Last Ride in 2010

Hamburg south then north, played a little on the FR trail.

Thus concluded 2010. 106 mountain rides, 8 road rides, 110 casual rides, and 2 races.

Marty rolls down a big rock

Frederick Watershed 12.25.2010

Litespeed Classic

2001 Litespeed Classic. Bought used. Not sure how to build it up yet, but the decals need to go and I will probably keep it stealth. Chainstay is narrow; won't fit any decent size cross tire. Therefore it's unlikely to become a crossbike.

Austin's Yellow Bike Project

http://austinyellowbike.org/sp/about/

"The Austin Yellow Bike Project (YBP) 501c(3) is an all-volunteer initiative to put bicycles on the streets of Austin and Central Texas by operating community bike shops, teaching bike mechanics and maintenance, and acting as a local bike advocacy group."

An Easy Fix for the Flashlight Headache

Symptom: light is intermittently switched off, or simply doesn't turn on.
Affected product: MTE SSC P7-C flashlight
Cause: tail cap contact is loose.
Solution: disengage the tail cap; insert needle-nose pliers into the two holes (see picture) and slightly tighten the contact clockwise.

Credit: Rob G.

MoCo 40 in Autumn

DKEG's Gnarly Cross Ride

42 miles mixed surface ride in Frederick. 4,400 ft elevation gain/loss. I felt great in the first 30 miles. After a long stop for mechanical, I pushed a little too hard with cold legs on the Spruce Run (?) climb. I was tired and had to slow down quite a bit. Overall the 32x16 gearing and 2.25 tires combo worked fine for me. On the roads I wished I had a taller gear and thinner tires, but I doubt I was ready to ride full rigid + skinny tires on those trails.

Five rider on this ride all had different weapons. DKEG rocked SS CX bike @ 39x18, Denis 29er squishy with skinny cross tires, Pat geared CX, Tony 29er full suspension MTB and me rigid SS MTB @ 32x16.

DKEG rolled down the rock of doom on his cross bike!

Love to do it again some time.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56368493

Photo credit: Denis

Edge 500 Quarter-turn Mounts

What's in the box: two sets of quarter-turn mount, 7 elastic band for handlebar and 7 for stem, 1 piece of notice. All for less than $10.

Punga Jumps a Rock

Night Ride

by Andy Burnette Photography

MoCo Epic 2010

 

Pat Miller, Chris Beck, and Dylon Johnson

http://mocoepic.com

180 Rides

October 2nd I just completed my 180 rides in this year.

2010 RIDES

Mountain: 76
Road: 7
Casual: 95
Race: 2

永久C (Forever C)

五原-伍壹
"上海五原路是别墅和里弄的交汇，是菜饭飘香、五味俱全的日常，是都会电音的主题，包裹着随意而时髦的上海生活。是生活，请享受。"

http://cforever.net

My first road bike was a Forever purchased over 20 years ago for about 250 RMB, about $70 at that time, almost 4 months worth of my fresh college graduate's salary in the late 80's.

2010 Shenandoah Mountain 100

Before the race my goals were to beat the lights cutoff (I didn't pack lights), and finish safely (Shed ride on Wednesday). I managed the first one but failed the second.

For me it was a little too cold in the morning. It began to warm up on the first fire road climb though I could feel my legs were still cold. I was riding with Denis briefly and then dropped to my own pace. I pushed myself to do most of the donkey line ups except for a few really steep sections. Near the top I paid for that with my first cramp in years. I had to sit down for a while and cheering people passing by.

It wasn't too bad I said to myself because at that point I still had plenty of time to beat the lights cutoff. I noticed I hadn't drunk much Gatorade because of the cool weather, but I might have lost electrolytes during the long climb. I had a few more cramps later on but I was able to ride them out.

Later on the descend I had my first flat. No big deal that was spare tube and CO2 for. I got another spare tire at CP2.

Climb to Checkpoint 3 was slower than I would like, but I managed.

The climb after CP3 went well. I was leading a pack going up the hill. At the top I told people the downhill to CP4 was an easy one. Well, it was, but I failed (or my bike failed me). In the middle of one off-camber rocky section I tried to down shift to go through. The chain dropped. My legs made several desperate turns before the whole thing came down to the rocks below the trail. The bike fell on me and it was fine with only some very minor cut on the saddle. The rider's right knee was not so lucky. A deep cut about inch and half wide couldn't keep the blood from leaking out. I didn't know what to do but I do know I wouldn't be able to ride like that without stopping the bleeding. None of the riders going by had first aid kit.

Just at that time a miracle happened. A hiker with a huge backpack showed up on the trail. He helped me to put a sterile pad on and fixed it with some tapes. I thanked him and went on with the race. I caught up a tandem and we exchange the lead several times.

I rolled into CP4 miserably. It wasn't bleeding any more so I kept going.

On the way to CP5, I pulled a pack of riders on the initial relatively flat section. But once it got steeper they all dropped me in the dust. I went on the death climb solo all alone by my self. The tapes started to come loose and flying in the dusty wind. I stopped a few times to rest my legs and to digest the misery.

At CP5 a nurse looked at my wound and put some good bandage on. It was a well done job because I didn't feel any restrain later on in the ride. Many thanks to her. I left CP5 30 minutes before the lights cutoff. Somehow I got a second wind and passed a lot people including the tandem on the 13-meadows climb. I reached the top first in the group, only to be caught by many of them on the downhill because I was so afraid of having another crash.

I spent about only 20 seconds at CP6 gobbled down some bananas. I was feeling strong and did the last climb in the middle ring. I was again ahead of the tandem. We cheered on each other when I rode by them.

Just after all the climb and not long into the sweet descend to the finish line, another flat sent me to the trail side. "Oh that's a rip off", the tandem guys flew by me. The spare tire I got at CP2 had a short valve stem, so short it couldn't set off the Air Chuck SL CO2! Not sure why people make such a thing, aerodynamic? weight saving?

I passed a few more before the finish, but couldn't catch the tandem. The time on my GPS was just under 12 hours and 24 minutes. Jamie (Batbayar) poured me a cup of DFH.

Official time 12:23:42. Friend Denis finished in 9:36:18 and made the podium with 3rd in Masters!

Bandage picture by Denis; Wolf Ridge and finish line pictures by Bob's Photo Gallery.

F2/Nuberg

Andy riding the stone bridge on F2/Nuberg

White Is The New Black

Getting ready for a long ride in two weeks.

MoCo Epic

http://mocoepic.com/

"The MoCo Epic is a supported mountain bike ride going through many of the major parks in Montgomery County. It is organized by MORE.

3 supported rides will be offered:

- 25-mile, 3 parks: Start from Schaeffer, Schaeffer white trail, Hoyles Mill Connector, Black Hills and return to Schaeffer

- 40-mile, 7 parks: start at Schaeffer Farms, Hoyles Mill, Black Hills, Little Bennett, Lower Magruder, Seneca Greenway, around Clopper Lake and back to Schaeffer via Riffleford or the new bike section of the Seneca Greenway if it is open by then.

- 62-mile (metric century), 9 parks: same as above, but do Muddy Branch and the C&O Canal after Seneca Lake."

 Registration is open. Good job, Denis!

Bee Sting

For the second time I managed to catch a bee between my eye and glasses during a ride. Bee and I panicked. I was going down Fishing Creek at speed so by the time I stopped and released the little guy the damage was already done. The stinger was still there when I finished the ride an hour later :(.

And then 6 hours and 12 hours later:

Garmin Edge 500

Installed on the Titus. Love the new mount - easy to install, better fit, more stable, less parts to break, much better than the old Edge mount IMO.

Brake Issue Finally Solved

I had been having this rear brake vibrating issue for quite a while. Basically when I pulled the lever, the entire bike vibrated violently and emitted high pitch noises like a semi truck stopping in a hurry. I tried organic pads, anti-squeeling compound, multiple bleedings, filing pads, nothing worked.

Finally I couldn't take it any more and got a new set of brakes (Avid Elixir CR) to replace the Juicy 7, hoping the issue was associated with the Juicy, which has a reputation of being loud. New brakes installed, I rode it around the block and the brake was silent. "Great!" I thought.

After shortening the cables I took it to Schaeffer for a spin. BTW, the temperature outside was in triple digit, the two bottles I bought with me lasted only a little over an hour. Anyway, on a fast section, I applied the brake, the vibration came back, and stayed.

I sat in the garage carefully inspect the whole set up. The nice thing about the Elixir vs. Juicy was the top loading pads, which allowed to check the pad/rotor alignment. What I found was that the back side of the caliper was elevated a little too much so the pads were not fully engaging the rotor. Easy enough to fix. I put two 1-mm Ti washers in place of the original adjusting washers to lower the caliper. Tightened everything and gave it another spin - dead silent with tremendous stopping power. Problem solved.

Schaeffer Race Course

From the Ex2 website.

A trial ride on the course trailhead to trailhead took 51:41, SS 32x16. The course minimizes the climbing thus a geared hardtail would be the best for time trial. Expect to see someone posting sub-40. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40763354

BTW, I plan to be a spectator of this race.

New Look

May not be the best idea to have white saddle and grips on a mountain bike, but I like it.

140 mm Rotor

It is small, about the size of the 34t cog.

Cool Concept, Short Life

SRAM Matchmaker, on its second ride. I probably hit the shifter on my leg when I tried to unclip in a hurry. This thing snapped instantly, left me an unusable front shifter. Luckily the part holding the brake was intact so I could still finish the ride. No I seriously worried about the Matchmakers on my Titus. Definitely don't want the same thing happen during SM100.

Edit: Originally I called this "Poor Quality" but then changed to "Short Life" just to be objective.

MoCo Epic

9 parks, 66 miles, 9.5 hrs, 12 started, 8 finished.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38275204

Details for October's fund raiser ride here.

Me and Gary on the C&O, mile 55. Photo credit: Denis

TRX Update

XTR 970

ESI Chunky

Time ATAC XS Spring Service

 As pictured! The two years old pedal springs were getting a little too loose. Even with the spring tension being set to high, the cleats kept popping out of the pedals during bumpy rides. Finally I knocked the pin out of the pedal, expanded the springs a little on a vise, push the pin back in, as I put life back in the pedals.

A few Videos Shot with the ContourHD

Cheap ContourHD Spare Battery - Update

The batteries came charged, worked flawlessly for a few hours and I got about 4 gb worth of footage out of it. It's being charged right now, slowly (3.5 hours and counting).

Cheap ContourHD Spare Battery

The Contour HD battery (3.7v 1050 mAh) is ~$30 a piece everywhere on the internet. It is the same as the Nokia BL-5C that can be found at a much lower price point. I tested the one from my Nokia phone and it worked just fine. I just ordered two 1800 mAh ones from a Hong Kong dealer on ebay.

Contour HD 1080P

New toy.

I rigged a helmet mount using the included goggle mount and the piece of strap I got from the LBD race. It fits perfectly. I'm going to do a field test tomorrow.

Field test: Thursday at Schaeffer

Leesburg Bakers Dozen 2010

Chris and I arrived in the farm around 8am. The place was already so packed that we had to squeeze in between two cars and set up our base camp. Chris started the race with two solid laps. We alternated every two laps. Over 12 hours later, I finished the race with lights on.

The race course was hard packed and smooth. I was glad to have brought my geared full suspension, but regret that I didn't run tubeless - two snake-bites! Who would've thought Leesburg land could be this tough.

But I'm grateful all I had was flat, because it could be worse, as I saw this guy's teammate came back after the first lap with a broken carbon handlebar.

Results here: http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7_jduX1FRh_YjZjODdiZTktYTUxNi00YzJlLWJkMjMtNDhhMDY5ODk5NmY1&hl=en

And a video from Chris:


Leesburg Baker's Dozen from Kro Li on Vimeo.

Lost Blood

On Viper.