Yes, the print out that you should check to make sure there is enough clearance for your fork provided on their site is super close for the Surly Krampus boost fork but it fits. Precision in the pdf AND the mount itself. Thank God for Canadian ingenuity. No one else has this.
Surly Krampus boost fork on the Otso Fenrir bike so I can go bike packing with my stuff and dynamo light. Woot.
Surly Krampus ASS IS to flat mount caliper adapter.
Had the opportunity to finally race this year! Covid-19 regulations were in full effect. Spectators were discouraged from attending, masks were required if you weren’t actively racing. Even at the start and staging area!
I signed up for the endurance single speed again (I think I’m done racing endurance SS). It was so hot and humid and muddy from the torrential rain from the night before, I really hated the conditions. It’s a good and challenging course though. A little more challenging with the mud and slippery roots though.
I only did 3 laps (painful!) while the two racers ahead of me did 6 (fast) laps! Speaking of which, I didn’t know only three of us total were registered in the class. So technically, I could have gotten on the podium. 🙂
so this is apparently the year of the pandemic. among other things.
working from home took some getting used to…haven’t been riding my bicycles as much as I would have hoped…
lots of races and rides cancelled…been doing some bike maintenance though…that’s good, right?
Was getting the 2020 race bike together and took a shot as the sun was setting, thought it turned out fairly nicely.
Must have missed writing a post in 2019. LOL.
How is 2018 almost over?
sheesh.
After riding mountain bikes for about 5 years now, I was inspired by a fellow friend to sign up for a mountain bike race. My first mountain bike race. The one I was looking at initially actually didn’t run this year so I was talking to another friend about my disappointment in finding out it wasn’t going to take place this year. He suggested that I look into an endurance race up in Long Island in November. I did, thought I could do it and signed up!
The format is a lapped race, riding as many laps as you can under six hours. If you finish your last lap under six hours, you have the option of going out for one more. Since the finishing order is # of laps first and then time, it does behoove you to try and finish under six hours to get that extra lap.
I took off Friday and drove up to Long Island in the morning to get a lap in and preview the course. There were three “climbs” which were short but very steep. This would be a problem on an SS following geared riders who would immediately gear down and spin up while I needed to keep momentum and just power up but I cleared them the majority of the laps. It was interesting being in the mass of 250 or so riders at the mass start and the first lap! Definitely got many chances to practice my track stands. 🙂
I definitely wanted to sign up under the Open Singlespeed class as I was going to try this on the Niner One9 SS. I did try a 6+ hour ride at Wharton State Forest a few weeks earlier mostly successfully so I didn’t think I would have a problem riding the entire six hours but it was just a question of how fast I could do it! I had planned on shooting for 5 laps. Got talked into pushing for 6 by my friend and ended up with 7! On my last lap, I really tried to go slowly to finish as close to six hours as possible but ended up crossing the finish line at 5:58. Of course, the crowd was heckling me to go out for another lap and as tired as I was, I thought to myself, might as well get my money’s worth out of this race. It was actually mentally freeing as I knew this was my final lap so I cruised my way to the 4th fastest lap of the day!
I ended up finishing 11th out of around 20 in the class. After I saw the final numbers, I should have actually signed up for the beginner class in my age bracket, I would have podiumed at third place! But really, I’m glad I registered where I did. It’s a much bigger feeling of accomplishment since there were a lot of talented riders in it.
This is one of the annual rides I like doing. It’s cheap, it’s well supported and plenty of rest stops stocked with homemade baked goods and other foods. This year they even added a true century route option! BUT. Unfortunately this year, it coincided with the same date a ride some local friends have been doing. This would be the third year. Affectionately named the Shurkiomen Centurino. Shurkiomen being a mashup of Schuylkill and Perkiomen which are the local rail trails in the Philadelphia area. So since this more of a grass roots type ride, I opted to skip the Quad this year and rode with friends!
This was, of course, the correct decision. The nice thing about this route is that the upper loop and lower loop both start from the same spot so you can do the first or second halves or both. I was not feeling up for the second half last year so I bailed after the first but this year I was determined to complete the entire century route. Of course, it rained steadily for the first 60 miles which also precluded riding the MTB trails that were originally in the route. But we hit up some really nice gravel roads as a consolation prize. Also got to meet some people in real life that I only conversed with on facebook. That’s always a neat treat and a great reminder that real life > virtual life.
The funny thing about the route was that it actually intersected with the end road for the Quad ride and so we got to get our pictures taken by the official photographer of the event which I thought was pretty funny. Especially since one of our group was actually on a fat bike (!!!) and chased down some guys on road bikes.
The Soma Juice did great. I can’t believe that I was able to ride 102 miles on a mountain bike with drop bars. Having the appropriate tires helped out tremendously but still. The gearing was not as tall as a proper road bike but had no issues keeping it 20+ on the flats.
Here are some pictures:
We finished up with a great meal home cooked at the host’s house. I brought Korean marinated short ribs which hit the spot. Along with grilled romaine Caesar salad and rice, it was the perfect recovery meal. Along with the many, many potato chips consumed while waiting for the food to be ready. 🙂 Can’t wait for next year!
This is always a dangerous proposition when I see something on a forum or something and think to myself, “well, that looks interesting..”
Bought off eBay. Seller claimed in excellent cosmetic and mechanical condition. At first glance, I would agree but as I tore it down to put it back together and reuse parts, this bike definitely had some high mileage (and questionable maintenance) on it.
First things first. I thought I would move the suspension fork to my other mountain bike as it is a higher model than the one I am using now. If it were only that easy. The remote lockout is not working correctly and actually needs a rebuild. I haven’t ordered the rebuild kit yet but eventually I will need to.
Next, I would consider the cassette toast. Dig into my parts bin for a usable cassette. Check. He had a Wolftooth 42t cog on it that was missing teeth. The chain was way past 1.0 of “stretch.” The chainring is also toast. It used to be a narrow wide. LOL. I wouldn’t have used it since it was a 30t anyway so no biggie. Even the jockey wheels on the rear derailleur were badly worn. I ordered some new ones, might salvage it for the parts bin. It is a long cage so not sure I’d use it. But you never know. At least the bottom bracket seems to be fine still. I did order another one just in case.
I couldn’t use the rotors that came with the bike either as they were badly warped. Thankfully, I knew I would need mechanical disc brakes for my project (oh yeah, I wanted to turn this into a drop bar adventure bike! ;)~ ) so they actually came with rotors which worked out.
The carbon wheels it came with were pretty nice. But the freehub was badly notched and the ends were actually gouged to the point where I had to chip them off to get the last cog on and get the lockring on! I guess a new freehub is in my future.
BUT!
Here is the final product. I’ll keep the saddle for now to see how that feels but I have plenty of other choices if it doesn’t feel right.
Soma Juice 17.5″ frame (little big for this application but not too bad).
Soma Gator Bars
Soma Cazadero tires (700×42) setup tubeless
Niner RDO fork bought new (an extra wheelset with MTB tires when it needs it)
10 speed cassette (parts bin cassette 11-36)
10 speed SRAM X9 type 2 rear derailleur (short cage, parts bin)
36t Race Face narrow wide chainring
KMC gold chain
SRAM Rival shifters
TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes
Gonna commute on it tomorrow and see how it feels. The real shakeout ride will be on Saturday where I’ll ride it on paved, gravel and singletrack!
Well considering 2015 ended on weather that was extremely out of the ordinary (I was wearing flip flops, shorts and a tshirt on Christmas), winter 2016 has come in with a bang. I didn’t get a chance to ride into work yesterday but did this morning. It was cooooooold. I had to dig out the winter boots, Bar Mitts and my new Rapha deep winter base layer. I just wore my commuter Levis since I figured my legs wouldn’t get that cold. That with a light windproof shell and I was fine. The Garmin registered a cool 12 degrees so I’m thinking that set up will get me down to close to zero. If it does get that cold, I’ll just have to break out the winter pants. 🙂
I am still waiting on some parts but I couldn’t wait to test out the new single speed! It’s a steel Chumba Stella frame that I got on sale. Waiting for a dropper post and grips and maybe some new wide, carbon wheels. 🙂 But I cannibalized some parts from other bikes and took it out for a spin.
I was VERY impressed with the fork and frame. I rode on the same exact wheels the previous day on my Niner SS so it made for a pretty comparison between setups. The fork is very plush and the steel frame seems to inspire a ton of confidence in pushing through the rough stuff. I geared it 32/20 because it is a bit heavier than the Niner. But I think it’s a gearing that will let me ride longer on rides with friends. Not to mention the bike setup won’t beat me up as much either.
Well, it was inevitable. I finally went ahead and turned 40. I wasn’t really expecting anything but the wife surprised me with a small party after conspiring with some friends to take me out mountain biking in the morning. I really didn’t think anything of it. I mean, why would I ever refuse the opportunity to get out and ride my bike?!! 😀
My friend Martin took me out to Six Mile Run in NJ for some fast, twisty singletrack. The reason it was fast was because it’s relatively flat so I felt pretty good about taking the singlespeed out there.
https://www.strava.com/activities/448953407
But as nice as that was riding on flatter terrain, I need to ride more stuff like this (https://www.strava.com/activities/452740169) on the SS. Which I will!
I am seriously considering trying out a mountain bike race in 2016. The Fair Hill Classic singlespeed endurance class. That’s about 40ish miles on a hot summer day. It’s always nice to have a goal to push for. Nothing like celebrating the second half of your life with racing plans, eh?
.:joshhan:. 