Now it’s dark, wet and muddy in the UK and thoughts turn to next season, a quick look-back at my best blags from races in 2009.
Top left. Local delicacies: A clay pig and some paprika from 24Doce. If you want a hot, dry and dusty 24hr race in the UK, head to Spain. That’s what we did in June and it was ace! I think the clay pig is a traditional handicraft, while the paprika always makes me ask why does the UK have so many flavours of crisps, but not Paprika?! It’s the best one!
Top right. New flavour Torq gel at Dusk Till Dawn! Torq are a big supporter of the UK mtb racing scene and their range of products (many using fairtrade and organic ingredients) are the tastiest around. You couldn’t beat finding a ‘Black Cherry Yoghurt’ gel in your goodie bag, until the new Banoffee flavour was launched at the race…
Bottom right. Limited edition Bontrager pasta and ’superjuice’ chilli sauce at Twentyfour12. Will these increase in value if I keep them long enough - or should I just eat them?
Bottom left and centre. How can you race in Switzerland and not come back without a cow bell? And will I ever settle for an event T-shirt again, after I got a softshell gillet (!) - in a size that fits - at this years Grand Raid?
Every fall in Harrisonburg is colored by a weekly group mountain bike ride. 
How cool is that? My new Superfly 100!!
November and late fall bring new challenges, new searches and fresh trips to keep everything exciting. After a long spring and summer of not only racing but squeezing in big ride after big ride, big event after big event and two grand tours an escape from town up to the mountain tops was a welcomed break. This was to be my first tour and I almost backed out of my commitment to the group and bailed on the tour. With a little friendly encouragement from friends and the promise of a quick and cheap tour I signed on again last minute. In the end, our bike tour turned into a BIKE tour. During which we spent very little time touring and bundles of time biking. Four and a half days turned out to be a little short to make it from Harrisonburg to Asheville via the Blue Ridge Parkway with full loaded bikes. Despite the 2-3 hours of riding in the dark each night the tour was a smashing success.
So the mountain bike season is coming to a close here as people are trading in their mountain bike for cross bikes and gearing up for winter, such as myself. However, I was thinking today as I looked over the trusty Superfly how pleased I was with the bike this year. Many of you also have the opportunity to ride the same bike, so there is no need to make you aware of its downright awesome-ness, as you already know. I did want to offer my thoughts on the whole single ring thing becoming more and more common today, especially with the 29-inch crowd.
Once mounted on the bike and after some minor adjustments to prevent chain rubbing, I got to test out the setup. Although I was skeptical at first about the 34tooth ring not being big enough for some wide open sections, my worries were quickly put to rest as the 34-11tooth cassette seemed to have the right gear for just about any terrain. What’s funny is that fellow Crew’er Michael Patrick told me back in the spring that a big ring was just excess weight on a 29er, but it took me almost the whole season to completely realize this.
