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Rl and I hit the loop for a quick short ride to “feel” and do minor adjustments to the Soul Cycles Dillinger. After a few quick saddle and seatpost adjustments, we were ready to hit the trail.

OK, so let’s start with the geometry, the bike felt “big” as in tall, but I was not stretched out. I found this “bigness” to be an advantage on the quick and short steep downhills, I never felt as if I was going to fly over the bars.

Climbing off the saddle, I didn’t feel any flex, the bike was solid. The Reba Race’s poplock remote was very convenient, just a flick of the switch and the fork was almost fully rigid.

At 35 psi, the Geax Saguaro Tires struggled for traction on the loose terrain, especially on the uphills. I will play around with the tire pressure to see if I can achieve more traction, I usually run my 29er tires at 30psi.

The Powercordz brake cables felt amazing, I’d forgotten that I was riding mechanical brakes and not hydraulics! Quick note on the Serfas Tegu saddle… COMFORTABLE, even RL noticed it when he was riding the Dillinger for a bit.

I’m hoping to put a lot of miles on this bike, I really need to get in better physical shape and I find that riding a Singlespeed is one of the fastest ways to do it. I will write a full review of this bike in about 2 to 3 months.

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One week ago I was riding up the Holy Jim Trail, here is last weeks ride report.

 
 
 My friend Eric Y.has been celebrating his birthday by jumping on his bike and riding from his house to the top of Saddleback Mountain and back home totaling about 65 miles. This year was his tenth year in a row, a personal milestone for him. I have joined him once before two years ago, it was a burner. I skipped his birthday ride last year after competing in the 2008 Traverse it took me a month to recover from racing in extreme heat. The weather was great for climbing on Saturday overcast and 54 degrees, no worries about running low on water.
 
    
Getting to the top of Saddleback is not for the Faint of Heart, you need to be mentally and physically prepared along with a dialed in bike. Hike-a-bike and water crossings are a few obstacles to conquer.
 
   
 
  
I must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed Saturday, the mountain was telling me to turn around at mile 12, it might have been the lack of gears on my bike as well. I dug out another mile to the start of Upper Holy Jim trail. I said Happy B-Day to Eric and he continued up to the top of Saddleback to have his B-Day lunch. I slammed my seat all the way down to drop into Upper Holy Jim.
 
   
   
 If you like descending, this trail is Sweet. Almost no climbing for 13 miles to Santiago Road, about 8 miles of switchbacks, drops, a little bit of everything.
 
 
 
I was able snap a few pictures of the clouds rolling in on the trail, it is a cool feeling riding in the clouds….

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Here it is my first Redline 29er experience. My riding of any 29er before this totaled less than 100 yards. A bike is a bike right, well not exactly. I have become a believer in the 29er setup read below.
 
I grabbed the family and drove out to Hurkey Creek in the mountains of Idylwild. This is great place to visit, many trails, excellent camping and a place that I raced in the past.

 
 I set out on my first ride on the Redline Monocog 29er. I followed the 24 Hour race course, I soon realized the benefits of the big wheels on the first dip the bike just seemed to roll in and out of the dip very smoothly. The climbing begins, the stock gearing is 32×20 which is very similar to 32×18 on 26″ wheels. It was fast up hill, the bigger wheels take a little more effort to push uphill, but the results are worth it. I made every switchback and transition on the technical uphills this was a first for me at Hurky Creek.
 

 Let the downhill adventure begin, one word WOW! It took me a few days to figure what was so different and why it was such a pleasure to charge downhill hill. Most importantly I never got the sensation I was going to get tossed over the handle bars when rolling over large rocks in middle of the trail or dropping large steps, the 29er created a lower center of gravity I felt. Second I was able to pick some unreal lines between ruts and stay out of them. One last thing about my downhill experience on this Rigid Redline 29er bike was the ability to shake off the speed bumps when flying downhill, the bumps that usually tear me up on 26″ wheels were not there I simply rolled over them.
 
 I was looking forward to the boulder in the middle of the trail in the back of the course. I have only made it over this monster rock once on 26″ wheels, today was different I attacked the boulder and drove over it without any hesitations from me or the bike.
 
Anyone looking into Single Speeding that wants to keep some green in your wallet should seriously consider the Redline Monocog 29er, I can honestly say I am a Big Fan…
 
{ Future reports to include minor tweaks, and improvement’s kept on the cheap }

Animal

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After a long hard week at work and fighting through the Friday traffic, there’s nothing more satisfying than coming home to a package waiting at your front door, especially a big box.  This Friday I came home to a package from… Soul Cycles. 

What’s in the box?  The Dillinger 29er EBB (Eccentric Bottom Bracket) frame in Pearl Green, a singlespeed machine.

Wow this frame is beautiful!   Amazing craftsmanship utilizing Easton Ultralite Race tubing.  Check out the following pictures:

chainstay and the eccentric bottom bracket.

Also included is the Rock Shox Race 29er fork with remote and a set of Geax tires. 

The lucky guy that will be testing this beauty is the “The Moe”.  Check back in a few months for his review.  You can see more of Soul Cycles by going to their site www.ridesoul.com

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RL Policar-The Animal shares his experience during the 2009 Traverse. Read his report and you’ll be amazed by his strength. I swear man, its like reading about Paul Bunyan or Hercules or something big and strong…I would like to add that The Animal is a very humble guy. The whole team as well as strangers alike are always commenting on how amazing he is or how powerful and how he has these massive banana sized hands, but The Animal remains low key about his abilities. Not only is he a great racer, but he really is a super cool dude.

I am starting to write my report a little more than 24 hours since the finish of “The Traverse” an epic race though the Santa Ana mountain range. Today has been a little rough, I am still feeling the after effects of the race,

I raced in The Traverse in 2008 which was a burner with temps hovering in the mid 100′s, so I didn’t take any chances as far as hydration was concerned for this years race. I outfitted my Ergon BD-1 with two bladders, one 3 liter with straight water, and a 2 liter with a mix.

This combination works well for me at 240 pounds I need a lot of fluid, and weight is not an issue with the Ergon backpack. I stuffed my Hoss shorts full of Sportlegs, Ibuprofen {a necessary evil when riding rigid long distance}, Hammer Gels, Power Bars, taped another Power bar on the seat post, and taped more gels on the handlebars. I didn’t want to start thinking about the catered El Pollo Loco at the finish half way though the race. I wanted to race my race and not stop at check points to eat. Lots of food, lots of fluid, and a hassle free Single Speed geared 32×20 on 26″ wheels with lots of PSI in the tires.

My wife was kind enough to drop me off at the start on Blackstar road. I took a quick spin down the road to loosen up, and it was about time to line up for the mass start all 175 of us. I chatted with some familiar faces that I met while racing with the MTNBikeRiders.com Team, one fellows name was Mark [we met at a Mt. SAC race] small world. Mark and his son were racing The Traverse together, very cool I hope to do the same with my little girl some day.

The Pro and Expert class take off promptly at 7am and the rest of us follow. I started right behind the Pro and Expert class and stayed to the side for the first two miles of flat terrain to stay out of the way of geared riders Big Ringin it down the the fire road. As the climbing started I began weaving though the same riders that passed me minutes before. Next stop Beek’s Place, I put my head down and started pressing on I had a long race ahead of me.

Beek’s Place is only a few hundred yards away and I hear RL hooting and hollering. It is an incredible feeling to have support on top of the mountain especially coming from from your team, it is no easy feat to get up to the ridge by car/truck/or suv and be on time for the event. Joe hauled his camera gear up the mountain captured the action unfolding in front of me. I was chasing a single speed up Blackstar and made my pass just after passing Joe [by the Golf ball], I kept up a fast pace and held off the other Single Speeds behind me. In The Traverse they do not have a Single Speed division but I chose to ride one anyways and so did about 5 other riders.

The weather was about perfect this race I don’t think the temp went over 100 degrees and there was a slight breeze. After many miles of riding and eating a bunch of science food all I could think about was El Pollo Loco at the Finish Line. It was 11:37am and my friend Mark caught up to me as I slowed down to ward off the cramps. We were riding up the last climb to West Horse Thief trail and I said, “El Pollo Loco is going to be served in 23 minutes I can not wait” we are still an hour away from the finish. That hour felt like two hours after going down loose shale rocks and ruts on a rigid bike. I finished the race for the second year in a row, and improved my time by an hour. 2008 time 6hours 36minutes, 2009 5hours 36 minutes. I was glad just to finish this race, it it one of the hardest races I have done yet.

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