Confessions of a Clydesdale...: LESS THAN A MONTH

Less than 31 days till Leadville. Not really sure how 8 months has gone by so quickly? I'll just assume a move will make the days tick right by. Nevertheless Leadville is quickly approaching, and believe it or not.....i feel ready. The last two weeks I've been hitting it rather hard, long rides in the heat of the day, partly for preparation for the Dirty Spokes 12 hour this Friday and partly just to build some tenacity. Nothing helps more than riding for 3+hrs in the heat and hills. Nothing. I've also been tweaking my bike a bit...tires, bars, stems, saddles, etc....trying to find what's best for me. Notice i said, "for me"...everyone has their own opinion, but for me, these are the clear winners.

First thing that got the boot were my FSA SLK carbon bars. No real reason other than they were over a year old and starting to creak, scary. So they got the swap for the Niner Flat Top bars. The good thing is the Niner bars are about an inch on either side wider which I've been wanting for sometime now, more leverage up hills means faster up hills. So far they are money. A few grams heavier, but the durability/width more than makes up for it.

Oh and did i mention that i found them new on Craigs-list for $25!! Very stoked about that little nugget.

I also swapped out the Specialized stem for this FSA one, no real reason. It does have a lower rize to it, which is nice...enabling me to get a little further over the front on climbs, other than that it just looks trick with the carbon faceplate. Oh and it allows me to run my Niner YAWYD top cap...stands for "Your Are What You Drink". Basically it allows you to place your fav beer cap on your top cap... a feature lost with the Specialized over sized cap. Beauty is in the small things..remember that kids.

Next on the list was some new shoes. I tried several tires before settling on the WTB Nanoraptor. I think this tire so far is the "bees knees". It's gonna be perfect for the 12 hr this weekend as well as for Leadville...I'm a balla on a budget, one set of new rubber has to last in this house!!

High speed/lightweight tire, with plenty of sidewall protection for Leadville....a perfect mix. Should know more after this weekend, something about riding for 12hrs gives you a pretty strong opinion about what your riding....be it good or bad.

Here's several pics from this weeks and last weeks rides. A couple nice views as well as some ripping single-track was had many times over. Gotta find a good training partner, it is getting rather boring doing it all by your lonesome. Doesn't anyone here actually ride a mtn bike..anyone? Hello?

Most of these are from Paris Mtn, the local 'rock pile' that I ride at. Don't get me wrong, there is all the climbing you could want there...it's actually where G. Hincapie trains when he's in the states....but coming from the West, it's a little shorter that's all. The other is from Spartanburg, Sc the Southside trail. A little trail system about 40 minutes from the house. Actually road there today, not bad...was a good testing ground for the new tires and what pressure i would run.