cryptid01

waiting for snow melt. impatiently.

dminor 

Jealous, jealous, jealous - - oh man!

No snow here. Better box that thing up and send it out here for a bit of exercise. I promise to be nice to it.

cryptid01

3 things I noticed during my spin around the hood today on the SB-66:

1. The front end is incredibly stiff laterally. Tapered steerer FTW

2. The shock is extremely sensitive with zero stiction right out of the box. Kashima coating / SKF seals FTW

3. This bike is a wheelie machine. Fun FTW

dminor 

samburger

Sounds like that bike is just a win!

So is this a completely new bike for the season or just upgraded to the point of a significantly different feel? (Sorry, I haven't been around long enough [& perhaps you don't brag enough] to have any idea what bikes you have)

Dannihilator

Nice.

dminor 

I will just throw this out there: don't take apart an X-9 shifter unless you've spent a few years repairing pocket watches or just enjoy the idea of spending a couple hours - - twice - - learning everything about one works and getting it back together.

cryptid01

It's a new frame and fork with some new parts. It is meant to fill a micro-niche I created purely to justify its purchase.

I try not to brag - I would rather be hated for the things that I post here rather than the number or type of bikes that I have.

cryptid01

lol. One day perhaps I will tell you a saga of Yeti proprietary ti shock bolts, old dried up loctite, and the cruelly named irony of a snap-on torque wrench.

samburger

Respectable.

craigcraigcraig

But don't judge a book by its cover there is a twist!

dminor 

Daspydyr 

Tired of your current bike so soon?

Dannihilator

Been doing some roller work.

Dannihilator

I'm thinking about getting a 24 for when I want to switch things up.

dminor 

Headed out bright and early tomorrow (Fri.) morning for the ProGRT DH race in Port Angeles, WA. First race of the season and I'm stoked! Goal is to have a clean run and hopefully get on the podium. Will try to post some pics from the Pro finals on Sunday.

cryptid01

Not at all - its got its purpose and its still my current bike. Amp...current...get it?

Nice. That place looks fun.

I'm for that.

Tear it up d!

never

No d, don't tear it up! I have video footage of you getting torn up and it looked painful! Just don't hurt yourself...remember, you're getting old!

Dannihilator

I have agreed to buy a 24" wheeled bmx bike. Will be picking it up hopefully sometime next week.

dminor 

Thanks all! Four solid practice runs today before noon cutoff. Felt better/looser/faster each run. No Pro/Cat 1 course for me this year; all 50+ are on the Cat 2 but that's fine by me. No wounded pride - - happy to be racing at all this year. No high-consequence features on this course but it's not without challenge. Upper half goes through freshh clearcut then dives into steep woods. Almost like getting to race on a Whistler trail - - very flowy and fun. We each get one more practice run tomorrow and then on to timed runs.

Had to drive out a pro teammmate to the ER this afternoon: dislocated his shoulder hitting a tree on his quali run. He'll be out for a while. Boy I felt bad for him - - 25-30 minutes to get him off the hill and in the hosp. and he was in excruciating pain and the good drugs were just NOT kicking in quick enough.

never

Good luck D!

craigcraigcraig

Ride well!

dminor 

Just rolled in this evening from PA. Ahhhhh . . . it was a GOOD day yesterday. It rained a little Sat. night but not enough to alter course conditions much. Everyone got one practice run Sun. am so scope out any changes. Run-through revealed not much had changed - - holes in a couple landings got a little deeper, a couple chutes a little more torn up but no ugly surprises.

My race run was right before noon; about the time the whole top of the hill socked in with fog. Almost couldn't see from one corner to the next; but it was all good, since by then you know where everything is. I decided to get every pedal stroke in that I could in the upper section - - coasting any of that would cost valuable time - - and then just hang on and try to let the bike run down lower in the trees and steeps. Had a good, clean run with no mistakes and really nowhere that I felt I could have given more. Bill Kieffer, my main competition, said he knew I'd be givin' 'er up top so he took the opposite approach and saved himself a bit up top and used his experience and skill with the lower section to make it up.

It paid off for him - - he got me by two seconds and won it. I'm happy with a clean run, good solid second and a spot on the podium for sure.



(Racing shots when I find some posted.)

Celebrated with some good food and good local beers in PA last night - - the walked down the street for some live music and a couple more (different) local beers after that. Name of the second place kinda tickled me, so I snapped a pic this morning. I'd say crytid01 better get out here some time and have a brew at the place they named in his honor:



BTW, the Pro runs were amazing. There was a step-down in the woods on the Pro/cat 1 course that almost bucked a bunch of the less-seasoned pros - - but they’d somehow hang on and ride it out after totally casing it. And then, of course, guys like Graves, Minnaar, Gwinn, Smith and those guys just sent it and touched down cleanly on the downslope. Superhuman. All-in-all a great start to the season on an awesome hill in one of the coolest little corners of the PNW.

Further P.S. - - Got to chat briefly before the race with Mykster - - one of our other BF gravity guys. Nice guy; was good to see him again. He's started a web site https://www.downwardlife.com/ about the gravity scene up here.

never

Atta boy D!

santiago

TIL - gravity riders have skinny legs.

//

Congrats Doug!