Vuelta USA provided the wheels for our Ultimate All-Mountain Project. These wheels have made more than a few heads turn. Check out the bladed spokes and their pattern, quite unique for an All-Mountain setup.

The wheels have proven to be quite durable so far, they have endured 1 crash and a few jumps. I’m also happy to report that I have not experienced one flat.

Here are the specs on the wheels:
Rims: Vuelta Alloy 25mm Profile
Front Hub: Shimano M495 Deore
Rear Hub: Shimano M495 Deore
Cassette Body: Shimano
Spokes: Alpina Alloy CNC Black
Spoke Count: Front: 20 Rear: 20
Tires: Michelin X Comp
Weight: Front: 750g Rear: 980g

Yeah, you read it right, 750g for the front and 980g for the rear. Not your lightest wheelset, but definitely not heavy at all for an all-mountain setup.

I’ve seen these wheels sell from $179 - $259, not a bad price considering that you get Wheels, tubes and tires. Do I recommend them? Hell ya, in fact, I liked these wheels so much that I bought me a set for my XC Racing machine!!!

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Saturday morning the group met up at Santiago Oaks for a challenging but short ride. The Oaks makes you climb three considerably steep hills before it pays you back with some entertaining downhills. RL didn’t care for the first ascent so he tried flapping his wings to pass up the next two.

We had a good sized group that included RL, Priscilla, Khoa, John, Joel and myself. I was playing tour guide for the day. I think everyone was hating me by the end of the second climb. Khoa was nice enough to be our photographer for the day and had to lug his equipment up the hill. He said he kept seeing exotic birds that required him to stop several times. That’s an inventive excuse if I ever heard one so I’ll take it!

As we crested the last climb I looked back to see Priscilla passing a guy(not from our group) who looked thoroughly humiliated. Way to go Priscilla!

After everyone made it to the top without puking, we saw a table jump someone had built up, with a perfect, gentle rise. John, RL, and myself got some playtime in. I felt like a kid again. Good, dirty fun!

We also hit up this little 5 foot drop. It’s not too big but you can’t see the landing until your already in the air so you have to keep your nerves in check. RL attacked the drop, but his foot came unclipped, mid-air. He put on his game face and saved it nicely.

Speaking of saving, further down the trail we hit a technical rock descent. During Joel’s attempt he did a perfect nose wheelie and even kicked his feet off the pedals for some style. Showoff!!

I was really impressed with the way everyone tackled the rocky downhills. This trail demands your utmost attention. Mine faltered at one point and I took a little face-plant for it. I think everyone had a great time on the twisty downhill runs and we all made it out alive and with some big smiles.

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Ever go on a ride and you’ve fully exerted yourself and now you feel sick…

Well if you feel like throwing up, just do it. You’ll feel way better afterwards.

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The leaves are falling now and the wind chill has risen. It’s that time of year when the sun sets a lot earlier, and it won’t be long before we’re heading home in the dark around 5pm here in California. And we all know what that means! Night riding!

If you aren not accustomed to riding your bike in the dark..you have got to try it! There is something different about those night rides. Always seems a little more adventurous to ride when the moon and stars are out.

Last night a certain somebody forgot the lights and we had no choice but to finish the ride in the dark. But even so, with the few lights that we typically bring with us, the riding has been a little darker than I like. This is what my lights at night seem to do for me, actually I think this is brighter than what I get:

A little tough to ride at the speed you’d like to ride with if you can’t see! Here’s a video of how I would like to be able to see at night:

Huge difference! So with that I’d like to ask for some suggestions and recommendations. The problem is: Who wants to pay an arm and a leg for lights??!?! Not me. But my lights just ain’t cutting it. I am thinking about heading to home depot to see what I can throw together. haha!

And for those of us that get stuck in the dark, a few suggestions that have helped me these last few rides:

1. I sandwich myself between riders who have excellent lights. I am lit up from all angles!!
2. Beg…ask friends to bring their extra lights to borrow ..becuase sharing is caring.
3. Roll through it all. I have found myself in sticky situations out there in the dark and this one never fails me. I have had no clue what I am riding over or through until I am there but low and behold the bike keeps going. Ha!
4. A little prayer never hurts! God please don’t let me crash!

And lastly we have used the flash from our camera to get us through some dark spots. Hehehehe. Of course we must try to be safe in all situations, but sometimes stuff happens and your batteries run out or a light may break. Just got to improvise! Feel free to leave your suggestions.

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Australian Jared Graves (Yeti-Fox) and Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz./KHS) were crowned overall champions of the inaugural USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Gravity Calendar as last weekend’s Gravity East Finals in Plattekill, N.Y. marked the conclusion of the season-long calendar.

Click here to read the entire article at www.usacycling.org

We had a chance to meet Melissa at Interbike, what can we say… she is Super Rad!

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Priscilla and I headed out for our weekly ride at the Loop. Man ever since she started riding the Motobecane Fly Pro she’s way faster. She was already fast, but on that machine, being 23lbs…she’s like a rocket on wheels!

This was my view most of the ride, she’s got incredible speed and that’s why she’s in front of me the majority of the time. Well, its not such a bad place to be if you ask me.

Though she’s a fast girl on two wheels, she does have an arch nemesis….this railroad tie that lays on the ground to prevent corrosion on the trail. For as long as I can remember, this little thing has always gotten her. It’s as if this thing reaches out and grabs her rear wheel or pedal every time she crosses it. But no thanks to El Crapo camera, I couldn’t get the picture to come out.

Our ride was cut short due to the lack of lights, my bad. So to make up for the shorter distance, we had to really hustle to make sure we had some light when riding back to the car. Well, as fast as I could go on a 33lb bike…that plan didn’t quite happen. We managed to get back to the car safely, but I had to use my camera’s flash to help see certain parts of the trail…ya I know…ghetto.

It’s been really encouraging seeing Priscilla progress as a rider. Well except for that log thing she tries to cross…But seriously, when she first started riding with me, I was the one that had to wait for her and take it slow. Now, it’s the other way around. I’m having to ask her to slow down. I’ve even said “Go ahead, just wait up for me at the top.” Sure it can be humbling at times, but its really cool to see her carve out some single track.

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Riding your local trails is always a blast right? The majority of us started mountain biking as trail riders and for good reason. Nothing beats rolling with your friends(or alone) through some sweet, twisty singletrack. But, unfortunately, we live in a moron-rich planet.

This past year my favorite local trail, Santiago Oaks, was burned to the ground, I’m talking every last inch, because one of those morons stole a car and torched it near the trail. His goal was to destroy the evidence bit he ultimately succeeded in burning down the entire area. This was probably the greatest section of this trail. After several rains it was shaped naturally into a tiny halfpipe. Running it at full speed required your full concentration and it felt like you were on the speeder bike, chasing stormtroopers. No, I’m not a Star Wars geek!

This lovely trail has all the fixens: dirt jumping, downhill, steep climbs, and some wicked twisty singletrack! Here’s some crazy Bears fan on the top of the trail when it was in its prime. 

Fires happen all the time here in Southern California but it has always irked me when humans start them. In addition to the being severely burned, the trail was closed down for almost a year while environmentalists ran their studies, etc. The trail was recently opened and I headed back their to snap some shots for posterity. What a sad ride it was.

The trail was always pretty dry through the summer months but I do miss sections like this that are now just dirt. The above tunnel section was completely plowed to make a fire break(it’s the middle trail that runs along the side of the hill’s face).

A lot of the crew and myself will be heading out to this trail this Saturday so hopefully it’s a little more green. The seeds from the dead plants will spread and the plants will eventually grow back. It’s already happening in certain sections.

I guess there is no point to this story other than a little lesson in life. Life is a wheel and it always rolls back around, so if your trail has been ravaged by fire or rains(whether natural or not), take heart. Plants re-grow and the rain will come, and you’ll get another chance to get back out there but it might not be when you think. So when you do have the chance to ride your favorite trail make sure you really take advantage and enjoy everything it has to offer. You never know what might happen and the time to ride is always now! What are you reading for? Go give your trail some lovin!

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I was walking around the local Wally World with the familia last night and something caught my eye. I had to take a picture of it to share with you guys.

The picture doesn’t do it justice. I took the shot with my cell. But man, did those tires look Sweet! They were the Sweetskinz Rattleback tires mounted on a Razor Street Style bike. If it weren’t for the tires, I probably would not have noticed the bike at all.

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If you’re having to put way too much effort in going from gear to gear, then consider replacing your cable and housing.

First step is to get a derailleur cable and housing. Most bike shops sell a cable for about $3-$10 (depending on brand and type). Housing is around $2.00 per foot. Best thing to do before going to the shop is measure how much housing you need. Obviously the rear derailleur will need more, I usually guestimate about 3-3.5 feet of housing for my bikes.

Don’t forget to buy some cable ferrules. Usually derailleur cables are 4mm thick, so that means get a 4mm ferrule.

You’ll also need some caps to prevent your freshly cut cables from fraying. Those will run you about $.10 a piece.

All you’ll really need for tools is a good set of cable cutters like this one from PricePoint.com

Other than that, just follow the routing of your old cable/housing, cut the housing to the same lengths as the old ones, place your ferrules at the end of each portion, add a bit of wax lubricant to the cable before inserting it, and you’re all set.

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First step is to loosen the pinch bolts on the side. Turn it counter clock wise. An easy rule to remember is, “Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty.”

Then tighten the bolt on the top cap clock wise. But make sure you don’t ever tighten it or else it will compress the bearings making it hard to turn your handle bar.

Once you’ve got it at the right tension, simply tighten the pinch bolts and go out for a ride.

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