Exposure Eyes

Yes, it's true, I was planning on having this up last week. But... well, it didn't happen. That's the bad news. The good news is that I am posting it right now! With beam shots! On with the post...

Lets say that you picked up an Exposure Joystick MaXx 2. You wanted a helmet light that was lightweight and didn't have a separate battery. Now, about a year later, you're finding that it just isn't quite bright enough. Or, you need a new tail light... what do you do?

Exposure has just the thing for you. These are add on lights that are powered via the charging port on the Joystick, and clip onto the body of the light.

First up, the WhiteEye (silver light above). This little light doubles the output of the Joystick MaXx, upping from 240 lumens to 480 lumens (all lumen ratings are claimed).

Without the WhiteEye:

With the WhiteEye:

The larger red light, the RedEye is plenty bright (85 lumens), it'll get you noticed, but doesn't flash.

Or, if you only need a small light, the RedEye Micro:

This tiny light weighs hardly anything at all!

The other plus? These accessories are inexpensive. The WhiteEye and RedEye are $45 each, and the RedEye Micro will only set you back $15.

These accessories are just the thing to extend the usefulness of the Joystick.

A Few Beam Shots

You've asked.

I've heard.

There was a lull in the weather, allowing me to run out and get these. I had to change the camera settings a little, since the lights are so stinking bright. (My settings were: F5.6, shutter at 1.3seconds and an ISO of 800. I just now realized the ISO bit, and since I am a rank amateur with the camera, I'm going to have to read up on how to change that.) Here's the lineup:

Lupine Tesla

Magicshine 900

Lupine Betty*

NiteRider Pro 1200

NiteRider Pro 600

*It may seem like I am picking on Lupine. I'm not. The Tesla is in here because the Magicshine is a knock off of it and the Betty is included because it is the brightest headlight I've got laying around and I had to have something to compare the Pro 1200 to. Note though, that this is an older Betty, not the new 1750 lumen (claimed) version.

Now that that disclaimer is out of the way, on with the images.

The Lupine Tesla:

The Magicshine:

The Lupine Betty:

The NiteRider Pro 1200:

The NiteRider Pro 600:

And there you have it. I'll be back later this week with some Exposure Light stuff.

With a Name Like Magicshine...

Last time we looked at NiteRider's new entrants in the crowded LED light market. This time we're going to look at Magicshine's latest.

What... you've never heard of Magicshine?

Don't feel bad, neither had I until recently. Turns out, Geomangear.com is importing these lights to the U.S. market at a very low price.

There are two things that I find very interesting about the Magicshine. 1st, it seems to be a direct knock-off of the Lupine Tesla. I mean, you'd have to try HARD to get it more similar.

As you can see, while the Magicshine is slightly larger, both sport the silver bezel, black body, and O-ring attachment. Both locate their switch on the back, dead center. Both use a similar emitter, though the Magicshine's appears to be a lesser bin. The reflector on the Lupine is--in my opinion--better, but the Magicshine does have an "orange peel" type finish, to help smooth out the beam.

There is, though, one HUGE difference between the lights. The Magicshine is $85+shipping. The Lupine is $420.

Yes, the Tesla is made in Germany and the Magicshine is from China, if that matters to you. To be honest, I'm a little torn about this light. On the one hand, it's a bit of a rip off of Lupine's work. On the other hand, it seriously lowers the cost of entry for real night riding lights--and I consider that a good thing. At $85, nearly everyone can afford to run a light that is bright enough for real riding at night.*

*I define real riding at night as riding the same trails and very nearly the same speed (or faster) than you ride the trails during the day.

This light, I am sure, will introduce many mountain bikers to the joy that is riding after dark. It will also cramp the style of the do-it-yourself crowd, since--and let's be honest here--you, the individual, cannot build a light for what it costs to buy this one (don't forget to add in the batteries and charger).

Have you got any questions? Post them in the comments and I'll see what I can do.

I know you want beam shots. I can hear you chanting "beam shots, beam shots, beam shots." I'll have some later this week or early next, of the Magicshine, the NR Pro series 1200 and 600 and the Exposure stuff I'll talk about next time.

Do It Yourself

As some of you have noticed, thus far there hasn't been a whole lot of talk about lights this Fall. There is a very good reason for this.

A VERY good reason...

And I'll tell you about it another time. But for now, I've got some light news to share and that will have to take precedence. This week I received lights from NiteRider, Exposure Lights, and Magicshine. Today, I'm looking at the new NiteRider lights, then we'll go through the rest in turn.

So, on to the NiteRider Pro 1200 and 600.

I previewed these lights way back in May, and now I have them in my hands. Both of them.

My first impression is one of quality. These are well made lights. Each of the reflectors is different. The Pro 600's reflector is optimized for its single emitter, while the Pro 1200 has two different reflectors, one wide and another narrow.

The light head itself is a massive heat sink with channels for air flow. In some ways this is similar to Light and Motion's Seca lights. There is a lot of room for air flow to keep these lights cool.

The battery uses a cradle attached to the bike. The cradle has the cord attached, so removal of the battery does not require undoing any cords or Velcro; just slide the battery out of the cradle.

The charger, as seen above on the left, is unlike any other. This charger doesn't just charge the battery, which slides in from the top, but has a port for a USB plug, and a connector for the light head. This is command central for the Pro series. Using the NiteRider DIY software, you can change how you, the user, interacts with the light.

You can store up to 4 different programs in the light head--that can be used at will--and each of these programs is totally custom. You set the low and high intensity, up to 6 steps from low to high, and what the run time will be for each setting.

I like keeping it simple, so my first program for the Pro 600 is a simple high and low beam. According to the software, my high beam is 600 lumens, while my low beam is 200 lumens. On high, the software says that I can expect 5hrs and 40 minutes from the 8 cell battery, while on the low the light should run for a staggering 16hrs. That's long enough for even the longest nights.

Unless you are living in Alaska. Then you might want to get a second battery, should you decide to ride all night long. In the winter.

Downloading the software took no time, and I've got it running on a netbook, so it's not exactly a resource hog.

NiteRider has taken an interesting approach on separating themselves in the crowded LED light market.

Next time, we'll take a look at the Magicshine. A new entrant that defines inexpensive.

Testing a 29er

There's still so much talk about 29ers these days. Frankly, I was hoping they'd have gone away by now. Life was simpler with one wheel size for mountain bikes. However, being a professional, I wasn't about to let my misgivings get in the way of true investigative journalism. Therefore, today, part way through my ride on my 26er hardtail, I decided to give this whole "movement" a try. Did I switch bikes? No, that would possibly insert additional variables (such as a different frame and components) into the equation (and we all know how bad that would be). Instead, I swapped out the only component I could fit on my current set-up. I took out my front wheel inner-tube and swapped it with a 700c inner-tube.

(Okay, technically, it was a 700c x 18-25mm, but I believe the diameter--not width--is the key to 29ers.)

Now, I would have changed out the tire, too, but then I would have needed a new wheel. A new wheel, as you might suppose, wouldn't work with my existing fork. So, as you can see, I changed what could be changed without having to re-architect my whole bike. By doing this, I feel I've struck a balance between embracing a new standard and running my existing set-up so as to not introduce additional factors.

Also, technically, I was riding a 69er since my rear wheel's inner-tube remained the 26" variety.

How it rode
Well, I did the majority of the ride on this set-up (all the remainder, if you must know). To be honest, I don't know what all the hype is about. I mean, it worked, but the whole time I felt a little less confident. My wheel (the front) would squirm a bit around corners and going over obstacles. It felt as if it would roll off the rim quite easily. Now, perhaps this is what some proponents of 29ers have called, "rolls over obstacles more easily," but for me it really felt like it should be described as, "rolls right off the rim more easily." Now granted, I didn't actually try both wheels. Perhaps it would roll completely differently with two 700c inner-tubes. (Actually, I probably could have fit two in the front tire alone. Maybe 4 is the magic number.*

Verdict
I wouldn't go this route if I could help it. I mean, it's fine in an emergency**, but I don't think I would chose to run with this configuration on purpose. It _still_ remains to be seen if this will catch on.

* Okay, no one better run out and patent running four tiny tubes in your standard rims to use in a "run flat" setup. I thought of it/you saw it here first.

** Here's the type of emergency I could see it working for. Say, for instance, you're about to start a ride with a friend. He turns to you and says, "Do you have any 29er tubes? I'm all out." To which you respond, "No, do you have any 26er tubes? It looks like I don't have any of those, either. I'll just bring along my lone road bike tube in case I needed--but I'm sure I won't." You then pump up your skinny tires to about 30psi--wishing you had tubeless like your 29er friend.

After only a couple miles into the ride, you roll casually around a seemingly harmless corner and get a snake-bite puncture somehow. Good thing you have that road tube. You and your friend laugh as you put that tiny tube into your 26er tire. Then you pump and pump and pump until it feels like most of the tire is full of tube, but not down by the rim. No, the part down by the rim was empty. Huh. I guess that's what happens with a larger diameter tube.

Okay, with that in mind, what would you do? trace back the way you came or press on? If you're the inquisitive type, you'd press on the remaining 6 miles guessing that "It'll all work out." Corners are scary. Steep rocky descents are scary. It works in the end, though. "Not to mention," you say to yourself, "it's much lighter than before so it climbs with ease!"

A lesson you might learn from all this is, the wrong tube is better than no tube.

Night Time Etiquette

Depending on where you live, you may have noticed that it is getting dark sooner. At my latitude, there is less than 12 hours of daylight and those 12 hrs are shrinking, by the end of the month, there will be only 11hrs between sunrise and sunset.

But don't despair! Less daylight riding means more night-time riding!

However, before you rush right out and blind your riding partners, we need to go over some ground rules.

First, while it's desirable to run a helmet light--and bar mounted light--it is bad form to shine said light into another's eyes. It is worse form to continue talking to said person blissfully unaware as to the reason that you can see his/her face so clearly while it is dark everywhere else.

Instead, when joining a group standing waiting for the rest of the riders, turn off your lights, enjoy the stars, and don't look at the lights of the riders coming up to join you...

Sometimes, when the moon is full, the group may decide to ride without lights. This adds to the richness that is night riding and the decision of the group must be observed. It doesn't matter that you can't see a darn thing, democracy has spoken. Remember, by using your lights, not only are you giving the proverbial finger to the group--and labeling yourself as a loner, a rebel, and a free-thinker (the worst!)--but you are killing the acquired night vision of those around you. Even when your light is on low. If you must ride with lights in such an occasion, you must ride at least 200ft from the nearest rider. This rule is very similar to the rule for passing gas on a group ride, so it should be easy to remember. Especially if you are running lights and passing gas on a group ride where lights have been voted off.

So, to recap:

1) If you can see your riding partners just fine, but they keep averting their eyes, stop pointing your helmet light at them. Better yet, just turn them off if you must look at the person you are speaking to.

2) When the group-think has determined that there is sufficient ambient light to ride by, thereby ruling that lights are NOT to be used, you must adhere to this ruling or be relegated to riding 200ft from the nearest non-lighted rider.

Feel free to print these rules and affix to your top tube for easy reference.

Now, go and enjoy, nay, embrace the dark!

Smells of Cycling

Of our 5 senses (6 if you are extra special), smell has the most receptors and can pick up the greatest variety. Hearing is pretty good--until you are older--and I'll never scoff at sight. Touch is actually fairly limited--pressure, vibration, stretch--but smell... smell can pick up hundreds of thousands of primary scents. Nearly everything we smell is a bouquet of odors. Some of these we know well.

Gasoline, for example. Nearly everyone knows what gasoline smells like. Lithium grease has a distinctive odor, as well. In fact, every lube has its own smell so it is possible to identify which grease or other lubricant is used where on a bike. Some of the odors can be pleasant, some are not.

Please don't go huffing your lubes. While the odor might be pleasant, the chemicals are not.

Away from the work bench, out on rides, we are assaulted with new smells. Spring is distinctive, as is summer and fall. Here in Oregon, we get the smells of the forest--pine and fir trees, the occasional dead rotting animal carcass, flowers in bloom, and the different types of dirt.

Not to mention the spot of animal poo on the trails from time to time. I think that these are their just to keep us awake and on our toes during the more mundane sections of trail.

On the road, the smells aren't quite to good. Sure there are still the trees and flowers, but mingled with are the smells of cars of trucks--bio-diesel STINKS. Seriously. Worse than any other fuel. The rotting animals, many of them skunks, seem to be more potent and more frequent.

But the smell that I do not understand at all is one of massive body odor. There are two places I've ridden regularly that smell like a very, VERY large stinky person. Who never showers. Or even knows what deodorant is.

I have no idea what is causing this odor.

I used to think that it was me. You know, we all get stinky by the end of the ride, so I rode the route backwards and the odor was still there. And only there, no where else on the route. I also thought it might have been a fellow rider--we've all been on a group ride with someone who is ripe--but no, the odor was there when I rode solo.

While the smells of cycling are part of the sport, I really wish that I could figure out what was making this short section of road smell so bad.

For now, I'm just going to hold my breath.

WIWTBT Vol. 10: BFF(?!) Edition

Photo courtesy of Rapha.

Thanks to Rapha, you now have a way tell your favorite riding buddy just how much he means to you. And, you can do it with style--Rapha style. In my professional opinion, it is much less awkward to give him/her a cycling cap than a two-part heart necklace (I hope you saved your receipt!). With the new Best Friends Forever cap from Rapha, you can proclaim your undying friendship as well as give a practical gift.

Of course, your favorite riding buddy might not merit the "forever" part. Luckily, Rapha once again comes through for you. Sharing the same bill as the "BFF" acronym is the year. So you can feel good about your friendship and still hedge your bets for meeting future riding companions.

Similar, But Different

Normally Jon and I get together to ride about once a year. You see, I reside in western Oregon and he does not. When Interbike rolls around, we make the time to ride together. This year, though, the stars aren't aligning very well, and Interbike is looking like a no-go for both of us. I cannot tell you how bummed this makes me, I'm trying my best to move on each day and not wallow in my despair.

To alleviate this somewhat, I rounded up the family and we made the trek to Jon's abode for a brief visit. While there he and I were able to get in a fairly lengthy mountain bike ride. Jon was riding his Jekyll and I was riding an older F4000 hardtail. While riding--and since--there were something that struck me about our different riding styles.

- He prefers short travel bikes. I prefer something with a little more give.

- Jon likes to climb. So do I, but I prefer the resulting downhill.

- He is more of a roadie than I am. He's even shaved his legs, while mine remain wonderfully hairy. Neither of us use a visor on our helmets, though. There are limits.

- Jon is more of a weight-weenie than I am, though I do enjoy light bikes.

- My Jekyll was set up with more relaxed angles, while his is decidedly more upright.

- We have different tastes in saddles, wheels and handlebars.

This last one has been particularly beneficial for us. It is do to this last difference that many, many parts have shipped between us over the years. He'll have a saddle that doesn't work for him, but does for me. Or, I'll have a set of wheels that is more his style and he'll have a set that works better for me. We'll swap. These exchanges just wouldn't be possible if we had the same tastes in gear.

The latest exchange was a shock that he wanted for his Jekyll and handlebars that I wanted for my road bike. The bars in question are FSA K-Wing carbon bars.

He didn't like the bend--he prefers a traditional round bend--and he didn't like the bare carbon tops. I happen to like both, after all, the gigantic bar ends on my mountain bike are bare carbon, too. Because these bars are 31.8mm, I also needed his stem, my old stem was 26.0mm. I finally got out and rode on them today and I really like the shape of the bars. They fit my riding style perfectly. I found the flat bar tops to be just the right shape for climbing. I also like to rest my forearms on the bar tops while descending--somewhat dangerous, so I don't recommend it--and these are much more comfortable than round bars.

I spend so little time in the drops that the bend doesn't affect me one way or the other. It's fine.

Unfortunately for Jon, he has yet to try out the shock due to an oversight of mine. While carting the shock to him, I failed to bring the required mounts.

The mounts are in the mail, honest.

Like Losing an Old Friend

There is one thing that I don't particularly like about fat-tubed aluminum bikes. They are sounding boards for every creak, rattle, or knock. This makes any sound amplified and harder to track down. I'll get my Jekyll silent for a short while, then after a dusty ride it'll be a cocophony of noise once again.

A few weeks ago, I had had enough.

I popped the bike into the work stand and began removing parts. I stripped the rear of the bike down to the frame, and then I went to remove the rear swingarm. One side of the pivot axle was just fine. The other--drive side--was not. The retaining bolt was cracked.

Huh.

I called down to my usual shop (Hutch's in Eugene, OR) and explained the issue. Since the Jekyll hasn't been in production since '05, we weren't sure if I could find a replacement. They, however, had one from another frame. The axle, while used, was in good shape. I was back in business.

The creak was still there.

Back onto the stand went the bike. When I replaced the pivot axle, I had pulled the cranks, but did not pull the bottom bracket. Nor did I pull the the forward shock mount. The creak could be eminating from either of those. Or the pedals. Or the seat clamp. Or the front derailleur clamp.

It was time to get serious. It was time to clean the bike.

Once again, I pulled the everything from the rear of the bike, the cranks, the swingarm and the bottom bracket. I started cleaning the grimed caked on around the main pivot and bottom bracket area and discovered a crack in the frame. Huh. "That's not good," I thought to myself. I better get out the camera. The crack was on the drive side, same as the damaged portion of the pivot axle. I think that the two are related, though I can't even begin to determine which failed first.

Once again I picked up the phone and called down to the shop. I emailed them the pictures--the one above and another higher res version so that they could zoom in better than you--and started the warranty process.

At this point I should note that I am a fan of Cannondale bikes. Even though this one is failing after 6 years of hard riding it has performed admirably as my test mule. All aluminum frames have a finite life. That's just the nature of the beast. That Cannondale stands behind their frames is reason enough to continue to ride then. Plus, I like the way they ride and the way they fit me.

I'll miss my Jekyll. I've ridden lots of places on it and hasn't let me down. The adjustability of the bike made it the perfect test mule for different components. If was reviewing a long travel fork, I'd adjust the angles to match. If I was reviewing a shorter travel fork, I could, again, dial in the angles to get the same, predictable, ride.

I look forward to abusing using the new frame for at least as long as my Jekyll. RIP Jekyll, you've been good.

Tragic Events

As has been typical of my Summer, I didn't go riding this weekend. I was, however, up in the mountains with my children camping out. We were actually up in American Fork Canyon--significant on this day because both the Tour of Utah and the 1000 Warriors (successor to the 300 Warriors even I rode in last year: here, here and here) were to come through the canyon later in the day.

Actually, the 1000 Warriors (amateurs, of course), were to come through pretty early on in the day. I took the time to warn all those at the campsite with me that they'd be encountering lots and lots of cyclists on their way down that morning and that they ought to yield to the cyclists because they were racing and the cars couldn't possibly keep up with the cyclists' pace.

It turns out that my warnings were almost prophetic.

As I turned on to the road to leave with my three oldest children squished together in the back seat, a cyclist quickly caught up to me. Of course, being a cyclist myself, I found a place to pull off and allow the rider to go past. I tried to keep up with him, but he quickly dropped me.

This continued as we drove down the canyon until I reached some stopped cars in the road and saw someone waving us to stop. My worst fears were realized.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7636047

After waiting in the car as cyclists coming down queued up around the area and cars stacked up behind me, they managed to get the cyclists off to a hospital and we were on our way.

Then, as we drove past the scene, I saw this:

Photo Courtesy of Dept. of Public Safety and pulled from the Gallery: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=7636047&nid=460&pid=5

For sure, that is a fast canyon to descend, but the force that was required to damage an SUV like that is shocking. My oldest child--knowing that I was in the same ride/race last year--told me she didn't want me doing it again.

As cyclists, we tend to ignore some of the dangers out there. (Otherwise, how could we ever get up the nerve to fly down a mountain pass wearing what essentially amounts to nothing--lycra doesn't count as protection.) I saw cyclists crossing over the centerline when there wasn't much visibility due to the corners up ahead. I saw cyclists following closely behind cars (which makes for great drafting, for sure).

People, we aren't pros. We can't take these kind of risks where cars are involved. The cars we're around aren't being driven by ex-cyclists used to driving through a race. These people (in the cars) don't know how to handle bikes swarming around them.

I wouldn't be surprised if the race were canceled next year, but I think the better move would be if UDOT stepped up to the plate and allowed us to close the road.

Oh, and 1 final note. There were no signs posted anywhere so no one knew there would so many cyclists coming through the canyon that morning.

Have fun out there, but please be safe.

Short Ride: Not Exactly As Planned

Tonight's ride didn't go like it should have. Frankly it was doomed right from the start. In fact, it was doomed since yesterday.

Both yesterday and today I found myself without riding partners, but needing a ride after dark. "No problem," I thought, "I ride in the dark all the time. Weekly, even. I ride in the dark more than in the daylight it seems." This is what I was thinking as I rode out. My loving, faithful, caring wife, said: "Don't let any animals get you." Or something like that.

Aside: Spouses, don't do this. I know that you mean well, but it's the wrong thought to have as one is heading into the dark alone. Thanks.

Last night was a windy night, so the forest wasn't exactly quiet. In fact, as I was slowly climbing up to a ridge, there was a pretty good crash to my right. At that point, I was no longer climbing slowly--inexplicably, my pace picked up--and I was reminding myself that the really dangerous things--like BIG cats--didn't make any noise. This didn't help.

As soon as the trail turned down, however, I lost myself in the ride and didn't have any further incidents.

Fast forward to tonight.

Again, my wife brought up cougars, bears and other forest baddies just as I was leaving. See the above aside. Please.

Since I didn't have much time, and was feeling a little tired, I decided to ride a fairly level loop.

Let me set the stage. I start the ride by climbing a gravel road. I make a left onto the upper section of the loop and make my way down to the lower section. The lower section skirts a neighborhood and eventually makes its way back to the gravel road I started on. The trail is gravelled, so it's not the quietest surface to ride on. My plan was to do two laps.

The first part of the first lap went just fine. As I was descending to the lower leg, I came across a forked horn buck and a doe. Since the trail was noisy, the doe took flight, but for some reason, the buck did not. Instead, it thought we should have a staring contest. Huh. I made noise, it took a few steps off the trail and the turned back to me. I made more noise. It took a few more steps. I shouted, it still didn't take off, but it did get far enough off the trail for me to get by.

Weird.

Not three minutes later I came around a corner and saw a nice tail in the air. A skunks tail. This was only the third skunk I've seen that wasn't flattened into a two-dimensional splat on the road. I didn't like my view. Again, I made noise and--happily for me--it moved off and let me by without any assault on my olfactory nerves. Tragedy averted.

Next up, not a minute later, as I neared the neighborhood, dogs started barking. I don't recall that happening before. Not only that, there was also some rustling in the weeds and ferns. I thought, "great, the dogs are loose."

Aside #2: One of my superpowers is making dogs crazy, to the point that I have been bitten by a dog that was still on its leash... and the leash was being held by the owner.

That was enough for me. I was done, I turned around and headed back the way I came, hoping that the forked horn was done showing off for its doe and had moved off.

As I was nearing the intersection with the upper leg of the loop, I came across another dear, a doe this time. Now deer eyes reflect orange-yellow. Behind this deer, and not very far from it, were a pair of green eyes. Cats eyes reflect green. These were near the ground. I'm pretty sure that the doe didn't know that they were there, and I didn't care to stick around and find out what was going to happen next.

If I was done before, near the dogs, I was over done after cat/deer combo. The wildlife was against me tonight.

My ride ended up being just 28 minutes, of that only 18 was off road.

Tomorrow, I'm going for a road ride. At noon. On roads with lots of traffic.

Lazy

I can be quite lazy. When you think cycling, though, and especially road biking, lazy just doesn't enter into the picture. Maybe that says something about the shape I'm in.

On Saturday, my sister-in-law's boyfriend came into town. (She came, too, but since she didn't go on a bike ride with me, I'll leave that part out.) The first words out of his mouth were, "I hear you like to mountain bike. We need to go riding today." Sure, I said. Perfect. In fact, both of my mountain bikes are set up and ready-to-ride right now.

As a side note, it's pretty rare for more than one bike of mine to be "ready-to-ride." Usually, I'll ride one bike until I get a flat or something goes out of adjustment and needs fixing. Then I switch bikes and leave that one to sulk and molder. (Is molder a word? Yes it is.)

Of course, since both bikes were ready, it only took me about 20 minutes to get them ready. Huh. That's weird. Bikes just require stuff done to them. Cyclists that don't do any maintenance on their bikes probably don't have rideable bikes very often. (Or they have better mechanics than I do. Sometimes I'm my worst enemy.)

When I got my first road bike--a Giant Cadex I bought off my oldest brother--I quickly found just how simple a bike can be. Road bikes are not only much easier to deal with than most modern mountain bikes (especially those with suspension), they also tend to stay adjusted longer. I love my road bike for that reason. Another benefit to riding on the road is the proximity to road rides. I am, literally, surrounded by roads. My house, being on a corner and all, actually butts up against two roads! However, as of yet, I haven't discovered any sweet trails in either my property or my neighbors'. (Which, I might add, is pretty disappointing.)

So, I am lazy. I ride the bikes that work. I ride the rides that are close. I know that I'm truly missing out on some great opportunities here, but I'm just lazy that way. Sure, I could point the finger to my busy schedule and fairly large family, but I know those are just excuses. I'm just lazy.

And speaking of lazy, I've found that if all I want to do is burn off the fat I consumed the day before, I don't need to pick up a bike at all. I can just strap on some running shoes and grind out a couple of miles of running around my neighborhood. (I say "grind" because that's the sound my knees make as I run. It's so much fun.) I mean, running sucks and all, but sometimes I'm just lazy that way.

PS. The ride, by the way, was great. We got out on what was probably the best weather for mountain biking of the summer. It was warm, but not hot (70s, I think). There was a slight breeze. The trail was a little dry, and the grass was super tall, but it was a blast. Additionally, my Sister-in-law's boyfriend was a lot of fun to ride with. I mean, I always like riding with people who come from lower altitudes, and this was no exception. Thanks for the ride.

Tubeless Cross

One of the disciplines of cycling that should have taken tubeless tires and ran with them is cyclocross. Because the tires are much skinnier than mountain bike tires, pinch flats are a common problem. As a remedy, tubular tires are still very present at 'cross races, though tubeless tires would have nearly all the benefits, without having to glue the tire to the rim, making tire swaps a piece of cake.

Now, if you aren't running discs, a person could use either Shimano's Dura-Ace or new Ultegra wheels, a tubeless-ready cross tire (like the Hutchinson's Bulldog cross) and some sealant. But what do you do if you run disc brakes?


Enter 29er wheels. Luckily, 29er wheels are 700C, and just a smidge wider. T. recently built up a set of Stan's ZTR355 29er wheels. These rims are just 2mm wider than the venerable Mavic Open Pro. In theory, this should open up the tire and make for a flatter profile.

Sitting right around 400g, the ZTR is similar in weight to the Open Pro, as well (claimed to weigh 435).

Frankly, when T. asked me if I wanted to try out these wheels, I said "yes" without a moment's hesitation. It's a well documented fact that I love tubeless wheels/tires. In fact, they rank third or fourth on my list of major innovations since I started riding in the latter half of the 80's. I feel that they are that good.

So how do these wheels ride?

In a word: fast!

They provide enough cushion to take the sting out of rougher trails. They provide enough traction to enable railing through corners, and enough traction that for the first time since owning my disc equipped 'cross bike, I want to upgrade the front rotor to a 7-inch. I'm riding trails faster than I have any business riding them. It really is amazing.

Despite the fact that they aren't the lightest wheels out there, they spin up remarkably fast. On back to back rides between my road bike--Dura-Ace wheels, Hutchinson Fusion tubeless--and my cross bike--the wheels I'm writing about, Hutchinson Bulldog Cross--I found that the road wheels spun up about the same, which I found odd. I have no explanation for this, but it has made riding my 'cross bike a whole lot more fun. And that's saying something.

Now, it's not all roses. There are some issues. It turns out that I can't run the tires as low as I want to (36-37psi). I need to keep them around 40psi. Still, that's about 5-7psi less than I normally run the Bulldogs when I use them with tubes, so that's still a gain. If I run less than about 40, I burp air a little. If I run less than 35psi, the tires are squirmy and too soft for hard cornering.

The ZTR rims, like all of Stan's rims, are designed to lock onto a standard tire bead. I found that this was the case, with the tire locking onto the rim very quickly and effortlessly.

All in all, I think that the positives outweigh the negatives with this wheel. In fact, if these didn't belong to a very good friend, I'd have a hard time giving them back. He knows where I live, though, so it would be rather hard to hang onto them.

Maybe I should move...

Fun and Games

You know your Mom said it: "it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt." Well, last week, we had just such an occurrence.

The night ride started out like most. We rode out anticipating a fun ride. The plan was to ride two loops of a local trail, adding up to about 1500ft of climbing, total. The first loop went as planned. We climbed the trail--which for some reason seemed steeper than the last time I rode it, did the hill change?--and decided to alter our route a little. Rather than do two complete loops back to back, we decided to complete the first loop, climb a gravel road and descend the section we had just climbed, since the mountain changed and it was now steeper than it was before. Really.

The first loop went as planned. Everyone had fun and I got to have a good chuckle as the unexpected short, steep uphill near the end of the downhill caught many unawares. I'm twisted that way.

The gravel road ride was a nice reprieve from the now-too-steep trail and I, for one, was looking forward to enjoying the last bit of downhill.

As we dropped in, M. and I took the lead, followed by G., J., E., J2., and T. I think that was the order, anyway. I was riding my cross bike and really had to work to stay in front of M., narrowly making two of the three bridges.

As an aside, I've been running T.'s tubeless cross set up. I'll be posting about it in the very near future. I love them. I'm going to try and not return them. I hope T. isn't reading this post.

Upon completion of the descent, M. and I congratulate ourselves for having put some serious time on the others.

Then we waited. And waited.

It was clear at this point that something wasn't right. Considering the group we were riding with, there is no way we put this much time on them. They aren't a slow group.

Now we were worried. As we were discussing who should go back and find out if there was a rider down or if there was just a mechanical problem, G. comes riding up and lets us know that J. crashed. He informed us that he thought that J. injured his arm.

Now three of us were waiting.

Soon E. and J2. came riding down. J.'s arm is injured and he cannot ride out, so T. and J. are going to hike to the nearest access point and E. was going to ride to get J.'s car and meet them there.

After a trip to the ER, J's arm is in a cast. He has a dislocated fracture of his left radius and a displaced wrist. Today he went into surgery to have a plate added to his radius and a screw inserted into his wrist.

Mountain biking is fun. Night riding is GREAT fun. But, in the time it takes to blink, things can go awry. Stay safe out there. Wear a helmet--all of were, by the way. And remember, "it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt."