Askel, what I'd do were I you is get the warrantied wheelset and use em for fast rides/group rides/races and train on some bulletproof wheels. I'm riding a pair of Ultegra hubs and Sun Mistral (yeah, those!) rims on one wheelset, a pair of Ultegra hubs and Velocity Aeroheads on another, and a pair of Mavic 501/571-2 hubs on Reflex Ceramic rims. That last pair of wheels is pushing 20 years old and going great. (well, :augie the hub was NOS a few years back 'cause the original hub was another 501 FW hub and I'm running S9. Used the same spokes, just moved the rim over to a new hub.)

I've had pretty good luck with Ritchey wheels. Seem to be pretty aero. Seem to hold my fat ass up fairly well for training and racing. Not too spendy either. Don't get much attention tho. :dunno Also not much $$. Get the Pro or Comp version for yer weight. I DID break a few spokes a few years into my ownership. Replaced em with Sapim C-Xrays. Shoulda/coulda gone with 14ga bladed, but I hadta go fancy! :norton Doubled the price of the spokes. :bluduh

I'm fixin to go put the XTR back on the Crosshairs. New parts comin tomorrow! :clap At some point, I gotta go get that frame I inherited. :nod

M

I never posted a proper race report from the '08 ouachita challenge because I was waiting on pics from the event photog. Needless to say, I won't be paying $40ea. for the downloadable versions so I'm going to post links to the pics....weak, I know, but it was a KILLER race.

The race started with 200 racers on the line on an early april morning in Oden, Ar. Temps usually vary from 22* to 80*....we started at 9am and ~40*. The first 2 miles of the race are paved and lead by a pace car. I jumped on with the front group and tucked in to stay warm and conserve energy for the first climb. I'm #129 on the left side (barely visible).
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery...419&image_id=4

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery...=107&scount=10

Once we hit the gravel, the group splintered. I tried to hang on to the front but was dropped by about 100 yds going into the single track. I passed all but 6 guys in the first 4 miles of single track. I fell into a good rythym with some guys I race with in Texas. We all knew we could push the pace a bit and we did.
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery...20&image_id=32

As we came out of the womble trail on hwy 298, I shoved 1/2 of a snickers in my mouth, thinking I had time...NO...all 6+ guys dropped their heads and tucked in for the road stretch...I quickly spit out the snickers and grabbed on. We blew through the 1st feed zone without stopping and tucked in at a ~26mph pace on the ~10 mile road stretch up to the ouachita trail. When we hit the check point before the ouachita trail, I sat up to mix an accelerade and down the snickers bar. 5 of those guys took off and I never saw them again.

I battled with a local guy (Dallas) for the next 20 miles on the slow, grinding ouachita trail. We fought each other up blowout mountain and I passed him near the top. He quickly passed me on the way down.

I was not prepared for the demoralizing climbing section AFTER blowout mountain. I had a bit of a mental breakdown on this section (and probably should have eaten more).

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery...21&image_id=35

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery...21&image_id=37

I did manage climb the whole section and had the guy in front of me in sight on the way down. At the bottom, the checkpoint guy says "stay straight until hwy 88"...I kill it for 3 miles and come to a Y in the gravel road. I stay on the obvious and most travelled path. I ride about 3/4 mile to the top of a hill and look back....the guy behind me goes right...FUCK.

I turn around a book it to catch up to him before the finish. I catch him as we turn on to the pavement for the last 2 mile stretch to the finish. I sprinted by him in the last 100 yds and finished 10th of 200.

I wish I had more/better pictures but most of the photogs were down in Tx that weekend for the local XC series. I can't wait until the '09 ouachita challenge....pre-riding starts next month.

Hey Perry! Change of plan: the longer cage D/A is now on the Crosshairs with the 34/50 compact rings in the front. Needed the extra cage to take up the slack in the chain.

Put the short cage D/A back on Stick Me's bike.

I'm off to go pick up the pieces needed to make the Fetish frame into a Fetish bike. :nod Back in a bit. I'll see iffen I can't post some bike pron.

M

Yater, how long was that race? Did you spin a 26mph pace for the entire 10 mile road section you mentioned? If so, that's freakishly fast. I would struggle to do that on a road bike. Good job at any rate.

The race was 60 miles. Yes, we pretty much held mid 20s on that road stretch. There were quite a few of us working together and we were killing it. Our thinking was that this section would demoralize the guys behind us who might still be in the hunt. We skipped that feed zone and laid the hammer down. No one caught us the rest of the day.

There was one trek/vw guy who took off early in the race. My guess is he was battling for 1st and was well ahead of us going into the ouachita trail (about 30 miles into the race). While climbing blowout mountain, I noticed a rim track in the middle of the trail and assumed someone flatted and was pushing his bike. This went on for about 15 miles before I finally caught and passed the guy RIDING his bike on the rear rim with his tire looped around his neck. He finished the race and I believe he was still in the top 25. He rode 15+ miles, mostly singletrack, on that rear rim.

I know how that feels- I rode 3/4 of my timed seeding run for a Master's Worlds DH race in Bromont, Quebec on a flat front tire once-it sucked.

Apparently it was to be. :D

http://ericlorenzo.smugmug.com/photo...81_FSUTC-L.jpg

Called first thing monday morning and checked that they still had it, and put down a deposit over the phone. Picked it up that afternoon.

Only one ride on it so far, wednesday after work. No big surprises -- compared to its predecessor it's slower going up and a lot faster coming down.

I was kinda disappointed with my first ride on the old bike, but once I did some tweaking, came to love it. No disappointment on this first ride, but there's some room for improvement. I'll probably replace the front tire, and the suspension setup needs a little work. Oh, and I'm guessing that the dragging rear brake had something to do with it feeling less "spritely" than the older bike.

:nod That'll do it!

Great lookin ride you got there. Hope it don't stay that clean long!

:ricky

M

Greetings from the non-bicyclist.

I've been riding to work at least two days a week for the last six weeks.

The four hills on the way home are definitely easier than the first couple of days. My lung capacity feels like it's doubled.

I do find that if I ride three days in a row, that ride home the third day is a bitch.

Anyway, screw you bicyclists, I'm still not wearing spandex.

:fitz

Thank you

I'm also not wearing underwear, so there you go.

I'm still wearing the baggy MTB shorts in the roadie crowd, no weasel squeezers for me.

When I do finally buy some bicycle appropriate clothing, I'll probably go that route.

What the hell do you wear in the winter?

EDIT: Never mind, I just saw your location. :fitz :bluduh

The neighbors are going to start talking about you.

:lol3

The amount of riding you are doing is awesome. Mine is so sporadic that it's a coin toss if I get two good rides in during a week. But I did just get back from a bicycling vacation. 100 miles over two days ending at a B&B in New Ulm with my girlfriend. :raabia

I wimped out and racked the bike back. Aggravated the devil out of my left IT band at the end of day two. :kurt

Which made for two days of sweet loafing. :clap

Saturday: 27 mile bike race

Sunday: 100 mile road ride

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: My regular 45 mile round trip commute.

I was hurtin' a bit yesterday. And by hurtin', I mean really, really, really hungry.

So last night I was sitting there last night devouring the largest double peanut butter mackinac island fudge waffle cone I had ever seen this girl walks past and says "hi". I think I managed some sort of primordial groan in her general direction. Perhaps the ice cream all over my face will appear as "charming". :lol3

Oh, and Wednesday morning I wore leg warmers. If you think spandex is undignified....