Pho-Toes

Again with the Pho-Toes...You're probably thinking to yourself...what a clever title.

Middle of nowhere on top of a mountain.
Circa early 1800's.

Blackburn LongNeck review

A couple of seasons ago it seemed as if at each race I went to I won a crappy pump. Since I use CO2 at races  and hardly ever flat I never gave them much thought, and didn't really ever put them to use.Then at the end of that summer at the Farmall Hill Challenge I won this Blackburn LongNeck. My initial impression was that it was just another crap pump so I threw it on the pile and forgot about it. Eventually one day a long time ago in a place far far away I lost my Crank Brothers pump and ended up throwing the Blackburn in my pack. Now more than two years later-thousands of miles, and probably about 10 flats-it still continues to impress me with each use.

Today when my rig decided to fight back as I was shredding some double track with the slicks mounted up (yeah...obviously not optimal) I realized i'd never even reviewed it. It certainly deserves a review as it's been nothing but awesome for almost three years now.

It's not too light, not too heavy. Super sturdy with a detachable head, two way airflow, high/low pressure/volume settings and your usual presta/schrader compatibility. With the high pressure setting enabled it takes about 580ish strokes to get a roadie rubber to 60ish psi. For mtb use, i.e. a 2.1x29 takes about the same number of strokes with a mix of both low and high pressure settings to reach 28ish psi. The detachable head takes a lot of the hassle and aggravation out of a flat since you can get comfortable and just crank out some reps on the pump without being in an awkward position.

Overall i'd give the Blackburn LongNeck an official rating of PFA (pretty freakin' awesome).

Ramble Around Prattsburgh 2012

Another sweet Rambler. It's always so fun to see everyone after a winter of hiding. Jeff and Katina picked up the slack for the Crankskins crew with some solid podiums, I had plenty of fun but was edged out right at the end for a podium spot. Weather this year was incredible relative to years past. Fridged but no rain during the race, and a pretty dry course considering. Got to preview a few sections Saturday evening so that was a huge plus. I had a flat out awesome weekend. The weekend ended on a somber note though as tragically someone passed away right out on the course. My heart and thoughts go out to his family.

The trip went smoothly on the way down, until my super secret shortcut backfired when a bridge was closed with no warning and no detour as it was out in the stix somewhere. Return trip was a white knuckle 7 hour suffer fest in some really crappy conditions. Funny how that always seems to be the case. Four Redbulls and a huge coffee later...

Fail

Beautiful trip into NY

Welcome to NY

Ramblin

Dam Road

The flowy and fast 8ish mi. rolling climb up to Chittenden Reservoir has become one of my favorite routes to rep on hands down-not to mention how glorious the refueling spot is once you get there. Complete with a few kickers and some great scenery; no matter what ride I head out on I always seem to make my way back here lately.

It's so hard to get going again sometimes after munching out and melting away into the vista. It's also hard to turn down a brew when you have a group of fishermen eagerly offering you one :) 

On the way back down the 26.5lb old skule road rig just will not go faster then 30 mph no matter how hard I try to tuck into the death handles (drops), and hammer on the huge roadie ring...but I see others hitting 45 down the same hills. I think I almost hit 35 this afternoon lol. Can't wait to shred it on a 29er with some hydros and see what it's really like to bomb back down it.

Straight on red

Getting over another case of the perma-grins after another glorious day out in the country. Had a guy pull one of those "straight on red" maneuvers on me today as I was leaving the city. To my surprise pretty much everyone who saw it gave him the bird, so I didn't even have to.

Back in the Roc it always seemed as if the weekends would come and so would the rain. Around here the weekday weatherman has not been too great lately, but the weekend weatherman continues to deliver some solid conditions. 

Ride Pho-Toes

Dug out my old skule Sony cam today for my ride. 

Smell My Picture

Two sweet weekends in a row--i'll take it. We got to spend Saturday with my parents who drove up Friday afternoon and it was great to spend some time with them although brief. Just hung out and showed them Rutland (lol not much to see), took them on a tour of some of the massive 100-200+ year old churches around here, drove by the Wal-Mart plaza, ect. They took us out to a local restaurant called Roots for dinner which was top notch. Seasonal menu, local ingredients, and it's located in a really neat old brick building too. Their artwork was pretty cool as well. Both Chelsea and my mom always have bigger eyes then stomachs, so I used the opportunity to really pack away some reserves for my spin today.

A while back I was lucky enough to cross paths with a local ride guru who knows about all the sweet rides around; both dirt and road. He was nice enough to show me a few routes. When he asked what I wanted I replied something along the lines of "I need something scenic but soul crushing, a churn and burn suffer fest." After today's ride I know why he was chuckling as he was laying out this route...it was such a beautiful ride through the mountains, but man did it burn and boy did he deliver. The first mountain on the chart is just one across the street from my house that I do reps on, and I probably could have left it out of this particular route until a little later in the season.

After about 6ish miles of steady  climbing I realized i'd been a little overzealous at the base and found myself in that dazed state of oxygen deprivation where you're better off just staying on the bike and spinning then stopping, so I spun it out for a while and let myself recover when out of no where I noticed I had a guy drafting me haha. I guess he had been there for a while, but I had no clue. It was cool by me, but man are we both lucky I didn't slam on the brakes like a newbie roadie. It totally wigs me out to be so close to another rider going so fast, something completely foreign to mountain bikers. We chatted a bit and then parted ways at a fork in the road.

I wish you could smell my picture. This morning was one of those mornings that it really was nice to get out and ride. One of those euphoric, "this is why I ride" mornings. As I weaved through the mountains with almost no cars buzzing me at all, it was just cold enough that the cabins scattered throughout the landscape had their fireplaces lit, but warm enough that  the whole way I could smell that beautiful musty scent of the earth thawing-that spring-time wilderness aroma that gives me goose bumps every time. Much of the route followed a creek that was rumbling so awesomely I could hear it over my tunes, and I eventually muted the tunes in exchange for some good old fashioned nature music. I wish there were more days in the week because lately everywhere I ride turns out to be amazing, and these mountains are going to make me Vermont Strong (license plate slogan) for sure. So stoked to be in such an amazing area.