2011 Short Track Race #2: Revenge of the Pasty White Bearded Hill People

So Geoffrey Bergmark and the King of Pisgah came to Charlotte to avenge the defeat of their wounded warrior, John Kirkwood. Before the race I noticed that Wes (KOP) had a Garmin device on his bars, and I asked him if that was going to help him keep track of my location during the race. He ignored my question and instead shared a recipe for Hill People biscuits using only dirt, Ajax, and moonshine (apparently you mix the dirt and Ajax, pour it on the ground, and then just drink moonshine till you pass out in the dirt and Ajax mixture).

At the start line I noticed that Geoffrey had a Garmin as well. I knew something was up, and when I patted him down I noticed that he was wearing a wire. Something sneaky was going down, but it was too late to file a protest with the UCI. When the race started I decided to not blow myself up by aiming for a holeshot this time around. I followed Geoffrey's wheel into the first corner and then sat up a little for the parking lot climb before the first single track. That was a big mistake.

I found myself behind the same guy from week 1. While a massive lead group rode away I was stuck behind this guy who couldn't negotiate the berms at speed. I watched in horror as the gap grew, and all I could do was sit back and wait to exit the woods. Once I popped out onto the gravel road I saw that the lead group, being strung out by Bergmark, had a good 5-10 second gap on me. As I tried to nail them back I found myself alone between the lead group and the chase. No one to share the work with, and no one to help break the wind on the road. Meh.

photo cred: Lunchbox

The gap seemed like it was unbeatable, but on the third lap I looked up and there was Geoffrey. Later he would claim that he had lost his chain, but after the race I analyzed the results, and I know what had happened. Using their Garmin communication devices Wes and Geoffrey had planned this all along. Geoffrey pulled a rabbit pace when Wes saw that I was stuck behind a slow rider in the woods. Once the gap was fully established Wes sent Geoffrey, who was blown from his early fiefdom work for his majesty, back to slow me down whilst his other minion (Kirkwood) pulled him to victory (over me).

With Geoffrey just ahead of me I tried to pass him on the gravel road. My furious pedaling was met with Geoffrey's abnormally large legged strokes, and I couldn't get around. Once we hit the woods, where passing was impossible, he slowed down to something slightly faster than a snail's pace. I tried to slingshot out of a berm to get around him, but he accelerated as I came around, and I was forced back behind him.

I tried all manner of ways to make my way around this large hill person in a skinsuit. Geoffrey was just too strong, and I couldn't get a move to stick. I guess all those trips to the well fetching heavy buckets of water paid off. I tried one more slingshot move in the woods, and I even got alongside Geoffrey, but as I was passing in a "no passing zone" I was forced to break off my attack nanoseconds before hitting a tree head-on.

At this point I threw in the towel. Wes's plan had worked. Every time I would get the gap back on Geoffrey I would languish behind him in the woods only to suffer at the strength of his water fetching legs out in the open. I was either going to blow myself up trying to pass him on the roads or kill myself making a bad move on the single track. Either option might cost me a position from behind, so I stopped attacking with two laps to go, and I begrudgingly let the hill people have their way.

In the end the results were just as Wes wanted them. John Kirkwood, the engine pulling the Sycamore Train, came in 4th, Choo Choo Engineer Wes took 5th, Geoffrey the Brakeman ended up in 6th, and I (Dicky the Caboose) pulled up the rear in 7th.

Well done pasty white, bearded hill people. You have won the battle, but the war will be waged all summer long.

Remember folks, Wes isn't all bad and evil and stuff. He is bringing back the Icycle after all.

Sycamore Cycles must not prevail

Last week at the short track race I decimated the cyclist representing Sycamore Cycles in the single speed class. Once that information got to Sycamore Cycles headquarters all hell must have broke loose.

I'm sure an emergency meeting was held deep in a basement at an unremarkable location so that the pasty hill people could figure out a way to exact their revenge. Geoffrey Bergmark (the supposed smart one) masterminded a plan in which he and the King of Pisgah would come to Charlotte to try to beat me on my local track.

So what if they won the Double Dare and went 2nd and 4th at the Swank65 just months ago? So what if they are better built for this type of racing? So what if the King of Pisgah has been stomping the pedals in furious anger preparing for this moment?

I say bring it on, hill people of the west (NC).

I looked at the results from the short track the other day. I realized that despite the reality of the actual information that's there I'm doing rather well.

That's me wearing the now sold out Twin Six Dark Deluxe long sleeve jersey and a pain face (still available).

Luke and Tim are solidly in first and second place with two great performances, but had I been so motivated I might have found myself in third place in the overall. How?

If I weren't going to SSAZ next week I woulda planned on doing the whole series. That means I woulda brought my gun to the gun fight for week one, and I would not have had issues with a silly tensioner. I can not say the same for current third place overall Brian. He did not have the SS dropouts for his Titus Fireline yet, and his Singleator was popping as bad as mine. He managed to keep his eye on the prize, and he walked his bike up the climbs to a disappointing 14th place while I headed to the less than disappointing bike wash. By finishing the race and following that with a solid third on week two, he's now in third overall. Had I brought the gun to the gun fight Brian would be sitting in fourth wishing he had paid for overnight shipping on those dropouts.

One can not count out Noel "The Killa Thrilla Gorilla" Kirila though. Oh wait, I can? Although he finished in third place the first week, he was absent for the second race. I couldn't beat him in a "my best day/his worst day" scenario on the short track, but I can beat him if he stays home (I did).

So I will sleep soundly tonight secure in the thought that I woulda been in a virtual third place overall in some parallel universe.

And I will sleep well Saturday night knowing that the pasty white, bearded hill people will be leaving their shacks early the next morning and hopping in their old, rusty Chevy Nova to head to Charlotte and ultimate, unavoidable defeat.

Moving forward in a backwards direction

I forgot to mention that last Saturday I was able to sneak out for a ride in the Uwharrie Mountains on the Superbeast set up in Shreddie the Corpse single speed mode.

Of course the bike's last outing was a total failure, but I had to know if it was just because of the ample supply of mud on the trails, a weak mechanical device, or a weak rider. Did it work this time?

Yes, it was a beautiful thing. Eric Van Driver was in tears with bountiful joy. Stabby was not affected as he has no emotions other than rage and hungry.

I saw something of interest in Bike magazine the other day. Yes, I do subscribe to the "other" magazine. I'm saving Mike Ferrentino's Grimy Handshake columns so I can re-hash them in a few years with my own words and use them in future issues of Dirt Rag. Anyways, I saw an ad for a new suspension fork from Asia.

Is this fork for you? According to the marketing verbage this fork "WAS DESIGNED FOR PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS OF DH AND XC TO OVERCOME ALL TERRAIN LANDS."

Hmmm... me thinks this ad has a little babelfish sound to it. I get that there are other cultures out there whose primary language isn't English, but why doesn't someone at BIKE say "Ummm, hey guys. Your ad makes very little sense here in the US and A. Mind if we tweak it some?"

I must say I am looking for something to help me "overcome all terrain lands," but I'm not quite a "professional player" yet. This fork is not for me.

Click, enlarge, read, chuckle, move on.

I made a big mistake when I announced that I was going to announce my new sponsor for 2011. I assume that some over excited reader in China exclaimed his joy upon seeing that I was finally going to reveal my new frame and in doing so a butterfly on his window sill was startled and flapped its wings...

Then a crayon rolls off a desk in North America...

In the end my frame's arrival date has been moved back slightly, all because I pushed my luck and almost entirely jinxed the whole project by going full monty. Had I followed through with the announcement I am positive that something much worse than a minor delay would have occurred, so I'm considering myself fortunate. The frame will not be here by the end of January as planned, but it may be here in time for...

It is not a cross frame, but it will be my cross frame.

I had a meeting the other night with my Sponsor Liaison and Equipment Acquisitions Director, Admiral Ackbar.

He said we will be taking the Meatplow to SSAZ next week. The single speedy Superbeast is too much of a long shot, and he doesn't wanna pack it since the frame is crabon fiber and everybody knows how fragile that material is. The good news is that he's been doing his job, and the parts acquisition for the new bike has been moving forward.

The tapered Niner crabon fjork is in the house, along with a new Selle Italia SLR saddle. I think aside from those recent acquisitions and the seatpost collar Admiral Ackbar has just been stealing parts from my old bikes as opposed to acquiring them new, but I guess he has to stretch the budget where he can. "Crabon fjorks ain't cheap," he reminded me.

I am aware of the fact that collecting all my parts and putting them in a special corner is some male version of the nesting instinct. What can I say? My baby's gonna be overdue soon, and I'm not even close to being dilated.

Trans-Sylvania Tidbits

Here is the part where I tell you what's going on with TSE lately... that I know of.

Donna Weiser became the second recipient of the exclusive Team Dicky TSE Registration Incentive Package. That means she signed up for the TSE, dropped my name, and got some schwag. What did she get?

A six ounce multi-taint serving tube of That Butt Stuff, my favorite butt elixir.

One Camelbak Podium Chill bottle

and One Backcountry Research Whammer Deal.

How happy is Donna? Let's just say she is more than likely very happy, but who knows. Perhaps she's not happy unless she's pounding big rocks into little rocks. Dunno.

If you want in on the schwag grab, all the details are here.

What else?

My favorite maker of wearable things has stepped up as a sponsor of the 2011 TSE. Who dat? Twin Six, of course, the maker of my absolute most worn piece of clothing since November 24th, the Dark Deluxe long sleeve jersey. If you've been paying attention to my posts since then you may have noticed that I've...

worn it in the mountains,

and on the road bike,

and while racing my way to (4th place) glory,

photo cred: Justin Butler

and I've even worn it to the grocery store, around the house, to my mom's surgery, to work, and just about everywhere else. I'm always all up in this thing, and I hate to take it off. There are two school's of thought here. One is that I might wear it out if I'm constantly in it, but the other is that I might die tomorrow regretting that I didn't wear it enough. I don't think I can live with dying like that.

More TSE news? I know, pinch yourself.

Word is that Mark Weir will once again grace the mountains of Central Pennsylvania with his presence.

The most interesting part of this story? Last year as we rode along during a non-timed section of the race Mark asked me, "How long did you have the Nomad (that I won at the 2007 Hell Ride) before you sold it?"

I replied, "Not too long, but if it woulda been a Tallboy I'd still have it."

To which Mr Weir responded "They woulda had to to find somebody other than me to ride that bike."

Why is that even slightly interesting? Word on the skreet is that Mark is coming back to TSE on a... duun, dun, duhhhhhh.... Tallboy. Hell yeah. Remember, Mark takes his cues from me.

I know you're thinking that there can't be any more news about the TSE to divulge, but you are wrong. The TSE website now has all kinds of updated course maps and information.

If you are a fan of squiggly lines and data then now is the time for you to get all giddy. Me? Little of this makes sense, and I'll probably just run the same gear that I ran last year and follow the arrows, unless I miss the arrows again and let Dave "Fourth Place" Cormier sneak by. I'm not much for data and science and stuff. In my non-expert opinion I would say the course looks lumpy, and I see an obvious omission of all the Amish buggies on the map. They are everywhere. Beware.

Could there possibly be any more info out there that you don't know about?

Yes.

Cyclingnews.com (the cycling oriented site that loathes my very existence) did a nice little interview with TSE promoters Mike Kuhn and Ray Adams that you might wanna check out. There's enough info there that if you haven't already signed up for TSE you probably will by the time you get done reading it.

photo cred: A.E. Landes

That's about everything that's come down the pipe so far. Tomorrow we'll get back to my favorite topic... me.

Definition of insanity

"Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Who said that? Just some guy with a sweet mustache who doodled on chalkboards.

Some of you might remember that on January 4th I announced that the reset button had been pushed. You might have wondered what I was talking about. Well, what I am doing is beginning my whole new "training program" which is based on the theory that I can do better by doing less. Case in point?

I've been eating less.

At least on some days. My weight loss pattern always looks the same every year (thus the title of today's post). I do pretty well during the structure of the week, fall off the wagon on the weekends, then saddened I return to food for solace at the beginning of the week only to turn it around and start all over again. Insanity, I know. I thought that I would have a chance to get a serious foothold this January since I got The Pie to agree to a cease fire on desserts for an entire month. She has thrice brought food style pleasantries into our dwelling, and I have thricely engaged in the overeating of said pleasantries.

Notice that the chart ended last Saturday. This is not because I am no longer tracking my progress (and occasional regress). It's just that I made the chart on Saturday when I had time to kill. I assure you that the nachos on Sunday brought me back up to an alarming weight yesterday morning, so I am back in the cycle again.

The weight loss is only one prong of my multi-pronged attack on training better by doing less. I am also spending less time awake, meaning I am sleeping more. Last year at this time I was waking up terribly early to blog and head to the YMCA to run, workout, and see naked old men walking around the locker room. After I finished with that phase of training I continued waking up early and riding extra miles before work everyday until I burned myself out in May. This is not the plan for 2011. I will be getting as close to eight hours a night, and if possible, even more. Riding is great, but I am convinced sleep is better.

As far as improving my recovery goes I am also going to start using this thing:

Ilan and Charlotte phenom racer/coach Andreas Raab talked me into purchasing a foam roller one day while I was at their shop looking for cable ends. I've seen plenty of people using them in the past, I've played with one a time or two, and I'm convinced I'm missing out on something. How convinced? Enough to throw down near $30 on a piece of solid styrofoam pipe insulation. So after races and hard rides I will be doing less standing around chit chatting and roaming around the house aimlessly and more rolling around on the floor like a circus animal. Unless my recovery happens to occur during the period of time between dusk on Friday until sunset on Saturday. Everyone knows I don't fucking roll on Shomer Shabbos.



One thing I do have an issue with concerning this whole "training smart by doing less" and "taking care of myself" thing is the fact that most experts agree that alcohol is bad for proper recovery. I get the concept, but I don't want to abide to that kinda rule. Beer can play an important role in recovery if the circumstances call for it. Take for example two Sundays ago when I totally sucked ass at the short track race and DNF'ed with my skipping chain. On the way home I realized a couple of beers would dull the pain of utter humiliation. Then a week later when I came home delighted with my fourth place finish I celebrated my improved performance with three beers. I don't think I would have felt complete in either case had I rushed home to pound a liter of Recoverite. No, I just wouldn't have felt anything at all. This will not always be the case, but I will not be made to feel remorse for my actions because of a few "experts" and their "facts."

So this is the new plan for 2011 in a nutshell. I recommend it to all my readers although your results may vary... a lot.

2011 Short Track Race #2

photo cred: Richard Moody

The killing machine that is the Bicycles East Death Squad: David, Thomas, Aaron, and Dick.

So last week I was on the Superbeast single speed style, mud killed my tensioner, and I DNF'ed my way to dead last. This week, looking for some revenge, I returned on the Meatplow with the taste of blood in my mouth. It coulda been the pieces of dead skunk I ran over on the way to the race that flung up into my mouth, but I'd like to think it was just sheer rage and pointed determination.

Before the race I asked last week's winner Luke Sagur for a little advice. I have no idea how to pace myself for a 45 minue event, and any success I had at short track racing back in 2006 was entirely due to the much smaller fields and a more civil pace. He told me to back off a little on the descents, which I must admit was news to me. I was gunning my way through the banked turns and never recovering the whole time. Good to know.

Sticking with a bit of my original plan I went for the holeshot to stay clear of the early elbows.

photo cred: Richard Moody

I took it all the way to the first corner where I relented and let the true leaders by. That would be the guys to my right (your left); Luke, Tim, and Brian... and maybe one or two more. Once we hit the woods I watched the top four riders peel away from me as if I was standing still. I was amazed and perplexed, so much so that I got caught up in the moment and totally forgot Luke's advice. I was hammering through the corners on the first few laps looking over my shoulder and looking waaaayyy ahead of me for a carrot or two.

photo cred: Richard Moody

Behind me I could see Daniel Lenis riding my old Zion who was looking to take me down, as well as my old nemesis from the 2006 series (and many endurance races since) Ross Dowswell, seen here on top of the 2010 Six Hours of Warrior Creek podium.

Photo Cred: Brent Lester

Once I got in the groove and decided that I would never catch the top four riders (unless one of them died) I decided my priorities were the riders behind me. I started to relax on the descents, and recovery actually came in the form of a momentary respite from the redline effort.

photo cred: Lunchbox

I saw that Daniel had dropped off and my gap to a closely following Ross would either be maintained or slightly increased with every lap.

photo cred: Alex Hawn

At one point I passed a rider wearing the Sycamore Cycles colors, but I couldn't remember if he was one of the four riders ahead of me from the start or just a lapped rider. Those guys from Sycamore all look the same to me, all weak, pasty and covered in facial hair.

photo cred: Lunchbox

Unknowingly I had moved into the fourth spot as I made my way through the lapped traffic, and I had put Ross far enough behind me to relax a little... but only a little. Small gaps can be easily erased when you hit slower lapped traffic in the woods, so I kept up a strong (for me) pace when I could. I ended the race 45+ minutes later in fourth place, way off the pace of third place Brian Conroy, but way better than my 21st place of last week.

All I can say is that I'm pretty happy to have felt as good as I did over 45 minutes of hard effort in January. That was probably the hardest I've ever pushed myself at a short track race with an intact rib cage.

Happy day.

Vengeance tastes like road kill skunk.

Warning: Full nudity in today's post that isn't my nudity

More short track racing on the plate for this weekend. I've got a different plan this time around. By riding the Meatplow on Sunday I'll be on a five pound lighter machine that climbs more efficiently than the rig I piloted last week. I know I promised to not go ballistic at the start, but I really don't wanna be behind the one guy that lets the field split into two distinct groups thirty seconds into the race. Also, I think I'm gonna try to stay away from hitting the redline so often throughout the race. We'll see how that goes.

I think it will be dry enough this weekend to try the Shreddie the Corpse single speed version of the Superbeast, but I want a little redemption. I figured out that I was somewhere in the top 7 or 8 of 21 riders when I bailed, so I hope to be up in that mix again. One thing I know is that I stand a good shot at being the most improved rider from last week.

Hard to believe in less than two weeks I'll be in Arizona. Single Speed Arizona is right around the corner, and I'm stoked that I've finally joined the fray. Fellow Bike 29 team members Doug, Emily, Mandy, and George "El Diablo" Wisell will be in attendance as well, so this will sorta be like a training camp of sorts... but not really. Real training camps happen in exotic locations like Majorca or Cote d'Azur. This is more like summer camp for non-adults in February with a little bike riding and no team building workshops. Should be a great time as Dejay has spent countless hours scoping out the course.

Ewww... is that really Dejay?

Yeah, it looks familiar. I guess he pawned his hiking thong.

Once I get back from Arizona I'll have one more short track race before I hang up my Bicycles East togs and go back to endurance racing where I belong. Southern Cross is looming in the distance, and knowing that I have a 50+ mile dirt road race coming up is a wee bit intimidating since my longest ride lately has been closer to the one hour mark than the three hour mark.

Sticking with my "race my way to fitness" plan for 2011 I noticed an XC race down in South Carolina that actually fits the bill. Halfway between Southern Cross and the Six Hours of Warrior Creek, The Return to Killer Three couldn't come at a better time. With single speeders starting late in the day and going just 20 miles I can fool myself into calling it "training." This is not a definite for me, but if I feel the mood coming on I just might have to go down and check it out.

So here's to rubbing elbows and trading bike lube.

Peaches and Steam

Setting up a bike as a single speed using a simple tensioner such as the YESS ETR-D seems like it should be a simple endeavor. Remove shifty bits, replace the complicated ring combos and cassettes with one cog and one ring, mount the tensioner, and ride. That's how it should work. Here's how it did work.

Removing the shifty bits was easy. I did take my time so as not to disconnect the cable from the front derailleur and other details that would make the transition back to gears easier. Once I had the offensive chain dropping pieces removed I pushed onward. With everything off the bars I lost some time when I decided to swap cockpits with the Meatplow only to decide I did not like what I just did to end up swapping it all back losing precious minutes.

I wanted to mount up my polished XT cranks for single speed use. Of all the cranks I had laying around they seemed the most Tallboy'esque.

When I went to install the only semi-serviceable Octalink bottom bracket I had it dawned on me that I had my thinking backwards. A 73mm bottom bracket CAN be installed on a 68mm shell (with a spacer), but a 68mm bottom bracket CAN NOT be installed in a 73mm shell no matter what you do. The XT cranks could not go on the bike.

I grabbed my Middleburn cranks and a very old and on its last legs Crank Brothers ISIS bottom bracket.

They went on fine, but they looked stupid on the crabon frame. I couldn't handle it from an aesthetic point of view and knowing that I just put some sorta flexy'ish crank on a not very flexy at all frame I felt perplexed. I went to bed Friday night with the job incomplete and untested, and I considered the idea of jumping out of bed and reinstalling the shifty bits.

When I woke up I had an idea. I pulled the old Race Face cranks off the fixed gear/cross tired ti bike realizing that I could replace them with the XT's. With the Race Face cranks freed for use I thought I was home free. Nope. Both bottom bracket cups were seized. Being that the cups were quite old and used on my winter beater bike I was none too surprised, but all too let down.

I dug around in a box of old parts and found a mismatched set of cups that still moved, albeit in a crunchy manner. I replaced the cranks on the fixed gear with the Xt's, mounted the Race Face crank/bb assembly on the Superbeast, and did the chain ring swap. Win.

Now it was time to set the tensioner up. I measured the chainline, installed the spacers on the wheel, and grabbed a new PC-1 out of the case. It was done...

or not.

I grew a brain and realized that I should remove all the air from the rear shock and make sure the tensioner could handle a bottom-out scenario (I go big, like, all the time). Fail... the tensioner hit the bottom of the chainstay.

I broke out the instructions... wait, there are no instructions. I called George since he got this thing to work on Shredward, and he gave me some pointers. I changed the spring location, added a link of chain, and did the bottom-out test once more. Win.

I went out and test rode my new full suspension single speed in front of my house. The chain popped and clicked whenever I applied a good amount of torque. Fail.

I examined everything, determined the cog showed a little sign of wear (not enough to affect it on a real single speed), and swapped it's direction. The next test ride was a success. I win... totally.

I weighed the new bike... still the Superbeast, but in Shreddie the Corpse stealth mode. The weight was respectable, but realizing that the timing of it all meant I would be racing it at the short track, I wanted it to be lighter. Off came the 8" front rotor, the WTB Wolverine rear tire, and the QR seatpost clamp. On went the lighter alternatives.

Win.

We all know that the short track race was a huge failure. Mud hindered the performance of the YESS tensioner, and I was washing my bike while the other single speeders rode the final two laps of the race. Fail, but a win at the same time.

I still had my fun.

photo cred: Alexander Hawn

Yes, I have plenty of photos of me with three inches of air under my tires and my tongue hanging out of my mouth.

I also got to hang out with the elitist group of riders from Bicycles East.

We totally dominated the back half of the pack with a perfect book ending of tenth through dead last. I was even scored behind dare devil Rodney Billowitz who crashed out early in the race in a most dramatic scene of derring-do.

Heal up Rodney. The crowd gathered at the jump this weekend will miss you.

All is well

For those that would like to know, Mom came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. The docs did a great job, and the prognosis is great.

Thanks for all the kind words.

Normal blogging (bitching about bike maintenance and such) resumes tomorrow.

Tie and a win?

No, tay ina win.

Friday I got a box full of dilemma. A brown cardboard package from Bike 29 arrived while The Pie was available to sign the FedEx man's electronic clipboard, so when I got home I busted out the box cutter to get to its desirable contents. Inside were many items I'll mention later, but most importantly I got my warranty rear derailleur for the Superbeast and this little hunk of happy.

As anxious as I was to ride the Superbeast in a geared manner without the chain falling off constantly I decided to mount up the YESS ETR-D tensioner instead. It took me part of Friday night and some of Saturday morning to get it tuned in, but driveway testing assured me that I had it successfully mounted up. I will get into the whole mounting fiasco (self imposed) later, but this is, first and foremost, a race report of the first winter short track of the series.

Saturday morning I prepared the Meatplow for racing in case I failed to get this gizmo working. Although I would get zero trail time on the YESS tensioner to prove its worthiness I decided to race on it anyways. It's not called Bad Idea Racing for nothing. I left the house and rode the 9.something miles over to the venue without a hitch.

Why yes, today I am single.

Conditions were less than perfect on the course. A slow melt of the snow and ice had left the course covered in a gritty soup. I opted to not go out on the course and get any muddier than I had to before the start. I warmed up in the parking lot and lined up in the second row of a 20+ rider field.

Contrary to how I've ridden the short track in the past I decided to not jump in the woods with the lead group. I am slightly convinced that I may be going out too hard too early, so I held back and went into the woods watching the leaders pull away. Somehow I found myself behind the one guy who couldn't ride in mud, and the gap between the "us" and "them" formed in less than a minute.

On the first approach to the jump I worked so diligently on the week before I could see a crowd gathered to watch the racers go by. Stuck behind the slower rider I had to just roll over my lovely lady lump and wait for a later moment when I could get around him. When we hit the muddy climb I stood and went to make my move.

That was when it first happened. Just minutes into the first lap I found the ETR-D's weakness; mud. The chain jumped and skipped on the cog every time I put any power to the pedals. Twice per rotation on the climbs and even on the flat sections the chain would groan and click and pop and annoy. I passed the slower rider and tried to ignore all the racket my hard work had created.

I wanted to stick it out and finish the race. The trail sections that were downhill oriented were a blast in the mud. The enthusiasm bubbling down at the jump was a warm welcome deeper in the woods and sliding around the berms brought a smile to my mud dabbled face.

photo cred: Alexander Hawn

With about fifteen minutes to go the constantly skipping chain brought my knee to my stem. I saw another rider having issues with his Surly tensioner giving me some cause to be relieved knowing it wasn't just me, but certainly not bringing my annoyance level down. The crowd had left the jump, and worrying that my conveyance home was going to be missing a few teeth if I continued, I opted to head to the bike wash ten minutes early (to beat the rush). I was slightly ahead of my goal of mid-packing at the time, but whatever. Lose the battle, live to fight another day, save a $40 cog... whatever it is the sages say.

photo cred: Alexander Hawn

This guy was not a fan of the jump.

So the ETR-D was a failure IN THE MUD. Once I hosed it all down it was quiet the whole way home. I'm gonna leave it on for awhile, and when I get a chance I'm going to try it in the woods on a DRY TRAIL.

Oh yeah, fellow Bike 29 rider Chris Mudman was there too... doing something.

Tomorrow is my mom's surgery, so I'll be incommunicado until that's all sorted out. It will be at least Thursday before I can return to my abnormal routine, but I'm definitely gonna be busy until she's back home and totally settled in. Here's hoping for the best. When I get back there will be more about the contents of the box and a post about the experience of installing the ETR-D.