MO7S

We’ve sunk to new lows and we think you should too.

Introducing the Brew Screw.

For about the cost of a six pack of craft beer you can convert your old SPD pedals into a nifty conversation piece and bottle opener with which to open that six pack of craft beers. If that circular reasoning is not enough to convince you, then you should also consider that:

1. Repurposing your pedals is green in that “not actually green but makes me feel good about myself” sort of way.
2. It is a definite conversation starter because people are still confused when they see a pedal screwed into the side of a tree.
3. It was hand made by mountain bikers in a garage while drinking beer (more of that circular reasoning).

We recognize these are lofty claims so we produced the following video documenting the successful use of the first Brew Screw that came out of the garage off the assembly line.

We’re a small operation and supplies are somewhat limited BUT we still haven’t burned down the garage and we have plenty of beer so rest assured we’ll be cranking these puppies out and hawking them on eBay as fast as we can.

If you have questions or comments or would like to pre-order, please shoot us a note at BrewScrew@hotmail.com.

Thank you for your support of this questionable endeavor.

Chris

Kirk reconnoitering “The Contraption”

“Kind of like White Clay” is what Bryan told us. But it’s small and it’s a bit of a haul (1 hour 20 minute drive from Lyndenwood) so it never quite made it into the weekend rotation. Finally this weekend with an appetite for an early 8:00am start, we made the trek to Trexlertown.

Tangent: “Early” start you say? Well yes because there are a lot dominoes that have to fall before a morning ride. The first domino is coffee and the forth or fifth domino is the 80 minute drive, but the problem is the approximately 20 minute delay between domino one and domino two. And you can’t skip domino two. In my case, this game of dominoes translated into a 5:00 am alarm for me personally. 

The drive into the preserve reminded my of my rides in Wyoming and California. Small steep ravines, open vistas. The weather didn’t hurt either (low 80s, dry air, blue sky, brilliant sunshine).

We saddled up, dove into the single track, and after a short climb (which, yes, could have been mistaken for White Clay) we were treated to some downhill flow like I’ve never seen on in SEPA (but did see in The Kingdom last year). Huge bermed diving turns one after another. Real table tops. Big pump-worthy rollers. Perfect flow through dense green cover mixed with excellent views. Most of the trails are directional – the downs obviously good for only one thing and the ups were deceptively gentle with lots of tight switchbacks that got us back to the top with seemingly no effort.

There were also a few miles of trails bench cut into the side of the various ravines. Fast and again expertly designed. There were also plenty of stunts in a small skills park as well as “The Contraption” (a compact collection of skinnies and ramps with at least a 6′ drop on one side). We ogled but did not ride it although I think the wheels were turning in Kirk’s head.

They’ve packed an incredible amount of fun into a small space here. It felt like about noon when Bryan told us it was 9:30. We were all giddy and couldn’t believe we’d only been riding for an hour. So we rode another hour. And then we rode some more.

Thanks Bryan for your persistence. T-Town is definitely on the rotation now and I will have some super-sweet dreams tonight.

Chris

“Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for one more ride.”
     — Unknown

Isn’t it just awesome when self-evident truths are confirmed through rigorous application of the scientific method?

I just (tried to) read a 2014 study from Royal Society Publishing titled “A relationship between attractiveness and performance in professional cyclists.” About half way through the introduction my eyes glazed over and I skimmed to the findings to find that “the top 10 percent of cyclists is about 25 percent more attractive than the lowest 10 percent.” Now for the ten people reading this blog post right now, this is fantastic news for one of you and not so great news for another one of you.

However the nine of you who are feeling varying degrees of disappointment may find some comfort in another study – this one conducted by scientists at Mindlab – that found “cyclists are considered to be 13 per cent more intelligent and ‘cooler’ than other people.” Now this sounds like something we can all get behind, especially since the research was focused solely on roadies so a conservative 25% adjustment (3.25 percentage points) would raise that to just over 16% for mountain bikers. Who can argue with that adjustment? Certainly neither of these two roadies having an apparent argument during the 1995 Vuelta Espana:

Below are links to the two studies. Actually one appears to be a study and the other is just a self-promoting article from a British website and a picture of Bradley Wiggins sitting on a throne.

I will sleep well tonight.

Chris

“Chicks dig the dirty ones”
     — Unknown

• http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/2/20130966
• http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cycling/cyclists-are-more-intelligent-charitable-and-cool-than-the-average-person-says-study-9051434.html

Sunday was Evansburg State Park, a rugged “executive nine” of mountain bike trails near Collegeville. “Executive nine” because it is a short 5 miles (10 miles if you ride it forward and backward according to Mike, his math seams reasonable to me). Rugged because it hasn’t been dumbed-down like more popular trail systems in our area. Log-overs, rock gardens, a couple of rough cut ramps and causeways, tight twisty obstructed-view single track, and an ample supply of death cookies on the punchy uphills and one particularly puckery downhill.

Duff hosted the post-ride debrief on his back deck, pouring some fine session ales while Carlos licked the blood and sweat off our legs (he was busy).

I was reminded how awesome it is to ride somewhere for the first time. It forces you to deal with what is coming at you. It forces you to react instead of prepare and it makes you a better rider. I see more road trips in our future.

Chris

“Like dogs, bicycles are social catalysts that attract a superior category of people” 
     — Chip Brown

After 3+ hours of riding at Fair Hill we were showing a little wear and tear but not as much as this stream crossing in the Fox Pen.

Kudos to Andy for leading the way on his single speed, and to Bryan for turning those monster 5″ tires for almost twenty miles of rocky and rooty single track. It was a BIG ride and a fitting kickoff to another season of summer single track.

Chris

From this evening’s pre-dinner ride.

A reminder of the circle of life and the long hard winter we endured.

Now, what’s for dinner?

Chris

“A bicycle does get you there and more And there is always the thin edge of danger to keep you alert and comfortably apprehensive. Dogs become dogs again and snap at your raincoat; potholes become personal. And getting there is all the fun.”

— Unknown

Rusty wheel-less Huffy inexplicably locked to a bike rack in front of NYC Velo

The 30 minutes were almost up on our Citi Ride bikes, so we checked them into a lower Manhattan bike station. Maybe we’d find a bike shop, I sort of had in my head that I might buy a set of Surly Open Bars if I could find a decent price. I had a hard time swallowing the $60 online price so figured I might at least save on shipping.

At NYC Velo I asked the proprietor if they carried Surly.

“Yes” he replied.

“Would you happen to have any Open Bars” in stock” I asked. Fat chance.

“Yeah. As a matter of fact I do” and he produced a bundle of them from under the counter.

My pulse quickened. I didn’t particularly want to lug a set of handlebars around Manhattan for the rest of the day, but what the heck. “How much” I asked, figuring the New York City markup would bring it close to $70.

“Twenty dollars” he said.

Holy shit. “I’ll take it.“

Fast forward to today when I rode The Double Bonus loop with the new bars installed. The bars are amazing. The substantial sweep puts my wrist in a natural position and the flexy steel takes the sting out of the full rigid ride. Combined with the fact that I have recently figured out how to tune the “self-steering” out of those Vee Rubber Mission tires (it’s totally a tire pressure thing), the bike is starting to get dialed-in.  It’s closer to an eleven. The wrist doesn’t hurt. The bike rails turns without any inkling of self steering.

But before you run over to NYC Velo for your $20 Open Bars, be advised that it’s a 25.4mm diameter (not 31.8mm like most mountain bars) so you’ll need a different stem. I pulled one off Sara’s bike. It’s heavy and has more rise than I would like, but it will keep me going until I can find the one I want.

Remaining upgrades for the fat bike:

• Replace large ring with a bash guard (convert from 3×9 to 2×9)
• Lighter tubes (saves like a pound of rotating mass)
• “Hog out” the rims (Rob’s words)
• Change calipers to BB7 (no rush)
• Remove the dork disk

Chris

“It won’t make you ride better, it will make you ride more, and that will make you ride better.”
     — Nippleworks ad