Wednesday, July 24, 2013

New Frame Enroute

I got word today that the new RIP9 frame is on the way to the bike shop. I wish I had a tracking number. Patience, patience. Probably looking at picking it up next Thursday (ugh) since I'll be in Canada starting Saturday.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The wait continues

After a great call with Niner last week I had a not so great call with the bike shop yesterday. On Friday Niner said a new frame was on the way and would be shipped out on Monday (yesterday). I figured I owed a call to the bike shop to let them know the outcome of that call. When I talked to the owner of the shop he implied that this was not a done deal, there was still more verification to be done. Ugh. I am probably (and hopefully) just being paranoid, but I'll need some serious depression medication if this is not going to happen.

I ordered a new bash plate for the bottom of the bike and got confirmation that the rest of the parts are on the way. I guess deep down I believe its still going to happen, but I just have this little spot of doubt.

I hate bashing a bike shop, and I have really restrained myself on Facebook and Bikerag - I know they have a tough business environment with parts at half price on the internet. I'm their worst customer, specifically this bike shop. I have never set foot inside the place until I brought my broken bike to them. I will most likely buy nothing from them, yet they have to do this work for my warranty claim. That said its not A LOT of work, taking a few pictures and sending a few emails - seriously that's it!

When I started this process I figured I was going to get a new rear triangle and I thought in a few years when bought a new RIP, I would potentially buy from whatever shop handled this for me. In my mind this was kind of a trial of what kind of service they would provide and justified them doing this for me without any possibility of payment. I am not impressed so far. They seem like nice enough guys, but I want a bike shop with passion and these guys are severely lacking in that department. I would love to have come in to the shop and had them say "let's see what we can do to get you a new frame" rather than "I'll send an email and let you know what I hear".

I sometimes daydream about working in a bike shop after I retire from the business world. I think I could bring the kind of energy and enthusiasm that is missing from so many bike shops. I'm sure that gets drained from you pretty quickly though after dealing with problem customers. Since hearing about the new frame I've been a bit obsessive in finding pictures of the new RIP9 built up and generally scouring MTBR for any mentions of the bike - in that quest I've seen so many of the inane questions that get asked by people who have nothing but a poorly formed opinion to go on. I'll bet it doesn't take too many years (or months) of dealing with that situation before you get jaded.

My head cold is finally subsiding, hopefully back to mountain biking this week - I've had three great road rides in the past four days, but they were all pretty subdued.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

New RIP9 on the way!

I feel like a kid who's birthday lands on Christmas - I just talked to Niner and they don't have any 2010 rear triangles so they are sending me a 2014 RIP9 - if someone told me yesterday they would pay for any bike I wanted, more than likely this would be the bike I would buy, so I'm pretty psyched.

Of course there are parts that won't transfer from the old bike so I ordered up the parts this morning. I've got travel to Florida (yuck) and Calgary (yeah!) for work coming up so I hope the timing works out where I can get this bike built in time for the trip to Mount Snow on August 2nd. I always tell myself I'm going to post build shots, but when I get engrossed in the build I never want to stop to take pictures, but I'll try.


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Crandalls again

Ok, so I ride Crandalls a lot - closest riding spot, so its going to get the nod often.

It was a strange confluence of Bikerag and Sunday morning ride groups last night at Crandalls, with five riders (we picked up one guy on the trail by chance). It was a really hot day, but surprisingly the ride was not too bad comfort wise, that said I don't think my shorts and shirt could have been any more wet at the end if I had gone swimming. I processed a lot of fluid.

The mosquitoes and deer flies were epic. That word is completely overused, but is also the only one I can think of to describe it. I led the ride all night, just because no one else knew the turns, so that probably didn't help. I got about 15 deer fly bites and a few mosquito bites - its relatively easy to outrun and outsmart the mosquitoes - just don't stand still, but the deer flies can catch you on the climbs (and even some of the flats!) and as previously noted they can bite through spandex. I've been toughing it out in the woods, but after that experience I think I'll be riding the road a lot more in the coming weeks.

The Big Unit performed well - I'm continuing to re-learn how to ride a hardtail. The relatively short chainstays and wheelbase made it a lot more fun in the twisties than the RIP. I felt like I remembered a bit about descending the technical stuff and had a point where I was flying down a rooty section and it felt ok.


Sunday, July 14, 2013

First "real" ride on the Big Unit

With the RIP down (still waiting on word from Niner on the next step), I used the Big Unit. I moved the Reverb dropper post over with a home made shim. That was always one of the shortcomings of the purple Unit, I really get used to that dropper and not having it puts me in an awkward position for doing the more technical stuff.

I did my normal Sunday AM ride today, we had a group of five hearty souls out there battling the heat and the slimy roots for almost 3 hours - it was a really good ride. Once again Case proved its worth with pretty much dry, rock hard trails even after rain yesterday and last night.

The Big Unit worked out pretty well - it was a lot of fun to ride, but you really have to work that thing (as with any hardtail), you have to find the line rather than just plowing through stuff. In the real technical stuff its a much more active riding style and my legs are just not used to it. I'll get there, but there's a lot less sitting and spinning on the hardtail and all that standing and absorbing takes extra effort. There are a couple of fit problems, the handlebars are too low and too short, I'm not sure if I'm going to try and fix that or just adjust for it.

In the high speed chattery stuff its really painful - you just have to let the bike do its thing underneath you but "its thing" is not necessarily 100% comfortable. During one of these chattery hills I skipped off the trail and plowed my shoulder into a tree - no harm done, but it was a good reminder of just how easy a FS bike is to ride in this stuff.

Even when its technical I found it really easy to pedal up stuff, I would presume that's due to the four of five pounds of weight savings between this and the RIP. 

So all in all, a really good ride, I'm glad to have the Big Unit as a back up bike and its always good to get on a hardtail and remember what it used to be like to ride before the full suspension bike made me lazy.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

RIP RIP9

My bike is called a RIP9 - Roll In Peace. Unfortunately its now Rest In Peace - I found a crack in the rear triangle last night.



I've got an email out to Niner to see what they will do for me. I am sincerely hoping they get me a new rear triangle even though its out of warranty. I just can't afford a new bike right now!

The ride last night was pretty good, I only wish I saw the crack after the ride, I thought about it a lot as I rode. We had a mechanical near the end of the ride and the mosquitoes were literally swarming. Can't wait for this part of the summer to be over!

Monday, July 8, 2013

The best singletrack in CT?

I often get asked where the best riding in CT is, to me that's like picking your favorite child - picking one is impossible, so I'll list my top 8 according to their merits:

Best technical riding: Mesh - specifically the white dot trail. Its a trail that is 100% rideable, but in order to ride it clean it would have to be a very good day. Negative - a bit of dirt road riding to put together a decent length ride out there

Best overall riding experience: Bigelow Hollow - there are only 13 miles (or so) of trails out there, but if you ride them all its a great ride with excellent views and some killer technical trails (the white trail stands out). I have ridden every trail out there without a dab on various rides. I keep trying to put together that "one ride" where I ride the place front to back without a dab. Its probably never going to happen, but I will keep trying! Negative - lots of bugs!

Highest value, smallest package - Crandalls - I was reminded yesterday that no one would ever call Crandalls "epic", but if you ride all the trails out there its a quality 10 miles with plenty of hills, some technical sections and many turns on tight singletrack packed into a very small area. I am definitely biased, but this place impresses me every time I go there. Negative - its a small area so riding there too often tends to get  a bit boring.

Most unusual ride - Middlesex - considering the exposed rock riding, the cliff side trails, the twisted trails through the mountain laurel - there's not another place like this in CT. Really great riding with incredibly steep, yet rideable natural terrain. Negative - so freaking hot in the summer

Best place to ride when its wet - Case -Like everyone who rides there I have a love/hate relationship with Case, but if you pick your trails carefully, it really is amazing how quickly the place dries out. I've ridden there less than 24 hours after 3" of rain and its perfectly fine. Despite all the "bad" stuff, there are some really great trails at Case as well. Negative - blown out trails and a lot of people (but that can be good too!).

Best mountain biking specific trails - tie - Nathan Hale and Millers - I rarely get down to Millers, its a challenging ride with so many mountain bike specific features its incredible. I don't do the bigger stuff, but I truly appreciate the effort that went into that place, and its always great to ride where there is stuff I won't do. Nathan Hale is mountain bike paradise - so much flow, technical bits, rollers, it really is a great place to ride with well thought out routes and trails. Negative - this is going to sound weird, but sometimes I think these places are too perfect - sometimes I want to ride on a trail that is not made for a mountain bike (see Bigelow Hollow).

Best non-technical riding: Salmon River - I don't ride there often enough, the trails out there are amazing - flowy, relatively smooth singletrack where you can just pedal and make things happen. Every time I ride there the entire group of riders is smiling. Pretty universal praise for this place. Negative - the trails can be difficult to follow as they loop back on themselves.


Friday, July 5, 2013

Crandalls this morning

I have today off, so naturally a ride was in order. I went back and forth on MTB versus road, figuring the road would be more comfortable, but I went for the woods ride at Crandalls.

I love that place, its really great that we have this place to ride so close by. I only did about 8 miles, but they were quality miles. I had planned on doing the 10 mile loop, but I started over heating so I cut it a bit short. I saw two riders out there including my brother - good to see others enjoying it too.

It wasn't muddy, but I was sweating like crazy so anything kicked up by the front tire stuck to my legs, leaving me with a pretty high definition line once I took my socks off.



Anger Buddy plays the garage gig

Brett who plays guitar in Anger Buddy (the band I'm in now) has a keg party every year and we set up in his garage to provide a little entertainment. I guess this is our third year of doing it. When I was breaking down the studio this year to move everything over I was really considering if this was worth it, there aren't that many people at this party and not many of those in attendance really pay attention to us. I don't say that to be negative, but its the reality of this party.

While I think all of us in the band would like to play more gigs, we are also all realistic about what kind of gigs we would want to play. We all have kids and day jobs so we're really not interested in doing bar gigs where we get out at 3:00AM or something. I did that a bit with a band called Version Larry I was in 10 years ago. I hate to say I'm too old for that, let's just say I'm wise enough to know what's in store for me if I stay up that late (if I can stay up that late).

All that reality aside, it was amazingly fun. I really enjoyed it more than I should have. We have kind of evolved from a 50/50 covers to original ratio to where we play almost exclusively originals now. We played almost exclusively originals in Version Larry, so I know what that means - most people in the audience don't have the patience to listen to something they've never heard before. I had a couple people come up to me during the party and say how much they enjoyed a few of the songs we played, which felt really great.

I linked to three videos of us playing below - I am kind of disappointed with the selection of songs that ended up being recorded, (and I know they should all be linked in one post, but I'm too lazy to figure that out). I think there were songs we played better than these. Of the four songs, I think "A Revenge Play" is probably the best - despite the fact that we just started playing that song probably a month or so ago. "Find a Reason" is of the same vintage, but it hasn't quite jelled yet, its getting there. I think I have only gotten through it two or three times without messing up - its a relatively hard song to sing and play at the same time. I have to get to the point where my fingers know what to do without my brain paying attention to them so I can concentrate on singing. The other two songs are good, but I am not happy with the energy level in either.

That's the Bass of Case in the video, man I love that bass, it really cuts through nicely too!

We have gotten pretty good at the non-verbal communication when playing - this takes a long time to develop and its not something you can talk about or "work on", it just happens as you get familiar with people and their playing. I wish I could see Brett's expression better in the video, at the end of "A Revenge Play" I can see him trying to will me to stop jamming and end the song, that non-verbal communication doesn't always work :-D

Anyway, playing the keg party was a lot of fun, and makes me want to find some other places to play, where maybe there would be more people.

A Revenge Play

Find a Reason

Odysseus Says Goodbye to Calypso/Glad to be Gone