9/25 Solavaca 51 mile endurance training ride in a race format. Solo and 2 person relay 6 laps most likely. Details are being ironed out but Mack is on board. Register here (limited field): http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=11635 Solavaca access fees will apply and it should make for a great weekend to camp and hang out after the ride. Remember to leave your dogs at home please.

10/16 Midnight Mini Massacre 50 miles of (mostly) dirt roads Decatur/Rhome/Aurora

11/20 (TBD) most likely dirt road/gravel

12/11 Dino Valley

These will be training rides NOT races. We will time the laps and keep track of results for reference/training purposes and each ride will have a format similar to Spinistry style events to familiarize riders with the rules of those events. There are no entry fees and no awards ceremonies. This is an ideal format to familiarize yourself with endurance mountain bike events and gravel grinders. More details soon and it will require online registration so that we can have participant data loaded in the timing software.

As always, fantastic pictures from Ric Ceron.

http://www.shootric.net/p970189297


Race Results
Event: 2010 Hell On Wheels

Date: Saturday, August 14, 2010

Location : The Northshore Trail

Weather: Hot and Sunny

Track: Dry and a bit sandy

Comments:

Chief of Course: Janet Lee

Chief of Competition: Kevin Lee

Technical Delegate: Foster

Solo Women

Women’s Relay

Solo Men

Men’s Relay

Co-ed Relay

Single Speed

View How to Get To Hell On Wheels in a larger map
The Northshore Race is coming! Presented by The Spinistry, Trail LED and Mad Duck Cyclery with special thanks to Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association

Races within a race

Northshore it is!

100 mile race with a firm 12 hour cutoff to finish (rider must start final lap with a reasonable time to finish within 12 hours)

Fast lap challenge
Fast team challenge for back to back laps
Fastest 50 miles challenge

Solo Men
Solo Women
SS
Two man relay (riders must alternate laps)
Two woman relay (riders must alternate laps)
Co-ed relay (riders must alternate laps)

Chip timing
Food and refreshments will be provided
T-shirt, hat, stickers for registration and other schwag we can come up with
Trophies for the winners (no cash prizes on ACOE land with our type of permit)

11:00 am start time with 11:00 pm end of race
Current Northshore loop is about 12.5 miles (8 laps)
Start/Finish is the Boy Scout area betweeen Madd and Rockledge

$75 entry per rider with a $15 discount for DORBA/FWMBA members. A portion of each paid entry will go to the general operating funds of DORBA/FWMBA.

The field will be limited so register early. There will be no day of registrations nor any exceptions to the field limit. Event subject to postponement if the trails are muddy but it will go on so no refunds allowed either.

Register Here

Forum Discussion Here

Thanks to Mad Duck Cyclery and Yeti Cycles for allowing me to test out the Big Top in the real world.

Pricing: Frame only $1100

Frameset including Fox fork and headset $1800

Complete bike $2700

Frame

• Signature carbon fiber loop stays w/ alloy dropouts
• Pure Tubes alloy front triangle
• Interchangeable “chips” allow multiple dropout configurations, comes standard with 135 QR “chips”
• Tapered headtube
• ISCG 05 tabs

Components

• Fox F29 FIT RLC 100 w/ 15mm dropouts and tapered headtube
• SRAM X9 10 speed rear derailleur
• SRAM X7 direct mount front derailleur, double
• SRAM X7 10 speed shifters
• SRAM S1400 double crankset 26/39t
• Avid Elixir 5 hydraulic disc brakes w/ 160mm rotors
• SRAM PG1050 12-36 10 speed cassette
• SRAM 10 speed chain
• Cane Creek S-3 tapered headset
• SRAM AKA stem
• Hussefelt seatpost
• Stylo rider bar
• WTB Rocket saddle

Wheels

• DT Swiss 350 hubs
• DT Swiss 470 rims
• Schwalbe Racing Ralph 29×2.25″ tire

Geometry

Headtube angle 70 deg
Seattube angle 72 deg
Chain stay 17.1″

Specs above are for the complete bike on the drawing board. Test bike was set up with Shimano 2×9 and XT brakes.

Short story is it’s a great frame/fork combo. I’m not the most skilled rider out there so I’ve leaned towards bikes that were forgiving and allowed me to roll through my mistakes. My first impression was that the front end felt light and twitchy which usually isn’t good for me. After a few carving turns I realized that the light front end was actually allowing me to correct the turn when I was off a bit. I could even correct in the middle of the apex with no issues.

My current 29er is steel frame and carbon fork and I’m really comfortable on it. I expected aluminum/carbon to be lighter but overall weight was probably comparable since my steel bike is on aluminum wheels and the demo bike wasn’t set up to be weight weenie. I could definitely feel the lighter frame under my butt on the trail though. The carbon rear triangle definitely does it’s job on the rear end to smooth out the bumps and chatter and obviously a Fox fork is going to work up front. I ran the pressures a bit high on the fork and it actually seemed ideal since I’m used to the carbon fork.

It’s hard to explain how good this bike really felt and why…basically, it felt completely responsive when shifting my weight and  giving it some body english. The Big Cedar trail has lots of weaving/go fast sections that just beg for you to dive in at full speed. Some of the turns come up quick and tighter than expected so you want to be able to adapt and this bike really let’s you do that. The bike really felt like an extension of me that I was guiding through the trail instead of a sled that I was riding.

It climbs like a hard tail 29er but that’s no surpise. There’s plenty of clearance so you can run just about any tire that’s out there. It will definitely let you stand on it and hammer, but what it really likes is to carve things downhill and fast. I don’t know if Yeti has the magic downhill formula or what, but it was the perfect blend of point and shoot and slalom whenever it had the chance. Ear to ear grins like I haven’t had on a bike since blasting down from Wheeler’s Peak.

The downside: I’m a cheap bastard so I’ll be the first to say I don’t like the price. I’m really curious to try out the Salsa Mamasita to see how it compares. My wife has a Salsa Selma setup 1×9 so I may throw a setback post on it to try. It would be nice to just be able to throw my existing bits on the basic frame and go from there but the tapered head tube, frame mount front der and bigger axle sizes pretty much necessitate going with the complete bike.

So I went ahead and ordered my Big Top complete (size Large) when I dropped off the demo bike. Hope to have it end of July or early August. I really shouldn’t have demo’d this thing.

This is a FREE mountain bike event. The format will be a time trial tournament. That means that we will have a final 8, 4 and 2 in order to give riders a chance to compete more than once. There are no licences required, which means that all riders are competing at THEIR OWN RISK.

I encourage riders of all skill levels to come throw their “hats in the ring” and have a good time doing so.

Rules: All riders must wear helmets
riders that are being “over-taken” must yield the trail to the faster rider
“celebratory beverages” must be kept to a minimum (red cup)
NO BAD ‘TUDES
All riders will start in the order that they are signed up

The course will be one loop, which is sort of short I know, but everyone must remember that this is designed to be fun and in the spirit of good sportsmanship. Please park at the trail head, and not in the “loop”.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!! Let me know if you, or anyone that you know would like to help out. There’s not much to do, but all of the trail crossings will need to be blocked for the safety of the riders and folks that are hanging out on the intersecting paths.

Awards: BEEEEERRRRRR!!!!!! the overall winner will recieve a case of Fireman’s 4 Ale and a gift certificate to COLONEL’S Bikes.
There will be prizes for 2nd and 3rd.
Donations (beer) will be accepted if you wish to contribute to the prize list.

Thanks a ton, see ya there

Josh

Ebay Auction

Register for the TCM here

Keep up with Kaiden here

Kaiden Brennfoerder, a very sweet child of dear friends has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. We are very early in the process and there are lots of unknowns at this point. Our thoughts and prayers are with K-man and his family.

The Texas Chainring Massacre is officially postponed. We are having flooding issues throughout the route. We’ve already received more than 3″ of precipitation overnight and more is expected. While this was considered an “all weather” event rider safety is our primary concern.

We will issue updates when we have a firm idea of what the make up date might be. Right now it is tentatively 5/8 but that is TENTATIVE. The good news is that now we have time to order t-shirts for all participant who have already registered.

Kevin

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Massacre Long Route

Massacre Short Route

Texas Chainring Massacre is the featured event and will begin at 9:00 am Sunday, 3/21 from DFW Adventure Park in Roanoke, TX.

The Denton Dash will start at 10:00 am Saturday, 3/20 in Denton, TX. Staging venue is being finalized and we will update that as soon as possible.

Feel free to utilize the Spinistry.com forums if you have any questions or input on the events. Lodging details and other information is already available there.

Feel free to print off and distribute the events flyer here.

Special thanks to Bonzai Cycle Werx for providing support during the race!

http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=103107

Please Spread the Word!

flyermarch

The forums will have the most timely discussions.

http://www.spinistry.com/forums/

Other finishers:
Cy Armstrong
Tom Brandish
Lucas Brusseau
Steve Dodge
Tommy Duvall
Keith Gray
Jamie Mitchell
Peter Rajcani
Jason Sargent
Jared Thompson
Shannon Wyatt

COURSE MAPS:  Morning Course | Afternoon Course

122 riders set out at 8am on a gorgeous Saturday morning for the First Annual Red River Riot. By 8:01 am the rains came down and didn’t let up until the middle of that afternoon. After all was said and done only 10% of the starters completed the full 105 mile course mostly made up of dirt roads through the scenic Red River Valley.

The route received great reviews and we plan to run it exactly the same way in 2011. Brian Fawley’s time of 7 hours and 1 minute is quite the measure to beat no matter what the conditions. Check back often for more details on the next Red River Riot and other events from the Spinistry.

http://www.dorba2.com/content/2010-frozen-endurance-series

http://www.dirtykanza200.com/

http://solavaca.com/svc3flyer.html