A lot going on lately.  Last week we had a nice long conference call with the Moots people.  I guess this whole Moots/Swiftwick thing is really taking off now.  It was pretty cool.  I've  always known that moots is a fine product but it was great finding out what makes it so great.  We found out a lot of stuff about titanium tubing, mitering, welding, and finishing that I never knew before. We also found out that our frames should be here in late march.

In other news, LBL is a freaking mess.  Every so often a tornado comes threw and wrecks a section of a local trail.  It's usually an isolated event that only affects a small area of trail (after all tornado's just aren't that big) and requires a few chain saws and a few man hours to clean up.  The entire trail loo

ks like a tornado rolled through the entire trail system.  The trees that weren't uprooted were snapped near the top or just lost most of their limbs.  It looks like a ware zone.  

Keith and I drove up monday afternoon for a few hours work.  We helped finish off the barkley side of the canal loop.  250+ man hours to clear 6 miles of trail.  We actually worked on a section that wasn't too bad compared to what was cleaned up already and what was to come on the KY side of the loop.  We actually felt like we were making progress and reaching a mile stone which kept our sprits up all day.  The sad fact is there is 35+ miles of trail to go and even when com

plete LBL will never be the same place, good or bad, it will never look the same. 

 Steve found this nice "skinny" suspended about 8 feet above some thick gooey mud and decided 

to walk it.  I won't post the pic of him laying on his face but I will tell ya it went well until the end.

Tuesday, Jeff, K

eith and I drove down to Columbia for a few laps of one of our favorite trails.  Our only goal was 

at least 4 laps at any p

ace, with little stopping.  We had a great time, 

the trail was perfect...almost as was the weather.  Our fist lap was an easy pace

 which is what you might expect for a ride of 35 miles or so but after that 

the pace was quickened to a near XC like pace, where it stayed for the last 3 laps.  I felt great and rode surprisingly strong finishing with plenty gas in the tank.  It makes me wonder what's up with my sub par finishes at the Snake Creek Gap lately.  I have been treating myself better for the last couple weeks, riding more and eating less.  I hope to feel this good march 7th.

Wednesday it was back to LBL for some more trail work.  The going was tough.  The forest service provided us with a sawyer so even though there was more work to do we still managed to clear about 1 1/4 miles of trail in about 4 hours.  I'm gonna try to get back up there friday before work for a couple of hours if i can.  I'd rather ride but I'm  happy to sacrifice some ride time for trail work until we get the loop cleared.  It's the least I can do for Steve (Wilson) who is an asset to the local, and beyond, cycling community.  His business, Wood N' Wave bike shop, relies heavily on the traffic generated by that trail and the park in general.  He hasn't said anything but he's gotta be hurting because of it.

Snake Round #2: Complete-by the skin o' my teeth.

Hard living combined with a lack of riding culminated last Saturday to provide me with one of the hardest snakes I've had to date. Despite my rough day in the saddle and piss poor performance I managed to have one of the best times i've had in a while(by best time i mean fun not actual race time).

The trip started Friday afternoon, just like last month only earlier and better prepared. Keith and I met up with Jeffy, J5, and Dustin (BAMF). Dan managed to score us a warhead (5gal keg) of the sponsorships finest Yazoo Dos Perros, which we were transporting down in the Go Go Gadget Tundra. I usually drive cuz the Tundra holds 5 peeps and with gear, 2 bikes in the bed and up to 4 on a borrowed rack.

We stopped off at pizza hut and marveled in awe as BAMF Dustin and KRS1 Keith pollished off a medium pie each without blinking an eye. I did my best but left 3 slices for later. We dropped Thad + beer off at the parking lot for camping purposes and hte rest of us headed to the hotel no tell. Keith and Jeff hopped in the truck and drove back to the parking lot while Dustin and I mounted bikes for a short urban jaunt around the hard streets of Dalton before riding up to the parking lot.

We climbed up to the parking lot (race finishline, camping/parking spot) where the fire was blazing and folks were enjoying the Dos. I hung around and helped with the beers while Dustin set out for a few trips up the mountain on his trusty Remedy. Good times were had by all and the keg was floated in a jiff. I ate the rest of my pizza then we all headed back down the hill to the hotel and were in bed at a reasonable hour.

The next day the race started out pretty good for me. Despite my tossing and turning all night and heart burn from my late night pizza, I was feeling good and holding myself to a reasonable pace. I made sure to stay behind Keith who usually starts slower than me and finished stronger, and before, me. Shortly before the halfway point I hopped off the trusty Karate Monkey for a hike-a-bike up a short steep section. I took about 2 steps and that's where I knew it was gonna be a long day for me. I didn't feel good at all anymore. I made my way to the half way point letting Keith and Scott, who was riding with us, go. I stopped at the parking lot and hung out for about 10 minutes trying to shake the nausia.. I started feeling better so I set back out again and felt pretty good till the last aid station that signifies 8 miles of hell to go.

Stopped at the aid station and topped off my bottles. The rest was misery, about 2+ hours of pain and suffering. Slow turtle like pace getting passed by 30 + folks. I left everything I had on those last miles and finished with an empty tank. I was greeted by friends with smiles and coke (thanks Jose) which really brought me back to life. I felt better and was able to enjoy the rest of the trip.

We had an awesome crew of Mid-TN folks in attendance. Some just for the party and support, The Neumeyers, who did a fantastic job. Some who had never ridden the snake, Squish, and some veterans who took some serious chunks of time off from the last time. J5 and Keith finished sub 4, and both set personal bests. ScraffyZ(Rick) finished on a rigid single speed and knocked off over 30 minutes. There were a lot of other great local riders who finished strong too.

That's about all I have to say about that.

The last few weeks I've been scouring the internet reading reviews and shopping for bike parts for my upcoming hoopty bike build. I also visited my favorite bike shop and placed an order for some other sweet goodies. A couple of days ago the USPS lady showed up toting the fork that I purchased from On-One. I decided to order the fork from the factory rather than from a retailer. The exchange rate that we currently enjoy with the folks from England means that I get the fork for about a 100-150 dollar saving over purchasing it in the US.

The On-One Carbon Fiber (or as Old Greg calls is plastic) fork is reasonably light, but not so light that it has a rider weight limit, which is good for me, cuz with gear, i'm usually teetering on the max weight limit for most uber light bike stuff. I digress i'm not a weight weenie anyway. The main reasons I chose this fork was the offset or rake is 47mm which speeds up the steering on a 29er over traditional geometry forks ranging from 38-42ish. And I'm hoping to reduce some of the trail vibration that reaches my paws. I'll also be riding a Ti frame with Ti handle bars which should smooth out the trail also.

There seem to be 2 schools of thought on 29er front end geometry. One school uses a super steep head angle, 72-73 degrees and a shorter offset/rake of 38-42mm. The other school uses a slacker head angle 70-72 and longer offset (Fisher bikes famous G2 geometry uses 69.3 (they use a little steeper angle on the larger frames) head angles and 51mm fork offsets). My new frame will have a 71.5 head angle, the same as my Karate Monkey. The Karate monkey fork had 42mm of offset, so I'm hoping to increase the speed of the steering a bit, hopefully it won't be twitchy.

Also, picked up a new XT crank online at Chain Reaction Cycles, again the exchange rate swayed my decision. I considered other cranks on the market but this is my 4th XT crank, it's reasonably light, stiff, reliable and just works.

Ergon Grips. Again I considered other grips, but I've owned 2 other sets and know that they work. They take the edge off of the trail and have a handy little bar end (bigger on this one than my others and made of magnesium instead of aluminum, big deal). They work, for me YMMV. I went with the small size this time. My first pair was small on my 1x1 and I picked up lage's when I built the KM. I think I prefer the small size, or lady's size, thank's ergon for de-masculating me (is that a word?).

Wood N' Wave Steve ordered me other parts i'll need to finish up the build. CK headset, XTR BB (I like to keep a spare around cuz I tend to go through these). And something I've never tried before, a WTB Silverado saddle. I've used the Speed V(on the Cross Check now), Pure V Camo(on the 1x1 and curently on the KM), and Rocket V(on my old Hifi), I liked all of them. My least favorite being the Speed V.

I'll use my Magura Marta's and AC single speed wheels that I have collecting dust in my garage to add to the build. Also, I plan to purchase a Moots stem, handle bar, and seatpost after the sale of the sexyest bike in the world....the Karate Monkey.

BTW anybody need a KM? I'll be offloading in in 4-6 weeks.

It's almost time for Snake Creek Gap round #2. SCG #1 went very well. We had some real good times with some real good folks. Most people had better than expected results despite mechs and weather/trail conditions. I had a personal best by about 8 minutes. Jeffy killed it again. KRS rocked it for his first time out stomping me by a full 12 minutes. J5 pulled an awesome time despite several flats. Scott, despite not riding since November, managed a strong finish. ScraffyZ and several others from the Nashvegas area finished their first time out too.








Snake isn't so much a race as it is a battle to finish and survive. It's hard. Really hard. It's fun. Really fun. It hurts bad. Really bad. I'm stoked that there are still 2 more to go. The trail is fun and tough. It leaves you with nothing in the tank. The folks who put this on are top notch. It's probably the funnest race of the year and a lot of that has to do with how it's run. They had volunteers all over this 34 mile trail cheering, taking photo's, lending a hand at the aid stations, and offering encouragement as you roll on by. Oh yeah, serving chili and pasta salad at the finsih line. BTW: Photo cred to the folks at Northwest Georgia SORBA










Hopefully, round #2 will be a little dryer. The forecast for snake round 1, on Friday, was sunny Friday and Sunny Saturday and 50 degrees. We ended up getting rainy Friday and Saturday 30's, and overcast something fierce, as illustrated in the above pictures. The forecast for this weekends race is the same, sunny and 50's. I'm bringing my rain and cold weather gear this time.