Minus Ten Review- 29

Master of "Zip-Thai".

Ten years ago on the blog this week there was one image posted. This one here...... I know! Pretty scary, huh? Well, it goes to show the kind of camaraderie and atmosphere we had in the shop during those halcyon days when Carl, Jeff, and I were the mechanics there. It wouldn't be long afterward, maybe within a year, I'd say, and both Jeff and Carl would be gone. Then after that I was the only mechanic there doing all the repairs for the most part. That went on mostly for several years then as I saw little assistance in the shop in terms of repairs. So, for me, this image is a reminder of when things were fun in the shop. Fortunately, things have gotten a bit more fun again after a long dry spell. Anyway.....

Nationals, that is the 24 hour MTB Nationals, were soon to happen back then. I talked about how Jeff and Carl were gearing up to compete in that event. The Tour de France was winding up, and that too good to be true ride Floyd Landis had in the Alps happened. What did they say about things that appear to be too good to be true? Yeah...... This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I swore off Pro road cycling fandom after Floyd's disgrace.

A "big deal" in the history of 29"ers occurred when Cannondale finally came out with the news that they were going to do a 29"er. The big deal was that it was going to be a hard tail, geared specific bike with a Lefty. At this point, Lefty's for 29"ers were an aftermarket hack, and an "official" Lefty for 29"ers was a welcomed addition to the Rock Shox Reba, which was the only other "real" suspension fork for 29"ers at that time.

29"ers in 2006 were still such an oddity that it was noted that only two major manufacturers were even offering them- Fisher and the soon to be available Cannondale. Raleigh and Haro were about to enter the market as well.