A quick run down of the last week or so. Did an early am ride on sunday to enjoy the briskness of a beautiful morning. Hit up the skatepark for a bit just cruising in the big bowls. All kinds of fun. Just built up a little dirt jumper but need some brakes. Anyone have a set of disc bakes? mechanical preferably. Hit me up if so.
Here's my tiny little cabin where I lived for a summer back in WV a few years ago. Still sitting there waiting for a tennant.
Lady Elouise, aka Ellie Mae just kicking it in WV. I found her 2 years ago while living in that little cabin. She was running around starved to death and just skin and bones. She turned out to be such a sweet little pooch.
Bikes everywhere!
Stopped in St' Louis and kicked it with Annie for an evening. Here's b-w just doing what she does. Was nice hitting up the park scene in St. Louis, they even had a cyclocross course marked out through the majority of the park. Not to shabby for an otherwise non-cycling friendly community!

Headed out tomorrow for Durango and SSWC09 then on to Crested Butte for the fall classic. Pretty stoked, but bummed to find out today that I tore the majority of my intercostal muscles on my right side. Rest and relaxation is the advise I received. I think (2) weeks of doing nothing but riding bikes and hanging out with my friends sounds like the perfect rehab.

I will try to keep this thing updated throughout my travels. We'll see. Check here for the official updates. I'm out. peace.

Tao Te Ching

Adapted from the Tao Te Ching, the following verses are meant to inspire and enlighten.

ride. enjoy. live.

1
The ride that can be finished is not the perfect ride.
The frame that can be broken is not the perfect frame.
The ride is the beginning of sky and dirt.
The singlespeed is the mother of the ten thousand gears.
Ever desireless, one can see the trail.
Ever desiring, one can see the bike.
The two spring from the same source, but differ in name;
this appears as riding.
The gate to all mystery.

2
Sky and dirt are ruthless;
They see the ten thousand gears as useless.
The wise are ruthless;
They see the riders as fools.

The space between sky and dirt is like a tire.
The shape changes but not the form;
The more it moves, the more it yields.
More gears count less.
Hold fast to the trail.

3
Sky and dirt last forever.
Why do sky and dirt last forever?
They are unborn,
So ever living.
The singlespeeder is behind on the downhill, and ahead on the climb.
He is unencumbered, thus at one with all.
Through flow, he attains fulfillment.

4
Better stop short than fill to the brim.
Make the bike too light, and the handling will suffer.
Adorn your frame with XTR, and no lock can protect it.
Claim medals and podiums, and drug tests will follow.
Drink beer when the ride is done.
This is the way of singlespeeding.

5
Thirty-two spokes share the wheel's hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape latex into a tube;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Drill eyelets in a rim;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness comes from what is not there.

6
Accept difficulty willingly.
Accept pain as the human condition.

What do you mean by "Accept difficulty willingly"?
Accept being unimportant.
Do not be concerned with your heart rate.
This is called "accepting difficulty willingly."

What do you mean by "Accept pain as the human condition"?
Pain comes from having a body.
Without a body, how could there be pain?

Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to ride any trail.
Love your bike as your own self; then you can truly ride anywhere.

7
The masters are subtle, mysterious, profound, responsive.
The skill of their riding is unfathomable.
Because it is unfathomable,
All we can do is describe their appearance.
Delicate, like riders crossing a winter stream.
Alert, as if on tight singletrack.
Balanced, as if negotiating a switchback.
Focused, as if on a long climb.
Yielding, like fine steel.
Simple, like track hubs.
Smooth, like machined bearings.

Who can wait quietly for the ride to begin?
Who can remain still until the moment of action?
Followers of singlespeeding do not seek advantage.
Not seeking advantage, they are not swayed by a desire for change.

8
Do you think you can take my bike and improve it?
I do not believe it can be done.

My singlespeed is sacred.
You cannot improve it.
If you try to change it, you will lose it.
If you add a suspension fork, you will ruin it.

So sometimes I am ahead and sometimes I am behind;
Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily;
Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness;
Sometimes the trail goes up and sometimes down.

Therefore the singlespeeder avoids extremes, complacency, and heavy traffic on climbs.

9
Give up gears, and put an end to your troubles.

Is there a difference between the granny and the big ring?
Is there a difference between uphill and downhill?
Must I ride what others ride? What nonsense!
Other people are contented, enjoying their full suspension.
In spring some go to the trails and descend the mountain.
But I alone am riding, not knowing where I am.
Like a newborn babe before it learns to smile,
I am alone, without a place to go.

Everyone else is busy,
But I alone am aimless and wandering.
I am different.
I am nourished by the trail.


10
To ride one gear is natural.
Sprints do not last all morning,
Descents do not last all day.

The follower of singlespeeding
is at one with his bike.
He who rides smoothly
Experiences flow.
He who loses the trail
Becomes confused.
When you are at one with your bike,
The trail welcomes you.
When you conserve your momentum,
The flow is always there.
When you are at one with pain,
The pain is experienced willingly.

He who does not get out of the saddle
Will not make it to the top of the hill.

11
He who has his weight forward is not steady.
He who sprints cannot maintain the pace.
He who makes a show is not enlightened.
He who is self-righteous is not respected.
He who boasts achieves nothing.
He who brags will not endure.
According to the followers of singlespeeding,
"These are extra gears and unnecessary weight,"
They do not bring happiness.
Therefore followers of singlespeeding avoid them.

12
Spinning is the motion of the singlespeed.
Flow is the way of the singlespeed.
The ten thousand gears are born of singlespeeding.
Singlespeeding is born of not riding.

13
The wise rider hears of singlespeeding and practices it diligently.
The average rider hears of singlespeeding and thinks of it now and again.
The foolish rider hears of singlespeeding and laughs aloud.
If there were no laughter, singlespeeding would not be what it is.

Hence it is said:
The smooth trail seems rough.
Going forward seems like retreat.
The easy climb seems hard.
Singlespeeding is quiet and without artifice.
One gear alone nourishes and brings the ride to completion.

---------

Adapted by Corvus Corvax from The Tao Te Ching, translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, Random House, Inc., New York (1972), with apologies to Lao Tsu.

It is what it is

SO I stole this from Tomi's blog as I feel it tells quite a bit:

The Ten Phases of Singlespeeding

1. Build your first singlespeed -- inspired by others riding SS, you either convert an old bike or buy an entry level SS to get the flavor.. Ride it, bitch about how hard it is getting up the hills, think about where to ride next. Lather, rinse and repeat...

2. Upgrade madness -- the weight weenie / blinglespeed side takes over and you suddenly develop a need to upgrade. A combination of an empty bank account, an upset significant other or a weight weenie part failure ensues. You have parts shipped to work, so the wife won't see the bike parts you ordered. You start looking for ideas (like the MTBR SS forum) to further your obsession of the perfect SS.

3. Gear ratios - your brain becomes obsessed with determining the optimum gear ratio for the upcoming race or given terrain. You temporarily lose focus on just riding and being one with your bike. Your library of forks, chain rings and cogs/cassettes starts to rival the selection at Supergo or Webcyclery.

4. Realization - the entry level SS no longer is good enough. You convince yourself you need a better bike -- custom, SS specific, whatever..

5. Purism - you realize that you're almost exclusively riding your SS. Your other bikes are collecting dust. Under your breath, you sometimes mock others riding gears and work your butt off to one-up them. You use your SS as a tool to brag or as an excuse / handicap (I geared too stiff for the course...) Start hating RockShox and Shimano just on principle, and start thinking rigid forks and DH tires are the better setup.

6. Laziness - you go out and upgrade to a "proper" SS. Now that you it, the upgrade and gear ratio obsessions are fulfilled. You get lazy, and start trashing your bike without taking care of it. You forget about checking tire pressures, chain tension, broken teeth and don't even consider about the consequences. A wonderful delusion, until the bike leaves you stranded 5 miles from your car, and your cell phone has no signal deep in the woods...

7. Heresy - ride your SS so much, that when you ride your geared bike, you miss your SS. You take it one step further and actually sell off the geared bike(s) that you previously couldn't live without.

8. Fight club - start putting beer in your water bottles, grow some unusual facial hair (for the men), dress like a freak, and acquire the attitude that you don't give a shit about racing or beating the gearies. Riding a pink colored bike frame or wearing orange socks with your Birkenstocks to a bar after the ride doesn't even click to you as being strange.

9 (optional) Scorching - as if SS'ing isn't fringe enough, start thinking http://www.63xc.com is an interesting alternative. Give it a go, maybe even get hooked.

10. Approach martyrdom - actually leave the clique by riding so much that few buddies can keep up with you. You become one with your bike. You simultaneously learn a level of humbleness and let your results speak for themselves

WV dreamy tour Day 4

Woke up in Davis to the coolest morning yet. It was in the 30's and brisk. Loaded up the bikes and headed over to a little breakfast joint/inn and grabbed a nice breakfast before we headed out of town.
Tunnel vision baby! This is actually from the end of day 3 in Canaan Valley.

Not much singletrack on this day. More of an avoiding the main road by whatever means necessary. Went through this old strip mine and found a railroad grade that led us into Thomas, a small little nothing town. We then found a 4-wheeler trail that led us to another rail trail through the blackwater canyon. This little bit of trail was actually singletrack and the scenery was stellar. Some of the most lush forest that I remember ever being in.
There wasn't much stopping on the first section. Followed this trail to Parson's where we hit a seldomly used gravel road. We were supposed to be on this for about 13 miles, but 25 miles later we had missed our turn off and hit a section of pavement that neither of us new. Stopped at a little inn to ask directions and got the worst information ever. The teenager we talked to didn't even know what road we were on. Finally, Mike was like where's Elkins and the boy sent us in the right direction.
Climbe up to route 33, where it's a 4-lane, and headed off the mountain to town. Mike followed me, watching the wheels turn as my feet were resting on the bottle cages so I could coast. After we hit 30+ mph, he had to roll on as he was scared of the scenario he was watching. You always wonder how much the bearings can actually handle. Made it to town and meandered over to the Riddles where we had parked the car. A short day of 60+ plus miles and an end to one of the best bike riding adventures I have ever had!
I just want to thank Mike for planning out an absolutely stellar ride, bringing out an all-star cast and taking a week off of work to make it all happen. This one will definitely happen again. The wheels are already turning on what we can add to make a complete loop with no shuttling in the car and where we can add significantly more trail. All I can say is WOW! It's gonna be rad!

SSWC 09 in Durango on the 20th. 1000 entrants, top 200 and 1st fixed gear finisher is the goal. In WV until tuesday then back to CO. I'm out!

WV dreamy tour Day 3

Day 3 begins after a restless night. Not much sleep was had by either campers. We slept under an integral designs 5x8 tarp and used our warm weather bags for our sleeping pleasure. A good setup, just no sleeping. Definitely prefer my eno hammock, but it's bigger than I like to carry on the bike. Here's both of our bikes packed up and ready to roll into the unknown trails of Dolly Sods.
Neither Mike nor I had ever been on the trails we were about to hit, so we weren't real sure what to expect. Within the first 1/2 mile we were rewarded for our big climb the night before. Rocks, rocks and more rocks was the theme of the day. Hundreds of yards at a time where you would never touch anything but rocks, narrow singletrack and big bogs. Relentless effort was required all morning. The first section was 2 1/2 miles that had us smiling from ear to ear.
We then knew that we had to hit as much trail as possible. Ended up doing about 15 miles of rocky east coast goodness before we hit the pavement at the bottom.
No real good pictures were taken of the real technical sections as movement was essential to keep the flow alive. Here's the only action shot that I actually got of Mike. It definitely portrays what these trails were all about.
Only one wreck by either of us on this day and it belonged to me. On the only steep descent Mike slowed down as I passed him over a techie rock drop in that led into a steady and steep ass and super techie descent. I was completely out of control, trying to hold a controlled skid but was picking up speed with no bailout point in sight. I finally went over the bars and had a nice soft landing on a big pile of rockie goodness. Ended up flatting on the endo and decided to finish the descent with a little walk down the hill. After putting the wheel back in I realized that my brakes were completely worn out. I figured I only had 100 miles left so brakes weren't really necessary. I mean I had leg powered braking on the back wheel, right. Brakes are just momentum killers anyway! It's good to be humbled, I suppose.

Ended up hitting the pavement for a nice and mellow traverse over to route 33 and then to Canaan Valley park we went. Stopped at the campground for a water fill up and a snack break. I talked a lot of smack to Mike about the sardines he had been carrying, but boy were they a delicious treat. Found the alleghany trail? after some looki-loo sections. Nice and normally technical climb up to the gravel road. It was the first time I have ever ridden Canaan and thought it was easy, but compared to Dolly Sods it seemed pretty smooth.

Some of the bogs were still fairly deep and were definitley momentum killers. Hit this one full speed ahead and almost made it through but here is where she sat. The motivator was the world mud bog champion for years and it proved it to me on this day.
Some green carpet lovelies were a delight to ride. So many colors and such a different riding texture. Hit plantation to something then over to Blackwater falls to connector trail into the town of Davis.

Checked out town before finding the house we were to call home for the evening. Thanks to JR for allowing us to invade his space. Then off for a fabulous italian dinner before heading back to JR's to crash for the night. 50ish miles and most of the day in the saddle.

Before this ride, the gnarly north fork was my favorite trail, ever. But in comparison, the gnarly seemed mellow to what we rode on this day. Absolutely fabulous. Some of the best riding I have EVER done. There was no down time, constantly thinking and making BIG power moves over the rocks. Amazing riding. Thanks Mike, for choosing this one. I'll be back to do this again.

One day and 65 miles left. Back in a bit!

WV dreamy tour Day 2

Day two from Seneca rocks was sure to be solid. Any day you have the gnarly north fork on your platter, it's gonna be rad. Started the day with a little road ride up through Germany Valley to Smoke Hole cavern and then on up to the top of north mountain.
We came up on this limestone plant and quarry and had to play in it for a bit.

Rolling, green pastures were all around us on the pedal through Germany Valley.

Mike and Andy showing off their chest hair to see who was the hairiest of them all. Mike won, but only because Joey was not entered in the contest.Once on top of north mountain is where the gnarly north fork begins. You roll ridge top for almost 25 miles, with views like this along the whole route. This is one of my favorite rides of all time. Techie, flowy, fast, slow and beautiful. It has a bit of everything.
Mike ripping through the goodies.
Yet another panoramic view from the trail. So sweet.
The top of that mountain in the distance is where our campsite for the night is gonna be. The plan is to make it there before dark.
Fall is in the air, and the leaves up in the high country have already started changing colors. We don't get these crazy reds in CO, absolutely gorgeous.
We dropped off Andy and Joey at the bottom of the North fork, reloaded our bikes, refueled and headed for Dolly Sods. Here is part of the ridge that we were on, the rock outcropping looks oh' so nice from the bottom.
About 4 miles from the top of Dolly Sods the sweat was pouring and I was curious if we were going to make it to the top before dark. There was some pushing involved on this section. It wasn't crazy steep, but we were over 50 miles in and had just reloaded our bags for the next few days.
Watching the moon rise over the mountains was spectacular.
Finally got to the top in the dark and poked through the dark to find a camp spot. We got everything set up and was ready for dinner. Only to be followed by a night of sleeplessness. The unknown was about to begin.

The stats of our last climb of the day were something like 10 miles with just under 3000' of climbing, solid!

Here is another view of the happenings of the day and week.

WV dreamy tour Day 1

The dreamy tour started as a friday night camping trip along side the river at Seneca Rocks. Andy, Mike and myself arrived in a drizzle about 10:30 pm. Set up camp and waited for Joey to show up. He ended up being at a different spot and met up with us in the a.m. Dave joined up with us as well for a nice mellow 3 hour jaunt to the highest point in WV, Spruce Knob at 4863'.
A few pics from the top!
This is where the ride started getting sweet. Instantly the trail turned to rocks and roots and then switched to mostly rocks. Oh so sweet! Here's a little rock love along the way.
The vicious is stoked to be back on some WV terrain, it's been a while.
Chillin' with the group at the top of High Meadow, eating up the sweet trail side treats, blackberries.
Dropped down to the creek, wanted to swim but didn't want to be cold and wet. The scenery along the way is spectacular, to say the least!
Did a quick-ish hike-a-bike up to the Alleghany Trail then railed it with a big ole grin all the way to the bottom. An easy 7 mile spin back to Senaca Rocks and day 1 was done.
Absolutely beautiful! Ended up with a little over 50 miles of some killer WV bliss. Most of the climbing was on old country roads and the descending on amazing trail. This turned out to be the theme of the week.

There aren't a lot of action shots as the trails and riding were to good to stop and pull out the camera! Once you got into a groove you didn't want to lose it. Focus on the task at hand. That was the objective. To be continued for the next three days!