"Tahoe-Sierra 110: Endurance MTB Race"

Check out this new event, the Tahoe-Sierra 110 (or 100 if you're riding it solo). The course/map is not available until race day. It sounds pretty interesting, see all the details on their site.

Swiss Stop King/Flash Brake Pads - Phenomenal

If you ride carbon rims (and maybe even if you don't), you should immediately get yourself some Swiss Stop King brake pads! These things just rock. I'm running them on my Zero Gravity brakes stopping Reynolds Stratus DV wheels/rims. The improvement is just amazing (and that is coming off the pads that Reynolds recommended/supplied). I feel that my brakes work equally as well as any aluminum rim combo now.The pads come in Campy/Zero Gravity, or Shimano/SRAM compatible versions, and come in pairs (total of 4 pads). Unfortunately the Campy version costs $15 more, which I can't understand why, but maybe it's just the "Campy tax"). 2007 Swiss Stop Race 2000 Yellow King Carbon Brake Pads for Campagnolo2007 Swiss Stop Flash Yellow King Carbon Brake Pads for Shimano/SRAM

Specialized All Conditions Armadillo Elite road tires

The rainy season appears to have begun here in Eugene, OR. My road bike is now setup for it, with the final change being to mount up some Specialized All Conditions Armadillo Elite 700x23 tires. Last year I ran Conti GP 4 Seasons, and prior to that nothing special in terms of a winter tires.Right off the bat, you can tell these things are grippy, but still seem to roll pretty well. Not as fast as my regular Vredesteins, but good (and I think better than the Contis). Today's ride started out in some pretty heavy rain, and of course with the usual fast long descent from my house down to the first climb. The tires worked great on the descent, and I was immediately noticing how little water they threw off, or rather, threw off at me. Very nice!Next up, the rest of the ride... What was particularly nice about today's ride was the complete spectrum of weather (absent snow, I guess if you want to be a stickler). I rode for a ways in the rain and then about 30 minutes in, the sun was shining and the roads were totally dry! This gave me a chance to try these tires out under "normal" conditions. Worked well - same as mentioned, slower than the Vreds, but faster tha the Contis, and good all around.Not much later, I was stripping off my booties, jacket, and gloves, it was getting warm! I also got a chance to do some more significant cornering on descents, and these tires caught my attention - they railed!Finally, on the final about 20 mins home, it was raining again. Good little descent, and again, great in the corners. Then the burly climb. All in all, very happy wit the new setup.

Ski Bikes

Here's a fun blog entry over on Big Wheel Building, about ski bikes. In particular, ones from Lenz, who also makes really nice mountain bikes. In fact, you can put his ski setup onto a regular mtb, although the ski bikes are a better setup. The blog post has video of some guys ripping (including taking them up lifts at a ski resort - many Colorado places at least allow this, according to the post). Looks like another way to have fun to me. Given that I love mountain biking, and skiing, it's an interesting combo. I don't know if I'd like it as much as the individual sports, but I'd sure as heck try it!

Silverton Record Snowfall - Incredible Early Season Pow!

Matt, who's now living in Silverton, and most definitely reaping the benefits emailed me to mention (brag?) about Silverton's crazy early season snow conditions. From the Silverton email:

Silverton, Colo., December 10, 2007???This December is one to remember. Another 10??? of new snow fell overnight, bringing the upper mountain base to 110 inches deep! There has been 40??? of new snow that has fallen on Silverton Mountain in the last 48 hours and 90??? of new snow in the last week. The only larger storm to hit Silverton Mountain was during the record setting winter of 2005 which dropped 117??? in one long storm cycle that lasted 13 days. Silverton Mountain does not usually have a 100??? base until February, making this the deepest base Silverton Mountain has ever had in any December on record. Silverton Mountain is known for having ???Expert Only??? ski terrain and skiers that love to jump of cliffs and ski tight chutes. With the fantastic base right now skiers have been jumping off 30 foot high cliffs, and steep 50 degree chutes that normally are not skiable until late in the season (see 6 quality photos attached). The sky finally cleared for a few hours on Sunday allowing the weekend skiers to enjoy some unbelievable bluebird powder conditions. By Sunday evening the snow returned and the dumping continued on.

Schwalbe Big Apple 29×2.35 Tires

Got a chance to put in some good time on the Schwalbe Big Apple 29x2.35 tires today. What a blast. They're basically a nearly-slick cruiser tire - big volume, great ride. I did an all-pavement, town ride today. Goofed around on and off sidewalks and other urban areas, powered up some solid climbing, ripped some very fast descents. These things are just so fun. They provide some much desired extra suspension on the fully rigid Niner, and I'm looking forward to the Panaracer Rampage 2.3's that are on the way for off-road duty.

Tags: tires, bike

Ridgeline Ride Today - Lots of Off-shoots

I rode the Ridgeline trails in Eugene this morning. It's a small place, but boy are there a ton of little off-shoots! I really need to spend some time with the GPS there and map stuff out - so many interesting looking little chunks of singletrack. Today I did the main drop down towards Amazon Parkway, but at a fork at the bottom I went left. This took me over to W. Amazon which lead back to Fox Hollow, which I then rode back up to the park and did another loop on the main trail. Quick and fun.This was also only my second ride on dirt on the Niner. Definitely still getting used to lack of suspension (I nearly ate it on a relatively mild rooted descent). The bike rolls so nicely though, just have to learn how to ride it better in the rougher terrain. Tomorrow's ride at Oakridge (never been there) ought to be interesting :)

Resources

Schools, Classes, and Related

• ??Northwest School of Survival??(Oregon)
• Wilderness Medicine Outfitters??- first aid and first responder training, medicine, and more
• Outdoor Safe??- information and education on outdoor safety

Perforce for CruiseControl.rb

I used to use Perforce heavily, and needed support for it in CruiseControl.rb. Thus, I provide here the Perforce support I wrote for CruiseControl.rb, as-is, without warranty, etc. I no longer use Perforce (stopped using this about mid, to later, 2007), so I cannot verify that it works with the latest versions. But for those who have been looking for this, here you go. Note that I blogged about this previously (on my main blog "Code Intensity").
perforce.rb
To install/use it:

• Put the above file into your cruisecontrol/app/models directory.
• Manually setup your project:
• Create a directory under the cruisecontrol/projects directory.
• Place a cruise_config.rb file in it. It should contain something like the following in order to use Perforce:

Project.configure do |project|  

  project.source_control = Perforce.new(

    :port => 'your.perforce.server:1666',

    :clientspec => 'clientspec-for-cruisecontrol',

    :user => 'buildusername',

    :password => 'builduserpassword',

    :path => '//depot/path/to/your/rails/app/...')

end

Pearl Izumi Amfib Tights

Pearl Izumi makes a pair of winter cycling tights with their Amfib fabric. I've had a pair of the bib tights for a couple years now, and they are finally showing some wear/damage. I plan to buy another pair, as the short story on these is that they are simply the best winter bib (they make a non-bib version as well) tights I've come across. So, what's so great about them? Well, it really boils down to the Amfib. In this application, they are very warm, and I won't say waterproof, but as far as you can tell, they're waterproof and wind proof. I have never needed more tight, or additional layers while wearing these, which includes riding in temps in the 20's, while it was snowing. I've also spent countless days in the rain with these tights. I use them both on the road and off. In terms of warmth, they can be quite warm, as they have a Thermafleece lining to them. I use them if the temps are in the 50's or lower on the road bike, and on the mountain bike, it needs to be a bit lower, maybe low-50's and below, otherwise they may be too warm. When the temps really drop, say into the lower 40's or lower, I tend to also use embrocation in conjunction, but again, I've yet to feel cold in these in any conditions I've ridden in. Fit wise, they are excellent for me. Comfortable, perfect fit, with no excess material or bunching anywhere. Plus, the front portion (and the back) of the bib/torso area have much more coverage/come up higher than your typical pair of bib shorts/tights. I've found this to be a very welcome edition when the conditions are crappy. They also have ankle zips for easy on/off. As compared to other tights, these are my goto tights anytime the conditions are wet, or particularly cold. In warmer, and dry conditions, I may just wear a standard pair of De Marchi bib tights, or wool tights, etc. but nothing beats the Pearli's in foul conditions. Furthermore, this has been backed up by several riding friends who also have the Amfib tights. Everyone has agreed, hands down, and explicitly raved about them. Usually nobody really says much unprompted, but I've had 3 people tell me how great the Amfib tights are.