The Official Guide to the World between the Wheels

How things add up "grade"

Often i'm asked about how I deal with mechanical failures flats etc. I have an easy time answering this,  I try to reduce failures by maintaining my equipment and utilizing solid parts on my builds.

I've established a great relationship with my LBS and the mechanics. This relationship is so valuable that its impossible for me to put a price on it. I also feel very obligated to give back by attending group rides, Demos and seminars that they have. But that's not the point to this story.

Equipment is my point. Its not one particular part or piece that makes my bikes dependable but its a combination of many little details. Bontrager has a great advertisement campaign called "Upgrade" and how true this is. I almost always "UpGrade" parts from the standard bike but heres where i'll say that with a company like Trek they offer everything you need. So when I UpGrade its easy to do so withing the parts available to me from the company with which I race for. Sure someone may have a Seatpost that's a little bit lighter than a Bontrager but one part is not making my bike. Its everything combined like the Bontrager Stem, saddle, wheels, tires, bar, seatpost water bottle cage shoes, gloves, shorts etc. Put all of this together and i have a light sturdy dependable race bike & accessory equipment.

Stiff light carbon wheels that work great with the tires that are always on the frontier of rubber technolgy. Several choices for differant terrain.

Stems that are light stiff and look good.

Carbon bars second to no one else's

Water bottle cages that are light and grip bottles well

Seatposts that withstand rocky stuff like Michaux on a hardtail

So I sound like a poster child for these products...well maybe I do, but look back at my 10 year history of racing and you'll see i've been using these products with success for most of that time. Who cares if its not "cool" to be so cooperate! I don't mind putting all my eggs in one basket especially when that basket is reliable.

All to many times i see people purchase equipment and parts because they're different or expensive just so they don't look like a sell-out. Honestly I don't feel as if I've sold out, i've invested in products that are branded well but function excellent & are reliable.

Outside of the Trek/Bontrager family i've found SRAM to be another company with quality products who also stand behind their equipment and have always been easy to deal with if iI did have any small problems. I've been using the Reba XX 29" forks and XX drivetrains exclusively for over 2 years now.

So don't be so afraid to establish yourself a relationship with a company and its products. I may look like I have a Trek/Bontrager tattoo at the start of a race but I doubt I look silly when I finish the race . There's a big reason why I use these products and its not because someone gives them to me, I've proven their reliability by testing them in the real world for years.

*stork

Luck- pavement project evil earl

So today I received a tweet wishing me "luck" from my challenger EvilXI in regards to the Pavement Project Evil Earl. I thought about this for a moment and realized he has seriously under estimated me and my creativeness if he's wishing me "luck". So to help him understand i've included some definitions to help clarify things:

Luck or fortuity is good or bad fortune in life caused by accident or chance

• My Project bike and the crowning moment when i crush EvilXI will be neither an accident or chance. It will be my achieved goal. On the other hand his misfortune will be a direct result of his underestimating his opponent. 

A goal or objective is a desired result a person or a system envisions, plans and commits to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.

• My goal is to earn his respect and that of the many riders commuting to work, racing ally cats, running errands and using bikes as simple escapes from reality. Our deadline is october 31, 2011.

Now i can only hope that Mr. EvilXI decides to choose his words more appropriately in the future. No luck needed here. Winning or losing will not be by accident or chance. Either i'm prepared, creative and win or EvilXI pays everyone off and i lose. ;) 

Until 10/31/11.....

*stork

"Good luck is a lazy man's estimate of a worker's success." cant think of who said this but i like it.

Pavement Project Evil Earl

Today my challenge arrived on my porch. After saying thanks to the UPS driver i quickly tore into the box, Assembled the bike and rode it off to drop off a payment for the recent shirts i had made. So for those of you wondering what all the tweets with #pavementprojectevilearl were about i will now explain.

At TW12 this year i took on a challenge against the Product manager to see who could build the wickedest Earl. Well since i'm known for things like myP1 Utopia Dual Sport, which is actually a road bike now that i've added my stork style to it, I couldn't say NO!

here's the basics:

No frame or fork modifications such as machining or painting. Topical decals ok

Anything that can be bought on-line, at a shop or under a bridge from a van in trade for cash, credit or used needles is fair

Facebook will decide- October 31, 2011

so go ahead join twitter and follow the hashtag  to see the progress and follow storktorq (me) and EvilXI (the product manager) to see all the trash talk.

lets hope this small town country superfan (me) can crush the cooperate giant, big city product manager!! He hasn't seen stork style yet but i hope hes prepared himself. Evil Earl will be unleashed!

 

*stork

 

TW12 pt 3

After getting my bike "operated" on by Ray & Vance in the Pro Shop i went out on the trails to ride the loaner bike Vance set me up with. Not sure exactly what this 26" wheeled machine was but it caught air time like it was attempting to take flight on a departure to Milwaukee. It was so much fun except for the bars which were a prototype and i would swear where no less than a yard stick wide! I hit every tree on Jims Trails and The Farm in one single lap. I could not give this bike back quick enough before i really hurt myself. It rode so smooth and cornered great but  the wide bars were a recipe for disaster in my hands.

Before returning the bike i got to ride with Dewayne who is the official trail designer and builder. Nothing better than getting the inside scoop on all the lines and trails by the master himself. Thanks Dewayne.

Next up was the Reps demo day which was easy for me. My job was to simply ride the trails and help anyone with flats, problems or just ride with them. EASY!

Then came the opening of the show where we got to see all the hard work of building and setting up the displays come to light! It was fantastic and with limited people like reps only it was easy to get one on one time with product managers and engineers to ask questions. Some really good product for sure.

Picture of the integrated bike lock! fantastic!

*stork

 

 

TW12 pt 2

So After pie on monday night with the locals I drove 25mins out of Madison to a park and rode with 3 Trek employees who invited me along, two of which currently race for the official Madison Store Mtb team. All 3 were very polite in showing me the course for the upcoming WORS event. The first thing I noticed was all 3 of them were riding 26" bikes? Whats up with that?? I tried to convince them to step up to an adult bike. Well the course here was extremely tight and twisty. Basically 8 miles of trails built in a Whole Foods Parking lot sized area! Coming fresh off of a Michaux Race this was a very hard adjustment for me. Those reading from the PA area will understand what I mean, Michaux is a 40 plus mile loop of the rockiest singletrack i've ever seen and its spread out using 40 miles of a huge 85,000 acre Forest. Well the course here in WI was fun fast and hard for me to keep up with Matt, Abby & Erik during the pre ride. With an extremely high heat index we only managed a lap and a half before we were all dry. I introduced Abby and Erik to the use of Peppermint Oil to reduce bugs and providing a cooling sensation to your neck.

We finished up and departed. back to the Hotel that I was calling home for 10 days and retired to bed. Wednesday morning was breakfast at IHop and then to the terrace to help assemble the Trek World Showroom floor. This is a job! Luckily I come from a construction background so its not hard for me to see the big picture of a finished job out of all the boxes and crates of material. I quickly got an assignment to assemble the bike display racks. A small group of us formulated a system and the racks came together quicker than you could imagine. 

I had to leave by 2:30 or so to head back to headquarters where i was meeting with the Pro Shop mechanics to see how they could help out with a creak i was getting on my Superfly. How cool was this? I rolled my bike into this secure workshop with pristine white walls and shiny floor. Bikes and parts for all the Pros rides were hanging and bagged neatly on shelves waiting to hit the next World Cup Race!

On the rack went my bike then I got asked several questions from 2 of the best mechanics. They  hit me left and right like i was on the lightning round of a game show. When all the questions stopped I was dizzy and somehow missed them disassembling most of my bike. They transitioned from questioning to answering almost immediately. Gosh Darn how did they do that??

Drop outs where off the bike and my ceramic bearing were laying on the bench.

"Here is your problem" they said

"your drop-outs got loose and wore off the edges and the bearing on the non-drive side is blown out" they continued

"Not a problem  just leave it here over night and everything will be complete tomorrow, and take this prototype bike to use on the trails"

Who was I to argue, so i took the full suspension 26" bike and left my bike in the Operating Room style Mechanics shops!

Sorry no pics allowed in the Pro Shop.

*stork

TW12 prt 1 (the first 2 days)

Trek World Product release for 2012 has come and gone. Behind the scene work is tremendous just like you would assume for such a large event. Fortunately I got to see and help with a lot of set up and preparation since i went to Madison a week prior to the event.

Trek has some really fantastic product for the next year and just when you started thinking they had hit the sweet spot with something they "upgrade" and modify something only to make it even better. For example check out the mountain shoes for next year. WOW they made an already awesome shoe even better.

Ok enough of the Product stuff you can go on-line (which you currently are if your reading this) and see the new stuff or go to your LBS (local bike store). Lets talk about my trip.

With so many friends and one enemy (the pavement product manager-which i will explain in a later chapter) i had requests to ride somewhere daily. Arriving Sunday night I got dinner and then hit a movie to relax. Monday had me at headquarters visiting, returning a camera and catching up with some people. Monday evening I attended the Pie ride from the Trek Madison East store. Let me tell you about this.... you meet at 6 and roll out on a short 12 mile ride to a local diner where the Store picks up the tab on pie for anyone wanting it! How fantastic! then its another 8 or 9 miles back. relaxed pace and open to any and all customers in the area. FYI i had blueberry pie. We hung around the store afterwards until 9 or 9:30 before I returned back to my hotel to retire for the evening.

 

*stork

 

Closed for the month

Ok not officially closed but i've been really busy traveling, riding, racing and helping out at Trek World 2012. I'll get around to some full stories soon but just coming back from WI i've only had time to clean things up before i head to WV to race tomorrow. Lots of new products from Trek and Bontrager (wait for the new shoes they are fantastic!)

here's a shot from the Cam Rock race i rode in last weekend. photo from Melissa Kennedy