Can't always get what you want

(See attached file: Rockhopper SS.bmp)
When I first started riding a Single Speed the main reasons were because it was cheap and the lack of maintenance. It was cheap because I just used a bunch of old parts that I had lying around. The less maintenance is pretty self explanatory. It didn't take long before I started having allot of fun riding a SS. I'm not sure were I stand on about it being harder or that it's better training. To me it seems like you have allot of harder efforts but you also get more recovery so is it really harder or not? If I had allot of free time and extra cash I'd like to race a 100 miler on a SS with a powertap wheel then race the exact course with a powertap on a geared bike and look at the KJ output. I have a powertap wheel but it doesn't have disc mounts and none of my mountain bikes have rim brake mounts. So until I can do this or someone else does it I'm still up in the air about if it harder. But by riding one you learn how to keep your momentum up so you ride faster. On a side note you can also take crappier lines because you don't have the fear of ripping something off, and the smaller chaining up front clears allot more stuff so in a way you ride sloppier which means slower. So I'm pretty convinced that riding a SS for me a better training but not for the reasons you think. The lack of maintenance and the cost are the two biggest reason why. Less maintenance equal more time riding and low cost equal less time wasted working so just by being able to ride more it's better training. Maybe not the best but still more.
I'm slowly getting to the point of this post. I like to get new stuff and every year I try to get a few new bikes. I justify this by telling myself that I ride allot and deserve a new bikes every year. This year was no different than in the past. What I would like to have is a inexpensive lightweight frame that could be used as a SS or geared bike with little effort to change between the two. Funny thing is there's really not many of them out there and I don't know why. When you have a SS as everyone know you need some way of tensioning the chain. There's several ways to accomplish this feat here's a few with some advantages and disadvantages of each. EBB easy to manufacture, works good, easy to adjust but they add weight, some creak and change your saddle height. Horizontal dropouts easy to manufacture, cheap, but they're a pain in the ass with the brakes, slipping, and some use bolt on axles. Chain tensioners cheap, easy to use but take away that clean look and also chain slap. So out of all of these is any prefect? No but it's just like anything pick the one that best suits your needs and go with it. The one system I've seen and like is the slider dropout. Not many companies do this and I'm not sure why? I've heard from some that they slip, creak and just don't hold up. I've also heard from others that they work great with no problems. So why don't more bike companies use this system? Is it that it because it's not reliable, to heavy, costs to much to make or is it that they want to sell two bikes instead of one? I can't say for sure what the real reason and we may never know. But that's really what I wanted to get and didn't. So then I started looking at SS only frames and decided on the Specialized Stumpjumper SS frameset. That's when I hit my next snag I can't get one until like May and I hate waiting. Back to my point about liking a SS because it's cheap. WTF is the deal with companies making carbon framesets that cost outrageous amounts of money? I'm sure they're light, ride great, and are super nice but it seems crazy to me but whatever. Maybe some day I'll change how I think or maybe it won't seem that expensive to me. After talking to Todd at Pro Bikes he steered me in the direction I should have looked earlier. I've been looking allot of different bikes on the internet but never noticed this one.

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=45808&eid=4340&menuItemId=9253

   
It's not exactly what I wanted but it's allot of want I wanted. Cheap and seems like it will be pretty light after I swap out a few things and the EBB looks promising. So only time will tell if it's what I need.

J

Review

(See attached file: review.bmp)
It's that time of the year when there's not to much going on. So this is the perfect time for a review of 2009. My miles and hours were up from 2008 but the number of races were down. Reason for this was because of the broken arm early in the season. So thanks to my Garmin here's the totals, I included hours on the trainer and rollers but the miles don't count towards the total. It's not much but here it is

7027 Miles
670 hours on the bike
most hours in one week 29
least hours in one week 4
most miles in one week 306
least miles in one week 8
26 races
16 Centuries
4300 approximately the miles I spent in the car traveling to races
As of right now I don't really have any specific plans for 2010. A few general things I'd like to do in 2010 get more miles, hours and commute to work more often. Do more races not sure which ones right now. This maybe a huge contrast but my favorite types of racing now are 100 milers, ultras, multi day stage races and cyclo cross. So until I figure out which races I'm going to I guess it's best to ride lots.

Here's my after thoughts on the La Ruta de los Conquistadores. I think the three questions I'm asked the most about are how hard was it, was it fun and would you do it again? First I'll tackle how hard was it. Yes it was hard but it wasn't hard in ways I excepted it to be. The climbs were very long and very steep, but not technical. Allot of the climbing was on gravel and black topped roads so that made them allot easier. The mud that you see all the pictures of was only like 5 or 5 miles long and for the most part was completely unrideable. For me one of the hardest things was the schedule. Getting up and being ready to ride everyday by 4:00 AM, along with the fact of sleeping in a new bed every night became very taxing on me. But from the lack of technical trials it failed to give me the total all over beatdown that I crave. So the answer is yes it was hard but it's really more the miles and elevation gains than anything else.
Second was it fun? Yes it had it's moments but to me they seemed to few and far between. I was under the impression that the race would be in the remote areas of the rain forest. In a way it was but I was envisioning crossing suspension bridges made from ropes and vines and being chased by monkeys or some form of wild life. There was none of that but we were in remote areas that most tourist would never see. I was also a little disappointed that it was accessible by jeep or at least by quad. I had fun going through some of the small villages and getting a quick glimpse of how they lived. Some of the double track trails were fun and challenging but weren't enough to make up for the black topped sections. The other disappointment was because of the weather rain everyday I missed out on what would have been some incredible scenery.
Would I do it again? I'm still up in the air about this one. First I'll list the reasons not to go again so that way I can end on a positive note. It was a little expensive for me but I'm cheaper than most. The language barrier was a little to much for me. It seems like every conversation in Spanish is an argument. Not enough off road sections to me. It's a bad time of year for me it pretty much wiped out my entire cross season. I think there's some more but can't think of them right now. Now for the reasons to do it again and a few things that would have to happen. I know what to expect, stage racing is fun, the weather is awesome even when it's raining, and it was well organized considering the logistics involved. If I went back I'd like to go with a group I think this would make the traveling allot easier. A couple other things about going back to would be that I would have my bike setup better. Finally I would like to go back again to do better. I had a few bad mechanicals but still felt like I should have done allot better.

J

La Ruta de los Conquistadores Day 4

(See attached file: elevation_chart_stage_4_la_ruta_09.jpg)

Looking at the elevation profile for the final day the hills all seemed pretty short compared to the other days. The one small concern I had was the railroad tracks that I've been hearing so much about. It rained everyday that we've been here but today start off in a terenchal downpour. I got in the my usual position near the back of the pack but to my surprise I was right beside Roberto Heras. At the start I managed to stay with him and followed him to the front of the field. I was really happy because this was the first time I actually was in the lead group at the beginning. I was able to stay with them for about 35-40 minutes then I fell off the back. I was still riding pretty strong and the hills seemed to be normal less than two miles long. I made it to the first check point and everything was going great and I didn't bother stopping. As luck would have it things took a change for the worse. Going up a climb the pitch got pretty steep and I shifted into my granny ring up front and got chainsuck instantly. I stopped and pulled the chain out from between the frame and chainstay and was like WTF. I got back on and the chain was jumping all over in the back I stopped and looked for a kink but couldn't find it. So I just limped along on the climbs riding in the biggest cog in the back. When I finally reached checkpoint two I seen Tyson. He was there wrenching for a few people and I asked him to look at my chain, and he found the kink in like one second. I felt like such a dumdass for not be able to find it was happy that he did. So after a quick removal of the bad link I was on my way again. Shortly after that I hit the first section of the tracks. They didn't seem as bad as some of the tracks I ride on near my house. The railroad ties were made out of concrete and seemed a little closer together than usual. Then I got to the first bridge and couldn't be how slow people walked across them. At this point it was allot of on the tracks for a little then back off of them for a little. Not sure how many bridges we crossed but I was able to ride two of them. Funny thing is that I thought the tracks were not longer being used. I ran into a slow moving train in between two of the bridges, I felt lucky because I wasn't on the bridge like a few other were. After about 15 miles of tracks it was onto a dirt road the paralleled the ocean. After 5:24 I was finished even with all the troubles I had I finished OK 49 minutes back 6th in the vet class and maybe in the 25. I got cleaned up and was waiting for Ruth and getting a little nervous because I knew that she was going to have a hard time on the bridges. Then after a long wait she finally came rolling in and finished too. I'm planning on writing a little about my overall experience and post race thoughts but not sure if it will happen. Just don't feel like writing much now.'

J

La Ruta de los Conquistadores Day 3

(See attached file: day 3.bmp)

I'm not sure if I was getting used to getting up at 4:00 AM or what but getting ready this morning didn't seem as bad. We headed down to breakfast and I was dealt my first bit of adversity of the day. Up until today the breakfasts have always been a buffet with a descent selection of food. But not today there was some fruit, toast, cereal and eggs which would be fine if I liked eggs. I really don't like cereal but figured I'd give it a shot and that was when I found out just how disgusting the milk in Costa Rica is. So I ate a few bars that I had brought along and got on the shuttle hoping that the locals had the wheel they promised for Ruth. We got to the start and found them and everything was cool to go what a relief.
I've been hearing about today's stage all week long and how technical the downhill from the top of the volcano was. Looking at the elevation profile there was about a 20 mile climb to the top then a long downhill. It didn't look as steep as the climbs from the first two days but we would be climbing up to about 9700 feet. I got in my usual starting spot near the back of the back. It had rained everyday since we arrived but today was the first day we started in the rain. I had a good start and was riding pretty well. The road up was a gravel road that had some rocky sections and a couple of hike a bike sections. I was still passing people and not getting passed and got to check point number 1. It was only 12 miles in and I didn't even bother to stop. Shortly after that is when we turned onto the pavement for the last 10 miles of the climb. After a few miles on the pavement not sure if I slowed down or everyone else picked up the pace but I got past by allot of people. Then finally after 22 miles of climbing I made it to the second check point which was the top of the climb. I was pretty hungry and ate some stuff and put on my jacket. The downhill started out as a gravel road then quickly turned into a rutted up jeep rock with lots of softball sized rocks. The rain picked up and went from a light drizzle to a terenchal downpour. Funny thing is though this was the most fun I've had after 2-1/2 days of racing. It was also the first time when I thought having a 29er was an advantage and not a disadvantage. I past allot of people and found it funny by how much trouble they were having. After a few near misses with some horses and cows I reached checkpoint number three. That was the end of the rocks and ruts and it was back onto the pavement for about 4 more miles of downhill. It flattened out and there was about 8 more miles to the finish. Today I had my best finish about 1:15 behind the leaders 10th in the vet class and maybe in the top 35 overall. Ruth had a good day too and then it was off to get ready for the last day and the dreaded railroad tracks.

J

La Ruta de los Conquistadores Day 2

(See attached file: brake.jpg)

So after spending $60 for a new chain and having some time to lick my wounds from the first stage it was time to get ready for day 2. I forgot to mention that early during yesterday's stage that I had a small crash and broke my brake lever off. Lucky for me I was able to reattach it with some zip ties and some electrical tape. The checkpoints seemed well stocked and I decided to pack a little lighter for the second day. I also tried to study the elevation profile a little more, it helps knowing what's coming up next. Funny thing is just about everyone that I could talk to had different feeling and thoughts about the first day. Some thought the mud and hike a bike sections were super hard, others didn't think the climbs were to bad and didn't mind all of the pavement. For me I had mixed feelings about the first day, and I was hoping the second day was going to be a better for me. The climbs were hard and longer than anything I've ever ridden before but was disappointed with the lack of off road trail. But I was hoping the second day would be better than the first.
Thanks again to the super early and very insane start time of 6:00 I found myself near the back of the pack for the second time. Within the first half mile or so the lead group had separation from the part of the field I was in. I wasn't happy about it but there wasn't anything that I could do about it. Today's stage started off with a big climb early on the first few miles the grade was pretty tame. Then we turned off of the pavement onto a gravel road and it got steep quick. I'm not sure how accurate it is but I had my Garmin set to display the grade. It was going between 10% and 25% which is pretty steep. Then the surface changed from gravel to a very rough concrete with lots of rocks and broken bricks in it. Usually this would be a good thing but not today because it got steeper. I was already in my granny and didn't have many gears left in the back. I stayed on my bike and was riding but there were plenty of others that were already walking. I looked down at my Garmin and a couple of times the grade was 40%. I'm like WTF but finally I seen what appeared to be the end of this insanity only a few hundred feet away I seen lots of people standing and cheering. I made it and was happy thinking that worst was behind me now. I found out quickly that I was wrong and the first climb had 4 more sections like this. I rode as much of it as I could but had to walk some of the sections. Then we went back down quickly on some pavement and I reached the first check point and was feeling OK. Then is was up and down on shorter hills but not quite as steep but it was all pavement. At about hour three I had a mental meltdown of sorts and was like WTF. This sucks I'm riding my MTN bike on roads don't have a clue how much further or how much more climbing there is. At this point is when I just was content on finishing and no longer worried about were I was in the standings. Not sure how long I was in this state of mind. But then part way up a climb I caught up to a guy that was from Canada and spoke English. We worked together for a while and finally reached the last check point. After a short break I was ready to go and my mental lapse was gone. Then we hit a long off road downhill it was fun but was basically a long wide dirt jeep road that had a few rocks. At the bottom we went though a small village then up a few short pavement climbs to the finish. I was happy to be done but disappointed with another poor performance. 5:51 about two hours behind the leaders.
This is when things got a little interesting, I got to use the showers at the finish for the first time. Which basically sucked and what sucked even more was not having a towel. Then I was off to see the mechanics to try and get my tires changed for the next day. This would be super easy if we both spoke the same language. Then I seen Glenn from NC who we met a couple of days before. He was there supporting his wife Cricket who was racing and there friend Chris. I seen him and he said he left the last check and seen Ruth and she was doing OK and was ahead of Cricket. Then Cricket came across the finish line and I asked her if she seen Ruth anywhere and she said no. So after about an hour I'm starting to get worried wondering how Ruth left before Cricket and Cricket never past her and Ruth was still not back. Some of the event staff spoke a little English and they finally understood what I was trying to tell them. So I left with someone to head out and look for her. We finally seen one of the vehicles that were sweeping the course and they didn't she her either. Then we got a call on the radio and Ruth had just got in. When we got back I found out what had happened. Ruth missed a turn and on her way back onto course her freehub died and she had to walk the last 5 miles. That's why nobody seen her but she did get to have an exciting finish. When walking though town and getting close to the end she seen someone else that we met who was riding a motorcycle. He asked if she wanted towed to the finish and she said no because she wanted to finish. So he left and went to the finish and told them what happened. They said to go back and it would be OK to tow her into the finish because it's not safe to be walking though that part of town by yourself. So she came across the finish line doing 40.
Now we had to make a decision about what to do with her rear wheel. I took it apart and tried to fix it but didn't have any luck. There was a bike shop traveling with us that was pretty well stocked but very expensive. The cheapest wheelset they had was $200 and pretty crappy. The worst part about buying it was that we wouldn't even be able to take it home because it wouldn't fix in our luggage. So after searching and begging for hours we finally found a local that was working at the Giant booth that said she could borrow his sister's wheel for the rest of the race. Now it was time for a 30 minute shuttle ride to our hotel. This is when we ran into another little snag. We got our room key and went to the room and it already had people in it. While we were waiting everyone that came in after us was having the same problem. After the staff went and knocked on every door they found us an empty one it only took like 2 hours plus we got a roommate too. His name Phillip he spoke English and lived in Texas but was originally from Costa Rica. It was nice meeting someone form there to learn a little about the country. But it seemed like we didn't get to talk much because of mix-up and having to be ready to leave on the shuttle at 4:00 we had to get to bed early. Hoping the next day would better.

J

La Ruta de los Conquistadores Day 1

We left on 11/8 for the race and encountered our first setback early on. We left for the airport around 4:00 am and had to turn around after about 20 minutes after Ruth relieved she forgot her driver license. When we reached the turn around for the second time is when we realized that our 8:30 flights were really 6:15 flight. Somehow we managed to get to the airport in time and get on our flights but were scared that our luggage might not make it. I don't fly much and don't like to either. There's lots of reasons why the biggest is I don't like the idea of other people being in charge of my schedule among of things. Finally after four stops, three transfers and ten plus hours of traveling we arrived at the San Jose airport. We got lucky and only one piece of luggage didn't make it. After about 2 hours of trying to talk to someone about it that spoke very little English we were ready to get on our shuttle to Jaco.
It's didn't take me to long into the ride to realize a few things. First everyone drives like a freaking asshole and is constantly blowing there horn Second the hills were long and steep. After a long drive we finally made it to the hotel got checked in and went to bed. The next day we rented a car got lost but did manage to find our final destination which was a suspension bridge tour. It was OK but it's really hard to see anything when it's pouring. We did see two tree frogs and a toucan bird sorry but no pictures because of the rain. After that we drove down to a river crossing and were lucky enough to see two crocodiles.
The next morning at breakfast I seen Roberto Heras, Manny Prado, the Monavie-Cannondale team and lots of other fast looking people. The rest of our luggage finally showed up so we decided to try and ride some of the first stage. When we got to the first climb and I seen how steep it was like holy shit is that steep. I rarely use my granny gear but couldn't seem to get out of it on this climb. After about 5 miles it got flat but that didn't last to long then it was back to more climbing then finally after another 3 miles I reached the top. I was thinking to myself that wasn't to bad. So I turned around and headed back down. Not knowing the terrain or want the aid stations would be like. I decided to pack a little heavier than usual for the first day just to be safe. I was taking two water bottles, water in my camelback, enough food for all day, two tubes. I would find out later that I had plenty of everything but forgot one very important thing. I went to bed early for the stupid 5:00 start but it didn't go to well. I've been sick for what seems like forever and was coughing and hacking all night long and to make it worse someone kept yelling at me about it.

Wow does 3:30 come early after dragging myself out of bed it was time to try and eat and get ready. With about 30 minutes to it seemed like everyone was already lined up and ready to go. So with about 3 minutes to go I lined up at what seemed like the very back but I guess there was maybe 20 people behind me. Then it was on after about 60 seconds it cleared out enough for me to get on my bike and start riding. After a little bit of flat road we started into the climb and I thought everything was going good. I was passing people and nobody was passing me about a 1/4 mile up the first climb there were a ton of people already off and pushing there bikes. I made it the top in about an hour and was feeling great then we went down a gravel road for a bit. We turned of off it into some mud which wasn't to bad then we hit a steep rocky downhill and I passed allot of people that were walking. Then we were riding in a muddy trench like canal that was about 8 feet wide that had allot of drop-offs in it,. Then I came to checkpoint #1 and didn't even bother stopping.
Shortly after that is was my day took a turn for the worse. Up the next climb I started getting chain suck it wasn't too bad and I keep riding. Then it kept getting worse so I stopped and looked at it and seen I had a kink in my chain. I tried to straighten it out and it seemed a little better, but then it got worse. I decided the best thing to do would be try and take a link out. This is when I found what I forgot, I have a Topeak mutlitool that has the 2 black pieces on the side that can be used for tire levers. But side that has an allen wrench that is used for the chain tool was missing. After a frantic search through my camelback with no luck I continued on walking and riding when I could. Some times it's hard to get help from someone during a race but it's almost impossible when they speak a different language. Don't know how long it took but finally someone gave me a chain tool to use. But for some reason it didn't seem to work WTF, I couldn't get the pin in the tool to line up with the pin in the chain and it would just bend the chainlink more. I finally forced the chain apart and put in my spare quick link and was off. But the chain suck was still happening and upon further inspection I found another twisted link. I took it out but couldn't get the chain back together correctly because of the tool kept bending the links. But after a few more miles it really didn't matter much if your bike was useable or not. Because that's when I got to he mud that you see in the photos and hear so much about. Something I learned quickly is that don't put your bike down or try to ride it. It's only makes it heavier to carry. This section was about 5 or 6 miles long and I finally made it to the next aid station. After wasting serval minutes trying to get a chain tool from them with no luck I decided leave. My chain was skipping around allot and would only stay in the big gear in the back but I figured it was better than walking. Then I started up the big climb of the day. From what I remember it was all pavement and a little over 20 miles long and very steep at times. Finally after reaching the top we went down for a little bit then started back up a gravel road. That's when my chain finally broke and I started walking not sure how far I went but someone that spoke English asked if I needed help. I was so happy he let me use his chain tool and gave me a quick link and I was back in business. I knew the ending was getting close by looking at the mileage. There were still allot of hills but they were in short only about 1 or 2 miles long. Then finally after 8:38 of riding I could see the end.
The end of the first day was the best because the hotel was right at the finish which means not shuttle. After taking a shower and eating I looked at the results and was very disappointed. I didn't plan on winning but almost 3 hours back from the winners was a pretty bad feeling. I had some bad mechanicals but until they have a class for people that have mechanicals it really doesn't help much in the standings. Some good news was that Ruth finished too in 10:53 and everyone says the first day is the hardest. Funny thing is that is it was hard but it wasn't what I excepted it to be. I went to bed hoping to tomorrow would be a little better.

J

Marilla WVCXS #3

(See attached file: marilla.bmp)

This was the second year for the Marilla cyclocross race Carrera de los Muertos (the race of the dead) in a way the name was very fitting. We go to Morgantown Friday afternoon around 5:00. The weather was a pleasant surprise it was like 70 and Halloween was the next day. So we did a few laps on the Red Sled and the biggest change from last was the barrier placement and the spiral that was added. It took a few times but we finally found a line through it, but had no such luck trying to ride the "Hill of Death". We headed over to Gina and JR's place and got cleaned up and were just hanging out waiting to head out for dinner. After what seemed like a long wait we finally got confirmation from Gunnar that they decided not to go. We headed to Black Bear for some great food and a few beers.
The nice thing about staying close to the race the night before is you get some extra snooze time. It was nice waking up at 8:00 and only having a 5 minute drive the race thanks JR and Gina. When we arrived to Marilla Park the weather was nice almost 60 and a little overcast. The single speed, vets and women were the first group to go at 9:30. I was able to catch some of the race before having to get ready for the Tandumb rematch. It was pretty fun cheering people on and ringing the bell. Ruth had a good race and finished fourth in what we found out later to be the biggest women's field ever at a WVCX race.
It was perfect timing for the weather to change for the worse. As soon as the first race was over the rain started coming down. Racing in the mud used to ready bother me allot until I learned to relax and try and be more patient. The worst things about racing in the rain and mud are getting ready and the clean up. But it was time for the second race of the day was the B race it also included the clydesdales and the tandumds. We go off to a bad start and got caught behind allot of traffic. By the time we got to the spiral we didn't even have a chance to ride it because of all the traffic. Maybe we should have practiced that last night? But to late now then onto the next obstacle the gravelpit. Same problem here too we rode it last night and before the race with no problem but didn't even come close. The worst part about not riding the gravelpit is the rocks that get in your shoes and trying to get clipped in after you get out. Then it was onto the next dismount the Hill of Death. Of all the obstacles the Hill of Death seemed to be my favorite because it had all the people cheering. I couldn't believe how much worse the conditions of the course got after each lap. We tried to chase the Gunnar and Betsy but didn't seem to be having any luck. Not sure which lap it was but we started getting chain suck and chewing through the brake pads pretty fast. I would have loved to seen the look on Ruth's face when we were headed down to the Hill of Death and I said shit no brakes. But even with very little brake left I was able to slow down enough to get to the bottom safely. Finally we came through and the sign said one more lap. Somehow we managed not to get lapped and finally finished the our last lap.
Now it was time to get ready for the A race I kept asking myself why am I doing this? I just finished racing for almost an hour and I was changing and getting ready to do it again. The worst part was I only brought one pair of shoes and they were trashed from the first race. When it was time to line up there looked to be a descent sized field of about 25 people and plenty of fast people. I had an OK start but it got tight quick and it was hard to follow because of the rain and mud. On the first lap I was maybe 7th or 8th and then I picked a few people off and was in 5th. I was trying to catch up to Gunnar and Jason Cyr but wasn't having much luck. Then after about 30 minutes the race changed for me I went from being on the attack and trying to move up to not trying to be caught. Funny thing about the cool spiral was when you were in it was hard to tell how close you were to other riders. I wasn't sure either if it was faster to run it or ride it. I knew that Chris Mayhew was on my tail and it was hard to tell how close he was. As the race went on the Hill of Death could have been easily renamed to the Descent of Death. Every lap it was getting harder and harder trying to find a safe route down it. By the end I managed to stay in 5th I was happy to be down but wasn't looking forward to the aftermath of two muddy races. Thanks to Marc Glass, Gary Rodosta, the great sponsors and everyone else for the great time.

J