Ja – bring layers and warm clothes. It appears it might be chilly this weekend up at Boggs. With that said, the trail conditions could be great. Looking forward to it!
Okay, I slacked off on the last installment of my race report for about 9 months—sue me. Seriously, reg for this year’s race is tomorrow night, 4/1 at 8pm pacific so figured it would be good motivation for those thinking about registering to post this now.
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On Sunday morning Jdub and I rolled up to Packer Saddle about an hour before our scheduled start times for the DH race. Perfect timing. Crazy scene up there with some folks (pros and experts) opting for full-on skin suits, warming up on trainers, etc. All business.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go with the full face and/or pads for the DH. It was kinda chilly at the top—actually, perfect weather all things considered for July—but I knew that the climb up to 3rd was going to be hot. Since I’d never raced the DH I decided to take the safe route with the full face, long sleeve, baggies and 661 knee pads.
In any case the race started soon enough. Jdub took off about 10 minutes before me. My turn finally came and adrenaline pumping, I cranked it. More after the jump.
So, the word is out … Santa Cruz is coming out with a carbon fiber Nomad for 2010. It’s in the latest issue of Decline.
This makes me wonder about carbon fiber–I expected to hear about a rash of frame failures from the Blur LT2c but haven’t heard of any. Dave Turner chimed in on the topic on MTBR basically saying that it would be a matter of time before he goes that route … a little shocking from a guy known for his high quality USA made frames since almost all CF frames are made in Asia.
I’ve always been opposed to CF as a frame material for a mountain bike … at least for me. IMO, the failure characteristics of CF are less desirable than aluminum, i.e., CF tends to fail catastrophically whereas aluminum will bend/dent before breaking. At over 200lbs, I’m not convinced … but it should be interesting to see how the Nomad does. If there aren’t many failures I’ll be impressed at the very least and may need to reconsider …
Shredding the gnar on Bobcat Ridge, Fort Collins … came across this on the Intense mtbr forum … gotta say, I don’t like the sound of those King hubs. Some people love them but I prefer either ~nothing (Shimano) or Hope …
Ja-mon and I rolled out to Demo on Sunday. Maiden voyage of his Highline … feel free to post some pics at some point Ja–sick bike. Rolled up to his storage locker at 12:45pm, we weren’t on the road until 2pm due to the shifting issue on the HL.
Get to Demo, gear up and not 5 minutes into the climb the HL has major chain suck. Had to break the chain again to get enough leverage to extract it. Get to the Kiosk, Ja almost eats it on the entry jump after Corral. Flat pedals … said the bike was falling away from him.
We continue to Braille … Braille was sweet as always … about halfway down Ja’s rear derailleur cable has come loose. Who’s the master mechanic here? To make matters worse he’s running a Saint rear derailleur which tries to shield the cable from abuse between the frame and the mech … a good idea. But the cable is secured by a nut that requires an 8mm wrench … fortunately Ja has it on him so we manage to fix it and continue. Tough placement on that nut, gotta say I’m not impressed. Maybe okay for a DH bike at a resort where you can easily get tools, etc, but not good on a backcountry ride.
Ja launched off a pretty big (almost 3′) log ride toward the end of Braille … kinda nose dived it and his Travis saved him from a sure face plant. Nice to have 8″ of dual crown goodness for such instances.
That HL is sick, sick sick. On the climb out I was watching closely as Ja pedaled. Couldn’t detect any bobbing despite not having messed with his propedal settings. Amazing. Now if i could only find a large. Hmm …
I keep feeling better about the RFX with each ride … hitting more stunts at Demo each time out … the stoke is definitely back for me–the fitness, well it’s coming. No pics of demo but I did get a couple pics the last couple days.
On Monday Stone, Dan and I attempted a night ride. The plan was Oyster Point but Dan mentioned that it’s muddy up there. My legs were tired from Demo and five rides into my year I couldn’t climb with Stone and Dan anyway. I didn’t want to hold them up so they went on to Curry Point. I was still tempted by OP and climbed to the top of the singletrack and even started down it a ways but it was not to be … too wet and I didn’t want to damage the trail.
Today I did another short loop with Copper at Del Valle … beautiful day … water levels are high and the trails are in good condition (for EBRPD anyway) … Ja and I are talking about JMP tomorrow, we’ll see … a few pics:
Sani2C is a 3 day race in South Africa … This video was forwarded to me by a guy who raced this course a couple years back. This first vid has two trails in it … these trails look sweet:
Another one from the same race … I’m told that many a biker has unexpectedly taken a swim … reminds me of the bridge to one of the cabins in Downieville. Have to haul your stuff across it to the cabins with a cart … riding on that thing is a trip–especially when someone else is on it. I think it is a little less stable than this bridge though:
