Bicycle

This past Sunday was the Stafford Lake Wildcat CX race just outside of Novato in Marin County, California. The weather was simply amazing. Just slightly cool in the morning to almost warm in the afternoon. The skies were completely clear and rain from a few days before had left just the right amount of moisture … Read more

Cheap go fast shit. I love thinking about what we need versus what we want. The imagination often gets in our way. It will cost us money and slow us down. It keeps us slow. I see riders in my area all day long on bikes that are too big (travel) for them, too heavy, … Read more

At the last minute on Saturday, I joined the Meet Your Maker Tour ride and picnic set at China Camp State Park. The tour is a great series of bike events that put builders and potential customers together where the action is happening. Riding together, talking about bikes, connecting. Sean from Soulcraft Bikes is the ringleader for the … Read more

This morning I was shocked. The day started like any other. It’s Friday and I’m going to go over to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass after work. Everything according to plan… The computer is fired up after arriving at work. I sit down. I check mail. Huh? An email in my inbox from Jamie Medeiros at Firefly … Read more

Many people were shocked and saddened when they heard about the passing of Robin Williams. I was certainly one of them. To save a lot of useless and cluttered words, simply, Robin wasn’t one of the people who went out and changed the world; he changed the way we feel. I’m grateful for the gifts … Read more

Another round of the McLaren Short Track Challenge. I showed up prepared this year. The bike was perfect. My problem lately has been lack of energy. Still, I pushed as hard as I could with an average heartrate of 170. That’s pretty good as my breaking heartrate is 178. I gave it my all and came … Read more

This has been a particularly hard year for me at Northstar with regard to bike damage. Rear derailleurs in particular. Several of the lines on the trails have been the bane of their existence. I think I’ve gone through at least six derailures in 10 days on the mountain. Horrible stuff. I had started with … Read more

I design and make a lot of parts that I use on my personal bikes. I always want to be riding on the best bike I can. I ride them hard and I get to see what goes wrong and how. This one suprised me. I use a PVD stainless steel reducer on the top … Read more

Riding around the ranch yesterday I screwed up. I broke my heart. I was sucked into a game of Hunter/Killer. It’s the game I tend to play in races and hard rides. I wasn’t looking for that on this day but I found it. I seek my target, overtake/kill it, move to the next. One … Read more

Sometimes on the trail, when discussing with some folks on how to clean an uphill switchback or ride a section of trail fast, the old expression will come up that you need to “put in 100%”. It get’s said a lot. Still, I don’t think people really know what it means. Here’s an example from the Tamarancho … Read more

It was time to replace my old Shimano XC-60 shoes with some new Shimano XC-61‘s. Both size 43, while I could do 42.5 for pure raceday shoes. New shoes, gloves, or grips are always so nice. The XC-60 shoes have treated me very well so I was happy to get the new model. Still, I … Read more

This weekend was the Boondocks race at Northstar. Boondocks is probably one of the most fun courses you can race around here for downhill. It’s so fast but with just the right mix of jumps, rocks, crazy lines and requisite endurance. It’s really not to be missed. Sticks and Stones is the other to get to. … Read more

…aside from my own PVD Magic Ring. I love that thing. Luc Albert has a problem. A bike problem. He’s the king of the killer shit and it’s gotta be right. He knows what the pros use and how things should be so he had to solve this problem – how to have a killer XTR bash/guide … Read more

I did a quick photo shoot on Sunday morning. It’s a tree jump/ride outside of Deer Park in Fairfax. It’s got just enough ramp into the tree to make it up the stump but it goes quite steep very quickly. Approach can be done at a quick speed and it’s a fairly smooth entry. The base of … Read more

I got a new spring for my 2013 Giant Glory w/ RS Vivid shock. I’ve been using a 450lb spring since getting the bike together at the beginning of last season. It was the stock spring that came with the frame. My setup last season was a bit soft though as I was still nursing … Read more

Getting to work by bike. It’s easy. What’s hard is doing it over and over and over… One thing that makes it possible to do that is to have the right bike for the job. In general, a commuting bike should be light, fast, and comfortable. Since the rider tends to be in dense traffic, … Read more

Downhill season has begun here in Northern California. Northstar opened this last weekend. Typically, the park was far from ready. Considering the lack of any real winter I wonder why they can open this late in the season yet still be totally unprepared. One lift was open with the other opening in 3 more weeks. … Read more

Until recently, there was just one time worth mentioning for the Endor Flow trail at Camp Tamarancho. It was, for the last 11 months,  Ronen Sarig’s 2:40 as validated via GoPro and posted on YouTube. It was the fastest validated time known for the trail. It, and he, was the target for any fast rider … Read more

Recently, I went to mount my Garmin Edge 510 to one of my bikes. It twisted in all wonky so I looked further. I must have broken a mounting tab from the back of my on a recent ride. I had to fix it. I use GPS data all the time to track my progress, routes, … Read more

People have a lot of excuses. Excuses are one of the limitless resources I know. So many people craft and build lives that require a car then complain about having to use one as well as care and feed it. It’s silly. Build the life you want and find ways of keeping true to your heart. … Read more

This past week, at the Sea Otter Classic, Shimano officially unveiled their new premier off-road group-set. The XTR M9000. Attempting to directly compete and regain traction against SRAM’s now dominant XX1 group, the new Shimano group has eleven speeds and a single chainring option. There are some differences with how the rear derailleurs function. The … Read more

I went down to Sea Otter again. I raced the downhill and spent most of my energy on practice and the race. I was able to get some time in the pits and booths for some pics. There are several things to mention. XTR Front Derailleur – Truly amazing. I’m a fan of 2X shifting … Read more

2014. It’s time for another Sea Otter Classic. It’s always such a great weekend and so much fun. If you’ve never gone and raced then you are really missing out. Don’t just go, race! It makes a difference. You become part of the show and it’s a whole different thing. The weather looks to be … Read more

This is something sweet that we’ll see at NAHBS. Drew Guldalian, of Engin Cycles, is one of the finest frambuilders in the United States. A 3 time winner of Best Mountain Bike prize at NAHBS. He’s, in my opinion, a framebuilder’s framebuilder. Like the folks at Firefly or Carl Strong, the work he does contributes … Read more

Over the years and more subtly throughout the year, how your bike fits you and how you fit your bike will change. This change isn’t just the simple  bio-mechanical fit, but also how you relate to and use the bike. It is a commonly held myth in the cycling world that the ‘fit’ of a … Read more

I recently got a call on the phone about a print that I had put up somewhere online with the details of a Shimano hyperglide 9 spd cassette interface. It turns out that it was the only dimentioned print of a Shimano Hyperglide interface found on the web. I had forgotten about it. It was … Read more

I build bikes, I tune bikes, and I ride bikes. I design them to work just right and then I ride them and find out if they really do. As a constructor, I’m ensuring that what’s on the paper matches what gets painted but most importantly, that what get’s painted isn’t going to get somebody … Read more