Spokewrench Cycles

Uxbridge Icebreaker 2008 Race

The sun's shinning and the birds are chirping.  That means it's that time of year again where we take our bikes out for the annual Uxbridge Icebreaker race in its 17th year for 2008. 

With the heavy snowfall this year and colder winter, it's hard to predict what the conditions will be like and what sections of the trail they will use.  The weekend is calling for more rain/snow with temperatures dipping below zero for the day of the event. 

We've done this race a few times and everytime the weather was the most difficult thing to predict and ride through.  Weather this time of year can be sunny and warm of 16C or heavy rain/snow with temperatures hovering around 2-5C.  What gear to use, studded vs non studded tires, clothes to wear can make or break the race from being enjoyable to downright miserable.  But that's part of the challenge and fun of this event and why so many riders show up every year to brave the elements and celebrate another great season. 

We'll be there again this year although there are some planned changes that may reduce the course to 19-20km / lap and sections of single track removed for environmental reasons.  All the more to keep things interesting.  At the end of this race, we'll be doing a race report plus the long awaited Rohloff Long Term test report.

Click to enlarge Photo.  This a picture of the infamous Bobsled run in it's current condition.  Call me crazy but I'm forgoing saving 1lb and going with studded tires.  There really isn't any benefit for studded tires in snow and most people don't bother but when there is ice, they really make a difference.

Weather is calling for partly to sunny skies with temperatures in the low 1C to 5C Sunday with overnight temperatures dropping below zero so the rain that's been falling will likely turn to ice in some sections of the trail.  One of the challenges of this race is to keep your fingers and toes warm enough for the whole race (50km long course).  There are a lot of wet sections and the water is COOOLLDD.  Once your shoes get wet, they stay wet and things get very cold very quickly.  Most people wear summer cycling shoes with lots of mesh so feets get wet.  Some sections are not even rideable and hike a bike means walking in snow.  What a great way to start off a season!

See you at the starting line!

Team Spokewrench

24 Hours of Summer Solstice June 23 & 24

The event is coming up and we'll be there again this year to do the Solo event.  If you're in the area or in the race, drop by campsite 42 in the Solo area and say hello.  The weather is looking great for the weekend so we're excited and looking forward to a great race.

We hope to see you at the starting line!

Team Spokewrench

Summer Events

We've to a pretty busy summer ahead of us.  Lots of riding and lots of different events.  We'll be at the Lost in the Rocks and Trees race in North Bay, the solo race in the Chico Summer Soltice, some smaller events in between and cap it all off with the Trans Rockies in BC in mid August. 

So we hope to see all of you there and having another great riding season.  We hope to have more reviews including Jack's on the SuperMoto.  A long term review of the Rohloff Speedhub, 2007 XTR pedals, shifters, cranks and whatever we can get our hands on during the summer.

Team Spokewrench

Lost in the Rocks and Trees Mountain Bike Enduro

Having completed the Summer Soltice alive and well, it's time to look forward to the next endurance race of the summer.  The Lost in the Rock and Trees race is being held in Mattawa, Ontario.  We participated in this event last year and look forward to it again this year.  This year's race format has changed somewhat from a 1x 100km lap to 2x 50km laps.  The draw of this event in the past was that it was one long continuous lap rather than lapping a short course (Summer Soltice and others) many times over the course of a day.  However, logistically two 50km laps is more more manageable and safer for the riders as help and supplies can be sent much quicker.  So while it's not one large loop, we're still excited to be doing it.  The Cinco will again be used for the course with minor tweaks to adjust for the expected course, rocky and very sandy terrain.  Last year, it was a scorcher but anything can and will probably happen weather wise so we're planning for the worst and hoping for the best.  The race is going to be on July 22, 2006 and there is still plenty of time to sign up at the North Bay Cycling website.  We hope to see some of you there!

Team Spokewrench

2006 Summer Soltice Coming Fast...

The 24 Hours Summer Soltice race is less than a week away!  This year we've essentially got two teams.  A 5 man team led by our Captain from last year Mike Anderson and Co. and Marc and myself are doing the Solo race.  This initially was our pre-tune up for Trans Rockies but due to some unforeseen events, we will be delaying the Trans Rockies until 2007.  Nonetheless, we're excited and our Project Trans Rockies test bike will be unveiled and tested during the Summer Soltice.  Look for a post race test report shortly after the race.  We're in the final stages of putting it together so stay tuned for some pictures.  This event has become the largest 24 Hour race in Canada and with good reason.  The course is nicely laid out, the event planners are organized, it's a fun and welcoming environment and the area is very tolerant and forgiving to rain so it makes for a good time rain or shine.  If you've never been to one of these events, do come on by and take a look.  It's a lot of fun and lots of people to hang out with. 

The map of the course layout is now available.  It's going to be a 17.4 km with the initial start loop and 16.7 km without. 

Team Spokewrench

Skiis and Bikes Customer Appreciation Day

Jack our resident tester was at the Skiis & Bikes Customer Appreciation Day at Kelso to try out some bikes and here is his report.

Skiis & Biikes had their 2006 customer appreciation day / demo day at Kelso on Sunday May 28.  Again this year they choose to set up the vendors at the lower level so this meant for any bike you wanted to try on the single track trails you had to climb the escarpment to start your ride.  This wears a bit thin after a few demos.  For those wanting to avoid this, they had one chair lift operating for a few hours.  This year Skiis & Biikes had Trek, Garry Fisher, Specialized, Devinci and Norco present with demo bikes.  It appears they have dropped or lost Rocky Mountain which is a shame since I was very interested in trying the new for 2006 Slayer.

Since it wasn’t going to be possible to try every bike there, I decided this time to focus on All Mountain type of bikes.  I view this as a balance between an all day trail bike and a light freeride bike, likely too heavy to race, even for a weekend warrior, still able to climb and a focus on inspiring confidence.

Uxbridge Icebreaker Race

It's Spring and that means a new season is just right around the corner.  We'll be participating in the first race of the season.  We're doing the 50km course so it should be challenging and a lot of fun.

This is the 15th annual event that opens the mountain bike season in Ontario. Sometimes snowy but definitely fun for both the beginner and seasoned veteran.  Over the years this course has combined gravel roads, double track trails and usually a  few surprize pieces of singletrack depending on the spring thaw. With classic sections known as the "Bobsled Run" and "Iceslider Alley" as well as the rare "Arctic Death March" this course usually provides a little snow, mud and some icy sections. The 25km is an excellent challenge for most cyclists, while the 50km  (2 loops) is a true test of early season fitness with this year a new Sprint course of (8-10km) to provide a mountain bike snack for those not inclined to ride the full loop.  Come out and hammer down and break the ice on a new season!

More information can be found at bikenxs.  Registration is available on the day of the event so you're not too late.

We hope to see some of your there at the starting line and don't forget the studded tires!

UPDATE:  Race Day Report

7am Sunday March 26, 2006

Woke up to a warm, beautiful sunshine coming through the windows.  It's going to be a good day for a race.  Bikenxs is holding their annual Icebreaker race today marking the start of the race season and have been doing so for the last 14 years.  Weather conditions have been mild all week so I didn't know what to expect of the trail conditions. The website had 2 trail updates and the latest one was calling for soft snow and ice in parts of the course.  I decided to keep the studs on although I switched the direction of the rear of my Nokian Extreme 395 to "wet conditions".  But I brought along my Kenda summer tires just in case I didn't need the studs before the race and switch them as necessary.  As for clothing, I've been happy with all my wool so I picked out a Woolistic long sleeve and some Swobo tights I had.  Not knowing how wet it'd be, I brought along my Goretex socks as well.  Full fingered gloves for my hands and a wool hat for underneath the helmet. 

9:30am

The race is being held at Durham Forect in the town of Uxbridge.  I didn't really know how many to expect being my first year doing this race and I was actually quite surprised to see the number of people already there.  This year, there are going to be a 25km, 50km and a 8km sprint course as well as a kid's race.  I was going to enter the long course and that was going to start at 10:30am.  The main parking was already full and I had to use the overflow parking lot.  I headed off to the registration office and by 9:30am, 40 others have already signed up before me for the long course.  There are going to be some hard core riders today.  I asked the organizers if studs were needed and they told me likely not.  There are some icy sections, a section called Bobsled Run that might be tricky for people without studs but should be fine.  I was told since I had the studs on, I may as well keep them for safety.  The course was going to be a mix of trails and gravel roads to make up the 25km loop.  I was trying to look at the the different racers and some had studs and some did not.  In fact, some of the non studded tires did not even have aggressive knobbies.  The weather was around 5C and certainly warm so maybe the studs weren't necessary afterall.  I decided to keep the studs.  They're heavier than my Kenda summer tires for sure but they've worked well for me all winter and they work well on ice.  I got my bike ready, took a gel and headed towards the starting line.  Along the way, I was scanning around to see if there was anyone I might know and to my surprise, Rob Kerr from my team at Summer Soltice was there also!  He was going to do the 50km on his cross bike and opted to not use studs.  Rob will probably have to slow down a bit in the icy sections but on the gravel roads, he'll definitely pick it up.  He wasn't sure how the trails was going to be but decided the cross bike will do well with the amount of gravel roads in between the trail sections.

10:30am

The 50km race starts at 10:30am with the 25km race starting 10 minutes behind.  It was interesting to see the different attire at the starting line.  While most had winter wear, tights, booties and hats, some were just wearing shorts and arm warmers.  Only time will tell.  The first 200m was broken ice and snow and it was going to be a mass start so people had to be careful.  Well, at least the first 200m was dry.  As soon as we reached the first turn, the course went on a slight downhill and the melting snow and ice creating a runoff making the trail very wet and slick.  This part of the course was mostly double track and fairly wide with some parts of the trail covered with very slippery ice while other parts had large puddles of very cold water.  The ground for for the most part was soft but we didn't sink too much.  By the time we hit the first gravel road section, we were pretty much soaked.  On the gravel section, I locked out my fork and it made a huge difference especially during the hills when I was not seated.  The first gravel road section was probably 5kms of rolling hills so the rigid bikes definitely had an advantage here.  The next trail section was very very muddy. It was thick, wet and cold.  Icy puddles were everywhere and riders were riding along the side as much as they could to try to stay out of the energy sapping mud.  Then we hit the Bobsled Run.  This was where I was glad I kept the studs.  It was a fairly gradual downhill but since this section didn't get much sun, it was icy and very slippery with water just running over the top.  Here many of the riders without studs had to get off and walked.  But walking on slippery ice wasn't any easier than riding over it.  After the Bobsled Run was another long gravel road section and by this point, the riders were happy to leave the wet, slick and muddy trails behind.  The gravel road was probably another 5-10kms before heading back to the trails.  The course runs between Durham Forest and Walker Woods.  The next section of the trail was much of the same, deep cold puddles with thick mud, ice and water. The last 5 kms of the course proved to be very challenging.  It was all slush and soft snow and all single track.  This made for some very slippery conditions if not careful.  The studs helped tremondously finding traction underneath the slush but the soft snow was difficult to to ride through and very similar to riding through sand. 

1:30pm

The last 5km was definitely the toughest.  By this point, my feet were soaked and frozen and the slush and snow in the single track slowed my down quite a bit. I don't know if I hit a wall or not but the feet just weren't willing.  By this point, I just rode to finish and had to get off to walk certain hilly icy sections.  Although walking in wet slush and snow didn't help the cause much either.  So staying on the bike as much as possible, I rode to the finish line just under 3 hours.  Being the first time doing this race, I was quite pleased with finishing and I didn't have any major spills.  Another rider I saw had a pretty serious crash and his knee didn't look so good sitting on the side near the starting line.  Things I learned from this race?  I'll definitely try to keep the feet warmer, dryer next year and will try to eat more during the race.  The mud and water didn't make things easy this time around but running a 50km course with one gel and banana is probably not the best thing to do. 

The course was great with a mix of everthing thrown in, from double track, gravel road to twisty single track near the end to keep things interesting.  The natural spring run off and melting snow and ice provided the perfect natural obstacles and challenges along the way.  The Nokian studded tires definitely stay.  If I didn't have the tires, I would have crashed very hard on the 2nd lap down the Bobsled Run.  I slid and barely managed to hang on. 

All in all, a terrific course and event.  It was fun, challenging and well organized.  The riders had a great time and was a perfect way to kick off the season.  It was a great day for a race.

Team Spokewrench

Alien vs SRAM

The coolest thing we saw at this year's Interbike was at SRAM's booth.  They had a couple of robots on display in a display cabinet that were simply amazing.  SRAM sent a few boxes of parts over to Japanese artists Yas, and six months later SRAM received two robots they had on display.  These robots was something to communicate that SRAM's integration of its four brands - Avid, RockShox, SRAM and Truvative - was complete.  Yas' models are made with an interrelated mixture of parts from all four lines, including many small model parts.   

2006 will be the year that SRAM offers a full Groupo - SRAM shifters/derailleurs and hubs, Avid brakes, Trauvative cranks and BB.  SRAM has both trigger and twister type shifters to suit different rider perferences so things are looking pretty good at SRAM for next season.

Interbike 2005 Report

We're back from Interbike 2005 and like previous years, it was a great show.  For the years that we've gone to the show, there always is a predominant theme to each one.  For a couple of years, it was full suspension and how one design was superior to the other.  Everything was "fully active", URTs vs Horst, high pivot, low pivot and the whole full suspension vs hard tail debate ensued.  That whole debate pretty much went away when the "freeride" market evolved demanding not only more front travel but the same rear travel to match.  Hard tails and more so recently short travel full suspension were regulated to essentially race only status.  What was deemed long travel before is considered minimum in today's standards.  Today, 3" is race, 4-5" is the sweetspot and 6" and higher is DH.  The year Fox jumped into the front suspension market caused quite a stir at the show and they forced Rock Shox and others to take notice.  Lighter is not necessarily better even for the hard core racing crowd.  Given the majority of riders are not racers, that point was more evident when Rock Shox filed for bankruptcy and subsequently bought by SRAM.  Now Rock Shox forks look and work more like Fox and all is well in RS land.  However Fox has always been in the rear shock business and no one did it better except for maybe a company called Progressive that came out with the 5th Element that caused quite a stir introducing what is now standard on all rear shocks called SPV "stable platform damping" or anti pedal bob.  That technology got quickly adopted and moved to the front as well and Specialized introducing their "brain" suspension design designed exclusively with Fox the following year.  The same year, Santa Cruz brought back the VPP rear suspension design that was suppose to be the best thing since sliced bread.  That was the most talked about frame at the show with Intense being a major player licensing it from Santa Cruz.  Full suspension never looked back.

No, this year's show was quite tame compared to other years.  There were no fancy rear shock designs, no "must have" full suspension frame.  The fork and frame manufacturers were either tweaking, ie better threshold capability for anti-bob or adding more travel as the once niche freeride/all country market is the dominant market and really has been for a number of years now.  Now it's adjustable and low travel both front and rear.  This year, more so than any other year is the year of the Carbon.  Carbon was everywhere.  That's not to say carbon was around in previous shows but this year, it was literally everywhere.  Carbon has been used in the bike industry for years and years displaying great qualities and used predominantly in parts like bars, forks, stems, parts and more recently in cranks very successfully with companies such as Easton, FSA, Reynolds, Mavic to name just a few that used the material extensively in their line of products.  Road frames were commonly made of carbon and much less so in the mountain bike world with only Cadex and a few others attempting hard tail carbon frames that were quite limited in sizing and not very durable.  Now with the improving manufacturing techniques both inshore and offshore of carbon, it has become more flexible, more reliable and much more cost effective.  Carbon is the new aluminum.  It's stiffer, lighter, better ride and promises to be more durable.  Hmmm...sounds a lot like aluminum when it became the choice of material for bicycle frames.  Plus it looks pretty darn sexy in black.  It's the "little black dress" of the cycling world.  It looks good on its own or you can dress it up, whether it be steel, aluminum or Ti, it matches well with any other material.  Titus came out with Exogrid and Isogrid a few years back, others have followed suit offering a blend of Ti/steel/aluminum/carbon frames including Seven, Phil Woods, Santana, Litespeed and many others.  What's different this year compared to years past is that carbon is not just used in their road frames anymore but their mountain bike frames as well.  Companies such as Ibis has gone so far as producing a full suspension carbon frame and they won't be the only ones.  Offshore booths were showing off carbon parts that look remarkably like ones you would find from the major North American vendors.  Reynolds, Mavic, FSA and Easton are major players in carbon parts now had Magura, SRAM and others all showing components with carbon integrated into them.  As manufacturing process evolve and improve, carbon will become even more common place in both road and mountain bikes.  While the other materials will always be around and form the base of the majority of frames, there will be more of a blend as builders try to tweak and refine the ride of their bikes.  Reports of carbon's death in the mountain bike world have been greatly exaggerated.  The King is dead...long live the King!

Spokewrench Team

Update:  We have photos in our Photo Gallery so check them out.  If you like our photos and report, please email us or leave us a comment.  We'd love to hear what you think.

Lost in the Rocks and Trees Race Report

Lost In The Trees And Woods Race Report

Pre-Race - 100kms
Jack, one of our Spokewrench testers having ridden the course for the last two years knew that weather was going to play a big part in this year's event.  Last year, the area had tons of rain just before the event and the course was 100kms of mud bogs and energy sucking sand.  This year seemed like it was going to be the complete opposite with dry but hot weather in the forcast.   Jack, Marc and I arrived early on Friday in hopes of getting some rest before race day on Sat.  We registered and were told that this year may be the largest turn out yet with over 120 participants in the 100km and 50km events. 

The Race - Sand
Our plan was quite simple.  Ride together and try to finish the course in relatively good time.  Come Saturday morning, the weather looked like it was going to be HOT.  As we got to the start line, other riders were already there waiting anxiously for the day ahead.  We were told the course was changed somewhat from last year and the 50km course was actually more like 60kms.  The riders were led out the beautiful town of Mattawa and into a wide gravel path that signaled the start of the course.  My first thoughts of the trail were "There is a lot of sand on this course..."  A good majority of the course is on double track as the park is a mutli use and 4x4 ATVs are quite common.  Also, part of the course run along or cross logging roads and almost everywhere we rode, there was sand, deep enough to slow any rider down and make it difficult to steer or ride through.  Some parts of the course were in the woods while other parts are out in the open.  Not too long after we started, we hit our first trial marker, the "Finish Line" Lube station.  Not many stopped here and neither did we.  The weather was hot and because it's been so dry in the area, the course was especially dusty with sand and dirt being thrown up from all the riders going through.  The temperature was hitting the low 30s and there was not much wind to provide any relief.  Fortunately it was not too humid, just very hot and very dry.  It was crucial to keep hydrated.  The course while not having too many long steep climbs made up for its sandy, rocky technical climbs.  The downhills ranged from sandy gravel slippery like to very sharp, hard rocky decents that rquire a fine line of riding fast enough to keep momentum and too fast and losing control and crashing hard.  Momentum is definitely your friend and the person who can best maintain it wasted the least amount of energy.  

Section 2 - Welcome to the desert
Check Point 1 was 30kms into the course and we rode a pretty good pace stopping from time to time for a breather from the heat and walking some hills that was as fast to walk as it was to try to spin up with the amount of sand on them.  After riding for what it seemed like much more than our computer indicated, Check Point 1 came into view and not a moment too soon as our water supply was running low and our legs needed a much needed rest.  After a quick bite to eat and filling out water packs, we headed off for Check Point 2, some 30kms away.  The next section unlike the first 30km being a mix of forest trails and open sections would 30kms of deep sandy trails in the open with no shade in sight from the harsh sun.  This section would prove to be our team's (as well as many others) toughest.  The thick sand and heat slowed our pace and sucked our energy.  Other riders along the way were having similar experiences.  One lady we met told us she hit the wall and just couldn't go on and that was about halfway.  Jack was the portable drug store having some Advils and gave some to two riders that were having serious muscle cramps.  Three quarters of the way into the section, my water runs out both in my pack and my reserve bottle on the bike.  Marc's water also runs out and we still had a good 5-10kms to the checkpoint.   The sand made it slow going but we just stuck our heads down and rode on. 

Section 3 - Reprieve
Check point 2 finally came into view after what seemed much more than the claimed 60kms.  At that station, we filled all our water and there were other riders scattered about resting in the shade.  Seemed like everyone was running out of water including the Checkpoint!  They had to radio into the main base and have more water driven out to the Checkpoint as there were at least another 30-40 riders behind us.  We rested as much as we could and ate another energy bar before we headed off for Check Point 3.  The next section was more manageable and we found ourselves at times in shaded areas as well as open sections with of course more sand.  Our pace was quite slow by this point as everyone was feeling the effects of the last section, especially Marc.  The heat had pretty much gotten to him and now he was running out of gas. 

Section 4 / Finish
By the time we got to Check Point 3, Marc was almost ready to pack it in.  We rested a bit longer at Check Point 3 in hopes of getting more rest for that final push to the finish line.  Marc however still wasn't quite up for it even after our extented rest but we decided to head off anyway.  At the start of the section, we saw support vehicles carrying riders that had decided to call it a day and Jack and I were wondering if Marc was contemplating doing the same.  One by one, the support vehicles drove by until the last left us behind.  I turned to Marc, "Uhmmm...Marc, that was the last one.".  He clipped into his pedals and turned towards the trail ahead of him, "I know" he said.  Marc didn't say much for the last 20kms and just rode and only got off at some deep sand sections.  Jack rode in front of us and checked back from time to time making sure we were still sane.  The last two sections were actually quite picturesque and had some long down hill sections that were a blast to ride.  They were hard packed trails in the woods, what we're much more used to than the rocky stretches we rode in the first section.  There were some uphill sections and of course more open double track roads with of course more sand.  By this point in time, most of the riders had either already finished (some hours ago) or had dropped out.  There were a handful of riders like ourselves still on the trail making that last ditch effort to the finish line.  We even had time to stop and help someone that had problems with his chain.  The sand had started to mess with my shifting and drivetrain but we were too close to stop to try to mess with anything now.  The temperature was actually quite nice as it was quite late into the afternoon as we finally got out of the sandy trails and got onto pavement for the last 500m to the finish line.  We all finished tired and spent but happy we did it.  Jack was so tired that he took a dip in the river and the temperature was just perfect!I think that was the best part of the race for Jack. 

It was definitely a challenge and while our total time is not going to break any records, we'll defnitely have something to work for next year.   We could have done with less sand and heat but that's part of the course and part of the challenge.  It would have been nice to have another rest stop in between Check point 1 and 2 but other than that, it was a nice course and well worth coming back for.