Raleigh Rainier Gets Ridden!

<===In the sun.

Just thought I'd let everyone know I finally got this Raleigh Rainier out for a ride. It's a pretty smooth ride too, what with the carbon fork and my fat-as-I-can-fit tires. Which brings me to a teensy problem.

There isn't enough room for that IRC 42mm back there. Oh, it spins through the frame okay. It's just that there is no room for error! If I got any mud back there, or had a slightly out of true wheel, well forget about the paint job! It would be gone. So I got a cheapo Bontrager 35mm tire down at the shop and slapped it on there. Bingo! Lots of room now. At least I'll be able to gravel grind and commute now on this. Which brings me to my next point......

Gravel and paint on the down tube don't seem to mix, at least if history is any indicator. So I will be getting some frame saver tape at a motorcycle shop, or somewhere, to line the lower quarter of the down tube and the bottom bracket shell. That way I won't have an ugly, pitted, or chipped up frame from gravel projectiles. Which leads me to my final point..............

The gravel is pretty soft yet, so this won't be the weapon of choice until things dry up. All I can say about cyclo cross is "No wonder you guys are blowing up yer heart rates!" These cyclo cross tires, (and I was running 42mm, mind you) just knife right into the earth! Makes you work waaaay too hard. So I will be riding some good ol' fatty 2 inchers until the roads firm up and then we'll bust out the skinnier tires. Maybe I'll have to commute to work on it. Tuesday maybe, so Captain Bob can roll in to check it out.

Raleigh Rainier Gets Ridden!

<===In the sun.

Just thought I'd let everyone know I finally got this Raleigh Rainier out for a ride. It's a pretty smooth ride too, what with the carbon fork and my fat-as-I-can-fit tires. Which brings me to a teensy problem.

There isn't enough room for that IRC 42mm back there. Oh, it spins through the frame okay. It's just that there is no room for error! If I got any mud back there, or had a slightly out of true wheel, well forget about the paint job! It would be gone. So I got a cheapo Bontrager 35mm tire down at the shop and slapped it on there. Bingo! Lots of room now. At least I'll be able to gravel grind and commute now on this. Which brings me to my next point......

Gravel and paint on the down tube don't seem to mix, at least if history is any indicator. So I will be getting some frame saver tape at a motorcycle shop, or somewhere, to line the lower quarter of the down tube and the bottom bracket shell. That way I won't have an ugly, pitted, or chipped up frame from gravel projectiles. Which leads me to my final point..............

The gravel is pretty soft yet, so this won't be the weapon of choice until things dry up. All I can say about cyclo cross is "No wonder you guys are blowing up yer heart rates!" These cyclo cross tires, (and I was running 42mm, mind you) just knife right into the earth! Makes you work waaaay too hard. So I will be riding some good ol' fatty 2 inchers until the roads firm up and then we'll bust out the skinnier tires. Maybe I'll have to commute to work on it. Tuesday maybe, so Captain Bob can roll in to check it out.

It's Not Easy Street

<===If he gets anymore excited, he'll knock that tent down!

I was cruising the web for North American Handmade Bicycle Show pics when I ran across J-Kove's mug here as he was setting up shop for the Indianapolis event.

I thought the expression on his face was priceless. Yeah, he gets to go to Germany. Majorca, and warm environs while we freeze our arses off here in the winter, but he also works. Don't be fooled folks!

It ain't all a bed of roses!

Jeff, if ya see this, I hope it got better before you packed up and went back to the Rockies. Doing shows is not a whole lot of fun. Especially indoors shows. I know......I've been there!

It's Not Easy Street

<===If he gets anymore excited, he'll knock that tent down!

I was cruising the web for North American Handmade Bicycle Show pics when I ran across J-Kove's mug here as he was setting up shop for the Indianapolis event.

I thought the expression on his face was priceless. Yeah, he gets to go to Germany. Majorca, and warm environs while we freeze our arses off here in the winter, but he also works. Don't be fooled folks!

It ain't all a bed of roses!

Jeff, if ya see this, I hope it got better before you packed up and went back to the Rockies. Doing shows is not a whole lot of fun. Especially indoors shows. I know......I've been there!

Friday News And Views

Trans Iowa: We have another sponsor to announce. The WEMs races in Wisconsin have supplied T.I.V5 with 9 entries to a WEMs race of your choice. All you have to do to get one ofthe nine freebies is beat Allen Brunner at T.I.V5! Allen is in the event and arranged the sponsorship. See the site for the details.

Also, Trans Iowa V4 has been added to the Historical Archives. Check it out along with all the other T.I. historical stuff. Future improvements will include a listing of results, a page including all the past participants, and more. Remember, the site is arranged in "pages", so look for the links to each in the right margin on the site.

Singular Cycles: If you haven't seen Singular Cycles stuff, you should check it out. Classy looking frame sets from the U.K. there. And that was the problem- they were U.K./Europe only, until now! The Prairie Pedaler in nearby Prairie DuChein, Wisconsin has signed on to be the sole U.S. distributor of these fine looking frames. For more on the story see this.

Giant 29"ers?: Yep! That's the word. It sounds as if Giant is finally throwing their hat into the ring for 2010. I am hearing that they will have a hard tail and perhaps a FS rig based on the Maestro platform with a tapered steer tube Marzocchi fork on the front end. No "official" word will be presented by Giant until their 2010 product introductions in August, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few leaks before that time.

Tire Goodness: I have a Hutchinson Toro Tubeless Ready 29"er tire on hand here for testing for Twenty Nine Inches. Right now I will say that it seems undersized for the intentions that Hutchinson has for it. The Toro's casing is a paltry 50.1mm wide, while the Python is 51.2mm wide. (Toro mounted tubeless at 40psi for 24 hours- Python tubeless, 35psi, mounted and ridden some previously) The Toro is listed as a "marathon/XC tire and isn't even as wide in the casing as an XC race oriented tire? Huh? Kind of weird really, and when you look at the weight, which is just south of 700 grams it seems way off base. However; this is one of the few 29"er tires with an actual sidewall strengthening construction. Called "Hardskin" by Hutchinson, it's supposed to resist tearing and gashing. Good qualities to have, but that comes at a price. One tire expert told me that if their tires were to feature a sidewall treatment like Hardskin, the 2.4 incher they make would weigh just shy of 1000 grams, and that they thought 29"er freaks wouldn't go for that.

Continental is said to be shipping Race King 29"ers any day now and that a Rubber Queen 29"er tire is on the drawing boards. Also, Hutchinson is said to be readying a 29"er version of their Cobra, which is a hard pack, go-fast tire that may be a great racing/endurance tire. Finally, Geax is going to be hitting the lightweight button for 29"ers with the (anyday now) Barro Race. (Scroll down the page to find the Barro Race) The Barro Race is said to weigh oly 450 grams in the folding bead version! We're also told that a Geax Gato 2.35"er will be coming in a 29"er size. Keep in mind that when Geax says they are doing one new model, it's actually three tires. A tubeless ready, or TNT version, a folding bead version, and a UST version. Oh yeah.......and I saw a picture of a Saguaro tubular 29"er tire too!

Ten Speed MTB: It is confirmed now that SRAM will be introducing a 2 X 10 drive train, (most likely at Sea Otter) aimed at the XC racing crowd. Right now their are no firm details as to what that will entail for technology, but one has to wonder if the road and mountain stuff will be cross compatible at that point. It would be hard to imagine that it wouldn't be. I have also heard a pretty solid rumor that SRAM is working on a hydraulic drop bar/road brake/shifter mechanism. If all of this is true and comes to be, then a truly race worthy drop bar 29"er would be a viable option.

Anodized Baby!: Ano is coming back in a big way. I saw more anodized stuff at Interbike than you could shake a stick at. Now Race Face is telling us that they will be offering cranks in various models in gold, blue, red, purple, and orange hues besides the basic silver and black offerings. Yahoo! (See the italics for which color I'm pumped about)

Okay, enough talking about it, go ride!

Friday News And Views

Trans Iowa: We have another sponsor to announce. The WEMs races in Wisconsin have supplied T.I.V5 with 9 entries to a WEMs race of your choice. All you have to do to get one ofthe nine freebies is beat Allen Brunner at T.I.V5! Allen is in the event and arranged the sponsorship. See the site for the details.

Also, Trans Iowa V4 has been added to the Historical Archives. Check it out along with all the other T.I. historical stuff. Future improvements will include a listing of results, a page including all the past participants, and more. Remember, the site is arranged in "pages", so look for the links to each in the right margin on the site.

Singular Cycles: If you haven't seen Singular Cycles stuff, you should check it out. Classy looking frame sets from the U.K. there. And that was the problem- they were U.K./Europe only, until now! The Prairie Pedaler in nearby Prairie DuChein, Wisconsin has signed on to be the sole U.S. distributor of these fine looking frames. For more on the story see this.

Giant 29"ers?: Yep! That's the word. It sounds as if Giant is finally throwing their hat into the ring for 2010. I am hearing that they will have a hard tail and perhaps a FS rig based on the Maestro platform with a tapered steer tube Marzocchi fork on the front end. No "official" word will be presented by Giant until their 2010 product introductions in August, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few leaks before that time.

Tire Goodness: I have a Hutchinson Toro Tubeless Ready 29"er tire on hand here for testing for Twenty Nine Inches. Right now I will say that it seems undersized for the intentions that Hutchinson has for it. The Toro's casing is a paltry 50.1mm wide, while the Python is 51.2mm wide. (Toro mounted tubeless at 40psi for 24 hours- Python tubeless, 35psi, mounted and ridden some previously) The Toro is listed as a "marathon/XC tire and isn't even as wide in the casing as an XC race oriented tire? Huh? Kind of weird really, and when you look at the weight, which is just south of 700 grams it seems way off base. However; this is one of the few 29"er tires with an actual sidewall strengthening construction. Called "Hardskin" by Hutchinson, it's supposed to resist tearing and gashing. Good qualities to have, but that comes at a price. One tire expert told me that if their tires were to feature a sidewall treatment like Hardskin, the 2.4 incher they make would weigh just shy of 1000 grams, and that they thought 29"er freaks wouldn't go for that.

Continental is said to be shipping Race King 29"ers any day now and that a Rubber Queen 29"er tire is on the drawing boards. Also, Hutchinson is said to be readying a 29"er version of their Cobra, which is a hard pack, go-fast tire that may be a great racing/endurance tire. Finally, Geax is going to be hitting the lightweight button for 29"ers with the (anyday now) Barro Race. (Scroll down the page to find the Barro Race) The Barro Race is said to weigh oly 450 grams in the folding bead version! We're also told that a Geax Gato 2.35"er will be coming in a 29"er size. Keep in mind that when Geax says they are doing one new model, it's actually three tires. A tubeless ready, or TNT version, a folding bead version, and a UST version. Oh yeah.......and I saw a picture of a Saguaro tubular 29"er tire too!

Ten Speed MTB: It is confirmed now that SRAM will be introducing a 2 X 10 drive train, (most likely at Sea Otter) aimed at the XC racing crowd. Right now their are no firm details as to what that will entail for technology, but one has to wonder if the road and mountain stuff will be cross compatible at that point. It would be hard to imagine that it wouldn't be. I have also heard a pretty solid rumor that SRAM is working on a hydraulic drop bar/road brake/shifter mechanism. If all of this is true and comes to be, then a truly race worthy drop bar 29"er would be a viable option.

Anodized Baby!: Ano is coming back in a big way. I saw more anodized stuff at Interbike than you could shake a stick at. Now Race Face is telling us that they will be offering cranks in various models in gold, blue, red, purple, and orange hues besides the basic silver and black offerings. Yahoo! (See the italics for which color I'm pumped about)

Okay, enough talking about it, go ride!

Winter Still Hangs On

<====The Misfit In The Snow

I did a little recon of a couple local (to me) riding spots. First I went out to check on Cedar Bend Park, but the gate was up out at the blacktop and the sign said that the park wouldn't open until May 1st. Fair enough. I didn't want to incur the wrath of any locals or authority figures, so I moved on.

I made my way through Waverly and then on out to Camp Ingawanis. The gravel was pretty soft in spots, but the roads are all clear now.


<====Winter still holds court in the woods.

The South Side was my aim and when I got there it looked like the trail was at least partially clear. It was 50 degrees and the sun was out, so minimal clothing was on for this attempt at riding. It felt great not to have to layer up so much. Probably the least amount of clothing I've worn since The Fargo Ride in Minneapolis last November.




<====The service road was the best bet for riding.

The trail soon disappeared under a blanket of snow. I followed along, and then when I saw it was going to be fruitless to follow the singletrack, I looked for the service road.

The service road loops through the South Side to the creek. I followed along till I reached that area, and then bearing right on foot, followed the stream for a bit until I saw a good place to scale the ridge above the creek and look for the service road back out from the Cope Course.

<===Bobcat tracks going straight up the ridge.

The Camp is home to a wide variety of wildlife. I saw the tracks of many woodland creatures as I traversed the ridge heading eastwards. Turkey, rabbit, bobcat, and the ever present deer were all tracks I saw. At one point, I detected some movement and thinking it was a deer, I swung around to my left to see two Bald Eagles flying swiftly up the line of the creek. I was up high enough that the eagles were right at my eye level. Cool!

I finally reached the service road out and went rolling down the hill towards the car. A great time out in the woods, even though the riding was minimal and slow. It'll be awhile before the trails are rideable.

Even though the snow in my yard is about gone, I'd say there was a good six inches blanketing the floor of the woods yet. That will take awhile to melt away too, as it is dense and packed in. I could walk right up over it for the most part with no post holing at all.

Even if the snow did disappear, the logging that took place last fall has made a mess out of certain places out there and I'm sure a lot of trail work will be necessary before we can rage some South Side single track anytime soon.

Winter Still Hangs On

<====The Misfit In The Snow

I did a little recon of a couple local (to me) riding spots. First I went out to check on Cedar Bend Park, but the gate was up out at the blacktop and the sign said that the park wouldn't open until May 1st. Fair enough. I didn't want to incur the wrath of any locals or authority figures, so I moved on.

I made my way through Waverly and then on out to Camp Ingawanis. The gravel was pretty soft in spots, but the roads are all clear now.


<====Winter still holds court in the woods.

The South Side was my aim and when I got there it looked like the trail was at least partially clear. It was 50 degrees and the sun was out, so minimal clothing was on for this attempt at riding. It felt great not to have to layer up so much. Probably the least amount of clothing I've worn since The Fargo Ride in Minneapolis last November.




<====The service road was the best bet for riding.

The trail soon disappeared under a blanket of snow. I followed along, and then when I saw it was going to be fruitless to follow the singletrack, I looked for the service road.

The service road loops through the South Side to the creek. I followed along till I reached that area, and then bearing right on foot, followed the stream for a bit until I saw a good place to scale the ridge above the creek and look for the service road back out from the Cope Course.

<===Bobcat tracks going straight up the ridge.

The Camp is home to a wide variety of wildlife. I saw the tracks of many woodland creatures as I traversed the ridge heading eastwards. Turkey, rabbit, bobcat, and the ever present deer were all tracks I saw. At one point, I detected some movement and thinking it was a deer, I swung around to my left to see two Bald Eagles flying swiftly up the line of the creek. I was up high enough that the eagles were right at my eye level. Cool!

I finally reached the service road out and went rolling down the hill towards the car. A great time out in the woods, even though the riding was minimal and slow. It'll be awhile before the trails are rideable.

Even though the snow in my yard is about gone, I'd say there was a good six inches blanketing the floor of the woods yet. That will take awhile to melt away too, as it is dense and packed in. I could walk right up over it for the most part with no post holing at all.

Even if the snow did disappear, the logging that took place last fall has made a mess out of certain places out there and I'm sure a lot of trail work will be necessary before we can rage some South Side single track anytime soon.

Frostbike 2009 Part III

<===Raging a KOS Cruiser through Mike's Bikes

Well, one beer led to another last Friday night and the next thing ya know, we're riding bikes around the shop. It was pretty sketchy, as you might imagine. Not only were we well on our way to three sheets in the wind, (does anybody get one or two sheets in the wind? Hmm......), but it was dark on the back half of "the course". There was a ramp at one point over a step and lots of tight spots with stuff that could cause serious damage. In fact, I ran into a bike in the work stand not once, but twice, ramming my left hand into an empty rear drop out. Ouch! And yes.........it drew blood!

Well, after we had gotten our ya-ya's out riding around in circles at an ever increasing speed, and the beer was gone, we decided to vacate the premises for a local bar.





<===Ben rockin' the "MooseGoose".

Northfield has two private colleges in its city and the bar we went to was indeed a college bar. We commandeered a table and got some pitchers of Guinness. Good conversations were had. I am quite sure of it. At least I do not recall any raised voices or furrowed brows. I'm sure I'd remember that!

Anyway, we ended the night and walked back to Mike's to get into Ben's car so he could drop me back off at the motel. It was a snowy night and rather pleasant, actually. Oh yeah........and rather late! I was bound to get very little sleep, as I wanted to get to Frostbike by the 8:30am start time.

The next morning came way too soon and I crawled out of the sack to munch some of the free vittles at the motel before bugging out to Bloomington just 30 miles up the road.

It was super slickery/messy. Every dang semi tractor trailer rig was spraying up a storm of mag-chloride and water everywhere to the point that it was almost blinding. I made it though, just not at 65mph!



<===Squid-jerky anyone?

Once in the show, I made my rounds and stopped to talk with some old friends and acquaintances. Over at the Surly booth, they had several products that their Japanese distributor dropped off the night before. One of theses was "squid jerky", although I am quite certain that is not the proper name for it. I actually ate some. It smelled like a nasty beach, but tasted okay. The main thing was that it was just about akin to chewing shoe leather soaked in salt. Yeah.......don't try it if you've had dental work!

The rest of the show was spent in much the same way. I got to sit down a bit with J-Kove, I got to run out for some pizza with Gnat, and closed out the show having a can of Fat Tire with the Salsa Crew. (Yes.........New Belgium comes in cans now!)

The drive home started out great, and then icy patches slowed me down to 45mph at times. It was even snowing in Clear Lake! A couple of Amp energy drinks later and I was home, exhausted, but happy to be back.

If you are interested in the bicycle news I gathered, that can be found here. That's all for Frostbike 2009 folks! Now it's back to your regularly scheduled blog posts!

Frostbike 2009 Part III

<===Raging a KOS Cruiser through Mike's Bikes

Well, one beer led to another last Friday night and the next thing ya know, we're riding bikes around the shop. It was pretty sketchy, as you might imagine. Not only were we well on our way to three sheets in the wind, (does anybody get one or two sheets in the wind? Hmm......), but it was dark on the back half of "the course". There was a ramp at one point over a step and lots of tight spots with stuff that could cause serious damage. In fact, I ran into a bike in the work stand not once, but twice, ramming my left hand into an empty rear drop out. Ouch! And yes.........it drew blood!

Well, after we had gotten our ya-ya's out riding around in circles at an ever increasing speed, and the beer was gone, we decided to vacate the premises for a local bar.





<===Ben rockin' the "MooseGoose".

Northfield has two private colleges in its city and the bar we went to was indeed a college bar. We commandeered a table and got some pitchers of Guinness. Good conversations were had. I am quite sure of it. At least I do not recall any raised voices or furrowed brows. I'm sure I'd remember that!

Anyway, we ended the night and walked back to Mike's to get into Ben's car so he could drop me back off at the motel. It was a snowy night and rather pleasant, actually. Oh yeah........and rather late! I was bound to get very little sleep, as I wanted to get to Frostbike by the 8:30am start time.

The next morning came way too soon and I crawled out of the sack to munch some of the free vittles at the motel before bugging out to Bloomington just 30 miles up the road.

It was super slickery/messy. Every dang semi tractor trailer rig was spraying up a storm of mag-chloride and water everywhere to the point that it was almost blinding. I made it though, just not at 65mph!



<===Squid-jerky anyone?

Once in the show, I made my rounds and stopped to talk with some old friends and acquaintances. Over at the Surly booth, they had several products that their Japanese distributor dropped off the night before. One of theses was "squid jerky", although I am quite certain that is not the proper name for it. I actually ate some. It smelled like a nasty beach, but tasted okay. The main thing was that it was just about akin to chewing shoe leather soaked in salt. Yeah.......don't try it if you've had dental work!

The rest of the show was spent in much the same way. I got to sit down a bit with J-Kove, I got to run out for some pizza with Gnat, and closed out the show having a can of Fat Tire with the Salsa Crew. (Yes.........New Belgium comes in cans now!)

The drive home started out great, and then icy patches slowed me down to 45mph at times. It was even snowing in Clear Lake! A couple of Amp energy drinks later and I was home, exhausted, but happy to be back.

If you are interested in the bicycle news I gathered, that can be found here. That's all for Frostbike 2009 folks! Now it's back to your regularly scheduled blog posts!

Touring Tuesdays Day Six: Big Miles, Big Lake- Part I

We join the "Beg, Borrow, and Bastard Tour" as it embarks from Gillett, Wisconsin to begin Day Six.......

As Troy, Steve, and I got our things packed we looked at the maps and decided that we would need to get East in as straight a direction as possible. That meant hopping on to the State highway that ran straight east after leaving town on the northern end. We got geared up and set off in a thickening fog on a cool morning.

After setting off down the road from Gillett, it was obvious that our choice was a rather sketchy one. Even though we had our "blinkies" on, the fog was so thick that we didn't see cars coming from the other direction until they were nearly on top of us. We all knew what that meant, even though we hadn't communicated about it. We were nearly invisible to cars!

Well, we hadn't gone down the road far, in pretty constant traffic, when we heard the unmistakable sound of an air horn being applied from behind us. The driver didn't just toot it either. He was laying on it, and it was getting louder and louder from behind us. First Troy bailed off the road, then Steve shortly after. I contemplated holding my ground, but with the deafening noise of the air horn seemingly right in my ear, I thought better of it and steered for the ditch. Good thing too. A huge dump truck went by in a blur right down the white line where we were riding just moments before.

Well, that had us pretty shook up. We gathered ourselves up, and pulled out the map to find some sort of way out of the death trap we had found ourselves in. There was a little discussion and then it was decided to go to a county road leading northwards off the highway not more than a half a mile up the road. It wasn't to Troy's liking, since we didn't take the time to figure out where to go after the turn, but Steve and I were insistent that we get off the busy highway as soon as possible, then we could talk. Troy wanted a plan laid out so we wouldn't have to stop, but our desires won out.

Once we found the northward road, the moods changed dramatically, and the quietness of the back road was a welcome reprieve from the mayhem of the highway. We found a straight road east not far from us, so we headed out in search of it and the next town up the road. Once we got rolling we found the fog lifting, but it was very calm and cool this morning. Eventually we rolled up to an intersection and a town just across from it.

It was a little town called Lena and as we rolled through we caught a waft of fresh pastries. That was a siren call to stop. Even Troy fell to its power and thought getting something to eat would be a great idea. We all were very pleased with our purchases and devoured them accordingly. It wasn't long before we were back in the saddle again heading eastwards for a turn northwards towards Peshtigo, where we hoped to be before noon.

After anxiously looking for what we thought was our turn, we stopped right in the middle of the road and consulted the map. I don't think we had encountered a car since leaving the highway out of Gillett, so we all felt confident in stopping right there in the road. We were all confused, because we felt that our mileage was enough to have carried us eastward to the turn off, and very near Lake Superior, but we couldn't see anything. The fog was to blame partly, as it wasn't right on the ground anymore, but caused enough haziness as to make sighting anything around us very difficult. Suddenly, as if the veil had been lifted from our eyes, what we thought was a field of grass in the distance in front of us was finally seen for what it was- Lake Superior!

We now knew where we were. The turn was found, and we headed northwards to a highway and our final run in to Peshtigo. It was about 11:30 am and we were looking for a bite to eat. We found a small cafe, where there was a waitress that struck me as being sad, with far away eyes, but I really had no other reason to mark her out. Something about that look in her eyes. Anyway.......

We got on our way after much delay. Troy was very anxious to put in some miles towards our Canadian destination. Time was running out, with only one more day to go for the tour. Troy wasn't going to let this slip away without a fight. I thought I knew what that meant, but I was in for a surprise or two!

Next: The afternoon hammer session!

Touring Tuesdays Day Six: Big Miles, Big Lake- Part I

We join the "Beg, Borrow, and Bastard Tour" as it embarks from Gillett, Wisconsin to begin Day Six.......

As Troy, Steve, and I got our things packed we looked at the maps and decided that we would need to get East in as straight a direction as possible. That meant hopping on to the State highway that ran straight east after leaving town on the northern end. We got geared up and set off in a thickening fog on a cool morning.

After setting off down the road from Gillett, it was obvious that our choice was a rather sketchy one. Even though we had our "blinkies" on, the fog was so thick that we didn't see cars coming from the other direction until they were nearly on top of us. We all knew what that meant, even though we hadn't communicated about it. We were nearly invisible to cars!

Well, we hadn't gone down the road far, in pretty constant traffic, when we heard the unmistakable sound of an air horn being applied from behind us. The driver didn't just toot it either. He was laying on it, and it was getting louder and louder from behind us. First Troy bailed off the road, then Steve shortly after. I contemplated holding my ground, but with the deafening noise of the air horn seemingly right in my ear, I thought better of it and steered for the ditch. Good thing too. A huge dump truck went by in a blur right down the white line where we were riding just moments before.

Well, that had us pretty shook up. We gathered ourselves up, and pulled out the map to find some sort of way out of the death trap we had found ourselves in. There was a little discussion and then it was decided to go to a county road leading northwards off the highway not more than a half a mile up the road. It wasn't to Troy's liking, since we didn't take the time to figure out where to go after the turn, but Steve and I were insistent that we get off the busy highway as soon as possible, then we could talk. Troy wanted a plan laid out so we wouldn't have to stop, but our desires won out.

Once we found the northward road, the moods changed dramatically, and the quietness of the back road was a welcome reprieve from the mayhem of the highway. We found a straight road east not far from us, so we headed out in search of it and the next town up the road. Once we got rolling we found the fog lifting, but it was very calm and cool this morning. Eventually we rolled up to an intersection and a town just across from it.

It was a little town called Lena and as we rolled through we caught a waft of fresh pastries. That was a siren call to stop. Even Troy fell to its power and thought getting something to eat would be a great idea. We all were very pleased with our purchases and devoured them accordingly. It wasn't long before we were back in the saddle again heading eastwards for a turn northwards towards Peshtigo, where we hoped to be before noon.

After anxiously looking for what we thought was our turn, we stopped right in the middle of the road and consulted the map. I don't think we had encountered a car since leaving the highway out of Gillett, so we all felt confident in stopping right there in the road. We were all confused, because we felt that our mileage was enough to have carried us eastward to the turn off, and very near Lake Superior, but we couldn't see anything. The fog was to blame partly, as it wasn't right on the ground anymore, but caused enough haziness as to make sighting anything around us very difficult. Suddenly, as if the veil had been lifted from our eyes, what we thought was a field of grass in the distance in front of us was finally seen for what it was- Lake Superior!

We now knew where we were. The turn was found, and we headed northwards to a highway and our final run in to Peshtigo. It was about 11:30 am and we were looking for a bite to eat. We found a small cafe, where there was a waitress that struck me as being sad, with far away eyes, but I really had no other reason to mark her out. Something about that look in her eyes. Anyway.......

We got on our way after much delay. Troy was very anxious to put in some miles towards our Canadian destination. Time was running out, with only one more day to go for the tour. Troy wasn't going to let this slip away without a fight. I thought I knew what that meant, but I was in for a surprise or two!

Next: The afternoon hammer session!

Frostbike 2009- Part II

<===Greek style pizza, beer, and an Ultegra seat post. Looks good to me!

Carrying on now from the last post, we finally decided what to order from one of the five pizza joints in Northfield. Seems that years ago a Greek family started a pizza joint. One broke away and started another pizza joint, and so on until now there are five Greek styled pizza joints in Northfield. Who'da thunk it?

I will say it was a mighty tasty pie! So was the Summit Torpedo IPA! That was some mighty fine brew. Well, they all tasted pretty dang good after the fourth or fifth one, but I digress.......



<===Marty Larson in quiet repose under the hallowed bulletin board.

So it wasn't long after the pizza arrived that Marty Larson of the Prairie Pedaler and a friend of his joined us for the festivities. We repaired to the back room and "The Couch" for beers and conversation at the insistence of Ben, who had the wisdom to tell us to sit down.

We all started to trade stories and I went off wandering around a bit after I got a phone call from home. (Had to talk to my kids a bit)


The other guys chatted and looked over the vintage flyers from modern mountain bikings pioneer days.






<=== Here's a rare one from the Appetite Seminar, which I gathered was a Thanksgiving Day ride out there in Marin.














<===One of several Repack flyers that Mike collected over the years.














<===A look at some more of the flyers. There were some that were three and four deep on the bulletin board!










Next time (Wednesday) I'll post up Part III f our Friday night hijinx...........

Frostbike 2009- Part II

<===Greek style pizza, beer, and an Ultegra seat post. Looks good to me!

Carrying on now from the last post, we finally decided what to order from one of the five pizza joints in Northfield. Seems that years ago a Greek family started a pizza joint. One broke away and started another pizza joint, and so on until now there are five Greek styled pizza joints in Northfield. Who'da thunk it?

I will say it was a mighty tasty pie! So was the Summit Torpedo IPA! That was some mighty fine brew. Well, they all tasted pretty dang good after the fourth or fifth one, but I digress.......



<===Marty Larson in quiet repose under the hallowed bulletin board.

So it wasn't long after the pizza arrived that Marty Larson of the Prairie Pedaler and a friend of his joined us for the festivities. We repaired to the back room and "The Couch" for beers and conversation at the insistence of Ben, who had the wisdom to tell us to sit down.

We all started to trade stories and I went off wandering around a bit after I got a phone call from home. (Had to talk to my kids a bit)


The other guys chatted and looked over the vintage flyers from modern mountain bikings pioneer days.






<=== Here's a rare one from the Appetite Seminar, which I gathered was a Thanksgiving Day ride out there in Marin.














<===One of several Repack flyers that Mike collected over the years.














<===A look at some more of the flyers. There were some that were three and four deep on the bulletin board!










Next time (Wednesday) I'll post up Part III f our Friday night hijinx...........

Frostbike 2009- Part I

<===Remodeling progress at Milltown Cycles.

I had a pretty uneventful drive to Northfield, Minnesota on Friday where I procured lodging and hooked up with Ben Witt of Milltown Cycles. He drove me back to Faribault to check in on his remodeling progress. He just finished sanding off the hardwood maple flooring. The flooring is absolutely amazing. Most of it is bird's eye maple and there is even some flame maple happening in that floor. I told Ben there were a hundred guitar necks in there!




<=== Ben showing me Mike's bike, a Mt. Tam veteran.

After that we hauled up to Northfield again to visit the shop where Ben got his start, Mike's Bikes. It is a amazing joint. If you are bicycle lover, and a mountain bike freak. You'd love this place. Check out the green bike. It is a first generation Fisher/Kelly Mountainbikes Montare'. One of the very first Japanese made ones. It has a full Deore XT Deer head gruppo and fillet brazed Bull Moose bars. Awesome! Mike said he put thousands of miles on it before retiring it. Looks like you could sling a leg over it and ride it today!



<===Late 40's/early 50's Schwinn basket case and a rod braked Gazelle 3 speed.

This is just one corner of the back room. I'm telling you, there are bikes with stories in every nook and cranny of this shop. You could literally spend hours in one little area.

I saw tons of cruisers, track bikes, (including a 70's Raleigh Professional 531 tubed trackie) , Mongoose Kos cruisers, (yes....more than one!), and old mountain bikes, like a Schwinn KOM with original gear still bolted on, and odd, one off prototype frames and bikes. Travis Brown raced prototype Fisher Rig anyone? How about a prototype 29"er Reba? Mike's Bikes has it all.



<===Another amazing bike filled corner.

So, Ben showed me around and we eyeballed all sorts of cool rigs. It was a lot of fun for me, that's for sure. Then we hung out for a bit in the mechanics area and tried to decide what to do for eats and beverages for the evening. While we let that percolate for a bit, Mike and Ben took me back to one of the most amazing things I saw all weekend. The back desk where Mike has a bulletin board. But not just any bulletin board, oh no! This one has some pretty cool things tacked to it. Well........if you are into mountain biking and its roots at all!





<===This bulletin board has some amazing race flyers attached!

Here was a bunch of original Repack race flyers and "Appetite Seminar" flyers. See, Mike used to ride with Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, Charlie Kelly, and the rest of the Marin crew back in the day. He kept all the race flyers and here they were. Just push pinned into this bulletin board!

I got some individual shots of some of them that I will share in my next post, plus all the other of the evening's hijinx. Stay tuned for Frostbike 2009- Part II on Monday!

Frostbike 2009- Part I

<===Remodeling progress at Milltown Cycles.

I had a pretty uneventful drive to Northfield, Minnesota on Friday where I procured lodging and hooked up with Ben Witt of Milltown Cycles. He drove me back to Faribault to check in on his remodeling progress. He just finished sanding off the hardwood maple flooring. The flooring is absolutely amazing. Most of it is bird's eye maple and there is even some flame maple happening in that floor. I told Ben there were a hundred guitar necks in there!




<=== Ben showing me Mike's bike, a Mt. Tam veteran.

After that we hauled up to Northfield again to visit the shop where Ben got his start, Mike's Bikes. It is a amazing joint. If you are bicycle lover, and a mountain bike freak. You'd love this place. Check out the green bike. It is a first generation Fisher/Kelly Mountainbikes Montare'. One of the very first Japanese made ones. It has a full Deore XT Deer head gruppo and fillet brazed Bull Moose bars. Awesome! Mike said he put thousands of miles on it before retiring it. Looks like you could sling a leg over it and ride it today!



<===Late 40's/early 50's Schwinn basket case and a rod braked Gazelle 3 speed.

This is just one corner of the back room. I'm telling you, there are bikes with stories in every nook and cranny of this shop. You could literally spend hours in one little area.

I saw tons of cruisers, track bikes, (including a 70's Raleigh Professional 531 tubed trackie) , Mongoose Kos cruisers, (yes....more than one!), and old mountain bikes, like a Schwinn KOM with original gear still bolted on, and odd, one off prototype frames and bikes. Travis Brown raced prototype Fisher Rig anyone? How about a prototype 29"er Reba? Mike's Bikes has it all.



<===Another amazing bike filled corner.

So, Ben showed me around and we eyeballed all sorts of cool rigs. It was a lot of fun for me, that's for sure. Then we hung out for a bit in the mechanics area and tried to decide what to do for eats and beverages for the evening. While we let that percolate for a bit, Mike and Ben took me back to one of the most amazing things I saw all weekend. The back desk where Mike has a bulletin board. But not just any bulletin board, oh no! This one has some pretty cool things tacked to it. Well........if you are into mountain biking and its roots at all!





<===This bulletin board has some amazing race flyers attached!

Here was a bunch of original Repack race flyers and "Appetite Seminar" flyers. See, Mike used to ride with Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, Charlie Kelly, and the rest of the Marin crew back in the day. He kept all the race flyers and here they were. Just push pinned into this bulletin board!

I got some individual shots of some of them that I will share in my next post, plus all the other of the evening's hijinx. Stay tuned for Frostbike 2009- Part II on Monday!

For Trans Iowa History Buffs Only!

Hey, I'm up at Frostbike, but that doesn't mean the posts stop coming! Here's something only a true Trans Iowa freak would ever get into. It has been slow in the making, but I have enough content, (I think) to warrant pointing this out now. So if you are interested, here ya go!

A word or two about why I wrote the content and presented the information that I did is necessary, I think. I could have used a ton of links to sites where race reports were filed and linked hundreds of photos, but that would have been a monumental task, and it isn't my stuff to include anyway in the end. So, I decided to give it my own spin, my take from behind the scenes. Some of the information presented has never been published before. Some of it will anger, surprise, and amuse. However that is for you, it is purely my take on the Trans Iowas past.

I think I have been fair in reporting what I have written, but in anything worth pursuing, there are passions involved that may cause some emotions that are not necessarily my emotions or passions. It's all good, just keep in mind that I am relating the "history" from where I sat. Your point of view may have been different from where you were sitting. Okay?

That said, I have plans for relating some things that go on in between the events, and not just things that revolve around the events themselves. Things like recon, which you read that I do, but you may not know how that worked. Things like the sponsorships, how that all came about, and through whom. Things like the volunteers, and how that all happened. That will all be down the road.

For now, I am concentrating on each event, what changes happened, and some experiences from the seat of Guitar Ted. I have it up through V3 now, with V4 left to write up, and of course, V5 will be entered in as soon as we get by that one.

I hope you all enjoy it, that is, if anyone cares to look.

For Trans Iowa History Buffs Only!

Hey, I'm up at Frostbike, but that doesn't mean the posts stop coming! Here's something only a true Trans Iowa freak would ever get into. It has been slow in the making, but I have enough content, (I think) to warrant pointing this out now. So if you are interested, here ya go!

A word or two about why I wrote the content and presented the information that I did is necessary, I think. I could have used a ton of links to sites where race reports were filed and linked hundreds of photos, but that would have been a monumental task, and it isn't my stuff to include anyway in the end. So, I decided to give it my own spin, my take from behind the scenes. Some of the information presented has never been published before. Some of it will anger, surprise, and amuse. However that is for you, it is purely my take on the Trans Iowas past.

I think I have been fair in reporting what I have written, but in anything worth pursuing, there are passions involved that may cause some emotions that are not necessarily my emotions or passions. It's all good, just keep in mind that I am relating the "history" from where I sat. Your point of view may have been different from where you were sitting. Okay?

That said, I have plans for relating some things that go on in between the events, and not just things that revolve around the events themselves. Things like recon, which you read that I do, but you may not know how that worked. Things like the sponsorships, how that all came about, and through whom. Things like the volunteers, and how that all happened. That will all be down the road.

For now, I am concentrating on each event, what changes happened, and some experiences from the seat of Guitar Ted. I have it up through V3 now, with V4 left to write up, and of course, V5 will be entered in as soon as we get by that one.

I hope you all enjoy it, that is, if anyone cares to look.

Frostbike Weekend

This is the weekend that Quality Bicycle Products holds "Frostbike". That is its annual dealer only show in Bloomington, Minnesota. You can check out my previous Frostbike hijinx here, here, here, and here. It's a weekend of meeting old friends and making new ones that I look forward to every year I get to go up.

I'm not sure the newsy bits will be as flowing on the big wheeled side as in years past, but whatever there is to tell, or that they will let me tell, I will. Look for a recap on Monday.

Till then, I leave you with this story from the 90's when Minneapolis played host to two distributor trade shows on the same day!

Back in the mid 90's, there were two bicycle parts distributors of note out of Minneapolis/Bloomington. They were Quality Bicycle Parts and Island Cycles. They used to hold their dealer shows on the same weekend. Quality was at a much smaller warehouse then than they have today. Still, by that days standards they were cutting edge. I remember the tour guide was particularly proud of the moving aisles, or carousel. It featured a station at the end where an employee would enter a part number and the entire aisle would rotate like a huge conveyor belt till the part bin the number called up was in front of the employee. He/she picked the part, entered the next number, and so on. Pretty cool! Well, then afterwards you could wander around anywhere you wanted. It was called an "Open House" back then, and it wasn't at all like the mini-trade show they put on today.

Well, we were wandering around, running our fingers through bins of Ringle' hubs in various candy colors and "ooing" and "ahhhing" over the latest CNC'ed bits that QBP had on offer. Pretty cool stuff for an avid mountain biker such as myself back in the day.

Well, Island Cycles was a completely different affair. Island was housed in an ancient (for the Mid-West) warehouse building in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. An eight story behemoth of a brick building with creaky wooden floors. You could go absolutely anywhere in the place, totally unsupervised on Open House weekend. I learned pretty quickly that the two best places to hang were at the extremes- the attic and the basement.

The basement of Island Cycles was freaking amazing. I can not begin to paint the picture of this joint. There were tires......I mean tires people! Tires that were waaaay old. Wheels hanging from the ceiling that were brand new. NOS stuff from the late 70's for 26 inch cruisers. BMX vintage stuff, and old tubular road wheels by the dozens. It went on and on like that down there. But that was just the basement.

The attic, and what an attic!- was so flippin cool. You would first notice that it was indeed a place rarely visited. Dust and cobwebs all over. But once you got beyond that, there were odd cycling treasures hidden all over the place up there. Old, old stuff from the 20's and 30's you would never have imagined, all new, all crated up, or in cardboard boxes. And the view from the huge windows looking out over the warehouse district was super cool.

Then when you were finished with that, you hit Islands micro-tiny customer area and drank some Grain Belt Premiums, had an egg salad sandwich, and bugged out for home. Those were some mighty different days from what goes on now. Island is no more, bought out by J&B Importers and the company moved to a more modern warehouse. QBP has moved twice since those days, and they are vastly different with a "mini-trade show" deal instead of an open house.

Anyway, I thought it might be cool to relate a bit of the past in contrast to today's Frostbike adventures. It's all been pretty fun, and I'm sure this year will be no different!

Have a great weekend! Ride a bike!

Frostbike Weekend

This is the weekend that Quality Bicycle Products holds "Frostbike". That is its annual dealer only show in Bloomington, Minnesota. You can check out my previous Frostbike hijinx here, here, here, and here. It's a weekend of meeting old friends and making new ones that I look forward to every year I get to go up.

I'm not sure the newsy bits will be as flowing on the big wheeled side as in years past, but whatever there is to tell, or that they will let me tell, I will. Look for a recap on Monday.

Till then, I leave you with this story from the 90's when Minneapolis played host to two distributor trade shows on the same day!

Back in the mid 90's, there were two bicycle parts distributors of note out of Minneapolis/Bloomington. They were Quality Bicycle Parts and Island Cycles. They used to hold their dealer shows on the same weekend. Quality was at a much smaller warehouse then than they have today. Still, by that days standards they were cutting edge. I remember the tour guide was particularly proud of the moving aisles, or carousel. It featured a station at the end where an employee would enter a part number and the entire aisle would rotate like a huge conveyor belt till the part bin the number called up was in front of the employee. He/she picked the part, entered the next number, and so on. Pretty cool! Well, then afterwards you could wander around anywhere you wanted. It was called an "Open House" back then, and it wasn't at all like the mini-trade show they put on today.

Well, we were wandering around, running our fingers through bins of Ringle' hubs in various candy colors and "ooing" and "ahhhing" over the latest CNC'ed bits that QBP had on offer. Pretty cool stuff for an avid mountain biker such as myself back in the day.

Well, Island Cycles was a completely different affair. Island was housed in an ancient (for the Mid-West) warehouse building in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. An eight story behemoth of a brick building with creaky wooden floors. You could go absolutely anywhere in the place, totally unsupervised on Open House weekend. I learned pretty quickly that the two best places to hang were at the extremes- the attic and the basement.

The basement of Island Cycles was freaking amazing. I can not begin to paint the picture of this joint. There were tires......I mean tires people! Tires that were waaaay old. Wheels hanging from the ceiling that were brand new. NOS stuff from the late 70's for 26 inch cruisers. BMX vintage stuff, and old tubular road wheels by the dozens. It went on and on like that down there. But that was just the basement.

The attic, and what an attic!- was so flippin cool. You would first notice that it was indeed a place rarely visited. Dust and cobwebs all over. But once you got beyond that, there were odd cycling treasures hidden all over the place up there. Old, old stuff from the 20's and 30's you would never have imagined, all new, all crated up, or in cardboard boxes. And the view from the huge windows looking out over the warehouse district was super cool.

Then when you were finished with that, you hit Islands micro-tiny customer area and drank some Grain Belt Premiums, had an egg salad sandwich, and bugged out for home. Those were some mighty different days from what goes on now. Island is no more, bought out by J&B Importers and the company moved to a more modern warehouse. QBP has moved twice since those days, and they are vastly different with a "mini-trade show" deal instead of an open house.

Anyway, I thought it might be cool to relate a bit of the past in contrast to today's Frostbike adventures. It's all been pretty fun, and I'm sure this year will be no different!

Have a great weekend! Ride a bike!

Thursday News And Views

<===I call it "Vitamin R"

The single speed Rainier cyclo crosser is complete, (minus pedals). I got my Salsa Cycles Crossing Guard Wednesday and finished up the build. Those are 42mm IRC tires on there! I'll probably run something lighter and less wide when it comes time to throw down next fall. But for now, this will do.

The build consists of the following: Raleigh Rainier SS frame, size 59cm, Easton EC-90 carbon fiber fork, Sante' crank on a UN-54 square taper bottom bracket, ACS Claws 17T freewheel, 38T Origin 8 chain ring, SRAM PC-830 chain, (to be changed out for a different chain soon), Origin 8 single speed flip flop hub with a 16T cog and lock ring, KORE white cantilever brakes, de-badged Weinman DP-18 rims in "lager gold", Wheelsmith spokes and alloy nipples, IRC Mythos 42mm tires, Bontrager saddle, seat post, and stem, Midge Bars, Sante' levers, Bontrager tape in red, and a Salsa Cycles Crossing Guard chain ring guard.

First ride after I get me some pedals!



<===What happens when you are nice to people.

I had an old Sony turntable given to me. Turntable? Yes.....one of those thingies folks used to play "records" on so they could hear music. Well I had big plans to start playing the 500 LP's I have laying in a box somewhere, but of course, never got around to it and the record player sat under my bench at work for over a year.

Well, apparently vinyl records are making a comeback, and Brian, a co-worker I know at work knew about this turntable, so he asked me if I would sell it to him. I figured that since I didn't pay anything for it, why should he? Well, Brian gifted me this beer in return. I love it when everybody is happy!



<===I'm baaack! I'm back for more! (Hair band reference)

So I click on Salsa Cycles website yesterday and what do I see? Wool! Right on!

The old red and black Salsa "Classico" jersey had been discontinued for a few year, so this came as a complete surprise. Nice, and in short or long sleeves. Yeah, the price is big time, but this is made by EWR and they are top notch jersey makers. Nice ribbed collars, nice weight Merino wool fabric, and all tailored very well. I have lusted for an EWR jersey for a long time, but now that there is this Salsa Cycles version, I will definitely be getting one. Nice job Salsa Crew!

I did do some riding yesterday. It wasn't too bad in the morning. Not much wind and the temperatures above freezing. It sure was muddy though! I rode the Misfit Dissent back to back with the steel Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29"er. Definitely a difference between the two bikes. The Dissent, being aluminum is nice, not super stiff. The fork, also aluminum, is amazing. Very smooth! The bike is agile, playful almost. I do know it has a shorter wheel base than the MBC 29"er. Then I rode the steel rig next. Wow! Steel be good when it is made out of the pipes that the MBC is. Smooooth! Of course, this rig has a Cadillac ride and a '75 Eldorado wheelbase to go with it. She's a long legged gal, but sweet and super forgiving. I like the ride and it is a mellow, laid back feeling rig compared to the Dissent.

Man! Bicycles are just too much fun!

Thursday News And Views

<===I call it "Vitamin R"

The single speed Rainier cyclo crosser is complete, (minus pedals). I got my Salsa Cycles Crossing Guard Wednesday and finished up the build. Those are 42mm IRC tires on there! I'll probably run something lighter and less wide when it comes time to throw down next fall. But for now, this will do.

The build consists of the following: Raleigh Rainier SS frame, size 59cm, Easton EC-90 carbon fiber fork, Sante' crank on a UN-54 square taper bottom bracket, ACS Claws 17T freewheel, 38T Origin 8 chain ring, SRAM PC-830 chain, (to be changed out for a different chain soon), Origin 8 single speed flip flop hub with a 16T cog and lock ring, KORE white cantilever brakes, de-badged Weinman DP-18 rims in "lager gold", Wheelsmith spokes and alloy nipples, IRC Mythos 42mm tires, Bontrager saddle, seat post, and stem, Midge Bars, Sante' levers, Bontrager tape in red, and a Salsa Cycles Crossing Guard chain ring guard.

First ride after I get me some pedals!



<===What happens when you are nice to people.

I had an old Sony turntable given to me. Turntable? Yes.....one of those thingies folks used to play "records" on so they could hear music. Well I had big plans to start playing the 500 LP's I have laying in a box somewhere, but of course, never got around to it and the record player sat under my bench at work for over a year.

Well, apparently vinyl records are making a comeback, and Brian, a co-worker I know at work knew about this turntable, so he asked me if I would sell it to him. I figured that since I didn't pay anything for it, why should he? Well, Brian gifted me this beer in return. I love it when everybody is happy!



<===I'm baaack! I'm back for more! (Hair band reference)

So I click on Salsa Cycles website yesterday and what do I see? Wool! Right on!

The old red and black Salsa "Classico" jersey had been discontinued for a few year, so this came as a complete surprise. Nice, and in short or long sleeves. Yeah, the price is big time, but this is made by EWR and they are top notch jersey makers. Nice ribbed collars, nice weight Merino wool fabric, and all tailored very well. I have lusted for an EWR jersey for a long time, but now that there is this Salsa Cycles version, I will definitely be getting one. Nice job Salsa Crew!

I did do some riding yesterday. It wasn't too bad in the morning. Not much wind and the temperatures above freezing. It sure was muddy though! I rode the Misfit Dissent back to back with the steel Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29"er. Definitely a difference between the two bikes. The Dissent, being aluminum is nice, not super stiff. The fork, also aluminum, is amazing. Very smooth! The bike is agile, playful almost. I do know it has a shorter wheel base than the MBC 29"er. Then I rode the steel rig next. Wow! Steel be good when it is made out of the pipes that the MBC is. Smooooth! Of course, this rig has a Cadillac ride and a '75 Eldorado wheelbase to go with it. She's a long legged gal, but sweet and super forgiving. I like the ride and it is a mellow, laid back feeling rig compared to the Dissent.

Man! Bicycles are just too much fun!