Anything Goes – Page 9 – The Ramblings of MTBBill

Bike Luggage Bingo

What a pain the butt, I had over the last couple of days getting by bike packed up and ready to go to the east coast with me on a business trip. The original plan was to ship the bike ahead of me and have it waiting for me at my hotel when I arrived. So I packed the bike into my Trico Sports Ironcase Bike Box. I have used this thing in the past and it is great. Through your bike as well as most of your other bike stuff in there as well. Well the price checking this box in as luggage has gone up from sometimes free or $75 to $125. UPS was quoting the weight as about $70 to ship it. Great, I could save some money and not have to fuss with the bike box through an airport terminal. I get to UPS and HOLY CRAP! Seems that due to the size of the box it falls it falls into the irregular catergory and they want to ring me up for $153 each way. No thanks, I’ll take check it on the flight.

I live about 10 minutes from the Carlsbad commuter airport that I would be flying out of so I decided to swing by on my way home with the box and make sure I would not have any problems beyond dropping some coin to get it on the flight. At first the guy was like, “sure no problem, a bike box is a bike box. Pay your $125 and you will be good to go”. At this point I questioned him because I read somewhere that I weight restriction had changed as well and I did not want any surprises the morning of my flight. After a bit of keystroking, he confirmed that there is a 50lb weight limit is in addition to the special charge because it is a bike box. This means that the airline wants $250 one-way to take my bike along for the ride. I would need to get this bike box down to 50lbs to make it even worthwhile to bring.

So I took everything out of the box and weighed. Ouch!, the box along weighs 27 lbs. That does not leave much room for the bike. Out goes everything but the bike. Crap! Still over weight. I finally take the tires and tubes off the wheels off. Geez, just a fraction over. Off goes the water bottle holder. BOOM! 50 pounds 0 ounces.

50 pounder

Now I had the problem of dealing with all the crap I took out of the bike box. Now I’m traveling for three weeks and I have to both some work presentable attire as well as chill out clothes, and I only want to do laundry once a week. Then means I have a little more stuff than I would normally bring along. So clothes, camelbak, helmet, shoes, pedals, tires and tubes all go into a chick-sized suitcase. I weigh it, DAMN, 51 pounds! So I transfer a pair of shoes into my carry on back and all is good.

crap to get in luggage

So time to travel. When I checked in at Carlsbad, the ticket guy checks the weights, calls it all good and charges me as regular baggage, all total just $40 bucks. Sweet! We will have to see how the return flight works out.

The flight to LA was uneventful, but the rest of the trip was a different storry. My flight out of LA is delayed because they are servicing the plane. I had a tight connector schedule so I hopped on the phone and had my connector into Virgina switched to a latter flight. Two hours later, the call is made to switch us to a different plane and about an hour later we are shuffling onto another plane. Once loaded on the plane, we are informed that the engine may have sucked up something into one of the engines while the plane was taxiing to the gate and the engine would need to be inspected. After one hour of seating on the plane at the gate, we are shoved off.

Needless to say I did not even make my latter connector. So I get a free stay at Hyatt O’hare. I’m pretty sure noboby ever books a room at his hotel, it is all stranded travelers. The following day, I would finally get into Norfolk. The rental car place would turn out to be a silver lining in this little storm cloud. I get hooked up from an econobox speck to a respectable gas guzzling SUV. Sweeet, big pimping and I get to help melt the polar icecaps…..I’m cool! But hey lots of space for a bike with the seats folded down. More to follow…..

All Hail High Gas Prices!

Or maybe it is “Awh HELL, High Gas Prices!”

Today I went to work a little later than I normally do, so the commute traffic was quite different. There were a lot more people on the road in their mad-dash to go see “The Man” for eight hours or so. There were typical half dead types like myself swilling coffee and most likely cranking some jams in a effort to jumpstart their melon out of a sleep-deprived coma. Geez, there were way too many chatterbox girls yapping on their phones. I think the new law in California requiring the use of hands-free devices while driving is a good idea for most part. EXCEPT for these ladies as now they get to talk with BOTH of their hands while driving instead of just one. One of the more exuberant chatterheads looked like she was being attacked by a swarm of angry bees. I felt sorry for the poor bastard on the other end of that call. I would like to say she should have no more than six months to a year to live with driving like that, but stupidity always seems to find a way to survive. She will probably live to be 105.

Enough of stupid ladies on the road. Driving through my hood, there were a bunch of bikes on the road today. Full roadie-kit guys, hybrids commuter setups, fixies, and even some Wallyworld Specials. I saw at least four old-school 10-speeds with downtube shifters and suicide brake levers that were just killer. I could not help but think these rigs had spent quite a few years hibernating hanging upside down from garage rafters gathering dust. My guess is spring arrived for these wintering steelies when gas hit around $3.50 a gallon. If you were a bike how cool it would be to get a new lease on life. I grabbed quick looks at the riders of these reborn rigs as I went by and they were not the types that strike you as a vintage bike connoisseurs. No, these were average folks on their way to work, school or wherever they had to be. Bicycles as your basic form of transportation in the US, now there is a green concept. At this rate maybe $6.00 a gallon will be the cure for the nation’s obesity problem.

By far the coolest bike thing I saw today is a story that is over a half a year in the making. A little over six months ago, I first noticed “Melrose Ave Lady”. She looked to be in her early to mid 30’s and when I first saw her she really looked to be new to cycling and a fitness lifestyle in general. At first I lifted an eyebrow and pulled my head back as I was positive some federal or state laws governing the use of spandex were being broken. After snickering just a bit, I thought “Good for her, I hope she sticks to it.” Over the next few months, I would pass Melrose Ave Lady just about daily. She was sticking to it and she did not seem to be laboring on the climbs like she had in the past. A few months ago, my schedule changed and I stopped being on the road the same time as Melrose Ave Lady. Just last week, while driving down this road I wondered how she was doing.

For those of you that have kids in your life, you know well that you tend not to notice the growth that occurs in the ones you see everyday. However when your nieces or nephews come over you are generally shocked by their growth. Such was the case today when I saw Melrose Ave Lady. WOW!!!!! I was absolutely amazed at the transformation this lady had done to her body. Lord knows how many pounds she lost. She was toned and tanned and could easily be 20 something. She also cruised up the hill like it was a flat. Melrose Ave Hottie, who ever you are, you have been totally inspiring to watch and I am so proud of the commitment you have put into your new lifestyle. Hundreds of cars have passed you everyday and I am sure I am not the only person to have followed your progress. It would not be surprised if some of those additional bikes on the road today are a result of the inspiration you gave on Melrose Ave.

I think I’ll check the tires on my commuter bike.

Bill and Will Roadtrip Day 2 – The Central Coast

We woke up fairly early this morning to some nice sunshine over the Laguna Seca Recreation/Raceway Area. Will reluctantly said his legs were sore and he did not think he would be up for riding today. I’m glad he told me as I would not have wanted to push him into riding and then not enjoying himself. We were orginally thinking of going to Montana Del Oro State Park and get in some riding.

Laguna Seca

The nice thing about working off of an idea vice a schedule is that you can change things pretty darn easily. After a bit of breakfast, we broke camp and hit the road. It was just earlier in the week that the Pacific Coast Highway was reopened after being shutdown for nearly a week due to wildfires burning in the Big Sur and other areas of the Los Padres National Forest. It has been quite a few years since I had been on this highway and I had forgotten just how pretty this drive can be.

PCH

We stopped at many places along the way early on to take in the sights. This was a good thing as before long the coast became completely socked in with thick fog and we could not see much at all until we were near San Simeon about 90 miles south of Monterey.

PCH

One of the really cool stops we did was at vista lookout about five miles north of Hearst Castle right off of the Pacific Coast Highway. Here you can check out a large colony of Elephant Seals. These are some big critters and the males make some mighty deep and throaty noises when other males get around their babes.

Elephant Sea

This fellow reminded me of a disgruntled Walmart customer say a earlier in the week.

Elephant Seal

We continued down the coast until we neared San Luis Obispo. Instead of going to Montana Del Oro State Park we turned inland and made our way to Mt Pinos near the town of Labec. We ended up at the Mt Pinos campground that sits at 8,200 feet and we had the pick of the place as we were the only ones there. Later that evening two more groups would come in, but for the most part we had the great views virtually all to ourselves.

Camp sweet camp

We had several hours of daylight left after we got everything setup and the next thing you know Will was bucking to get on the bike and mess around near camp. I joined in on the action and played around on a log.

Log Ride

The South Ridge trail starts right from the campground and goes down to the McGill Campground a couple of miles down the mountain. I had to see the camp host down there so when I drove down, Will took the trail. He was pretty darn excited when he came off the trail and proclaimed it was the coolest singletrack EVER! The trail is setup as a cross-country ski trail and has plenty of small rounded jumps that are just the perfect size to catch some XC sized air. Will really dug those and I was stoked to see him stoked.

Will Air

Back at camp, we enjoyed the last night of being able to have a campfire as a ban on them would start the following morning, due to the dry conditions. We climbed into the tent an hour or so after sunset. When we are back at home, Will is always trying to fight off going to bed. It is like the world is moving too fast and he is going to miss out on something if he is sleeping. It was nice to have him so easily climb into his sleeping bag. I was reading a book and I had barely turned one page when I looked up to see him already down for the count. Tomorrow we would get in a good chunk of riding in.

Camp fire

My Medium or Large Story

Okay I am the classic in-between sizes guy as I can fit on a medium or a large on most bikes. I spent a great deal of time this year figuring out wither a medium or a large Intense 6.6 was going to be the bike for me. The following rambling of words is most of the thought process I went through on figuring out which size frame to go with. I have been riding a medium Intense Spider since 2003 as my cross country bike. I have been riding a large 2005 Specialized Enduro Pro for a few years as my all-mountain rig as my main point of comparison. I would have to describe the riding I do with this bike as all-mountain stuff that has to deal with chunk, ledges and some occasional airtime in the 3 to 4 foot range. My bikes see very little shuttle action so they have to be climbable. First off let’s look at the geometry.

Aspect	Intense 6.6 Med	Intense 6.6 Large	05 Spec Enduro Pro
Top Tube	22.8”	23.8”	24.5”
Seat Tube	19”	21”	19” (Effective)
Stand Over	29”	29”	30.3”
Wheel Base	43.3”	44.3”	45.5”
Head Angle	68.5 deg	68.5 deg	68.5/69.5 deg
Seat Angle	73 deg	73 deg	68.5/69.5 deg
Chain Stay	17”	17”	16.7”
Bottom Bracket	13.75”	13.75”	13.7/14.2”

Okay lets get some of my geometry out of the way. I’m 5’11.5” with a 32.5” inseam and I weigh between 195 and 205 pounds on any given month depending on my riding and drinking regime. The burrito and pizza intake seems to most consistent part of nutrition plan.

The Previous All-Mountain Rig

I liked the 2005 Enduro Pro, it is a capable all-mountain bike with six inches of travel. The rear shock is a Progressive 5th Element and the front shock is a Fox 36 TALAS RC2. The bike comes with two rear shock mount carriages which allow you to vary the geometry of the bike slightly. One carriage provides a higher bottom braket and slightly steeper head angle than the other. I kept my Enduro setup with the higher bracket (14.2”) and steeper head angle (69.5 degrees). The main reason for this setup was that when I first got this bike I had a hell of a time trying to steer the bike with the low bottom bracket and 68.5 degree head angle carriage installed. I was coming from a zippy race/cross country oriented Intense Spider and had not developed the skills of handling a long slack bike. The steeper head angle carriage helped with that transition and I never bothered to try the bike with the other carriage installed after learning how to steer a long, slack bike.

I enjoyed the long wheel-base of the Enduro as it was quite stable at speed. At 45.5” it did make take some effort to navigate tight switchbacks and body English was required on the twisty stuff. The bike is not a light one as it was somewhere around mid-to-high 30s according the wheelset and tires I was using. It was a climbable bike but it was not a bike you could hammer up the hill, it was more that you would come to an agreement with the bike and it would beat you down over the course of a long day of riding. Additionally, the split seat tube design also limited how much you could adjust the saddle height. For me I had to compromise on the seatpost length to allow me to get the seatpost low enough for technical riding while extended enough for climbing. The end result was that the saddle when fully extended was about half and inch lower than what I would have like for optimal climbing. When lowered all the way I was forced to have just under two inches of post still sticking out.

The Medium 6.6

The Medium 6.6 that I first rode was built up extremely lightweight. XTR drivetrain (triple chainring) and brakes with Easton carbon bars and seat post. The wheels were Mavic Crossmax XLs with a set of Intense 2.25 System 4 cross country tires. The fork was a Manitou Nixon. The total weight on this setup was around 28-29 pounds. Needless to say this rig climbed extremely well. The term very “Spider-Like” came into my head on the first climb I hit with this bike. It was a bike you could hammer up the hill with. Once the bike turned downhill there was one thing perfectly clear, this was one extremely plush rig. However, the Nixon fork had only 145mm of travel which is a bit short as 160mm should be what you should be aiming for. The bike I had was one of the 6.6 prototype rigs that at the time of its buildup, the 160mm forks were not available. While the Nixon was super plush, between it and the wheelset, the frontend was quite a noodle when you get into the chunk. It was bad enough to cause a dip in my confidence in the chunk. I was spoiled with the Fox 36 TALAS RC2 that was on the Enduro. Compared to my Enduro Pro the cockpit of the Medium 6.6 felt cramped with the front wheel feeling a little too much underneath me. I felt more on top of the bike instead of down in the bike.

Okay so now it was time to change some things around. I virtually moved my entire component build off my Enduro an put them on the medium 6.6. The burly medium 6.6 now included XTR derailleurs, XT crankset with 2 rings and a bash guard. XT brakes, aluminum handlebars, 90mm 10 degree rise stem, Fox 36 TALAS RC2 fork, Spinergy Xyclone Enduro Wheelset with Kenda Kinetics 2.6 tires. I also used a laid back Thompson seatpost.

Boy what a difference this setup made. With a longer and burlier fork combined with a stiffer wheelset and more purpose suited tires, this bike really came alive in the downhill chunk. This build added some weight to the rig, but it was still lighter than my Enduro. The laidback seatpost opened up the cockpit a bit but it still felt initially just slightly cramped. I quickly adapted to the feel. The need for a laidback/angled post did however limit how far I could lower the saddle, being forced to leave about four inches of post sticking out of the seat tube. For this medium this created what I call a minimum seat height (seat tube + exposed post) of 23 inches. This was only minor concern as my Enduro used a split seat tube which also limited how far I could lower the saddle which created of a minimum seat height 22 inches.

med shot

The shorter wheelbase (by 2.2 inches) of the Medium 6.6 was quite noticeable. The 6.6 was quite spry on switchbacks and tight twisty singletrack considering the slacker geometry and travel. There was little in the way of competition with the Enduro at this point. The 6.6 thoroughly trounced the Enduro in this area. I did not expect this as my Enduro was setup with a one degree steeper head angle than the 6.6. My thinking is the major difference was wheelbase. The performance of the two bikes in the higher speed downhill stuff was different. I have found that the longer travel bikes have a “wake-up” speed. This is generally when the bike becomes lively and in its element. The 6.6 was lively pretty much when you started turning the pedals. The Enduro needed a bit more speed to become lively. On the other end of the speed spectrum there is the stability aspect. You can scream downhill on both of these bikes, but the Enduro felt just a touch more stable than the medium 6.6 when you approach “ludicris” speed. I attribute this to the much longer wheelbase of the Enduro.

Decisions Decisions

At this point I had not decided wither I would get a medium or a large frame. The biggest difference between the medium and the large was the top tube and seat tube length. That additional inch in the top tube would open up the cockpit area enough so that I would not have to use a laidback seatpost. Eliminating the need for a laidback post would allow for the post to be lowered all the way down into the seat tube. I had read quite a few posts where riders were concerned about the two inch longer seat tube of the large. The concern being with ability to get behind and down on the bike when you get into the steep stuff and drops. For me this ended up not being a concern. The large frame and a straight post would allow for an effective minimum seat height of 21 inches. This was over two inches lower than the medium 6.6 and an inch lower than the Enduro. Another minor item dealing with the seatpost was that if I wanted to use a Gravity Dropper style seatpost at some point, it would have to deal with a cramped cockpit on a medium. I was not interested in using a longer stem as that would move my weight too much forward on the bike.

There is a lot to be said to the adage of use the smallest size frame that you can fit on. For me the high speed stability of the longer wheelbase and the ability to get the seat all the way down by using a straight post with the large frame won out over the medium frame.

The New Rig wider shot of bike

So last week I got the new rig all build up and I am pretty stoked. Here are the specs.

Large 6.6 in Red Works Finish

Fox RP23 rear shock

Fox 36 TALAS RC2

XT Crankset with Raceface bashguard

XT derailuers, cassette

XTR Brakeset

Thompson Elite Seatpost

Titec Hellbent Handlebar

90mm Stem

Cane Creek Double XC Flush Headset

Intense Saddle

Spinergy Xyclone Enduro Wheelset (Normal wheelset)

Spinergy Falline Wheelset (Downhilling wheelset)

Kenda Kinetics Stick-E 2.6 tires

The rig comes in at 31.7 pounds.

Another Closeup

I got in two rides over the weekend with the bike. On Saturday I went out to a local trail that has some flowing yet tight singletracks as well as a couple of small stunts. The bike handled really well and when I drop the TALAS fork down to the 130 travel, the bike became extremely snappy in whipping through the tight tree covered singletrack. The term “Spider-Like” came back into my head again as this setting dropped the handlebars enough that my posture was very much like how I set on my XC rig. I also used the 100 setting of the fork during some moderately steep and tight switch-backing climbs and this setup worked really well. For the pressures on the shock and fork, I’m sure I don’t have them quite dialed in just yet, both being a little on the high side. It is generally thought that you need several rides to break in the shocks and forks so I was not concerned with the small bump compliance not being optimized yet. I hit one of the features out there and caught about as much air as I would ever want to and I did not bottom the fork and just did on the RP23 shock.

Why the RP23 shock when you see so many with a DHX Air? The medium 6.6 I rode had a DHX Air and while I got it dialed, it seemed like a lot of shock for the performance you get. I had talked with some folks who prefer the RP23 (usually Pushed) over the DHX-Air so I thought I would give it a try. If I can get the small bump compliance I want as well being able to handle 3-4 foot drops with my weight, then I will be happy. Otherwise I may drop the coin for either a DHX-Coil (pushed) or a Cane Creek Double Barrel.

Closeup of bike

Needless to say the first outing with bike was a success. The following day ended up being a 28 mile ride up in the San Bernardino Mountains which included some rocky and steep terrain along with some sections that allowed for the bike to let loose. Boy did the bike shine here and there were plenty of occasions where the saddle was dumped all the way. Since someone left their memory back at home, I have not pictures. I had no problems with getting behind the bike as it at least once, I grinded my butt on the rear wheel. The bike also felt really stable at ripping speed and was every bit as stable (if not more) as my stretched out Enduro. Once again I was glad I went with the large frame with the longer wheelbase. At the end of the day I was feeling tired from the 28 miles, some rough terrain, and a sizable amount of climbing but was not feeling beat up. The 6.6 proved to be a great all-day rig. I would be extremely hard pressed to take the Enduro on this ride as I would have been creamed from the weight and overall sluggishness it has on the climbs over the cross of the day.

So what it the point of all this rambling about medium versus large? Well I figure there are other folks like me that are classic in-between sizes guys who have tossed around the pros and cons of each. When the rubber hits the trail, it comes down to small preferences and trade-offs. One thing is for certain the 6.6 is one kick ass all-mountain all-day bike and I am stoked to have one the stables.

First Ride with the new bike

I got my first ride in today on the new 6.6 rig and while I’m still working a extensive review, the bike really felt great.

Here are a few shots from the day on a trail system attached to Los Penasquitos Canyon.

This is a big as air as I ever expect to get and the shock and fork were pretty close to dialed for it.

Greg
Greg getting a little air in the trees.

Brian in the air.

Stay tuned for a full review.�

The Portal Trail in Retrospect

I am in the process of putting together my video of the Poison Spider Mesa and The Portal Trail. For those of you who read my review you should have noticed the unusual amount of attention I paid to how dangerous this trail is in the exposed sections. Standing on the edge there knowing that three mountain bikers have fallen to their deaths is quite an experience. I thought we were quite cautious in what we rode and what we walked on that infamous and precarious trail. While reviewing the footage I had a couple of OMFG moments when I saw a couple of spots that we did ride. While these couple of sections were flat and tame with some ground buffer between us and the edge I’m pretty sure I would not ride them again. Too much of the hebegebes put in my head now. For me there has only been a few trails that have gotten into my head like the Portal Trail. If you have ever had one of those dreams where you are falling forever, this could be that place. I’m not sure how this thought process with effect the final video, I’ll just have to see where it takes me.

Bill O'Neil on the Portal �

MTBR viewing tips

Not a whole lot of blog posts going on lately. I have been doing up pages and video for the site.

Have you noticed the increased bombardment of ads on the forums on MTBR.com? They take up near 50% of the screen lately. It never was too much of a bother for me before, but recently it just seems ridiculous. Here is a tip that those of you using Internet Explorer without any third party ad-filtering software can do to cut down on the ads.

Navigate to Tools — Internet Options to bring up the Internet Options Dialog Box

Click on the Security Tab, then on the Restricted Icon. This will enable the “Sites” Button. Click on the Button

MTBr Viewing

This will be then bring up a dialog box that will allow you to enter a website address. By default it will enter the address of the page you where currently on when started this effort. You will want to clear out the information currently there and enter

http://creview.adbureau.net

in the dialog box and press enter.

mtbr

Then press “Close” and an OK or two to your browser. Refresh your MTBR page and you should see a dramatic drop in ads on this site.

The above address is the primary adserver that mtbr uses. By blocking their adserver it will eliminate most of the ads on thier site.

Happy MTBRing (or not).

-Bill

New Bike Shop in North County

North County has a new bike shop, BikeBling.com. I had heard about the new shop located in Escondido so when I was in the area I swung by. The place still has the that “new shop” smell and from what the owner told me new stuff is coming in everyday. I dig that the service area is not tucked away in the back somewhere. It is right up front as soon as you walk in the door and you are more than welcome to watch the service in action. The shop is catering towards service and higher end gear, you know real MTB stuff. I forget all of the bikes brands they carry, but it was a nice list. This is pretty cool for Escondidio as there was no real MTB bike shop in town after the Performance Shop was shutdown. It is also cool for all of North County to have another local shop to add to the variety stuff to chose from as no one shop carries all brands. The shop is also going to be doing Internet sales as well.

I was impressed that they had a really good selection of full-face helmets and I ended up getting a Giro Remedy CF to me from busting up my face again. Now I just have to go get some sweat on the inside of this bad boy.

Full Face Helmet

Bunny Hopping in the Backyard

There was some bunny hopping going on in the backyard this morning.

Easter MTBN

Easter Mountains

Easter Singletrack

Happy Easter!

-Bill

My Friends and Family are Funny

I had not really appreciated just how much laughter is generatered from my friends and family until this week. With my injury it is dreadfully painful to smile right now and I have also been scared to stress that area with a smile. Of course the smile is somewhat self limiting. You start to smile and the pain shoots through the roof. Bye-Bye Smile. So what I started doing is when someone says something funny and I start to smile, I grab the left side of my face and keep my muscles from pulling the corner of my mouth back. This of course is somewhat funny looking to see, which wants to start another round of snickering with the peanut gallery. My Wife and I realized that laughter plays a significant part in our relationship. She has been getting a little bummed with my forced stoic demeanor as of late and I have come to better appreciate the nature of our relationship as well. I did not think I would gain a little knowledge about my marriage from the crash, but yeah, I guess you always need to be ready to learn. I can however think of less painful ways to learn stuff. Hopefully, it will be over soon. I amazed how quickly the face area heals, but the trend of the nerves healing quicker than the wounds is truly a painful bummer. I did get 9 of 19 stitches out today which is a start. (The other 10 are the internal kind that will disolve on thier own.)

I don’t exactly know where these ramblings are taking me, I’ll leave things with this – Take note and enjoy the smiles and laughter around you.