Minus Ten Review - 11

Siren "Song" 29"er

Ten years ago this week on the blog I was talking about many varied subjects. First notable thing was commuting by bicycle. Gas was approaching $4.00/gallon and many folks were thinking commuting by bicycle was in the imminent future.

Well, we all know how that turned out! Istill cannot believe gas prices haven't been anywhere near that level now for almost a decade.

The other thing I was gabbing about was the planning for the next Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. I had gone up to Decorah, Iowa to meet with the trail group there to discuss ideas for the event. It was fun.......then. Several months later it was not so much fun, but that pivotal story will have to wait for later.

There was a lot of tubeless tire converting going on in advance of my trip to Texas to see my in laws and ride at Franklin Mountain State Park. This would be my second trip with bicycles to this area. I set up my first set of tires with the now famous "MG's Secret Sauce" tubeless goo and another wheelset with Stan's.

I also was taking the fetching Siren Song single speed soft tail mountain bike along for the ride. I was pretty stoked to try this rig and I was honored to once again ride a small builder's bike. But not all was well in the custom bike builder's world and at about this time Badger Cycles was imploding and since I had one of their bikes it was making me a target for some nasty comments. It is one of the reasons I put the bike away for many years, with only brief encounters with the outside world.

Minus Ten Review - 11

Siren "Song" 29"er

Ten years ago this week on the blog I was talking about many varied subjects. First notable thing was commuting by bicycle. Gas was approaching $4.00/gallon and many folks were thinking commuting by bicycle was in the imminent future.

Well, we all know how that turned out! Istill cannot believe gas prices haven't been anywhere near that level now for almost a decade.

The other thing I was gabbing about was the planning for the next Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. I had gone up to Decorah, Iowa to meet with the trail group there to discuss ideas for the event. It was fun.......then. Several months later it was not so much fun, but that pivotal story will have to wait for later.

There was a lot of tubeless tire converting going on in advance of my trip to Texas to see my in laws and ride at Franklin Mountain State Park. This would be my second trip with bicycles to this area. I set up my first set of tires with the now famous "MG's Secret Sauce" tubeless goo and another wheelset with Stan's.

I also was taking the fetching Siren Song single speed soft tail mountain bike along for the ride. I was pretty stoked to try this rig and I was honored to once again ride a small builder's bike. But not all was well in the custom bike builder's world and at about this time Badger Cycles was imploding and since I had one of their bikes it was making me a target for some nasty comments. It is one of the reasons I put the bike away for many years, with only brief encounters with the outside world.

Thinking South By Southwest

I saw some race report yesterday that got me thinking. It made me kind of sad, actually. It was a race report for the El Paso Puzzler. You should take a moment to read it here. It was written by the winner, Evan Plews. Evan does a great job reminding me of every gnarly facet of the Franklin Mountain State Park. I won't say you'll get the same feelings I do by reading it, because that area is close to my heart now, and I've ridden it several times since about 2007.

I've included a few images from my last trip there. The El Paso area is in the desert. The Chihuahuan Desert is the largest desert in North America, but ironically, it isn't the type of desert most folks think of when they conjure up desert images in their minds. Most folks think of the iconic Saguaro of the Sonoran Desert, or the great Joshua Trees of the Mojave Desert. The Chihuahuan Desert has no icon, not that I know of. It is just a rocky, spiky, dry area that presents a unique challenge to any mountain biker. While it isn't necessarily typical of the Chihuahuan area itself, Franklin Mountain has one main feature you need to come to terms with.

Rocks. And lots, and lots of them.

Most of the time you can know you are on the trail in the Franklin Mountain State Park because you are not in the brush and cactus. There really is no other good way to see the trail in many places. And as you can see from my images, the trail is essentially loose, busted up rock of various sizes. Imagine riding on rubble, and you will have some modicum of understanding the trials and tribulations of riding in El Paso's surrounding mountains.

If you read Evan Plew's report, he gives you a description of coming off Mundy's Gap into a mile long rubble field. Yep. I get it. Rocks. It's what's for dinner in the Franklin Mountains.

What these rocks do is they resist your wheels passage, they slip out from under you wheels, knocking you off-line, and robbing you of precious momentum, and they can, (as Evan describes), bust up your equipment. It is a very tough place on rider and bike.

One other thing: It is a dry, dry, dry place! If you ever get down south, by southwest, to the El Paso area, you'd better bring lots of water with you to do any riding. The combination of the tough, unforgiving trails, and dry climate mean you will be going through a lot of moisture, and you will need to be able to replace it on your ride. It is remote, and even though it may seem that you are not far from El Paso, there isn't a good, direct route to water without doing a ton of work to get to it. Just so I know I warned ya!

So why ride there at all? Well, it is hard, but I am learning that it takes a different way of riding to get the most enjoyment out of what you put in. I think it is more of a "rock crawler" mentality. You won't be ripping along, feeling the flow for a half mile, or even a quarter mile here. (There is some amount of "flow", but that is even different there.) No- It is more of a measured pace sort of mentality, I think, that garners the most enjoyment out there. That and stopping to enjoy the scenery once in awhile is highly recommended.

I am sad, as I said in the beginning, because I will miss going to Texas this year due to a conflict with my wife's work. Sad because I love my family down there, of course, but I also love riding in that Chihuahuan Desert. Check it out sometime if you can. It is tough and challenging, but really rewarding in the end.

Thinking South By Southwest

I saw some race report yesterday that got me thinking. It made me kind of sad, actually. It was a race report for the El Paso Puzzler. You should take a moment to read it here. It was written by the winner, Evan Plews. Evan does a great job reminding me of every gnarly facet of the Franklin Mountain State Park. I won't say you'll get the same feelings I do by reading it, because that area is close to my heart now, and I've ridden it several times since about 2007.

I've included a few images from my last trip there. The El Paso area is in the desert. The Chihuahuan Desert is the largest desert in North America, but ironically, it isn't the type of desert most folks think of when they conjure up desert images in their minds. Most folks think of the iconic Saguaro of the Sonoran Desert, or the great Joshua Trees of the Mojave Desert. The Chihuahuan Desert has no icon, not that I know of. It is just a rocky, spiky, dry area that presents a unique challenge to any mountain biker. While it isn't necessarily typical of the Chihuahuan area itself, Franklin Mountain has one main feature you need to come to terms with.

Rocks. And lots, and lots of them.

Most of the time you can know you are on the trail in the Franklin Mountain State Park because you are not in the brush and cactus. There really is no other good way to see the trail in many places. And as you can see from my images, the trail is essentially loose, busted up rock of various sizes. Imagine riding on rubble, and you will have some modicum of understanding the trials and tribulations of riding in El Paso's surrounding mountains.

If you read Evan Plew's report, he gives you a description of coming off Mundy's Gap into a mile long rubble field. Yep. I get it. Rocks. It's what's for dinner in the Franklin Mountains.

What these rocks do is they resist your wheels passage, they slip out from under you wheels, knocking you off-line, and robbing you of precious momentum, and they can, (as Evan describes), bust up your equipment. It is a very tough place on rider and bike.

One other thing: It is a dry, dry, dry place! If you ever get down south, by southwest, to the El Paso area, you'd better bring lots of water with you to do any riding. The combination of the tough, unforgiving trails, and dry climate mean you will be going through a lot of moisture, and you will need to be able to replace it on your ride. It is remote, and even though it may seem that you are not far from El Paso, there isn't a good, direct route to water without doing a ton of work to get to it. Just so I know I warned ya!

So why ride there at all? Well, it is hard, but I am learning that it takes a different way of riding to get the most enjoyment out of what you put in. I think it is more of a "rock crawler" mentality. You won't be ripping along, feeling the flow for a half mile, or even a quarter mile here. (There is some amount of "flow", but that is even different there.) No- It is more of a measured pace sort of mentality, I think, that garners the most enjoyment out there. That and stopping to enjoy the scenery once in awhile is highly recommended.

I am sad, as I said in the beginning, because I will miss going to Texas this year due to a conflict with my wife's work. Sad because I love my family down there, of course, but I also love riding in that Chihuahuan Desert. Check it out sometime if you can. It is tough and challenging, but really rewarding in the end.

A Texas Sized Trip Recap Post!

First off, I wanted to let those folks know that were wondering what I thought about aluminum as a frame material that I will get to that soon.....


Okay, now sit back and grab a beverage. This will be a long one!

Here we have a scene fron western Kansas on the first day out from Iowa. Kansas has some big, wide open spaces and the sunsets here are always spectacular.

This one is from north of Tucumcari, New Mexico. It's a picture of "The Hat". When you see this "hat shaped" mesa, you know you aren't far from Tucumcari. many a Route 66 traveler longed for the site of The Hat at the end of a long westwards drive back in the day.

In fact, "Tucuncari Tonight!" can still be seen on billboards all around the area.

Here's a shot of the Jarilla Mountain Range just north of El Paso, Texas. We were still in New Mexico here. The really cool thing about the trip is all the mountains that we get to see for the last 300 miles or so. I always look forward to this part!

(Sorry about the ghost image here. I took most of these shots through the car window traveling at 75mph!)

I've said it several times: El Paso's Franklin Mountain State Park trails are nothing but rocks! No dirt here folks.

Here the trail traverses an arroyo. Yes, that path of white fist sized and larger stones running into the backround is the trail!

The Lower and Upper Sunset trail loops are super technical, tough, and give you a workout. This is what fried my legs last week.

Okay: here you go from lower right to upper left. That's the trail. You will notice that as the trail steepens the rocks get looser and bigger.

This was pretty typical of how the climbs were there. Loose, big rocks in every climb that wanted to spit out from under your tires, sapping your climbing speed, and in many cases, shutting me down.

An FS rig that excells at seated climbing is the e-ticket for this stuff!

Okay, one last trail shot for ya all. This is a sweeper turn that comes down from the upper center of the photo to the lower left. And no............those rocks are not packed in solid!

It's like cornering on shards of bricks! Even the color of the rocks reminds me of bricks right here.

Amazing trails for sure! I really like the challenge of riding here.

I've been trying to get a shot of this for years! The Cowboy of Conlen Texas!

It's just a metal painted statue of a cowboy drawing his six shooter on the side of the road. What it was put there for, I have no idea, but I am sure it has been there for years.

Just a cool part of Americana that I was lucky to squeeze a shot off of while zooming by at 75mph!

Seen in Stratford, Texas headed north was this "Ergon" tanker. Could it be a secret sauce is contained within that is used to make Ergon grips?

Maybe these top secret squeezin's will find there way into the latest health shake used by Mr. 24 and the rest of the Ergon Team to dominate the upcoming mtb events they enter.

Whatever it is, I was there to grab this photo and start the speculation!



So that's a wrap on the Texas trip of 2010. Now it's time to get down to matters at hand, not the least of which is getting T.I.V6 recon finished!

A Texas Sized Trip Recap Post!

First off, I wanted to let those folks know that were wondering what I thought about aluminum as a frame material that I will get to that soon.....


Okay, now sit back and grab a beverage. This will be a long one!

Here we have a scene fron western Kansas on the first day out from Iowa. Kansas has some big, wide open spaces and the sunsets here are always spectacular.

This one is from north of Tucumcari, New Mexico. It's a picture of "The Hat". When you see this "hat shaped" mesa, you know you aren't far from Tucumcari. many a Route 66 traveler longed for the site of The Hat at the end of a long westwards drive back in the day.

In fact, "Tucuncari Tonight!" can still be seen on billboards all around the area.

Here's a shot of the Jarilla Mountain Range just north of El Paso, Texas. We were still in New Mexico here. The really cool thing about the trip is all the mountains that we get to see for the last 300 miles or so. I always look forward to this part!

(Sorry about the ghost image here. I took most of these shots through the car window traveling at 75mph!)

I've said it several times: El Paso's Franklin Mountain State Park trails are nothing but rocks! No dirt here folks.

Here the trail traverses an arroyo. Yes, that path of white fist sized and larger stones running into the backround is the trail!

The Lower and Upper Sunset trail loops are super technical, tough, and give you a workout. This is what fried my legs last week.

Okay: here you go from lower right to upper left. That's the trail. You will notice that as the trail steepens the rocks get looser and bigger.

This was pretty typical of how the climbs were there. Loose, big rocks in every climb that wanted to spit out from under your tires, sapping your climbing speed, and in many cases, shutting me down.

An FS rig that excells at seated climbing is the e-ticket for this stuff!

Okay, one last trail shot for ya all. This is a sweeper turn that comes down from the upper center of the photo to the lower left. And no............those rocks are not packed in solid!

It's like cornering on shards of bricks! Even the color of the rocks reminds me of bricks right here.

Amazing trails for sure! I really like the challenge of riding here.

I've been trying to get a shot of this for years! The Cowboy of Conlen Texas!

It's just a metal painted statue of a cowboy drawing his six shooter on the side of the road. What it was put there for, I have no idea, but I am sure it has been there for years.

Just a cool part of Americana that I was lucky to squeeze a shot off of while zooming by at 75mph!

Seen in Stratford, Texas headed north was this "Ergon" tanker. Could it be a secret sauce is contained within that is used to make Ergon grips?

Maybe these top secret squeezin's will find there way into the latest health shake used by Mr. 24 and the rest of the Ergon Team to dominate the upcoming mtb events they enter.

Whatever it is, I was there to grab this photo and start the speculation!



So that's a wrap on the Texas trip of 2010. Now it's time to get down to matters at hand, not the least of which is getting T.I.V6 recon finished!

Friday News And Views

Whelp, it has been another cold and snowy week with little to no bicycle activity. I know it can't last a whole lot longer, and thoughts of getting out to test some of the stuff I have here for Twenty Nine Inches is growing heavy on my mind. I have a "responsibility complex", I guess!

<=== Oh! If only there were clear dirt trails near by! How I would thrash thee!

The one thing I really worry about now as warmer weather looms is just how fast is this stuff going to melt, and when will it rain? The right, (or wrong) combination of these two answers could mean that the floods we saw in 2008 could be eclipsed by a potential flood like we have never seen the likes of. I sure hope that doesn't happen! It would really be disastrous. But this pile of white stuff is doomed to melt, and melt soon.

In the meantime, I have made my reservations/plans for Frostbike. That will be coming up a week from today, at least for me, as I trek up to Northfield, Minnesota and hang out at Mike's Bikes again. After that I am doing the open house, and then Saturday there is some mystery plan that will probably only become clear on Saturday afternoon. But I am okay with that. Sunday I'll make a quick appearance and then get back to Iowa. Look for reports from the road starting a week from today.

About a month from now I'll be in Texas for a week and one afternoon I will get to ride a bike. Sheesh! One day to ride when I'm in a literal riding paradise! And no snow! Well, although I want to ride the whole week, I won't since I will have my family along, so that won't be happening. At least one glorious day in the sun should happen though. More on this as the date grows closer.

So, maybe I'll hit up the snowmobile trails again Saturday on the bike. It's not much, but it beats sitting around waiting for the snow to melt! Have a great weekend and I hope someone is riding a bike out there somewhere!

Friday News And Views

Whelp, it has been another cold and snowy week with little to no bicycle activity. I know it can't last a whole lot longer, and thoughts of getting out to test some of the stuff I have here for Twenty Nine Inches is growing heavy on my mind. I have a "responsibility complex", I guess!

<=== Oh! If only there were clear dirt trails near by! How I would thrash thee!

The one thing I really worry about now as warmer weather looms is just how fast is this stuff going to melt, and when will it rain? The right, (or wrong) combination of these two answers could mean that the floods we saw in 2008 could be eclipsed by a potential flood like we have never seen the likes of. I sure hope that doesn't happen! It would really be disastrous. But this pile of white stuff is doomed to melt, and melt soon.

In the meantime, I have made my reservations/plans for Frostbike. That will be coming up a week from today, at least for me, as I trek up to Northfield, Minnesota and hang out at Mike's Bikes again. After that I am doing the open house, and then Saturday there is some mystery plan that will probably only become clear on Saturday afternoon. But I am okay with that. Sunday I'll make a quick appearance and then get back to Iowa. Look for reports from the road starting a week from today.

About a month from now I'll be in Texas for a week and one afternoon I will get to ride a bike. Sheesh! One day to ride when I'm in a literal riding paradise! And no snow! Well, although I want to ride the whole week, I won't since I will have my family along, so that won't be happening. At least one glorious day in the sun should happen though. More on this as the date grows closer.

So, maybe I'll hit up the snowmobile trails again Saturday on the bike. It's not much, but it beats sitting around waiting for the snow to melt! Have a great weekend and I hope someone is riding a bike out there somewhere!