The Go-Fast Machine Has Arrived

Damn. This thing is RAD. Can't wait to rumble in the jungle with this beast. Thanks, GT!

It figures that a foot of snow arrived at the same time as the bike, so I can't even ride around the block, much less on the trails. Sigh.

Well, it gives me ample time to swap out the tires. I'm sold on Maxxis Ignitor 2.1 for Colorado riding.I love the Maxxis website description of these:

"The Ignitor tread pattern was designed for the most discerning professional racers and already has laid claim to multiple World Cup victories."

Well, ALL RIGHT. Giggity!

I'm one of those racers who knows I'm light-years away from any World Cup victories. I just prefer the whole racing experience to be fun. No matter where I end up in the results, I want to savor every piece of trail. I want to pump every roller, manual off every root and ledge, rail every loose corner, and get the proverbial bugs stuck in my teeth at the bottom of every descent. And for that reason, I choose to race the longest-travel bike I can manage, and run big fat (by cross-country standards) juicy tires. I do my best to get enough fitness to offset the weight difference, but if that fails, so be it. You will never find me getting jackhammered around on a hardtail with skinny tires out here in the Rockies. Not that there's anything wrong with running a hardtail here, but it just doesn't trip my personal trigger.

Besides, I will always be a better descender than a climber, and it makes sense to capitalize on my strengths. The race wins I've had so far have been in Super D, so I gotta stick with what works. :)
Anyway, besides trying to carpe-diem the heck out of local races, I'm doing this to make the world recognize the radness of GT. Word.

As soon as the snow melts, I will get this rig out there and actually Ride More, Talk Less. :)

First Lance's Bike, Now This

(From Bike Radar...written by my pal James:)

Stealing this bike seems like a waste of time. I mean, seriously. Steal something you could actually ride or sell. This thing is more noticeable than Rush Limbaugh at a gay pride parade. 

And of course, it's just a crappy thing to do. Come on, punk...give it back so a hardworking amateur racer can earn it the real way. 

Clothing

While Boulder is known for its Naked Bike Ride, you will not see me on it. Sorry. The chafing really detracts from the experience. And anyway, I have rad clothes to wear now:

Unfortunately, I got sent guy-size/style T-shirts (my name probably threw them off, just like it does with the folks at Playboy Magazine - stop bugging me! I'm not subscribing!), so I won't show off the casual wear until my girl-style shirts show up. 

To add to the delays, my rad tent was damaged in shipping, so I have to wait for parts to arrive before I can get it going. The tent folks were super cool to deal with, though, so no worries. 

At least my umbrella's here. This thing is pro! Hey, where's my half-dressed, Euro-trash umbrella boy? 

Oh. You have to pay extra (a LOT extra) for that perk. Plus you end up with spray tan and cologne all over your umbrella. Well, I guess I'll just sucker some nice American racer dude to hold this over me at the Super D start lines.   :)

FedEx on Overdrive

Well, the GT Dirt Coalition team has been finalized. Huge congrats to everyone. To see the whole list of racers, visit the DC blog.

I'm stoked to see that there's a good group of us from Colorado, and I hope to meet the others at some events. Come to the Firecracker 50! The Golden Bike Race Series will be there at the same time, so this could be GT Central.

And I just got an email saying that the bike, tent and welcome kit are on their way. When I think about all this stuff going out to all these riders, I am kind of blown away by the effort GT is making to bring themselves back. It's a mission I'm proud to be part of, since I spent several years racing and logging the epic miles on an old-school I-Drive Pro that I loved.


I tried to tell everyone what a great bike it was, and I was always surprised at how fickle people were. They were often down on the bikes just because GT was owned by a company they didn't like. Or maybe they "heard" that the I-Drive suspension was full of problems and you could never get parts, yada yada yada. Granted, GT definitely was underground at the time, and I was forced to buy a bike on the internet because the closest dealer was in Vail. But I never had a single problem with my bike in three years of hard riding and racing.

And now, I get to fly the GT flag again, this time on a carbon Marathon. Sweet! I gotta say, I was hard-pressed to not choose the carbon Force. Six inches of travel at 26 pounds??


Hell yeah! But I restrained myself. The suspension's so plush that even the 4" Marathon will feel great for Super D racing.

I race a mix of cross-country and Super D, and I'm really excited about the growing trend in longer, more enduro-style Super D racing that's emerging. Ashland's got a popular one, and of course there's Downieville. As for Colorado, Keystone's old Super D was like that, but since they've done away with it, I hope some other promoters get on the bandwagon. We'll see. Maybe by next year, if I can convince GT to take me on again, that Force will have a place in the garage.

Fun Vids

If you need some worktime diversion: Just don't cackle so loud that you get busted by your boss.