Johnny Utah
Well-Known Member
Where has the winter gone?
Johnny Utahs Bike Change Operation
- Thread starter Johnny Utah
- Start date
Where has the winter gone?
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
My buddy has one. Ssid he doesn't like it so much. Too heavy and slow despite riding on a couch.
The Kalmyk
Well-Known Member
I need to pay attention. When did this hokie ass drop bar fat tire monster come to fruition? Looks good John
Johnny Utah
Well-Known Member
I think so, I signed up for the first race.....,my goodness.
Johnny Utah
Well-Known Member
3/20/16
Long time coming. So spring has sprung and I figured I would put in some updates.
Nomad - This was a bit of an impulse buy that I knew I could make money on if I wasn't a fan. In reality I was hoping for something a bit more nimble on xc trails, but the bike is more of a mini DH bike than trail bike. Over the last year I have come accustomed to riding areas at a faster pace, 85% of my rides are fine on hard tail, the others I would rather ride my DH bike. So I sold it, made some cash and bought something I could toss around.
Shocker - this was a bike I sold to someone last year who never used it. It was an easy pickup for me and will allow me to ride DH when I feel like it. As always, I would probably let it go for the right price.
Surly ECR - Just picked this up from @Mumonkan! I wanted it since I set eyes on it at Marty's fat 50. This will be my travel/hang out bike. Currently it is set up single speed and the option to add gears is there, but not a priority. Totally love this thing, the drop bars are a huge relief on my hands and ride very well for my local trails. I would love to do a back to back century on this and overnight somewhere in the coming months.
Beargrease - somewhere near 4K miles now. The only original parts are the seatpost, shifter and headset. I sold the HED wheels as we were not getting along and purchased a new set of Marge Lites on Salsa hubs for $300. These wheels are a bit heavy, but are durable and can withstand the H2H series.
H2H - as promised to @Norm, I am going to give these ago and have signed up for next weeks event. I have no idea what is in store for me but I assume the worst.
MS Coast the Coast - I have assembled a team of 30+ people I work with for this years event, I will try to get 120 miles total by riding to the event, doing the 85 and then riding home.
W101 - Will probably pull the trigger this week. I am thinking I am going to ride the Beargrease .
Bearscat - I am dreading this because of the painful stories, but I should be in for this.
Weight - I have held 15 lbs off over the past few months, I am going to push for another ten over the next three months to get near 175.
Trail Maintainence - Hoping to make as many of these at the local park as I can, had a great time today!
Will be working on distance rides on my off weekends, looking forward to Marty's Fat 50, Cathedral Pines and the D&L Fat Epic in the fall/winter.
Long time coming. So spring has sprung and I figured I would put in some updates.
Nomad - This was a bit of an impulse buy that I knew I could make money on if I wasn't a fan. In reality I was hoping for something a bit more nimble on xc trails, but the bike is more of a mini DH bike than trail bike. Over the last year I have come accustomed to riding areas at a faster pace, 85% of my rides are fine on hard tail, the others I would rather ride my DH bike. So I sold it, made some cash and bought something I could toss around.
Shocker - this was a bike I sold to someone last year who never used it. It was an easy pickup for me and will allow me to ride DH when I feel like it. As always, I would probably let it go for the right price.
Surly ECR - Just picked this up from @Mumonkan! I wanted it since I set eyes on it at Marty's fat 50. This will be my travel/hang out bike. Currently it is set up single speed and the option to add gears is there, but not a priority. Totally love this thing, the drop bars are a huge relief on my hands and ride very well for my local trails. I would love to do a back to back century on this and overnight somewhere in the coming months.
Beargrease - somewhere near 4K miles now. The only original parts are the seatpost, shifter and headset. I sold the HED wheels as we were not getting along and purchased a new set of Marge Lites on Salsa hubs for $300. These wheels are a bit heavy, but are durable and can withstand the H2H series.
H2H - as promised to @Norm, I am going to give these ago and have signed up for next weeks event. I have no idea what is in store for me but I assume the worst.
MS Coast the Coast - I have assembled a team of 30+ people I work with for this years event, I will try to get 120 miles total by riding to the event, doing the 85 and then riding home.
W101 - Will probably pull the trigger this week. I am thinking I am going to ride the Beargrease .
Bearscat - I am dreading this because of the painful stories, but I should be in for this.
Weight - I have held 15 lbs off over the past few months, I am going to push for another ten over the next three months to get near 175.
Trail Maintainence - Hoping to make as many of these at the local park as I can, had a great time today!
Will be working on distance rides on my off weekends, looking forward to Marty's Fat 50, Cathedral Pines and the D&L Fat Epic in the fall/winter.
RobW
Well-Known Member
So a few things-
H2h carpool?
Longer weekend rides- count me in.
Trail maintenance- I'll be there for the next one.
Johnny Utah
Well-Known Member
All solid my friend!
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
I'll more than likely be in for Allamuchy and WayWay H2H. Those are the only 2 non-USAC races in the series other than the first one which is during HoH. Bearscat is not an easy race, but it's 100% worth it. All single-track and awesome compared to W101 which is basically 90-miles of dirt roads and then 10 miles of technical as fuck singletrack. IMO it's a waste of time, better off heading down to Shenandoah and doing 100-miles somewhere awesome. About the same distance away also.
Johnny Utah
Well-Known Member
I didn't even think of Shenandoah, thanks Jim. It really is time for Bearscat, I have been talking about it for two years.
Johnny Utah
Well-Known Member
Can't believe the first one is complete.
We had a great day today, and the course was awesome, good work guys & gals!
Lap1:
First six mile lap and I had the hole shot but was quickly taken as we went into the woods. It took me a bit to recover, like the whole first lap at which I dropped from 1st to 5th. Fawk! Everywhere I could have caught up, especially the stairs was littered with the slower race classes that were in front of us, but that's racing.
Lap:2
Power: I am starting to understand the whole deal, I have built a slow but steady mileage engine. My trail skills allow me to
Move quick, but the fire road sprints kill me. Halfway through lap two I came up to 3rd and 4th in the singletrack, but once we hit the fireroad 3rd was gone and I began battling for fourth. I knew he would kill me on the fireroad, so I put the hammer down on the singletrack. As we approached the raised bridge I questioned whether the gentleman I was battling could make the 12" bunny hop at the wide open gear we were traveling in: the gunshot pop behind me gave me the answer: another HED bites the dust. So now I have 4th.
Lap: 3
Smooth sailing. I never even saw @Dairyman who took third and I finished behind him, well done Don!
4th place. Solid! I am looking forward to the next one.
As always, thanks for the constant motivation to leave the comfort zone: @pearl @jimvreeland @Mountain Bike Mike @fidodie special thanks to @Flaubert @Mumonkan @Dairyman for making it fun.
Life plans:
I bought the DH bike on a whim and for a deal but would like to unload it. Amongst a ton of house projects and toys I would like to add gears to the Surly to attempt a 150+ ride as well as back to back centuries.
Signing up for the next H2H tonight
Mumonkan
Well-Known Member
great job man! count me in for any of the funsies i can participate in
using and HRM was an eye opener for me, highly recommend for road type stuff like the fireroads.
before it i would go out on a "recovery ride" and i would basically be right below tempo,
with martys (D&L was a whole different level of hurt), if i didnt know what range i was actually in, i wouldve gone absolutely apeshit in the beginning and blown up before the singletrack climb
using and HRM was an eye opener for me, highly recommend for road type stuff like the fireroads.
before it i would go out on a "recovery ride" and i would basically be right below tempo,
with martys (D&L was a whole different level of hurt), if i didnt know what range i was actually in, i wouldve gone absolutely apeshit in the beginning and blown up before the singletrack climb
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
this is good. this is the part that can not be faked. now that you have, you can build from it. that is the fun part. try and jump on a local group road ride (ya i know, not as fun as mountain biking) and get some high speed pedaling in.
HR for XC I'm 50/50 on. The effort is so "short" that you should be treating it like a cross race in a sense. You should be pushing yourself on all the climbs and the flats whenever you can.
kudos!
Johnny Utah
Well-Known Member
In addition to signing up for Mooch, I also signed up for the Bearscat.
Still scared of that race, but it is on!
Still scared of that race, but it is on!
I was probably crying at that point. Second time down the stairs I heard a pop in my rear wheel when I came around and jumped up on that bridge it just collapsed. Expensive lesson learned, carbon wheels are not meant for mtbing. Maybe the pants were just a little too heavy for those wheels.