Mini EnduroSnob Epic Well since the EnduroSnob Epic isn't going to happen this weekend, and Matt's Tobasco ride is too far away. Rick and I came up with the idea to do a mini version on Sunday November 5th. Sorry for the short notice. I'm a spur of the moment kind of guy. This will be a real informal ride. I know Sears and Barton expressed interest last weekend. Here is a quick gravel grinder course I came up with. Be patient it might take a few seconds to open up. We can shorten or lengthen it as you guys wish : ) Plenty of towns to stop and warm-up at. I was thinking of starting pretty early in the morning. Let me know what you think. Lets hear some suggestions and opinions. The forecast is calling for a high of around 35 with light winds out of the SE. Get your cold weather gear ready. Or we could just go to TR : )

Happy Halloween Picture Post

Mr. Ames smiling next to an upside down tree after a quick spin around Turtle River. It's getting chilly out there. It won't be long now until there's snow on the ground.

Budget Biker's winter bike. Looks like fun : )

A fat new 2.70 tire on the front.

A hub's eye view of that wide tire.

Just enough room. I guess you have to remove the brake arm in order to get this tire in there. Nice work SBS.

Random links post I'm going to attempt to link to as many other sites as possible in one post. Well it's official I signed up for the Arrowhead 135 today. Now I just have to wait and see if they accept my entry. Only 50 allowed this year and those 50 are determined by your race resume. I hope I'm worthy. As of earlier this week only 23 had registered so hopefully I'm in by default : ) I found a bike apparel company named Evomo that I ordered a T-shirt from. Here is one that expresses how I feel about Dr. Dingle's recent post. Make sure you enlarge the picture to get the whole effect. Pretty nice stuff. Not as nice as the Team Brown Bear shirts that I can't wait to see. Speaking of Team Brown Bear. Brooks is on a roll in the WCA cyclocross series. Second in points. Very impressive. Brian could be right up there if he can just toughen up a little : ) Is Lane alive? In the on going Pugsley saga. I'm set on a 9-speed rear wheel. If it's good enough for Mike Curiak, it's good enough for me. Now I just need to install a couple valves in the fork and downtube for white gas : ) Does anyone have a hub suggestion? Sounds like DT Swiss is pretty good. That's all for now. Later.

Pugs II Lots of interesting ideas out there for the Pugs. I still like the idea of a 9-speed wheel in back, and a reserve single speed wheel on the front in case something goes wrong with the shifting. Although pw's Nexus idea is a close second. I'll have to research that one some more. Cellerat brought up some good questions on gear. I liked how the pogies worked last year, but I'll be experimenting with some other gloves to see if I can drop a little weight. As for the Lake boots I used last year. They worked fine up to about -5 degees. I want to try out a light pair of winter boots with a pair of Power Grips pedals. I also like the thermos idea from Curiak's Moots rig. Freezing water was a big problem last year at the Arrowhead. I could put some soup in one of them. Mmmm. There might be some fabricating going on this winter. Keep the great suggestions coming. Is anyone else seriously considering doing the Arrowhead race this year? It is a lot of fun.

Pugsley Upgrade I want to upgrade the Pugsley. I don't know if it is really an upgrade or not, but there are a couple of things I want to change. First I want to either rebuild or replace the rear wheel. I want to make it into a 9x1, sorry single speeders. That means I need a new rear hub or entire wheel. As well as a rear deraileur and shifter. If a new wheel is the way to go I want to try the new extruded Large Marge XC rim from Surly. Not sure on the hub yet. For the shifter I'm thinking of a Paul Components thumbie paired with a 9-speed shimano bar end shifter. For the rear deraileur I will use the 9-speed XTR off the 8000. I also thought about going with the White Industries Dos ENO freewheel, but it doesn't come in a big enough gear. I'd need at least a 22t. Any other ideas?

Cavemen are people too I always thought there was something different about Fox. A manly beard, he likes to be in the woods, sophisticated, and he writes Haiku : )

Work Bench I'm looking for any advice on building a home work bench. I want to get a shop together for this winter in my garage. I know a few of you have built your own and I was wondering if you just winged it, or had plans to go off of. As many of you know I'm not very handy when it comes to tools, but I think I can handle this little project. I know there are some nice pre-built benches out there too. I would like to try it myself though. I was thinking of something I can mount a truing stand and a vice to. Any thoughts or advice before I end up like Kerkove.

Titanium Bits Since I've been "domesticated". I've had plenty of time to veg-out in front of the TV. Last week I was watching ESPN and Primal Quest Utah came on. They were profiling some of the teams, and one of them was "Jen's Men". To my surprise there was a Grand Forks native on the team. It was Jason Magness, one of the guys from the climbing wall at the mall across from the Ski and Bike Shop. They interviewed him, and I have to say he's sounds like an interesting guy. I guess he used to be a rocket scientist and worked for the FBI to name a couple of the things he used to do. Now he teaches Yoga in GF. Crazy. Anyway it was entertaining seeing Jen's Men run around Utah for 500 miles. They ended up getting 24th place out of 90 teams. Very impressive. I think it would be fun to try an adventure race some day. Anyone else ever attempted or want to attempt one of these? In other news Jen and I went out and looked for wedding bands. She found one she really likes, but I couldn't find one. Then I remembered seeing some sweet titanium chainrings and cogs on the singlespeed forum at MTBR. They are made by Boone Titanium Rings and guess what they make titanium wedding bands as well. After browsing their site I found a couple I like. I might even have to get a matching chainring for the Pugsley : )

First Snow

First Snow of the year today. Looks like we might get an inch or more. It'll probably melt just as fast as we get it though. I'll try and take out Pugsley for it's first snow ride this year! Here are a few pictures.

I switched over to the beta blogger. So, I had to redo all my links. I think it looks better now. I will still be adding some more as I remember them. I also created a copycat blog to go along with the Team Brown Bear blog that Brooks and Brian made. It is Team Polar Bear. Enjoy.