This just in: Bike wreck more interesting than hopping penis

The ankle's feeling better. Thanks for asking. It's not looking much better, but thanks to some elevation last night and the fact that I wore a Swiftwick compression sock while I was sleeping the swelling is down s-l-i-g-ht-l-y.

I got a new toy in the mail yesterday.

I've been looking forward to this for awhile. While I like the Charge 450 I've been riding with since July it can be too much pack for some of my rides. I can get away with a lot less stuff than the Charge 450 can carry, and I don't always need 100oz of water (like this last weekend). Sure I could just carry less stuff in the 450, but I also wanted to try carrying it lower on my back. There are some other features I like as well.

I like easy to access zippered side pockets. The Charge has some pockets on the side I would trust with my mustard packets, but not anything of incredible value. The fact that there is a lanyard in the right side pocket so anal retentive/obsessive compulsive people such as myself can look at their keys 74 times on a four hour ride is a nice touch. Also the hose is routed UNDER your arm instead of over the shoulder as all hydration packs should be. It puts the nozzle closer to your mouth and keeps it from swinging all over the place.

I like gel flask holsters. I may not carry a gel flask very often, but this is where I would carry it when the time came to do so. I can also fit my new camera in the pocket and secure the wrist strap to the looped webbing (I did try it, but it was hard to get a photo while the camera was the subject of said photo).

I didn't bother to take a photo of another featyre, but for those that are curious the gigantic filler hole is in an easy to fill filler location.

Assuming I can get out on the mountain bike tomorrow I'm gonna give this thing a fully loaded field test.

Last week I mentioned a forthcoming new Backcountry Research product, the Awesome Strap Rag Top. Well now all the latest new products are up for your perusal over on the site, but they're still not for sale yet.

Frustrating?

Yes.

This is basically what the newest version of the standard Awesome Strap will look like:

This one is called the Vital. Also available will be the Zone and the already mentioned Rag Top. The Whammer Deal will be on once again for those of you that want to order three straps either for drop bags or for use on multiple bikes without having to move one strap back and forth. The new straps are using all new materials, but I'm not gonna cut and paste the scientific marketing ramble here today. Go here if you want to read more.

Wanna race in the Six Hours of Warrior Creek in April? Tough shit. The first 300 spots sold out, so they opened up 50 more and those are gone as well. How fast did it sell out? 36 hours. This is only the third year for the event, and for it to sell out in less then a day and a half should give you some idea just how great this event is. Next year I predict the price will be $1,000 per person... I could be wrong.

As long as I'm trickling out information regarding next year....

Last night I registered for the 2011 Trans Sylvania Epic. I did not sign up just so I could have a second chance to destroy Selene Yeager. I signed up because it was the most fun week I had in 2010, and a whole bunch of reasons I'll talk about later. If you are thinking about signing up right now, don't. Wait till I make some sort of announcement soon, and then sign up, or don't heed my words of wisdom and wallow in regret later.

I'm enjoying my shortened work hours tomorrow, so no blogging is in order. If you miss me that much just watch my tumultuous trip down Raspberry to ease the pain. I am bummed that there were more people interested in watching me try to kill myself than there were people interested in my hopping penis video.

Losers.





If you are still bored you can click over to Big Worm's post from today which might as well have been something I wrote since it's all about me, my ankle, and what a bad ass messenger I really am.