Looking good Mortimer

Today should have been day two of the Virtual Tour of Bad Idea Racing Headquarters/ Part Three: What's in the big blue bins? It will not happen. I can't, with good conscience, do that to you. The second bin has nothing but lame camping equipment in it. Boring shit indeed.

I had at one point considered doing a two day post where I just dumped everything on the floor and posted a photo sans description. A form of blog punishment for the lack of support shown for the Topeak Ergon Contest. I didn't feel right punishing those who did take the time to support me just to get back at those who didn't. I was hoping it would make a point for the next time a contest came up... like now.

Maybe I should have since I've dropped from an impressive first to a not-gonna-win-anything-at-this-rate third. I'm smelling a very boring September.

Back to topics of interest...

My 2011 PMBAR partner and I got out for a nice Pisgah ride on Sunday, along with Faster Mustache racer boy Kurt. As much as I wanted to ride the Superbeast since it has been collecting dust since February, I had to grab the Meatplow. Way too much road riding has been done in the last few weeks, and so many changes have been made to the Meatplow that a shakedown ride was in order. What untested changes?

New pistons/seals in the rear brake (plus a bleed)
New WTB Silverado saddle (yes, I went back to the Silverado)
New Woodman seatpost collar (the original white one was a POS)
New Northwest Totem Awesome Strap Race (didn't really need to test it, put it on for luck)
New ti rotor and caliper bolts
PMBAR race prepared Camelbak Octane LR

The ride? Very nice. Zac is a monster. I will be holding him back. Up and down, he goes fast. I took my camera, but rarely ever had enough time to catch my breath, let alone snap a photo.

Unused camera = training weight

We did spook a horse on Squirrel Gap. Bad situation. Rider got thrown. We spent some time looking for the horse and helping the rider find him after he r-u-n-n-o-f-t. Weird. Nobody got pissed. It just happened, and we all worked together to solve a problem.

We rode a section of Bradley Creek I had never seen before and hope to never see again.

The bike. Uggghh. Not how I wanted the first ride in the mountains on the Meatplow to go, but better this weekend than the next.

The brakes? The bleed was fine, the seals/pistons worked great, the rotor? Not so much. I never checked it, but I believe it was the biggest issue all along. Worn out and grooved. Very bad thing. Replaced.

The saddle? The rails came loose in the nose and the seat rocked back and forth most of the day. The good news is that I got refunded for the saddle, and it's going back. The bad news? No new saddle. Back to the old, dreary, cream colored Silverado.

The bolts stayed tight, the seatpost didn't slip, the Awesome Strap was awesome (still holding out for the good luck), and the Octane LR seems well suited for PMBAR duty.

I am ready, and so is the bike (I think).

What difference does it all make anyways, as long as I look good.