More Photos

Took some shots during the Shed ride today.

Seven ver. 2.0

Seven ver. 1.0

Fork: Fox F100 RLC
Crankset: Middleburn RS7 singlespeed square taper
Bottom Bracket: Shimano UN-54 (Phil Wood on the way)
Wheelset: Cane Creek Zonos
Cog: King
Cassette Spacers: Spot
Skewers: Shimano generic
Tires: Continental Vertical 2.3 tubeless
Brakes: Avid BB7 calipers, ultimate levers, SRAM cable and housing

Stem: Thomson
Seatpost: Dean Ti
Seatpost clamp: Salsa Liplock
Handlebars: Easton Monkeylite
Saddle: Fizik Arione
Chain: SRAM 8 speed
Pedals: Time ATAC XS
Grips: Oury
Headset: Chris King
Headset Spacers: Generic

Project Seven v0.3

Fork: Fox F100 RLC (white) or Vicious rigid steel (black)
Crankset: Middleburn RS7 singlespeed square taper crankset (silver)
Bottom Bracket: Phil Wood
Wheelset: Cane Creek Zonos (Black) with King SS cog
Tires: Continental Vertical 2.3 tubeless
Brakes: Avid BB7 calipers and ultimate levers
Stem: Thomson (silver)
Seatpost: Dean Ti
Seatpost clamp: Salsa Liplock (silver)
Handlebars: Easton Monkeylite
Saddle: WTB Rocket V or Fizik Arione
Chain: SRAM 8 speed
Pedals: Time ATAC XS
Grips: Oury
Headset: Chris King (silver)

The FrencieCycles

Old crankset: removed
EBB: cleaned and greased
new external bottom bracket: greased, installed, and properly torqued
new cranks: greased, installed, and properly torqued
new chain: trimmed, installed, tensioned, and lubed
Chainline: adjusted to perfect straight
front and rear brakes: adjusted
pedals: threads greased and installed

The FrenchieCycles is back online.

Halloween Night Ride 2008

Project Seven v0.2

Theme: Plain Black&White

Fork: Fox F100 RLC (white) or Vicious rigid steel (black)
Crankset: Middleburn RS7 singlespeed square taper crankset
Bottom Bracket: Raceface taper lock
Wheelset: Paul/Mavic 819 wheels with ENO freewheel or Cane Creek Zonos with King SS cog
Tires: Continental Vertical 2.3 tubeless
Brakes: Avid BB7 calipers and ultimate levers
Stem: Thomson
Seatpost: Thomson
Handlebars: Easton Monkeylite
Saddle: WTB Rocket V or Fizik Arione
*Chain: SRAM 8 speed
*Pedals: Time ATAC XS
*Grips: Oury
*Headset: Chris King

*final decision

White Industries Chainring

kinda soft, isn't it? It's still rideable, so I'll see how long it'll last.

And I can always put on this spare ring...

Snapped Derailleur

Date: 10/2/2008
Location: Gambrill Yellow
Suspect: a six-inch long, thumb-thick stick
Damage: see picture
Conclusion: nature builds stronger carbon stuff.

p.s. singlespeed full suspension is weird.

The Last 1000 Miles

Here is the breakdown of the last 1000 miles of MTB I did:

Totals
Number of rides: 50
Months: 4
Hours on trail: 153

Averages:
Average mileage per month: 250
Average mileage per ride: 20

By Location
Frederick: 34% in mileage, 42% in hours
MoCo: 56% in mileage, 48% in hours
Stokesville: 10% in mileage, 10% in hours

By Bike
Full suspension: 30% in mileage, 40% in hours
Single speed: 70% in mileage, 60% in hours

US Olympic Cyclists in Beijing

The latest Dirtrag magazine (issue 138) had a article by Adam Craig, member of the US Olympic Mountain Bike Team, talking about his experience in the Beijing 2008 Games. On the training and air quality, he wrote:

"The overall "Games Experience" was pretty awesome though...if a bit hard to soak in during the four short days we spent in the village. We agreed, as the U.S. Mountain Bike Team, to train in Korea to avoid the possibility of challenging training conditions and poor air quality in Beijing. Turns out that, through a combination of aggressive pollutant control and natural rainfall, the air was fine. And Mike Broderick found some good riding in the "Fragrant Hills" just west of the city, so we could realistically have just come to the Olympic Village a week out and done our prep there."

Earlier before the Games, some of the US Olympic Cyclists arrived Beijing Airport wearing masks, and then quickly apologized to the host country.

There was a new twist developed: the masked cyclists wanted an apology from USOC.

*Fragrant Hills - 香山
*Image Credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Beijingbluesky.jpg

Agkistrodon contortrix

a.k.a. copperhead.

Saw one in the group ride in Little Bennett today. The brownish snake was laying in the middle of the Kingsley road, steady like a sculpture. While we were debating whether or not it was dead, I threw a small stone at it. Sure enough the head moved a little. The poor ectothermal guy was probably too cold to move, and might have to stay there till sunrise tomorrow.

No picture was taken.

Second venomous snake in a week.

Rattlesnake

First time ever in my life saw a rattlesnake in the wild!

The snake had beautiful green patterns, small head, huge mid-section, and dark rattler. It was right in the middle of the trail, stretched and enjoying the sunshine. There was no way around it so Edward and I decided to persuade it off the trail. We tried throwing sticks at it but the rattler headed towards us instead. Quite intimidating. Finally Edward poked it with a 15-foot stick a few times and got it slithered off the trail.

The beautiful creature was spotted near Salamander Rock, about half way into the 25-mile ride.

Getting Better

Today I rode 14+ miles in the Shed with the adjusted cleats and pedaling style. No issue with the knee. Hopefully I found the solution.

GPS trace

End of Riding?

I did a roughly 16 mile shed ride with friends today and alarmingly, in the last quarter the familiar knee pain came back! A quick research on the internet I found this wikipedia entry:

Symptoms

Iliotibial Band Syndrome symptoms range from a stinging sensation just above the knee joint (on the outside of the knee or along the entire length of the iliotibial band) to swelling or thickening of the tissue at the point where the band moves over the femur. The pain may not occur immediately during activity, but may intensify over time, especially as the foot strikes the ground. Pain might persist after activity. Pain may also be present below the knee, where the ITB actually attaches to the tibia.

Yes, those are the symptoms I'm suffering right now. The wiki then says:

Sports activities to avoid while symptomatic:
...
Cycling

Uh, that doesn't sound good. And it goes on:

Causes

Iliotibial Band Syndrome is the result of poor training habits, equipment and anatomical abnormalities.

Training habits:

...
* In cycling, having the feet "toed-in" to an excessive angle

um, that could very well be the reason. I'll try to change the cleats position a little and pay attention not to toe in too much.

Anyway I hope this is not the end of riding.

BTW, Both Rob (last time) and Dan (today) mentioned to me it could be the Iliotibial Band Syndrome. I believe they were right.

SM100 Recap

Only four days passed but I feel the race was like long time ago. The experience was great yet literally painful.

06:30am the race started on time. Hundreds of riders filed through the campground exit. I was in the back letting the racer boys/girls go first. The section to the first Aid Station was mostly easy climbs on double track/fire road. There was one very short stretch of technical climb on singletrack that I hiked because I didn't want to push myself much. AS1 came and went, nobody stopped, time was about 07:47am. Denis was long gone. I didn't know that until AS5.

Then it came the long hike-a-bike section. I dismounted early and didn't even bother to hop back on - everybody in front and behind me were walking. It felt like a never ending hiking. Towards the end of the hike, my right knee, near the top of tibia, started to hurt a little. I had a brief couple minutes stop at AS2 (10:10am) and rode on. At that time, I was on an under 12 hours pace . I felt pretty well, legs still fresh. However it didn't last for long.

The knee pain really kicked in after finishing the long climbing to AS3. The subsequent long downhill didn't help much. I had to stop on the downhill several times just to allow my arms and wrists to relax. Liz passed me there and I never saw her again.

At AS3 (~12:10pm), I took a longer break, ate some PBJ and banana, and gave that knee a few minutes to rest. On my way out of the station, there were quite a few riders on the other side of the road riding opposite direction - they all had already gone through AS4. Good for them!

AS3 to AS4 turned out to be a nightmare for me. I was struggling to inch ahead because the knee pain was killing me. Even walking would trigger the hurting so I had to stop frequently. Many riders including Tim passed me on the downhill section to AS4. I came to a very small stream crossing, only to realize that I wasn't able to power the bike through. I dismounted, hesitated, calculated the best line to limp over. Down and frustrated, I told myself to quit at AS4.

2:30pm I found myself rolled into the AS4. I threw down the bike and went for some PBJ and banana. After a little rest, the knee seemed to be a lot better, even to the point that finishing the race was more tempting. Overheard that AS4 to 5 it was a long steady low grade road/fire road climb, I decided to move on. That section wasn't too bad. I went slow but steady, even passed a few casual pace riders on the climbs. Nearly three hours later, I made it to the AS5 before the cut off time. The time lady told me Chris had not yet checked in, but Denis did long time ago. I was a little worried about Chris. It made perfect sense if he had dropped. After all he hadn't really trained before the race.

Then, right before I was about to roll out, Chris showed up. A brief rest later we headed out together for AS6. We grouped with Tommy, who we met at dinner table the evening before. We climbed, we paused. Most of the time Chris would pull ahead and wait. Still bothered by the knee pain, I was so happy when finally reached the 4,300 ft apex. On the descent it was getting dark. I bombed down some technical sections that my conscience would stop me if there was better lighting. The first sweeper caught us. Time was running out.

Later Chris had a mischief falling into the creek in the dark. AS6 seemed so far away...

I had more PBJ and banana at AS6. From there to the campground was 12 miles. I was able to do most of the climbs. The singletrack downhill still got me and I had to stop and rest my arms once in a while. At the finishline, I was greeted by Denis and Tim, shook Bob's hand with wet glove on, and found myself eating Scud fries out of Todd's plate :) While gobbling down some hotdogs and burgers, I saw Tommy walked in with a glass in hand - he got his priority absolutely right. After dinner I packed up and drove home, planning on next year's return.

The "ride all day" took me 15 hours and 18 minutes. I was #426 out of 436 finished, last in the SS category. Complete results are here.
*** *** *** ***

The aid stations were great. In fact, next time I race this I'll not carry my Camelbak - simply no need.

*** *** *** ***

I checked in this Motel the night before the race. No thrilled. I didn't mind the sticky night table, half broken bathroom fan, challenging sink faucet, not even the high decibel window AC. What got me was the smell of the smoking room... The entire building was like that so I doubt a non-smoking room would be any different. The shower was good, though.

*** *** *** ***

p.s. the knee pain was gone a couple days later so I did a shed ride (SS 32x22) on Thursday and a BH night ride (SS 32x16) on Friday. I'm glad it wasn't something more serious.

*** *** *** ***

More photos:
Tim practicing dismount :)

Denis making a fashion statement by mounting the number plate on the brake cables. XD

Chris Getting ready for the race.

Denis' podium secret - start warming up the night before.

*** *** *** ***
Photo 2,3,4,5 credit: Jonathan Bruck

Last updated: 9/7/2008

Get Ready

OK, today I got my bike ready. I put on an 18t cog and a new PC850 chain, replaced the rear funbolts with QR, cleaned and lubed the rear hub, removed one bottle cage to leave room for the Morph pump, inspected frame, fork, brakes, crankset, saddle, handlebars, and tires. The tires have had a lot miles so hopefully they survive for another 100 miles.

One Week from SM100

It's time to get ready for the race. I'll drive to the camping ground Saturday and spend the night there. Sunday hopefully I will finish the 100 mile course early enough that I can eat some stuff before I head back home.

And no, no new bike purchase this time. I'll take the Vicious, full rigid ss geared at 32x18. Weighed the bike last night, 21.5 lb with pedals and bottle cages :)

Beijing 2008

One World, One Dream

Frederick Mini Epic - 7/26/08

32 miles of fine Frederick trails in 8 hours.

We, Aaron, Chris, Dan, Denis, Rob, and I, started off Hamburg going south, followed the blue, through the rock garden and straight down to the Valley of Death. When we climbed up to Gambrill, Denis insisted following the blue to the Gambrill lower lot. So, again blue we went. We suffered (except for Rob and Denis), we cursed, we even plotted some evil plan to attack them when regroup. We avoided the steep climb off the lower lot, went cross the road instead. The rest of Gambrill was done pretty much like we always do. Lawn mower was fun as usual. First -timer Dan really enjoyed it. Aaron cleaned the rock garden on his full rigid SS, crazy!

Dan peeled off after getting back to the Hamburg lot. The rest of us stuffed our stomach with Gatorade, Banana, bloks, gu, PBJ, and pressed on north bound. The rocky descent gave spring-less Aaron some hard time, at one point, he had a cramp in his left arm... Anyway, after the rocky Little Canaan and a couple nasty climbs, we found ourselves playing at the lollipop and golf ball trails. I'm not sure who cleaned what because I was way behind and couldn't see. It was already past 2pm at that point, so we decided to skip the Salamander. We flew downhill, crossed Fishing Creek and headed towards Supersweet. Chris' slime-filled rear tire finally gave out - that was the only mechanical on the ride, not bad. At the bottom of the Supersweet, Chris whipped out his water-filter again and thanked Brizn for testing it out the first time :). I overheard Denis cleaned the first big rock drop leading to the sweet candy - good job!

We came back to the 4-way at Thurmon overlook via upper ridge trail. We did the Brizn's nightmare climb as promised. I felt tired at that point, but Denis was just finally warmed up :). A couple guys on the ride experienced for the first time the exhilaration of flying down Death March - as a matter of fact, Rob was so excited he missed the left turn onto the Death March Alt :). The rest of the ride was just a plain story of going back to the cars.

MoCo Epic

Denis and I did the MoCo Epic ride today, touring around five MoCo parks. My gps logged 44.66 miles, 5,000 ft elevation gain, riding time 4:19:28 and total time 6:14:08. Denis should have ~12miles longer than that since he started from his residence. I went over the handlebar 5 minutes into the ride, on a 3" log (yes, three inches) and of course was laughed at by Denis. We added the Little Bennett figure 8 into the loop - it was actually really fun to do it during the day time, we should make it standard for the MoCo epic.

Denis stopped numerous times to exercise his arm muscles with his midget hand pump :P. He also bumped into an angry hiker XD. I, on the other hand, met a couple fellow Texans and had a nice small talk.

GPS trace.

Weekly Shed Ride 7/9/08

It rained a little before the ride. I had a lot "fun" sliding left and right on rocks. We were pushing 18 miles this week. I believe we will be hitting the 20 miles mark pretty soon.

"A Heck of A Ride"

... is a direct quote from Denis, who just completed his epic ride in France, totaling 750 miles and 100,000 feet climbing in 16 days. Details here.

Good job!

Weekly Shed Ride

We rode a couple loops in Hamburg south and a lollipop (or streetlight?) in the north, 16 miles in a little under 3 hours. Mark seemed to be going strong despite an 80-mile road ride he did on the previous day.

Image source: Wheelbase

Summer Riding

Image adapted from Pioneer F Plaque (NASA).

Look Out For Cyclist

Mileage

Between Frederick and MoCo trails, it was about 250 miles riding over the past month.

Bear Sighting

16 miles and 3 hours ride in the Watershed. Saw two black bears near Salamander Rock, one appeared to be quite bulky. We paused, discussed our options, waited a little till the bears were gone, and rode on.

The post ride hydration was great. Thanks Jack!

SS - Test Water in the Shed

Finally I tried it, on my Vicious SS 32x16. The climb wasn't as bad as I thought. The joy of the Death March descent, on the other hand, completely nullified by the rigid fork. At one point I almost wanted to pull my hands off the handlebars.

Week of Heat

Only got two rides in: Wednesday@Shed and Thursday@Schaeffer, 16 and 10 miles, respectively.

I'm thinking about bring the SS to the Shed and try on the long climbs, which should prep me for the SM100, or destroy me.

Online Shopping

Five hundred dollar order placed on Sunday night, new customer, online store in UK, credit card billing address in US, shipping address in China - sounds ordinary and innocent? Wrong! Well, at least the guys in Chainreactioncycles.com didn't think so.

Monday I got two emails from Gale in CRC:

Thank you for your order.

As you are a new customer to us, we must confirm that we are sending the order to the registered card holder. This is necessary due to the large numbers of fraudulent orders we have been receiving using stolen card details.

Can you Fax or e-mail an official document such as Passport, Driving Licence or ID card clearly showing your name and address. If they do not have the address shown, an electricity or phone bill would be ok.

Fax Number +44 2893 324868

We must ship your order to this address.

Once you have supplied these details we will immediately ship your order and will not require these details for any future orders.

We would like to apologise for the extra inconvenience to yourself but I'm sure you can understand we need to take steps to protect both yourself and us from potential card fraud.

If you have any question feel free to e-mail me or phone on ++ 44 2893 352976

Regards,

Gale

and

Hi ,

We have an order for you that is going to a different delivery name and address. What is the reason for this

Regards,

Gale

Me replied:

Hi, Gale,

I'm buying the stuff for my friend over there. It's so convenient that you guys ship directly to China. Thanks for double checking on this.

and then scanned a Pepco bill (which happened to be laying on the desk at that time.) and sent it to Gale, with a message says:

Hi, Gale,

Attached is my electricity bill.

It's OK to send the order to my address.

Thanks,

and today I sent another message to Gale (I want to save the time and shipping cost):

Hi, Gale,

I replied the other message from you as well with a scan of my electricity bill. I would still prefer to have the order shipped to my friend in China. Please let me know how I could help to make that happen.

However if it absolutely has to be shipped to my address, that's OK, too. I totally understand.

Regards,

Now I'm waiting to see what's going to happen. That was the first time I had to prove my identity to an online vendor. I guess it's a tough world out there now.

[Update 6/14/2008]: All resolved. The package is on the way to China.

Collective Seasons

Finally got the time to sit down and watch the movie recently came out. A typical Collective film, similar actions and cuts, a lot more talks. As a mountain bike video it's still quite entertaining though.

SM100 - Countdown Started

Registration: Shenandoah Mountain 100
Purchase Date: 06/02/08
Category: Early Registration

As I indicated in the last SM100 post, I didn't enter the SS category, . If I really feel like it, I guess I can always bring my singlespeed there and ride. Anyway, about three months to go.

Also confirmed: Chris C., Tim S., Denis C., Andy B..

Memorial Day Weekend

Sunday 5/25/08: I didn't realize what I had signed up for until seeing Denis and Loic in Schaeffer at 8 am. Probably Denis wanted to show Loic all the parks around the area, The three of us went on the MoCo Epic ride. We did a small loop in Schaeffer, then HMC-BH-LB-LM-SG-CL and back to Schaeffer. Stopped only a few times to take pictures or have snacks. 41.5 miles and 5 hours total time. I call the loop MoCo Epic Minor because some trails in various parks were skipped. Photo credit: Denis

Monday 5/26/08: The ride was organized by MORE and led by Chris. A big group, 16 riders, showed up. The raceboys in the front were pulling pretty fast pace. I took the sweeper's roll and tried by best not to drop anyone. Throughout the HMC/BH out and back only one rider dropped to take an easier pace. A few more left in the Schaeffer parking lot. About 10 of us pressed on for a loop in Schaeffer. We finished in about 3.5 hours and covered about 27.5 miles of trails. Photo credit: Aaron

On the way back to Schaeffer, I got a bee in between my left eye and the riding glasses. The bee panicked, and so did I. Here was the sequence of events (as I can recall):

1. My left eye felt something was getting dangerously close and told the eyelids (both) to go into emergency shutdown mode;
2. The eyelid was stun, firing tremendous pain signals to the brain;
3. My brain sent instruction to my hands: "hey, drop everything and take care of this situation";
4. I ejected the riding glasses with both of my hands, probably with a force that could throw a cow over 100 feet. Meanwhile, my legs were pre-occupied and still kept on pedaling;
5. Riding with no hands and no sight on a trail, to me it's a sure recipe for crashing, and it did happen;
6. I got up, pulled myself together, looked around but couldn't find my riding glasses, hopped on bike and left, fearing there was an army of bees ready to launch.

Luckily I wasn't too allergic to bee stings. I was even able to finished the ride in Schaeffer.

Now my left eye is itchy and swollen.

Project Seven

Project Seven - tentatively scheduled to be completed and fully tested before 2009 Leesburg Bakers Dozen.

Frame only (no seatpost clamp, no EBB): 1,566 grams (3.45 lb)

The Coolest Indoor Trainer

Cartridge Bearing

Ren Chengyuan （任成远）

Ren finished 18th in the May 3-4 stage in Madrid Spain, still holding 2nd place overall.

Disc Cog

Schaeffer Time Trial - White Loop

Full rigid 32x16, 0:17:45, pretty much the same as last time.

I should be able to get it in the low 17. But it's a real challenge for me right now to be in the 16's, maybe in the Fall.

SM100 - Rigid SS or Geared FS

I have been thinking about doing the SM100 on my full rigid singlespeed, 32x18 or even 32x16. Finishing the race is my only target (well, maybe not too far behind Denis is another). But the Death March and the HAIRY descents would probably destroy me mentally and physically. The sweeping truck might find me laying trailside weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I have a geared and full-suspension bike, but I'd rather not to bring that 30+ lb beast to a long ride. The other two are both full rigid SS. I have a steel hardtail frame on the garage wall that can be build up with gears and a front fork. However it's always fun to eye on a new bike - especially when there is a legitimate excuse :)

So here is a preliminary list of choices - all XC full suspension and should be perfect for the SM100:

Specialized S-Works Epic
Ellsworth Truth
Santa Cruz Blur XC
Titus Racer X

Schaeffer 5/3/08

Rode Schaeffer by myself today around dinner time. I brought the GPS along but left the recording off so I did't have to pay attention to the speed or distance. I held back a little but kept rolling for about one and half hour without a break. The ride turned out to be quite enjoyable.

*** *** *** ***

Replaced the rear G2 rotor on the Vicious with an old/heavy one came with BB7. That seemed to have alleviated the noise and vibration problem.

Shed and Gambrill 05/01/08

15+ miles, minimum stops.

We started off Hamburg, went south through the rock garden and up Lawn Mower, then hooked up to the Gambrill trails all the way to the tea room. We went back to the parking lot via Lawn Mower, the rock garden, and everything, in a reversed order.

Schaeffer 4/30/08

Did a quick ride with Chris and Edward. We swept through Schaeffer pretty much non-stop, except for the once we tried to fix the shifting problem Ed had with his Cannondale.

This was probably the first time I rode 10 miles without drinking even one drop.

Ren Chengyuan （任成远）

2008 Nissan UCI Mountain bike World Cup 2nd stage Offenburg (4/27/08)- with a bloody nose, Chengyuan Ren made to the podium. Source: UCI

HMC/Schaeffer 4/26/08

The 32x16 gearing seemed to work well for me in Schaeffer so I'm keeping it for now. The ride was fun and relaxed with multiple mechanical and physiological stops, ended up with 20 miles or so. Photo credit: Nocro.

Shed Ride 4/24/08

Climb up the rutty trail near Crystal pond, turn left, up and down a few trail-side rocks, there is a short but fun new cut loop on the right hand side.

Ren Chengyuan （任成远）

Mountain bike World Cup : China took victory and leader jersey
Date: 21.04.2008
Description:

Putting in a sensational finish, Ren Chengyuan took out her second consecutive win at Houffalize. Even the World Champion, Topeak Ergon rider Erina Kalentieva (2nd) and Marie Helène Prémont (3rd) were powerless in the face of Chengyuan’s fiery finish.

Source: UCI

More From The Race

I worked on the bikes the night before, adjusted brakes, lubed the chains, cleaned the rear hub on the Vicious, and etc. I brought both rigid SS bikes to the race, one geared at 32x16 and one at 32x18. Although I didn't have to change the bike , I did switched the front wheels after the first lap.

*** *** *** ***

8 am Saturday morning, I packed up everything and headed towards the farm. It was a beautiful morning, bright sunshine and cool breeze. Met David, Todd, and Liz on the same ferry boat. Everyone was in high spirit and ready for the race. Liz ended up with impressive 13 laps in 11:17:10 in SS Female category.

*** *** *** ***

The SSOFT, Dave G. and Shannon, Todd and David all set up their tents adjacent to each other. Every time I rode by, I got friendly cheered on.

*** *** *** ***

The boys on Tim's team (THE SCARLET LETTERMEN) were riding flat pedals but still pulled some fast laps. They totaled 18 laps in 3-person male category. Both Denis and Edward produced 12 laps in their solo endeavor.

*** *** *** ***

Single speed rigid is fun, but after long hours riding, I started to wish I had a front fork.