R O T H A R . C O M

So a nice end to the year with the chance to spend some time in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. I’ve been to the USA several time in the past but have never ridden a bike there. I decided that a free weekend in San Francisco was an opportunity too good to pass up – time to go biking.

First challenge, hiring a bike. So turns out that there are lots of bike hire businesses in San Francisco. Fewer with decent mountain bikes and fewer still with full suspension bikes. Chose Blazing Saddles in the end and although I went in wanting something bouncy I rode out on a Marin Nail Trail 29er 1×11 hardtail.

Biking to the bridge is flat mostly with a bit of up here and there and then a cilmb up to the bridge. Dodge the walkers, runners, Segways, slower bikers and zip across the bridge on the bike lane side. Very organised. Lots of people on expensive road bikes wearing Rapha. Kept up with some of them on flat pedals in baggy shorts – received some funny looks. Turns out fittish person on normal bike is faster than less fit people on electric bikes.

Over the bridge I had a ungraceful dismount stopping to take some layers off ripping the skin off my knuckles on some badly setup brake levers. Dripping blood I took a left climbing up past the Marin Headlands sign on the closed-to-cars coast road, until… offroad trails!

A lot of the trails are highway wide, sanitised by UK standards. Still rode a few of the classics that have graced the names of Marin Bikes for years.

Pushing northwards toward the Tennessee Valley trail head things became a bit more interesting – switchbacks, singletrack, steps and more mountain bike superhighways!

Didn’t see many people on the trails other than walkers, but there were a few out. Nice shorts and t-shirt day in mid-December just made it a nice ride to explore surroundings.

Came pretty close to the Muir Woods but was running out of time to get back in the day light. I’ll have to come back to ride those and head up Mount Tam. Stopped off at Mike’s Bikes on the way back through Sausalito. Had a good chat with the very friendly staff (one had recently been over to Scotland and had ridden Glentress) and dribbled over some Santa Cruz exotica before heading for Pizza.

Back in the city in the fading light, I might have to look at a 29er hardtail. They feel fast and one could be a good exploring bike.

The lesson for riding (or lack of) this year has been be careful what you wish for at work…

1,912km with 25,539m climbing. The year is summed up with a longest ride of 16.7km. That’s a shocker.

A year of riding the Ti Cross Deluxe has taken it’s toll on the IF. A rear tyre that has punctured on the last three rides. New rear tyre to replace a well worn Conti Cyclocross King that had been been worn smooth and some new tubes. The gears that don’t shift so well and I suspect is down to an old chain.

Update: The new chain worked on about 2 of 10 gears so a new sprocket was then ordered. The old one refused to come off, requiring the rivets to be popped on the cassette and each sprocket worked off in turn.

Then there was the ominous creak from the cranks that seemed to come and go with time but was never a good sign. New bottom bracket required and whilst I was at it I drilled the bottom bracket shell for drainage and cleaned everything up.

I like the more compact replacement XT unit, but that minimal size means smaller bearings (and a new fitting tool – fortunately that comes in the box). It will be interesting to see what mileage I get out of this one.

The brakes have been less than optimal and on the most recent rider were giving cause for concern. It meant workshop time!

January saw snow. And ice. Cold temps and those that climbed up into the mid-teens on some days. Keeping riding meant some challenging conditions, but there was no wimping out and taking the easy option of the car. That’s despite the prospects of permanent four wheel drive, snow tyres, heated leather and tunes.

I’m thinking that I am committed. It’s possible that some colleagues think that I should be committed.

43,263m climbing, 2,869km riding. Phew.

Snow by the end of November and through out December. Going to be more I reckon. Seasonal photos from County Durham…

Newly rebuilt Scott Chubby. Broken. Welsh rock is tough stuff.

List of destruction:

• Rear wheel (rebuild due to mullered spokes)
• Rear mech
• Mech hanger
• Chain
• Rear disc pads (random spoke became wedged and damaged)

Fortunately it was the final descent into Llangollen after two epic days riding around North Wales. So I’ll consider myself lucky.

So after the Dark Peak adventure back in August the rear wheel on the Scott started playing up and the tyres needed sorting (slow flat in the front) plus a solution to pinch flats was needed. So strip down time. Investigation reveals that the free hub bearings were seized solid and the hub bearings were both on the way out. So old ones out:

New bearings for the Syncros hubs to go in (2x 6902 and 2x 6903) with hopefully better quality bearings and seals

All back together and ready to roll.

On the tyre and tube front after a bit of research I’ve plumbed for the Schwalbe Procore dual pressure system. Best way to describe it is a road bike tyre with no tread and a small tube running at 80-90psi inside the main chubby tyre which is inflated via a special valve and runs sealant.

It sounds more complicated than it is. The kit is comprehensive and it all goes together okay. The biggest challenge is getting the chubby tyres to seal on the rims. Mine both were leaking at the valve but with some faffage I reckon the sealant and a couple of rim side o-rings have done the job. At this stage it could be epic or an expensive mistake. Let’s see what two days hard trail riding delivers…

At the end of last year I started building up a new winter bike. Independent Fabrication legendary collector Jam Price let one of his fleet go, I bought a second hand cross bike that had been used twice for parts and by January I was hacking about on a decent steed and working out what was needed to make it right. I’d worked out that cross bike parts would go on a 26″ IF without any problems and after the Aquamarine Fade Planet Cross, I’d decided that the next one needed to be Ti and disc equipped. So behold the updated and reimagined vision that proves that 26″ wheeled mountain bikes have untapped potential.