I am enjoying getting reacquainted with my little ring. I like having that option when faced with the decision right at the trailhead. Most good trails over here start out with a climb. At first i wasn’t thrilled about this, and would seek out trails that didnt go straight up from the trailhead. I would go out of my way get to a trail that didn’t go straight up. However, lately i am finding myself actually enjoying starting out on a climb. I like the fact that you get warmed up pretty quickly if you start out on a climb. I like the fact that i have a little ring that i can just spin an easy gear for the first 15 minutes or so while i climb up to the main trail. I am liking that an average ride around here is 1500 to 2000 feet of climbing. I am liking that i feel like i got a really good workout on even a shorter ride in time duration. I am really liking my little ring. I think i am going buy me a new little ring to celebrate my re-acquaintance.

I always test out new saddles on my road bike first, then if it works there I know it will work on the mountain bike. That is because on a road bike you are seated for much longer periods of time and so the comfort of a saddle is really very apparent very soon. Anyway, I went for the Prologo Scratch Nack. It is a full carbon saddle with nice padding and it only weighs 150 grams. Yes it is expensive at $399 but when you are in the saddle as much as I am, I rationalized it by saving a few tanks of gas by riding my bike instead of driving. I used this saddle at the last Hotter Than Hell Hundred that I did which is a hundred mile race in 100+ temperatures in Texas. I did the race in about 4 hours 20 minutes. The saddle was extremely comfortable and I didn’t need to stop once during the race to let my butt rest. I have been using Prologo saddles on my road bike and mountain bikes for the last few years and been extremely pleased with their performance. And there are other models that work just as well that are not as expensive. Anyway, we are now carrying Prologo saddles and i don’t have go elsewhere to get them. Yay!!

Today is a bright sunny day

I live in Provo Canyon canyon so the options are many.

So i am sitting here contemplating where to ride. It is a little too early in the season for any organized Saturday morning group rides to have formed, or maybe I just don’t know about them yet. A fellow named Kanyon Kris on the UMB forum who apparently lives in the area was nice enough to send me an awesome map of the area trails that can be viewed from Google Earth. check it out Provo Canyon Trails

The other day i did get out to do a little exploring around the bottom of the canyon and found the Great Western Trail and the place the locals call “The Alter”

The Great Western Trail which runs just south of where I am is part of the network of trails that run from Canada to Mexico. Info on the trail system is here

Has anyone here ridden the Great Western Trail?

Well the coffee is starting run out so I think I will do a little exploring.

So after getting hooked on mtn bike racing last year, I waited and trained all winter long waiting for this race. Finally the day arrived! I rode down with a new friend Rick and met up with Dennis & Elisa Jones at the venue. Our little group of riding friends is kinda funny since we all ride for different teams (for now?). I woke up nervous but ready to just get it started already. All through breakfast I did whatever I could to get my mind off the event. But eventually I had to get focused. Once at the site, I set up my bike and checked all my bicycle parts and repair stuff.

Despite a forecast of perfect temps, the morning was a little crisp. I found a good little loop and started to warm up. Last year, I was SO out of shape that warming up actually did more harm than good. I never recovered so I just stopped doing it. But this year I was in MUCH better shape. I had trained very hard (lost over 30 lbs in fact!) but still didn’t have any clue how much I had improved. But I knew that warming was important so I decided to try. But since I didn’t know any better, I just rode in circles up and down the little hill loop near base camp. Then I heard the call to line up!

At the starting line we had to wait behind another group and the butterflies started to flutter. I tried a little small talk with the other guys, but decided to try and visualize what I was about to do. How fast would the group be off the line? Would I kill myself too much trying to keep up to the leaders early or should I just head out at a moderate pace (conserving myself for the entire lap) and hope to not get too far behind? So many thoughts! I tried instead to just focus on breathing and shut everything else out and just see myself and the trail. Everything hitting perfectly. Beautiful…

At the starting “gun” the opening sprint wasn’t that bad at all. I was right out front with the leaders. It felt good how controlled my breathing felt and how strong my legs were.

About the first 1/2 mile mark is a little steep hill that weaker riders have to shift for but I powered through it fast putting a little distance between me and the main group. But at this same time two other riders made a big push and shot forward to take a lead and sprint away. I had to make a snap decision. Was I going to chase or let them go and hope to close the distance later? I felt really good so I decided to go for it. The risk was that I might use up my energy too fast and bonk before finishing. I had never really been able to actually RACE before. All last season I had just tried to survive. I had never actually worried about race strategy before. This was new; and I had no clue how my body would respond to pushing it so hard.

I stood up, shifted, and started spinning hard (when you are clipped in, you can pull up on the pedals as well as push). I wanted to catch up before we reached the first wash (a narrow, technical gully with plenty of tall rock steps) where passing would be tricky. We had about a mile of rolling hills to go, but I was able to pass the first rider ahead of me fairly fast. The leader was still ahead. My thought was to get close to him and stay on his tire as much as possible and wait for him to tire out. We made the sharp, blind (re: dangerous) turn into the wash and POOF! He was GONE! I was stunned how fast he was riding through this section. He had just disappeared!

I focused hard to make sure I didn’t blow any of the moves in the wash so I didn’t lose speed. I was now in second (a strong position) with the third place rider maybe 20 yards behind me. One mistake and he would be on my tire. I knew that there was a long, steep climb coming up and I knew I could climb pretty fast if I could just hold my position. After the wash I kept my same gear and decided to stand up and climb as hard as I could to catch up. I actually caught back up to the leader before the next mile had gone by. I was climbing fast and the last part was the hardest. I thought I might be able to pass him there. I pulled him in to about 10 yards and thought I could hang on. But at the top of the hill he just zoomed away again. The next stretch was a long down hill. Long enough to recover pretty well before the next techy wash. The leader had some guts as he flew down with reckless speed. I lost sight of him before we reached the bottom. All my hard work to catch up was wasted! GRRRRR!!!

I figured we had one more big climb following this wash. If I caught him on the first hill, I should be able to on the second hill. Leading is always tough so he must be getting tired. Right? The wash had more of the hard steps to power the bike over. One, in fact, had shut me down on my practice loop. This wash was a little wider which was good for passing. We had caught up to the leaders in the first group to go out and I passed them here. I was able to clean the hard step by fully committing and shifting my body better than I had before. At the end of the wash I looked up the long hill that followed to see what distance I needed to close. I expected to see him no more than about 30-40 yards ahead. But BAM! There he was already at the top! I actually remembered my jaw dropping a little. I stood up again and tried to power up the hill as fast as possible. When I reached the top, he was totally gone. My only hope was that he might have a mechanical problem (you actually don’t WANT the other riders to have anything go wrong or crash). I glanced over my shoulder back down the hill and didn’t see anyone behind me. I had opened a BIG gap on the rest of the group. I knew now that I had earned 2nd place if I didn’t screw it up with a bad crash or flat tire. There was no way I was going realistically catch the leader now. So, I knew my only smart move was to take it easy and just finish strong.

A STEEP down hill brought me to one last little climb. Now I wasn’t quite as focused and made my only shifting mistake of the whole race. Stupid!

From here it was about a 1/2 mile sprint to the finish. Nothing bad could happen to me now so I pushed as hard as I could and crossed the line. Dennis had waited for me there (his wife was behind me somewhere on the course too) and congratulated me on my race. I had taken 2nd. A podium trip! This would be my first time stepping up. Yes, it wasn’t 1st, but I had raced hard and felt good about my effort. Sure, you could think back about places where you had possibly made little mistakes that slowed you down. Or someplace else where you could have pushed harder. Should I made my first push a little bit faster and worked harder to stay on the leaders wheel earlier? So many questions that are impossible to answer.

In the end, it was a great experience to finally see what i could do. Maybe I can figure out my energy use and breathing better next time. I now have one more month to train.

In other racer news: Dennis ran a fantastic race and won 2nd in the Mens Sport 30-34! Elisa won third in Beginner Women for her first race ever! Rick had bike trouble and had to switch last minute to a bike not set up for this course and suffered his way to an 8th place in Men’s Open 57+. Not a bad first day for our little group. Till next time everyone!

Niner Bikes, with their newly patented, CVA suspension system on their all new carbon Jet 9 RDO was looking better and better the closer I looked. Niner Bikes CVA™ IS NOW PATENTED (U.S. PATENT NO. 7,934,739) CVA is an award-winning suspension design and now it is recognized with a US Patent. THE ONLY 29ER SPECIFIC SUSPENSION DESIGN CVA is the only suspension designed with 29ers in mind. For those seeking big wheels and CVA performance, Niner is the way to go – you won’t find this design on other bikes.

So, we received the new Niner Jet 9 RDO the other day. The first thing I noticed is that the frame is much more pleasing in person than the photos I saw online. This frame is a work of art! The attention to detail is quite nice. The internal cable routing, titanium plate behind the chainrings, the anodized pivots are all quite appealing to the eye. We will be building this bike up as our 2012 project bike for the race season. We will be selecting bicycle parts that are focused on performance and lightweight, so stay tuned.

Ride & handling: Light, stiff and comfy all at once, and spectacularly fast at all times

In common with many 29ers, Niner’s sizing isn’t quite what you’d expect if you’re used to 26in wheels. Our test model was a medium but had a top tube length that you might expect from a large and a seat tube that would be at home on a small. But with a 400mm seatpost it was a good fit for 6ft tall testers, with height to spare. The cockpit setup was well thought out, with a flat but wide bar keeping the grips below the seat and delivering suitable weight distribution.

As 29ers go, the Niner is fairly low and steep at the front, and short at the back. Combined with its light weight, this gives the Air 9 Carbon a real edge out on the trail. This is a blisteringly and addictively fast bike. Pedal and it goes – instant gratification on two wheels. Cornering responses are equally lively, to the extent that the bike can feel a little bit nervous at speed.

But have confidence and take control and it will see you through – the big wheels and sure-tracking chassis will work in your favour. As well as being fast in every sense, the Niner somehow manages to be comfortable too. Looking at the huge tubes and fat seatpost you might expect it to be bumpier but a combination of big tyres and clever carbon layup makes it a fine place to be on long rides.

The Air 9 Carbon is race light but trail capable, stiff and comfy at the same time. It’s also fast as you like and one of the best-looking bikes made by anyone, anywhere, ever. Yes, it costs all the money in the world but it’s properly ace. We’re off to look for things to sell…

Frame: State-of-the-art chassis with amazing looks; big tubes amplify clonks and bangs

Niner managed to cause quite a stir when they debuted the Air 9 Carbon at the trade shows a couple of years back. And trying it out now it’s not hard to see why. First up, this is a fine-looking mountain bike – we’ve found that even people who go out of their way to dislike 29ers tend to like the look of it. From the tapered head tube to the carbon post mount back end it’s a state-of-the-art frame.

It’s also extremely low-slung but packs huge tubes. There’s not much point mounting a Crud Catcher to the Niner’s hexagonal down tube, for example, since the tube itself is as much mudguard as you’ll be likely to need this winter. Despite the girthsome tubes, the frame comes in at well under 3lb – pretty good for a big-wheeler. The tube merges seamlessly into the bottom bracket, where you’ll find Niner’s CYA bottom bracket system.

This essentially involves having a bigger hole in the frame than any bottom bracket/crank setup needs and then using adaptor cups to step it down to the required size. You can fit pretty much any kind of crank in there with the right cups. Or the CYA system will accept Niner’s own eccentric bottom bracket system so you can tension the chain on a singlespeed setup. If you’re doing that you can also swap the drive side dropout insert for one without a derailleur hanger for a clean look.

Niner clearly realise that scraping your new, extremely expensive carbon frame would be a painful experience. So the Air 9 Carbon comes with a hefty strip of helicopter tape along the underside of the down tube, plus titanium plates by the bottom bracket and on the chainstay to ward off damage from a dropped or sucked chain. Gear cables are routed internally, with the housings entering via holes in the head badge, which is a rather neat touch.

In common with most high-end models, the Air 9 Carbon is supplied as a bare frame – all you need to do is add parts to taste. It’s designed for an 80 or 100mm travel (3.1 or 3.9in) suspension fork or Niner’s own super-light carbon rigid fork. Our test bike arrived with a 100mm Fox F29 RLC up front, with a QR15 axle to add extra steering authority.

We were pleased to see a flat Syntace bar up front, compensating for the inevitably high front end that a 29in wheel and 100mm of fork travel dictate. Transmission and brakes were all from SRAM’s new X0 group and worked without complaint, though the acoustic properties of the carbon frame made the shifts seem clankier than we’re used to. SRAM’s always a bit clickier than Shimano anyway, but once the sound has echoed around the big hollow frame it sounds louder.

This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine.

(Via BikeRadar.com.)

Total adjustment range is a fairly generous 25mm but we found the most secure fit with the cradle set as far down as possible. Even in the uppermost position, though, the new cradle sits a bit lower on your skull than the previous version and the helmet is notably more stable over rough terrain.

Though secure – even with lights installed – the Nirvana is still very comfortable thanks to the even pressure distribution of Lazer’s excellent Rollsys retention system. Rather than use some sort of ratcheting dial or stepped buckle, the Nirvana instead uses a single top-mounted dial that tightens or loosens a stainless steel cable that’s anchored up around your forehead and wraps around the circumference of your noggin. All of the plastic bits are pleasantly flexible, so nothing digs into your skull even if you have a shaved head.

Aside from the revised retention system, not much has changed on the Nirvana from last year and that’s mostly a good thing. The gaping vents do a good job of exhausting hot air, overall styling is Euro without going over the top, there are lots of color options available, X-Static antibacterial pads are comfortable on bare skin and pretty adept at warding off odor, and the single-density foam holds up well to being stuffed into luggage and day-to-day abuse.

Deeper interior channels would help more cooling air pass across your head at speed, though, and we’d still like to see a full lower shell to minimize visual dings. Also, the included visor does the job but it’s not adjustable, the traditional nylon webbing is starting to feel a bit thick as compared to lighter, sleeker and more flexible options from some competitors, and Lazer only offer the Nirvana in two sizes – neither is all that light, either, with our smaller size coming in at 283g.

(Via BikeRadar.com.)

As we have matured into a teenage company (it's our thirteenth year. pretty soon we'll be borrowing the keys from Dad) we've changed a bit here and there. One change that's been a good thing is that it is now easier to get our stuff than ever before.  Sometimes it may not seem like this to people looking for a test ride, but that’s another conversation. Most shops in the U.S. have access to our stuff even if they don’t stock it, and on the Dealer Locator of our website we specifically call out Surly ‘dealers,’ shops filled with folks who know our products at an ‘above average’ level. Outside the US we have a network of distributors that we have entrusted to help Surly grow in their neighborhood in the way that makes sense for them.

We've also sold all of our products via mail-order online retailers over the years, and we've worked with some very fine people that way. There's always been a requirement that they also have a brick and mortar retail location – because our bottom line is that we support bike shops. We don't think bike parts should come from some dude in his garage trying to make a quick buck. We like shops that provide service after the sale, fitting advice, and a human touch, even if that shop ends up shipping the bike to you.

With that in mind, we've made a change to our policies that go into effect today. We will continue to offer our framesets and our components through those online channels with whom we've always worked, but we will no longer sell our complete bikes online. We think a bicycle in its built form should come from a bike shop that knows how to assemble and adjust everything so that your ride is ready to go. It only takes a couple of frantic e-mails from customers wondering why their steer tube is so long or in which order the headset parts should go on to cause concern in our hearts. Buying a bike locally gives you a place to go for adjustments, for warranty concerns should they ever arise, and for sizing assistance. Buying locally also helps your neighborhood economy grow, it can help you find a network of riding friends, and sometimes even provide a clubhouse. From our perspective buying bikes through a shop keeps the liability concerns to a minimum and helps keep our products from being simple commodities. We like to think they have a little life in them.

"But Surly," you might be thinking, "I know how to put a bike together and I've got a bunch of tools." We think that's great. We always encourage that. But we also know that there are lots of folks out there who don't have the knowledge or tools to make everything work. We know this policy cannot serve every customer’s interests to the fullest, and we accept this shortcoming in the interest of brand integrity.  Please understand that we are always seeking ways of making our bicycles easier to attain for the consumer. This is not an easy decision, but one that we think will make Surly stronger down the line.  We still encourage you to shop online for our parts and our framesets from the people you’ve trusted to provide great mail-order service to this point. We like them too.

Thanks a lot,

Surly

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(Via surlyblog.)