Carbon fiber is the new titanium. I remember growing up racing BMX and being jealous of the competition that had the latest and greatest titanium parts. I don’t know if it made them any faster, but it was sure cool. Many riders I hang with have carbon bars or stem or seat post. One guy has a carbon Trek Fuel frame, bars, stem and seat post. Of course he loves it. It’s ultra light weight, ultra stiff yet absorbs vibration (though, compared to the shock in the frame, I question how he can tell the difference). And it is very cool with it’s signature carbon color, stealthy matte black and gray check pattern.

I’ll admit, it’s super light and super stiff and, for the right components it’s worth the outrageous cha-ching. Carbon fiber is expensive because it’s in short supply due to the huge demands of the military and the aerospace industry.

“The biggest of the world’s bicycle makers have said they have secured enough carbon fibre for the next few months but smaller, boutique makers are finding it increasingly hard to get their hands on consistent supplies of ‘Black Gold’.”

click here for the link

I’m no engineer, but I can understand the benefits, and the extra price, of a carbon bike frame, handlebars or stem. Though when I see that high priced, high zoot, carbon fiber bling in the case at the bike shop looking like expensive jewelry I have to ask myself, do I really need carbon fiber covers for my brake fluid reservoirs or the carbon fiber stickers that protect my frame from cable rub that I just bought for $7.00 a pair? I think they be made of aluminum or plastic and be just as effective, the same weight and a whole lot cheaper, though, certainly not as cool.

Maybe it’s a voodoo thing. Maybe it’s just fun with mountain bikes.

Here is the toy skeleton that graces the head tube on my Klein Palomino, and scares away the gnomes on the trail. The Peleton Skeleton. With any luck he might intimidate other riders too. But I really doubt it.

I fully intended to post these pix a couple days ago, but what with dodging Christmas shopping responsibilities for bike rides, I just didn’t get around to it.

I talked to my friend Nick yesterday. He rode the group ride on Thanksgiving. 7:30am on Thanksgiving was 14 degrees at Rock Cut. He said it was brutal. But there was no snow. When I rode on Friday, it was coming down pretty good.

It was 21 degrees according to my car’s outdoor thermometer. I expected the ride to be ugly. In fact I expected to be the only one in the park. I had called a few people who all conveniently had other plans. You know who you are. So I drove to the Lion’s parking lot and, holy cow, there was another car. A guy, Jeff, was getting ready to ride too. I’m not the only moron to go mountain biking in a snowstorm.

Here’s a link to Mountain Bike Action magazine for some tips on riding in cold weather.

Thanksgiving is the official start of the holiday season and, in keeping with the spirit of the holidays, today was a charitable day for the Rock Cut Trail Crew. A local radio station was sponsoring one of several food drives for the needy. Jeff’s idea was to ride in and donate a bunch of non-perishable food items to the needy. It would be a nice ride with friends, some good PR for the bike club, and an excuse to get out of shopping with the wives.

The plan was to meet and organize, ride to the food drive, then, continue on to ride a lap at Espenscheid Forest Preserve. But yesterday it snowed about a half inch yesterday. Today got up to 45. The trail was going to be very muddy. If “leave no trace” is the mantra, then today would not be a good day to ride the loop.

Four of us, Jeff, Al, Larry and myself, showed up to ride at the abandoned Highlander grocery store on South Alpine in Rockford. Not the gang we had hoped for. But the sun was shining and we had about 5 bags of food to donate, so we set off on our charitable trek with B.O.B. trailers in tow to the new Highlander grocery store, two miles away, where the radio station had set up their food drive.

The bike path along Charles Street alternated condition from wet and sloppy in the sun-lit areas, to icy and snow-covered in the shade. No problem for the three of us on mountain bikes. But Larry was riding his new carbon Trek road bike. Not sure the model, but it was nice and shiny. Couldn’t have had more than hundred miles on it and here he was, riding in the slop.

Pedestrians and motorists don’t care much for bicyclists even in the best of road conditions, much less in the snow and slush on the road today. Though the temperature was in the mid-40’s, we wore our cold weather riding gear, long sleeved jerseys, tights, and balaclavas, and were pulling trailers full of groceries. We got some pretty strange looks from people who must have thought we looked like some high tech hobos.

We arrived at the food drive where the radio station DJ was holed up in a heated Pepsi trailer watching satellite TV. It was the second day of the food drive, but the donations were coming in. Still, four guys riding up on bikes to donate food was apparently enough of a change of pace for him to mention it on the air, and although he referred to us as the “Rock Cut Trailer Crew,” we felt good knowing we had ridden for a good cause.

Some mountain bikers are all about competition. They register for all the WORS and NORBA races. They track their points religiously and all they talk about is their races. The social aspect of mountain biking is more appealing to me. I enjoy the camaraderie that riding with a group through deep forest singletrack and back country fire roads brings.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy an epic ride and will push it until my legs and lungs burn. Gotta burn off these holiday meals somehow. After all, I rediscovered biking for exercise after being bored out of my skin walking in place on the treadmill at the health club. I raced BMX when I was a kid and placed 141 in the Wisconsin ABA when I was 14. But these days I compete more with myself than against other riders.

A typical route around Rock Cut is about 12 miles. It takes me a little more than an hour. The next ride I’ll try to beat that time. John and I ride Espenscheid, a 3-mile loop, twice in a lunch hour. The first lap sets the time. The second lap we race the clock and try to beat the first time.

But mountain biking for me is about being on the trails, especially with friends. I like riding in new places, shooting video and photographs. I subscribe to Trails.com. I read the bike magazines for articles on interesting bicycling excursions. Last summer I rode some great singletrack at Standing Rock in Stevens Point, WI. The PASTA crew has done a great job in my home town. I met Dennis for a weekend of camping and riding at Fort Custer in Battle Creek, MI last July. Someday I’d like to ride at Moab, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the Grand Illinois Trail, a 500 mile loop around northern Illinois from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. A section of it includes Rock Cut State Park and the bike path that runs just 2 blocks from my house.

Dennis is planning a winter trip to Ray’s Indoor MTB in Cleveland for his bike club in Traverse City, MI, in January and I’ve been invited to join them. I suppose if you live in Traverse City in January, you expect to drive 8 hours for a place to ride indoors.

I plan to ride the NITE ride in Chicago next summer. 2000 bikes ride the closed streets of downtown Chicago at 2am. That should make for some great video. Dennis raced the Ice Man in Traverse City last month. We’re submitting our names for next year’s Ice Man., also for the Fat Tire Festival in Chequamegan next September. Admission for both is by lottery that opens in January, so we have to commit pretty soon. I may be strapping on the competition helmet again next year already. I better get in shape.

The Rock Cut Trail Crew hosts a group ride at every holiday. It’s tradition. But the Thanksgiving ride is perhaps the most special, since it’s the last organized club ride before the park closes for the season. No doubt there will be a group of die-hards out for a night ride on November 30. We did it last year so that we could say we were the last ones to ride at Rock Cut for the season. Sort of pointless bragging, like closing a bar. Of course I was on the trails again at 6am on April Fool’s Day this spring. Last one out, first one in.

I won’t make the Thanksgiving ride this morning and will miss it. Instead I’ll eat way too much and sleep through the football game at the in-laws.

Happy Turkey Day!

We got our first snow of the season overnight last night. Not much to speak of, just a dusting of wet, heavy sloppy slush to wipe off the cars. Good morning.

It was just in time then that I got in what may well be my last ride of this season at Rock Cut. The park closes November 30. My friend Dennis passed through town on his way to his family’s Thanksgiving in Chicago, so we had the afternoon for mountain biking in the park.

The overnight snow was forecast for the day yesterday. Lucky for us it was delayed. Tuesday was a tad chilly, expected for this time of year, but clear sky, sunshine and just a slight breeze that was non-existant once we got into the woods.

Met Big B at the Rockford Bicycle Company and headed toward the park.  The colorful autumn we had is over and the trees are nearly bare now. Most of the leaves have fallen making the trail almost indistinguishable in places. And slippery too. A couple of biffs due to slick slopes. Dennis did an endo over a log pile.

The annual Thanksgiving Day ride with the Rock Cut Trail Crew is tomorrow at 8am. This morning’s snow is gone already but the melt off made lots of mud. We’ll see if the ride gets rescheduled. I’ll be at the in-laws for the holiday and will miss the ride. There’s talk of a Sunday morning ride too. We’ll see if I can make that one. At any rate, the days are running out on the season. It’ll be Espenscheid’s 3 mile loop and rollers in the basement for any riding pretty soon.

I haven’t seen a paper version of this rag, but their online version looks pretty cool. Plus they have a podcast.

Singletrack Magazine

http://www.singletrackworld.com/

Here’s the link to subscribe to the podcast.

http://podcast.singletrackworld.com/

Say what you will about Dubbya. Politics aside, it’s pretty cool to have a president that mountain bikes.

“Bush’s passion for mountain biking has resulted in unprecedented media coverage for the sport. Nearly every major U.S. newspaper, magazine, and T.V. network has covered the president’s riding. The exposure has raised awareness for mountain biking and generated a positive buzz for the sport that is already enjoyed by over 40 million Americans.” Link

Of course we all take our spills. http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/05/22/bush.fall/

Certainly it can only help with publicity of the sport and improve the cause of the IMBA. See http://www.dirtworld.com/Trails/TrailStory.asp?id=497

Plus he gets to ride lots of cool trails with lots of cool people. Lance Armstrong earlier this summer, and the Chinese Olympic MTB Team during his recent trip to China. Link

While I currently hold four regular subscriptions to bicycling magazines, the off season is usually a good excuse to pick up a few more. Mostly, I suppose, because in the winter I spend less on the bike and more time on my butt. But that’s a whole ‘nuther post.

I’ve subscribed to several biking magazines over the years and occasionally pick up more individual issues at Borders and Barnes & Noble. Some interesting and some quite good European mtb mags, I must admit. I’m currently receiving Mountain Bike Action, Bike and of course the old standby, Bicycling, who has recently included their mountain biking edition, Mountain Bike.

And when you subscribe to magazines, you get a bunch of offers for more. About a month ago I received a trial of Dirt Rag, the Mountain Biker’s Forum. It’s a grassroots publication, especially compared to the slick Bicycling. The stories are relevant to mountain biking and interesting with trip and trail reviews, new product reviews and the usual stuff, but written in a laid back and conversational manner. They feature a lot of bike related art work from their readers. Very cool mag. I think I’ll subscribe.

I also like Bike. Bike offers great features of interesting bike personalities, obscure bike shops riding locations. But what really sets Bike apart is the photography. AWESOME photography.

I remember BMX Action magazine from my BMX racing days as a kid. Mountain Bike Action is the big kids version, but still the same style. Mountain Bike Action offers race coverage, riding and mechanical tips and product testing reviews and several pages of classifieds in the back. A dry read compared to the others, but great useful info.

Bicycling, and their mtb counterpart, Mountain Bike, share the familiar, slick writing and layout that makes Bicycling the standard read for the sport. Short bits make for lots of information in little time.

These are the five mountain biking magazines that I like enough to plunk down my dough to get them every month.