Minus Ten Review- 50

Limited edition Rainier Beer CX bike. Single speed, of course.

Ten years ago on the blog I was reporting on a new frame and fork I had just purchased. It was a Rainer Beer themed cyclo cross bike, single speed, of course. I needed it like I needed a hole in my head. But it was super cool and, well........ Anyway. I got it.

It ended up being built, ridden very little, and eventually I got rid of it. So, it was just a curiosity, more than anything. Had I not been diverted off into the whole 29"er mtb thing for several years and been the gravel road riding fiend I always wanted to be, well maybe then. Maybe I'd have ridden that bike more. Hard to say........

Then there was winter. We actually had snow back then, and plenty of it. This always brought up the "Curse Of The Fat Bike'. What's that, you might ask? Well, it was this thing I wrestled with every Winter for five years. Ever since I had seen Dave Gray's prototype Pugsley at Frostbike, I wondered and fretted, and thought and schemed about fat bikes. How could I get one? What could I do with it? Did I really need one? Maybe I was dreaming. Well.........I definitely was dreaming! I definitely was broke at this time of year, and I was definitely not thinking straight. Witness- The Raleigh here........

Of course, when it was 85°F, Sunny, and everything was green, including the paper in my pocket with pictures of dead presidents on them, I never was thinking about fat bikes. Why would I? I had too many irons in the fire with testing bike stuff, Trans Iowa, doing a few gravel events, and just raising a family.

From a December commute to work in 2008.

Then the above would happen. I had to hoof a LOT of my commute route back then. You see, 29"ers don't roll over stuff like that too well. I would be grousing, bummed, and fat bike curious as all get out.

Looking back I should have just done it. A purple Pugsley and then I would have been over it all. I would have been there and done that and I probably wouldn't have three fat bikes of my own and four in the house over all. Or I would have twice as many..... But yeah- I should have just pulled the trigger in 2006.