March 16, 2010

  • Single Speed Sunday

    Time for the spring riding season with the time change and all of that.  So I get some email from Kent and he is planning on building a SS MTB Satuday night so that he can ride on Sunday!.  Wow, that's pretty ambitious to put something like that together ...  We arrange to do Coyote ridge and I figured that I would post this on VeloCal just to see if there were any other Single speeders out there...

    Sunday A.M comes and we were slated to ride at 9:00.  The clock says 8:05 when I wake up and I come to the realization that I should be on my bike right now.   So I make haste and eat a couple of pop tarts, fill the camelback grab any old thing to wear and I make it out the door at about 8:33.  Well this isn't enough time to make the 9:00 time, but I didn't want to drive, cause of that parking lot being high theft and I wanted the option of coming home a different route....

    So I  am riding as fast as I can for the most part but on a SS with 34 x 20 gearing I top out at bout 12 mph so I am going to be late...    I finally crest the hill before  the ridge at 9:18 and I can see Kent's truck in the parking lot, with what looks to be 2 bikes in the back.  I guess he saw me coming down the hill and he and Dave get out of the truck and meet me while they make ready their mounts.

    Kent's bike is sweet!.   It's a Felt with disc brakes and some  beefy tires.   It's got a shock and looks nice.   It's a conversion so it's got the roller thingy to tension the chain.   In speaking with Dave, seems that Kent was afraid of hills and had chosen a 34 x 23 or some such gearing.  Dave's bike had slightly higher gearing ...

    We hit the trails for Kent's  1st ride on a SS.   I believe the words Kent used the most often to describe the experience was "Quality Workout".... 

    We were all pretty even on the day with the 1st climb being the most challenging for me.  I was really concerned that I would fry my legs on the 1st climb of the day.  It's probably about a 700 ft climb but some sections were steep and it was pretty much all I could do to keep the pedals turning.   Dave didn't have any problems and he made it look pretty easy.  Kent I think really enjoyed this one and I can tell that he is a believer!

    We had a good time making our way over to the Blue sky trail and then over to the Indian Summer Trail.   I had forgotten how grueling  that climb can be with only one gear but we all made it up with out too much trouble.  At this point we decided to  head over to Devils Backbone to get in some more climbing.   Before our descent we saw 3 riders coming up so we chatted with them for a bit.   Two of them were on Carbon Ibis Mojos!  Nice bikes!  After a bit of chat we were off and running.

    The descent was sweet as I had just installed a 2.24 tire on the front of my bike with a  fat 2.1 on the rear.   I also converted these tires over to tubeless and this was the 1st time I was able to test them on trails that were not covered with snow.   I must say these tires were great and hooked up sweet in some of the looser turns!
    Anyway we flowed our way over to the bone where I was getting a bit wearing since I am used to more spinning in between big efforts, but I guess if I don't die I will become stronger,

    Time to turn back and it feels good to take the relative flats past Indian summer.  If I were stronger or on the geared bike we would have climbed  Indian summer in reverse but we weren't....    As we approached the climb up Blue sky to the saddle we see this guy just flying down the trail and we stand for a second amazed at how he ripped that last section of trail.   He stops to chat with us for a bit and he is on a 29'r ss.    He turns back around and we follow as best we can up the climb.  At this point I am too tired to hold his pace.   I need to rest at the saddle as he continues on.

    We finally make it up to those nasty stairs where Ryan (Guy on the 9'r is hanging out).  Turns out he's a DH racer and one of the guys who can ride that really nasty section of trail that I have never seen anyone ride, but heard that there were those walking amongst us that can!   

    By this time I am close to spent and  opt to walk some of the more technical sections.   Kent and Dave seemed much fresher than I was and they were cleaning some of the stuff I choose to hoof.

    At last we have one final descent and it's time to rock and roll.  Kent takes the lead and Dave and I follow.   On the way down I felt the front tire pinch something and I can hear that familiar hiss!.  Crap, OK no problem, time to see if this Stan's miracle stuff can fix this one.   I point the hole downward and the hissing stops!   I roll for a bit and I hear the hissing again!  I stop one more time and this time it seals!   I take it easy the rest of the way down, just in case.

    Dave, Kent and I had a good one today, and I am more spent now than I was on the 70 miler RR to Estes park the week before.   Time for me to roll home and I get some more air in the tires for the road and I bid, Kent and Dave Good ride!.   The ride home was uneventful and the front tire held and is still holding air days latter.  Gotta love that Stan's!