3 For 1

Lets celebrate the weeked with a Mega Blog Monster Post.

For a limited time only you get three posts for the price of one. That is right, your eyes are not deceiving you. You not only get "Pricker Bush Madness," you also get "Your Decals and Derailleurs Mean Nothing to Me" and "Your what glows in the dark?"

Three posts mixed into one!

"Your What glows in the dark?"

A Tour of Velocity.

Tyler and I were lucky enough to take a tour of Velocity's new wheelhouse on Thursday and got a sneak peak at several cool new hoops. The glow in the dark 700c Halo, the superwide tubeless compatible P35 and the lumberjack plad Blunts.

A special thanks to Jeff for introducing us to all the cool people and showing us around the place.

"Your Decals and Derailleurs mean nothing to me"

How to build an awesome single speed.

Phase 1: Make nice with your local bike shop. My establishment of choice is Team Active in Battle Creek. The staff is friendly, the selection is great and the beer is cold and free on Fridays after noon.

Phase 2: Pick your pieces. Frame, fork, wheels etc. Keep it simple and durable. I like my frames like I like my music, heavy and metal. Gunnar has treated me swell the last two go arounds and would suggest their Ruffian 29er frame with sliding dropouts and several color options. Their prompt service and communication matches well with their confidence inspiring trail tuned geometries.

Phase 3 Assemble and Ride.

"Pricker Bush Madness"

The Torn Shirt Xterra Story

The Swim: I came out of the lake with water in my ears, sea weed between my fingers and placed in the bottom 80 racers out of 100.

The Bike: I have not ridden Brighton since I lived i my parent's basement and rode 26 inch wheels. I was faster then but I am smarter now.

The 15 mile ride was a mix of moderate inclines, rooted decents and long stretches of fast trail. My campsite neighbors said the course was big ring friendly but I kept things conservative. Between each section of singletrack were hilly gravel roads. That is where I did my damage and pulled back several aqua men and women. By the time the roots, rocks and dust settled I was racking my bike and in the top 30.

The Run: "The Torn Shirt" title has meaning for the six mile trail run. When I was not climbing I was dodging rocks on the downhill. If I wasn't dodging rocks aI was grimacing from the gaping bloody lacerations caused by thousands of razor sharp prickers. The pain was intense. The burning salty sweat in my wounds motivated me to push on. (Disclaimer: Description of the above mentioned injuries is not entirely accurate. While the pain was fierce, there was no evidence of significant skin damage as indicated by my wife, who was not able to locate the large cuts.)

After it was all said and done I improved on my swim time, enjoyed the trail and finished 4th in my age group, 28th overall.

Starting today The Traveling Circus is going to unplug for 2-3 weeks. I am going to attempt to learn how to play the harmonica, travel to Canada and work on some construction projects.

I will return with the Tri Del Sol race report, pictures of the Rocky Mountains and another big ebay auction.

I will miss you all very much.

love dan