Yeah, as you know, I was a little surprised at this. Last year it was only 1 drop. I guess that's actually a good thing if you do all 8.
Biscotti Madness
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
Yeah, as you know, I was a little surprised at this. Last year it was only 1 drop. I guess that's actually a good thing if you do all 8.
RNG1
Well-Known Member
Happy you went to Tymor now, huh?
BiknBen
Well-Known Member
RNG1
Well-Known Member
Wow with the 2 drop rule I am in 2nd place only to the guy who did the first 2 races (got 1st and 2nd) but has not come to the last 2 races. He is also just a minute ahead of the guys I have been running with onthose first 2. Will be interesting if he shows Sunday.
Kinda wish I didn't see this line of thought, I wasn't going to start looking at this stuff until the last race or 2😀
BiknBen
Well-Known Member
RNG1
Well-Known Member
Got that right, last year it was not a full out panic for me but did turn into more of a juggling act than is necessary.
Btw ben (I know u like nyc stuff) on my way into city with my guys now in the truck with the intention of doing the west side and a lap or so in cp b4 heading out and doing the route that we did from the gw.I noticed monday that the south crossing was open.
Btw ben (I know u like nyc stuff) on my way into city with my guys now in the truck with the intention of doing the west side and a lap or so in cp b4 heading out and doing the route that we did from the gw.I noticed monday that the south crossing was open.
In the swamp, a single 15 minute set at threshold:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8241274
This is 1/4 of a "standard hour" and 1/2 of last week. I'm going a little batty right now.
HR was a little erratic, I pushed to bring it up slowly the whole set. My warmup was reasonable, but not long enough to jump the HR right up to 170. So I pushed and tried to press it up as high as I could because I wanted the 15 minutes to be worth it. It was a hard block. I felt good after I cooled off. Feel good now. My body is ready to go but I'm finding my warmup needs to be a bit longer.
Tomorrow I'll bring gears to KVSP and see how it feels. I like the different course but I won't get a real SS vs. gears comparison on the new course. I don't even know if I'll be able to figure it out exactly. But I should get a reasonable approximation which will do the trick.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8241274
This is 1/4 of a "standard hour" and 1/2 of last week. I'm going a little batty right now.
HR was a little erratic, I pushed to bring it up slowly the whole set. My warmup was reasonable, but not long enough to jump the HR right up to 170. So I pushed and tried to press it up as high as I could because I wanted the 15 minutes to be worth it. It was a hard block. I felt good after I cooled off. Feel good now. My body is ready to go but I'm finding my warmup needs to be a bit longer.
Tomorrow I'll bring gears to KVSP and see how it feels. I like the different course but I won't get a real SS vs. gears comparison on the new course. I don't even know if I'll be able to figure it out exactly. But I should get a reasonable approximation which will do the trick.
Another KVSP preride today, this time with gears:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8329355
A different loop, something close to the race loop. Maybe not exact but it looks right. Should do the trick for those who want to follow that course.
I missed the SS today. I just don't have the confidence in this bike and I'm not sure why. This is more than an SS vs. gears thing. The SS is just setup better for me. It feels more stable, I ride faster, it doesn't seem twitchy. I need to figure out what the difference is sooner than later. It may be the tires. I rode last year's lap on Tuesday at 12.6 mph. Today was 11.9 on the new lap. No, it's not the same. But the trails are similar everywhere and the vertical/lap is just about the same.
Speaking of tires, the Python got a pinch flat today. Yes, I run it tubeless. The stans stuff was basically gone so it couldn't patch it up. But the Python has torn and flatted on me a good 4-5 times now, and I think I'm going to move on to the Geax for the geared bike as well to see if that helps.
I have Ergons on the SS, and foam cup holders on the geared bike. Does that make a difference? One thing I notice is that the geared bike wants to throw the handlebars left and right when I hit rocks, so it feels to me I'm making more of an effort to keep the wheels straight when I'm in the rocks at KVSP. If anyone has ideas, I'm all ears.
The stem on the SS has more of a rise. Aside from that, the fork, wheels, cranks, seat post, and bars are the same on both bikes. The geared bike is far too nice of a ride to give it up. But I need to address this soon.
For now, I'm showing up Sunday with the SS and dealing with the field sections like a hamster in a cage. If there's a sprint to the finish, I'll just have to either accept it and let the guy go or push him into the rock wall.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8329355
A different loop, something close to the race loop. Maybe not exact but it looks right. Should do the trick for those who want to follow that course.
I missed the SS today. I just don't have the confidence in this bike and I'm not sure why. This is more than an SS vs. gears thing. The SS is just setup better for me. It feels more stable, I ride faster, it doesn't seem twitchy. I need to figure out what the difference is sooner than later. It may be the tires. I rode last year's lap on Tuesday at 12.6 mph. Today was 11.9 on the new lap. No, it's not the same. But the trails are similar everywhere and the vertical/lap is just about the same.
Speaking of tires, the Python got a pinch flat today. Yes, I run it tubeless. The stans stuff was basically gone so it couldn't patch it up. But the Python has torn and flatted on me a good 4-5 times now, and I think I'm going to move on to the Geax for the geared bike as well to see if that helps.
I have Ergons on the SS, and foam cup holders on the geared bike. Does that make a difference? One thing I notice is that the geared bike wants to throw the handlebars left and right when I hit rocks, so it feels to me I'm making more of an effort to keep the wheels straight when I'm in the rocks at KVSP. If anyone has ideas, I'm all ears.
The stem on the SS has more of a rise. Aside from that, the fork, wheels, cranks, seat post, and bars are the same on both bikes. The geared bike is far too nice of a ride to give it up. But I need to address this soon.
For now, I'm showing up Sunday with the SS and dealing with the field sections like a hamster in a cage. If there's a sprint to the finish, I'll just have to either accept it and let the guy go or push him into the rock wall.
norm - you're riding a sir9 SS right? - what's the geared bike again?
Gears is the sir9. SS is the one9.
Another possible small contribution is the steel frame of the sir9. Is that flex actually making a difference? The scandium of the one9 is pretty solid, and the fork plus sub-24 PSI give me the cushion I need. So maybe adding the flex just pushes me over that comfort line?
I'm pissing in the wind. The difference in confidence was very tangible today.
steel is definitely "squishy". my MCR had noticeable flex. having ridden both steel and aluminum hardtails, i actually prefer aluminum over steel. so there could be something to your frame giving you too little feedback or too much play on the sir...(?)
BiknBen
Well-Known Member
I guess you will never be sure until you get the Rr Der. hanger for the One9 and swap all of the gears over. 🙄
Enjoy the rest of your day pondering that. :hysterica
The sir9 can be run single. I would need to do it that way then work backwards from SS->gears component by component.
But that's an absurd amount of effort. NFW I'm doing that in the next few days or weeks for that matter. I'll get new tires for the sir9 and see how that feels.
Thanks for the the contribution 🙄
Fogerson
Former Resident Nerd
Don't think you can do that...the One9 can only be a SS...well, unless you go with the shimano hone hub or geared hub route or some sort of franken bike setup.
It'd be easier for Norm to borrow somebody's Air9 for the geared Niner steel v scandium comparo...
BiknBen
Well-Known Member
You may be right. I can't remember if my frame has a little tab near the dropout that could be replaced with a hanger. I may be thinking of my old Mary.
After my previous post I also realized that there are no stops for shift cables. Although, that is something that Norm could figure out in his spare time. 🙄
Shaggz
A strong 7
Wheels, fork, etc. would have to be the same.
Fogerson
Former Resident Nerd
I was thinkin' about this...
If you like the One9, you should just punt and buy an Air9 if you want a geared race bike. Except for the seat post, and maybe the front der, everything should swap right over from your SIR9. Sell the SIR9 and in all it'd be a $500 (maybe less) "upgrade".
The SIR9 isn't *really* a XC race bike and you're probably going fast enough these days to where it's design and material is starting to make a real difference. Even if not, it seems like it makes one for you mentally...which is valid too.
Back-in-the-day when I was skinny(er) and fast(er) going from my heavily tweaked steel mtb to the M2 Stumpjumper did make a big difference....
If you like the One9, you should just punt and buy an Air9 if you want a geared race bike. Except for the seat post, and maybe the front der, everything should swap right over from your SIR9. Sell the SIR9 and in all it'd be a $500 (maybe less) "upgrade".
The SIR9 isn't *really* a XC race bike and you're probably going fast enough these days to where it's design and material is starting to make a real difference. Even if not, it seems like it makes one for you mentally...which is valid too.
Back-in-the-day when I was skinny(er) and fast(er) going from my heavily tweaked steel mtb to the M2 Stumpjumper did make a big difference....