Bike Stuff 4 Sale

It is time for a fall bike sale. I will be adding several items to this post. If you are interested email me (chrisdlocke at gmail.com). I am open to offers and trades. Some of the items on the bottom are even free. Currently looking for a Large size full suspension MTB and/or a 56/57 cm cyclocross frame.
SOLD - Christopher's cyclo-cross frameset. A Scattante XRL, 7005 aluminum, carbon fork, intergrated headset, size 48cm. This frame builds up very light and is great for a junior or smaller adult. Condition is very good. Asking $145.00 obo - SOLD

First up is a Giant Anthem 2 frame. Size is XS (14.5 in). This is Carolynn's old frame so it is in excellent condition. Actually looks very close to new with only a small blemish on the chain stays.
SOLD - Next up is a Giant Anthem 3 frame. Size is XS (14.5) . This is Christopher old frame is in good condition structurally . Bearings have been replace. This frame does have some scratches and show wear that you might expect from a 11 year old. Comes with Manitou shock which is not pictured, but included. I will get a new pic up soon.

Hayes Nine Hydraulic Disk Brake set. Carbon Levels. I just had these serviced with new oil and pistons. Rotors are 6"
SOLD - TruVativ Rouleur Crankset with GXP gigapipe BB. 175MM length.
Shimano Ultegra Crankset. 172.5 length and 53/39 chain rings.

Two pairs of shoes free to the first good home. On the left we have a pair of Scott MTB Comp shoes, size 42. On the right we have a pair of purple (purple was "in" back then...) Adidas road shoes size 44.

More to come tonight...

I Guess I will Never Learn

Some days you should just stay home. Today was one of those days....

Short recap of my week. I started getting a cold on Wednesday. Felt like crap for a couple of days and was going to miss Saturday's Night Gravel Grinder. My teammate Tim Greene was leading the ride and I really didn't want to let him down and not show up. After all, I talked him into hosting it :-). I also had the spare lights that 3 of my teammates needed to borrow which was another reason to not skip it. I started to feel a little better on Friday but my throat was very sore and I still had some congestion but decided to charge the lights and go ahead and join in the fun. I figured since the pace was going to be relatively easy maybe a long easy ride will loosen up the phlegm problem I was having.

The ride was really fun. A little longer than I should be going this time of year, but fun none the less. During the ride we talked about racing the Manion's Cross event on Sunday. Dan was over earlier in the week to borrow some race course equipment and I was still undecided if I should attend. My body was telling me I needed to rest, the coach inside of me was telling me to rest, but I decided to wait and make the decision Sunday morning.

Needless to say, I decided to go ahead and attend today's cyclocross race. Despite feeling lousy, I wanted to support Dan's O race. Turns out they had a great turnout and didn't need my support. I should have saved myself the $20.00 entry fee and stayed home and rested which is why I say I will never learn.

The course was hillier than hell. Add to that a damp energy sapping virgin course and you have a course that is best suited for fly weights and those with a VO2 much higher than mine. I knew I was in trouble on the warm-up lap. I came up to the section of the course that had a little creek crossing/ravine that you had to ride over. I think this was intended to be a dismount, but I think just about everyone was riding it. Some better than others. For whatever reason I did not like this section. About the only section I did like was at the bottom of the course where there was a little tricky switch back leading to a cool little section that included a sharp run-up/ride-up. I rode it about every time except for the 3rd or 4th lap and on that lap I crashed hard trying a new line leading up to my one and only favorite section :-(. The rest of the course was just a plane ole' sufferfest.

The start of the event went perfect for me. I got the hole shot and lead up until the barriers. For about 1 min there I actually thought I belonged out there on the course racing today. Then reality set in and I quickly fell back. I think I was passed by about 10 riders on the first lap alone. I was coughing up phlegm every 30 seconds or so. By the 3rd lap I felt like pulling off especially after going down hard. I never like quitting a race so I rode on doing the best I could on this day.

I basically sucked and really embarrassed myself being out there. The only good thing that came about from today I learned a valuable lesson (even if I don't ever use it) and I finally cleaned out my lungs and got rid of about 1/2 pound of phlegm.

Night Gravel Grinder

Update after ride: Great time last night. Weather cooperated for most of the evening with only a brief mist for about 30 min. By the end of the ride the temps were perfect for riding. Some great view of the moon when it was out.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Night Gravel Grinder

This morning ride into work reminded me of tomorrow's Achluopobia Gravel Grinder and how much fun it is to ride at night. I am not afraid of the dark (just spiders) and really enjoy night riding. Thanks to Tim Greene for organizing tomorrow ride. Complete details with course map can be found at http://gravelgrinders.blogspot.com

Rode across the new bicycle and pedestrian path on Heart of America Bridge. This is really going to help with us Northlander's commute in. The grand opening is on October 1st at 2:00 pm.

Bicycle Exhaust System

I will have one of these by the next cross race....



Get yours here http://www.turbospoke.com

KC Cup Cyclocross Race Report

Today's KC Cup CX was the start my fall racing season. I think I should have stuck with my plan to hold off starting until October. Not the result that I was hoping for, but I was not really expecting much if the temps were hot. Unless it rained and we had ourselves a real cross race. Then I might have a chance. But the rain held off until after the races were over which I am very upset at :-(

Today's course featured a good bit of single track. You would think I would like this, but it kind of sucked when you got behind someone and basically had to follow them until the end. But on the other hand it allowed a good chance to recover some which is good. The top part of the course had a lot of twisty turns and a long section of road that had a gentle climb. Unlike the bastard of a climb at the start. That climb really hurt. One set of miniature barriers that you could ride over. Short barriers like that are actually dangerous (in my opinion) because it allows riders to try and bunny hop them. Plenty of crashes out there on the barriers and I witnessed Craig Piburn take a nice header. Luckily he was not seriously hurt. That was one of the better ones that I have seen Craig. Overall a good course that is unique to our local cross schedule.

My event....Where is the start? "Down the hill past the finish line" I finally found the start but I arrived a little late. Actually really late and lined up in the rear of the Cat 1/2/3 and Cat 3 fields. Not where you want to be with all that single track. We received our final instruction including the new rule on hand ups which with temps close to 90 (feel like temps were 96 degrees) we were going to need em. At this point I was just hoping for the approaching rain to cool things off, but those showers never came until several hours later. I am watching the radar as I write this and Swope is getting some good showers - looks like a muddy MTB race tomorrow.

I settled into my current race pace after a poor start and did my best to stay in contact with the front group. The long road section did me in after only the second lap. I suffered every lap on that section. The heat was also a big factor. I personally vote to have cross season officially start in October. Who is with me????

I did not stay around to see what I got. Most likely around mid-pack. Lots of work to do over the next several months. The good thing is I have plenty of room for improvements. I plan to stick closely to Mark's training plan when I can train and with any luck my form will improve.

Update: Results are final in for the KC Cup Cross race. Earn 6th on the day out of 24 which is better than I thought. KC-Cup-CX Results

Ready for Cross?

Cross season fires up full swing this weekend. Locally we have the KC Cup CX. I missed this event last year because I was participating in the REDMAN Triathlon. I am not ready physically for racing cross, but I will be there get my ass handed to me. The motivation to push myself after working long hours is just not there. I am trying to implement Stud's training program and hopefully I can get some good rest and maybe find some form later in the season.

Regionally the ever popular Hermann Cross weekend is taking place. The fields look stacked according to the pre-reg roster. The cyclocross community over in St. Louis has really grown over the past two years due in a great part to Jeff's hard work. Look for record turnouts over there this year.

Late last night I was preparing my old Jake the Snake CX bike for Saturday's event. I looked into buying a new rig, but decided that she could make it another season, especially since I most likely will be racing an abbreviated season anyway. I am trying something new this year - tubeless. I finally was able to get a set of tire all set-up tubeless via Stans NoTubes. I need to do some more testing before I race em, but things look promising.

Next week there are two events on the calendar. The Achluophobia Gravel Grinder on Saturday night and then the hilly Manions Cross event on Sunday. Bring your climbing legs for this one.

Dakota Five-O Race Report

What a way to spend the Labor Day weekend! I don't think we could have crammed one more thing into the past 4 days and I am for sure that we could not have ridden nicer single track!!

Friday we headed out for the long drive to Spearfish, South Dakota. When I say we, I mean all of us. Due to Carolynn's injury, Christopher decided that he would give the Dakota Five-O a try. He hasn't ridden much this year other than a few local MTB rides and riding during our Colorado vacation. I setup my old Giant Anthem for him and I was left riding the Bandersnatch. By the looks of it he will be switching rigs with me soon if he keeps growing...

Saturday Carolynn and I headed out to pre-ride some of the course and check out the the rest areas. Carolynn is not the best with directions due to the fact that I do not think they taught map reading in the Pennsylvania school systems. This meant that I had to take her to the trail/aid stations out in the Black Hills National Forest. We rode the first section of trail that leads to aid station #1. The Tinton Trail was a delight. Going out was mostly uphill. I went ahead of Carolynn and enjoyed a couple of hours of riding. I did not want to stop, but Carolynn's hip was starting to hurt and it was time to get back for packet pickup.


The little town of Spearfish was bustling with riders of all sorts. We spent the afternoon eating, visiting the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatcher and waiting in line for a couple of hours. The entire event was first class except for the packet pickup. They had 3 people trying to run packet pickup for over 500 riders. We didn't getback to our hotel until after 8:30 pm. Maybe next year we can have pre-assigned numbers and divide them into groups based on last name - A-G, H-L, etc... Just a suggestion :-)

Race morning came early. A pre-race meal at Perkins was the order of the day. Soon we were getting ready for our little challenge. I was somewhat worried about Christopher. 50 miles and over 7,000 feet of climbing may not seem like a lot to most of you, but for someone that has not trained much, it can become an all day experience. Adding to it was some reports of the new section along the Dakota Ridge. It was technical and several thousand feet up. One mistake while riding tired could be costly. Christopher seems a little nervous with all the riders so I decided to start in the back of the field with him. Normally the Pros/Experts start in the front rows, followed by Sport, Beginners, Tour riders and then anyone else who is just in for the ride. A little past 7:30 am Smokey the Bear started us all off. The start was supposed to be a neutral start through town until we hit the gravel road (Hill Road) and climbed up to the single track. I guess a neutral start in SD is Full On Gas. Before you knew it, we were nearly spun out in the big chain ring. That was the last I saw of Christopher for the ride.

One quick look up the road and I came to the realization that it was going to be a long day of passing riders. The lead riders were nearly a mile up the road as I hit the first gravel climb. I settled into a fast pace near my AT and was soon passing riders in bunches. Even with passing several dozens of riders I made little progress toward the front. It was going to be a long day in the saddle with plenty of practice passing. I would soon find out that I would end up passing most riders twice on the day....

First trail section up was the twisty Tinton Trail. I knew this section well from yesterday, but did not get to really enjoy the ride up today due to heavy traffic. We must have come to a complete stop 3 times waiting for the congestion to clear. By this time I had resided that my race had turned into a tour ride and was out for a joy ride with 500 others. Aid station #1 soon came and after a quick F1 type hand off from Carolynn I was soon off and gaining some motivation. The field was getting tired and thinning out. Passing became very easy and soon I hooked up with two other riders from Iowa and Nebraska. We hit the Big Hills Trails section with some serious speed and made up all kinds of time. Of course all good things must come to an end. At the end of one fast downhill gravel road section I made the pass on another rider taking a line that I would not have normally taken. Well, you can guess what happened. A nice side wall tear due to a large unseen rock. My thin walled 29er tires were no match (why did I switch from a 26er UST equipped bike again???). A nice finger wide hole spewed Stans like the Gulf Oil disaster.....

Only one thing to do. Fix it or quit. I do not do well with quitting so I started searching for a patch that would allow me to finish. I had some duct tape and small card board pieces, but it was not enough. After looking around for what seemed like hours I found a small piece of plastic. I combined this with the cardboard and duct tape to make a suitable patch for the side wall. After over 30 minutes I was back rolling. I had hoped Christopher would have caught up by now, but he was not one of the hundred or so riders who had ridden past when I was fixing my tire. I rolled on climbing Cardiac Climb with a little motivation, but quickly set myself right while on Recovery Ridge and the RimRocks Trails. I rolled into aid #2 and asked Carolynn to go get my spare tubes. She brings back every tool and part that I had brought. The funny part is that once I left she takes the $20.00 Stans rim strip that I set by the tools/parts bin and deposits it the trash. Ugh! God Bless her.

After a quick update on Christopher I was off to tackle Old Baldly West, Crangle Connection and Taco Alley. Some very sweet single track on all these sections and they were mostly downhill for the most part. Only problem was the darn dust. It was like an early 1900's dust bowl out there. I got behind two guys on this one section and was afraid to pass (did not want another side wall tear) so I just sucked up about 1 pound of dust until I finally found my way around at the base.

From aid #3 to #4 it was again mostly down hill, but then plenty of climbing awaited us on 2-track-attack. That was some pain. I was over 4 hours into the ride and all I wanted was some bacon and beer at the Bacon Station. Yes I said Bacon Station. 37 pounds of bacon and ice cold PBR beer awaited. I downed a beer and said good bye to all the cheering folk at BS and headed toward the Dakota Ridge. After about only 5 min the beer kicked in and I was having all kinds of trouble up on the ridge. Half of me was laughing and the other half was fearful of falling off the side of the mountain. Then some serious cramps set in and there was still one long section of climbing to be done before the end trip down Tinton Trail. I fought off the cramps and enjoyed one of the nicest last 7 miles of a ride/race that I have ever experienced. I flew down Tinton Trail catching 8 other riders on the final stretch. I was having so much fun I did not even care if I crashed or cut another tire.

In the end I finished in over 5 1/2 hours. My goal was 4:59 or less. Still waiting on my age-group placing. When you take into account my mechanical, my starting position and all the riders I had to wait to pass I would call it a success. I had a very fun time and the trails were awesome - some of the best I have ever ridden. We will be back next year with a front row start and a Full Suspension 26er with UST tires :-)