Going Long and Hard.

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
The shop ride is back. Much ouching.

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Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
And we're back!! Busy weekend with a Brevet on Saturday and the boy racing Sunday.

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I was joined by my boss Tom for this one as we prep for CTC in a couple weeks. Things were going damn good. We ripped the field apart before the first Control point and were riding way out front by the Second. I quickly refilled my bottles at that second control which would be the demise of me. Cytomax. Blah. Shit is disgusting. I tried not to drink much between 2 and 3 but it was almost 90 degrees. I chugged that shit and it immediately turned my stomach. At the 90 mile mark I just laid on the ground like a lump pretty sure I would DNF. 2 guys from behind caught up and I had Tom leave with them so I could work out my stomach issues. Sucks because we were on pace to run well under 7 hours. I threw up several times and replaced my bottles with plain water. Continued on stopping every few miles to heave. Eventually the water flushed me out and all was right with the world. Was able to finish under 8 hours even with being off the bike for about 45 minutes or so throughout the day, most in the last 35 miles. Tom was able to hold on and beat my old record by 5 minutes. They just missed the sub-7 mark.

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The boy got his first taste of the big leagues today at Ringwood. He enjoyed the course and looked fresh when he came by me. The other kids in his class were much faster but he couldn't tell where he was in the field so never chased. He didn't have any issues with the terrain or duration so he's probably where he needs to be and just needs to acclimate a bit. We'll see how things pan out at Mooch. Maybe I'll even swing a leg over my bike and see what these short races are all about these days...
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
And we're back!! Busy weekend with a Brevet on Saturday and the boy racing Sunday.

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I was joined by my boss Tom for this one as we prep for CTC in a couple weeks. Things were going damn good. We ripped the field apart before the first Control point and were riding way out front by the Second. I quickly refilled my bottles at that second control which would be the demise of me. Cytomax. Blah. Shit is disgusting. I tried not to drink much between 2 and 3 but it was almost 90 degrees. I chugged that shit and it immediately turned my stomach. At the 90 mile mark I just laid on the ground like a lump pretty sure I would DNF. 2 guys from behind caught up and I had Tom leave with them so I could work out my stomach issues. Sucks because we were on pace to run well under 7 hours. I threw up several times and replaced my bottles with plain water. Continued on stopping every few miles to heave. Eventually the water flushed me out and all was right with the world. Was able to finish under 8 hours even with being off the bike for about 45 minutes or so throughout the day, most in the last 35 miles. Tom was able to hold on and beat my old record by 5 minutes. They just missed the sub-7 mark.

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The boy got his first taste of the big leagues today at Ringwood. He enjoyed the course and looked fresh when he came by me. The other kids in his class were much faster but he couldn't tell where he was in the field so never chased. He didn't have any issues with the terrain or duration so he's probably where he needs to be and just needs to acclimate a bit. We'll see how things pan out at Mooch. Maybe I'll even swing a leg over my bike and see what these short races are all about these days...

I was looking forward to the results and thought there was a group gunning for you given the records last year. Can't believe you were able to finish. So was the Cytomax was in the coolers? First brevet at the end of the month so, just looking to finish.
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
I was looking forward to the results and thought there was a group gunning for you given the records last year. Can't believe you were able to finish. So was the Cytomax was in the coolers? First brevet at the end of the month so, just looking to finish.

Brevets are generally non-competitive. Folks know if they follow me out of the gate they're in for a rough day. I've never been in a group bigger than 4 at the front, and most of the time it's just me and one other guy until one of us breaks. I broke my companion at both 200s and 600 last year but got popped during both 300s and 400. Again, the goal of 99% of the folks signing up for any Rando Event are just looking to complete them, especially the long ones.

Cytomax was in a tub, I mixed the bottle myself. It was one of 2 mistakes I made that I totally could've avoided. The other was not prepping for the heat properly and pre-mixing bottles of Skratch. When it's hot I use Bonk Breaker Mix or just plain water with Salt Tabs as to control my Electrolyte intake more precisely. I was going through 1 bottle per hour with Skratch mix ratio to go 1 bottle per 2 hours. In 2 hours I took in 4 hours worth of mix. That in and of itself will start the gut rot process, the Cytomax was just icing on the cake. I knew what was going on because I've been through all of this through the years and knew it would work itself out at some point.

You'll have fun at Cranbury, it's a good route and is failry flat and easy. There's a pretty big HB group heading out so feel free to join them if you want to push a little. I understand they're going after my record as I won't be there to defend it. I'm fine if they take it as long as it all stays in the family. Besides, I took it from Ian last year so we'll be even.
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
The embargo lifted today so I can show what I was doing out in Cali last month. We were one of a dozen shops in the US to be invited out for the pre-launch. I rode every model in both short and standard travels in each wheel size. These look a lot the same, but each is a different bike. There's almost no badging on them, which is awesome.

The first pic is the bike I was hoping the Blur3 would be, a short travel race bike with Plus tire compatibility. So much sickness.

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Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
saw the bike in the madison shop -
lots of clearance at the chainring,
the cranks felt "more forward" of the seat, but i'm not sure this is a bad thing.
shock mount is "interesting" - really low standover.
storage in the downtube behind the water bottle.

also this kid's plus bike....just because.

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Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
The bike was built around that new shock setup. It no longer uses anything proprietary, including the shock itself. There's a geo adjustment to make the bike slacker or steeper, not sure which mode the bike you sat on was in. The LT version pedals better than any bike I've ridden. The last day I rode with the Pro guys and was able to keep up on an hour long climb even with 150mm travel. That was on the Lime Green bike, which is the S-Works. Something like 23 pounds, insane for a trail bike. Basically just as light as the Epic. The ST bike I liked most replaces the Camber and is now lighter than the Epic with a much faster feel to it.
 

rick81721

Lothar
The embargo lifted today so I can show what I was doing out in Cali last month. We were one of a dozen shops in the US to be invited out for the pre-launch. I rode every model in both short and standard travels in each wheel size. These look a lot the same, but each is a different bike. There's almost no badging on them, which is awesome.

The first pic is the bike I was hoping the Blur3 would be, a short travel race bike with Plus tire compatibility. So much sickness.

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Brand? Model??
 

huffster

Well-Known Member
Is it OK if we say: "You suck" ?

Just kidding. :p

The embargo lifted today so I can show what I was doing out in Cali last month. We were one of a dozen shops in the US to be invited out for the pre-launch. I rode every model in both short and standard travels in each wheel size. These look a lot the same, but each is a different bike. There's almost no badging on them, which is awesome.

The first pic is the bike I was hoping the Blur3 would be, a short travel race bike with Plus tire compatibility. So much sickness.

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huffster

Well-Known Member
I'm sure. I was just teasing and it was pure jealousy speaking...of the rides and the location. Those are some nice bikes. I particular like the black one in the first pic. It's nice to get some sort of perk for your hard work.
I definitely earn it!! This is my standard weekly workload. It's about what most mechanics will turn around in a month, if they're lucky.

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pxs231

Active Member
saw the bike in the madison shop -
lots of clearance at the chainring,
the cranks felt "more forward" of the seat, but i'm not sure this is a bad thing.
shock mount is "interesting" - really low standover.
storage in the downtube behind the water bottle.

also this kid's plus bike....just because.

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Hehe, that’s my kids bike. At 4 years old It’s s tad too big but he is already riding it and having fun. They were nice enough to saw an inch off of the post to get the seat as low as it could possibly go. He thinks the gears are the coolest part of the bike.
 
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