Mancation: Day One & Two

Day One

I had planned to kill twelve hours in the Denver International Airport watching documentaries from the library until the Canadians showed up, but Marcus (cartographer on MTBR) offered to scoop me up so I could play on his 36'er.

photo cred: Marcus

As luck would have it, Jeremy's wife was home, so I had access to the Superbeast that had been locked away in his garage for safe keeping. We headed over to Lakewood, built my bike up to a state of readiness, and got our asses out to the Front Range.

Going up the initial climb (Falcon?) I found my 38X23 gear to be quite taxing. I redid my calculations and found the ratio was not what I guessed it was. Instead of being close to 32X21 it was more like 32X19.5. Meh.

photo cred: Marcus

I called The Pie to look into the possibility of having my gears over-nighted to me and then thought better of it. Seriously.

About an hour into the ride, my patched Ignitor went flat.

photo cred: Marcus

Apparently the patch was no match for the slash, but I finally got to finish an experiment I started back in October 2010.

I used a tube that had been strapped to the bike since then and a CO2 that had already been pierced for almost a year.

photo cred: Marcus

Success and a horrible mess.

Marcus gave me a short turn on the big wheeled beastie on the trail, and I must say it rolled over everything in its path. Getting the 40lb+ Waltworks 36'er moving was a task, but once in motion nothing could stop it.

photo cred: Marcus

Fun was had, trails were ridden, and the first of many burritos was slain. Documentaries remained unwatched. Many thanks to Marcus for showing me around and not being a Craig's List type killer (The Pie had her concerns).

Day Two

Having scooped up the Canadians from the airport the night before and enjoyed another round of burritoes, issues needed to be addressed before we could ride. Big Ring had to anally sort out his new Niner, Mark had to pick up his rental Pivot, and I needed a new back tire. Mark also needed to take out his amorous desires on an unsuspecting bear in beautiful downtown Golden, CO.

photo cred: Big Ring

Like George Washington, Mark fucks the shit out of bears.

I had to pay actual RETAIL for a tire, but I must say the GEAX Saguaro was and is the shit. My second ride on the Front Range was much better than the first, but I can't give all the credit to the tire. Jeremy said that the trails Marcus and I rode were sorta steep, and I realized I had gone ten hours without food the day before only to shove a burrito in my mouth and hit the trails within minutes of polishing off my faux Mexican cuisine.

Big Ring shredding the gnar on his first ride aboard the new Niner which would turn him against squishy shifty bits forever.

photo cred: Jeremy

It was a good shakedown ride with only one major bit of off the trail carnage and a nice taste of Front Range dirt. Next up, we head to the big mountains...

in Vail.

The guys from Mancation would give me shit if I didn't mention straps at least twice in every post from our trip, so I figured I'd let you know that right now the you can get the new Whammer Deal Deluxe for $26.

That's one Back Forty Revival, one new 2012 Race Strap, and one Dicky inspired Tülbag, and as of right now, free international shipping on the Whammer Deals.

See guys, I can talk about the Mancation and straps all in the same day. It's just not about me and the straps.

And as promised, if you came here looking for the discount code for the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek, here it is:

HEADWATERS1

Registration does not open until October 31st at 12:01AM, so scribble it down on a bar napkin or what have you and save it till then. Only the first 100 people get to use the code, and then pricing goes back to normal. Remember, this race sells out fast. You have been warned.