A couple of days ago, a guest arrived. He’ll be staying for the summer. Everyone, please give a warm welcome to the Diamondback Sortie Black.
But you can just call him “Sortie.”
Evidently, when I posted a video of Ricky and me riding Grove Creek on our fully-rigid bikes, it was just too much for Diamondback. They contacted me, saying, essentially, “You’re doing it wrong.”
And the Sortie, apparently, is the right way.
So they sent me one to play with for the summer. After which, I will return it in a much-more-used condition.
A Little Bit About the Sortie
I have to admit, the Sortie (especially the ultra-upgraded, limited-edition “Black” edition I’m currently gloating over) is a very sexy bike. Here are a few of the parts I’ve drooled on:
The rest of the bike is similarly hotted up, resulting in a mountain bike with 5″ of travel, front and back, that weighs 26 pounds out the door.
Let me say that again: This 5″-travel mountain bike weighs 26 pounds.
Which means I do not have to become a shuttlebug to start enjoying this bike.
Leap of Faith
I have spent long moments just staring at this bike. It’s a beauty. It’s also pretty much the exact opposite of what I’ve been trending toward lately. Consider:
Wheels: 26″ (my other mountain bikes — all four of them — have 29″ wheels). I am going to need to go to a bike shop and buy some 26″ tubes.
Suspension: 5″ [!!!] (3 of my other four mountain bikes have no suspension at all, and the other has a front shock, which I’ve been thinking about ditching)
Gears: This has 27. Right now I’m used to one.
Bottle cages: 1, which means I’m going to have to dig out a Camelbak if I’m going to go on a ride longer than 90 minutes…or 60 minutes in the heat of the day. Honestly, this is my biggest disappointment with this bike. I’m kind of off Camelbaks lately.
Weight: 26 pounds is light for what this is, but it’s still 8 pounds more than the mountain bike I’ve been riding most lately.
So far, the only riding I’ve done with this bike is straight into curbs, just to see how the bike handles them. And frankly, I’ve been a little bit freaked out, because the bike just kind of absorbs the curb. I don’t even have to stop pedaling, lift the front wheel or anything. Just ride through it, as if it weren’t there.
I worry, though, that when I take the Sortie out, it will prove the bike version of the Peter Principle. Specifically, I have become a pretty fair descender on a rigid 29″ singlespeed, partly because a very simple, unfiltered bike lets me know precisely when I am approaching the limits of my skill.
I think this bike, on the other hand, will still feel like I’m in control, long after I’m not.
Tomorrow, I’ll find out.
PS: Feel free to use the Comments section to tell me you envy / hate me.
I haven’t talked much this year about how much weight I’ve lost, nor have I talked about how much fitness and speed I’ve gained.
That is because, quite simply, I haven’t lost much weight, and I haven’t gained much fitness.
But I have improved a little. Enough that I am no longer on the fence between XL and Large jerseys; size Large fits comfortably (but I am nowhere close to a size Medium). And enough that I have started doing my “I am Ullrich” chant on the climbs again.
Of course, it’s easy for me to start thinking of my modest losses and gains as giant, quantum leaps in power and speed.
Which brings us to this morning’s ride.
Challenge
Yesterday afternoon I sent out an email to the group of people who regularly show up for the early morning mountain bike rides at Corner Canyon. I proposed we meet at the usual time (6:30) and at the usual place (the top of Clark’s), but that we mix up the route a little bit: down the Hogg’s Hollowe chute, back up the Hogg’s Hollowe climb, then Jacob’s Ladder with a possible Ghost-Falls descent and Brock’s climb.
The thing is, I climb Hogg’s Hollowe three times or so per week, where I meet the Suncresters and North-of-Suncresters, who climb up Clark’s. We meet where our respective climbs cross and then go from there.
As a result, Hogg’s Hollowe is the climb I know better than any other. And today, they would be climbing it with me. This, I thought, would be a good opportunity for me to put my stamp of authority on the climb. Ha.
After a surprisingly non-bloody descent down the Hogg’s Hollowe chute (with a group of more than five, it’s rare that nobody wrecks), we began the climb. Brad and Rick went to the front and picked up the pace.
Briefly, I considered taking my rightful place at the back of the pack. But decided against it. I got behind them and held on as best as I could.
About halfway up, Brad dropped back to chat with other riders. Which left me hanging on to Rick’s wheel for dear life.
Then Rick spun out on a gravelly ledge, putting a foot down. I passed, and promptly entered my pain cave, from which I would not exit until the top of the climb.
But it was worth it, because it was working. I was leading.
I. Was. Leading!
And then Brad rode up to my side, casually took a camera out of his jersey pocket, and snapped a picture of me, as he rode one-handed. Later, he would say, “Nice work, Elden. You were going so fast I nearly had to put my camera away!”
Yes, that’s right. I am now so freaking fast that I am almost able to force Brad out of his dawdle zone.
Fear me.
PS: By popular request, Brad’s photos. Here’s me, ahead of Rick for the first time in my life:
And here’s me, wearing my WaltWorks jersey while riding my SingleFly. Sorry, Walt! Sorry, Gary!
PPS: These are actually really good photos. Thanks for taking them, Brad.
My weekend was full of awesomeness, all centered around the LiveStrong Challenge. I am pretty sure, for example, that Matt Chapek’s — Team Fatty-San Jose Co-Captain — speech is the awesomest thing I saw this weekend. Watch it.
Matt’s speech makes me really, really glad that he was the one up there, and not me. Clearly, he was born for that.
Although to be honest, I’m not sure what was with all those bald head caps and muscle poses at the end of his presentation.
That’s Team Fatty-San Jose, standing at the front of the starting line of the San Jose LiveStrong Challenge.
And why are they at the front of the line? Because they raised more money to fight cancer than any other team there.
Congratulations, Team Fatty!
Oh, and be sure to read Ryan’s race ride report from the event, if you want to know what it’s like to spend the day in a breakaway group.
Surprise Awesomeness
Those of you who pay attention to the Team Fatty LiveStrong ticker I keep on the right side of my blog may have noticed something unusual between Thursday afternoon and now.
Specifically, we went from $370,000 to $411,000.
$40,000+, over a weekend.
How did that happen?
Well, The Pioneer Woman happened, that’s what. Ree — a longtime Friend of Fatty — asked her readers to pitch in and help us in our fight with cancer.
And did they pitch in? Um, yeah. In just over three days, 1,551 Pioneer Woman readers donated, for a total of $28,632. Which puts Team Fatty-Philly within spitting distance of $100,000.
That’s not awesome. That’s beyond awesome. That’s awesometastariffic. Ree’s readers rock. (Though I have a sneaking suspicion that many of them may prefer country.)
(Oh, and by the way, Team Fatty-Philly, since The Pioneer Woman and her readers have given us an incredible head start, I think it would be really cool if we could get past that $100,000 mark by tomorrow. Don’t you?)
So, one more time (and don’t forget to echo me in the comments): Ree and Pioneer Woman readers: thank you for helping us as we fight cancer.
PS: This whole Internet – blog thing is turning out to be a pretty darned good neighborhood, isn’t it?
PPS: Congratulations to Jessica of Virginia, who won the Nikon D80, lens kit and copy of Photoshop CS4 in Pioneer Woman’s giveaway. Here’s how Jessica says she plans to use her new camera and software:
I have a gorgeous little 8-month-old baby that is about the most photogenic thing ever, so I will no doubt be taking copious amounts of photos of her and me together — and then using the Photoshop to erase some of my baby weight in said photos (hehe). Also, my four cats and two dogs think they are the center of the universe and usually plop down in the perfect ray of sunshine to guarantee a pretty cat/dog picture!
Hey Jessica, don’t forget to buy a bike trailer for that baby, too. OK?
Like everyone else in the United States, I have been watching the Tour de France with a raptness that can only be described as “moderate.” Or perhaps it could be described as “quite interested, but not to the extent that I’m not fast forwarding through half-hour chunks of it at a time.”
As I have been watching, a few questions have occurred to me.
1. The Bob Roll Pronunciation of “Tour de France.” Since the beginning of broadcast journalism, Bob Roll has pronounced “Tour de France” so that it rhymes with “Sewer say pants.” Everyone knows this is intentional, but the gag has gone on so long that we expect it. This year, Bob’s pronouncing it correctly. Is it that he’s grown weary of the joke? Or is there something more contractual at play here?
2. Helmets. Watching the Tour this year, I suddenly realized that it now seems totally natural that everyone wear helmets all the time, not even discarding them for mountaintop finishes. I thought that pros could ditch their helmets for the final climb in mountaintop finishes. Is that no longer the case, or has everyone finally just gotten used to leaving their helmets on?
3. Polka-Dot Podium Girls. For Friday’s stage, I stuck around to watch the awards, because the stage was a thing of beauty. And as always, the podium girls were beautiful, as were their dresses.
And then…there was the Climber’s Jersey:
These outfits give rise to a whole host of questions, including the following:
How do you think the podium girls reacted upon first seeing them?
I have no arc, no unifying story for today. Just lots of good things. Like I’m Martha Stewart or something.
Good Thing #1: Congratulations to Team Fatty-San Jose: Team Champions!
Tomorrow is the LiveStrong Challenge event for San Jose, and with $61,801 earned, Team Fatty is — for the second event in a row — the top-earning team. Congratulations to everyone in Team Fatty who worked for this. I consider it — in addition to a tribute and honor to all those you individually know who are fighting cancer — a very meaningful tribute to Susan.
Good Thing #2: Your Birthday Present Bought Me the San Jose “Individual Messenger” Award
If you remember, back on June 18, I asked everyone to buy me a birthday present — a $5.00 donation on my LiveStrong Challenge page. And more than 400 of you did. This was enough to make me (by a huge margin, actually) the person in the San Jose LiveStrong Challenge who had received the greatest number of donations.
So your present turned out to be two presents. Thanks!
Good Thing #3: A Video of Susan
I won’t be able to go out to San Jose to collect either the Team Champion or the Individual Messenger award — Matt Chapek, Co-Captain of Team Fatty-San Jose will handle that — but the LAF folks said I could send a video over, like I did in Seattle.
This time, I made Susan scoot over, and we made the video together. Here it is:
Good Thing #4: Congratulations to Team Pedalout: Team Messenger Award
Earlier this week, my good friends at Twin Six did an incredibly awesome thing: They donated enough to make sure that every Team Fatty-San Jose member had at least $100.66 (I love the “66″ at the end of each of their donations). This, they thought, would guarantee that Team Fatty-San Jose won the “Team Messenger” award for the San Jose LiveStrong event.
But then, right at the last possible hour, Team Pedalout beat us at our own game, donating $100 to their dozens of formerly-zeroed team members.
An excellent surprise sprint, you’ve got to admit.
Kudos to Team Pedalout, especially when you consider that between our tactic and their countertactic, we raised a couple thousand dollars to fight cancer that otherwise may not have been raised.
Of course, I’d also like to point out that Team Fatty-San Jose — with our smaller team — raised $25,000 more than Team Pedalout.
Good Thing #5: Today’s Ride
It’s become a tradition for a group of us to ride to the summit of the Alpine Loop each Friday morning. In the group email that circulates, yesterday Mark and I announced that we’d be making an attempt on doing a sub-hour climb (starts at the toll booth ends at the summit parking lot turnoff).
And we did it.
The group acted as incredible domestiques, pacing Mark and me past the Tibble turnoff, which signals the beginning of the climb in earnest.
From there we shed everyone but Sam, who continued to pace us like we were paying him or something.
Then, shortly before the Pine Hollow hairpin, I felt a surprising thing: like I could go faster. I rode forward from the back, figuring I’d pull for a while.
But Mark and Sam didn’t grab on. So my ride became a solo breakaway.
My gap was never more than thirty seconds, but I held it the whole way to the top, finishing first and alone at 57:45. Mark was right there, ten seconds behind. And then Sam — even after doing the lion’s share of pulling at the beginning of the ride — just 15 seconds behind Mark.
Aaron’s story was one of heartbreak: 1:00:09.
It felt good to be the fast guy today.
Good Thing #6: Susan’s Out of Bed Again
Susan continues to amaze me with her resilience. Wednesday afternoon she said she wanted to get out of bed, so we worked it out. I could tell it hurt, but she did it.
And everyone in the family was so happy to have her back in the family room, in the mix with all of us.
Susan and I watched stages 2-5 of the TdF together. Wow. I’ve been intentionally not following what’s been going on, so seeing a big chunk of it all at once has been astounding. Very exciting year.
Tonight, we’ll watch yesterday’s and today’s stage. Don’t anyone dare even mention today’s stage in the comments today. Not as a joke, not as false information.
Good Thing #7: We Have a Sidis Winner
Bert J of San Francisco is the very lucky winner of any pair of Sidis he wants. But there’s someone even luckier than Bert, it turns out: his wife (and fellow Team Fatty-San Jose member), Kathleen.
He’s going to get the shoes for her, as an early birthday present, thereby earning him Awesome Husband of the Month award. And no small number of brownie points, I’ll bet.
Congratulations, Bert and Kathleen!
Good Thing #8: We Have a Trip-to-Italy Winner
A huge congratulations to Ken H of Ohio, who will be taking a dream cycling trip to Italy.
And I have to say, I’m especially excited for Ken to go since I got his email detailing his plans:
“For the past two years my daughter and I have done the week-long Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure, apparently it was training for this trip.”
“The Italian hotels look much nicer than tents in the middle of county fairgrounds.”
“This 2009 picture is right after we did 50 miles on a 90+ degree day. I’m beat, but my 11-year-old stoker is ready for another 50. She is the happiest girl in the world when we bike together.”
I seriously cannot think of a better team to go tour Italy together. Congratulations, Ken!
PS: [Late Friday Night Update] Good Thing #9: The combined total for Team Fatty just crossed $400,000. Yeah, I’d say that qualifies as a good thing!
