Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Best Trail Conditions Ever!

With Sunday's constant drizzle, it seems that that trails were able to soak up a fair bit of water without leaving any residual lying around on the surface in puddle form. Therefore, the FT3 clan was honored last night to find firm and fast trails that held around tight corners and allowed for top end speed. Even I was able to rail on some the the descents, which can only mean that the conditions must have been prime. Hands down some of the best conditions we have ever encountered...someone stated that people pay a lot of money and travel long distances to get trail conditions like this...wish I could quote the exact person but I was too focused on not crashing to pay attention to who was talking.

NoCar, B, Bambi, NoHandle, Rock God, official team mascot Booker, and I made up the crew last night. I had done some work in the back of the pickup for my own pooch, but Booker got the best deal, having a cozy bed to chill on while we rode. After noticing it was much warmer in Pollock than P'ville, we adjusted clothing and headed out. The ride started with a quick jaunt on a some of the Qualifier and the Lake Loop, nothing much just enough to warm up. Then we headed out to Road Kill and started to notice trails in perfect condition. As we started to drop into Back Door, Manny aka Rock God, grabbed the lead. He then proceeded to fly past the trail split...I may never win a race but at least I know the trails. Sorry, got to get the ribs in when I can, because there is no way I am beating that guy on the bike. Once we got back on trail, we headed down for the crux move. Bambi tried to steal my line, but hey, I have been racing cross lately and threw and elbow into him like a veteran racer and held my line. Don't mess with Lars! From Back Door we headed up the Horse Trail. At the second dam we took down the first new trail of the night. This trail appears to be legit and offered a new look at Flemming. Thus called the "Flemming DL" this trail parallels much of the first fire road and then kicks up to a mighty classic Pollock climb, you do have to watch out navigating the fallen trees. At the top of the climb we reconnected with the #8 Loop and headed around a standard Flemming Loop. Needless to say the pace was high and the trails were fast...we made the most of the night by keeping true to FT3 rule #1 and not stopping for any chit chat. After we finished a pure loop of Flemming, we dropped Palin's Plunge and Blair Witch, these are the two new rouge trails put up by the guy who accosted us at the Knot Hole last week. These two trails have huge potential but are kind of sketchy right now. Much to everyone's surprise we ended up back at the Horse Trail climbing out of Back Door, thus rounding out an awesome new loop!

Taco Report:
Poor form on the Tacos as both NoHandle and I received tostadas rather than tacos. However, the Knot Hole was in rare form with a lively game of Liars dice creating much excitement at the bar. B did not let us down producing some pickled Jalapenos from his back pack as a nice hors d' oeuvres. With the adherence to Rule #1 strictly enforced during the ride, we were out of the knot hole and heading down the hill pretty early.

FT3 Official Team Car or Big Ass Diesel Truck:
Our man on the inside has been scouting some items up for sale at the next Forest Service auction. The photos listed are the best bet we have in a pure Taco Powered team car. We got pretty excited at the thought of a mobile base camp equipped to provide the optimal race experience wherever we ended up. With the diesel, we could really be taco powered running on the discarded cooking oil from the Knot Hole. With the ample room we could make any race a major event just by showing up. B is going to look into the auction details and get back to us.

Golden Gate CX:
Rock God, Cap'n, Councilman (mandated trip to prevent labor camp sentence), and I are all heading down to San Fran to show some FT3 muscle on Sunday.

Fun Run:
I will see some of you tomorrow morning for the first annual Turkey Trot.

Notes from the Financial Office:
Just one quick question for you...did you settle your tab from VDFT3?

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat heartily you earned it!

Until we ride,
LOtB

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was an efficient ride right from the start as the crew had already rolled out of the Mosquito lot when I came by for the send off at 5:52. Impressive. I love the FT3 team car, especially the taco bio fuel option. Glad hear you guys enjoyed some good traction and trails and got the chance to rub it in a bit too. I am thinking the traction will be primo in SF this weekend too.

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  2. Matt you made my day when you wouldn't give up the line. Your skills have come a long way. I know I may have upset you a few times in the past messing with you on the downhills but it was only because I can see the potential, and I like to mess with people.

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  3. I am bored and spending too much time on Sheldon Browns site. I did a few calcs for gearing on single speeds and a larger chainring and cog seem like the way to go. The chart below is for 29 inch wheels.

    chainring 32 34 36
    Cog/gain ratio 20/3.4 21/3.4 22/3.4
    MPH@100 RPM 13.8 14.0 14.1

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