Minus Ten Review- 36

My XXIX which I received in September '06

Ten years ago on the blog here was a pivotal time in my life. I announced that I was going to Interbike. It would be my first trip to the show in ten years. The way it all went down was not revealed on the blog, so here's the deal.

Tim Grahl, then of the Crooked Cog Network and the founder of "Blue Collar Mountainbike"  and "Twenty Nine Inches", had been pestering me to come and help him with coverage of Interbike and to write for Twenty Nine Inches. I had rebuffed him several times, since I was already doing reviews for "The Biking Hub" and was busy with the blog here at the home front. I didn't "need" him or "Twenty Nine Inches". However; Grahl kept insisting I come to Interbike and I finally said I would, but only if it was on his dime. Grahl made it happen, so I was on my way to the show.

In the coming "Minus Ten Review" posts I will get into how that all worked out and ultimately changed my life. I think that there was a lot of good that came out of that, but it didn't come without a lot of worry, frustration, and time spent doing stuff I never wanted to do. They call it "the price you pay". I cannot really say if the price was worth it or not yet. Things are still playing out.......

On a lighter note, I received the Raleigh XXIX single speed and it was really cool. The issue I had was that at that time, I thought I was a medium for 29'ers. The thing was that I not only made that mistake with the Raleigh, but with the Haro Mary I had coming in as well. Lesson learned. Price paid. I ended up sending both those bikes on to new homes where they were ultimately well loved.

One thing that was really kind of odd about the XXIX was that it came with a non-suspension corrected fork. Kind of a weird thing, but it was really a great single speed rig. Maybe had I not been such a knucklehead and had gotten a Large, I would still have that bike, but oh well. Bikes come and bikes go.