Fat Tire Festival

So the Black Hills Fat Tire Festival is nearing....a handful more weekends and it will be time for me to get destroyed in the black mountain hills of Dakota. Last year I was unable to make this as my daughter was slated to show sometime around those dates....not this year, this year I have the green light so its game on. Lodging will be handled by Mr. Ross Sailor as his backyard can handle tents, otherwise dear ol dad lives there and would be more than happy to let a haggard crew of mountain bikers kick it in his oversized backyard....not to mention his hot water never goes away, he has a Rinnai. All in all I will be hotly anticipating this weekend of good times.

Ponca Nebraska

Sunday was such a nice day that a group of us decided that Ponca Nebraska was going to the be place that would get assaulted by a grouping of AM / FR bikes. 5 dudes packed up the Silver Bullet (Adams V70R) and headed on down. The trails down there are fan freaking tastic with the occasional tree or log in the way...seems it was a bit early for the parks people to get on top of trail maintenance. All was well though, as we ripped the place up and even managed to see Dana Dane pull of a crazy line on some boat docks that were lined up on the asphalt. One great day, that will lead to many many more great days!

The Mighty HammerSchmidt

So in my endless pursuit to make a great bike "better" I ordered up a Truvativ HammerSchmidt. The HammerSchmidt (if you aren't familiar) is Truvativ's way to revolutionize the crankset by basically combining a single ring crank that functions as a double (utilizing a Planetary and Sun gear setup) and a chain guide. Upon opening the box, I was a bit intimidated by all of the "crap" that it contained. All in all the install was actually very easy and looks super clean once installed. The most noticeable difference with the setup is the fact that you can shift whenever and however you want....pedaling backwards? it shifts....hit a massive kicker and are 30 feet in the air? it shifts.....want to pedal backwards while flying 30 feet in the air and let out a 20 second 3 octave fart? it shifts. The second most noticeable attribute to the 'ol Schmidt is the clearance....loads upon loads upon loads of clearance, in fact...there is a video of a rider rolling right over a 36" tall tree stump and he doesn't touch the crank. At the end of the day I am done messing with this bike....I swear. Time to put all sorts of mileage on it.

Holy Sheep Shit

Well I'll be a monkeys uncle...is that dirt on my bike?!? Real, actual, makes things dirty dirt.....why yes, yes it is. Me and my homie (yeah, I said homie) Dana Dane took our "you could jump off of a roof and not bother the suspension too much" bikes out to Newton Hills. I know, Newton is boring with the exception of a hill or 2 that pisses you off but hey...its close and I have NOT been able to ride on anything yet so....it works. Dana Dane (see above) recently wrangled himself a sweet, sweet long travel trail rig by the name of Zealot....which hails from the Brodie clan. If you have not heard of Brodie, look em up...those crazy ass Canadians in BC know what they are doing when it comes to bikes that you shouldn't be riding at Newton Hills. At any rate, Dana and myself thoroughly enjoyed the hiking trails that start at the Lookout Tower. I ran into a choice dude at Newton as well, good ole Mike Eggebraten...who was in tow with a certain Kluck character as well as a few guys from Scheels. All in all, today was quite honestly the perfect day to ride and I could only dream of a place that has that sort of climate on a daily basis....365 days a year.