Eastern Panhandle Cycling Info!

 

Material by ways of EP/BC:

Hello Those about to Bike: I believe Fall is here, my favorite season and why I choose to live in Wild Wonderful WV! It’s hard to find any better place than WV to enjoy fall colors and festivities. Get out there and ride your bike and enjoy this wonderful time of the year. This issue: Take A Kid Mt. Biking Day Fall Cycling Breast Cancer Awareness Advice from the staff

This Sat October 6th is National Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day. With help from Specialized and IMBA, EP/BC will be hosting kids of all skill levels at Poor House Farm Park in Martinsburg, WV this Sat for some riding and mountain biking instuction. Date: Saturday, October 6th, 2012 Time: 12:00pm to 2:00pm Location: Poor House Farm Park At The Pavilion RSVP: epbicycles@gmail.com We Are Limited to 50 Participants      Please Bring: Parent Bike Helmet Good Riding Shoes Local experts will be on hand to discuss essentials for mountain biking. Give some helpful hints and help with skills. We will also discuss trail building opportunities for Poor House Farm Park

Fall Cycling Opportunities Fall is one of the best times of the year to ride (My Favorite!) and here are a few places that are wonderful to check out: The C&O Canal Towpath (No Brainer) one of the best bike paths in the country and it’s in our back yard. Mountain Biking Canaan Valley The Western Maryland Rail Trail The Great Allegheny Passage Sleepy Creek. Mainly hiking trails but the red multi use trails are good for mountain biking Gambrills State Park Greenbrier River Trail Just remember to pack the essentials and dress properly. Come in and we will happily show you the many ways to properly pack for the adventure.

 

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What _____ Think I Do Pt.II

Ah, these are getting fun:

Click for larger image

I always seem to be cleaning my mountain bike more than riding it. It’s the worst part, but its a necessity with our lovely WV environment ❤

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Rubbish Bin Repost

Through the first year, I have accumulated many posts that I never completed due to lack of motivation, or enough knowledge to flesh out the text. In this post, I humbly present to you my rubbish bin, AKA unpublished post drafts:

Untitled

01/29/2010

http://djconnel.blogspot.com/2010/01/drivetrain-losses-introduction.html

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Road Race in Morgantown, WV – April 3rd!

03/01/2010

From BikeReg.com:

Leave your expensive Flux-Capacitors and fancy wheels at home cause it’s WV and we got pot holes, but do not forget your climbing legs, and yes, they can have hair on them too. We don’t judge! If you want to climb your legs off come join us over in West “by god” Virginia for some wicked hard yet truly fun grassroots road racn’!! This race course has just about everything a cyclist could wish for in ridge top views, back country road, big climbs and gear pounds flats.This course starts and finishes at Gospel Tabernacle Church on Shannon Run Road. This race course has just about everything a cyclist could wish for in ridge top views, back country road, big climbs and gear pounds flats. Starting out at Gospel Tabernacle Church you head North on Route 19 towards Kirby.  Then a left on Kirby Road and across the mountain to Route 218. Then it is a right turn to head North on RT 218 into Pennsylvania. Ride 218 all the way up to Waynesburg. A quick right on cook road and over top the mountain you will find yourself returning south on Sugar Run Road. At Kirby, PA take a right on Kirby road and then it back country roads all the way back to the finish in Mt Morris.

The race is 47 miles, and registration is $20, regardless of category.

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Nothing Like A Freshly Paved Road

06/03/2010

Ever been on a ride where

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Injuries – A Stick In Your Spokes

12/10/2010

Mountain bike season came around pretty fast this year, Serious riding started in April, and road riding peaked in late September… Once the temperature dropped enough, I hit the MTB with full force. After a few component upgrades, something was off on the fit of the bike, and I felt like adjusting my cleats was a good idea.

This was the biggest cycling related mistake I made in the past several years… or at least I thought it was…

My left knee started killing me after my first ride with the new cleat adjustment. My IT Band also felt like it was cut with a knife.I decided I would take a week or two to let the tendonitis/ITBS to calm down, and stop hurting. These two weeks were terrible… The weather was perfect to ride, all my friends were riding; and there I was… not riding. Total bummer.

The inability to do something that you enjoy just because of one thing is so demoralizing.

I knew I had the entire skillset to ride with my buddies; I had the endurance, the riding skills, and everything else needed… except the injury was inhibiting me from riding.

What do you guys do when you’re injured and can’t ride or perform some other favorite activity?

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Luckily I did not have writer’s block too many times this year, and I hope for even more published posts in 2011!

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WV Nightclub Cyclocross Race Footage

This Saturday was the Appalachian Cyclocross Series Race #6 sponsored by Michael Miller DDS in Buckhannon. The race was set on a balmy saturday morning, with the temperatures hovering just above freezing the entire time. For this being a very ‘southern’ race, as it is considered for WV Cyclocross, there was still a pretty fair turnout, and a lot of fun was had. I ran around the race course, shot some video, and got some post race interviews too.

I saw a lot of people from Trek of Pittsburgh, Steel City Endurance, Western Maryland Wheelmen, Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling, Iron City Bikes, WVU Cycling, Pro Graphics, Mountain Mama, and even a few Ohio guys.

The course was moderately short, even in terms of a cross course, but it was rough. The grassy fields were mowed the day before, but were sorta lumpy. It took the energy out of people pretty quickly. There were three noteable barriers that you will see in the videos: Typical 12″ cross barriers, a very small stream path that had to either be jumped or hucked over, and a chicane laden vertical switchback that was very entertaining for the spectators to be around.

Lots of racers were using dedicated cyclocross bicycles, and I even saw a classic 1976 Raliegh road bike out there along some of the mtn bikes and whatnot. Everyone seemed to have fun, and JR really put on a good race.

Now, here’s the videos:

Watters Smith Cyclocross Race – Pre Race

Watters Smith Cyclocross Race – Race Footage 01

Watters Smith Cyclocross Race – Race Footage 02 / Post Race Interviews 01

Watters Smith Cyclocross Race – Post Race Interviews 02

Watters Smith Cyclocross Race – Post Race Interviews 03 w/Gunnar

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My Bikes Section – UPDATED

I’ve sold off my Dawes road bike to a buddy of mine who has been looking for one since spring. I haven’t ridden it very much since the addition of the cyclocross bike, and I can understand where the cross bike has filled in the place of a true multipurpose drop-barred bike. It will have a good home, and I got some more space to pile more useless stuff in it’s place~

I have also reviewed and added my GF Cobia to the My Bikes section.

2009 Gary Fisher Cobia

• Frame – Platinum Series 6066 butted & hydroformed aluminum, cold-forged dropouts, G2 29″ Geometry
• Fork – Fox F80RL 29, 80mm travel, custom G2 Geometry 51mm offset crown, air spring, external rebound & lockout
• Bottle Cages – 1x Bontrager Race Lite Cage, White
• Headset – Cane Creek 1-1/8″ threadless, semi-integrated, semi-cartridge bearings
• Stem – Selcof 80mm 10 degree
• Handlebar – Selcof Flat Bar 580mm 3 degree bend
• Brake Levers – Avid FR-5 Brake Levers
• Shifters – SRAM X5 Trigger Front/Rear
• Bar Grips – All City BMX Star Grips
• Cables/Housing – Clarks Pre-Lubricated Cables / White Housing
• Brakes – Avid BB7 Mechanical Disc Brakes – 180 Front / 160 Rear
• Wheels – Shimano M475 hubs, Bontrager Ranger disc 29″ rims, 32h
• Skewers – Random Skewers
• Tires – Bontrager XDX 29×2.1 Front / Intense System 29’er 29×2.25 Rear
• Bottom Bracket – Shimano Octalink (Generic)
• Cranks – Shimano FC-M442-8-S, 44s/32s/22s, Octalink
• Front Derailleur – SRAM X9 FD
• Chain – Wipperman x9 Stainless
• Saddle – Bontrager Race MTN – White
• Seatpost – Control Tech One – 400mm x 27.2mm
• Seatpost Clamp – Generic Bontrager
• Pedals – Shimano PD-M520 White
• Cassette SRAM PG950 11-34T
• Rear Derailleur – SRAM x5 Long Cage

The Gary Fisher Cobia is a wonderfully complicated and sweet bike. The pricepoint of it in 2009 was just a hair over $1000, and came with parts that were fairly matched to that price. Subsequently, I have upgraded the entire cockpit, the brakeset, and suspension fork. These changes were mostly for aesthetics or on a whim, but I believe they were for the best. My bike now has a near complete Silver and White aesthetic to it, all the way down the the pedals and stem. The Avid BB7 upgrade from the BB5’s were influenced by a deal from a friend on a brand new set, and the front fork was an offer that I could not resist; well… that and it was white.

I’m 167cm tall, with a 76cm inseam, and this is a 15.5″ frame. I chose this size, due to the fact that everything I read was that a smaller wheelbase was better for a 29″ bike. I was right; I still have issues on sharp switchbacks or turns, and SUDDEN changes in elevation; whether it be up or down. These issues are things that over the year of ownership, I have learned to find little ways to make up for the size of the bike, and geometry. Rarely ever does it slow me down enough to where I think about it.

What does bother me about this bike is the chainsuck. I have read and heard from other 29″ GF hardtail owners that they get unavoidable chainsuck issues just like me. Heck, I even clean my entire drivetrain after every single ride, and I still have issues. Whether it be from middle ring to granny ring, or vice-versa, I get the chain stuck between the chainstay and the middle chainring…. maybe…. one out of every seven times. It has eaten into the driveside chainstay, and I’m sure as hell that Trek will say it is just human/operator error. When they design a bike with less than 4mm of clearance from the chainstay to chainring, something is wrong. I know they needed lots of clearance very close to the crankset due to the larger wheel, and the opportunity and availability to use a big tire, but this is ridiculous. Seriously.

This bike has been a great beginner’s foray into mountain biking. It can handle just about anything you throw at it, except drops/jumps. If you have the nerves, you can keep up with your 26″ dual suspension friends, or even the 29″ DS’ers; that is if you have the legs…  The Cobia has taken me places that I have never expected to go on any kind of bike, and I like that.

Final Words? GO TUBELESS.

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