Tzouhalem on Saturday

Long weekend! Yay!
I'm just really dreading work on Tuesday.
Ted was over from Vancouver for the weekend, and wanted to go riding.
I went up the Tzou at about 3 pm, and he came up at about 6.
After admiring each other's new bikes (he bought a Hustler frame to replace the Stiffee), we rode up some singletrack, came down Little Dipper, Luc's Skywalker, Fluid, and Resurrection.
We rode a bit of woodwork. I fell off the same bridge three times, once onto Ted. It's just the up ramps that I can't do. I'm fine once on the ladders. I rode along the top and down, I just couldn't get up.
Here's Ted demonstrating the difficulty of the up ramp:
We ran into Crazy Doug at the top of Showtime/bottom of Cakewalk. I'd met him previously shuttling friends on Prevost. He gave us advise on routes down Prevost - cheers Doug.

I made Ted miss his mum's steak dinner. I don't think he was happy about that.

I took my GPS receiver, but I don't know what's wrong with it - it seems to only work when I turn it on!

Do you think I'm over doing it with the monochrome?
I'm kind of of the opinion that if colour isn't adding anything, then it's detracting.
I find contrast much more interesting. (click to enlarge)

Group Ride

Slow ("casual pace") group ride on Mt Tzouhalem on Sunday (August 2nd) at 10 am for anyone that wants to come along. We're meeting at the parking lot at the top of the properties.
The more the merrier.
Please invite to anyone and everyone.
Hope to see some of you there.

Remedy 2010

I think the first pictures of the 2010 Remedy hit the forums while I was in Victoria picking up mine.
I'm glad I got mine when I did. I thought the Remedy was a great bike because it aws versatile - a great bike for easy trail riding, but could easily handle my clumsiness trying out freeride stuff and maybe taking it to Mount Washington or Whistler.
A lot of magazine/website reviews said the Remedy had an "identity crisis" (is it a long-travel trail bike or is it a light freeride bike?) thing going on because of this versatiliy, and it seems this year Trek has "addressed" this.
They've made the Remedy into a trail bike. They're making a carbon version. They've reduced travel to 150 at the front (no word on rear travel yet). No more Lyric - 32's instead with 15mm QR. Lighter kit. More expensive.
So what to fill the gap between the Remedy and the Session FR? The "Scratch":
I've no idea what they were thinking calling it "Scratch", but anyway, a coil shock, beefier frame, probably freeride wheels.
I think the Remedy is to compete with the Enduro, and the "Scratch" the SX.
I think it's a bad move by Trek. I think the Remedy sold well (sold out!) because it was neither a trail or freeride bike, but yet both a trail and freeride bike. I read this comment made by LarryFhan on mtbr.com forums:
"I've seen people come into the shop and look at Specialzed and leave with a Trek. I've seen people look at Trek and leave with a GT. I've never seen anyone come in to look at a Remedy and leave with anything else. Though, I have seen people look at a Specialized Pitch and leave with a Remedy!"
As I was walking to the shop to pick up my Remedy, a man wheelied past me test riding an R7, and bought it 10 mins later.

I do like the brown paint scheme though.
The white on mine is way too flashy. I;m going to put a black stem on, but don't know how to tone down the white.

Oh, and Norco are doing some belt drive bikes for 2010...

UPDATE:
The "Scratch Air" seems to have filled the void:
No idea what the geometry will be like though. Probably the same as the coil version, so more freeride-ish.
It does seem like Trek have a lot of overlap in their model line this year.

Prevost

There was a thunder storm Saturday night. Funny, the forecast didn't mention it when I checked on Saturday (I don't usually look at the forecast at all, only to see what the current temperature is).
I woke up Sunday morning and mirror fell off the wall. I wasn't even anywhere near it! Seven years bad luck? Bugger.
I decided to ride Prevost, but thought it best to wait until later in the day when there would be more shade. So I left at about 4pm, and rode to the top. I got the time right - the fireroad up must have been 70% SHADE.
I didn't go right up to the cairn, as I was worried about it getting dark, so headed into the trees on a trail I hadn't ridden before. I didn't expect to be able to ride it all, as I'd been told it was steep. Hilary said it would come out at the top of Graceland. After about 20 meters of being hit in the head by large branches, the trail disappeared completely, so I pushed back, only to realize that there was an alternate trail that veered right, so I took that one. I was able to ride the first chunk. It was quite technical with lots of BIG roots. Then I came to the steep stuff - basically a long steep rut full of dusty, gravelly, loose soil. I walked (slid down) this chunk. Then the trail became ridable again, and forked. I went right, which led to a big double (the left fork went round it), followed by a massive wall ride (could ride around).
The rest of the trail was very flowy and steep and loose in sections, but I rode all of it from there on. At the bottom was a sign that pointed across the road that said "Lower Patchwork", so I'm guessing I rode Upper Patchwork then.
It didn't come out at the top of Graceland, but much further down the road, so I raised my saddle and rode along the fireroad.
I was happily spinning along, and slowed down as I approached the beginning of the trail. I was about to get off to lower my saddle when I heard a noise from the tree ahead and to my left. I looked up to see a black mass in the leafless tree, which I assumed was an eagle, but it turned to look at me. Definitely a black bear cub. I can't have been 5 meters from the tree it was in, and to ride down the trail I would have to do almost a full circle around it. Knowing all bear cubs have mothers close by, I legged it down the fire road, and didn't hang around to take a photo.
I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get to ride the singletrack down - I might as well have gone with Hilary (hehe!).

Second Ride

... well, third in total, but first proper.
I went up "The Zoo" yesterday, for over 5 hours.
The bike is awesome. I love it.
The bike pedals great, no bob or anything. I didn't even move the Propedal lever or crank up the compression on the fork for the ride to the trailhead. Riding up the hill through the properties was no trouble in the middle ring.
From the parking lot I took the single track all the way to the top, which I probably won't do again, as it left little time for riding down.
One steep climb I cleared first time, and it was easy. I clear this about 10% of the time on my other bike. It's a tricky climb because there are so many little tricky bits along it, and it's quite steep too. If you clear the first root, corner, double root, small log and steep climb, you're still only half way up. My fork's too stiff on my other bike, as I loose all momentum when I get to the root, and any I manage to recreate gets killed when my back wheel hits it.
I only took my little camera with me. If I thought I would be in the picture-taking mood, I would have taken the D90.
It was a hot day. I love being in the trees though. I can stand the heat in the shade - I just don't like the sun on me.
I took T-Bone down, then all three Chicken Runs, and onto Fluid. I rode a long bridge I'd not ridden before. I then tok Teacup and Blue Balls, then got lost somewhere, but made it on to De-Analyzer (I think), and down the Providence Farm trail.
I can't believe how easily this bike holds speed, because it floats over the bumps. On my other bike I'd really have to pay attention, pick the smoothest line, unweight over roots. It was a handfull to keep planted. Going down the Providence Farm trail (which is mainly an old stream bed, whith lots of loose rocks, off cambre banks, and quite steep in places) at 30 km/hr was scary on the hardtail, as it would be all over the place. According to my GPS track log, I hit 53 km/h, and didn't have one scary moment. Safe as houses.


Total time: 5:42
Total distance: 32.1 km

First Ride

Well, actually the second I guess, since it's already done over 60 km.
I took the new Remedy on it's first real ride on Sunday. I rode up to Mount Tzouhalem. It was hot and sunny, and I don't know if I'm a vampire or something, but direct sunlight kills me. I couldn't wait to get in the shade of the trees. I headed up the singletrack at the far end of the parking lot, and expected to come out on Blue Balls, cross the fire road and climb Tea Cup, but I took a right somewhere that I should have gone left, and ended up on the Providence Farm trail.
Hating the bike. I couldn't steer properly, and also kept chickening out when climbing over roots and steep bits. I wasn't happy. The bike wouldn't go where I wanted. I couldn't move it around, and felt like I had no control. I wasn't riding things that I normally think nothing of. On the fire roads it was great though - better than my hard tail - no loss of "power transfer" or "pedalling efficiency" and didn't feel heavier when climbing like those weight weenies would have us believe.
Great. Just Great. (insert sarcasm smiley here) Just what I wanted - a bike that was much better on fire roads. Great.
I carried on up the usual singletrack. I went over the bars trying to get over a log pile - in a good way though. With my old bike, riding up a log pile would kill all my speed, and I'd have to kick the pedals to get my back wheel over, and lunge forward to get my bashguard over, but this time I rolled straight up the pile before I realized it, lunged forward and my back wheel came up, and the bars went sideways and I followed them. I was quite happy about that though - getting over stuff would be easier, and it was obvious I had more clearance for logs and rocks.
But I still couldn't steer. Maybe it would just take time? I'd have to learn how to ride this bike? Maybe I just needed to make some adjustments?
I rode up the fire road to the steepish hill before the entrance to Field of dreams, and I fell off sideways on the hill, as I seemed so far away from the ground and couldn't get my foot down and landed on my knee and slid down the hill a bit. That hurt.
So I lowered my seat about 3 cm and rode Field of Dreams. I could steer, and move around. The seat was lower than I'd ride with on my old bike, and not best for pedalling, but the bike felt completely different. Field of Dreams was great. The rocky bit that, although I clear it 80% of the time, I have to fight with and be in exactly the right gear and pick a line precisely, I floated over with no problems. I headed up the fire road towards the top in a much better mood. I dropped the travel on the fork to 115mm, and the bike felt like my hard tail, and I climbed the steep rocky bits. I was climbing the second-to-last hill before the top, pondering whether to take Chicken Run down, or maybe Little Dipper, or even Danelizer, when I heard a cling. The chain had snapped. No matter - I have two multi tools - on I keep in the pouch on my road bike, and the other in my mountain bike pack with a QuickLink. But I'd taken my big backpack down to Victoria the day before, and left the multi tool in there. I tried to mess around with it for a bit, but it was clear I wasn't going to be able to fix it without a tool, so I shoved it in my bag and hopped back on to ride home. It was pretty much all down hill, right. Firstly, clipping into my pedal was not easy, because it just spun away from my foot whenever I touched it.
There was a lot more uphill than I realized - a lot of walking.
I took showtime, as it as mostly floopy downhill, and hooked into CR3 and came out on the old ML, which I though was all downhill, but apparently not, and made a sharp left onto the Providence Farm trail.
At least three times I found myself shinning my legs and shifting up before I realized it wasn't going to get me anywhere. I fell of once when I stood on the pedals and leaned over the bars for a hill, but there was no resistance on the pedals, and I lost my balance. Once I fell off and I wasn't even pedalling - I stood on the left pedal to go round a right corner.
Although I took it easy down the mountain because the lack of chain obviously made more difference than I'd thought, the bike just floated over all the loose and rocky stuff. On my other bike I'd have to concentrate, and pick a line, but this bike felt great right down the middle. I found myself "cruising" along a sketchy bit with only one hand on the bar, and came up to a corner realizing I was going way faster than I thought and had to grab the brakes pretty sharpish. I though the 8 inch front rotor would be overkill, but the XT brakes seem great. Way more modulation and great lever feel - not squishy or spongy, very smooth. I'm going to have to do some re-arranging on the bars though. With the SRAM on my other bike I could mount the shifters closest to the grips, and the brake levers further towards the stem so my index finger can hook the ends of the levers, but I'm not sure if that's going to work with the Shimano kit.
I want the bars lower too, and I'll either trim the bars narrower or switch the bars for the Race Face ones on my other bike (narrower and less rise).
The very last part of the trail is up hill, as is the first third of the road home. There was only one slight downhill. I'd thought from 7eleven to my place was downhill, but it seems it's exactly level, so I'd get on my bike, and just sit there like a lemon (but less likely to roll away than a lemon). It was a long walk home. I got in about 6:30 (I'd left the house at 2), which is probably the same time as I would have if I rode singletrack down, rode back up and rode some more single track, like I usually do.
Quite disappointing, but at with the seat dropped an inch the bike felt great.
I'm probably not going to get to ride again until Saturday - a whole week!

i bought a REMEDY!!!

My boss made me work last Sunday. He said that he had me come in to tidy the tech room and make an "action plan", etc.
I was a bit cross about this, as I'd been invited to ride Hartland with Julia and Michele and the rest of the SIMBS women's ride group. Instead I spend the day cleaning up dusty stuff that other people had dumped in there when told to tidy somewhere else. That went on from 12 to 6 pm, and then there was a computer department meeting, where we went over "solution selling" and did some roll play (no, I'm not kidding). The meeting went on until 9:45.
Because I'd worked Sunday and they didn't want to pay me overtime, I got Thursday off. I decided to ride down to Victoria and take a look around bike shops as I've been considering a new mountain bike for some time now.
The first place I went to when I got down there was the Trek Store. As you walk in, the counter is on the left and two bikes on the left, and all the rest of the bikes are at the back of the store. The two bikes at the front of the store were a Trek Soho (the belt driven bike I was talking about in a previous post), and a 2009 Trek Remedy 8 (size small) on sale. I rode it around outside a bit, and then went and had some lunch.
I checked out Russ Hayes and Ryders. Ryders had an R9 and R7, but neither in my size, and both marked at full retail. I messed around in town for a while, then rode to Oak Bay Bikes, where I rode a Norco Fluid and a Specialized Enduro. The Enduro felt more like a cross country bike than I wanted, but had heaps of standover clearance (something I wasn't too bothered about), and looked a lot nicer (something else I wasn't too bothered about). I'm not keen on Specialized's own brand shocks - apparently they've had a lot of trouble with them, and I'd rather get something tried, tested and refined (most likely a Fox Float RP23). It's seems contradictory to me that they market their ASF suspension designs as eliminating pedal bob, and then they make shocks with automatic lockout to eliminate pedal bob. The Fluid felt like a downhill bike (not that I've ever ridden one), and although it had 5" of travel (while the other two had 6), it was way over built and heavy. It seemed as if I was going where the bike wanted, and the bike wouldn't go where I wanted. It really was ugly though. Weird shape (especially in the small size) and terrible periwinkle blue paint that looked cheap.
I rode back (after getting lost - when I came out of the store I thought I was on a different road to what I actually was, and ended up going quite far north), and walked around Beacon Hill Park for a while and took some photos. Then I went back the the Trek shop and put down a deposit on the Remedy.
I wasn't sure how I was going to get it home. Bikes aren't allowed on the Greyhound. There is a city bus (with a bike rack) that goes from Duncan to Victoria (and back, obviously), but that's only on weekdays. The only option was to take the Greyhound down there and ride it back.
So I hung out with Hilary at the market for a while and then took the 11:30 bus to the bus station in Victoria. I walked from there to the shop, payed the rest, went to Booster juice, and started the long ride home.
I'd forgotten to take some slicks with me like I'd planned, and forgotten to take anything to eat, so stopped at the last gas station on the way out of town. It seems all gas stations sell is chocolate bars - racks and racks. I ended up with a Power Bar (I'm not keen on these), a Rice Krispie square, and a packet of Maynards Juicy Squirts (more to come on these).
Riding west from the store was horrible. I thought I as never going to make it home. How could this bike be so slow? But it was just the wind. The wind was terrible, and once I'd got out of the wind (around Goldstream), it occurred to me that I've felt terrible up until that point every time I've ridden back from Victoria. Damn wind.
The rest of the ride was slow and uneventful. Very slow and long.
I'd filled up with water in Victoria, and the water tasted horrible, so I got quite dehydrated, and had a headache before I got to Mill Bay. I was planning to catch a bus from Mill Bay, but there are only three buses on that route throughout the day, so I'd either missed the last, or the next wouldn't be along for ages.
I've no idea how long the ride took, but several people looked at me funny. I often people riding Kona Stinkys around tow and think "why?".