Proper Winter Racing..

We finally had a winter race with proper snow and conditions that gave fat bikes an advantage.
I felt much better this week and certainly had more fun riding the single track at Murphy rather than those blasted hills! My new 9Zero7 hasn't been tested on snowy single track as much as I would like (no SNOW!), but it continues to impress me when the opportunity arrises. Sunday I felt right at home on her, just as I do on my Top Fuel in the summer.

All the details, results, and a pretty cool video here:
http://freewheelbike.com/about/frozen-frolic-2012-results-pg713.htm

Next up? Who knows... I am taking hits from a group of men who refer to their brothers as sisters (and sisters as brothers?) on my skinny riding ability...so maybe I should forget trying to get fit and just work on my skillz ;)

Team and Murphilly

First, it is official that I will be riding for the Freewheel Elite Team this year with Trek and Bontragers as co-sponsors. I am excited to be a part of this team and have the support from Trek, as it is a combination that will provide me with everything I need to pedal hard.

On to some racing:
Remember the old Murphy Hanrehan course? Yeah, the one consisting of world class XC ski trials that only go up and down...almost never flat. Mr Hinkens and I took turns beating on each other Sunday at that course because the singletrack was still to icy. Jack and I agreed that it was the hardest we have gone since last fall, and he ended up besting me by 15 seconds or so I think. With a wipe out on a slippery rut and some time lost on the hills, I was down 30+ s after the first lap but pulled it back some in the last lap. While I think he had me either way, it was an interesting battle of different tire set ups with almost all else equal and both of us on beautiful 9Zero7s.

Jack's setup - Nate rear, Larry front, ~15 PSI min
My setup- Husker front and rear ~8-9 PSI.

The huskers roll better on really hard pack, which the trails were not Sunday at least on the first lap. The Huskers were much better on the second lap after the trail had been packed.
On the staircase steep climbs I was losing 5-10 seconds slipping the rear tire. Jack said he did not slip at all and climbed the hills like he had claws on his tires (technically he did w/ the Nate=).
Higher PSI, to a point, is advantageous as well for going fast because the tire casings don't comply/flex well in the cold, and the tire sidewall obviously flexes a lot less at higher PSI.

There will be more to come as we actually get to ride on snow in the coming weeks, but my initial takeaway is that unless it is very hard pack (nearly icy), the Nate will be a superior snow tire because you can run it at higher PSI and still have more grip.

Later...

Cold Bear #1

"Snow" bike racing started last Sunday with only about 50% snow cover on the trail. That said I rode the 9Zero7 anyway along with ~35-40 other Fat Bikers. Additionally, there were 40 or so skinny tire riders braving the dirt, snow and ice trail up at Elk River (very little ice actually).

Regarding the race itself, I took it easy-ish (relative to summer XC racing) at the start to get the motor primed...it has been a long time since I did an XC race! Overall I felt strong through the whole race and did not overdo it, as there are a lot more races ahead (if I was unclear, I am not racing less this year, I am just planning to do some different types of racing).

Key takeaway: Rich and the Dirt/Snowwerx crew did a great job in making this an awesome event. If you didn't come, you missed out!

In other news, winter is hear.

Bimodal distribution?

I never would have thought that Tegan I would be riding dirt over Christmas break...

One afternoon during my nice long 10-day break from work I was discussing with my well educated weather guru of a Brother how the weather does not seem to follow Gaussian statistics. Hopefully he will look into it further and get back to us all, and maybe I just remember the weather oddities. However, last winter was a snowfest...a top 5 winter in snowfall amounts as I recall. I had to shovel my shoveled snow to make room for more shoveled snow. Spring was wet and cold. My feet nearly fell of at the Cable Classic. Summer was hot...super hot (awesome!). Fall was very warm and super dry, and Winter has followed Fall's lead.
This has all made for a interesting, sometimes difficult, and entertaining year of riding and racing. I counted and I toed 32 starting lines this year, almost all mtbk. That seems like a lot. A time will come, probably sooner rather than later, that I/we won't have time for that many.

2012 will hold some changes new challenges for me. What all those are is yet to be determined, but there is more than 1 endurance race on my radar and probably fewer XC races.

I don't know which Team I will be riding for yet in 2012 (down to two options), but in the near term at least there are 13 XC snow bike races to choose from in the Twin Cities area. I do know that I will be riding my 9Zero7 rocket of a snow bike for Freewheel/9Zero7 in those...that is, assuming we get some snow this winter!

Cheers and Happy New Year.

A Fat Bike Crit and Dear Nate...

A fat bike crit complete with jumps, skinny's, camelback bridges, and 40 degree inclines? Yeah thats right: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x7qSPMNcTe4

My prize for going the fastest: a Bells Two Hearted Ale from Kevin and a pull of Jameson from Thad (exactly what I wanted!)

More pictures and recaps likely to be posted here and here.

Oh, and Dear Nate,
Where have you been, and why did it take you so long to get here?

FAT

They are still calling for lots of flakes to fall this winter, and the boys at 9Zer07 have once again got me ready for it.

The new frame is awesome to say the least. The increased stand over is extremely useful for those times when you step off only to have your foot sink another 2 feet. Add to that a longer effective top tube (reach) and shorter head tube and I can get the fit just like my summer bikes. This is not possible with most snow bike geometries. The component selection includes the full SRAM XX (thanks to the folks at SRAM), White Bros carbon fork (co-developed w/ guys at 9Zero7), e13 crank, and the same holey wheels as last year. The bike comes in at a reasonable 27.5 lbs....think 19lb rigid hardtail + 8.5 lbs of rotating weight added in tires/wheel/tube=)
The only thing TBD on the bike at this point is the tire choice. I will be trying a couple of the new options there, but the Larry's I ran last year will be tough to beat for snowy singletrack.


Getting your hands on one of these new 9Zero7 beauties may not be easy, as they are already sold out of certain sizes/colors from the first batch. Locally, a few places have them in stock though:
Trail Cycle in Forest Lake has 6 or 8 of them that they will build any way you want.
Penn Cycle also has some and will be carrying them en mass this year.

Shanghai

Our adventure to Shanghai in pictures:

First we hopped on a bullet train...due to a recent crash they have slowed them down to 200mph. It was SO smooth.

Upon Arriving, we entered the subway... wowzas

The Shanghai TV Tower..

Lunch at Hooters in Shanghai (we wanted "American" food)... I couldn't decide between the WARP and flatbread

The Shanghai World Finance Center. The tallest building in the world if you don't consider Antennas. Also, it has the highest "Observation Deck" (read, somewhere the public can go view from)

I am scared of heights, not deathly though, but the glass floor at the 100th floor observation deck was about more than I could take. I walked across the glass panes but didn't stand on them.

The views were UNREAL.

A new bike brand coming...just like the original only better.

And of course, shopping. Need genuine Ray Bans?

This is the first time I have found fake bike jerseys and bibs. They had every sports jersey fake you could think of. I was going to buy a vintage Mike Madano North Stars Jersey, but they didn't have my size.

Lost in translation...completely lost =)

More exploring

A couple co-workers and I went to the center of the city yesterday for some shopping. It was quite entertaining....

This guy was pretty happy about his faux wood fairing his bike.

I am still trying to figure this one out. The sign says "Transformers Bag Co." but it was a women's clothing store.
My wife gets so worked up when someone has a child in the front seat of a car (I certainly was up there when I was growing up). Child safety is all relative.

Just really, really, really crowded.

I have ridden every day (mostly a quicky in the AM before work) and I took my camera today. I am blown, but had a good time.

I found an ancient grave burial ground on the side of a hill. Creepy but unique. You should have seen the looks my Trek kit got this far of the beaten path.

They decide to build a replica of the Eiffel Tower that I stumbled into. Who knew that Suzhou had an Eiffel tower?!?!

Yep, that is a Bentley stretch limo. The disparity between rich and poor and the number of poor (proportionally) here far exceeds what we have in the US. I wonder what the I-am-not-working-but complaining-rather-than-looking-for-a-job-and-am-gonna-need-unemployment-help-from-tax-payers-who-ARE-working-while-I-complain (read Occupy Wall Street) people would say? ;-)

More exploring

A couple co-workers and I went to the center of the city yesterday for some shopping. It was quite entertaining....

This guy was pretty happy about his faux wood fairing his bike.

I am still trying to figure this one out. The sign says "Transformers Bag Co." but it was a women's clothing store.
My wife gets so worked up when someone has a child in the front seat of a car (I certainly was up there when I was growing up). Child safety is all relative.

Just really, really, really crowded.

I have ridden every day (mostly a quicky in the AM before work) and my camera today. I am blown, but had a good time.

I found an ancient grave burial ground on the side of a hill. Creepy but unique. You should have seen the looks my Trek kit got this far of the beaten path.

They decide to build a replica of the Eiffel Tower that I stumbled into. Who knew that Suzhou had an Eiffel tower?!?!

Yep, that is a Bentley stretch limo. The disparity between rich and poor and the number of poor (proportionally) here far exceeds what we have in the US. I wonder what the I-am-not-working-but complaining-rather-than-looking-for-a-job-and-am-gonna-need-unemployment-help-from-tax-payers-who-ARE-working-while-I-complain (read Occupy Wall Street) people would say? ;-)

Far from Kansas

My view of Suzhou, China. No, that is not fog.

Introducing the latest in my collection delivered to my door about a week before I left. The Cronus CX Ultimate has made the long journey with me. I shall call her Toto.

Some things I have learned on my ~100k ride today:

1. Traffic lights only for advisory purposes only. The larger your vehicle, the less strong the advisory.

2. I am faster than the scooters here. Most are actually E-bikes (think electric moped).

3. Most roads have lanes dedicated to scooters and bikes that are separted from the road by a small boulevard...awesomely progressive. Cars stay off these lanes most of the time.

4. The bike and scooter lanes are 2 way even though there is one on each side of the road.

5. Ebikes do not require helmets, but I saw at least on ebike to ebike collision, where a helmet would have been useful.

6. A honk from a truck or car means, "I am coming but not considering using my brakes, just FYI."

Actually, the riding here seems to be very pleasant at least on the weekends. I am not sure they will let me bring my bike into our factory if I commute on it, and Toto is too precious (and guaranteed to be stolen) if I park it with the rest of the bikes outside.

Signing off...