RR: Cooks>Whiting>STT>Luge>Wahoos_1-21-07

[guero]

My second voyage on the s/s went down yesterday. I knew it was already going to be tough as is, but being that I was coming off a cold that I had battled all week long I knew things would be even harder. Met up at Cooks at 8:30, riders were myself, chappy, patrick, gouge, rob and pete. Temps were a little chilly and the wind was starting to pick up.

We headed up Santiago Canyone and backdoored Whiting via the stables and just that short little steep burst heading into Whiting kinda zapped me a bit. We maintained a pretty quick pace, flowing through the canopied area and then dumping out on Portola. Rested up for a few at the main Whiting entrance and then took off, I felt pretty good going through the lower half and decided to skip the extra credit "Upper Cow Pattie" s/t as Pete dubbed it. I knew Mustard was going to kick my butt and I made it up the first section, then it kinda flattens out, and you hit the right hander I had to stop. I didnt want to push it too hard, and I wanted to save energy for the climb up to STT. So, I did the hike-a-bike to the next flat area, hopped back on, then couldnt power up the final steep section before 4Corners. We relaxed up at the top kiosk for a few, and I was debating on wheter or not i should just head back to the car or continue on to the Luge. The guys were giving me some motivational speeches and I continued on. Chappy, Patrick, Gouge and Pete all did Cactus, but Rob and I just went over the hill and down to the gate. So we get to Modjeska and the wind is getting stronger, and I am not. I managed to make it up to the flat section (just after right hand turn) on Modjeska on my s/s and had to stop, everything was hurting, I could tell that my body was worked from the cold i was still battling. Rob offered to switch bikes at that point and I complied. I rode his 5spot the rest of the way and met up with them inside the gate. Everyone regrouped and after about a 5-10 minute rest, we were on our way. I was still feeling like crap and after the first kinda steep climb i stopped and was feeling zapped. The others were on the next ridge and I shouted to them that I'd meet them back at the cars. After a few minutes I decided that I had to continue, I wanted to do this and wasn't going to turn around. So I was back on my way and managed to see Patrick as I rounded the bottom of Puke Hill. He was almost to the top and I shouted to him, he waited for me at the top as I hike-a-biked up to where it flattens out a tad and then him and I regrouped. We then made our way to the Luge and at some points the wind was nearly stopping us in our tracks. Pete decided to head on up towards Old Camp, and the rest of us headed downward. All I can say is I did miss my Huckler greatly while descending the Luge. My 80mm Reba is plush, but its only 80mm...my carbon bars and 29 inch wheels did take some of the edge off, but nothing can make up for 6 inches of buttery smooth Marzocchi travel. We regrouped at the bottom and made our way out, (yes i hike-a-biked that steep section after the luge) and we then set out for our drafting session down live oak. I thought i'd be at a huge disadvantage with my 32:20 gearing, but the 29inch wheels were amazing. I was behind Rob, got the slingshot effect and passed him without pedalling and my tires were humming, I stayed crouched and I guess Rob said he was pedalling but still couldnt catch me. I cherished the moment as this would be the only time I'd ever be ahead of him on a downhill on my 29er hardtail.

Cooks was packed by the time we got back to the cars and the wind was insane! Loaded the bikes, headed to Wahoos for food and called it a day. Overall the ride was uneventful, with no flats, no crashes, and only came across one big heard of hikers on the lower half of Whiting. The s/s experience is still new and exciting, and I know it will still continue to work me, but I hope with each ride I get stronger and stronger. What I didnt realize is how much of an upper body workout it is when climbing!

[ShinKen]

Originally Posted by guero

What I didnt realize is how much of an upper body workout it is when climbing!

Ohh yeah!! thats one of the sweet pointZZ!! great job on this ride BUB!! u're more aggresive than I was when I got mine by hitting this ride with only a few days under your belt!! let me know when u want to hit the loop or Chino to get the heart pumping!!

[Burner]

I don't know what it'll do to your handling on that bike... but the reba at 100 is so much more plush...its got more travel before it get's too progressive. I changed mine recently and wish I had done it a long time ago, you can sag it a little more to keep geometry closer.

[guero]

thanks plAyA buBb, i would be down for a fully loop or two on my new ride. it would have to be on the weekend though.

burner, thanks for the heads up on that. i may play with that setting after a few more rides. i'm still experimenting with the + and - psi on the fork.

[Pho'dUp]

That's a tough ride especially single. The steeper hills like Mustard, Puke Hill, and Modgeska grade really make your heart rate go through the roof. Good job toughing it out. Any thoughts about trying 32:22 for your 29'er? I suffered for a long time trying to turn a heavier gear ratio until I switched to 33:21 on my 26" bike. Wow, I'm much much happier.

[Burner]

Originally Posted by guero

burner, thanks for the heads up on that. i may play with that setting after a few more rides. i'm still experimenting with the + and - psi on the fork.

Drop the psi WAY below the recommended rockshox guidelines. I run about 10psi less in the - than the +

I don't know what you weigh but I'm 175 without gear and run 90/80

[guero]

Originally Posted by Pho'dUp

That's a tough ride especially single. The steeper hills like Mustard, Puke Hill, and Modgeska grade really make your heart rate go through the roof. Good job toughing it out. Any thoughts about trying 32:22 for your 29'er? I suffered for a long time trying to turn a heavier gear ratio until I switched to 33:21 on my 26" bike. Wow, I'm much much happier.

thanks pho'd. i was thinking of getting a 22 for the back, jose was recommending that i stick with the 20 as it will make me stronger. being that most of our rides here have so much climbing involved i think a 22 might help out a lot, but then i'd suffer a little more in the flats...it might not be a bad idea to try it out though....anyone have an extra 22 toof laying around?

Originally Posted by Burner

Drop the psi WAY below the recommended rockshox guidelines. I run about 10psi less in the - than the +

I don't know what you weigh but I'm 175 without gear and run 90/80

i weigh a few pounds more than ya and have been doing tons of reading on how i should set the shock up over on mtbr. i've found one really good thread, and many people were saying to make the fork more plush, you can run the negative psi slightly higher than the positive. my first experience was at 120/110, and it felt a bit harsh, so i then did 100/110 for this last ride and it felt much more plush to me. i didnt mess with the flood-gate at all and would crank the compression to the "lock" position for the longer climbs. rebound is set closer to the bunny.
so far the fork feels pretty plush to me.

[TURNERob]

Yes overall it was a pretty uneventful ride, which I guess is a good thing! Although Pat and I did complete the entire loop in our middle rings.....sure Gouge would have also but he needs a new middle chainring. I think we were all encouraging Bret to keep pressing on but I wasn't as hard as I usually am on him since I knew he was sick all week. I tried to keep him going by pedaling his SS up the last hill of Modjeska. He looked pretty worked so when he yelled at us shortly into STT that he was gonna turn around nobody gave him any grief.

Gouge and Pat were behind me on the climb towards the Luge then all of sudden Pat was gone. After waiting a few minutes at the flagpole we figured he flatted. Then we see someone coming down the hill and much to our surprise it was Bret!!! Then Pat rolled in right behind him. Props to Bret for toughing it out, he's doing pretty well on that Purple Haze

The wind was really blowing hard at the flagpole and we all just wanted to get down to lower ground....except for Pete who pressed on towards old camp. How far did you get Pete? The Luge is in pretty good shape, more rocks strewn across the trail which makes it a bit more challenging. Wahoo's afterwards was a nice cap on the ride, 1 particular woman had my eyes spinning

[1x1clyde]

Nice job Guero

I love that loop on my ss, it has just about everything you need for a excellent ss ride!

Do yourself a favor and get yourself a 22t, your knees will thank you! In fact, I might even have one laying around if you need one!
I use a 32X18 for everything now but when I moved here I was running a 32x16 - perfect in minnesota - and had to switch quick!

If you want to get stronger, get a road bike and hammer some intervals out.......otherwise, enjoy the ride

[guero]

thanks for the propps neal. it certainly has been an experience, i just cant wait til i can clean mustard and puke hill! i wouldnt mind picking up that 22 from ya. pm me with a price and hopefully we can meet up and make a deal.

[tkblazer]

hey george, did you get any video of big bret trying to puss out on the ride? that could be blackmail material yo!

don't worry B, i thought about doing the same trying to ride with the three Amigos ( Justin, Jeffrey and Jose) those mofo's kicked my ass

[andy aka rut]

Guero,
Nice RR. If you need another 29'er ss person to ride along with, let me know. I'm pretty much available to ride everyday right now.

[Pain Freak]

I'd definitely look to lower the ratio a little. The one problem I had when I first started ss'ing was to pick to high a gear selection and I paid dearly. Not knowing any better my LBS assumed I was a lot stronger then I was and set me up with a 2:1 (32x16). I rode the easier stuff over in Claremont Wilderness Park, and kept telling myself that eventually I'd be able to make the harder climbs. I never did at that ratio, I did become discouraged and I almost blew my knee out trying. I talked with a couple other ss guru's and listened to their advice about taking it down a notch. Man, what a difference. SS'ing became fun at that point. True I wasn't working as hard, but I did gain a lot of speed and my knee pain went away and I did get stronger. So by switching out to the lower ratio I did get faster. I've since even reduced it further as I ride the geared bike more and as you'll see, this can be a hinderance. SS'ing is different in that I have to stay on the ss to maintain that level of fitness and when I switch back to a geared bike I lose some of it. My problem is that I've never developed the technical skills to enjoy the downhill on a hardtail. It's so much fun on a squishy I can't help but pick that bike. Your ratio seems pretty aggressive to me for just starting out and your trail selection is also pretty tough. Good luck with it, it does become a lot of fun after you build up to it. And I really agree with you on the upper body workout, that's the first thing I notice after being off the ss for a while.

[ECOdork]

Damn, I know I've been out of the loop for awhile but Guero's running an SS now? That's great man! What kinda of rig is it? I probably missed the post where you talked about it....

Not much new here except the increasing length of time that my fat arse has been off the bike and the associated increase in gut size and decrease in physical fitness....winter sux...

[guero]

thanks for all the great feedback guys. i have spoken with neil (1x1clyde) and have worked out a deal for a 22t cog. now the hard part will be hooking up, since we are far away from each other, lol.

mike, i know what ya mean about it being a little aggressive. im not too worried about the downhills though, i just have to go a little slower, but going down t&a was still fun, just much, much different than the heckler, not having all that travel made it interesting. as far as climbing goes, i think the 22t cog will hopefully make a significant enough difference to me to potentially start cleaning some of the steeper climbs.

lance, it is a 2005 Gary Fisher Rig. there is a RR in the "trail talk" section with lots of pix of it, scroll down towards the bottom and look for "bret maiden voyage..."

[ShinKen]

Originally Posted by guero

thanks for all the great feedback guys. i have spoken with neil (1x1clyde) and have worked out a deal for a 22t cog. now the hard part will be hooking up, since we are far away from each other, lol.

mike, i know what ya mean about it being a little aggressive. im not too worried about the downhills though, i just have to go a little slower, but going down t&a was still fun, just much, much different than the heckler, not having all that travel made it interesting. as far as climbing goes, i think the 22t cog will hopefully make a significant enough difference to me to potentially start cleaning some of the steeper climbs.

lance, it is a 2005 Gary Fisher Rig. there is a RR in the "trail talk" section with lots of pix of it, scroll down towards the bottom and look for "bret maiden voyage..."

I may see Neil this week if u want me to get it for u ehh!

[LBmtb]

Props to Guero for completing that thing and battling sickness and what not. Also props to pat and rob for completing "Clinky's middle ring challenge."

[guero]

plAya bUbB, if you see neil, can you pick it up and give him a Jackson, no, not a Steven Jackson, an Andrew Jackson. i'll give you the Jackson back this weekend eh.

thanks gouge, propps to you for forgetting your camera this weekend!!! and for completing the Guero Granny Ring Challenge (since your middle ring was out of commission).

[dstepper]

I am a slow spinner and I am by far not the strongest rider. I have a 32 front and have used 22, 20, & 18 cogs. It surprizes me that a couple of teeth can make that big of a difference, but it does.

Only with the 18 cog on the back can I comfortably keep pace with my geared friends on the flats. Rememeber I am not a spinner. Also I do not have to climb ever hill I come to. But with that 18 toothed cog on the back of my One-9, it flys on buff singletrack, to me it is worth walking some hills to get that top end.

I really boils down to your type of riding and were you ride. If I was to climb Josephine Saddle the 22 cog would go on but I would be missing the 18 the rest of the ride.

[mtnbikej]

Originally Posted by 1x1clyde

Do yourself a favor and get yourself a 22t, your knees will thank you! In fact, I might even have one laying around if you need one!

This was the first thing I did when I built the Monocog. I used to run 32x29/20 on a 26" SS so I figured the 22t would work best for the 29er.

I find with this gear(32x22) I can sit and pedal more on the less steep climbs.