Northstar Thursdays

If you're into a daily dose of suffering, check out the Thursday evening race series at Northstar. I've done a few of these in the past and their always a good time with good people. With the Village now in "full effect", apre's race options abound.

Race info here.

One-two-three-shoot!

YOU, Ryan Fowler!

Let it be know that Ryan Fowler is now Of·ficial·ly in the

SSWC of 2008!

I headed down the Skyline park this past weekend to do a little racin' with the bay area crowd. Single speeders were in FULL EFFECT with 6 of the top 10 everall positions being held by gearless folks! Click here for results. I thought my placing would be good enough to grab one of the 6 lucky tickets up for grabs for entry into the worlds. (read about golden tickets in previous post) Once we hit the podium though, it was learned that the two fastest men and THE fastest woman would garnish three of the lucky golden tickets. And with that, I was out. It didn't bother me too much as I was one of the lucky 350 riders to get in earlier this year.

Then, Curtis Inglis (race promoter) anounced that he would be doing a ro-sham-bo for the final three tickets. Before I knew it, I was paired up... threw "paper"..... which beats rock...... every single time. You're welcome Ryan.

The course: Well, I don't know if the worlds course will be the same route as we raced this past weekend, but if it is, it's gonna be pretty damn fun. It's a "salt & peppering" of Auburn, Santa Cruz and Downieville trails that all happen in a 8.5 mi loop with 1,600ft of climbing per lap. I'd guess that about 2/3rds of the climbing happens on the first climb which is a fire road, fairly exposed (hot) with some nice headwalls to keep you honest. It's plenty of time to get things sorted out on the first lap. The first climb finishes with a nice 50 meter hike a bike. After that, things are you're typical xc ride with meandering single track. Up. Down. A couple more hike a bikes. Nothing too technical.

Gearing: I ran a 39x12. Just kidding. I ran a 34x18 which is what I'm used to. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

The area: It's pretty cool. The campground has water. People were nice. I didn't get a chance to check out any wineries but I will next time.... ain't that right Buck.

East Shore Trails G.T.G

I can confidently say with a big, shit eatin', I've been ridin' single track goodness grin that the TRT is open and void of snow on the east shore.

Brian "acclimatizing" to the steps high above Tahoe

Aaron..... taking the inside line on "that left".

Brian descending towards Tunel Creek Rd

Mark hiding in the shadows on the Flume

Rob gets his game face on for the girls 12 & under dodge ball tournament

Aaron..... feeding the machine!!

To see more pics from this ride, click here.

To check out a good trail map you can't go wrong with, try this.

Whadda U Ride??

"What's the best bike?" I often get this question while at a job or on trail and the simple answer is "the one I'm on right now".



The Colnago in the picture is nice. It's light, rolls well on its ceramic bearings and is cosmetically pleasingly to the eye. The owner of this "rig" is passionate about cycling and feels like his bike is the best thing on the road. Maybe it is? But at what cost? Let's put aside the fact that the bike has a street value of just under $15,000.00 (no, I'm not kidding and yes, the comma and decimal point is in the right spot) and look at some other facts.

I was on the same ride as this bike. I was on my trusty Jamis with its steel frame tubes, 8 speed drivetrain and wheels that have 32 spokes.... each. My bike has a street value of about $600.00 (no, I'm not kidding and yes, the lack of comma and position of the decimal point is in the right spot) and for my particular application, I think it's the best thing on the road. We rode 98 miles that day. We both had a really good ride. We both arrived at our destination at the same time. We both didn't want our bikes to get stolen while we hung out after the ride to check out some racing at the Nevada City Classic.





Keeping this ride in mind, I was reflecting back to a week ago when I needed a crush washer to do an oil change on a Fox 36. I didn't have one in stock, so I hopped on the trusty Kona cruiser. This bike has a street value of.... well.... not too much really. But DAMN, did I have a good ride! I blasted through the neighborhood, cut behind the cement factory, down the bike path into town. I stopped at the Treat Box for a glazed doughnut, headed over to the thrift store for some miscellaneous browsing and THEN went to a local shop to get the parts I needed.

Today I'll be riding with Megan, my girlfriend. I don't know what bike I'll be riding. I dont' know what ride we'll be doing. But I do know I'll have a good time.

Pictures!!!

For those of you who find work more interesting while surfing the net and looking at random bike pictures, I've got a few options for you here to do just that!

Tour de Nez

There was some good racing in Nevada City this weekend. The ride down there was good as well. We had 7 people in our group and some company from other folks from Truckee that were doing the same thing. I managed to stay hydrated much better than last year and was rewarded with not "blowing up" on the final 14 miles of uphill to Nevada City during the hottest part of the day.

I'm going to keep the "road weenie" experience alive this week as the Tour De Nez is in our neck of the woods. This is always a really good event with lots of options for seeing some cycling action. The best one of all is the crit in Truckee Thursday night. The pro race starts at 6:15 but there's plenty of fun stuff going on before that. Click here for more info.

Golden Tickets !!!!!

Do you consider Friday the 13th lucky??

Cause I just got wurd from one ov da Bacon Strippers that there's 6 chances up for grabbs for entry into the single speed worlds! The promoters are giving 3 tickets away to 3 fast guys at this race and 3 lucky guys (or gals I suppose) in anytown USA. I already got mine so.......

Click here for the SSWC08 blog to get the skinny. Good luck.