Festival Round Up

So many things happened this weekend, that it is tough to do any of it justice.
Needless to say, we feel the Festival was a success. We had about 100 registered attendees, and maybe another 50 or so that came and went throughout the day.

Friday afternoon, DeJay and Fuzzy from Niner arrived with their rolling home and demo bikes, and we went out for a quick ride after I closed the shop. It was great, in a humbling sort of way. Those two didn't even bat an eye at the climb up to Jose, and they were both riding single speeds!
We finished the night at the Alchemist, where they had tapped their special Festival brew, a delicious smokey porter type of beer, that went down way too easily.

Saturday morning, we got up super early and went to the festival site where I set up our tent and repair stand. The weather was beautiful, blue sky and no clouds. Our Oakley rep set his tent up, and was loaning out cool new shades to experience on trail. Anyone who hasn't had an opportunity to check out the new Radar glasses really should try some on, they are sweet.
I had to open the shop at 10, so off I went. Coincidentally, the State of Vermont had a tax holiday this past weekend. I will say that while the numbers for Saturday weren't too shabby, I expected that there would be more folks buying. I guess folks were using this weekend as an opportunity to clear Best Buy out of big screen TVs. Oh well. I did sell 3 RIP 9s though.
DeJay and Fuzzy were getting lots of folks stoked on the big wheels. I was really glad they came, they brought the festival element with them (or maybe it was the several cases of New Belgium beer).

Saturday night was the big party at Waterbury Wings, my neighbors. The place was packed. We had a raffle and giveaways.

Sunday was another early one, and it unfortunately started to rain. The Stowe ride was cancelled, but the Waterbury folks persevered. It wasn't raining that hard and the canopy provided adequate shelter. We had a couple of group rides in the morning and afternoon. The Waitsfield ride went off on time, but I had offered to let Mandy ride as she pretty much organized the whole event. I felt I should do at least something, and opted to help with tear down and clean up.
We had just begun to unload all the small bits and pieces out of the cars when the sky really let loose. We scurried as fast as we could to get it all indoors, and then went and hid in the Alchemist for some late lunch/early dinner. I was pooped!

DeJay and Fuzzy hung out for two nights, their next stop is Mount Snow for next weekend's NORBA races. They left this morning, hopefully well rested and caught up on laundry.

Everyone I spoke with had nothing but positive things to say about the event. Obviously, there are some things that could have been done differently, but hey, this is the first time we've ever thrown a festival! We had some good ideas pop up over the last couple of days, which will make next year's event even better.

Maxxis Ardent 29er Tire Review

(Hi All - it's Mandy guest blogging with a new tire review)

Now available for 29ers - Maxxis calls the Ardent "aggressive tread tires in high-volume casings". These tires have a low center tread with ramped knobs to minimize rolling resistance as well as blocky side knobs for traction while cornering.

I've had these tires on my Niner RIP9 for a few weeks now, experimenting with different conditions and pressures and forming my opinions. I'm comparing them mostly to the ever-popular and always reliable IRD Fire XC Pro's, which I had previously ran on the RIP, and the fast and light Schwalbe Racing Ralph's that I have on my Lynskey Pro29.

The Ardent's are actually a nice mid-point between these two tires. They're fast. They're consistent. They're just like the Racing Ralph's, but with a little less 'race'. Generally I run my tires with fairly high pressure, but like this other reviewer, I found that taking the pressure down a bit made them more responsive on the trail.

I've been working hard on this weekend's Vermont Mountain Bike Festival - and was stoked to steal some time on the trail on Tuesday night to work on reviewing these tires. The light was perfect and I wanted to share a rarely seen peek at Calamity Ridge* on Perry Hill. No one ever takes photos of this section of smooth sweeping singletrack and it's a shame. Perfect terrain for these Ardents.

My verdict? These tires are fast and fun. If you're looking for an all around go-fast tire with much better traction than your everyday race tire - the Maxxis Ardent are a great choice.

*site of my posterior shoulder dislocation in 2004.

Dust in the Wind

At the risk of seeming sentimental, I am going to give give a huge shout out to my recently "ex-bike".


This bike has been the most fantastic pony in my stable, always ready, always eager to please. Sure, it started out as a svelte 27lb bike, but it packed on the pounds over the years. Did that make a difference?

You bet it did.

In an age where everything needs to be light, strength and durability is often sacrificed. Not so with this bike. It was always a completely different game for this Niner RIP9. Uncompromising traction, travel, power were the keywords at play here. I could count on this bike in any situation. I knew its few limitations, and relied on its many capabilities. I always got off the bike with a big grin. At 32lbs, with monster brakes, big tires and a great big fork, this bike had become something beyond what I'd though possible on a 29er. Sure, it climbed a little slower than the rest, but point it down and LOOK OUT! The latest addition of the Joplin seatpost was the icing on the cake.

Blue, is after all, just a bike. It can be replaced. Or can it?

All of the experiences I've had on this bike, both good and bad, have made this bike what it is, not just to me, but to many other riders out there. My experience on the RIP has certainly painted a picture of the capabilities of this frame. Not only did I learn the limitations of certain components, I sometimes also learned my own. Having the bike remain a constant when testing new products was such an amazing gift.


Blue was a first generation RIP9, new to me the day I got back from Interbike in '06. This bike stood proud against nagging production issues, was always ridden hard, crashed harder, and above all else loved more than it's stablemates by it's first pilot, me.

Blue has gone on to make another owner happy. And it always will.

You're my boy, Blue... I miss you.

Vermont Mountain Bike Festival

Today is the first day of what will be a busy month for us.

Preparations for the Vermont Mountain Bike Festival are going well. We have had a lot of support from the local community, their generosity has ensured that the weekend will be one to talk about for years to come.

DJ and Fuzzy from Niner Bikes will be there with the demo fleet.
There will be lots of rides. We'll be organizing rides at trails in Stowe, Hinesburg, Waitsfield and Underhill. Sugarbush will also be a destination for folks that want to try the gravity scene.

The Alchemist will be brewing a special beer that will be tapped on Friday night, Waterbury Wings will be throwing a party on Saturday with great food, live music and prizes.

To ensure the quality of the event, it is only open to registered attendees, so if you are interested in coming, you will need to sign up.

The weather trend is improving, and the trails are drying out nicely.
Hope to see you there!

Whoops

Can anyone see what is wrong with this picture?

Seems I forgot to tighten a couple of bolts.

Needless to say, I was very rattled from this experience, I had just completed a pretty high speed descent on part of the Perry Hill Trail System, and was on my way out, when my handlebars slipped in the stem.

I was riding a section we call "ZZ", a section of switchbacks that trail through a pine forest . The name of the game is momentum. I always play the "no pedal, no dab" game on this section. If you are unfamiliar with the trail, you will most likely dab once, or crank 1/4 of a pedal stroke to keep you going. It is a very BMX'y trail that requires a lot of body english to keep you rolling. I found that my handlebars were loose during a high speed manual through a dip, and lost control of the bike. In the picture, the bike points left, but the trail goes right...

After that, I was completely unable to get back up to speed.

I had lofty goals of getting the rest of the data for the Jet vs. Spider shootout, but today, I just had to get out of the woods safely.
With only my pride bashed up, I will regroup and try again in the morning.

Upgrades - Cake and Eating It

I didn't think it was actually possible, but I managed to find another upgrade to my RIP9.
I have been ecstatic with every change I have made to the bike, which I like to think is a good thing. I recognize it as progression.

It began with the fork upgrades, I went from the ubiquitous Reba, had a brief stint with a Maverick, then settled on the Fluid 135 from White Brothers. Not only did the fork feel great, it virtually eliminated a whole range of nitpicks I had with the bike.

Then, about a year ago, I took off the Juicy Carbon brakes and replaced them with the Avid Code brake. This was another good move, I could brake later into turns, and count on them grabbing hard when needed. For those that do not know, the Juicy is a 2 piston brake, perfectly adequate for all around riding, the Code is a 4 piston DH brake, which incidentally, are only about 42g more per side (non-rotational weight folks, totally acceptable) than the Juicy Carbon. Big kids take note - this is an upgrade worth considering. I'm still running the 180/165mm, front/rear rotor combo. Plenty of power.

With the new fork, I was beginning to really push the limits on my RIP. With the new brakes I was able to get away with a lot more.

Then I got a pair of the Ergon Enduro grips. Weird as they look, they make a huge difference to my paws, which would often get sore and beat up on rough downhills.

And now, just when I thought I had the bike all figured out, one of these found it's way on the bike.

For a long time I have poo-pooed the adjustable seatpost thing. 'Set and forget' and 'Run what ya brung' had always been my mottos, until about 4 hours ago.


This is the Crank Brothers Joplin post, a design licenced from the Maverick group. I can't see myself without this gadget on my RIP now. I was able to ride sections of trail so much faster, just because "the boys" were not in any danger. I have the Remote version of the post. The total travel range is about 3", which you can change at will with a weird, but cool and well thought out lever. You can literally adjust your saddle height within a few mm if you are talented enough.


But just imagine, if you could drop your saddle height 3" for just a few seconds on a trail, and then have it right back up for when you need to climb....

Oh yeah.

An unfortunate side effect for me, has been the amount of time I am no longer "on" the trail. With the family jewels safe, I can loft the bike higher up in the air without fear of retribution from the saddle. For the longest time, saddle height has kept my speed in check, but now, I'm beginning to find the limitations of the brakes....
...maybe time to get bigger rotors...

Why would you buy this post? If you are like me, you aren't getting any younger. My knees hurt from years of "splitting the difference". Our trails are technical, and have intermittent and sometimes long and technical climbs. I and others like me have set their saddle height in a spot where strong seated climbing is still possible, and out of the saddle BMX style flow through the flats and downhills can still be achieved.

Now, I can have the correct saddle height for climbing, and the right saddle height for wailing the crap out of my bike on the downhills! Woo Hoo!!!!!

What a Weekend - Part Deux!

Let's go back to Friday shall we?

Keller "Hey, I think I can get Maiden tickets for tomorrow night, do you wanna go?"
Me "ummmm, YES!"

Saturday marked Catamount's 30th anniversary. Nat and I showed up with his truck full of 11 of our demo bikes. We were able to get some new folks a taste of what the big wheels are all about. The weather was beautiful, trails were fun, and turn out was great. After packing up, I had time to head home and get ready for Maiden.

We were able to go to the show in REAL style.
Just recently you see, Keller bought an 81 Z-28 Camaro. Beasts like this were the most coveted things for males our age back in the day (high school). I mean, who gets to drive to another country to see Iron Maiden in a Camero? With T-tops?


We do.

So we left on Saturday evening for Montreal.
Awesome!


Thank goodness for the internet, as we found a place to park right outside of the venue, just one stop away on the Metro. We rolled right up to the ticket booth and got our passes. We were at the headlining act of an all day metal-fest in Montreal, a beer in each fist, enjoying our favorite band, after spending 3 hours in some of Detroit's finest steel getting there, just in time for the band to go on.

The set list was the same as the last show, which was EVERY song that you need to see live. This time, instead of the second row, we were at the back end of 60,000 screaming Maiden fans, and I'll have to say that I really enjoyed the show. For one, I was not being crushed into the first row, and I could see the whole stage. They put on a very good show, lights, fireworks, explosions, and a giant Eddy.


To us, it was well worth the trip.


Sunday was spent lugging huge rocks around the forest in the rain, as we still have a lot of work to do on the new re-route. The trail is taking shape, and we got a lot done on some of the more difficult sections.

I need a week off to recover from the weekend!