It Begins Again

The search for the perfect mountain bike. N + 1. Although in this case N isn't really changing since I'm parting out my hardtail. There's also another saying, "as the number of bikes owned increases so do the odds that none of those bikes are working correctly".

As of this moment that rings more true than ever. I bought a new saddle for my road bike, but it didn't fit the seatpost. So, I swapped it for the seatpost on my single speed, but being a setback post, it puts me too far back on my road bike. Also, my road bike seatpost is too short for my single speed. On top of that, my hardtail is completely disassembled in my bedroom right next to 2/3rds of an old steel road bike. It's starting to look like a bike shop in there. Seriously. Tools in one corner, frames/wheels in another, small parts in a third corner, and a bed somewhere in the mix.
#firstworldproblems

On the positive side, my new fork arrived. It's bigger, stronger, and lighter. I've come to the conclusion that if your going to have multiple bikes, they need to be different or at least serve different purposes. A short travel hardtail is just too similar to my rigid bike, but there's also another problem with hardtails. A rigid bike can corner well because it slides predictably; both wheels have similar traction. But with a hardtail, the front wheel has better traction than the rear. One can equalize the traction by increasing the spring rate or increasing the compression damping at the loss of some of the benefits of suspension. In theory, a full suspension bike should have better and equal traction front and rear.

I'll be ordering the wheels and frame in the next month or so. I should be able to get it dialed just in time for next race season.

Driving a Rickshaw

"Do you have, like, really strong calves? I bet you have strong calves. Your going to get soo many girls!" (I can only hope)

- Drunk college girl riding back to the dorms 

Driving a rickshaw is quite an interesting and enjoyable experience, not to mention profitable. In other cultures it's seen as nearly rock bottom for unskilled manual labor. In Oxford, it's seen as a novelty and a convenient mode of transportation. 

When I first got the idea of driving one, I was afraid it would ruin cycling for me. I thought I'd be too tired to do regular fun rides. But, after the first month of driving, I've realized I was afraid for nothing. My mind wants them to be the same, but they're far from it. A bicycle (specifically a racing bike) is light and agile. It accelerates well and leans into the corners. A rickshaw is big, cumbersome, slow, and heavy. The only similarities are the open air and pedalling. 

The rickshaws I drive have an electric assist in the front wheel that helps to maintain momentum. At first I wanted to think that I was contributing the majority of the propelling force. But after some experimenting and having two batteries die on me, I've realized that, at best, I contribute 10 - 15% with the other 85 - 90% being electric or gravity. In a flat city, I might be able to get by without electric power, but in the hills of Oxford, it's an absolute necessity. I can barely pedal an empty cab up hills; there's no way I could haul people up these hills. 

Some people are sadistic though, "Let's see if this scrawny kid can pedal 1000lbs of fat redneck up University Ave!"

Two of them ended up pushing, and I got paid $20 for less than 10 minutes of work. Fortunately those are few and far between. I might just say no next time though.

For the most part, it's as easy or as hard as I want to make it. However, I have noticed an increase in power on my mountain bike. If Oxford was flat, I'd look into investing in my own cab and truly working for myself. A smoother drive train would be nice. I'm not sure I want to invest in the necessary electric components though. I do plan on swapping in my own saddle and maybe pedals too.

I'll be chronicling some of my experiences and observations of driving a rickshaw so stay tuned!

Strava

I have to admit, I'm liking my new phone more and more. It's quite convenient to do so much with one device - tracking ride data, playing music, taking pictures, etc. Strava is probably the app I've been most excited about, to see how I stack up against other riders. I also found it to be quite motivating.

With the storm of the year looming just hours away, I set off to find empty trails - a good time to test the Strava waters. I didn't target any specific segments, just rode the normal training loop at semi-race-pace. I did fairly well considering the trails are covered in leaves and pine straw. Towards the end of the ride, I tried riding over a fallen tree a little too fast. I got the front wheel over fine, but the rear popped up too high and sent me over the bars. The landing knocked the wind out of me but no cuts or bruises.

Looking at the individual segments, it turns out that the guy with the most KOMS (King of the Mountain) doesn't even live here any more. Hopefully, we can get the trails cleaned up in another month or two to get some faster times.

New Tech

Retrogrouch - noun
1. One who is skeptical of technological developments until their usefulness and reliability have been proven.
2. One who insists on minimalist equipment that may be user-serviced.
(seemingly coined by the cycling community, just search the term with Google)

In a culture that ties self worth with always having the latest and greatest technology, it's fun to be different and use old technology even after it's been deemed obsolete. Most people seem to upgrade phones as often as possible, but for me this raises the question: how long can a phone last?

In my case study of one, the answer is about five years. Even with such impressive specs as the Motorola Quantico, the rubber buttons on the side started to dry rot and fall off. It seems self destruction is imminent. This has me finally looking for a smart phone; even though, I'll lose part of my retrogrouch identity.

While I've never gotten caught up in phone tech, bike technology is a different story. My old bike may be a rigid single speed, but it has plenty of (what was) new technology: 29er wheels, tubeless tires, carbon fiber fork, disk brakes, etc. Those were new at the time, but as anyone in the sport knows, the bike industry has been booming for the last 10 years or so.

With carbon frames, hydraulic disk brakes, fine tuned suspension, and every realistic wheel size covered, what else is left? There's a definite risk of stagnation coming over the next few years. But who knows, maybe we'll see 3d printed, complex nano structured frames and/or suspension components that weigh 1/2lbs. Or lightweight, continuously variable, internally geared hubs. Or maybe someone will finally develop a comfortable saddle.

It'll be interesting to see where the industry goes from here. In the meantime keep riding whatever's fun.

Fall!

Last week the trails were so clean, but three cold days with a constant drizzle brought down what seems like at least half of the leaves. Believe it or not, there is a trail in the picture above, just right of center. Even though I know the trail well it was not easy to follow. Lucy got on just fine though.

Surprisingly my tires are still gripping well, but I'm sure that'll change with more leaves. The weather was quite nice though.

On another note, among the mountain bike community of Oxford, this year will be remembered as the Armadillo Outbreak of '15. In 11 miles, I think I saw at least 8. I'm a little afraid for Lucy as they're probably the one animal she can catch. Fortunately the leaves crunching under my tires seemed to drown out the noise of their movement; she didn't chase a single one today.

MORCS Finale

The final race of the Mississippi Off-Road Cycling Series was a blast! Three other members of the Ole Miss Cycling team and I crammed in my little Tacoma and headed to Ridgeland for the weekend. It was one of the few times I've ever needed a double cab, but we made it work.

We arrived in Ridgeland Friday night and decided to take a tour of Jackson in one of the guy's parent's Geo Tracker, with the top down of course. We were cruising around when we stumbled upon Jacktoberfest - a music festival with lots of beer vendors. What was really amazing about it was the crowd. It was a stylish, urban crowd mostly between ages 25 - 35, and no one was sloppy drunk. (I should note that the night was young, and the beer was expensive.) It didn't feel like Mississippi. I liked it.

Saturday, we pre-rode the course, watched the Super D, and a couple of us participated in the Cross Country Eliminator, XCE, which was a short race of four participants where the top two advanced to the next round. Cat 2 put on a good competition, but Cat 1 was a shut out. After getting dropped in the first quarter mile, there was no reason to keep sprinting another mile. It was a fun idea though.

On the upside, I was surprised to see part of the Mulberry Gap crew setting up a booth and doing some advertising. It made me miss those North Georgia trails and the whole summer of 2012 for that matter. I'm trying to talk the cycling team into a trip out there.

Sunday was the main event. I had some tough competition in a field of 10. I gave it my all right from the start. I think I was 5th into the woods. 1st and 2nd shot off quickly, but I hung with 3rd and 4th for a while. I knew I was faster than 4th uphill but the downhills put a gap between us. I attempted a pass once but he sprinted to block me. I ended up passing them both when they took a wrong turn at a poorly marked intersection. I got passed and then dropped. I might've held that position if it weren't for a cramp in my side.

I backed off the pace a little to recover and got passed a few times. This all happened in the first lap. For the second and third laps, I settled into a fast but comfortable pace. I even took a beer hand-up after a rocky switchback. I felt great!

I wound up in 7th out of 10 including one DNF. I was 11 minutes behind 1st and 5 minutes behind 2nd. I think with some good training this winter I can make up that difference. My new job should provide some good strength training; tomorrow is my first day driving for Rebel Rickshaw!

No Flow.

That was the theme of this weekend's race at Arkabutla Lake. While the trail system was decent, it wasn't a very fun race course. After pre-riding it last week, I almost didn't want to go to the race. But, I figured I should support the inaugural event and didn't have anything else to do. So I went.

The trail consisted of lots of roots. Lots and lots of big roots with no smooth line to be found. The few places where you could get some decent speed weren't worth the effort due to poorly placed sharp turns and switchbacks. For these reasons, I felt like I couldn't give it my all. When it comes to racing, cornering hard and maintaining momentum is my bread and butter; that lets me ride faster than riders with more power. This course, however, was 24 miles of short sprints and hard braking. Not much fun.

The good news is that the North Mississippi Trail Alliance - our new chapter of IMBA - has recently been approved to build up to 28 miles of trail on the other side of the lake. So, future races have a lot of potential.

During the race, I held second place until halfway through the last lap. On the first lap, I kept up with the guy in first pretty well but soon started falling behind. The guy in third was on my tail the entire time and was clearly a better rider. Had he passed me sooner, he probably could've kept up with first, but I guess he was content finishing second.

I partially blame the hardtail, as the top two guys were both on full suspensions. The roots sapped a lot of my energy, and it was difficult to keep the rear end planted in the bumpy turns. (puns intended, sort of). I've only had my new bike a few months, but I'm thinking of trading it for a full suspension. Not that it'll be faster overall, just more fun.