Wool Jersey Update

No, it hasn't dissappeared. We're just getting the kinks worked out. The goal is to have a really amazing garment by the time our early spring hits. About the only thing we are getting hit with right now is more snow, which I guess is OK. I do like to snowboard, but after Saturday's jaunt, I'm ready to ride a bike again.

Here is the first prototype jersey. While we still have a few iterations to go through before we have it finalized, you know you'll want some of this...


All this frozen precipitation just serves to prolong the absence of real mountain biking out on our trails. Speaking of, did anybody catch my quote in the 50 trails issue of BIKE Magazine? Those are our very own local trails as featured in the Vermont section.

First Ride of 08

Lately, I've been on sabbatical as far as riding bikes is concerned. The last time I threw a leg over a top tube with the intention of riding more than 10ft was late November of 07. This last year was a very busy year for me, lots of goals accomplished, but more than that was the overwhelming and compelling feeling that I had to ride. I could sense a burn out happening, and in my line of work, that is bad news.

One thing that I've learned from my past experiences, is that when I am over something, I am really over it. And by over it, I mean ready to check out.

Well, I won't go quietly. Snowboarding has been a great distraction. A few other projects that I am almost ready to divulge have also kept things fresh over the winter. I'm still horrendously busy, trying to balance a job, family, life, and still get some personal time to do the things I love to do, but some great things are going to happen this year.

And as I was looking forward to everything on the horizon, I realized, that if I didn't get my ass out on my bike and start riding again, I would be in very sorry shape once the snow finally does go away.


Yesterday, I just happened to have a free hour, and the late afternoon, above 30° temps were just warm enough for me to drag Red 5.1 out for a ride around the block. I also dragged my buddy Nat too, misery loves company...

I must say, that despite my prolonged absence from the saddle, I was able to attack Barnes Hill fairly easily. By fairly easily, I mean not throwing up or blacking out, which is typically what happens on the early rides. I was expecing to be in much more pain. I also missed Red 5.1.
What fun it is to ride bikes!

Even though, my toes instantly turned to ice, and the dirt(ice) road section was nothing more than an exercise in crisis management, followed by a blistering downhill on a paved road that was partially glare ice, it was fun, and the first of many fun rides coming up in 08.

Details: 8.74 miles, 870ft of elevation gain, 54 minutes, 1 gear.


Nice sticker placement Nat!

The Spider

Here it is, finally finished. Now if we could just get rid of some of this snow!
This bike will be one of the many new ponies in our stable for folks to try out this summer. I've always felt that "try before you buy" is the way to go when it comes to high end mountain bikes. Not too many shops up our way would have something like this to actually ride in the woods while trying to decide if it's your thing or not.

I like to think we are the exception.
I'll be rolling out the new demo fleet as it gets completed over the next few weeks.

This Spider is a size large, and features the new Fox F29 100mm fork. I put the King 5mm headset baseplate on it to add to the axle to crown measurement. Despite the added A-C length, the 44mm offset of the fork will ensure a quick handling ride. And most importantly, if nothing else, the bike looks very cool. My philosophy on this subject, is that if it looks cool, you'll enjoy riding it more. BMW M3s look cool, therefore, they ought to be pretty fun to drive right?
The color pallette is white (duh), ano red, ano silver and ano black.

The components are typical to many of the builds we do here, Royale wheelset, set up tubeless, X9 drivetrain, Juicy brakes. I had a perfectly good XTR crank sitting around, so I decided it was time for it to get some use.

All told, the bike weighs in at 27.55lbs without pedals. Not too bad when you consider we weren't trying to make it ridiculite or anything. I think a race build would easily be 2-4lbs lighter, depending on how far down that path you wanted to go.

We have a trip south planned in 2 weekends, down to the Leghigh Valley to visit family. This will most certainly be one of the bikes I bring. And when I say "one of", I plan on bringing two bikes. Not quite sure what the other one will be just yet... you'll just have to wait and see.

The First Event of 2008

Winter still has a firm grip here. This picture is a squall rolling over Camel's Hump at sunset. Beautiful.

Still, I am getting very fired up to ride my bike. In preparing myself for warmer climes, I looked at my calendar for this coming year, and I was left scratching my head as to how I was going to get it all done. I mean, we have some pretty LARGE events we plan on being a big part of...
Well, none of it is completely out of reach, but if we don't aim high, we may never make the mark.

There are many things that have not yet been finalized, but I can tell you about a very important one, the first event of 2008.

The Five Hills Ride -Gravel Grinder Spring Classic
25.5 miles, 2900 vertical feet of climbing, up and down the 5 hills of Waterbury. It goes off rain or shine on April 20th, leaving downtown Waterbury at 9:00am. The ride will take you on some paved, but mostly unpaved roads, with some serious climbing, but also some serious descending.


April can be extraordinarily unpredictable, so it could be really calm, really cold, raining, snowing, or 70° and sunny or all of the above. Price of admission is $23, you get a super cool T-shirt, fed, supported along the way, and anything left goes to the Stowe Mountain Bike Club, to help raise funds for the work that still needs to be done on Perry Hill. I can usually do this ride on my single speed in about 3 1/2 hours, and I'm not particularly fit. There will be a sag wagon at various points along the way, as well as water, snacks and "recovery" drinks.


Sign up through Active.com.

If you are coming in from out of town, please let us know, and we can help you find a good rate at a local B&B. This is MUD season after all, and rates will most likely be attractive.
I really hope to see you there... if you think you can hack it!

Home Finally

As I spent most of yesterday stuck in the gleaming jewel of our civilization known as Newark, I had some time to reflect on the happenings of this last weekend at Frostbike. A whirlwind trip for sure, I was very flattered to have been invitied to this dealer only event. I took in some very valuable info at the seminars, saw some cool new products, but most importantly, got to put some faces to names.

The most anticipated meeting was with Guitar Ted. After many years of lurking on each other's blogs, and several failed attempts to connect at Interbike, we finally meet. I had a great time catching up with you man! After our conversations, it looks like we may see each other again this year, with bikes even.

I had dinner with Brent from Twin Six with Tim Grahl and Arleigh from Crooked Cog at a cool little Minneapolis neighborhood restraunt called Chatterbox. I felt right at home there, good food, good vibes, and a Scooby Doo mural on the bathroom wall.

I also spent some time catching up with Jason from Salsa as well. Despite missing Jason's presentation, I know there are some cool things ahead...

My return flight was later inthe day on Sunday, but stormy clouds were in the forcast for the north east. I tried to get out of dodge early, only to be thwarted in New Jersey. You'd think with the amount of time I've had robbed from my life from that place, I'd know better, but I always have that hope that things will work out. Well, they didn't. I did get home though, for which I am very greatful. Big thanks to Aaron for the opportunity to sneak in to the President's Club. They have beer and TV in there!

More news on the horizon from Bike 29 shortly...

Exciting New Fork Update!

The Rock Shox Reba is by far the most ubiquitous 29er fork on the market. They are everywhere, and while it's a great fork, not much has changed about it since it's release in 02.
Well, all that has changed now.


The fork has been completely redesigned from the ground up, and now looks to be once again, the top dog in the 29er suspension fork world.

While this fork is a prototype, I'm sure the production version will not be that different. It has a proprietary 20mm QR axle called the "Maxle", which is heralded as one of the best and easy to use 20mm axle systemson the market. No tools necessary, some 20mm froks a PITA to deal with if you have to ever transport your bike, not so much of a problem now.
It also looks as if the industry has accepted post mount style brake mounts, and they are featured on the new Reba. Rock Shox is the last of the major players to make this jump.
Most interesting, is the travel looks to be around 120mm, but this is just a guess. There is a lot of stanchion tube showing though, making me think that there will be more than the current 100mm. Another good move.
And finally, the offset of the fork is a reported 46mm. This will make for a quicker handling ride, which will be another welcome update on this fork.

All in all, pretty sweet huh?

Fly on the Wall

How fun it is...
I'm in the beautiful but chilly Twin Cities region, attending Frostbike.
Thrown by QBP, or the "Q" as they are sometimes known, Frostbike is a dealer only event, filled with vendors, seminars and the opportunity to meet some pretty cool folks. A junkett if you will.

I will admit, that while the hardware end of things is always cool (I love new stuff), it's the people that really make the difference. I met my new inside person at the Q. I met a couple of other dealers and had cool conversations about 29ers and the like.
I spoke with the infamous Guitar Ted for the first time over the phone. After two years, we may actually get to meet. He'll be here sometime today.

I also overheard some shop guys ratcheting on about stuff at the bar. These were the the kind of guys that "know more than anyone else" about everything to do with bikes, and look down upon stuff or customers that fail to measure up. It's always amusing to me that guys like this are able to make a living.

Also amusing to me, was the mentality of some of the shop owners. There is no question that we are in for some tough times, and it is going to be a tough slog for some. Most of the seminars I've attended were geared for ways to prepare for this sort of thing, and boy oh boy, did I learn some stuff. I'm not calling out any shops in particular, but it's the small, more adaptable businesses that are going to come out shining from this crunch. It's the way of things. It's why there aren't any dinosaurs anymore.

Also very funny, is the impression I get from a large Burlington shop that seems irked by my presence at this event. Yeah, I'm here too! Suckers...

Tonight, I'll be having some cocktails with the Salsa crew, and then rolling out of the hotel to visit with Twin Six for a while.

2008 Jay Winter Challenge

Friday February 8th 2008, marked the beginning of something so crazy, you have to be there to truly get it.
It was the commencement of the 2nd annual Jay Winter Challenge. I attended the event last year, invited by the race director himself, Dan DesRosiers. Over the last year, we have gone back and forth on various crazy bike race ideas, and I'm quite pleased to have gotten a chance to know this man. He is a very twisted individual, and quite crazy. My kind of people!


He's the same guy that brought us the Jay Challenge, the ultimate endurance triathalon. 70+ mile bike ride, 30+ mile off raod marathon, 20+ mile kayak across Lake Memphromagog.
The winter challenge is no stroll through the woods. It is a bike only event, a 30 or 10 mile ride on snowmobile trails, and new for this year, a 25 lap figure 8 ice crit. Oh boy!
When I saw the course I was shocked, amazed and utterly flabbergasted. There would most certainly be carnage!

The crit was Friday night. A crew of snowmobilers had groomed a figure 8 out on the frozen lake. A couple of road contruction generators and lights and voila! A race course. I must admit, I wish I had brought my bike. Watching the 25 laps around this moebius loop af death on ice was some of the most amazing bike riding I'd seen in a while. Among those that raced, were some folks I know, Brook Scachard, Racin'Rick from ME, and to my amazement, none other than Captian Dondo. Yeah, that's right. THE Captain Dondo. For those that don't know, he's one of the originals to the sport of mountian biking. I used to read his atricles back in the day when he used to write for Mountain Bike magazine, roughly 14 or so years ago. We share many of the same values as cyclists, but I digress...

The race started with blast from the air horn, and the fury around the 8 began. I figured it would be about lap 6 when the opportunity for carnage would rear it's ugly head.

Fortunately (alas?) it didn't come, but it was pretty close a few times. Cooler heads managed to prevail, as the lead group were left to charge through the darkness, and those pushing from behind, were kind enough to let the flyers ahead of them at the crossover. I had a powerful personal moment, standing on the ice in the calm 8° night air, as I realized that while some were there to race, all were there to have fun. How rad is that? I almost cried.

Saturday morning I left Waterbury at 6, dragged my buddy M2 up to Newport, and set up for the main event. The weather was better this year, warmer, more snow.Well, may be not better for the riders, but better for those of us that stood around in the snow, as the daytime temperatures climbed, the snow got really soft. There were 2 road sections that were removed from last year's course, which would add about an hour ot the race time.

(Racin' Rick)

There were a couple of guys who didn't let it bother them, and managed to crush the field in record time (results at the end). The race temperatures started in the high teens, and warmed up to the mid 30s by noon. The weather in VT can be quite unpredictable in February, we've had quite the snowfall this season, the event was perfectly nestled between two major winter storms.




The Results:
Brian King was the first to finish, riding an ice spike Specialized full suspension bike in the 10 miler
Alec Petro finished the 30 miler shortly thereafter on his Pugsley.
Lea Davidson (Trek pro rider) was the first to finish the 30, and Rebecca Van Dyke finished the 10.

The complete details can be found here.

Good job to everyone who came to the race. I hope to see you all again next year.

Holy Crap!

Boy did we ever manage to squeeze a lot into 2 1/2 days.

Friday afternoon, I headed up to Newport VT to check out the "ice crit" portion of the Jay Winter Challenge. Newport, is practically on the other end of the universe from us. I started my day in Burlington, and drove 2 hours in the afternoon to reach the crit in time. I'll have a detailed post on the event in the next day or so, there is simply too much to talk about in one post! I spent Saturday morning at the big race.


And speaking of events, we had our first annual Big 2.9 sale this weekend. We did a lot of work on the front end of this, as we knew we wouldn't be able to physically manage the sale, as we were double booked. Luckily, everything went smoothly. The website did what it was supposed to do, and we'll just say that I'll be busy over the next couple of days shipping everything out.
Having only a few free hours this morning, it was spent on the mountian, where an overcast morning turned into a serious blow down storm. In our last 2 runs, our tracks were quickly being covered up by the pounding snow. I estimate that it was coming down about 2" an hour, maybe more.


At the end of this week, I head to Minneapolis for Frostbike. It's a trade show put on by Quality Bicycle Products (QBP, or The Q as it may be known to shop folks). It's a distributor that pretty much has it all, and every year, they have their own mini trade show. I hope to actually meet up with the infamous Guitar Ted this time around! I'm also hoping to spend some time with our friends at Twin Six.

Well, back to the grind for me...

The Big 2 . 9

Yeah, it's coming. Some might say it's already here...
Sorry for the radio silence, it is a monumental task to get everything organised for this 1 day sale, and work, and have a kid, and get some time to enjoy lifeto stay sane.
I have updates for the demo Spider, tomorrow is the Jay Winter Challenge, and this morning Mandy and I shredded some serious gnar.
Gnar means powder for those that are unfamiliar with the term. We snowboard too, and this morning, we were blessed with 18" of fresh on trail, and sometimes chest deep off piste. It was awesome. It was the perfect release for us, the answer to many long days and nights staring at a computer screen.
Even though it isn't bikes, it's still flying through the trees! Beleive me, there would be pictures, except that digital cameras don't really like snow that much. I haven't had turns like this in years.

The BIG 2.9 happens on Saturday, but the savvy shopper could score some deals early if they were savvy enough. Ironically, I'll be away from the computer and phone on the big 2.9, I'll be up in Newport, VT, covering the Jay Winter Challenge. With any luck, all the time we've spent getting the website in order will be worth the effort. We've gone to great lengths making sure that the web is up to date, and able to handle the traffic.

Up next, the Jay Winter Challenge!

Business News

There are going to be some exciting things happening in the next 2 months.
First of all, we've been sneaking a new look on our website, little by little.
One of the problems about "doing it yourself" sometimes, is that you run out of time to effectively "do it". This was a problem with the webstore. Since the site was set up, component models changed, parts were redesignated, prices have changed etc. It was a lot to juggle. We now have a little help on the back end of things, and we'll be streamlining the catalog as we go.
We're going to be staying pretty 29er-centric on B29, but we'll still be offering the parts and gizmos we use and love. Think of it as January Thaw Cleaning. Same great stuff we always sell, but without the fluff.

Five Hills Bikes is going to become a bigger part of the picture. Besides being the mothership for B29, it is a shop that services the cycling needs of local community and beyond. We're making some pretty significant changes in it's operation too. Still can't divulge the whole picture yet, but let's just say this, it will be a very big deal.

We are planning a spring kick off ride in April that I will announce this comming week.

I write this in the middle of a nasty bought of weather, that has pretty much brought the entire northeast to a standstill with freezing rain and high winds. It seems as if the precipitation has remained mostly frozen up here, which will make for some good turns in the morning!

Owning your own business is full of ups and downs, especially a seasonal business such as mine. It's important to take the good with the bad. While I'm enjoying winter to the fullest, with lots of days on snow already (and many more to come) I look forward to warmer weather, wearing shorts, and cooking outside comfortably. I especially look forward to throwing a leg over the ole' two wheeler again.