Johnny Utahs Bike Change Operation

Johnny Utah said:
As some of you may know, I became pretty envolved in Bike MS three years back when I created a team for my employer. Fast forward from my first six man team we are now 40+ and have become a top five fundraiser.

This year one of the senior officers at my office has made a challenge: he will beat me on his road bike for the 85 mile route. He has 20 years and 30 pounds on me but has finished an Iron Man and has complete the 85 mile route for the past three years.

My handicap in the event is I have to ride from home, which is about 15 miles to the start, run the 85 mile route and then ride home. Total For the day should be 150. My largest ride yet, exactly where I was last year at this time (which was 96 miles).

I will be doing this on @Mumonkan old surly I bought with a few changes. With 29x3.0 tires.

I switched the 32x18 single speed drive train to a 36 x 11/36 XT drivetrain with a Microshift 10 speed thumb shifter.

To my surprise and lack of research my thumb shifter was only available in a 22mm clamp rather than that of 31.8 on my Salsa Bars, so I got creative and made a suicide shifter since the money was already spent.

A quick test ride shows it is quirky, but better than the previous setup for the said application. I may be switching to a 44 tooth ring I have for the event.

Please help me hit $1k by donation to the link in my signature below.
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Hey Johnny just saw this - great challenge - whoop that old coot!
 
jimvreeland said:
Real talk. I go through this same BS with the trials bike. Build it, and just keep it in the corner somewhere. In the last 10 years I've owned like 12 trials bikes. I'm like SICK TRAILS!! Then I go out and ride and I'm like FUCK TRIALS I'M SELLING THIS!! And then like 2 weeks later I'm like WHY DID I SELL MY TRIALS BIKE!!?? A month gathering parts from around the globe and I'm like SICK TRIALS!! Then I pull my back and the whole process repeats. The only way to stop it is to just keep the bike. It's way cheaper in the long run.
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Thank God I am not the only one! I told myself I am going to buy what I want and just keep it......then again, I have told myself that before. For three months of the year I really want to go downhill every weekend, then I get tired of being in the car and start riding long rides from home again.

It is a vicious circle.
 
UtahJoe said:
I meant to ask you...did you wear that coat for the race?
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YES!!!!

It was so stoopid cold and I was so wet I left it on to try to stay dry and then ended up riding with it to the split, at which point I was sweltering hot. Once I hit the camp site with the fire I took it off and threw it to the side. I did collect it later through.
 
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So our office caught fire today, we got to go home early cause the firemen wouldn't let us back in so I built my V10. I love this bike. The Fox 40 makes it feel so much more stout over my last V10 with the WC Boxxer.

Donations to my MS ride have exceeded $1100, thanks to all that helped, but there are two weeks to go, so keep them coming!

Not going to lie, getting nervous. Although flat, this will be my largest ride to date (the MS ride).

14 miles there
84 for the event
44 home

My longest ride to date was 132 miles, and I nearly fainted when I got home. I will need to eat a lot more on this ride.

But it has been a bit since I rode distance. Going to shoot for a century tomorrow and next weekend to try to get back. But last mondays 50 miles was incredibly boring.

These H2H races are spoiling me.
 
5/11/16

The cycle continues........

On the heals of the MS ride I have little love for riding distance at this time, so most likely I will take a break from it for the summer post the MS run to focus on fun with the DH bike as well as finishing up the H2H series. My attention span and desire recently have been more fast paced and flowy things rather than logging hours.......which I am sure will changes as does my mind with the seasons.

After last Mondays 52 road miles and Saturdays 76 my legs were purty toasted for woods rips........not where I wanted to be.

I am also starting to see the addition of a trail/skinny mtb tire bike to my XC arsenal within the next ten months (as I have wanted one for a few months now).

Shortlist:
- Evil Following
- Rocky Instinct
- Santa Cruz Tallboy
- Santa Cruz 5010

Song of the day - Solar Bears - Cub (Keep Shelly in Athens remix).
 
Tal
Johnny Utah said:
5/11/16

The cycle continues........

On the heals of the MS ride I have little love for riding distance at this time, so most likely I will take a break from it for the summer post the MS run to focus on fun with the DH bike as well as finishing up the H2H series. My attention span and desire recently have been more fast paced and flowy things rather than logging hours.......which I am sure will changes as does my mind with the seasons.

After last Mondays 52 road miles and Saturdays 76 my legs were purty toasted for woods rips........not where I wanted to be.

I am also starting to see the addition of a trail/skinny mtb tire bike to my XC arsenal within the next ten months (as I have wanted one for a few months now).

Shortlist:
- Evil Following
- Rocky Instinct
- Santa Cruz Tallboy
- Santa Cruz 5010

Song of the day - Solar Bears - Cub (Keep Shelly in Athens remix).
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tallboy 3. Boom.
 
Glenn said:
Come to a Chimney Rock Monday ride you can try my 429 Trail. It's a medium.
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appreciate the offer but between work , traffic and the general craziness of life i will probably never attend a Monday chimney rock ride .
 
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MS85 recap.

So last year I rode this on my fat bike. It was the longest ride I had done to that point, stopped every ten miles and had saddle sore for the last 20 miles.

Little different this year. I used the Surly I acquire from @Mumonkan , it was much better. Then again, a road bike would have been primo.

The plan was to ride to the event (17 miles) ride the event (84 miles) then home (44 miles), which would have netted me my longest ride to date of about 145 miles. The rain squashed this and I got 100 miles in.

Per prior posts we had a wager that I would come in prior to a co-worker on his tri-bike, but we just rode together the whole time, coming in as the 4th and 5th finisher.

The surly did well, I had it loaded to 50 or so pounds, but was able to cruise at 18mph for long parts of the ride once we got out of the crowds.

I was able to raise just under $1500, the team about $12k, making us the 12th largest fundraising team.

Thanks to all for the help!
 
Good job dude,
I did the fifty again with Tracy, Schmitty and a one of Tracy's coworker once again a great event I was really surprised and happy to see coconut water this time at the Belmar rest stop.
When we hit Brielle Mark told me that you had been thru a few hours earlier 🙂..
Hoping to get a company team together next year...
 
mike_243 said:
Good job dude,
I did the fifty again with Tracy, Schmitty and a one of Tracy's coworker once again a great event I was really surprised and happy to see coconut water this time at the Belmar rest stop.
When we hit Brielle Mark told me that you had been thru a few hours earlier 🙂..
Hoping to get a company team together next year...
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I hear ya! The food spread at the half way and finish were super impressive as was the course marking.

This is a great event for both the purpose and anyone who wants to try a longer ride. There is a ton of support!
 
Cycling as a job? It sure feels that way.

So it has been an interesting year or two with this blog. Up downs and all arounds. My comfort zone of trail and DH has been extended to distance and xc racing, who would have thought?

As my first year of real racing, I have seen some success, hell, after four races I lead the Fat class is H2H, but I know some of the fat haters don't feel like that is worth much.

I finished several longer rides I had set as a goal, including finishing in the top 20 of the D&L Fat Epic as well as a solo 130+ ride on a fatty (self supported)

Where am I know......bored? Discouraged? Maybe a bit of both, I can't seem to put my finger on it. The past weekends of riding DH have been a ton of fun and something I have enjoyed for the past 19 years, maybe I have found a comfortable spot up there where I don't have to keep pushing crazy things that makes it more enjoyable.

Maybe what is really going on is the more and more I insert myself into the scene I find it was more fun to me a solo thing (at least sometimes), something to get away. Maybe racing is not for me. As the deadline for the Bearscat came up I had little desire to race it (no fatty class anyway). The same can be said for this weekends H2H race (that has a fatty class).

Training and rest for upcoming events is one of the main things that makes them not enjoyable. To rest for several days and not ride prior to event is not on my plate, I want to be out there pedaling.

At the end of the day, these are my rides. My time. Not sure if it is the end of the blog, but it has been a nice couple of weeks doing my own thing.
 
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