March Madness!!

70 degrees in March with less than a week of rain combined for 2013! As much as I hate cleaning my bike and gear man do we need the rain to get here and gone before we have a snowy mountain June!

So I sold the Tallboy LTC and ordered up another TRC for the summer. Why? personal prefrence thats all. No I'm not off the 29er Coolaid and no I won't say one is better than the other but honestly its a matter of what you like:) I still have the HT 29er set up SS and it's really challenges me physically and strait up a blast to ride! I just think out of the box besides the Blur Xc carbon the TRC was the most fun to ride and being so light it was a great light xc bike or all mountain rig for places like Downieville.

On the vehicle side of the garage I bought my first non truck vehicle:) A Subaru Outback.....Yes I know its a lesbian's car but I'm not a lesbian so it's cool! The truck has been retired to light duty with 237k miles I  didn't want to risk having it crap out on the Bay Bridge or in the mountains. The "Subie" is pretty sweet except for having the bikes on the back of the car and thinking my $7k plastic bumper may be crushed at anytime. It's a blast to drive and the kids who are growing up faster than I would like are much more comfortable on longer drives than the truck.



Anyways more on the new whip in a week:)..............

Lycra attack!

Happy New Year a month late!

So I started off the year trying to find a place to ride that didn't reguire having to wash my bike and gear after every ride but it was tough! Pretty much been riding the Tallboy LTC toward the end of December and beginning of January then started to focus more on the single speed Nimble 9 hard tail 29er. I entered my first single speed xc race last weekend in Monterey at the first CCCX XC race of 2013 at Fort Ord for some punishment and it was all that! The course is acuatly a flowing fun 4.6 mile loop that Cat 2 does a total of 4 times adding up to 18.7miles on the Garmin, Took me a time of 1:50 min to complete putting me in a 3rd place finish amongst a group of 5 :)

I learned a couple things about racing a single speed that day and one being it's faster to run up a hill in traffic that stall out and also that 20mph is the spin out range for a 32x18 setup!

All in all I'm happy with my finish and looking forward to racing this month on the 16th.

Thanks to Team Spare Change, Alamo Bikes and Sports Basement for their support!

If it looks like I have Lycra on in the pictures your correct!
18 miles of comfort! :)

Let the comments begin!

Sean

Last ride of the year!

Good way to end the year!
Looking forward to more miles in 2013!

Sean

Happy Holidays!

Wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and your families. May everyone get out and ride!

"The non professional review" Canfield Brothers Nimble 9

So I picked up a Nimble 9 from Canfield Brothers a couple weeks ago as I was looking for a steel HT 29 with a slack head angle that I could run single speed or gears. This frame is my first Chrome Moly 4130 frame as I heard of the hype of steel vs aluminum and from my first ride the difference was very noticeable! it almost acts as suspension and the bike is very quite and stiff. The bike has a slack 69 degree head angle when using a 100mm fork and a short chain stay that is adjustable with slide drop outs for either single speed or gears. The frame is very well built and the attention to detail is crazy for the price you pay ($650).

The ride of this bike is a blast! quick and stable handling at any speed and with the short chain stay it turns on a dime! one of my biggest concerns of having a slack HA/short chain stay bike was the ability to climb steeps, no worries with this bike just crank and it goes up without the typical slack head angle front end "wandering" and when you get out of the saddle the bike just digs in and goes!

I'm currently set up SS with a 32x20 combo that works best for the places I ride though I feel a 18 for the rear is in the future as soon as my legs get stronger :) I'm running a Fox Float 100mm fork with a Cane Creek head set with a Thomson 70mm stem and Easton Haven carbon bars (711mm wide). Formula R1 brakes. Thomson Elite set back seat post with a WTB Volt saddle (awesome saddle) The wheels are WTB trail 29 hoops laced to a Chub Front hub and a Chub single speed rear with Maxxis Ardent 2.25 tires set up tubeless. For cranks I'm running the E13 XCX+Single Speed crank set and bottom bracket. To finish it off I'm running Shimano XT pedals. The complete build weighs 26 lbs! Not bad for a steel HT29:)

One thing that also turned me on to the Nimble was the great customer service I received from Sean at Canfield! I must have emailed him 50 times with questions and concerns and he responded to all of them! Being a smaller company you really get that "Mom and Pop shop feel"

If your interested you should check out their website at www.canfieldbrothers.com or give them a call at 801-548-2556 ask for Sean :)

Back on the 29er!

So it's raining and looks like a wash out for today(will try for tomorrow) so I thought I might as well post up on the Blog since it's been months!

SeanLife's been busy since my last post with the kids back in school and work busy as ever and trying to get rides in whenever possible. So you might have noticed I'm back on a 29er again (Santa Cruz TBLTC pictured) after I sold the TRC after summer time. Hell I also got a hard tail 29er single speed as well to kick my ass :) Pretty stoked on this ride so far, Climbs really well even with a single 35 tooth up front (1x10) and when you point it down it really comes to life! Weighing in a 27lbs it's light enough for a epic xc day of riding but strong enough for a awesome day in Santa Cruz! I will post some more reviews after I get some more miles on her.

Thanks

Sean

Coolest 24hr Race For Cancer

So I'm recovering from yet another great time with my extended family at this years Coolest 24hr Race For Cancer at Soda Springs! As you know I've lost some great people in my life from this terrible disease from my mother in law to my good friends Allan and Chris's dads so to spend a sleepless weekend doing what I love to do and for the cause well... count me in!Team Spare Change came in a respectable 2nd place this year making a improvement over last years 3rd place. Plus we avoided having to wear pink next year as we where threaten by our team mom that if we lost to the all girls team that would be our punishment! They came in 4th! Great bunch of ladies who have never done a race before! I want to thank Jim Northey with Global Biorhythm Events for putting on another great race! Check out his site for some great races he puts on!   http://www.globalbiorhythmevents.com/

I also would like to thank Eileen Milleza one of the sweetest people I have ever met, I call her mom because she is so caring and giving she makes you feel like giving her a hug! :)  Also to all my team mates and families they have made me feel welcome and part of their family for the last three years and I always look forward to spending a sleepless weekend with! 

Its funny I could write a bunch of stuff about how the race was and so on but I've pretty much summed it up with spending a great weekend with great friends working to make money to kick Cancers Ass! 

Here are some pictures from the race.

Thanks  to all that supported and donated to the cause! 

Sean