09.11.2009 | 10:07 am
I’ll be liveblogging as Travis Ott describes the bikes we’ll be riding today. I will also try to get pictures of me with as many important and handsome bike celebrities as possible.
But first, breakfast.
The liveblog starts at 9:00am-ish (Mountain Time, naturally, since I’m on a mountain). Come back then and start refreshing the heck out of this page.
‘Til then, I recommend reading the following recent posts, as refresher material:
Liveblog starts soon!
9:04 I am surrounded by very much bike porn.
JHK, Travis Brown, and Gary Fisher are all sitting to my right. It occurs to me, I am the only person here who is not being paid. Also, it occurs to me that I am the only person who does not deserve to be paid.
9:08: Gary has taken the stage and is talking about the history of 29″ wheeled bikes.
I’m pretty sure he’s talking about technical stuff. My mind wanders.
9:13: Gary’s talking about how in 1999 he’d ride the first prototype 29er one day, then a regular 26″ bike the next.
That’s Zapata Espinoza on the slide. I used to idolize that guy. Anyone know where he is now?
9:17: Gary’s (we’re on a first name basis after all) talking about geometry issues they had at first, as well as the difficulty in getting a fork that would work with such a large wheel. Back then, a lot of the prototypes were outsourced. Now, says Gary, “Only Shimano has a larger R&D Dept than we do.”
9:19: Gary’s acknowledging that Gary Fisher wasn’t the first 29er out there. I notice that Gary has skinny legs.
9:24: Dirt Rag is to my left. Bike is to my right. Neither of them has written more than two sentences since I’ve been here. In their defense, there hasn’t been a lot of news so far. This has all been “our story so far…” stuff.
9:27: NEWS FLASH: GARY FISHER ANNOUNCES THAT 29″-WHEELED BIKES ARE PRONE TO EXPLODING:
Oh, OK. I know. But still, it’s a funny headline for a slide.
9:31 JHK and Heather take the stage.
Alas, James Huang’s (of CyclingNews) head dominates the photo.
9:32: JHK (personal friend of mine) talks about how his first 29″ bike was a Rig. As the bikes became more refined, he slowly transitioned from sometimes riding 29″ to where he is now: “I honestly believe there is no course on which a 26″ bike is faster.” A bold statement, and one with which I happen to agree.
9:36: Heather talks a bit about how at first she didn’t like the 29″ bikes, Felt like she was “on top of a gigantic machine.”
Then she built up a Medium. At 5′4″ she’s totally comfortable on it and says she “no longer knows where [her] 26″ bike is.”
9:41: I’m pretty sure I’m the only one liveblogging this, which means FatCyclist.com is where you can go to get the news first.
Also, this makes me think: If you’ve got questions for me to ask during the Q&A part of this thing, post them in the comments.
9:45: And now, at long last, we arrive at the present. 2009 v. 2010.
Travis Brown says this is the most refined 29″ bike line ever. He’s been racing these things. Gary jumps in and reminds us that we’re now 10 years into 29″ bikes. These are no longer just a bleeding edge technology. They’re mature now, says the man in matching shirt and cycling cap with Elvis sunglasses.
9:50: Here’s the lineup:
Rumblefish is for “enhancing rider confidence,” fun trail riding. Superfly is for “getting from point A to B as fast as possible.”
9:54: Biggest change is the decreased wheelbase:
Annnd and “Active Braking Pivot.” It’s too bad I can’t talk to the guys sitting on either side of me, because they’d probably understand what the heck that means.
Suspension tweaked, integrated bottom bracket, E2 top tube. Wubba wubba wubba.
10:00 Oh this is cool: new size! XXL debuts.
10:05: And now we start on the Superfly 100 — the bike I think most people are going to be most interested in. JHK says he went into trying this bike without an open mind. He’s “been a hardcore hardtail advocate my whole career.”
He says that now he believes this bike is as efficient as the Superfly hardtail in the climbs, and descends “bonkers.”
10:05: OCLV carbon, G2 geometry, E2 headtube, and the very very important active braking pivot, which I still do not understand. Frame, shock, hardware come in at 2100 grams.
The HiFi is the aluminum version of the same bike. Also, they claim that it will be 20% less sexy. Wow, that’s harsh. Don’t remove sexiness, guys. The world needs more sexiness, not less.
10:10: They’re drilling down on this chart:
I have no idea what it means.
10:12: And now for the Rumblefish — the 29″ trail bike, and the “girls (and boys) just wanna have fun” bike in the lineup.
Suspension design (DRCV for Dual Rate Control Valve I think) is “two stage air spring with small bump sensitivity of a single air canister with big hit control available through second air canister.” Sounds like they’re trying to tell me something, but I’m not sure what it is. Perhaps, “The suspension works more when you hit bigger stuff?”
10:16: Travis Brown is back. May I just say that Travis, besides obviously knowing his stuff and being one of the strongest riders around, is very cool, as evidenced by his Twin Six t-shirt?
Note: Including mine, I believe this makes 3 Twin Six t-shirts in evidence today.
10:20: And now, the Superfly SS. YAAAY. Really, the only thing they’re talking about is the pivoting dropout:
Nice thing with that dropout is that there should be considerably less chatter and squeal under hard braking.
10:24: Looks like there won’t be a Q&A session, but I’ll do what I can to grab some people and answer some of the questions you posted. I pulled Travis Brown aside and asked him some things from your questions:
- XXL Sizing: If you’re 6′3″ or above you might want to take a look at this size. Travis says his test rider was 6′6″.
- “Shorter wheelbase equals twitchier ride:” Travis Brown says that’s a reductionist view of the geometry. You need to look at the full recipe of the bike: the front-center (bb to front axle), effective chainstay, trail figure, and other subtleties they’ve factored in. You won’t feel like this bike is twitchy.
Comments (5)
09.11.2009 | 7:42 am
I’ll be liveblogging as Travis Ott describes the bikes we’ll be riding today. I will also try to get pictures of me with as many important and handsome bike celebrities as possible.
But first, breakfast.
The liveblog starts at 9:00am-ish (Mountain Time, naturally, since I’m on a mountain). Come back then and start refreshing the heck out of this page.
‘Til then, I recommend reading the following recent posts, as refresher material:
Liveblog starts soon!
9:04 I am surrounded by very much bike porn.
JHK, Travis Brown, and Gary Fisher are all sitting to my right. It occurs to me, I am the only person here who is not being paid. Also, it occurs to me that I am the only person who does not deserve to be paid.
9:08: Gary has taken the stage and is talking about the history of 29″ wheeled bikes.
I’m pretty sure he’s talking about technical stuff. My mind wanders.
9:13: Gary’s talking about how in 1999 he’d ride the first prototype 29er one day, then a regular 26″ bike the next.
That’s Zapata Espinoza on the slide. I used to idolize that guy. Anyone know where he is now?
9:17: Gary’s (we’re on a first name basis after all) talking about geometry issues they had at first, as well as the difficulty in getting a fork that would work with such a large wheel. Back then, a lot of the prototypes were outsourced. Now, says Gary, “Only Shimano has a larger R&D Dept than we do.”
9:19: Gary’s acknowledging that Gary Fisher wasn’t the first 29er out there. I notice that Gary has skinny legs.
9:24: Dirt Rag is to my left. Bike is to my right. Neither of them has written more than two sentences since I’ve been here. In their defense, there hasn’t been a lot of news so far. This has all been “our story so far…” stuff.
9:27: NEWS FLASH: GARY FISHER ANNOUNCES THAT 29″-WHEELED BIKES ARE PRONE TO EXPLODING:
Oh, OK. I know. But still, it’s a funny headline for a slide.
9:31 JHK and Heather take the stage.
Alas, James Huang’s (of CyclingNews) head dominates the photo.
9:32: JHK (personal friend of mine) talks about how his first 29″ bike was a Rig. As the bikes became more refined, he slowly transitioned from sometimes riding 29″ to where he is now: “I honestly believe there is no course on which a 26″ bike is faster.” A bold statement, and one with which I happen to agree.
9:36: Heather talks a bit about how at first she didn’t like the 29″ bikes, Felt like she was “on top of a gigantic machine.”
Then she built up a Medium. At 5′4″ she’s totally comfortable on it and says she “no longer knows where [her] 26″ bike is.”
9:41: I’m pretty sure I’m the only one liveblogging this, which means FatCyclist.com is where you can go to get the news first.
Also, this makes me think: If you’ve got questions for me to ask during the Q&A part of this thing, post them in the comments.
9:45: And now, at long last, we arrive at the present. 2009 v. 2010.
Travis Brown says this is the most refined 29″ bike line ever. He’s been racing these things. Gary jumps in and reminds us that we’re now 10 years into 29″ bikes. These are no longer just a bleeding edge technology. They’re mature now, says the man in matching shirt and cycling cap with Elvis sunglasses.
9:50: Here’s the lineup:
Rumblefish is for “enhancing rider confidence,” fun trail riding. Superfly is for “getting from point A to B as fast as possible.”
9:54: Biggest change is the decreased wheelbase:
Annnd and “Active Braking Pivot.” It’s too bad I can’t talk to the guys sitting on either side of me, because they’d probably understand what the heck that means.
Suspension tweaked, integrated bottom bracket, E2 top tube. Wubba wubba wubba.
10:00 Oh this is cool: new size! XXL debuts.
10:05: And now we start on the Superfly 100 — the bike I think most people are going to be most interested in. JHK says he went into trying this bike without an open mind. He’s “been a hardcore hardtail advocate my whole career.”
He says that now he believes this bike is as efficient as the Superfly hardtail in the climbs, and descends “bonkers.”
10:05: OCLV carbon, G2 geometry, E2 headtube, and the very very important active braking pivot, which I still do not understand. Frame, shock, hardware come in at 2100 grams.
The HiFi is the aluminum version of the same bike. Also, they claim that it will be 20% less sexy. Wow, that’s harsh. Don’t remove sexiness, guys. The world needs more sexiness, not less.
10:10: They’re drilling down on this chart:
I have no idea what it means.
10:12: And now for the Rumblefish — the 29″ trail bike, and the “girls (and boys) just wanna have fun” bike in the lineup.
Suspension design (DRCV for Dual Rate Control Valve I think) is “two stage air spring with small bump sensitivity of a single air canister with big hit control available through second air canister.” Sounds like they’re trying to tell me something, but I’m not sure what it is. Perhaps, “The suspension works more when you hit bigger stuff?”
10:16: Travis Brown is back. May I just say that Travis, besides obviously knowing his stuff and being one of the strongest riders around, is very cool, as evidenced by his Twin Six t-shirt?
Note: Including mine, I believe this makes 3 Twin Six t-shirts in evidence today.
10:20: And now, the Superfly SS. YAAAY. Really, the only thing they’re talking about is the pivoting dropout:
Nice thing with that dropout is that there should be considerably less chatter and squeal under hard braking.
10:24: Looks like there won’t be a Q&A session, but I’ll do what I can to grab some people and answer some of the questions you posted. I pulled Travis Brown aside and asked him some things from your questions:
- XXL Sizing: If you’re 6′3″ or above you might want to take a look at this size. Travis says his test rider was 6′6″.
- “Shorter wheelbase equals twitchier ride:” Travis Brown says that’s a reductionist view of the geometry. You need to look at the full recipe of the bike: the front-center (bb to front axle), effective chainstay, trail figure, and other subtleties they’ve factored in. You won’t feel like this bike is twitchy.
Comments (59)
09.10.2009 | 9:15 pm
So I’m here in Park City, just minding my own business — talking with Travis Brown and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski. Yeah, really. I was. They were asking for riding advice and stuff, because when you are top-level pro / MTB hall-of-famers, of course the guy you’re going to go to for advice is a (beloved) cycling blogger.
And then in wanders Gary Fisher. I stick out my hand, cordially. And that’s when he grabs my hand, whips it around behind me and secures me, helpless, in a skull-crushing headlock.
And proceeds to give me a noogie.
I think it was the Bike Snob NYC Seal of Disapproval t-shirt that did it.
PS: After seeing this picture, is there anyone who is not thinking, “Gary Fisher and Hulk Hogan: Separated at Birth?”
PPS: Tomorrow (Friday) we get lectured at, and then we ride. If the lecture is interesting, I will liveblog it. If it is not interesting, I will meta-liveblog it. Unless there is no wifi, in which case I will probably take a well-deserved nap.
PPPS: I think that riding with Travis and Jeremy tomorrow is going to put my sense of being a strong cyclist into perspective. Big time.
Comments (37)
09.10.2009 | 12:00 am
I planned to do a short ride. On the flats. After all, yesterday I did around 5000 feet of climbing. Tomorrow I will do around 3000.
So it was clearly a good idea to do a nice short spin, focusing on high cadence and low torque.
But it was so hot outside. And one thing every cyclist who lives near mountains knows is: you can climb out of the heat. Seriously, it’s always ten or fifteen degrees cooler in the canyon, and maybe even cooler as you get toward the summit.
So when I had to decide — turn right and head toward the flats in the valley, or turn left and head to the canyon — I turned left.
Which meant I would not be doing an easy spin.
New Plan
By the time I got to the mouth of the canyon, I could tell something: my legs felt good. Unusually good. Like they wanted me to see what they had.
I stepped it up. Still felt great. Went to a higher gear. Wanted more.
By the time I got to the toll booth, I was in my big ring, about three cogs down the cassette. That is not a common gear selection for this ride.
But for whatever reason, that’s where I wanted to be.
This Pain Is Mine
I generally climb the Alpine Loop in the second and third gear, shifting up to third and fourth when I’m standing. Today, though, I rode in fifth and sixth. At a cadence that seemed higher than normal.
It hurt. It hurt gloriously.
I think other cyclists who love climbing will agree: There is nothing quite so exquisite as pain you have elected to suffer, and manage to keep right below the threshold that breaks you. You are controlling chaos. You are mastering your body. You have the time trialist’s smile: a weird grin with teeth exposed and clenched.
Mostly, this is a combination of reacting to pain and wanting to get as much air as possible. But sometimes there’s a little bit of smile in there too.
You are pushing every single thought — except one — out of your head.
And that one thought is an important one: Can I push harder and still not snap? If the answer is “yes,” then you push harder.
It’s surprising, really, how often the answer is “yes.” More often than you think.
When the answer is “no,” however, the sense of gratification is immense. Unless — and until — the answer becomes, “no, and you can’t hold this pace for long either.” Then you have to evaluate. Is that your inherent overcaution? Or are you really about to pop?
Today, I was certain, once, that I had hit that point. I had popped. I slowed drastically, the sense of disappointment settling in.
But then I stood up, and I went again. And I had it in me.
Big Day
“Today,” I thought, “I am turning in the ride of a lifetime.”
And you know what? It’s entirely possible that I did. Right now I weigh 156 pounds. Much lighter than this and my power starts dropping off pretty fast. I’ve been riding a lot this last few weeks. So I may, right now, be the strongest cyclist I have ever been.
But I have no idea whether I was actually the fastest I have ever been on this climb. I had no electronics with me (other than the electronics that shift my gears, I mean). So maybe I just turned in a 57-minute Alpine Loop summit. Or maybe I just turned in a 1:02. Either is possible, and neither matters very much to me.
What matters is how I felt. And I felt very fast indeed.
Return
When I reached the summit, I pulled into the parking lot and rode around the perimeter for a couple minutes in slow circles. Happy. Proud. Throat very raw.
I pulled a bottle out of a cage to take a drink and realized: I had been so focused that I had taken only one tug the entire climb. I made up for lost time (and fluid) and began the descent.
Usually, I attack the downhill of the Alpine Loop pretty hard. It’s so fun. But today, I just coasted, conservatively. I just didn’t have anything — energy nor intensity — left in me. I felt well and truly exhausted. Spent. Empty.
It’s a good feeling.
Comments (56)
09.9.2009 | 10:49 am
Tomorrow I will be heading up to Park City for the 2010 Fisher 29er Ride Camp, which, if I understand correctly, will be an opportunity for select, very important (and handsome) members of the cycling press to try out the latest Gary Fisher mountain bikes.
Which forces the question: has anyone from Gary Fisher ever actually read my blog?
I’m the opposite of cycling press. I’m completely subjective. I don’t even try to tell both sides of any given story. I make news up, and I twist the truth to suit my own ends.
Oh, waitasec. I guess I’m regular cycling press after all.
However, one way I am demonstrably different from the rest of the (illustrious and very handsome) cycling press is this: I am already in the tank for Gary Fisher.
Even before being wined and dined.
See, here’s the thing. Even without going out and riding in Park City and being told about all the neat features and increased horizontal stiffness and vertical compliance (neither of which, I might add, I can ever really feel, since the amount of air you have in your tires, what you ate for lunch, and whether you need to pee together affect ride quality much more significantly than the frame stiffness), I am willing to make a bold proclamation:
The Superfly Singlespeed (aka the SingleFly) is my favorite bike. Ever.
No caveats. No categories. It’s simply the bike I would rather ride than any bike I currently own or have ever owned.
Just look at the thing:
It’s a very sexy bike. The kind you don’t bring home to mother. Of course, a big part of the sexiness of this bike is the way I built it up: light and strong (and, frankly, expensive). Noir cranks.
Stans ZTR rims and Chris King hubs. Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes.
Salsa Pro Moto bar.
Arundel bottle cages. Never underestimate the wonderfulness of a good set of cages, and I think Arundels are the best. They have never ever ever lost a single bottle on me, but I don’t have to fight the cage to get bottles out. Magic.
I could have built it lighter, but I really don’t think I could have built it better. At 18.5 pounds, I think I’ve hit the sweet spot between lightness and ride-it-without-worrying-about-it durability.
Hey, the thing shot off an embankment with me at 35mph, ragdolled down a boulder field, and the only things that had to be replaced were the saddle and the grips.
Love
Of course, that’s all just parts, and parts can be debated.
What can’t be debated, though, is how much I love the way this bike rides. On it, I have become a stronger climber.
I have become a faster, more confident descender.
And on this bike, I am just happy.
And besides, I kind of love the fact that hardly anyone in the world has one of these bikes, what with it not ever having been made available to the public.
2010
I guess I should say that this bike was never made available to the public . . . until now.
Yeah, that’s right. For 2010 you can get my favorite bike. The only important difference is the new pivoting dropout, making it so you can use quick-release skewers in the back, as well as different-sized cogs without changing the number of chain links.
You’re Welcome
Since I badgered Travis Ott pretty much constantly, telling him that I demanded they make this bike available to the public, I feel like I should now be allowed to take credit for the fact that they have.
So. When I go riding in Park City with the (important, handsome) cycling press later this week, I will probably ride anything but their Superfly Singlespeed. I think my opinion is already pretty well-formed on this bike.
Oh, and also I will give Gary Fisher a giant man-hug, and possibly a manly kiss on the cheek. And by “cheek,” I of course mean the cheek on his face, since I have just now already kissed his other kind of cheek.
I will have my camera ready.
Comments (59)
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