Spring has Sprung - Mountain Biking 'R' Us

Squeezed a few mountain bike rides in this week, including yesterday with pal Brian christening his spiffy new 29er.  Son Ian also joined in on the festivities.  Perfect day with sunny temps in the 60s, trails in great shape - with just a touch of mud to make things interesting - leaving actual proof of dirt fun on leg and bikes.

Cruised our local trails, St Edward State Park/Big Finn Hill Park, for the uh, zillionth time.  Doesn't matter, any trails ridable from the house are perfect in my book.  We're lucky to have this playground virtually in our backyard, a few hundred acres laced with singletrack.

Bikes lined up, after a quick post ride hose off, for official photo session.  We appear to be Team Sette, with all of our steeds sporting the same downtube sticker.  Brian was impressed with his ceremonial 29er dirt action.  I've been digging my 29er for two years now.  Ian's Sette frame that I recently built up is working great.  If you're looking for a great ride at a great price, Sette is pretty hard to beat.

This now concludes my Sette commercial, which wasn't my intent.  Intent is to just ride, whatever you're riding.  See you out there.

Shimano Shifter Hell

Welcome to Shimano hell, I'll be your tour guide.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a Shimano fan - they make great stuff.  However, I'm cursing 'em a bit at the moment...

Replaced the rear derailleur cable on my zippy Ibis carbon road bike, which runs Ultegra STI shifters.  Piece-O-Cake, done in no time flat, been through this routine before.  Bike in workstand to adjust shifting - won't shift all - nada, ziltch.  What the heck?

Closer inspection reveals cable end in shifter not sitting where it should be, appears to be above the grooved slot.  Either I threaded the cable incorrectly, missing the grooved slot and housing (most likely), or the barrel cable end somehow pulled through the housing (unlikely).  No big deal, I'll push the cable back through the shifter and reseat.  Not so fast Bunky...

After an hour of screwing around, along with an additional 20 minutes from a neighbor - seems to be impossible to push the cable back through - gap is too tight.  Attempted to push cable with a thin awl from the back - sorry.  Grab from the front with needle nose pliers - sorry.  Removed two screws to hopefully access via plastic hatch - sorry.

Cutting the new cable would do nothing but allow the cable end to drift somewhere into the shifter housing.  Crap!

Considered removing pivot bolt lock nut and see where that gets me. I chicken out knowing STI shifters are not really designed to be taken apart.  You can just see the tiny springs, spacers and various watch like parts waiting to explode all over the garage.

After some online searching, discover this is a fairly common problem, though usually occurs when a worn cable snaps in the shifter, leaving the barrel end stuck.  My dilemma is similar, though my cable is intact.  From the online pics and stories that I read, some wound up buying a new shifter after unsuccessfully trying to remove the cable - some bike shops unable to remove as well.  Others drilled a small hole into the shifter housing to access the snapped cable.  Most removed after hours of poking and prodding with various awls and dental type tools.

Man, you'd think Shimano would have designed some kind of access hatch to remove a broken off cable end.  Replacing an expensive shifter assembly because of a broken cable is just plain nuts.  Even though my problem appears to be self induced, amazing that I can't easily remove the cable.

I plan to cut the new cable a few inches back and remove the shifter from the bike.  Then sitting a table with good lighting, can twist and access the shifter internals as needed.  Neighbor lent me a thin awl and really skinny needle nose pliers to poke around with.  What a pain in the uh, shifter.

Wish me luck.  

BOY - Powerful Short Film

Moving and incredibly well done short film.  Break out the hanky before viewing.  Having a cyclist son myself, even more powerful.  I wept both times viewed.  Call me sappy.  Impressive little film.

Levi's Commuter - Aboard the Bandwagon

While searching though Blog Land, came across a post in Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, yapping about Levi's getting into the bicycle clothing market.  Debate if the concept is just a flash in the pan for Levi's, jumping into the commuter/transportation arena, or something that will stay in the Levi's lineup for awhile.

My vote is flash in the pan and Levi's will abandon the concept sooner or later, this whole "cycling thing" a blip on their marketing radar.  Even so, even with hipster alert written all over it, I still think what they're attempting is cool.  How many large, household name companies are pushing bicycling?  And indirectly, that's what they're doing.  Anything that gets cycling in the mainstream media is a good thing.  And if commuting and transportation oriented, even better.

The cycling racer image, of which I'm 100% guilty, will never sell to the mass market of everyday folks and get 'em on bikes.  Not going to happen.  Seeing people riding with street looking clothes - heading out to work, shop, whatever - more of an impact, I think.  The racer wannabe, training ride mentality, is a roadblock to getting more folks on two wheels.  And if the hipster fixie crowd gets more people on bikes, I'm all for it. Skinny jeans, sneakers, and toe straps included.

Check out the Levi's commercial.  When was the last time you saw anything advertising wise from a huge, non bicycle related company, spotlight cycling in such a positive way?  And for that, kudos to Levi's.  With any luck, I'm proven wrong and they sell piles of clothes and people actually wear 'em riding their bikes. 

Nothing wrong with that picture.

BuDu Race # 4 - Whidbey Island Cruise

Last Sunday, time for round four of the BuDu race series, otherwise known as Cooking in the Kettles.  Race venue was Fort Ebey State Park, not a bad place to hold a mountain bike race - pretty cool actually.  Camping available, real rest rooms, great trails, and scenic views as the added bonus.  Nice.

Last year, Racer Boy Ian, competed here in the U-12 division, younger riders doing the shorter 3+ mile lap with little climbing.  This year, it would be Beginner class for 13 - 18 year old kids, on the full 7 mile lap, complete with 1100 feet of climbing.  A bit tougher gig. 

Oh-dark-thirty wake up call to catch the 7:00 AM ferry over to the Whidbey; quicker and much more scenic then driving.  Ferry almost empty, with most vehicles sporting mountain bikes.

Compared to usual, just took a few pictures and posted 'em above slideshow style.  Fair amount of racers at this event, me not included.  I elected to continue my lame streak and enjoy my spring allergy hell.  Sniffle, drip, curse.

Ian rolling in towards the finish, looking like a mini pro, pretty cool for 12 years old.  Rolled in for last place today, idea being getting back into the racing groove.  He's been on his bike maybe three times since 'cross season ended in December.  Said he had fun and that's what counts. After loading up, we hit a pizza place in Coupville, before hitting the ferry for home.  Sunny spring day, great father/son time.  We'll take it.

 Quick post and a few pics.  Thanks for reading and stopping by the ol' blog.  Until next time...

Tour of California - GoPro Video

While cruising the web, came across this footage from the Tour of California, via GoPro cameras.  Most GoPro footage usually involves mountain biking and other so called extreme sports.  Pretty cool change of pace to ride with a pro peloton from a GoPro view...








I own a GoPro camera that I've only messed with a bit.  Need to break it out and do some experimenting.  Fun stuff to play with.  I'll pencil that it soon.

BuDu Race # 3 - Boo Hoo

BuDu series race # 3 throw down at Fort Steilcoom park, south of Tacoma, was on the schedule for today.  Racer Boy Ian was a little on the fence about hitting this race, but having him waking me up at 6:00 AM proved his interest.  Fort Steilcoom not being one of his favorite places to race, not enough singletrack for his riding style.  We've hit these places a few times over the course of a few race series now, so he's getting a little picky...

We head out the door for the hour plus drive to the start line complete with 38 degree temps, wet ground, and wet snow falling.  Could be a painful day.  We agree if the weather continues to look this ugly, we retain the right to bag it all and head home.  Halfway to Tacoma, the skies clear a bit.  Not bad at all, though on the chilly side.

A bit of confusion while signing up at the registration tent - well - turned to confusion later.  Girls at the tent mention 1 lap for Beginner class and 2 laps for Sport.  About a 4+ mile lap.  I ask Ian what he wants to ride, he says 2 laps.  I sign him up for U-19 Sport class.  That race doesn't start until 11:00 AM, now we have some time to kill.  Ian takes off to pre-ride the course.

The 9:00 AM racers line up and I see a few of Ian's teammates ready to roll.  I ask 'em what class they're doing, they mention Beginner class for 2 laps.  Uh?  A few minutes later, boom, off they go.  I head back to the registration tent, now confused.  I find out Sport class is actually 3 laps.  That's a 12 mile race, plus warm up lap, for 16 miles or so.  Add in racing against kids up to 19 years old.  Middle of summer, Ian could handle this.  Middle of March, with only two or so mountain bike rides under his belt since 'cross season ended in December - no way.  He'd be hurting big time, no doubt.

Racer Boy Ian is in a bit of gray area, being 12 years old.  His racing age is 13, since he turns 13 this year - those are the rules.  That bumps him up into the 13-18 Beginner class for this series, or U-19 for Sport class.  Different race venues run different number of laps depending on the course.  For the 12 and under division, where Ian was last year, the 1 lap races felt short to him, 2 would be about right.  So today, that would have been Beginner class.

Ian rolls in from his warm up lap and I give him the news.  At one point, the race director tells me the Sport class may only do two laps, but later it remains at three.  I elect to pull the plug on Ian's race day.  I want to keep all this as positive and fun as possible, with reasonable challenges along the way.  Ian agrees.  The race folks are cool, we get a refund and change numbers back to Beginner class, where I'll keep him for the remaining races in the series.  I always keep in mind we're talking about a 12 year old here, and would rather error on the easy side of things.

Getting up a 6:00 AM and driving 100 miles round trip for nothing is a bummer, but hey - stuff happens.  The BuDu gang run a great series and even though my gut said no to the Sport class for Ian, thought the laps would be right.  No big deal, many more races in the future, including the next BuDu race.  We're not talking world peace or pro contracts here.

While at the race, with the confusion, grabbed a whopping three pics for the day.  Here's one of teammate Anders heading for the finish line, looking good in the 13-18 Beginner class.

After the drive home and homework time spent on a science project, Ian and I hit the local trails for the late afternoon roll.  Super muddy today, but felt great to get out.  We did about 10 miles of woods rolling and Ian was pretty toasted at the end.  I made the right call earlier in the day - for sure.

As long as his interest remains, plenty of rides and races remain in Ian's future.  I plan to keep it as fun as possible, ramp it up as needed, and error on the low side of things if required.  For us, the best approach to it all, and it's been working well.