Trail Work: Upper Paugessett State Forest

Did some trail work on Sunday at Upper Paugussett State Forest. I thought some people that I regularly ride with were going to be there but they didn't show and I still go a lot of work done. There are more pictures on the The Upper Gussy Blog and some great examples of benching.

Another Qball in New England!

Up until now I might have been the only Qball owner in New England. Now there is two that I know of. Seeing all these new rigid 29ers, E.g. Glenn , the CT NEMBA Treasurer got a Redline with beefy WTB Exiwolfs, this year makes me want to go back to riding rigid because long for punishment of no suspension. So, I present to you Tim's Qball. Tim is from Massachusetts. It's a small and has really nice components.

Brakes: Avid BB7

Wheels: Mavic CrossMax

Tires: WTB Stout 2.3 with Stan’s Notubes

Chris King Headset

Shimano Hone Crankset

Gearing: 32x20

Soul Cycles Dillinger

Here are a few more shots of my new Dillinger. Just waiting on the SC rigid fork and I have to get some brakes and I will build it up. Going to run it rigid with some Conti 2.4 Race Kings.

RBW: Last Ride on the Qball ...

... is it's present configuration as a mountain bike. I am going to convert it to a monster crosser and probably put gears on it. This morning's Ride before Work was awesome, 65 degrees in early August is unheard of. Met Rick at the Echo Valley lot and we set off down the logging rode towards the Gussy. Still some logging activity going on. Looks like some firewood cutting is taking place.

It's been over a week since I last on the mountain bike and wasn't sure how I would do since I had put on some fixie miles but there was no lag in ability, in fact I felt a lot of power coming from the legs riding the Qball on the hills. The Gussy was really nice. Great up and overs, Rick hit the Log Ride Short, and over all the trail rides really nice. Some rock work needs some fixing here and there, and I only saw one mound of horse poop that has been there for over a month. Now who said that it breaks down quickly? This mound is about to be fossilized.

Here is Rick, actually the back of him, at the rest point after riding the Switchback. Ahead (below) is the trail before it becomes a technical climb.

Then we hit the Wet Spot and made another ride vid. I am waiting for Rick to send me his video, so I slammed what I had together and put this.

The Qball's replacement came via Fedex from Arizona last night. It's a 20 inch, Soul Cycles Dillinger Gen2, with an Eccentric Bottom Bracket. It's time to try a lighter weight material on a 29er, so I have decided to try aluminum. I am going to take all the SS mountain biking gear off the Qball and throw it on here, along with a Mavic A119 wheel set, and a Soul Cycles rigid fork. That's just to start learning the nuances of the bike and see what the difference will be riding an aluminum 29er with longer chain stays compared to a steel 29er with shorter stays.

For race season, my hope to make this light enough to be a weight weenies's wet dream. That will be expensive but worth it.

The Friday Fix: Shore Points Fixed Gear Ride - The Movie