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Conditions should be perfect tonight. Hasn't been this good since 2012.

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Trail and climate conditions were perfect last week, probably going to be almost as good this week.

Cherish the Traction

While the short days and cool nights provide little precipitation this year, one thing is for sure, the trails conditions are prime. Like a Christmas gift from the heavens, your tire tread dives deeply into the supple dirt surface, leaving riders in awe of their great capabilities upon steed. Come one, come all, heed the call, for it is Tuesday ya'll.

Here's a worthy clip of some legit snow biking, which we will not be doing tonight:

ONE!

FT3: Now with Less B!

Last Tuesday had the best attendance in months as we gathered to bid adieu to this guy:

 And, in spite of all the dire predictions, everyone arrived on time. Which only made it a little bit awkward when we still left late. XT marshaled the crew along trails that were in the finest condition. After a festive Taco Table, we lingered for a bit, dreaming up long rides.

Until it was time to pedal home.

On tap for tonight: more super sweet trails, fewer bottles.

ONE

Adios Amigo

This Tuesday will be the last FT3 before B relocates to Montana. His list of innovations is as long as his rides are: VDFT3, the Fat Tuesday Hurricane, FTSki, LRP, and the 0-0-10, to name a few.

Charge your lights, fix your brakes, and pack a snack, its gonna be a crazy night.

Thankful for Tacos

For the first time this year, there is a holiday that does not actually land on a Tuesday. This week we are thankful for family, friends, mountain bikes, sweet trails and tacos.

And that is good, because, I've got a fever, and the only prescription, is more tacos.

I gotta have more tacos! I hope you are not out of town, because this FT3 is not to be missed. Why, because it will be the best FT3 ever!

ONE!

2!

KWalified rider Rearview happens to be in town from the Bay so he will be making his return to FT3 tonight.  He and I may ride up from town, time permitting.  I am running out of FT3s and am most likely out next week.

Back to Business

FT3 Glory Nights are here! No dust, no snow, temps in the mid 40s, dark at ride start, new kits... Conditions are so good RG may even show up. And, for a limited time only, B is riding with us. Unless he's off house hunting.

A mysterious exodus of houses out of the Missoula region is baffling local realtors.

ONE

1!

One!

( feel free to edit me)

🚵

Kit Distribution Day

Come one, come all, ye get yer damn kits. Distribution will begin this evening at Cross Country finals at the Fairgrounds around 5pm or so, or at the Knott Lot shortly thereafter. Stop by and see how FT3 Gen 2 fares against all the competition. If history stands at all we should see two or more Gen 2 FT3 racers in the top ten or better. There is a good chance that NoHandle Jr. will take an early lead and hit the ribbon first. Hopefully Jr. got a good sleep and pep talk from his father, a former cross country bike racer with huge calves.

For those of you who ordered non-bib tight shorts, there is a problem with your order. They sent us Continental Bib shorts instead of Continental shorts, more details coming soon. This is consistent with the naming convention of what we ordered "continental bib shorts" and what we tried on, "continental bib shorts," but I was told with confidence that "those are the shorts." Fortunately, the position remains on the Pactimo side that those were supposed to be continental shorts, so I will let you know what happens. I was one of those who ordered non-bib shorts, so I have a stake in this too. 

In the meantime, we can ride in our new blue, bro style or otherwise. 

Who is doing the next kit order? 

ONE

FT3 Should Ride Tonight! And Race CX Saturday!

Dude, you guys should go for a MTB ride tonight! I will think of you while I am looking for rattlesnakes on the Sacramento cycle paths. Oh and by the way I have to pick up your kits at the Fed Ex place in Rancho Cordova because they did not deliver them at my house! Going the extra mile for you FT3ers. Like now, posting this call out without even a chance of riding. Have fun gents, my hiatus is over half way done, I will see you on a Tuesday soon.

Read this article, this is just about how I prepared for the Carson City Off Road this year:

http://dirtragmag.com/mountain-bike-trailer-park-five-steps-to-mtb-failure/


Sacramento Cyclocross Race # 1 is this Saturday at Bass Lake Regional Park in Cameron Park, get out there and support this local venue!!

http://www.saccyclocross.com/2017/Race1.html

Cappy!

Viva FT3

October

Here we are, back on the first Tuesday of the month. Remember last month's first Tuesday?

Summer showers left the trail in surprisingly delightful conditions. But, nobody rode a single speed, which greatly displeased the all-powerful, all-knowing Pollywood. In retribution It chose to destroy a derailleur, which happened to be Xteric's carbon fiber model.

Hopefully, someone rides a SS tonight.
Believe

Hot Sauce

Harvest time.

Is home made hot sauce time.

According to The Chili Pepper Popper, 'The Nocar Family sauce opens with the sweet and tangy notes of vine ripened tomatoes and cider vinegar, followed by the robust flavors of red jalapenos, and chili de arboles. The subtle kick of the ghost peppers is experienced the next morning by a delightful searing of the rectum."

One


Note from Cappy Re: 100 Year Centennial Ride from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe:

All the Details as posted on Facebook:

9/26/17 Update:

Less than a month away. Cross your fingers the weather before and during is favorable!

-Start Date/Time: Friday October 20th... 7am -- for whoever wants to start as a group. Everyone is welcome to start whenever they'd like. (7am start time is open for discussion! Hepting and Budd apparently started at 2am!)

-Start location: Where the Sacramento Wheelman clubhouse was in 1916-1917... between J & K Streets and 21st and 22nd Streets (called Jazz Alley now). See link in event announcement.

- Routes: 2 mile pedal from the start to American River Bike Trail.... ARBT to Folsom... a few options to In-N-Out Burger/El Dorado Trail off East Bidwell St.... lots of miles of El Dorado Trail to Placerville and Camino (some may opt for country roads).... then...... STILL WORKING ON IT! I am having challenges creating a route on Strava so I'm getting familiar with Ridewithgps.com (which seems to allow route creation that isn't on established roads/trails). This is what I'll be focusing on these next few weeks! If you have suggestions on how YOU will tackle this ride route-wise, please share.

-Lodging/SAG: You're on your own! Perhaps an organization or 2 will end up setting up an aid station somewhere, but don't count on it in your prep. You might want to reserve a room at the Strawberry Inn if you think you'll be stopping there the 1st or 2nd evening. I have not reached out to them to let them know what we are doing and the role the Inn played 100 years ago... they might be stoked to hear about it though!

- Echo Summit: I'm still hoping to recreate the sign that was at the 1917 summit the boys took photos with. I think it would be neat if all participants stopped and took a photo of themselves with the sign 😊. (If anyone has time to work on this, I'd appreciate it!)

- Finish: I plan to finish at The Beacon Bar & Grill (1900 Jameson Beach Rd, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150). This is very close to where Hepting and Budd finished their ride at "Tallac"... which was a structure on a pier in Lake Tahoe (long gone now). I'm not sure how we could really do a post-ride celebration, with everyone on their own schedule and timeline.

- Getting back: You're on your own! Perhaps social media will help people figure out carpools. Maybe some of you will ride back, like they did 100 years ago!

Some people will do this in a day.... others in 4 days. Some people will only ride one segment. Others will do it all as a relay team. There are no rules for anyone that wants to participate in some capacity (other than don't expect help from anyone you don't arrange help from yourself).

Questions? Ideas? Is anyone else still planning on doing this? 😜

Last Ride of Summer

Shorter days, cooler temps, some humidity- perfect mountain biking weather.

Are you riding tonight?

Or working?

ONE

Shout Out to Larz, Champ Rabbit

Our own DRL Larz, who, for some time now, as you all are aware... has gone the "way of the shoe" competed in the "Run Rabbit Run" 100 mile race in Steamboat Springs Colorado this past weekend.

Yes that is 10 pound bike Brent on the right. 

Mmmmm, this medal looks like a delicious burger right now. 

Mile 84, deep in the pain cave. 

According to Larz himself, he has no ass left. He ran it all off. Finished the race in 29:56:03, 4 minutes under the "fast runner cutoff" of 30 hours and well under the course requirement of 38 hours. That's a damn lot of running, more than a full day of running in case you are not good at math. 

Crazy!

Future Western States Contender... we will need to recruit Bambi and Partial Credit, who have also gone the way of the shoe, to pace him. I am good for .2 miles of pacing, as long as it is during cross season. 

Who's going mountain biking tonight? Not I. Have fun. 

Did you order your kit??

A great showing of 8 riders strong (Cappy, Xteric, Green Fro, Keds, Unknown Local, No Car, Newb, & Safety First) met at the Knott with rain awaiting.  Before long the rain passed and the group headed out with Xteric ride leading.  Trail conditions were tacky and just perfect.  The dust mites remained on the trail and the riders in the back sucked in clean fresh air.  Before long, a wooden log decided it wanted to play with Xteric's right chainstay.  But, the rear derailleur wasn't playing nice and got in the way of the log so the two got in a little fight.  The log won big time.  

wooden log: 1

Xteric's rear derailleur: 0

  After some time messing with the chain length and using Newb's rear derailleur expertise, we did the best we could.  I even suggested to Xteric to do what the pros do.  There were at least 2 other bikes in the group that Xteric could have ridden off with.  After all, he was the ride leader.  We then headed off into the tall shurbs.  Unknown Local must have known that the trail didn't continue as he was waiting for us a hundred yards back.  Xteric's bike wasn't fixing itself so we decided to head back on the pavement by the lake.  The camaraderie among FT3 riders is unparallel to anything else.  Xteric got many free pushes back to the lot.  

The Store is open and if you haven't remembered, it's time to put in your order. 

https://teamstore.pactimo.com/ stores/ft3/show  

Remember when the first Tuesday of the month was SS night?

Still dusty, but a chance for thunderstorms and a big moon should make for a beautiful evening. Might be the right night to hit the MET to North South to Bonetti route. Or we could just practice trick moves all night.

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Don't forget to order your kit. Cappy is getting all riled up that he's going to lose his deposit. And we all know how not funny Cappy is when he's all riled up.

More Crowns

FT3 made a strong showing at the Meyers Mountain Bike Festival this past weekend.

It wasn't a race, but if it was, you would have seen those same faces smiling on the podium. We would have rolled across the finish line family style, all sharing first place, of course. Consensus was that the ride was so easy, next year we would have to include a fourth crown, ascending Old Lincoln Highway and dropping Hawley Grade.

Don't forget to order your kits. The store is OPEN.

https://teamstore.pactimo.com/stores/ft3/show

password:  team_3926

Hot and Dusty tonight.

ONE

B's Special Visit

B makes a showing this evening from Montana, fresh off a ski training expedition with a Montana lass to be known as "kindergarten." With the majority of FT3 unavailable to join him, the few who will be present are sure to enjoy a significant quantity of PreBr's. "No can is safe, mo matter how deep and warm. "

Here is your final kit preview. Final approval needs to be sent in asap to get the sowing machines in china(?) rolling. No image of trail short, sorry.

The count shall start at zero from here, as previously indicated I am out for a bit...

Fresh Meat

Rolling nine strong last week, dust avoidance measures were critical. Which caused some concern when Cap'n insisted on taking the helm. However, he dutifully led the classic Brockliss ride, which was mysteriously littered with abandoned cars.

The Taco Table narrowly avoided a crisis. Mother Rye had to rush from her dinner party at the Governor's Mansion when she heard that the Taco Meat had run out before FT3 arrived. Just in time she whipped up a batch, but she swore she would never do it again. Next time it will be meatless tacos. Just as long as we get fries...

What's in store for this evening? Only one way to find out.  

Triple Crown Training

XT and I have been logging some miles lately. Everyone has their priorities, and ours have been similarly matched. Don't stain the deck, train for the Triple Crown!

Last Tuesday, Junior demonstrated his ride leading brilliance by delivering another dust-tolerable route.

Then on Sunday we tackled the Strawberry Kirkwood route.
XT decided that the trailhead would be a good spot to set up his tubeless tire.

Not having B along through the tangle of roads above Cody Meadow upped the excitement as every turn seemed wrong.

 Thunder rumbled above Carson Spur.

We added a new piece of singletrack, the East Meadow trail that runs from the Kirkwood market to Highway 88 and afforded this view of the KI.

The weekend rain should have refreshed the Pollywood trails a bit. Hopefully, we can find some dirt that hasn't been hit yet.

ONE