out to Walmart now and pre-ordering is no longer an option. Hopefully, that means this week we can order them at some point. Price rumor is under 250$ A test rider for Mongoose has given us the frame specs which are:
24" effective top tube
19" chain stays
70d head tube angle
73d seat tube angle
Will have the same tires as the beast
Full alloy 1 1/8" stem
Hubs are steel nutted disc freewheels

fat-bike.com reported a spy shot of another Mongoose fat bike that's supposed to come out later this year. Yes, that will be three new fat bikes this year from Mongoose. This is a sub 1k$ bike with a 10 speed Shimano drivetrain. You can check that out here I'll be interested to see the actual price point and full specs and see how it compares to the sub 1500$ bikes and if having the Mongoose name will be a deciding factor for some people. Me? I can't justify that kind of money for a bike I won't use all the time.

Winter Blues

Man, I was doing great riding in the cold. We've been having the freeze thaw thing going on. Snow piles melting into the streets and then freezing into black ice, just in time for my commute. On Monday, I had what was probably the most elegant fall of my life. I gracefully slid down onto my left slide and spun around on my side all on a nice big sheet of black ice. There was a car following behind me but, saw it coming...luckily. I don't know if that spoofed me or just bummed me out but, I think I rode one other day last week and that was it. We did have some serious high winds, too. They aren't very motivating.

I've been craving dirt like crazy. Thursday me and a buddy wanted to see what the trails were like that we take care of. After work we went out. One person had walked on them since being covered in snow. There is probably a good 6 inches of snow still on the trails. Just frozen enough to be a pain to ride in. Needless, to say I felt like a kid on a stryder bike the whole time. We were able to do traverse the main loop. It had alot of small trees and brush down but, nothing requiring a chainsaw. Thankfully. I'd like to get out there sometime in March to clean it up... If this snow ever stops falling.

Having my road bike done up all commuter like makes me not want to ride it for anything else but, commuting. I haven't been doing long weekend rides like I used to do. I'm hoping once it warms up, I'll be more motivated. My Mavic mtb shoes have a nice crack next to my cleat. These shoes are less than a year old. I got to give them back to the LBS so he can contact Mavic to see what they want to do about it. The problem is, I use them. How long am I gonna be without my shoes? I have a pair of road shoes but, they're too small for winter layering. This is just Another thing that is un-motivating me way too quickly.

On top of that, I park my truck on the street in front of my house. I hadn't moved it for a month. Someone, somehow ran into the front of it and drove off. Thankfully, it only messed up the bottom plastic skin that is 60$ and not the whole bumper. The thing costs me money even when I'm not driving it.

How to keep your feet warm... Or at least try

 

Yeah, that's my shoe. I used gaffers tape and a bag my wife got from Gap. I Cut a piece to fit under my insole. Wrapped the toe cover in plastic and taped up all the vent holes. This plus shoe covers. I use the Pearl Izumi Mtb barrier Elites. They work well. They velcro around the back for a seamless front to maximize wind blockage

They're a tad pricey but, I knew I was going to be riding in sub zero temperatures and wanted the "best." These plus, those neoprene socks I got a few weeks ago, along with a wool type work sock, keep my feet pretty dang warm. Now, you do wool sock first. Then neoprene sock. This is something I did not know and had to research to find out. My feet usually feel wet by the end of my ride but, not cold. I'm not sure how it would fair in a longer ride situation. I'm usually only in the saddle for about 45 minutes max on my commutes so, keep that in mind. Hopefully, this keeps your feet warm.

Beautiful ride home

It's so nice to have daylight on the way home. I don't mind night riding but, there is something about being able to see your surroundings that's comforting.
The roads were really good up until I got into town. I had to ride on the sidewalk and opposite side of the road a few blocks. I even had to walk one. We're expecting another 1-6 inches and then it's supposed to turn into freezing rain.