A few more pictures from the Fall in the Carolinas Road Trip...

A few shots from the trails in and around Pisgah National Forest

The 6ix - Urban Playground Explored

Toronto really does have a pretty diverse cycling scene.  From great technical trails in the Don Valley to Gravel roads and routes in and around the portlands to several road clubs running early am rides pretty much every day of the week and oh of course  ' The Donut ' still reigns strong on the weekends.  So no matter what wheel size your running The 6ix has you covered.

Shimano XT 1x11

Decided to go the 1 x 11 route that I have set up on the Santa Cruz without dropping the coin on the SRAM group.

Enter Shimano and the workhorse group in their line up.  The trusted XT.  They have since released pricing on the XT Di2 but honestly can't see the need for electronic shifting on any of my bikes so far.

The parts I put on are the XT crank with a 32 ring, the 11/46 cassette, XT rear der and shifter and the e13 xcx chain guide.

I was concerned about the chainline and rubbing as this seems to be the complaint for people running guides.  e13's mounts between the frame and bb and comes with spacers to shim if needed.  Mine went on with the 3 mm spacer and on either end of the cassette there is more than enough clearance.

Have about 6 rides on it so far and I am liking it a lot.  The only place I think I will miss the rings is on the road  or on long downhills as you will spin out but the flip side of that is getting up the hills and I was fine on any trail so far.   One thing to note if your running bar lockout or levers the shifter has a gear indicator window that is quite big and there is a replacement dummy plate that will be released in a few weeks by Shimano for a few bucks.  I guess people realized bar real estate is key.

Shots from the trail...

NAHBS is next month in Sacremento. Steve Potts is confirmed.

Full show info and exhibitor list can be found here.

DAGMAR.... Is finally ( almost ) back. I week to go SEPT 12th

One of the old school G.T.A. mtb destinations has been resurrected.  Official Press Release:

Uxbridge: September 1, 2015: The Durham Mountain Biking Association (DMBA) is pleased to announce the Grand Opening of the Dagmar North Trails on September 12, 2015. The new 13 km of trails in the Dagmar North Tract (DNT) are the culmination of eight years of planning and 5 months of building. The building was accomplished with over 200 volunteer builders investing over 5,000 hours of sweat equity in the project. This is one of the largest volunteer trail building projects in Canada. 

In the meantime here is " some " of the trails sped up into a 18 minute sample video.  There is a lot more and tons of options and can't wait to add this to the mix... officially


 

Wheelie Wendnesdayz in the Gatineau Parc

They do a really good job not making public the singletrack outside of the Camp Fortune end of the park.  So much so that you almost get the feeling they don't want you to find it.  They don't know how determined we are when it comes to finding the good stuff.  Gatineau has km after km of mapped and marked double track and the stuff on the north end ( Wakefield QC ) where we just were but if you step off the beaten path, commit to bushwack, you find gems like this.  This was probably one of the most scenic singletrack stretches that was well hidden and obviously ridden and we really enjoyed these..

Don Days of Summer

Roller Flowster Trail - Don Valley

Copeland Forest Canada Day

Steam Whistle Brewery and Urban Racks

What a killer idea.  This is at a trail head up in Simcoe ( I think there may be 2 or more in the area ).  Innovation and necessity at its finest.  Well done !!

Summer Road Trip Choices...

So the short list is down to the final 2.  Both are about 30 hours drive away which multiple ride stay / stops enroute.  6 weeks and counting to the final choice.

*** original pics from the interwebs ***

Dual (ly) Personalities...

Don Valley Views

What goes around comes around....

It seems sometimes the bike industry runs out of innovation and like other platforms start to re-introduce the " NEW " new.  Take for instance the soft-tail.  A lot of people discount elastomers and sub 2" travel bikes but truth be told it still works and is still relevant.

Case in point the Pinarello soft tail road bikes of Team Sky used in the Paris Robaiux and the BMC Teamlites being used on the World Cup circuit. 

So while bikes like the Silk ti 29's and the YBB's and La Ruta's have stuck with this platform those of us lucky enough to own one of these know all too well the benefits of simplicity.

All of this is of course scenario based.  For instance my Silk ti would not be my go to bike for a big all mountain type road trip but having been on more than few with it it never really hurt but you can certainly push the envelope a bit more with a true big squish.

I won't be getting rid of mine anytime soon and I'm glad the masses are being re-introduced to them.  In Onterrible where I live this is all I need... Oh ya those are Rotor Rings aka Biopace.

Keep It Simple Stupid...

It's hard to believe ( well not really ) that this bike is 6.5 years old.  I have lost track of the standards, wheel sizes, bottom brackets, headsets, dropper posts, cable routing, new trail riding descriptive names that have all come and gone in this time.  I still get asked about this bike the most and from locations all around the world via this blog and instagram so I thought I would do a review this summer and share some thoughts on the simplicity of the ti soft tail.  There are many like it but this one is mine...

In the meantime enjoy this ti collage of the best bike I've owned.  Castellano Silk ti 29 by Steve Potts.

A few reviews and updates coming up soon...

Going to be reviewing the 3sixty5 wheels on Novatech hubs, Giro Empire Shoes and the Cinelli Saetta Radical.

Dealt with 2 big web bike shops too so we want to spread the feedback on these.  One was good one not so much and want to give a heads up for some things to watch out if your buying a bike cross border.

Got lots of road miles on these three items ( only the shoes for me personally ) over the past 2 weeks in South and North Carolina so stay tuned for the updates.  Also look for a post on George Hincape's Hotel Domestique and the Assault on the Carolina's.

Less than a month to go for North / South Carolina

Well it's decided.  This will be the bookmark on the 2015 Carolina camp.  Caesars Head is a  challenging 6 mile climb to the top ( that's the big dip in the profile ) and Walnut Hollow which is a steep mile climb.  This ride caps out at a 1000 riders ( sold out ) and is in it's 16th year.  We will be lining up with some friends we met in Sedona that live in Brevard so should be a great ride.

2015 AOTC Century

2014 is almost in the books...

The year of the road trip for sure.  Tuscon, Sedona, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Ellicotville, Mont Ste Anne, Ontarieriroooo and a few more spots in-between.

New bike ( enter Santa Cruz Tallboy 2 )  The Castellano Silk ti 29 is still going super strong as the go to steed.  Back on the road and cross bikes pretty steadily.  The retro revival was great, and a few people have some pretty cool winter projects on the go.  Ride for Karen got a new base camp.  Life is Good.

Not sure where 2015 is going to point to but Utah, North Carolina and British Columbia are on the planning list for sure.

B.C. has been loooong overdue and all the great riding articles and outfitters are stoking the trail fire big time.

Whatever you ride and wherever you do it be safe have fun and stop and take it all in.  Life is short the trails are long.  Go Explore.

I enjoy hearing from followers of this blog so please keep sending me your notes.  The Inter Web is a big place but the riding community is small and once you share the love of two wheels distance is a formality.  All the best.....

Heading back to Canada from AZ - 3000 km to go.

Cold Winter Miles...

It's never too cold for taking the road bike through the skate park