Homeward Bound

I've been listening to Bruce Springsteen and craving a cheeseburger. It's time to come home. China is a trip. The level of progress, growth, and change is staggering. Start brushing up on your Mandarin because you might need it. I can't even explain how different things are. Have to catch a flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Looking forward to getting back, spending a few days in Denver, then off to Bozeman. At this point though I just want a nap. Then some endless single track and some nachos would be sweet.

Exit from The Exit

I left Salida today. Very bittersweet to leave my Crested Butte/Salida life. I took one last ride on the SMT trails, said goodbye to friends at the bike shop, and tore myself away from the river. Made an overnight stop at the Rice Peeps cabin...they live completely off the grid at 10,000 feet, a couple miles off of a county road, with a humongous panorama view of the Buffalo Peaks. On to Summit County tomorrow, then Denver, then China, then Bozeman. Not much else to share, just that packing usually takes twice as long as expected.

When the Circus Comes to Town

I had the privilege of being in temporary possession of a Yeti Big Top. They were kind enough to drop a demo off at the shop for employees and friends. The Big Top is a big deal - Yeti has been resistant to building a 29" wheel bike and this is their first crack at it. I was concerned that they would be behind the curve, but they've done a beautiful job - it descends like a dream. I forgot I was riding a hardtail and was ripping through corners and taking step-downs and ledges very confidently. Oh, and it goes up too. Very efficiently. My new dream is to have a Big Top and an ASr-7 - I think that would cover every riding situation I could ever think of from X/C racing to lift served.

Movin' to Montana Soon...

It's true. I've accepted a position with a very cool company in a very cool place. I am Bozeman bound. Packing, moving, settling up, and closure have all prevented me from getting time to post all the details here. So much to share, so many things have happened. I move in October, with a trip to the PRC in mid september to visit a factory. Stay tuned.

Matty, I have no email address for you. Send me a note: ddolph at hotmail dot com. I was at the Y Yesterday! Weird to be back there.

It was a nice weekend in the Exit. Fred and Heidi tied the knot (and what a beautiful knot they've managed to fashion) - in a meadow, in the forest, with dogs playing, kids laughing, and everyone smiling. The rain held off long enough to finish the service and then we huddled under tents and easy-ups and had a beautiful time. Thunder pealed in the place of bells and we even saw a through-hiker pass on the Colorado Trail.

The Omnium brought in a ton of folks for a good weekend of home-grown racing...a time trial in torrential rain Friday, big Crit around downtown Saturday, and a 74 mile road circuit Sunday. I worked a really fun corner on the circuit - the riders crested a big climb, hit downhill on broken pavement, rounded a 90 degree dirt corner, then picked up the pavement again at the beginning of a 40+mph descent. Some very sweet road racing.

Crest II

Here's an alternate way down from the Crest. It's not as blocky and steep as Silver Creek and is more flowing.

Happiness By the Pound

Hotchkiss cherries showed up at the farmer's market today. It doesn't take much more than that to make me very happy.


Here's some more homegrown goodness. I crashed and broke the tab that holds my brake lever to the reservoir body. The shop called Shimano to get a replacement and they don't stock the parts. Shame on Shimano, not only does the M575 provide weak power and no modulation, you can't get parts. Are they trying to create a throw-away product? I showed Anton and I could sense the wheels turning in his head. He took a hacksaw and notched the body, looped a wire around the lever to hold the lever bushing in the correct position, and then made a groove in the bar side of the clamp to pass the wire through for the right pull angle and so the clamp can sit flush on the bar. Brilliant! It was supposed to get me a couple of days until I could order a new assembly from a shop in New Hampshire, but I figure if it can survive 5,000 feet of descending on the Crest I'm going to just continue to roll with it.

[Update: Shimano sent a new lever assembly about 2-3 weeks after this. Thanks, Shimano. I'm still riding the wired lever that Anton fixed as it works just as well and am waiting until I need a brake bleed to install the new one]




Speaking of the Crest...I finally rode it yesterday. It's a pretty amazing ride with some big scenery and big descents. But I was surprised to be climbing on single track and descending on double track and fire roads. Something about it feels very backwards. I think there are endless opportunities though to turn that single track to downhill - a 6-10 mile out and back from the tram; or a ride up Marshall Pass road to link up with the Silver Creek section; or just bomb down Fooses or Greens from the top. Any thoughts, ideas, or experiences?