Devil Mountain Expeditions

Well after a few months of collecting parts off of Craigslist (frame and shock fox 5.0 coil, 7″ travel), wheels (mavic823s and highrollers ust) w hope pro II hubs, Shimano Saint shifters and short cage rear derailleur, from chainreactioncycles.com, Easton monkey bars carbon dh, magura louise 8″/7″, E13 DRS chainguide, 36T-22tt gearing, (chainreactioncycles.com), parts from trailhead cyclery in SJ (twentysix pedals w ith ti spindles, an SLX front derailleur,), WTB saddle with ti rails, and finally the Manitou travis triple 170mm (Ebay), the HL is seen here on its maiden voyage to Demo.

This thing pedals great, it turn on a dime, soaks up all the landings and is confidence inspiring.

More action pics to come (stay tuned)

Missing tooth

That’s the re-adopted anthem’s drivetrain…just found out from the buyer that a tooth was missing.  I’ll bet five bucks it busted off at Del Valle, Stone was there, when I busted the chain on a bad shift.

Just got back from a 10 day trip to Japan, to visit my in-laws. What better way to cure jet lag, than to ride some lift access DH at the “health resort” Fujimi Panorama, Nagano prefecture.

For 150000 yen ($150 USD) was able to rent a Giant Faith 2 FR/DH bike, full pads, full day lift, foot bath, and lunch.

The lifts were practically empty. Probably saw about 15 riders the whole day. There are basically three trails A (World Cup run), B intermediate, and C beginner.

So I take B for the warm up and end up crashing three times on the wet roots and slick soil. Note: It probably didn’t help that the brake levers in Japan are reversed, as the right lever controls the the front disc brake, and the left lever controls the rear disc brake.
More pics and report after the jump.
Read more…

Did the usual pre-ride wrench routine on the Intense M6 till 2am the night before… installed the Maxxis Minion UST 2.5s fr and rr, and re-installed the Magura Louise carbon brake in the rear. Seems like the Louise’s that came new with the 6.6 are in need of a bleed after only one year…

So woke up at 6AM Sat. morning, Miso and Oscar in the car, brewed a couple cups of Keurig, and hit the road for Northstar at 6:45. Smooth ride up, made it to N* parking lot just before 10AM. When I got there it seemed like a youth soccer tournament. No wonder, the 3rd Annual Livewire DH Classic was being held. Moms were driving their kids up there…it was like a family event. It crossed my mind for a minute to enter the race, but I decided maybe I should check out Livewire first.

So my first run was down Livewire. Really groomed trail, perfect to practice catching air over tabletops. Lots of traffic though, since the DH racers were getting their practice runs in.

Then I took three runs down Gypsy. The entry into the trail was initially pretty intimidating. You have to ride over some two foot boulders to start the trail. Gypsy is quite rocky, a few small drops thrown in, and a few I nice doubles thrown in. I took a nice over-the-bar spill on Gypsy after taking a drop, and carrying too much speed for the upcoming lefthand sweeper. Luckily I was fully armored, as I took a pretty good hit on the right shoulder and hip.

My final run of the day was down Boondocks, which is a double black diamond trail. I was talking to a local rider on the lift who was telling me about a perfect 8 foot drop off of Boondocks. Nice run-out and transition. Once on the trail, I took a quick peek from the top of the drop and thought to myself, “maybe next time”. But that Fat Tire I just had must have given me some liquid courage, so I hit the drop, and landed it! Great way to end the day. Northstar is a sweet place to ride, especially with the Intense M6 underneath you.

bottom bracket installed shimano saint, 83mm 32-22
fsa big fat pig headset cups pressed

Goal is to take m6 and hl to n* this weekend

I have decided to start the DME shuttle, but for the first event we’re heading to Northstar before their season ends.

We’ll have 3 shuttles heading up, one from San Ramon (Stone’s Tacoma), one from Pleasanton (Jah’s 4Runner), and one from Livermore (CK’s element). Throw in some cash for gas and we’re good.

Please RSVP by e-mail Stone, Jah or CK.

We can answer your specific questions.

We will leave around 6:30 AM to get to Truckee for the 10AM N* opening. And be leaving at closing, which is 4PM.

Looking forward to a great day.

Cheers,

Jah Mon

I’m getting good at this…all packed for Downieville and its only 1AM.

So top3 things you must have for a multi-day dville trip (see pic from left to right)…

3. tools
2. a bike (hey, my 1997 Univega made it down)
1. beer

Cheers!

Dville essentials

DME trips in 2008/2009.  Not a bad year of riding.

Check out the “garage”.  Running out of space.

Looking forward to Downieville this weekend.

Just completed the parts for the 2008 Turner Highline…Mavic 823s, Hope Pro II hubs, Saint drivetrain- front and rear derailleur, Magura Louise 2008 BAT 203 fr and 180 back…can’t wait.

Anyone riding this week?

After 1 hour of sleep the previous night, a few wrong turns, my muscle cramping, mooching water from hikers and other bikers, and Craig’s rear derailleur cable snapping, we (Craig and I) were able to complete the course in a mellow 6.5 hours.

So the 8 mile climb up to the top of Sunrise was enough to get my right leg to seize up from muscle cramps.  My 3 L of water was gone after the climb (felt like that first ride to Demo, in terms of running out of water).  So a nice 10 minute rest sitting down, and eating some food helped me to climb the last section up to Packers Saddle.  At the top, we met some nice hikers from Reno who gave me some water for the rest of the ride.  Also, on the way up, we took two wrong turns, which probably added about 45 minutes to the overall time.

The rolling section over to Baby Heads has a lot more gravel on it than last time.  I took the climbs at a very slow pace, to prevent the muscle cramps for re-occuring.  The scenery was awesome, lots of wildflowers, blue skies, and 75 degree fresh mountain air.

So we get to Baby Heads and the flashbacks come back from last month’s ride, where I flatted 3 times, due to rim tape that moved off of the spoke holes.  This time, with 40 psi in the tires, and new rim tape, no flats!  Unfortunately, Craig’s rear derailleur cable wasn’t so lucky this time. 

Read more…