Mountain Bike Review » Kurt Gensheimer

In a world of non-stop, in-your-face marketing, don’t lust after what you can’t afford. Be happy with what you have.

Editor’s Note: The Angry Singlespeeder is a collection of mercurial musings from contributing editor Kurt Gensheimer. In no way do his maniacal diatribes about all things bike oriented represent the opinions of Mtbr, RoadBikeReview, or any of their employees, contractors, janitorial staff, family members, household pets, or any other creature, living or dead. You can submit questions or comments to Kurt at singlespeeder@consumerreview.com. And make sure to check out Kurt’s previous columns.

Brian Caldwell of Highland Way.

My buddy Brian is a bona fide Scotsman. He has thick Scottish accent, a big bright smile, long blonde hair in a ponytail and is a singer/guitarist/songwriter in a popular Scottish folk band in San Diego called the Highland Way. He sings in broad colloquial Scots of the Highlands, and yes, he always wears a kilt to his performances. I cannot confirm or disconfirm whether or not he wears anything underneath.

Beyond his enormous musical talent, Brian is a fascinating guy. He’s a big wave surfer who has traveled the world in search of the ultimate ride, he used to be a windsurfing instructor, he has a recording studio in an old RV in his backyard and he’s married to a falconer. That’s right. His wife walks around with a giant falcon on her arm and raises exotic birds. She is also the only person who is trained and brave enough to work with Honey Badgers at the San Diego Safari Park. To show his pride, Brian wears a Honey Badger t-shirt to our Thursday night mountain bike rides, boasting his wife’s talent and bravery.

Because Brian is Scottish, he is also unabashedly cheap. He’s even proud of his frugality, cracking jokes at his shows including “Scotsmen are so cheap that they’re the only people who can drop a coin and have it hit them on the back of the head as they are picking it up.”

This frugality comes through with his riding gear. He rocks a 10-year-old Bell helmet that’s well past its service life, a pitted-out white cotton undershirt that’s tucked into some threadbare riding shorts and a red Specialized Rock Hopper that’s at least a decade old. Although it’s still in once piece, Brian’s bike is more haggard than Merle, with finely polished chainstays thanks to pedal rub and a head tube completely devoid of red paint on one side thanks to the most severe case of cable rub I’ve ever seen. His tires are almost completely worn down and his saddle has more holes in it than a bag of donuts.

The worse case of cable rub I’ve ever seen

But Brian couldn’t care less. The dude straight up hammers even though his handlebars are far too narrow, his saddle is too low and his cable-operated disc brakes haven’t been serviced in years. My three friends and I – who all ride high-zoot carbon fiber bikes – keep telling Brian he needs to get a new whip. We tell him how much faster he will be with a newer, lighter bike with a better fit, more suspension and superior braking power; not to mention a fresh set of tread. But Brian’s tightwad Scottish upbringing prevents him from making the jump to a new bike. “This old gal is fine for me”, he says.

One day a friend let Brian test ride his full-suspension Niner RDO with full SRAM XX. We were all a bit worried, because we knew that as soon as Brian got going on the bike, his riding would immediately improve. And it did, especially downhill. However, when I asked Brian how he liked the new ride, he simply shrugged his shoulders, flashed a bright smile and said “I dunno, it’s a bike.”

It’s a bike. I couldn’t help but laugh and have a new level of respect for the guy. In a country where in-your-face marketing and non-stop consumption are as routine as eating double bacon cheeseburgers and taking prescription medication, Brian is completely immune to it all. He’s just as happy riding his clapped-out Rock Hopper as he is a Niner worth more than his 20-year-old Toyota 4Runner.

I recently heard a standup routine on satellite radio by Katt Williams. He was talking about being happy with what you have. He said, “If you got a raggedy car, stop talking sh*t about your raggedy car. That’s your raggedy car. You need to go home and wash the sh*t out that muthafu*ka; put Armor All and everything on it.”

Katt Williams professes being happy with what you have.

All too often we get caught up in the trap of not being happy with what we have. Non-stop marketing and meaningless acronyms to describe new useless technologies are designed to make you feel that the bike or gear you have is inferior. With the exception of a few new innovations in the past ten years, there’s very little new under the sun. Don’t lust for something you can’t afford, be happy with what you have; because it’s most likely a lot more that what most everyone else in the world has.

Don’t hate on your bike regardless of how new or old it is, because every time you ride out into the middle of nowhere, you depend on that raggedy bike to get you back home. Treat it right. Wash it, clean it and keep it in good working condition. And when it’s time to buy the bike of your dreams, sell or give your raggedy bike to someone else, because as unlikely as it may sound, a ride like Brian’s old clapped-out Rock Hopper just might be someone’s dream bike.

The Bailey 29er perched atop the famous Flume Trail above Lake Tahoe.

Blings:

Insanely light at 19.8 pounds
Outstanding value at only $1,100 for the frameset
Low bottom bracket delivers exceptional handling and cornering
One of the best warranties in the industry

Dings:

Low bottom bracket has a tendency to clip rocks
Lack of paint and graphics options might be a deal breaker to some
Not designed for riders over 200 pounds

For those of you who read my 26er vs. 29er rigid singlespeed comparison at this year’s 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo, you might remember the 29er I rode was from Bailey Bikes, a boutique manufacturer of carbon fiber race bikes based out of North County San Diego. Although in my test the nod went to the 26er, I still really liked the way the Bailey rode. So to get a better feel for the Bailey 29er, John Bailey set me up with a geared demo rig that I took to Tahoe for a week of riding.

John Bailey is not only an engineer and designer by trade, but he is also a top flight cyclocross racer from the Pacific Northwest who now resides in Southern California. With numerous state titles to his name, Bailey knows how a fast bike should feel and handle. For about the past seven years, Bailey has designed his own road, cyclocross and mountain bike frames, contracting with leading quality Taiwanese factories to manufacture his creations. In addition to starting his own brand, he has also done suspension designs for Turner Bikes.

The disc brake is mounted on the chainstay.

The Bailey 29er is John’s first foray into mountain bike frames after primarily focusing on lightweight and aggressive cyclocross rigs. Just looking at the Bailey 29er, one can see the cyclocross design influences. Ultra-thin seatstays that rival a Cervelo R5 (jokingly called “petite-stays”) for maximum shock absorption and minimal weight, bridgeless seatstays and chainstays for maximum mud clearance and room for up to a 2.4-inch rear tire, a disc brake mount on the chainstay for better braking performance and aggressive geometry that’s designed to do one thing – go fast.

An innovative Kevlar ding guard is molded into the downtube.

Because every frame is designed by racers for racers, Bailey has no flashy paint schemes, belabored graphics or big budget marketing campaigns. Instead, Bailey takes a page from Henry Ford’s book; you can have your Bailey in any color you want, so long as it’s black. A simple unidirectional carbon gloss finish frame is standard and features aggressive race geometry, a press-fit BB92 bottom bracket, tapered head tube, metal inlaid chainsuck protector and a slick Kevlar bash guard integrated into the mold of the downtube just above the bottom bracket. Both the rear disc brake and rear derailleur cables are fully external running down the down tube while the front derailleur is internally routed.

Continue reading for the Bailey 29er riding impressions and photo gallery.

San Diego has some incredible riding, but non-stop, greed-driven development is ruining this former paradise.

Harmony Grove used to be a bucolic country road with a chicken farm and open, rolling hills. Now it’s almost unrecognizable.

After living in North County San Diego for the past five years, tomorrow I am moving. San Diego has been a terrific place, as I have met an incredible group of lifelong friends here. The riding is very challenging; punchy climbs with extremely technical features including rocks everywhere and giant ruts that will swallow you and your bike whole. There are lots of connecting trails too, enabling huge rides that can be in excess of 60 miles without ever touching pavement one time. IMBA would consider many trails in San Diego “non-sustainable”, but that’s what makes them fun. Many of the trails are on raw, natural terrain that isn’t groomed to appease the masses.

Winter is absolutely the best time of year to ride in San Diego, with moderate rainfall to compact the normally loose and sandy soil and January temperatures in the 60s that make the rest of the country jealous. Summer can get very hot and dry, and it’s typically the off season for most people. But you can still get a good ride in early in the morning or late in the evening when the summer sun isn’t as intense.

So if I have a lot of friends and the riding is so great, why am I leaving? Aside from personal reasons, San Diego is no longer the paradise that it used to be. Sure, the weather is incredible, but that’s part of the problem. The weather here is so good that everyone wants to live in San Diego, and based on the rampant, non-stop development, it seems everyone does.

Although the economic crash of 2008 stopped development and home building for a few years, greed-driven developers are back on track, taking their earth movers and gargantuan excavators to transform beautiful, bucolic areas of North County into wastelands of graded dirt and rock piles in preparation for another thousand or so homes packed together like sardines in a can, littering the hillsides that used to be lined with amazing trails.

Although building a singletrack trail is considered “destruction of natural resources”, this is considered “progress”.

Harmony Grove, Black Mountain and La Costa are three areas in the midst of massive development projects right now where beautiful habitat and incredible riding used to exist. Giant yellow Caterpillars now traverse the hillsides, with hundreds of graded plots just waiting for another tract-hell home built ten feet away from another virtually identical abode.

While I understand “progress” is inevitable, there are still parts of the country where land is abundant and people understand that non-stop development is an unsustainable practice. Where is all the water coming from to supply these new homes? Can the roads leading to and from these new developments handle the sudden rise in traffic that these neighborhoods will generate? What quality of life do you have when you’re constantly stuck in traffic and you can barely manage to pay your bills every month?

Not only are open spaces disappearing at an alarming rate in San Diego, but with the influx of new people and homes, it’s putting undue pressure on what little open space areas remain. Only five years ago, places like Elfin Forest and Lake Hodges didn’t have nearly the same amount of foot traffic they do today. Riding trails on a Saturday or Sunday used to be enjoyable, now they have become a constant game of dodging hikers with strollers and off-leash dogs.

This increased traffic on multi-use trails inevitably causes conflict, which in some cases leads to the closing of trails to mountain bikers, or in places like the Bay Area, it leads to bonehead rangers standing on the side of a trail with a radar gun, writing $300 speeding tickets to mountain bikers who exceed the posted 15mph limit.

What really makes me an ASS is the complete hypocrisy with which governmental bodies and landowners have operated. Take for instance a few friends of mine who were building a singletrack trail in the Double Peak area of San Marcos. The trail is now known as 765, which happens to be the total fine the three guys paid to the City of San Marcos after they were caught building the rogue trail.

All three of them – middle-aged family men with homes, jobs and kids – were hauled into court like criminals and slapped with an offense titled “destruction of natural resources” for building a small trail no more than three feet wide and a mile in length with a couple hand saws. Meanwhile, less than a quarter mile away from this incredible singletrack that is now a legal trail the entire neighborhood uses for recreation, half of the entire mountain is blasted out, dug into and graded flat with massive excavation equipment.

Fencing, signage and Caterpillars are popping up everywhere in San Diego after the 2008 economic collapse.

As we speak another 100 or so tract homes are being built right next to 765 Trail. But decimating pristine habitat for thousands of tract homes isn’t considered “destruction of natural resources”, it’s called “progress”; so long as you have millions of dollars to pay off the government.

This kind of short-sightedness combined with the constant influx of people to an area that can’t handle much more growth is a major reason why it’s time for me to move on. Sure, the weather here is great, but for me, it’s not great enough to justify what’s happening to a place that used to be a complete paradise. It’s a sad reality, as we’ll never get these pristine habitats back. I guess the only option is to live in a place that abuts National Forest where development can never happen. But I’m sure if our government gets desperate enough, even that land may fall into the hands of greed-stricken developers.

A friend of mine tries to put it all into perspective, telling me how much better the riding in San Diego is compared to where he used to live in Florida. While I understand where he’s coming from, I’d never live in Florida in the first place, so the point is moot. The fact is San Diego will never be the mountain bike destination it could have been because municipalities don’t care. People want to live in San Diego for the weather and the allure of the Southern California lifestyle that has become an empty, hollow shell of its former self. Paradise has indeed been lost.

Aaron Bradford knows how to shred the gnar and have fun doing it.

Aside from his uncanny ability to effortlessly slay any trail, Aaron Bradford also has the magical ability to make beers appear from nowhere during a ride. I don’t know if he wears a fanny pack or just has big pockets in his baggies, but I’ve witnessed Bradford produce Torpedo IPAs from nowhere in the middle of a ride; an especially welcome gesture when you’re fixing a flat tire.

Never pretentious and always approachable, the one they call B-Rad is a pro and a bro all wrapped into one laid-back, easy-going SuperProBro athlete. Whether he’s racing the Enduro circuit, crushing peoples’ dreams in cyclocross or just doing a soul ride in his hometown of Santa Cruz, the 28-year-old Bradford puts a priority on having fun. He follows no strict training regimen and doesn’t obsess over details; he just loves riding his bike. It’s a refreshing perspective for a professional athlete to have in a world where so many pros take themselves far too seriously.

Raw and Unbridled Talent – We like to call Aaron as ‘The Natural’

Although he has a laid back demeanor, when it’s time to compete, Bradford brings the noise. His resume is quite impressive, having won a Super D National Championship title in 2009, the Downieville Downhill in 2011 and a Singlespeed Cyclocross National Championship in 2012. These results combined with his approachable demeanor have earned Bradford a contract with BMC Switzerland for 2013 as well as deals with Easton Cycling, Fox Racing Shox and Giro. His newfound sponsor support is paying off, as he is currently leading the California Enduro Series and finished third behind Josh Carlson and Adam Craig at the most recent Oregon Enduro.

So the next time you’re in Santa Cruz, look up B-Rad and get ready to have an unforgettable time on the bike. Even if he drops you, don’t be surprised if he’s waiting at the bottom with a secret stash of beers for everyone.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Official Video Description: There’s a lot of buzz about Aaron Bradford right now. For the first time in his decade-plus bike racing career, he finally has some solid support. This season the 28 year old rider is getting bikes (and a van!) from BMC Switzerland, wheels and components from Easton Cycling, suspension from Fox Racing Shox and helmets/shoes/gloves from Giro. Bradford’s bikes are dialed, his van is outfitted with a cooler and a sleeping cot and—for the first time—he can focus on racing instead of credit card debt.

That’s right, it’s called a Shit Kicker, and it just arrived on our doorstep.

Put together in no time. Bike looks really nice. Too bad it doesn’t have Shit Kicker emblazoned on the downtube. If you’re gonna be bold, go all the way.

First off, I want to thank the people at BAMF for naming this bike the Shit Kicker. In a world of bland, mundane names and ho-hum marketing, at least BAMF tries to stir the pot. It makes my job all the more entertaining. But guys, if you’re gonna be bold, go all in. I’m a bit disappointed to not see “Shit Kicker” in big gold lettering on the downtube. And I’ll give you three guesses as to what BAMF stands for. Here’s a hint – think of what Jules from Pulp Fiction had branded on his wallet, then add the word “Ass”.

The BAMF Shit Kicker with the “Genius Build” came 99 percent assembled and within 10 minutes, ready to ride.

Upon arriving home from a ride today I was greeted at my doorstep to a BAMF Shit Kicker 29er mountain bike. Shipped by online retailer Giantnerd, the Shit Kicker came in a larger triangular box with a big logo on it that said “ready to ride”. Sweet.

Here’s how it came out of the box. Pretty slick.

I pulled it into the garage and literally within 10 minutes of unpacking, the Shit Kicker was ready to ride as advertised. Since this is a bike you order direct through Giantnerd, for an extra $79.95 they offer the “Genius Build”, service, assembling the bike 99 percent of the way. All I had to do was attach the front wheel, put on the seatpost, handlebars and pedals, and bang, ready to ride bike. The Genius Build makes the bike easy enough for a monkey to put together, so if you have the mechanical skills of a monkey, order the Genius Build. Right off the bat, BAMF is scoring some big points.

After putting the bike together I made a few observations. First, for only $1,999 this BAMF is well-equipped featuring a carbon frame with what looks to be a 6K weave pattern, a Rock Shox SID fork, SRAM X9 components, blingin’ gold anodized Alex Rims and a carbon Truvativ handlebar. Shit kickin value for certain.

Can you guess what BAMF stands for?

However, there were a few things that miffed me. One was the width of the handlebar, or should I say lack thereof. At a scant 600mm in width, the flat Truvativ bars teleported me back to 1993 when cut down purple anodized Hyperlite bars were all the rage. Why so narrow? Just because it has big wheels doesn’t mean it should have narrow bars.

Another little niggle I noticed was the front hub and quick release are a pimpy gold ano color, while the rear hub and quick release are black. Huh? Never seen a factory spec bike with mismatched hubs and QRs before. Also, not too sure what “Rear Naked Choke” means, but considering BAMF boasts their bikes are “the brass pole in the strip club where the action happens”, I can draw reasonable conclusions.

After dropping 20 psi from the WTB Nano tires and putting on some bottle cages, this BAMF is ready to kick some shit this weekend in and around Tahoe. Maybe I can get some strippers to pose with it. Then again, that might offend some people. Stay tuned for a full review.

A $1,999 carbon fiber race rig with enough style for the Chuck Norris of hipsters.

How much more black can it be? None. None more black.

Some bike brands struggle a lifetime to find their voice, floating aimlessly from one persona to another – like throwing darts at a board while blindfolded – hoping that one of their marketing strategies will stick and bring in customers. It’s a pathetic approach to marketing, but all too common in the bike industry.

If there’s one thing you can’t fault BAMF Bikes for it’s having an aimless and mundane brand image. If you haven’t already figured it out, BAMF stands for Bad Ass Mother F*cker, and their logo isn’t a bar graph of how much more badder asser they are than competitors, it’s a raised middle finger. However, unless you’re a pinky amputee, I’m pretty sure most middle finger salutes involve at least four visible digits.

Custom “Up Yours” saddle. I guess it really is a middle finger.

BAMF is like the Dennis Rodman of mountain bikes; you either love them or hate them. Go to either their website or Facebook page and simply start reading. If you aren’t offended by references to tattoos, clean needles, putting dudes in choke holds, throwing dollar bills at strippers and repeated use of f-bombs, then you just might be the target market for a BAMF bike. In fact, if the below excerpt from the BAMF Facebook page describes you, then you belong in the BAMF “army”:

A BAMF—that’s who I am. It’s what I am. And it defines everything I do, from my clothes, my tattoos, and my beard, to my taste in music and art. I’m hard. You don’t want to fuck with me. You are not my bro. I am the Chuck Norris of hipsters, and I know every Chuck Norris joke in the book; even the dirty ones.

Rules? I make my own. The last thing I’ll do is follow yours, so don’t even try to make me. You’re not like me. I’m not fit for your pretty corporate picture—I won’t be your Dwight. You can keep your suit, your Mercedes, and your shitty nine to five. I’m young, and I’m completely ridiculous, and I’m not about to change. The way I live is the way I choose to, and nobody gets in the way.

Wait, there are dirty Chuck Norris jokes? Anyone care to enlighten me?

If you don’t know, well now you know.

Even those who might be turned off by the adolescent, cocksure and classless marketing approach will be attracted to BAMF for one main reason; value. BAMF buys direct from manufacturers and sells their bikes online through Giantnerd.com, which means huge savings for the consumer.

One visit to the BAMF website and you’ll see a theme – every bike is black. To quote Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap, “How much more black could this be? The answer is none. None more black.” BAMF claims that they don’t waste time fighting over color palates, but it’s probably because frames with no graphics and paint are cheaper to produce.

Continue reading for more on the BAMF Shit Kicker 29er and full photo gallery.

Ever since moving to Reno, there hasn’t been much to be angry about.

Ever since moving to Reno two weeks ago, the Angry Singlespeeder hasn’t had much to be angry about. Compared to Southern California, life here is slow, relaxed, friendly and quite enjoyable. Traffic doesn’t exist. Road rage doesn’t either. Riding is absolutely world class and can be found everywhere. Rocky, exposed high desert terrain? Check. Lodgepole pine forests with loamy singletrack? Check. Techy-tech riding up creekbeds lined with aspen trees and lush greenery? Got that too. Mile-long hike-a-bikes through drifts of snow at 10,000 feet so you can enjoy a 4,000 vertical foot descent? Yup.

No matter where you go, the snowcapped Sierras tower above with authority, as do thunderclouds that pour down hail and lightning as you fly fish beside the Truckee River and stare up at the awe of nature. The jewel that is Lake Tahoe takes whatever remaining stress or anger you might have in your bloodstream and completely flushes it out.

Even in a week that found me visiting the ER due to a benign spider bite that grew into an infected abscess, the ER was empty, clean and the staff was incredibly nice. As much as it sucks being in any ER getting an IV, that short two-hour visit was strangely pleasant. I’m still waiting for the ER bill, so I’m sure my brief respite of peace and happiness will abruptly end in a raging uproar of f-bombs as soon as I open the mailbox.

Not having any TV whatsoever and not having read any newspapers or news websites has also helped. Ignorance is bliss as they say, and not knowing the numbskullery that’s going on with our government, society and the world at large is refreshing. I don’t even know what crappy movies are in theaters right now.

Yesterday I accidentally went to the Yahoo! homepage and saw a headline that instantaneously pissed me off; “Kanye West and Kim Kardashian Tweet the Arrival of their Baby”. Not only does it completely baffle me how these two wastes of skin get headline news for doing something that’s done hundreds of millions of times every day, but these two morons felt it necessary to Tweet the arrival of their spawn? Poor kid. Poor, poor kid.

While I’m on the topic, Yahoo! has got to have the most annoying headline writers in the news business. And because I write for a living, it particularly grates my skin. Part of the reason why I got rid of my Yahoo! email – besides the fact that it got spammed 10 ways to Sunday thanks to budget cuts in their email security – is because the news headlines that popped up before I got to my email each time were rage inducing. I just went to the Yahoo! homepage and here are the top headlines:

“Chad Johnson’s Unexpected Jail Visitor” – Who the hell is Chad Johnson? Maybe he got a conjugal visit? Why do we care?
“Bear mauls Alaska man who gave it barbeque meat” Sounds like he deserved it.

When you’re exposed to this stupidity every day, you grow immune to it. But when you stop watching TV and reading news headlines, on the rare occasion you do, your sensitivity to the stupidity is magnified. Are we as Americans really so dumb that reading about Kanye West and Kim Kardashian procreating somehow stimulates our feeble and undereducated brains? Shouldn’t we strive for more mind-expanding content? You know, like the dribbling diatribes of an Angry Singlespeeder?

One other thing that really gets me pissed – smartphones. Not necessarily the smartphone itself, but the toolbag that’s operating the thing. Repeat after me – I’m not skilled enough to drive and dick with my smartphone at the same time. If I see one more friend of mine trying to drive and text at the same time I am gonna grab the phone and chuck it out the window.

There is ZERO excuse for playing with your phone while driving. In fact, I firmly believe the penalty for texting while driving should be more severe than drunk driving. The reason being that when you’re drunk, you’re literally impaired. You’re not sober enough to make a sane and reasonable decision about not driving. When you’re texting and driving, you have full mental faculties (not saying much for most people) and hopefully have enough intelligence to realize it’s a bad idea. So yes, if you are texting and driving, you are a full-blown idiot and I hope you kill yourself before you kill someone else.

Besides driving, peoples’ behavior with smartphones is comical. Next time you’re in a public area, just look around and observe how many people have their heads down, absolutely hypnotized by this stupid device. Nobody talks to each other, and if they do, they’re constantly distracted from the conversation by the pinging of new incoming messages. Nothing makes you feel less important than when someone is talking to you and starts picking up their phone to check incoming messages in the middle of your conversation.

See what you made me do? Before I wrote this I was at peace, now I’m all pissed off. Okay, that’s enough. I gotta go for a long, hard ride. Hopefully I don’t get run over by some driving-while-texting schmucktard.

New Split Pivot rear suspension design and refined geometry improves handling, bump absorption, braking, pedaling efficiency and stiffness.

The Spearfish XX1 on Piedmont Trails above Duluth.

With the rise in popularity of marathon and 24 hour cross-country racing, Salsa has carved itself a tasty niche in the mountain bike world. Targeted for riders who consider 100 miles per day a leisurely jaunt, the Salsa Spearfish has been an ideal choice with those who love to explore the far reaches of wilderness, featuring 29-inch wheels and lightweight full suspension design that minimizes body fatigue.

Mtbr was invited by the Salsa crew for a couple days of riding in Duluth, Minnesota on the fully redesigned 2014 Spearfish featuring David Weagle’s revolutionary Split Pivot rear suspension design. The Salsa crew doesn’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk, fully living up to their slogan “Adventure by Bike”. As this is being written, Salsa design engineer Sean Mailen and Ryan Horkey are preparing for a seven-day excursion on the Colorado Trail with their Spearfishes; a 400+ mile adventure with 90,000 feet of climbing between Denver and Durango.

Gorgeous anodized teal finish topped off with the chili pepper.

To further prove its marathon pedigree, Salsa holds a number of endurance racing records, including the fastest time on the 700+ mile Arizona Trail, ridden by Kurt Refsnider on a Spearfish.

What is Split Pivot?

As popular as the Spearfish has been, Salsa knew they could make it even better with a revised rear suspension design. Instead of spending years developing their own rear suspension design, Salsa engineers decided to keep matters simple and solicit the help of suspension guru, David Weagle. Known to many as DW, Weagle is most noted for his World Cup Downhill podium-winning DW-Link suspension. But Weagle also holds the patent to Split Pivot, an innovative design that vastly improves braking, traction, stiffness and bump absorption.

David Weagle’s Split Pivot is the nucleus of the Spearfish redesign.

Split Pivot is the heart of what’s new in the 2014 Salsa Spearfish. As a self-admitted rear suspension dimwit who rides a hardtail singlespeed, I really had no idea what the true benefits of Split Pivot were. Thankfully Salsa provided us with three bullet points to easily and clearly sum up why Split Pivot is better.

1) The rear shock is solely tasked with bump absorption, eliminating the need for excess low-speed compression damping found with other designs.

2) Pedaling performance is independent of bump absorption, which means that whether you’re coasting over rocky, rooty sections of trail or pedaling through it, the rear shock performs exactly the same.

3) Braking performance is also independent of bump absorption, eliminating annoying brake chatter and vastly improving traction under braking.

It should be noted that one of the big priorities of Weagle in redesigning the Spearfish was making sure the bike used off-the-shelf, factory-tuned shock setups. No special tuning setups were needed to make the Spearfish work, making matters easier for both mechanics and riders.

By adding in a 12x142mm Maxle rear through axle and FEA-optimized AL-6066 tubing, the redesigned Spearfish rear end is also vastly stiffer than its predecessor, improving lateral stiffness by a whopping 21 percent. In addition to stiffening the rear end, Salsa engineers wanted to improve agility and handling by shorting the chainstays to only 437mm, among the shortest chainstays of any full-suspension 29er.

Seatstays are isolated from pedaling forces so braking and suspension can work together.

Despite these significant changes in the rear suspension, Salsa engineers wanted to maintain the essence of what has made the Spearfish so successful. Therefore, the 80mm of rear suspension travel remains unchanged and the front triangle is very similar to the original. Frame layout and geometry also carry over with slight enhancements including the ability to run as wide as 2.35” tires.

In order to deliver relaxed, stable and confident handling, Salsa engineers slackened up the head tube angle to 69.3 degrees across all frame sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL) while pairing it with a 100mm travel by 51mm offset Fox fork. Salsa firmly believes that 51mm offset is the standard for 29” wheels.

Fit and finish of the Spearfish is also improved, with blinging anodized finish options in teal, green and orange that get the press-fit BB92 bottom bracket shells and tapered head tubes faced and reamed after paint and anodizing is complete; an extra step most other manufacturers neglect.

Continue reading for Spearfish riding impressions, more information and full photo gallery.

Salsa redesigns their long-travel 29er with Split Pivot rear suspension and enhanced geometry for tighter handling.

Horsethief 1 on the Piedmont Trails above Duluth.

I’m beginning to think Salsa recruits its male employees from the NFL; either that or the logging industry. Several guys in the Salsa crew I hung out with in Duluth, Minnesota this past week are taller than six feet, weigh more than 200 pounds, sport healthy beards and have leathery handshakes that will crush anyone with a feeble grip.

So it goes without saying that guys with these types of dimensions need as much beef in their bike as they do on their dinner plate. Enter the redesigned 2014 Salsa Horsethief – a burly-yet-agile 120mm full-suspension 29er featuring Split Pivot technology that feels as natural on the Enduro racing circuit as it does on tight, technical singletrack.

Dave Weagle’s Split Pivot rear end is the nucleus of the new Horsethief.

Split Pivot is an innovative rear suspension design pioneered and patented by David Weagle, also known for his World Cup Downhill-winning DW-Link design. When Salsa engineers sat down at the design table to enhance the Horsethief, instead of making up something new, they decided to stick with what they know works. So a phone call to Martha’s Vineyard was made, and DW was proud to partner up with Salsa in redesigning the Horsethief.

Weagle’s Split Pivot is a simple and innovative single pivot design that features a precise wheel link, brake link and control link that separates acceleration forces from braking forces. Pedaling is also independent of bump absorption, enabling the rear Fox shock to work only as a bump absorber for exceptional small bump feel. For those like me who don’t understand all the nuances behind advanced suspension design, here’s three points to remember about Split Pivot:

1) The rear shock is solely tasked with bump absorption, eliminating the need for excess low-speed compression damping found with other designs.

3) Braking performance is also independent of bump absorption, eliminating annoying brake chatter and vastly improving traction under braking.

Split Pivot also has outstanding anti-squat properties, meaning that the Horsethief rides higher under pedaling accelerations. In redesigning the Horsethief, Salsa engineers wanted to retain its rugged terrain capabilities while improving suspension efficiency and agility in corners.

Dave Weagle spent all week on a Horsethief and seemed to love every minute of it.

Besides incorporating Split Pivot, Salsa engineers increased rear triangle stiffness by using FEA-optimized AL-6066 tubing and a 12x142mm rear thru-axle for an impressive 18 percent improvement in lateral stiffness. The redesigned rear triangle can also accommodate tires as large as 2.4 inches. To dial in the cornering agility of the Horsethief, exceptionally short 437mm chainstays are features on all frame sizes (S, M, L, XL) – among the shortest chainstays of any full-suspension 29er.

A very relaxed 68.1 degree head tube angle paired with a 51mm offset Fox fork help the Horsethief track straight and confident at speed yet still enable it to carve tight turns with the agility of a full-suspension bike with 26” wheels.

Every Horsethief BB92 bottom bracket and tapered head tube are factory-faced and reamed after being painted, an extra step to ensure quality and precision that most other manufacturers neglect. Other little details like added cable holders for dropper posts and moto-style brake orientation help make setup cleaner and easier.

Due to its shorter chainstays, the Horsethief is set up for 1x and 2x drivetrains only.

Continue reading for Horsethief riding impressions, more information and full photo gallery.

Duluth is destined to become the mountain biking Mecca of the Midwest.

The views from the Piedmont Trails system are amazing.

If you’ve seen the movie Fargo, then you probably have this image in your mind of what Minnesota looks like; a barren, ice cold, God-forsaken tundra of nothing but white stuff as far as the eye can see, which in the middle of a blizzard is about six inches.

And that image you have in your mind wouldn’t be far off, except for that fact that Minnesota does have some spring, summer and fall where the weather can be quite pleasant. And when it is pleasant, the locals pull their mountain bikes out of hibernation and go riding.

The rocky terrain and lush green forests make Duluth an ideal place to ride.

This past week The Angry Singlespeeder was invited by Salsa Cycles to ride their new Spearfish and Horsethief way up north in the fledgling mountain bike destination of the Midwest – Duluth, Minnesota.

Set on the shores of Lake Superior, or as the locals call it, the Canadian Ocean, Duluth has seen some tumultuous economic ups and downs like many cities in the Rust Belt. After a long run of prosperity, in the 1950s Duluth began its decline, when high-grade iron ore ran out in the nearby Iron Range. Once U.S. Steel shuttered in the 1970s, so did all of their local suppliers and thousands of jobs.

However, unlike other Rust Belt cities, Duluth has some remarkably beautiful country and natural resources that have enabled it to draw tourism and a constant influx of younger people. One of those forms of tourism as of lately has been mountain biking. Thanks to a number of local riders and volunteers who have worked tirelessly for years to put Duluth on the mountain biking map, the word is finally starting to get out – Duluth is destined to become a mountain biking mecca of the Midwest.

I know what you’re thinking. Mecca? In Duluth? Gimme a break. That’s exactly what I thought until I pulled into town and saw a beautiful, rock and tree-laden ridgeline towering 700 feet above the city, where an entire network of rocky, technical singletracks known as Piedmont Trails are located. The views of Lake Superior and the city of Duluth are simply stunning and the riding is anything but flat and boring. The trails are more like the middle of Pennsylvania, not the middle of the Midwest.

Spirit Mountain has gotten on board with mountain biking, boasting two new flow trails.

Spirit Mountain, a ski resort no more than 10 miles from downtown Duluth has gotten on board with mountain biking too, recently building two flow trails named Candyland and Smorgasboard. Candyland boasts nearly two miles of jumps, berms and tabletops suitable for riders of all skill and experience levels while Smorgasboard appeals to more experienced riders, with ramps, drops, rocks and technical berms. I must have ridden Candyland at least six times in three hours, and could have ridden it another six without getting bored. It was that fun.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video: The first IMBA advanced Flow-building school took place in Duluth, Minnesota.

But the big project is the Duluth Traverse, a 100-mile long trail through the entire city that Mayor Don Ness envisions to be the premier urban mountain biking system in the world. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Duluth-area native and IMBA Midwest regional director, Hansi Johnson and Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores (COGGS) chairman Dr. Adam Sundberg, Mayor Ness saw the enormous possibilities that mountain biking can bring to the local economy.

And once the city took notice, money for trail projects started flowing in. With hundreds of thousands of dollars in the COGGS coffer, Sundberg is hiring two full-time trail builders and buying their own trail building equipment. They’re also hiring Progressive Trail Design out of Arkansas to help create two nine-mile sections of the Duluth Traverse trail by end of summer.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video: Miles of wickedly wonderful mountain bike terrain is always just minutes away.

All of this sounds great, but the big question probably lingering in the back of your mind relates to the weather. What about the weather? I asked that exact question to Mayor Ness when he spoke with us briefly during dinner at Tycoons, a brew pub located in the historic Duluth City Hall – one of several new brewpubs in town.

His response was very matter-of-fact. He told us that yes, the weather in Duluth can be brutal. You have to be a special person to live in Duluth. You have to be strong, tough, positive and persevering, and that’s what makes the people of Duluth so genuine. Mayor Ness is a youthful 39-years-old, but his recent re-election after running unopposed speaks multitudes – citizens love the vision Ness has for the city of Duluth.

And even when there’s three feet of snow on the ground, Hansi and his COGGS buddies still ride. Fatbikes in Duluth are like fixies in San Francisco; they’re everywhere. Hansi showed us pictures of him riding frozen creekbeds in winter, opening up a whole new realm of riding possibilities. As the locals say, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear.”

Whether summer or winter, having a fatbike in Duluth is a must.

Fatbikes in Duluth can even be used in summer, cruising the sandy shores of Lake Superior. Salsa hosted a midnight fatbike beach ride for us one evening, and it was so much fun. Until last week I never understood the point of fatbikes. I thought they were just a stupid novelty. But after riding in Duluth, I get it. Without fatbikes, people in Duluth wouldn’t be able to ride at least six months out of the year.

So whether you live in the Midwest or you’re just looking for a unique and affordable mountain biking destination, put Duluth on your short list. And if you decide to go, look up Hansi and Sundberg. They’ll be happy to show you all the great trails, brewpubs and fatbike rides that Duluth has to offer. Thanks guys. I’ll be back again.

This holiday, support bike industry manufacturers who make stuff right here in the U.S and A.

As you’re standing around the barbeque this Fourth of July stuffing your gullet with hot dogs, potato chips, sudsy libations and apple pie while watching your neighbor light his backyard on fire with rogue bottle rockets, think about your next bike-oriented purchase. Whether it’s something as small and inexpensive as a pair of grips or something as wallet busting as an entire bike, do our entire country a favor and buy American.

Most people are patriotic in their spending habits when it comes to talking about spending money. They’ll tell you that they buy American all day long. But when it comes time to open their measly wallet, they look at the increased cost of the American product versus the overseas one, and they suddenly turn into the consumer version of Benedict Arnold.

Talk is cheap; even cheaper than the endless container ships of junk being shipped across the Pacific. Don’t get me wrong, there are of course many high quality products coming from outside the US, but for a little bit more money, you can have a quality American made product that helps support the resurgence of American manufacturers.

Spending money is a hell of a lot easier than making it, but many people think spending it on a quality, American made product is difficult because most everything is made overseas these days. While it’s true that it’s not simple to source products with a Made in USA badge, nothing in this life worthwhile is easy. God forbid we have to take a few minutes, use our brains and scour the Internet.

Intense Cycles has been American made since its inception in 1991, and made patriotic bikes like this for Shaun Palmer.

But the reality is that buying American-made actually isn’t as difficult as you might think. Thankfully for us lazy folk who simply can’t be bothered with doing our own research, there’s a terrific website featuring American-made mountain bike parts called Oldglorymtb.com.

Old Glory has a long, long list from A to Z of custom American frame builders. Working with virtually all materials from steel and aluminum to titanium, carbon fiber and even bamboo for crying out loud, there’s a builder perfectly suited for everyone. And if you want to really localize your patriotism, find a custom builder close to your hometown and buy from them. Not only will you get an incredible customer service experience, but you’ll also have a completely unique and custom bike tailor-made for you.

Even if you’re not in the market for a new bike, Old Glory can still help you source American-made components. Yes, there actually still is such a beast. Not every stem, seatpost and handlebar is made overseas. Popular brands like Chris King, Cane Creek, Moots, DEAN, ESI, ENVE, Hadley, Industry 9, Lynskey, ODI, Oury, Paul, Phil Wood, Thomson, Wheelsmith, White Brothers and White Industries all make components right here in the United States.

Chris King Precision Components are all made in Oregon.

With a list of names like this, you could possibly build an entire mountain bike with American-made parts. It would be a bit of a challenge for a geared bike, since most drivetrains are made in Taiwan, but as the ASS always says, “derailleurs are for failures”. Building an entirely red, white and blue singlespeed is no sweat.

What about American-made clothing? You’re in luck there too. Companies like Voler, Canari, Club Ride, Alchemist, DirtBaggies, Sock Guy, Pace Sportswear and Boure make their garments employing American workers in American factories.

If you’re looking for a new set of lights for night rides, then check out Jet Lites, Light and Motion, DiNotte Lighting and NiteRider, all of whom make their lights on American soil.

If you’re the do-it-yourself type and love to buy tools as much as new bike parts, then buy from Park Tool. Based in Minnesota, most of their 300-product catalog is made in the USA. How can you tell which Park Tool is American-made or not? American-made Park Tools say “Park Tool USA” on them. If it just says “Park Tool”, it was made overseas.

Shinola Bikes are all designed and assembled in Detroit, with their steel lugged frames and forks being made by Waterford in Wisconsin.

One of the most interesting American bike brand stories is Shinola. In addition to making handcrafted steel commuter bicycles in a renovated Detroit factory, Shinola also handcrafts beautiful precision watches. Their dedication to American manufacturing and the city of Detroit is the cornerstone of the Shinola brand, and simply looking at their website conjures up a deeply patriotic feeling. Even if you don’t need a new watch or commuter bike, the Shinola story is so compelling that it makes you want to buy one anyway.

Every steel lugged Shinola frame and fork is handmade in Wisconsin by Waterford Precision Cycle, the same company that made the iconic Schwinn Paramount. Hand polished head badges, custom Shinola dropouts and classic leather saddles round out an American-made product that’s as much a work of art as it is a form of transportation.

Now I know some people in the industry will get all defensive and bent out of shape about this article, thinking that I’m hating on companies who do business overseas. I want to make it clear that I’m not Asia bashing. I have a lot of Asian-made products myself. But if we want to see a positive change in our country, we need to stop buying everything we own from overseas manufacturers and start supporting good ‘ol ‘Merica.

Since 1981, Moots has built handmade frames in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Over the next 10 years, as the Asian factory worker continues to grow in prosperity, buying cars, TVs, houses, designer clothing and God knows what else, the cost of doing business in Asia must rise to feed the financial needs of workers who’ve fallen into constant consumption mode.

If we can simultaneously help support a resurgent American manufacturing economy by purchasing more American products, many businesses that are overseas now will see the changing dynamic and start coming back. If consumers demand American made, bike brands will have to deliver American made. And perhaps blighted, post-industrial places like Detroit will see a revival, only this time the revolution will be pedal powered, not gasoline powered.

List your favorite American made bike brands in the comments below.

If you’re not an IMBA member or a member of your local trails advocacy club, you’re not a real mountain biker.

You got all the latest gear. You read all the industry magazines. You go to big events and races to soak in the fat tire culture. You ride all the choicest singletrack in the country. You like drinking beers after a ride in the parking lot with your buddies. You brag to your spouse and co-workers about the scars you got from last weekend’s “gnarly ride, dude.” You consider yourself a hardcore, bona fide mountain biker.

But I got news for you. If you’re not either an IMBA member, a member of a local IMBA chapter, you’re not a real mountain biker. You’re just a poser.

Ever since the dawn of mountain biking in the late 1970s when guys like Charlie Kelly, Russ Mahon, Gary Fisher and Joe Breeze bombed the hills above Marin and Cupertino on coaster brake klunkers, mountain biking has struggled to gain equal land access footing with hikers and equestrians. Granted, mountain biking is a very young sport, and the “old guard” of the Sierra Club – an organization that has existed since 1892 and now has 1.4 million members – has made gaining equal land access rights very difficult for mountain bikers.

Along with the NRA, the Sierra Club is one of the most powerful private interest groups in the country. Their membership numbers are massive, they’re organized and they get results. With nearly 20 lobbyists in Washington, D.C., the Sierra Club has remarkable power to not only influence wilderness protection and land conservation, but also which user groups get trail access in our country.

The Sierra Club is so powerful that their actions gave rise to the National Park Service in 1913 after the Forest Service dammed the Hetch Hetchy canyon near Yosemite to provide San Francisco with a reliable water source. So it should come as no surprise that mountain biking has been banned in NPS properties until about 10 years ago, when IMBA struck a landmark agreement with the NPS, opening some NPS properties to mountain biking.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of IMBA and local trail advocacy clubs, mountain bikers are gaining momentum in the quest for land access. Environmental studies show that mountain biking is no more destructive than hiking and less destructive than horses. Additionally, land managers note that many of the volunteers who come out and do trail work are usually mountain bikers.

Although volunteering is crucial, and every mountain biker should be doing a trail work day at least once every three months minimum, we must also have a voice with policy makers in Washington, D.C., because that’s where all the decisions get made. By the time most people find out about a trail access conflict, the resolution has already been decided; and it most often involves the closure of trails to mountain biking. Mountain bikers must have a voice in D.C.; otherwise we’re at the mercy of huge private interest groups like the Sierra Club.

I’m not going to try and act all high and mighty, as it took me nearly 20 years before I finally bought an IMBA membership. So for the better part of two decades, I wasn’t a real mountain biker. I was a poser.

Part of it was due to my ignorant youth, and the other part of it was due to my ignorant adulthood. But one day I got tired of my laziness, ignorance and cheapskate mentality. I realized that if all of us mountain bikers don’t come together as a unified voice, we will only continue to lose land access rights like the 4×4 off-road community is experiencing. An annual IMBA membership costs a measly $30. Don’t even tell me some bullshit story about how you can’t afford that. It’s less than the cost of a new chain for crying out loud.

And for all you industry peeps out there reading this diatribe, if your company or organization isn’t a corporate sponsor of IMBA, why not? Every single company that sells mountain bike products or services should be supporting IMBA, because without IMBA, there would be fewer trails to ride, fewer mountain bikers and lower profits for your company. So if you have the power to make decisions, write a check to IMBA. If you’re just a peon, start asking questions to find out why your company isn’t an IMBA supporter.

Regardless of whether you love IMBA or not, they are the people who are busting their humps to help ensure that mountain biking thrives in the 21st century. What IMBA has achieved since its inception in 1988 is remarkable. With more than 30,000 individual members around the world, IMBA is still very small. But in 1965 the Sierra Club was only at 30,000 members. By 1969 the Sierra Club had exploded to 75,000 members.

IMBA can grow just as explosively as the Sierra Club did, providing we all get our priorities straight and become IMBA members. The bigger we become, the more influence we have with policy makers and the more trail access we all gain.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of Sierra Club blowhards constantly whining about how mountain biking is a destructive activity when they’ve got no research studies to back up their claims. But when you have nearly 20 lobbyists working the nation’s capital, you don’t seem to need very much evidence, especially when there’s little to no voice in defense of mountain biking.

So go to IMBA.com right now, find your local chapter and become a member. If there isn’t a local chapter near you, become an IMBA member and go volunteer with your local trails advocacy club. Only then can you start calling your self a real mountain biker.

A genius, simple and safe way to eat food and hydrate while racing or riding all day.

The Mountain Feedbag is extremely easy to access for food or drink.

Blings

Lightweight at 3.6 oz.
Handmade in Alaska – Ultra-high quality
Very secure and versatile mounting
Easy and safe access to fuel
Big enough to hold water/beer bottles
Washable liner

Dings

Too much weight in the bag can alter front end handling characteristics.

Every so often a cycling product comes along that’s so simple innovative that you just want to slap your forehead and say, “why didn’t I think of that?” The Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbag is one of those products.

Handmade in Alaska, Revelate Designs was founded in 2007 by Eric Parsons. Considering there’s no such thing as a short ride in Alaska, Parsons was well accustomed to multi-day adventures that required burdensome amounts of gear. The last thing Parsons needed was heavy metal racks and panniers to make an already heavy load even heavier.

So Parsons bought a sewing machine and got all home economics, creating lightweight frame bags made of high quality Cordura and other durable fabrics. Word quickly spread of Revelate’s quality and light weight, and soon everyone racing fat bikes in the Iditarod Trail Invitational had to have Revelate gear. Multi-day and weeks-long vision quests like the Tour Divide have exploded in popularity over the last five years, and with it, an explosion in the demand for Revelate gear.

Closed (left): The elastic cord can be opened and closed with one hand. Secure (right): Three mounting straps ensure the feedbag stays in place.

One of Revelate’s most simple and genius products is the Mountain Feedbag, solving a problem that has nagged adventure racers forever – being able to easily and safely grab food while still riding. For those like me who prefer to eat natural foods like dried fruit and nuts while racing, the feedbag is optimal. No more reaching in your back pocket for a ziplock bag that might spill all your fuel on the ground before you can even get it in your mouth. With the Mountain Feedbag, it’s easily within reach and can be mounted to either the left or the right side of your stem.

The design is simple and genius. The bag is cylindrical, with three mounting points: a Velcro strap on the stem, one on the handlebar and an adjustable plastic buckle that goes underneath the fork crown.

Rest assured, unlike a politician, this bag will not flip flop whatsoever. I did a 25-mile XC race at Kirkwood Ski Resort on some very rocky descents and the Mountain Feedbag didn’t move so much as an inch. The Mountain Feedbag has no binding or adverse effects on steering, and further, it didn’t interfere with my big fat knees when pedaling out of the saddle.

ASS (left): The ASS with his Mountain Feedbag racing the Sierra Cup at Kirkwood. Liner (right): The removable, snap-in liner is washable.

On top is an elastic cord with a cinch that can be opened and closed with one hand. The outside is made of a durable and tough Cordura fabric, while the inside is made of lightweight rip stop nylon yellow in color to easily see what’s in the bag. The outside of the bag has small mesh pockets, perfect for storing gels or other small items. As an added stroke of genius, the inner liner can unsnap so you can pull it out and hand wash it with soap and water to get the sticky-icky leftover food residue out.

For those of you who ride full-suspension bikes with one or fewer bottle cage mounts, the Mountain Feedbag can also double as a bottle holder. Slap two on the front and you can do away with that annoying hydration pack. If you ride a singlespeed, the Mountain Feedbag is akin to a liquor store paper bag for beer, except the paper bag can rip and has zero insulation properties.

Beer (left): Much better than a paper bag from the liquor store. Beer ‘n’ Tools (right): The handy side pockets can accommodate a lot, even inner tubes.

Perhaps the only drawback of the Mountain Feedbag that I experienced was altered handling dynamics from the front end of the bike depending on how much weight was in the bag. If weighted down with a big water bottle or multiple tubes and a multi-tool, an extra 1 to 2 pounds of weight in the front can make it harder to maneuver through tight and technical sections of trail.

It really comes down to what kind of riding you’ll be doing. If you’re doing long road rides, gravel grinders or non-technical mountain bike events, you can load the Feedbag down. But if you’re doing more technical adventure races, it might be best to keep the load a little lighter in front.

The Mountain Feedbag is handy. Pun premeditated.

All in all, the Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbag is a total hit for mountain bikers, roadies and randonneurs alike. It comes in four colors (camo, red, gray and black) and retails for $39. The Mountain Feedbag costs more than your typical saddle bag, but the American handmade quality, innovation and versatility make it worth every single dollar. In fact, I am getting a second one so I can have two for long adventures and bike touring.

Wildfire engulfs some of the finest singletrack in Southern California.

It all started last Monday when my friend Brendan Collier posted a couple photos on Facebook of a brush fire that broke out in Mountain Center a couple miles below the town of Idyllwild. As the day went on, the updates got more frequent. The fire was spreading quickly. All I could think was how devastating this fire could be to Idyllwild, a gorgeous little mountain town at 6,000 feet elevation in the San Jacinto Mountains above Palm Springs that thrives on outdoor recreation.

The extensive network of singletrack trails in Idyllwild built by locals boasts some of the best mountain biking in all of Southern California. Brendan and his wife Mary own The Hub Cyclery, the only bike shop in Idyllwild, and the go-to source for trail knowledge, gear and a post-ride hangout.

Instead of watching the news or checking websites, I kept looking for Brendan’s updates, as he was on his moto, tearing all over the place taking pictures and talking with fire officials. Within 24 hours the fire had grown to nearly 10,000 acres and less than 10 percent containment. A number of trails were already burning. Several homes were also burning. There were reports of dead mountain lions and deer.

Then I saw a picture of “The Spine”, a popular rock feature that I had ridden only three months prior. The trees were completely gone. It was almost unrecognizable, sitting completely nude in a giant charred field devoid of any trees. I was heartbroken and couldn’t fathom the thought of a fire fully engulfing my favorite place to ride in all of Southern California.

Thankfully for residents of Idyllwild, the winds were blowing away from town. But then an unexpected shift happened, and the fire began bearing down on Idyllwild. Mandatory evacuations were announced. Residents of Idyllwild left for safer ground, while hardy residents who refused to leave were asked by police to provide the contact info of their dentist, just in case their bodies were too charred to identify.

As the fire closed within three miles of town, the heavens had mercy and poured down more than an inch of rain on Idyllwild, helping firefighters gain a stronghold on the blaze. It was a turning point for firefighters, and containment quickly rose. After a couple days, the evacuation order was lifted, and residents started returning to town.

All told, the Mountain Fire has burned nearly 27,000 acres in the San Jacinto Wilderness. Nearly 3,000 firefighters battled the blaze with 230 fire engines, 18 helicopters and massive DC10 tanker planes. Thanks to their heroic efforts, nobody has died and less than a few dozen structures were lost.

The fire is slowly dissipating and Brendan has been able to do some recon of the area, assessing what trails burned and what were spared. There are a few areas that did burn, including many of the May Valley trails, but thankfully, a majority of trails in and around Idyllwild and Hurkey Creek were spared from the blaze.

Due to the mandatory evacuation, for nearly a week businesses were shut down, unable to provide goods and services to local residents and visitors. So this weekend, July 27-28, the Hub Cyclery is hosting a Rejuvenation Ride, encouraging people from all over Southern California to come up and help get the local economy going again while riding some amazing terrain.

It’s a weekend to thank the selfless men and women who worked endless hours to protect Idyllwild from the fire, and celebrate the remarkable community and network of trails that encircle this idyllic mountain town. So if you live in Southern California and have this coming weekend open, consider spending a few days in Idyllwild – especially if you’ve never ridden there before. The trails are so good you’ll come home ready to plan your next visit.

Fire is a fascinating phenomenon. Nothing else in this world can produce such devastation and death yet lay the foundation for a rebirth, bringing what was dead back to life stronger than ever before. Although it may take a decade before the scars around Idyllwild to heal, the trails that burned will recover to be even more lush, green and vibrant.

The Mountain Fire was a reminder to me that every day is a gift, both in our lives and the trails we get to ride. Never take your trails for granted, for tomorrow they can lie amongst scorched earth resembling nothing more than a barren moonscape. And the next time you ride past a fire station, go in, shake a firefighter’s hand and say thank you. They are the protectors of our forests and our lives, and to them we own a limitless debt of gratitude.

You only get three rides per year that qualify as epic. Which three are they?

The descent off Mt. St. Helens is more like bike surfing than bike riding.

EPIC | ‘epik | – noun – A long film, book or other work portraying heroic deeds and adventures or covering an extended period of time.

In the mountain biking world, Epic is a word that gets tossed around more than a Hackey Sack at a Phish concert. It’s used as carelessly as “dude”, “like”, “awesome” and if you live in Southern California, “gnarly”. But guess what? The weekly Thursday night ride you do with five of your friends is not epic. The three-foot drop you’ve been scared to ride your whole life, but cleaned it for the first time last week is not epic.

Epic is a word that must be used sparingly. It’s been so browbeaten that its usage is now being extended to inanimate objects like a new bike, a hydration pack, an overpriced pair riding shorts or some post-ride fish tacos.

So in order to preserve the sanctity of the word epic, there should be a new rule in the circles of mountain biking that you only get to use the word three times in a year. That’s right. Only three rides a year that you do can qualify as epic. So which three are they?

Lewis River Trail in Washington features some of the most spectacular waterfalls you’ll ever see.

For me, this past week could have qualified as one giant extended epic episode, but one ride clearly stood out to me as a true epic. Four friends and I rode among the five greatest trails on the West Coast, and perhaps in the country. Day one was in Oakridge, Oregon, descending the famous and absolutely ripping Alpine Trail. Day two was Lewis River Trail in Washington, a punchy, flowy singletrack in deep forest that parallels the Lewis River and showcases some of the most spectacular waterfalls you’ll ever see in your life.

One of may log bridges on Lower McKenzie Trail.

We hit the McKenzie River Trail in Oregon on day four and five, riding both the lower section and the upper section to Clear Lake out and back. From a quality of trail perspective, McKenzie River Trail is my top three all-time trails.

The flow on the lower 14-mile section of McKenzie is unparalleled, making a three-hour out-and-back ride feel like five minutes. The gently winding, loamy singletrack along the river lulls you into a hypnotic trance, and all the skills you’ve ever learned in your life take over while your mind goes to another dimension.

You’re like Jack Handey, thinking deep thoughts. You don’t even realize you’re riding your bike. If you’ve never been high before, but want to feel the experience without smoking, just ride the lower McKenzie and you’ll begin to understand.

Clear Lake at the top of McKenzie River Trail is a fun and technical four mile loop around the lake.

The upper 12-mile section is completely different, changing from hypnotic flow to sharp, jagged volcanic rock that’s challenging and technical. It’s a full body and mind workout. Don’t go down here or the razor-sharp rocks will make you look like you had a tussle with a wildcat.

Photos from the Friday pre-race happenings in Downieville

Photo: Levi Leipheimer will be racing the Downieville Classic! Details are here.

The Angry Singlespeeder grabbed his camera and snapped some pictures around Downieville the afternoon before the big race. Weather is great, trails are dialed and some very stiff competition is here.

ASS will follow up with his account of the first annual Singlespeed All-Mountain race, a race which he hopes to survive without serious injury to body or ego. In the meantime, here are some pictures.

Where it all happens – the River Jump World Championships will be held on Saturday.

Scot Nicol of Ibis enjoying every minute of his time in Downieville. Ibis is a huge supporter of the race and the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship.

Forrest Arakawa and Yuri Hauswald working on their tans at the beach.

A police account of the hijinks that happened at this year’s Downieville Classic.

The Angry Singlespeeder at the Downieville Classic. Photo by Nathan Loyal.

“Bear in mind the following is taken from the Sheriff’s Office, rarely a champion of the accused. Readers will kindly remember their civics lessons: accusations of wrongdoing herein recorded are not necessarily related to reality. Furthermore keep in mind that our whole system of justice is based on the premise, however improbable, that the accused is innocent until PROVEN guilt to a jury’s satisfaction. Or until the citizen, facing the virtually unlimited resources of government, takes stock and cops a plea.” – The Mountain Messenger – California’s Oldest Weekly Newspaper in Downieville, CA.

Thursday, August 1

Caller reports crazy German guy with beard, ponytail and deafening laugh by the name of Nico claiming he is German Polizei. Possibly deranged. Definitely insane.
Two disheveled and dirty men with shotguns and worn out hound dogs seen loitering around a Giant Bicycles trailer near Lure Resort on Hwy 49.
Elderly caller complains of a rowdy, rotten ruckus going on outside Yuba Expeditions. Suspects loud music, excessive drinking and the smoking of funny cigarettes by “those damn hippies”.
Sierra City caller reports theft of gold prospector hood ornament from his 1979 Toyota 4×4.

Skunk reported stinking up a campsite. Breathe through your mouth.
Drunken man climbs fire tower in Downieville to ring the bell. Man falls and rings his own bell.
Out of towner cuts local Downieville resident in line ordering at La Cocina De Oro. Words were exchanged. Apologies were issued.
Caller brags of making homemade tire sealant out of oatmeal and mucus.

Friday, August 2

Driver stopped by Sheriff on Hwy 49 for doing 120 mph between Downieville and Sierra City in a rented GMC Acadia. Driver says he is German Polizei and claims he got km/h and mph confused.
Caller reports possible marijuana plants growing wild on the shoulder of Hwy 49. Plants confiscated and smoked by authorities to verify authenticity.

Caller reports eccentric man by the name of Jim stealing vintage wagon wheels from Sierra City restaurant. Man claims he is using the wheels to make a new bike called the 49er. Claims it will “change the industry”, whatever that means. Definitely crazy.
Yuba Expeditions van loaded with lycra-clad humans blows a transmission while climbing Packer Saddle, causing a one car, two bear and three deer backup.

Caller complains of no toilet paper in Downieville public bathrooms. Had to use Mountain Messenger to clean up. Blames those blasted mountain bikers.
A small, bony man who raced around France in spandex was reported to be in Downieville.

Someone named McTubbin was seen violating his California Giant Strawberries contract by riding around with massive squash in jersey pocket.
Man heard cussing inside Grubstake Saloon. Words were exchanged. Apologies were issued.
Bear complains that mountain bikers eat too healthy. Campsite food not worth pillaging. Eats wild marijuana on Hwy 49 instead.

Celebrating the life of a remarkable human being and a loving father.

A dear friend of mine was killed on Sunday. He was out riding his road bike when a bus struck him. I received the call Tuesday afternoon from a friend. The news hit me square in the gut. I didn’t know whether to put my fist through a wall and scream at the top of my lungs or cry my eyes out. Not so much for our friendship, but for the fact that my good friend Udo Heinz leaves behind two beautiful young children and a loving, caring wife.

Udo and I had a natural connection, with him hailing from Germany and my father also German-born. His personality was as German as it gets; exacting, meticulous and organized. I grew up with a German father, so I instantly understood Udo’s unique personality. On the surface he seemed all business, but the more you got to know him, the more you realized he was a fun-loving, laid-back and funny guy.

I’ve lost a few friends over the past 10 years, but nobody as close as Udo. We weren’t best friends, but we worked together, putting on two really fun and successful cyclocross races in North County San Diego. We complimented each other so well putting on those races. He was the law-abiding, responsible one making a checklist of things to get done, while I was the idea man and scofflaw, seeing what we could pull off without having permission. Although I know my aloof behavior sometimes annoyed him, I could see as our relationship developed, he seemed to loosen up more.

We always enjoyed each other’s company. When Udo found out I was riding my bike from San Diego to Santa Cruz, he and another close friend Victor escorted me out to the coast and wished me safe travels. I will never forget that moment as long as I live. It was the start of the greatest ride in my life, and Udo was there to see me off.

Victor and I recently put on the Quick ‘n Dirty mountain bike race series, and Udo was always eager to volunteer, often times with his nine-year-old son who wanted to do nothing more than race his mountain bike and impress his father. Udo was reliable, dependable and responsible; a selfless human being and remarkable father who loved riding and racing bicycles with his wife Antje.

I don’t know why the universe must take a man like Udo from us at such a young age. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that he is gone from this Earth. I could rant ad nauseum about how there is an epidemic of cyclist deaths on the road at the hands of careless motorists these days, especially in Southern California, but now is not the time for that.

Now is the time for paying homage to an exceptional human being and an incredible father; a role model to every man in this world who wants to be a father. My mind is constantly filled with the image of Udo riding his cyclocross bike with his wife and two adorable children chasing close behind, all of them smiling, laughing and enjoying the wonder of riding a bicycle.

Just this morning Victor and I went for a mountain bike ride on Emigrant Trail in Truckee. What started as a somber ride turned into one of utter joy. During the ride we came across a massive herd of sheep and rams in the middle of the trail; hundreds of them scattered everywhere. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life. It was a gift to Victor and me from Udo. I looked up to the heavens and imagined him smiling and laughing as he looked down upon us.

Thank you, Udo. Words can’t even give justice to how much you will be missed.

Yeti Beti takes a ladies-only approach to grow the popularity of mountain biking with women.

Friendly courses, low entry fees and central location are all key ingredients to the Beti Bike Bash.

Chances are if you’re a female mountain biker, you were probably taught how to ride by your boyfriend or husband. Not that this is a bad thing; men can be excellent teachers. But when it comes to really getting women into mountain biking, the best teacher is a fellow female.

Like most female mountain bike racers, for nearly 15 years, Amy Thomas raced on a predominantly male team. Although she had fun racing her bike, the high levels of testosterone, male war stories and ugly clothes that didn’t fit left her desiring more out of a mountain bike race team.

Team Yeti Beti is onto something big – female-specific mountain bike events.

So in 2007, Thomas and four other friends defected from their co-ed teams and assembled an all-female mountain bike team called Yeti Beti. Set up with clothing that fit, Yeti bikes and other Colorado-based sponsors, the Yeti Beti team has seen great success, with a growing roster and a long list of impressive results. Although Thomas had helped put together an all-women’s team, there still was the challenge of getting more female participation at races.

Although every race promoter would like to have more women, most race promoters take feedback from the majority of participants who are usually male sport class riders. Promoters cater events to male feedback, which is typically not in line with what women want in an event.

The Beti Bike Bash is a women’s only mountain bike race.

“The male factor is one of the biggest hurdles to getting women out racing,” said Thomas. “While most men prefer the sufferfest war stories of racing, most women prefer the social aspect of racing. They put a priority on networking and meeting new friends.”

So Thomas teamed up with Sarah Rawley of Mountain Grown Marketing and put together an event made specifically for the ladies. In its fourth year, the women’s only Beti Bike Bash provides a welcoming and fun atmosphere for females of all ages and skill levels. Held at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, CO, the Beti Bike Bash features a course that’s not too technically challenging yet still a great workout, and with no men on the course, provides a much less intimidating and welcoming environment for women getting into the sport.

Daily ASS updates from each stage of the Breck Epic.

Which one do you think is the ASS?

After coming off a solid 3rd place All-Mountain Singlespeed finish at Downieville last weekend, I’m about to undertake a challenge that might just be the most difficult – and most idiotic – challenge in my life, and I’m doing it in the name of ‘journalism’. Starting on Sunday I will be racing the Breck Epic on a singlespeed. If you’re not familiar with the Breck Epic, it’s a six-day stage race in Breckenridge, Colorado. With an average daily distance of 30+ miles and 7,000+ feet of elevation gain – all above 9,500 feet elevation – I foresee a lot of pain, suffering and hike-a-bike in my future.

The ASS’s trusty sidekick, Dicky.

But thankfully I have a trusty Dicky by my side, Rich Dillen, who I am rooming with all week long. He’s done this race five times before, so he knows all the tricks and trials of this “Epic” race. If he doesn’t undermine, dupe or get me too drunk, he will be an incredible resource to lean on (not that I can literally lean on him…he’s five-foot nothing tall and weighs a buck thirty five soaking wet).

My goal is to do daily updates on Mtbr of the day’s debauchery; from freak thunderstorms that turn into blizzards above 12,000 feet elevation to 45-minute hike-a-bike sections that will surely have me cursing louder than an inebriated sailor.

My goal is to merely finish this event in one piece. Anything beyond that is pure gravy. I saw who competed in the singlespeed category last year. I recognized some of the names…they were pro-level geared XC racer guys. I guess they figured they had no chance at the overall title, so they wanted to sandbag the singlespeed title. No worries. I’ve got no chance in winning anyway. That is unless my ricin water bottle hand-up plot works to perfection and all my competition dies.

So here’s to altitude sickness, mild hypothermia and rooming with a raving lunatic who’s racing on a fully rigid singlespeed. Yeah, there’s gonna be some great content. Tune in Sunday evening, assuming my body and brain are functional enough to write about what I just went through.

Check out the 2012 Breck Epic – 6 Days, 240 Miles, 37K Vertical and Breck Epic – Extreme Recovery Tools and Tips articles on Mtbr. For more information visit breckepic.com.