I really enjoy riding my singlespeed, and this year decided my season objective would be to tackle another epic endurance mtb race, the Park City Endurance 100 (PCE100). Last year I raced another 100 miler, the Cascade Cream Puff. It was hard, but I had a great time. I’d read online that the PCE100 was harder, but didn’t think twice about it.

I drove from Truckee with my friends Matt & Rich, and met our friends Dave and Jen Noble, their two daughters and Jen’s parents, who generously hosted us all at their house in Park City for the weekend. Park City reminds me of Northstar in Truckee, a large sprawling ski area on gentle, family-friendly hills.

The race was REALLY hard. Unlike the Cream Puff, the climbs were all technical singletrack, much of it difficult on a singlespeed. The trails were super fun, all rideable, flowing, in and out of the trees. It was also fun to see and race with our friend Erika formerly from Truckee who was there with her husband Pete. With the exception of Dave, none of us finished. Here are their stories:

• Rich: brought his bazooka to a knife fight: racing slick tires and a 34X18 gear on his Sycip singlespeed. He opted out at 50 miles, changed his registration, becoming the 1-speed winner of that distance (wish I’d thought of that).
• Matt: had the longest list of problems I’ve heard of in a race: 4 miles in on a climb he was in the middle of a line of riders when the guy in front of him crashed, Matt ran into him, then was run into from behind. His saddle popped off the rails and his derailleur hanger was bent. Creatively, he used one of his arm warmers to tie his saddle on and made it to the first aid station where someone loaned him a saddle, but not before fixing a flat on the way. Since he was so far behind, but looks so pro, a volunteer thought he was a lap ahead and directed him the wrong way. I knew something had gone wrong when I caught up with him from behind even though I had just heard he was an hour behind me. After all that, he ran into my bad attitude, and that was it for him.
• Dave: Rode strong, stuck to his nutrition/hydration plan of an Ensure and fresh camelback at each aid station. Rode strong and steady the whole time and finished 11th overall with a time around 12 hours.
• Erika: Only had to finish to shore up her win in the National Endurance Series. She was in 2nd place after getting lost twice and decided she’d had enough and called it quits.
• Most of the other racers: All of us feel a little better since only 23 out of 60 or so racers finished.

As for me? I headed out with the leaders, then got a flat at 20 miles and was passed by ~10 riders while I fixed it (and almost lost my wheel down a VERY steep hill when I dropped it while trying to put it back on the bike). I had bars, gels, blocks, Gatorade nutrition shakes, and Starbucks doubleshots in my cooler and every lap tried to throw down whatever I could stomach and take whatever I could fit in my pockets- usually a coffee, 2-3 gels and 2 bottles (or camelback). After 60 miles I was in 5th place overall, and ahead of the next singlespeed by 2 hours. However, I was over it. I was out of energy and not having fun. As soon as I started “praying for a mechanical” so I had a legitimate reason to quit, I decided I was done. When I caught Matt, he and I decided to pack it in, so we took a long break on the side of the trail before turning around and heading down.

This is the first race I’ve ever not finished, which is definitely a bummer. I wasn’t ready for it- 100 miles on a mtb takes a lot of training, and I should have known I was in trouble when I didn’t finish my 60 mile training ride. I’m not sure if I’ll go back, but anything’s possible….

Special thanks:

• Dave and Jen Noble for arranging accommodations
• Jen’s parents Dick and Judy Valliere for providing unbelievably fantastic accommodations and a BBQ to boot!
• Gary Leuders for showing us the trails the day before the race (where Rich and I saw a moose) and for helping us in transition
• Erika’s husband Pete for helping us in transition

Trek released a new singlespeed mountain bike this year. Since I’m taking a break from racing Xterra and focusing on endurance singlespeed mountain bike racing, this was the bike I selected for 2008. While there was a slight delay in receiving the bike, it was well worth the wait.
This singlespeed hardtail bike is called a 69er, since it has a 26” rear wheel, and a 29”front wheel. It was developed by mountain bike Olympian / alternative MTB legend Travis Brown, who I’ve had the misfortune of racing against at Sea Otter (there’s nothing quite like getting beaten by 4 minutes, well actually there is - more on that later). It’s the first of Trek’s 69er line, in 2008 they will be producing geared hardtail and full suspension versions as well. The original 69er will remain largely unchanged for 2008.
Frame: The frame is aluminum, which works great for this application. Since singlespeeders spend a lot of time climbing out of the saddle and reefing on the handlebars, a stiff frame is key. If I may dream for a minute, I’d love to see Trek make this in Carbon Fiber, especially since no other manufacturers are doing it…
It may sound strange to have a 29” front wheel and a 26” rear wheel, and the bike indeed looks different. However, there are sound reasons behind this, and after riding it all season, I’ve become a believer.

1. The 29” Front wheel rolls better. The larger contact area, and larger wheel diameter cause the wheel to roll faster and not get deflected as easily as a 26” wheel, most noticeable on rocky descents. The bike descends SO well, I feel almost as fast as I do on my full-suspension.
2. The 26” rear wheel accelerates faster than a 29” wheel and allows for shorter chainstays, which climb better (I’ve never ridden a full 29er, but both points sound reasonable).
3. The sliding dropouts are just about the coolest thing ever. They allow the user to run a standard quick release hub as well as a normal BB. This facilitates tire changes and chain adjustments. Speaking from experience with all singlespeed options, the sliding dropouts are so much better than horizontal dropouts or an eccentric BB that I can’t imagine either of those will be around for long..
4. The rootbeer brown color is terrific. It looks very cool. (though this year I’ve certainly done my best to scratch a tremendous amount of paint cartwheeling the bike across the rocks)
5. The geometry is perfect. Since I ride a medium, I was concerned the handlebar would be too high and it would be difficult to weight the wheels optimally while climbing. Turns out, it climbs as well as it descends.
6. It sure gets a lot of attention! It’s a unique and new design, and I get comments and questions on every ride and at every race.
7. The Bontrager Race X lite wheels are stiff and light. I don’t notice any wheel flex, whether climbing out of the saddle, or hard cornering on descents.

While I sincerely like the bike, I feel there are a few minor areas for improvement (of course I pretty much feel that way about everything in life:

1. The whole thing should be lighter. 25 lbs is too heavy for a singlespeed. It’s pretty easy to lighten it up, but it would be nice if it came that way, though that would make it more expensive…
2. The bike should be a little cheaper. I realize this is in direct contradiction to my quest for it to be lighter, and I understand this is surely a result of a small production run of a new product, but feasibly this will change when they start mass producing it.
3. As mentioned, the frame would be ridiculously cool if it were carbon, though I’m not sure how that would stand up to my recent rash of crashes…
4. The fork should be toned down (see pt 1). The bike comes with a 3.75lb Maverick dual-crown fork. While the travel is nice, as a traditionalist I find the thru-axle a little inconvenient and the double crown over spec’ed. A Rock Shox Reba Race would be 0.25lb lighter.
5. The rear disc rotor should either come spec’ed as 140mm, or allow an adapter. Most racers are running this to save weight, since most braking power comes from the front anyway.
6. It needs a second bottle cage mount. Since I train and race for the longer endurance events, I need to carry more fluids, and don’t want to carry a camelback.

Interestingly, the complaint I hear most from non-believers is you have to carry 2 tubes. Before I go any further on this, I should state that EVERYONE should be running tubeless. However, if you get a front flat, simply inflate your 26” tube to the point where it fits in the 29” tire, mount it the rest of way, and inflate it the rest of the way, and you’re good to go!

In conclusion, I really like the 69er’s ride, and definitely recommend this bike to anyone shopping for a singlespeed.

At the beginning of this year, I needed a new singlespeed for Sea Otter. Since I broke the frame I was riding last summer and didn’t have my new Timex Trek 69’er yet (since there was a delay in availability), I converted last year’s hardtail, and thought I should share this beautiful, sensual process with everyone. The process for creating a singlespeed is really quite simple and takes less than 30 minutes, “It’s breathtaking, I suggest you try it”. If you’re not ready to go buy your own, like the Trek 69er, this is a great way to get an inexpensive introduction to singlespeeding.
Take any currently functional hardtail mountain bike, that you most likely don’t ride anymore if you don’t race and have joined the rest of the 20th century with full suspension.

1. Remove all shifting related apparatus: shifters, cables, derailleurs
2. Remove big and small chain rings, move the middle 32 tooth ring to the outside position install with custom chainring bolts ($5)
3. Remove cassette, install single 18 tooth cog ($6) with spacers ($5)
4. Shorten chain, install surly singleator ($30) if necessary
5. Weigh bike and marvel at it’s light weight and simplicity (My temporary Giant = 19.5 lbs)
6. Ride & smile

Try it and have fun! Here are 2 pics: last year’s Kelly, and this year’s Trek.

July 14, 2007
www.downievilleclassic.com

This race is crazy-fun, and is easily the best mtb race weekend in California. The course goes straight up for almost an hour, then straight down for about the same. It’s not your typical XC course, which is why I’m such a fan.

I had the following discussion with a volunteer at registration that morning:
Me: “Are there going to be water bottles at the feed zones?”
Volunteer: “Oh yes, all you could possibly want: water bottles, clif shot, energy drink, etc”

I warmed up on the course, and when I returned to the start, the entire road was blocked with all the riders lining up. I pulled the ol’ quick turn around, and jumped into the FRONT row, assuredly annoying everyone who had adequately planned, prepared and arrived early.

As you’ll see from my Timex Data Recorder chart (which due to user error, also includes my warmup), my heart rate immediately went over 190 at the gun. This was the first race where I had to focus to keep it closer to 190, since at 195, I felt like I was going to completely explode.

My new Trek 69er climbs awesome, I’ll post separately on that soon. I was 2nd Singlespeed to the top, maybe top 10 overall (my wave included pro, expert, and singlespeed), less than 5 minutes off the leaders’ pace.

My average HR for the first hour was an amazing 190, and I’ve found my max has gone UP over the last two years, from 197 to 204. My total race included 1 ½ hours in zone 5, which I find incredible, and a possible sign of lower fitness, and not hampered by a triple latte and a double espresso Clif Shot before the start.

The aid station at the top had mini DIXIE cups of energy drink (because why splurge for full-size!?, Crystal Geyser bottles of water, and no Clif shots in sight. For the uninitiated, allow me this opportunity draw your attention to three notes on this situation:

1. Any bottle that’s not exactly the right size (i.e. Crystal Geyser) will NOT stay in a bottle cage, especially not during the Downieville Downhill (!)
2. Accessing water in a screw-top bottle carried in a back jersey pocket, is not even remotely feasible on said downhill course
3. While Dixie cups work on run courses, suprisingly, the cup’s open top presents an interesting challenge, even at only 10 mph on a climb

As a result, I was dry after the first hour, which actually didn’t matter so much since I got a flat tire 5 minutes later.

Note #4: lightweight race tires aren’t the best option for gnarly downhill races. They sure were fast on the climb though! This race requires BIG, sturdy tires. I should have run the Michelin XCR XTreme front and rear, with double amounts of sealant.

Note #5: It’s not a bad idea to check your spare tubes before the race (and this applies to spare tubulars as well). I took out my tubeless valve stem, inserted a tube, aired it up with my last CO2, and watched it immediately go flat. Tools and tubes don’t play well together in a saddle bag.

After watching about 500 people pass me in 15 minutes, a friend with no rear brake stopped and gave me CO2, and a dude with a camelback stopped to give me a tube, shrink-wrapped for extra protection- nice!

Back on the trail, I had FUN descending. As I rode past a group of spectators, one said “Wow, you look fresh”, “No kidding” I thought…!  I clawed my way back up to 7th, passing 3 or so other singlespeeds and several geared bikes.

I’m pretty bummed. This is my 2nd big race of the season, and the second time I flatted and finished 7th. I cancelled my entry at the Cream Puff, and am instead getting ready for the Park City Endurance 100 in August. www.theE100.com

The Timex Data Recorder is fantastic. Check out the following:

• I started it too early, so the graph recorded my 10 minute warmup
• My heart rate (HR) immediately jumped to 190 at the start
• Near the top of the first climb, my HR hit 204
• My HR recovered on each descent
• I was pretty excited when changing my flat, and my HR didn’t really recover
• Apparently I was pretty fired up after the finish, since I finished the race at 2:25, but the graph shows that my HR didn’t drop below 130 for another 15 minutes!!