Benno's Blog & More

For Sale - PowerTap SL

2012-02-16T16:42:00.000-05:00

Okay so I wasn't sure if I wanted to sell this or not but really I have learned quite a bit from it and am too fat and slow to actually need it for my own training. So I am gonna pass it along to the next needy individual.
It is an SL wireless Powertap, the one with the carbon hub shell. I believe it to be ANT+ compatable since that is how it is registered in the software.

Included:
-Booklet
-PowerAgent 7 disc
-Computer head
-Hub built into 32h wheel
-12-27 10speed cassette
-wheel bag
-hub battery cover tool
-tire (needs replacing)

The unit has very low mileage which is apparent by the fact that the original tire that came with it has just now worn out. So that is a few thousand km's, most of them on the trainer. I lost the heart rate monitor strap during my last move so you will have to get a new one (about $60). Cassette has about 150km's on it since I used my other cassette with it for all last year. I just replaced the batteries in the hub and computer so she is ready to go.

Retails for about $2400
Sells on eBay for about $1200
I am asking $750

email me at benmtbdawson@yahoo.ca
or text/call 705 229 6923

If it aint broke........break it.

2012-02-09T23:06:00.000-05:00

Alright I am a little delayed in reporting this very very sad news. In fact it was one of the most depressing and unsettling events in the cycling industry that I have ever experienced.Take a look at these two bottles.

Oh they look very similar don't they. Well look again. There is something about that bottle on the right that might not catch your eye at first but is the source of my contempt. Check out that little bit of text on the upper right hand side, hiding behind the price tag. You see the good folks at Finish Line decided to take their absolutely perfect in every way Teflon Dry Lube and mess around with it. WHYYYYYYYYYYYY???!!! So the result is that it now sucks - big time.
The original was silky and oily but light and laughed in the face of dirt. It ran clean and just plain worked in most every condition. The new stuff I wouldn't classify as chain lube in any capacity. It is very thick and globby. It turns your chain into a white mushy mess and nothing seems to be getting lubricated in the process. Finish Line Teflon Lube, you have been disgraced. Check out the difference. Old (awesome) on the left, new (crap) on the right.

So in short - DO NOT BUY THIS LUBE. I blows big time. My new recommendation is ProGold ProLink lube and I will have a review of it in the not too distant future.

My new favourite lube.

Actually, fortunately for myself I bought a big 250mL jug of the old Finish Line Teflon lube and have been rationing it haha.Just lookin' after you people.
Over'n out.
Benno

Dreaming of singletrack.

2012-01-03T22:20:00.001-05:00

Ok so here is the map that got me totally familiarized with Issaqueena. It is a few years old but still pretty much up to date. Works out to be a good 70+ km of singletrack that is a 25 minute drive or 60 minute ride from The Mansion. It's actually funny, the map is so huge that I took a few snapshots of it with my camera then used the LCD display to zoom in and navigate while I rode. Ghetto for sure.
One of my favourite places to ride :-)

Direct link to high res map -----> clicken ze link
Easy flowing singletrack with some fast ups and down and very fast clay surface.

I am really looking forward to taking a break from Ontario and riding my bike for a couple months! The countdown is on, less than 8 weeks. I'm sure I'll find some new adventure. If you didn't catch it the first time, the Foothills Trail ride from Whitewater Falls to HWY 178 was my favourite ride of the year, and one of my favourites of all time.
Benno and Jerome's Epic Ride

Not much going on with the Anthem X-Ben. Actually it has remained untouched save for a ride on Christmas Day but all of my time has me elbows deep ripping apart the Pulsar. Few more goodies still to come for that. Very much looking forward to some twisty mountain roads with my girl after driving the old Civic all winter.

Hope you all had a good holiday, now back to reality ;-)
Benno

Carolina availability updated.

2011-11-19T22:26:00.001-05:00

I have the availability of each week now posted. Only one week is totally booked but some are getting close and it's booking fast. Hopefully we can fit everybody in that wants to come :-)

http://bennosblogandmore.blogspot.com/2011/08/news-for-2012-south-carolina.html

Benno

Benno's coaching program......and more ;-)

2011-10-04T22:32:00.000-04:00

I have decided to begin my own coaching program that I feel best represents not only what I can offer as a coach but also what is in the interest of a good demographic of riders. My focus is to provide clarity to those that are struggling with the intricacies of the sport. I have been through the system very much on my own so I can empathise with those not understanding the next best step to take. My program is suitable for anyone that wants to improve in the sport and have fun.
So what does this all mean? Well it means that I can assist in many different ways.

Let's get dirty

-Put fun first!
Let's be honest here, we are on this planet for a very short amount of time. There is no point in taking something that is supposed to be fun and turning it into a big chore. That is your fastest ticket out of the sport and won't leave you with too many fond memories. There are a few main themes to maximising your success and enjoyment in the sport. Obviously having fun is a huge part of the package.

-Be yourself
Hey there is nothing wrong with being competitive, wanting to win. Inversely there is nothing wrong with being a passive participant. I’ll take the time to figure out your style, there is no magic solution but there is a different solution for every type of rider.

-Alleviate stress (by having fun, duh)
Stop polluting your fun time by making it some big pile of stress. Lets figure out what you enjoy about the sport and focus on those aspects.

-Build confidence
Whether it be your technical approach to riding a trail or your physical approach to training. Your confidence is fuelled by the knowledge of knowing exactly what you are doing. Bring the control back to your riding.

This is only a quick sampling of the different themes I have developed and continue to develop during my time as a coach, instructor, rider, racer, and athlete.

Breakdown of the program
-Daily online training plan utilising Training Peaks
-Analysis of heart rate files
-Unlimited Emails
-Unlimited text messages

Cost
The complete price for this program is $50/month. You can pre-pay or post-pay within 6 months of the current date. You can pause your program for a maximum of 2 months per year. Any longer than 2 months and your spot will be back “up for grabs”.

Suggested supplemental training tools
-Download-able heart rate device
-bicycle computer with cadence
-Indoor trainer
-private lessons are available at my normal rate of $25/hour. Athletes of the program receive priority for booking lessons.
-blood lactate testing and analysis is also available

Training Peaks
Training Peaks is a very user friendly program that allows me to communicate with you very easily and efficiently. You won’t get bogged down in a bunch of useless data, but it can also be as precise and in-depth as we want it to be.
Training Peaks is free or you can chose to upgrade your account to Premium status which gives a little more freedom (like planning future workouts, though even with a free account I can still plan future workouts for you). Go and check it out for yourself www.trainingpeaks.com
What we do is link your account to my paid coaching account (linking is free for you) and that way I have access to what you have been doing. I will also post future workouts so you know what you need to do for the day. The cost for Training Peaks for the rider is minimal to zero.

My Training
-Community Cycling NNCP coaching course
-NCCP Into to competition Part A and B
-FACT level 2 certified
-Hardwood DEVO high performance coach for 2 seasons
-Hardwood instructor for 3 years, beginner to advanced
-I am also committed to furthering my technical education by participating in as many NCCP coaching courses as possible.

Requisites
You must maintain consistent feedback of workouts provided. That doesn’t mean you have to do all the workouts, it just means you have to tell me what you did that day and why. I am currently limiting the program to 20 people in order to spend the necessary time with each rider. I reserve the right to dismiss any rider from the program who fails to maintain communication with myself. It is impossible to prescribe a useful program without feedback from the rider.

Joining the program
Best way to get started is to send me an email, text, or give me a ring. Just like any new relationship it takes time to establish a connection but don’t worry it will all make sense eventually ;-)

Contact
Ben Dawson
mmmbenno@gmail.com
705 229 6923 - Text or call

Bike for sale: Specialized Tarmac S-Works

2011-09-19T19:52:00.002-04:00

56 cm Full carbon S-Works frame and fork

7800 Dura-Ace groupo

Dura-Ace Carbon wheelset (Tufo Tubulars)

Ritchey carbon seatpost and stem

3T Carbon bars

Specialized Toupe saddle

Asking $2500

Here we go again. Another Don special. The wheels alone retail for $2500. Don't be put off by the "older" generation of DuraAce components because the new generation of Shimano road groupos totally suck. I would much prefer 7800 over 7900 DuraAce.

So again drop me a line at

benmtbdawson@yahoo.ca

if you want to steal this one away.

Benno

Bike for sale: KONA Kula Supreme - SOLD

2011-09-19T19:45:00.001-04:00

SOLD
sorry if you missed your chance.

20" Scandium Frame (XL)

XTR Shifters, crank, front and rear derailler

XT Brakes (disk), wheelset, BB, and cassette

Chris King Headset

FSA Carbon bars

Easton Carbon seatpost and stem

Specialized MTB saddle

SOLD

My friend Don has this beautiful bike up for sale. I tried to convince him to ask more money for it but I guess he was/is in a very generous mood. So drop me a line at

benmtbdawson@yahoo.ca

if you want to pick up this amazing machine. Did I mention it's SCANDIUM!!! yummy

Benno

Hey kids, take my advice......

2011-09-07T21:59:00.000-04:00

Those orange stickers on brake rotors with the picture of the exploding finger are no joke.

Monday was not a very productive day past 12:15 p.m. After I was done passing out from being a big baby I got stitched up and can now be a great example of where not to stick your finger. I am looking forward to it healing so I can go back to playing video games.
On another note, South Carolina booking has begun. Very shortly I will begin updating the availability of the weeks but I can tell you it is going to get filled up fast.
Benny

It's hard to define genius

2011-08-30T23:26:00.000-04:00

however it is quite simple to demonstrate stupidity. Though when it's all said and done, I definitely had a terrifying amount of fun in the process!
Watch the video

Benno's Bicycle Service Garage - Forum Added!

2011-08-11T09:25:00.003-04:00

Have a question?
I have created a forum where you can come for advice on bicycle mechanics. The main purpose is to have a place I can answer any questions you might have. Also you can post up any tips or projects or just about anything you want to share regarding bikes.
You can access the forum from any page on the blog. The link is located on the right-hand side of the page "Benno's Bicycle Service Garage".
Benno

News for 2012 - South Carolina

2011-08-03T23:35:00.004-04:00

Ben's South Carolina 2012

Dates
I will have the place for 9 weeks again in March and April. Weeks go from Saturday to the following Saturday and are only available as full weeks (come and go as you please any time during that week). Please quote the week number when booking since "last week of March" could potentially mean 2 different weeks.

Weeks and Availability - Up to date
Week 1 February 25 - March 3 ------------- 8 spots
Week 2 March 3 - March 10 --------------- 2 spots
Week 3 March 10 - March 17 -------------- 3 spots
Week 4 March 17 - March 24 -------------- 7 spots
Week 5 March 24 - March 31 -------------- Full
Week 6 March 31 - April 7 ----------------- Full
Week 7 April 7 - April 14 ------------------- Full
Week 8 April 14 - April 21 ----------------- 6 spots
Week 9 April 21 - April 28 ----------------- 11 spots

House Info
Top Floor - 2 Bedrooms, one with a Queen and a Twin. One with a Queen and a bunkbed (Full and Twin)
Main Floor - 3 Bedrooms. Master Bedroom has a King. 2 Bedrooms have Queens.
Walk out Basement - 2 Bedrooms. One with a Queen and a Twin. One with a Queen and a bunkbed (Full and Twin).
-70" big screen t.v. in the great room with Blu Ray and I'll have my Playstation 3 :-)
-all rooms are equipped with a small cable t.v
-Wireless internet
-Pool Table
-6 bathrooms, 7 showers
-Fully furnished rooms and kitchen
-big dining room table
-on the water with a nice dock and deck
-bbq
-2 car garage for bikes (and garage crit championships) and lots of parking outside
-full central air conditioning (yes we've used it before)
-gas fireplace
-2 refrigerators
-2 laundry rooms with washers/dryers
-towels/sheets/pillows included in each room

Pricing changes
My cost has gone up slightly as I continue to work with the home-owner to find a long term solution that works for everyone. We have found that the house needs to be limited to 12 individuals in order to reduce the amount of water through the septic system (hello wet lawn, ew). In addition to this the rent has gone up slightly.
With these changes the cost is now $200/week/person which is a direct result of these increases. My philosophy from the start has been that I will continue to do this for the lowest possible price and that will always be the case. As a result of being limited to 12 individuals (no longer limited by beds) I can unfortunately no longer offer a couples rate. Each person is now an individual booking. The price will no longer increase on Feb 1st in order to save people some $$ (but remember, first come = first serve. Don't miss out!).

Booking
So I have had quite a few people asking me when they can reserve their spot. The answer is that booking will commence September 1st at 9am (no sooner!). That way everyone has an equal shot. You will not be confirmed unless you are "cheque in the mail" status with your deposit. The deposit is $50/person/week with balance due Feb 1st, 2012. Your deposit and any money is fully refundable until Feb 15th, 2012. After that day there are no refunds.

Improvements (with more to come, stay tuned!)
So there are a some changes in store for SC. To make your stay even more enjoyable I will be doing several things to improve your chances of finding a good riding route, especially if you have never visited before (and even if you have visited before since I find great rides every year!).
For 2012 I will have 2 Garmin Edge 800 GPS cycling computers that will be available to rent. I will be pricing them at $20/day or $60/week which I hope will make it a no brainer considering they retail in Canada for over $850. I will load them up with lots of great road riding routes.
They are very easy to use and feature a few different modes. Turn-by-turn directions being one of them. To reduce setup hassles they will not be offered with the heart rate strap or any accessories (who wants to wear a rental HR strap anyway? gross....). The until itself functions very nicely on its own and will calculate
-Altitude
-Slope
-Distance
-Speed (max, average, current)
ect ect......
These will only have road routes programmed but they can be useful on the mountain bike for finding your way back to the car and also mapping your epic ride on Google.
You can book these at any point after September 1st.

As always contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. Is there something that you would like to see happen in 2012?? Remember this is just an update, the full monty will be posted shortly (and continually updated). Your input is greatly appreciated and I have really loved all the great feedback over the years.
Benno
benmtbdawson@yahoo.ca
705 229 6923

Lots of room for bikes in the 2 car garage

Lots of singletrack at Issaqueena

A few unexpected features on the Foothills Trail

Kitchen

One of the 2 lofts with full ensuite bathrooms

Master bedroom. Ensuite bathroom with Jacuzzi tub.

The pool room is just one of the many hang-out spots in the house.

Let me help you get your bearings

2011-07-05T21:43:00.003-04:00

Just thought I would put a feeler out there for anyone interested. I plan on buying a cartridge bearing removal/install setup so that I can change bearings on dual suspension frames. As mentioned earlier in this post
The Big Problem with Dual Suspension Bikes
cartridge bearing are a regular maintenance item and should be changed at a regular interval to keep your bike working the way it was designed. I am thinking labour for this job would be $50 and then bearings would be extra. Most bikes use about $70 worth of bearings which makes this service relatively affordable at around $130. So drop me a line if you are interested in having this service performed. No commitment is necessary, just seeing what kind of feedback I get. The more people interested then the more motivated I will be to spend the money to buy the tools (they aint cheap). Also since my bearing supplier is based out of BC it would be better if I did a larger order from them to save people on shipping.
So send me a line and we'll get the ball rolling on this.
Benno

South Carolina 2012

2011-06-11T21:31:00.004-04:00

So I have had people asking about next spring. At this point it is a green light for 2012 and I will be offering much in the same as I have in the past. Pricing will likely be about the same (as long as my rent stays the same).
There are some improvements in store to make the best value spring cycling camp even better. Booking will probably start in September. So stay tuned and if you have any requests or suggestions then send me a message. I am always looking for ways to make this better.
Benno

Chef Jerome

Andy in the twisties

The big problem with dual suspension bikes

2011-05-06T20:36:00.006-04:00

There's a big secret going on. As the years go by and I learn more about the intricate workings of the masterpiece that is the bicycle, something bothers me more and more.
Don't get me wrong, I have been riding dual suspension bikes for over 9 years and I loooooove them so very much. I have owned many different bikes and ridden many more. I stand firm on my belief that life is too short to ride a hardtail. Every time I head out on my dually it puts a smile on my face.
Each year there is a flurry of activity as companies release their latest models accompanied by unverifiable performance claims. Still there has been one huge nagging problem that for some reason seems to be ignored. I really have no idea why it has not been addressed by bike companies so I'm just going to complain about it for a little bit.

A failed cartridge bearing pulled from the X-Ben after about 10 months of use.

Bike companies insist on using cartridge bearings for the pivot points on their dual suspension frames. Boy do these things like to fail in a hurry. Imagine being in the bike store drooling over new bikes. Sure you expect that in the course of a year or two you're going to have to replace the tires, drivetrain, brake pads........no big deal, we're all aware of this. But what about rear suspension bearings? Look at that 3, 4, 5, 10++ thousand dollar dual suspension bike. No matter the price or engineering genius, each will experience bearing failure.
As far as I can tell the problem is that these bearings are being used in such a way that they were never designed to be used. Cartridge bearings contained in the rear suspension components move only a fraction of a revolution as the suspension is compressed. The ball bearings don't get the opportunity to rotate through the races as pressure and wear get focused onto one very small part of the bearing unit. Obviously in a perfect world a bearing is designed to equally distribute load onto each ball. They are an engineering masterpiece. However we live in the real world, the fact is that cartridge bearings will wear inconsistently.
All of a sudden your formula one designed super efficient trail warrior has been reduced to a squeaking, clunking mess.
How do you deal with replacing the half dozen or more cartridge bearings when they fail? How will you know when they've failed?

The one saving grace is that the majority of reputable frame builders have moved away from nylon bushings. They wear even faster and are much harder to replace than bearings because they are bike specific. Cartridge bearings are easy to source, are not proprietary to the frame or company, and not astronomically expensive.
It is disturbing to me the amount of dual suspension bikes being sold every year and how few of them have their bearings replaced. People just aren't aware of what is happening
It's not something you want to think about when you selecting your next bike, but you should.

So what can be done about this? When purchasing a dual suspension bike you should keep in mind that the cartridge bearings that make up the rear suspension linkage should be replaced at a regular interval like many other things. I have found this interval to be about 5000km's which for most is 1-3 years but obviously depends on riding conditions.
How much should it cost? Look to spend between $100-$200 to have this done, which is the cost for parts and labour.
The unfortunate part is that there are not very many shops that have the tools or know-how to do this job properly. Even at Hardwood we're not currently set up for this. I am just hoping to raise awareness of this issue since no one else likes to talk about it.
What is the solution to cartridge bearings? I really have no clue. If you can figure it out then send me an email and I'll split you on the patent for the first maintenance free dual suspension frame.
For now I'll just replace my bearings every fall and enjoy my buttery smooth suspension performance. I am hoping to get the tools to be able to do the service properly and professionally so probably the next $500 I get will be going to buying a good bearing press and puller.
What are your experiences with dual suspension bearings??
Benno

So I just rode through an Arctic wasteland.

2011-05-02T20:45:00.006-04:00

Or was it the back roads and concessions of Oro-Station? Either way it is good to be back. The roads are shitty, flat, boring, the weather sucks, and it's good to be back.
Seriously though I made it back alive from my adventures in SC. I unfortunately didn't get to ride my super epic mtb ride through the Foothills Trail. The timing just didn't work out for me. The drive home was uneventful save for the tornado wreckage for about 5 miles in Tennessee, that was intense. I tried to snap a few quick photos but they didn't really turn out. The Pulsar decided to try being a hybrid for little while, a few tanks I made 500km's which is roughly 200km further than I was getting while participating in some "spirited" driving in the mountains.
Was back at work today and it felt good. Lots going on at Hardwood which is nice to see. I now enter the season of perpetually dirty hands.
Stretched the legs out today after work and headed out on the TCR. Stopped by the post office and picked up my package of new Comply foam tips for my Ultimate Ears. Holy crap I must say that changing these out at regular intervals really does improve the sound of the headphones big time. Old ones were pretty sad and worn out. New ones show off the mad bass.
Dinner time.
Benno

Stu and I head up to Highlands and melt some rubber

Some tornado damage in Tennessee

Nice roads for the drive home

My smorgasbord. Beef jerkey, fruit punch, animal crackers, pineapple, cantaloupe, easter candy, grapes, strawberries.

I'll try not to drive in your blind spot for very long

Some vehicle LOL

Sooo I guess it is the logical next step

2011-04-21T23:03:00.003-04:00

My time here is coming to and end. I roll out on April 30th but I guess I'll have to do one last thing before I go.
Some time next week I am going to ride the Foothills trail from Rocky Bottom back to the house. I estimate this will take around 12 or 13 hours. Should be a good time.
That is all.
Benno

It was terrifying but it was awesome and had to be done.

2011-04-08T19:24:00.004-04:00

It all started a couple years ago when I learned about this rather long trail that conveniently starts (or finishes, depending on your perspective) about 20km North of the South Carolina house. I have ridden the trail somewhat regularly as there is a great 12+ minute singletrack climb that I use for hill repeats which is about a 40 minute ride from the house.
It's called the Foothills Trail and was built by the good folks at Duke Power (Nuke Plant) probably in a bid to offset the impact of the thousands of acres of forest land they flooded in the process of building the multiple power plants that exist in Northwest South Carolina. Politics aside what it means is that there is about 80 miles of trail which branches just North of the house all the way over to Caesar's Head.

For some reason I have found myself very motivated to explore this section of trail this spring but the problem is that it is a point to point. It is a very different experience riding this trail. There is a fair amount of hopping off the bike to march up or down steps since it is a hiking trail but if you take it in stride (no pun intended) then you can get a really good flow going and have an amazing experience.
Jerome and I drove out to Whitwater Falls a little over a week ago to explore the West section of the trail. We intended to ride out 2 hours and then back. I was hoping to meet up with a section of trail I had ridden before since I have ridden out 2 hours from the start of the trail a few times and it was good riding. If I could link it all up then it would make a great ride.

From the parking lot we could see that is was 28.3 miles, piece of cake. About 1.5 hours in we kept seeing regular mileage signs and the riding was good so we decided to leave the Teg at Whitewater and ride the trail all the way back to the house. Figured it would be about 3.5 hours to the West end of the trail which would be perfect because I only had 2 bottles. Then 40minutes back to the house from the end of the trail would make it just over 4 hours which was perfect.
Well we just kept riding and riding, looking for the section of trail I had ridden before which was about 1.5 hours from the end of our ride and mostly downhill. We rode, and rode, and rode some more but still the trail did not look familiar. Luckily we kept crossing some roads which had mileage signs telling us how far until the West end of the trail.
It was exciting and a little scary at the same time because we were pretty committed. At the same time we knew that we could bail at any time and take the highway home from the nearest road crossing. Ended up reaching the West side after about 5 hours of singletrack and then another 40 minutes on the road home meant that I had gone a looong way on 2 bottles. Luckily the temperature was very nice, about 18 degrees, and we had a tail wind on the road back to the house arriving just before dark. Wow what a great ride, was epic. From that point on I started planning our next leg of the trail.

With the West side of HWY 130 or Whitewater Falls conquered I set my sights on the much more ambitious section of trail that stretches from Whitewater Falls over to Rocky Bottom, or HWY 130 to HWY 178. I was trying to get as much information about this trail as possible. Luckily I found some great stuff on the ultra runner websites. Seems they have a race on this section of trail (although it turns out they cheat and skip a bunch of the trail by following an access road).
A few consistencies started appearing. Reports containing words like "epic", "mountainous", and even "gauntlet" to name a few. Needless to say I was getting nervous about the ride, even second guessing myself. I decided to go ahead with the planning. Jerome and I picked a day that fit in with our (his) training while still making sure it would not only be sunny on the day but sunny for a few days leading up to the ride to make sure the trail was dry.
We headed out at about 9am that morning after planning to leave for about 8am, perfect timing in my books. I had budgeted for this to take us up to 10 hours which meant we had to start riding at around 9am to be back safely before dark. We dropped the Teg off at the finish line, HWY 178 aka Rocky Bottom aka Laurel Valley then drove with the bikes in the Pulsar over to the start line at Whitewater Falls aka HWY 130. Jerome looked very optimistic at this point and not at all concerned about the hard interval ride he had done the day before. Perhaps he was much more oblivious to the magnitude of the task ahead of us than I.

We unloaded and geared up. I brought a pack with 3 bottles and some food as well as a bottle on the bike making 4 bottles (durr math). I planned on using a bottle every 2 hours. At each 2 hour interval I grabbed a quick snack and a new bottle. It was now 10:40am, almost 2 hours late, story of my life...

Below is the sign that marked the beginning of our trail. It was the only real information we had to go on. We knew if we headed down in this direction and followed the trail markers that eventually we would come out the other side, probably where we had parked the Teg. That was the great thing about it, the not knowing. I think it was had me addicted to exploring this trail. It wasn't about the training, or heart rate zones, or perceived exertion, it was about survival. It was a freeking adventure!

The trail markers were simple and effective. Small white rectangles painted on trees at regular intervals. We did come to a few intersections or open patches of campground where the direction of the Foothills Trail was not entirely clear, so we would look for the markers. Without fail there would always be an indicator of direction if you were of sound mind to be paying attention.
About 20 minutes into the ride it was not going well. In fact it was going just about how I had thought it would be going. It was rocky, steep, slow going. It was the Gauntlet! It took 5 minutes in our slippery cycling shoes just to navigate the boulders up to this bridge. One of the 2 dozen or so bridges we would encounter in this ride.
About an hour in things were actually now going very well. We had left behind the rocky river bank of Whitewater Falls and settled into some more cycling friendly terrain. Don't get me wrong, it was very mountainous and strenuous but most of it was ride-able which was more than I was expecting. At this point I felt very relieved and a sense of excitement. We might actually make it! And whats better we were experiencing one hell of an awesome trail.
It was steep on the way up, it was steep on the way down. The views were spectacular. The weather couldn't have been better. We kept a good rhythm even when encountering some of the rumoured 500 stairs on this segment of trail. We rode what we could and swung a leg off the bike to zip up (or down) parts not ride-able (or not smart to be ridden). We got pretty good at it and it all felt natural. Especially after our experience the week before with the Oconee section of trail, we developed a strategy to riding this type of trail.
Vegetation was fairly sparse near the peaks of the mountains and jungle-like at the bottoms of the valleys. Jerome kept hearing monkeys, I told him to keep drinking water.
We reached the Horse Pasture River and from a story on one of the Ultra Runner websites it seems it might have been around the halfway point. That was good news since we were 3 hours in. A 6 hour ride would be perfect though I think Jerome was starting to regret the intervals of the previous day. We started estimating ride times, Jerome said 5 hours 30 minutes, I said 5 hours 40 minutes.
Shortly thereafter we arrived in an open area with a few different directions (where they went I have no clue) and some mileage indicators. It had indicated to us that Whitewater falls was only something like 12 miles in the direction we had come from. Really?! 12 miles in 3 hours? That was not good. For the next 2 hours or so I would be doing the calculations in my head and convincing myself there was no way we were averaging 4 miles per hour. How could that be? The majority of the trail up to that point had been ride-able and at a pretty good pace. There was a fair amount of logging road were we had ticked away some good mileage.
Can you see the fear in our eyes in this photo? I think I was pretty nervous about our undertaking at this point but I knew that if the trail continued the way it had been for the first 3 hours then we would be fine, we were covering a decent amount of ground despite what the signs may be telling us.
As we slogged on the talking diminished and the initial excitement completely evaporated from my system. My saving grace was that Jerome was now a hurtin' unit so continuing at our pace was not hugely taxing for me.
Salvation! After just 4 hours of riding we reached the shore of Lake Jocassee. It was beautiful by the lake and we figured it must start flattening out soon. I had heard reports from the runners that the last 8 miles was super easy and flat. We were looking forward to that.
The sign at the lake informed us we had something like 15 miles to go. Piece of cake. I grabbed my 3rd bottle and had a quick bite to eat. We were off with renewed optimism. I figured maybe one more mountain then flat open pastures with snaking singletrack.
A few miles down the trail we crossed over the Northern tip of Lake Jocassee on this huge swing bridge. It was an awesome sight to behold in the middle of nowhere. What an epic ride!
It has some nice swing to it. Like a carnival ride. Was high up too, didn't realise until I was about 1/2 way across. Probably over 100 feet off the ground.
Well if we only had one more mountain to climb did they ever make it count. Holy crap talk about the Gauntlet! A couple hundred stairs met us on the other side of the bridge, some so steep it was pretty much a ladder propped on the side of the mountain. What little upper body strength I posses was definitely put to the test here. You know it's serious if I actually have to stop for a few seconds to catch my breath. Jerome soldiered on and I snapped a pic at the very top of what had to be 20 minutes of stairs. We descended almost as quickly as we climbed to the top. Although luckily most of it was ride-able so it was a nice break. The brakes were smoking by the bottom for probably the dozenth time by now. We were greeted at the bottom by yet another mountain climb, I guess we were a little hasty in our celebration.
Minutes turned to hours, the trail continued around the next bend, over the next mountain, down the next fire road, by the next campsite, again and again. We were now at survival pace, a pace we could maintain for possibly many more hours to come. We were waiting for this easy 8 mile stretch, where was it?
We were now legends in our own minds. The subjects of exaggerated campfire stories for all those hikers passed.
"hey did you see those mountain bikers out on the trail? I heard they rode the whole trail in one day and were 10 feet tall and were from a galaxy far far away!"
It's funny how everyone thinks they are exceptional in their act of conquering this trail.
"How long you guys been at it?"
"4 days, we're doing the whole trail"
Somehow each hiker we encountered seemed dissatisfied at the realisation that hey, everyone on this trail is experiencing an epic adventure. All egos are equal out here.

Up another climb and around the bend we came upon a really cool waterfall. Was a much bigger drop then the camera gives it credit for. Not sure if Jerome was impressed, I think this picture illustrates his thought process of trying to decide whether or not I was consumable.
After another mountain climb from hell, this one entirely ride-able but incomprehensibly steep and long, we started criss-crossing along a gravely road. The trail crossed it a few times and I knew we must be getting closer to the Laurel Valley parking lot. And just as suddenly as we had entered the wilderness, it conceded. There was no easy 8 mile stretch, those runners were on meth.
The end was instantaneous and glorious. It was just trail, trail, trail, trail, BAM civilization. 6 hours and 40 minutes ridden. 6000 feet of climbing. Probably around 55-60km.
We could finally relax, we had ridden the trail. That was it, we started in one place and made it to another. Simple, the way cycling should be.

Jerome "dude show me on the map where we started"
Me "uh it's not actually on the map"
Jerome "oh shit"

For the photo I got him to place his left hand approximately where we had begun our adventure and his right hand at the finish.
Crack the wine Jerome. We made it alive!
I have that "I just rode a long freeking way and now I am gonna eat all the junk food I can get my hands on" look on my face. We loaded up the Teg and drove back over to pick up the Pulsar, all the time reveling as we glanced to the North realising that we had conquered that area of mountainous wilderness.
There she was, looking fine. Was funny to think back to the morning when we had set out. Seemed like it had happened on a different day then when we finished. We drove back to the house for pizza and beer and I went back to figuring out where to explore next.
This was pretty well the only map I had to go by. From the SC 130 and West is the Oconee section of trail. To the West of SC 130 and to US 178 is the Laurel Valley section. Where section 5 ends and 6 begins is where we hit Lake Jocassee with the huge suspension bridge.

I didn't die

2011-03-13T10:19:00.004-04:00

Well actually for a time there it would have been for the best......
Arrived in SC after a somewhat uneventful drive. Got stopped at the border for about an hour because of the RHD. It was a "step out of the car please" endeavor but ended well and I was on my way.

The first few days were nice and hot and sunny though unfortunately I decided to roll around in a poison ivy field for a few hours and got it pretty bad. I have never had any sort of contact with the stuff down here so I was totally taken off guard when I got it. After 2 or 3 days of lying in bed all day and feeling quite sorry for myself (along with being in agony) the nasty stuff started to subside. It has mostly cleared up now and I am loving life again. The warm weather has returned and the riding is phenomenal as usual.
Shined the GTi-R all up and washed away any remnants of winter. I've been able to take her into the mountains a couple times and it is a ton of fun to drive.
I did actually get my mountain bike finished before I came down. It turned out very well and rides just as well as I remember. The Magura fork was a little stiff when I first started riding it but has broken in again after sitting all winter and rides nice and plush now. The polished frame is getting scratched up which is a shame but inevitable so I will just have to re-polish at the end of the season.

When the going gets tough

2011-02-27T01:21:00.003-05:00

the tough go on lack of sleep.
So this is it. Really running out of time now, which I knew I would. Thankfully running out of parts to work on as well!
Finished up the rear triangle tonight. Overall it took for-freeking-ever to complete. Might have even taken longer than the front triangle. Spent about an hour and a half just buffing all the tiny little areas and probably 10 hours of sanding. But it turned out great and has a nice sparkle.
Finished the crank, polished it up and installed the chainrings which look awesome. Blend right in with the ridiculousness of it all.
Buffed the rear hub and laced up the wheel.
Installed the chain and derailleurs.
Ran the rest of the shift housing.

So tomorrow I am going to tension the rear wheel at work (nothing like working on your own bike on your last day) and then I have promised myself that I will have the bike completed by tomorrow night (ok except for the brake bleed, I am going to pick up some more DOT 5.1 when I am in town on Monday). I really don't want to have to spend a bunch of time on it Monday when I really need to be cleaning up my disaster of an apartment and getting all my sh!t together for my trip. So that is why it must be finished tomorrow.

Now I am off to bed.

Goodnight!
Benno

It's almost like a half a bike...........

2011-02-25T00:12:00.004-05:00

Lets see what is there left to do on the X-Ben.
-finish rear hub
-lace rear wheel
-finish rear brake
-finish crank
-finish rear triangle
-build bike

I guess that doesn't sound so bad. Lets see a guestimated time frame
-2 hours
-1 hour
-3 hours
-2 hours
-2 hours
-4 hours

Soooo maybe only 14 hours of work left. I am still waiting on the cassette actually. It is getting increasingly difficult to find 9 speed Dura Ace cassettes for a reasonable price. Lets hope it arrives tomorrow or monday. If not I will have to get someone to bring it down for me and be sans mountain bike for the time being (which would be a real shame after doing all this work to get it ready).
I don't expect the bike to be any lighter. I've replaced a few bolts and the brakes but other than that I am running the same parts as last year. Maybe it will be around 21.5lbs instead of 22lbs but we will see.

Just finished the front brake, painted the rear rim, and ran some shift housing to see how it will look. Now I am gonna get back to work but thought I would share a pic.

Back to work!

Benoit

I can sleep when I'm dead

2011-02-24T02:45:00.003-05:00

Incidentally with my lack of sleep it is becoming more likely that I'll end up in a smoking heap down a ditch somewhere in West Virginia. I leave on Tuesday and I've promised myself that I will have the bike done by then.
I'm too tired to write more so I will just share some pics.

Half a bike

Thanks for tuning in.
Goodnight (morning)
Benno.

I know that it is way too late for me to be up but......

2011-02-10T00:59:00.003-05:00

Well ok not too late for me to be up since my internal clock is set for Japan time..........
I told you fine folks that I was hoping to get my front triangle finished (well polishing anyway) yesterday. I'm sorry that didn't happen. After wet sanding for 2 hours I really didn't have the mental fortitude to finish the job with the attention to detail that it deserved so I finished up a few other bits.
I did finish the front triangle today though and I am completely in shock to the fact that it actually turned out really nice. I guess it makes sense in the end but when you are so used to doing all this prep and the whole time it looks like a turd and finally you finish the hard stuff, you throw on the polish (which only takes like 15min) and BAM.
So without further adieu

Sans camera flash. Still need to clean the excess polish out of the welds.....

With camera flash.

And a few small parts.

I know I should get gold Ti bolts for the shifter but honestly I spent about 90 minutes on the computer the other day ordering bolts and didn't have the time or energy to go through all of my little parts. This will be done over time.

And now I guess I should go to bed. I dislike going to bed about as much as I dislike getting up in the morning. Can't the two just get along??
Benno

Another late night working on the X-Ben

2011-02-06T23:15:00.004-05:00

Ohh just thought I'd post a little pic in my paint fume induced stupor. Starting to feel the crunch of the SC deadline looming. The plan from this point is to go full tilt. If I manage to get it done early then power to me but I have a feeling that I am going to need all the time I can get.

Ok just one more coat of clear and then I am off to dream land. I have tomorrow off so should be able to make some good progress. I think I will try and get the front triangle completely finished.
Benny

3 weeks, 6 days

2011-02-02T10:56:00.003-05:00

Watching the snow "storm" out my window from the rollers this morning. Enjoying my powertap and discovering how useful Training Peaks is for organizing data from a bunch of different sources.

The real way of getting on rollers.......... or secret cyclocross training?

My ugly rear wheel

Needed an easy day so I only rode 6 hours this morning ;-)
Ben

Workin away on the X-Ben

2011-01-29T22:14:00.003-05:00

Finished up the fork tonight. I am really happy with how it turned out. Gave it the ol' test fit onto the frame. Frame is actually fairly close to being finished as well. The downtube is pretty well done and everything else has been rough sanded with most of the hard work done. Just need to finish up the wet sanding.
Also waiting on my special aluminum polish for the final polish. Ordering the rest of the parts for the bike this week so I hope to be able to build up the wheels shortly and bolt the frame back together. Crunch time with South Carolina looming!

Check out the shine on that down tube. Fork is gold but looks almost olive in the pics.

I was lucky to have a sticker kit for the fork. Oh yes the one chainstay you can see in this pic is done as well. The rest of the frame needs to be wet sanded with 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit paper then polished. Goodbye fingerprints on my hands lol.

Snapped a pic from my livingroom this morning. Nice livin' out in Oro.

Now I am off to bed. Should be easy since I am so high on paint fumes.
Buh bye
Benno

Small SC Update

2011-01-26T23:42:00.002-05:00

2 spots just opened up for week 8. Grab em while they're hot.
Benno

Be good to yourself

2011-01-26T20:47:00.004-05:00

Ok that's it. That's all. I am all set and can finally stop spending $$$$ like I have some.
Made my final big purchase of the money making season today so now I can recover and stockpile my earnings so that I have enough to survive South Carolina hah.
After about 16 months of suffering I am once again complete.

The worlds most awesomest items are contained within boxes like this one.

Whaaaa do we have here?

Yes I once again have a road bike! I feel so much more complete. I was able to dust off the old Keo pedals, BTP cages, and R131 shoes. They were waiting patiently and it feels great to be able to put them back to work.
Although I must add that my previous statement of 16 months of suffering could potentially be extended to a figure of roughly 28 months of suffering sans TCR since the Madone never really tickled my fancy.

I will try to stay as transparent as possible and get back to you with my ride impressions. Initial build quality is amazing. No component corners were cut. My only gripe is that it should have come with while cable housing but I will put that on before I head South and you can be the judge as to whether or not it looks better with it.
I fully intend to put this beauty through her paces when I am down South. For now she is a roller queen and will (hopefully) spend her mornings and evenings atop my until-now unused Cyclops Alu rollers (which are waaaaaaaay easier to ride than PVC rollers).

Oh-my-gawd yes.

Killer looks from any angle

Yes please

So thanks very much to Jacob from Bike Stop Orillia and also Mike Millar at Giant for enduring my constant harassment. This bike was actually really hard to get ahold of so I consider myself very fortunate that I was able to get one.

Ohhh yeah, ahem, on another note I was double bad this week. I finally found the perfect set of summer wheels for the Pulsar. Great price, very new, dangerous size (for my little grocery getter), awesome tires. Thank you kijiji!

Hey look, they match my new TCR hah!

Tenzo Tracer 17x7 with Kumho Ecsta AST

I apologize for my car being derrty. It hurts me to see it this way.

So there you go. Just knowing that I could have inspired even one person to recklessly burn through their savings...... well then it makes it all worth while.
Keep doing what you do (unless you suck at it, then quit now).
Benno

Another option for guided riding/private lessons while staying in South Carolina

2011-01-24T22:04:00.005-05:00

For those who don't want to commit to a whole week of guided/instructed riding while staying at the South Carolina house, I have created a new option that is very flexible for anyone that wants to give it a try.
This year I will also be offering an hourly rate for my services as a guide/instructor. This option is also tailored to an individual or a group in the same way that a week long tour usually is.
Want to do a nice epic mountain ride the last day of your stay? Want me to show you some great loops from the house? Can't figure out why your friends leave you in their dust in the singletrack, or why they can use so much less energy riding together on the road?
I have been working as a cycling instructor for a few years now and can give you practical advice on where you're going wrong. From complete beginner to advanced.

Rates
$25/hr for the first person and an extra $10/hr for each additional person to a max of 4 people and a max of $40/hr.
1 person = $25hr total
2 people = $35/hr total
3 people = $40/hr total
4 people = $40/hr total
Currency is in Canadian $

Ride options: click on a ride for more info - more to come!

Mountain Biking options
Issaqueena Dam trails
DuPont State Forest trails
Pisgah National Forest - Black Mountain

Road Riding options
Caesar's Head

To arrange your private guided/instructed ride you can email, call, text, talk to me at the house.
Ben
mmmbenno@gmail.com
705 229 6923

For Sale: RaceFace Deus seat post

2011-01-13T09:38:00.003-05:00

Came on the Anthem X-Ben in its original form (hard to imagine at this point). In good shape with a few nicks and scratches under my clamp line. Has the micro tilt adjust feature. All aluminum. Fits Giants and a bunch of others.

Length - 375mm
Diameter - 30.9
Actual weight - 266 grams

Price - $35

For Sale: WTB Silverado seat

2011-01-13T09:34:00.003-05:00

This saddle is super comfy with a pretty good weight to dollar ratio. They are in good shape with no "hammocking". For some reason I ended up with 2 of these so I have 2 for sale in identical condition. Only reason I am selling is to get something a little lighter.

Actual weight - 243 grams

Price - $40 each

For Sale: Cannondale Fire stem

2011-01-13T09:31:00.003-05:00

I got this stem to try a longer cockpit setup. Didn't work out for me. Stem is crazy light and in good shape.

Length - 120mm
Clamp - 31.8mm x 1 1/8
Actual weight - 124 grams

Price - $35

For Sale: FSA K-Force flat bar

2011-01-13T09:08:00.002-05:00

Up for grabs is my K-Force mountain bike handle bar. Used it for a year. It is in very good condition with just a few small scratches where the brakes and shifters were clamped. Not crushed at all where the stem clamps on.
Width - 600mm
Diameter - 31.8mm
Actual weight - 125 grams

Price $50

My opinion on stuff: Favorite CD of 2010

2011-01-10T18:17:00.006-05:00

This was a no brainer for me. Favorite CD of 2010 has got to be Heligoland by Massive Attack. Very catchy without being mainstream. Give it a try. If you like it you can also check out Collected, which is a "best of" album of their earlier work.

Massive Attack have been around for a while and I was excited to see that they were releasing a new album. They seem to sneak in to a lot of places that you might not expect like commercials, tv shows, and movies. Chances are you've heard a song or few from Massive Attack before. Heligoland is one of those CD's where every song is awesome.
Benny

Welcome to the future

2011-01-02T17:00:00.003-05:00

Work continues slowly on the X-Ben. A slow day at work meant I didn't bother showing up and was able to get some stuff done here. Finished up the front hub, just needs new bearings.
I will probably order my R1 brakes soon, not sure on the Lightning Cranks. I'll have to wait until the dust settles in my bank account since it is being depleted at an alarming rate.

Finished front hub. Now I can get started on the back.

Other than that there is not too much going on. I am taking the FaCT level 1 and 2 courses this coming weekend which will be a helpful tool for working with my athletes.
The house is booking up fast and there isn't much room left. I am also re-formatting the Tour so that it is done with an hourly rate. I think it will be more flexible and economical for anyone interested. If you are coming down for a week and want to set aside one (or more) day(s) where you want some guided riding then I am available to do so.
Also don't forget that I am available to do bike servicing on a "house call" basis. My time is limited, I am leaving at the end of February and won't be back until May. So if your ride needs some lovin' before the racing season starts then you should contact me sooner rather than later because spring will be here soon :-)
Eat drink and be merry.
Benno

Cash Money

2010-12-26T21:29:00.004-05:00

I hope you all had a merrrrrrry Christmas! However you celebrate, I hope everyone consumed as much deliciousness as me.
A reminder that the early bird price for South Carolina comes to an end on January 1st.

Price before January 1st
$160 person/week
$200 couple/week (sharing a bed in a private room)

Price after January 1st
$180 person/week
$220 couple/week (sharing a bed in a private room)

Now it's time to keep workin' on that Anthem.....................

Benno

Shiny things and Pulsar spins

2010-12-12T20:11:00.004-05:00

I've been working away on my Anthem, getting it ready to go for next year. Most of that work involves prettying up components that I already have. I think the only bigger changes for parts will be Formula R1 brakes, Ashima rotors, and possibly Lightning Cranks.
I am doing some painstaking custom work on the appearance of the frame. I have a few teaser pics of that.

Needless to say I have many hours of work ahead of me before I get my baby where I would like her to be.

Other than that I have been having some fun in the Pulsar with the snow. Went out again for donuts for the 2nd time ever since owning an AWD car. I must say it's so easy to donut it's almost boring haha. Almost.........
Don't go towards the light Pulsar!!!!!!

I am also getting excited for South Carolina. Should be the best year yet!
Benno

Epoch Fial

2010-12-10T20:01:00.003-05:00

Yeah ok I guess some things never change. My latest training attempt was an epic failure. So congrats to those of you who selected "One Month" as my failure date. I would say this is more accurate than "When the new car arrives" because that was strictly a coincidence. As much as I am obsessed with my car, it really doesn't take up that much of my time.
So I am going to give this another shot. I have reset the failure estimation poll and lets see what happens this time. Keep in mind I am toootally serious about this attempt.
Let the games begin!
Benno

From Barrie to the SC Palace

2010-11-24T20:48:00.004-05:00

Here's a quickie map of what I've found to be the best driving route from Central Ontario to the house in SC. Make sure you go through Asheville NC instead of going through Charlotte as that takes you way too far East. This will be posted in the SC info page.

The quick and derrrty

2010-11-21T21:43:00.003-05:00

Ok my friends. Yes I am really slacking on this whole blog thing. You'd think being that cycling is winding down that I would have lots of time to do all the posting I want, nay need! This doesn't seem to be the case.
So it's 9:45pm, 15 minutes before bed time. I will make this short and sweet.

Life after the GTi-R has been a whirlwind. Just as I was picking up the car I was also getting a cold. Now if you can remember from my posts way back (it has been so long since I've been sick) that it takes me for-ev-er to get over the stupid things. This time was no different. Kept sticking a toe in the training waters every once in a while only to find that I really wasn't ready for any real exercise. Well that is out of the way now, I think it will hold me over until after the holidays lol.

So the past couple weeks have been good for getting caught up on some stuff. I've done a bunch of preventative maintenance on the R which has been fun. Have a few show-no-go parts installed as well with plans for a few more. Mostly though just working on getting her up and reliable for daily driving.
Clutch started slipping yesterday which is somewhat unfortunate, but better now than in SC. Gonna tackle this one myself since I have no real need for a car for the next couple months. I can take my time. Likely getting an ACT heavy duty street kit for a nice mix of drive ability and performance. Oh cars, so awesome.

Went for a nice night ride tonight. Trails are amazing when they are frozen. Tons of grip and fast rolling. Getting back to the strength training tomorrow morning if I am well enough.

Also went to the Rally of the Tall Pines in Bancroft on Saturday. This is something like my 7th year in a row and it is certainly not an option to miss. Has a great time with the bro and Cory at the new spectator area. Seemed a lot more laxed for marshals, who let us stand close enough to touch the cars drifting by.

Ok so it is now 9:59.
That's it for now.
Night night,
Benno

Decided that was close enough.

Prob my favourite car there. R32 Golf.

For those that know, enjoy.

For those that don't.......sucks to be you ;-)

Benno's R adventures - Part 2

2010-11-09T20:58:00.007-05:00

So there we were. Cory, Joel, and myself, sitting in the Civic in the middle of downtown Toronto. Cash in hand, heart in throat. Waiting for my new baby to arrive from the shop after being safetied.
It was 4:20pm. The license office closed at 5pm. I needed to get there with the signed ownership so that I could get the car plated and registered in order for me to get it back to Peterborough.
4:35 rolled around and my brother chimed in.
"We need to think of a plan B."
Hmnnn he was right. We were men, we could figure this out. One day I had fixed the exhaust on my Civic with a can of beans, that is the day I became a man.
Joel - "Don't you have CAA?"
Me - "Yeah I have premium. We could just get it towed, I get up to 200km's per tow."
Joel - "That's an option!"
Me - "Yeah right......."
Joel - "No seriously"

So we called CAA and did a dry run. Unfortunately my poor baby had broken down in Toronto and my shop was in Peterborough. I needed a tow. CAA informed me this would be no problem. Excellent. We left the Civic feeling liberated from our previous time frame constraints. After a delicious Subway meal we returned to the scene of the crime to see that my baby was back from the shop. It felt like I was finally getting my fix of a sweet sweet drug after being apart from her for a full 3 days.
With ownership in hand, my brother and I took her for a good rip around the block. Hilariously enough it was the first time that I really got a sense of the cars potential. Not so hilarious was the violent acceleration experienced. I instantly realised why owners of this car love it so much.
Coincidentally the engine would not start when we got back from our drive. We then called CAA and had it towed to Peterborough. We all sat around in my moms living room waiting for that damn truck to pull up with my baby. It finally did, about 25 painful minutes after we made it back to Peterborough in the Civic.
Luckily it fired right up no problem when we dropped her in front of moms, strange ;-)
The next day I got her registered and plated. My brothers (Joel and Joe) and I took 3 cars from Peterborough to Barrie. Joe in his Hyundai Elantra Car-Truck Special Edition, Joel in my Civic (rowing the gears to keep up, poor little guy), and me in my new GTi-R. A day that I had dreamed of for a loooooong ass time.

So that is the story of my GTi-R. A dream that I've had for many years now and the very car that I've wanted for about 12 months. So far she hasn't missed a beat. Sure she has some quirks and rattles, it gets 450km to a 50L tank, only uses 94 octane gas.......... but it does its job very well. The underside of the car is so clean you would never believe it is a 1991. She has a little extra mustard courtesy of an upgraded ARC intercooler (will keep the engine temps down when I'm boosting in South Carolina), massive upgraded exhaust, K&N intake, lowering springs.
She is on winter tires and rims right now. Hope to get some big ;-) 16" rims for the summer with some sticky rubber.

Taking my sister out in the R. My real life Gran Turismo garage :-D

She's got some bright lights and a factory skid plate
Minty interior

99,000km's on the clock

Nissan knows the market for this car

Can still fit a bike even with the rear strut bar

Factory big ass rear spoiler.

Now on snow tires. AWD + Snow = Awesome

Cory made a nice vid of the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Zm3y7Nawo

I will keep you posted as I'm sure there are many more R adventures to come.

Benno

Good things come to those who wait. Great things come to those who wait longer.

2010-10-31T19:26:00.006-04:00

Soooooo wow what a weekend! That was some crazy stressful, awesome, scary, adventure. For me it has been the realisation of a dream. Something I have been painfully lusting for ever since I learned of the existence of Japanese sports (super) cars.

Of course the old cliche rings true. I was exposed to these cars while playing Gran Turismo, which started at a young age. Fast and Furious has given all sorts of bad publicity to the whole import tuner scene. Somewhat justified by the fact that economy cars (aka grocery getters) were never intended to suffer the indignity of what some would, and do, put them through.
It was probably unavoidable that I was steered, nay herded, towards the Nissan Skyline by the Turismo. It would seem that this car was given somewhat of an unfair advantage by the game designers. Easily tuned up to 1000bhp coupled with AWD meant pretty well all else were left in your wake.
Probably most are familiar with the Skyline. To many it is seen as unattractive, impractical, outlandish. Others would step over their own mother to get one. This seems to be the trend with these 1990's Japanese sports (super) cars. Wasn't until about 7 or 8 years ago that I actually saw a Skyline in person. I was amazed and wondered how someone in North America actually got their hands on one.

Enter the 15 year rule!!!!! There exists this rule in Canada that as long as a car is 15 years or older it is considered a classic car and importing regulations are almost non existent. This means we can finally get some decent used cars. I can tell you for a fact, after dreaming and searching and shopping around for the past 4 years, that 1990's Japanese cars are safe, environmentally friendly, and just plain awesome.

I decided upon returning from South Carolina this year that I was going to adhere to a new plan to purchase a JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) car before I headed down South in 2011. Mostly fueled by the fact that the roads down in SC are incredibly fun to drive. It was also the first point in my life that I could actually follow through with buying something like this since I have now become comfortable living on my own and paying my regular bills and all that junk.
I knew I wasn't quite able to afford a GTR Skyline and also since the car would be my daily driver that somehow I would be doing the GTR an injustice. I was seriously looking at getting the GTS-t model of Skyline.
The breakdown between the GTR and GTS-t is like this:
R32 Skyline 1989-1993
GTR - 2.6 litre 6 cylinder motor, twin turbo, 320bhp, awd

GTS-t - 2.0 litre 6 cylinder motor, single turbo, 220bhp, rwd

However I remembered seeing a car a few years ago in the parking lot of Mosport that really caught my attention. It looked like a strange VW Golf on steroids. I believe my brother informed me that it was made by Nissan and called the Pulsar. I think I had forgotten about the Pulsar until about a year ago when it appeared again on one of my frequent visits to various websites of Japanese importers. I always like to look at all the cool cars they have.
It then became a hotly contested battle for my affection between the GTS-t Skyline and the Pulsar. They both had their strong points. What really sold me though was that the Pulsar had the edge in the speed department. In fact the Pulsar accelerates as quickly as a GTR for the first 3 gears. The Pulsar being AWD is a big bonus too. I don't drive much in the winter but it would be fun to do some donuts every once in a while.
1990 - 1994 Nissan Pulsar GTi-R
2.0 litre 4 cylinder single turbo motor, 230bhp, awd

So I followed through with my plan and it actually progressed much faster than I thought. Fueled on by the fact that the JDM car scene is a real buyers market in the fall since most like to garage store theirs over the winter. I knew I wanted to get one mid-November because I wanted to make sure it was reliable enough to take down South with me in the spring. I started getting more serious about a month ago and began going to see a bunch and test driving them. Funnily enough I never really did get a good test drive until the day I bought one.
So now we are up to speed. This brings us to this week and my plan to buy one once and for all. I had intended to do a road trip on November 6th to go and see some in Montreal that I was very interested in. I had looked at a few already in Ontario and nothing had really jumped out at me. I figured I would test drive as many as I could in Ontario before heading to Montreal to see the one I liked.

The plan was
Friday Nov 5 - drive to Peterborough (my home town) and get insurance all sorted out.
Saturday Nov 6 - drive to Montreal and look at Pulsars. Buy one if I like it.
Sunday Nov 7th - if I didn't like the Montreal Pulsars then buy the one I liked the most in Ontario.
Monday Nov 8th - Register and plate my Pulsar and be happy.

Well I was super anxious to get on with it. Wasn't sleeping very well, felt very stressed, it was killing me. I went ahead and re-arranged the plan last weekend, it now looked like this.
Tuesday Oct 26 - drive to Peterborough and tie up lose ends. Look at 2 or 3 more Pulsars
Saturday Oct 30 - drive to Montreal.
Sunday Oct 31 - buy one in Ontario if I didn't like the Montreal cars
Monday Nov 1st - Register and plate my Pulsar and be happy.

The first car I drove on Tuesday was decent but just didn't feel right. The next car I went to see was a completely different story. It was by far the best example that I had seen to date and was actually by far the best price of any of them. I wasn't even motivated by price, it was just an unbelievable bonus.
I had seen enough. It wasn't getting any better than this. I emailed the guy and instructed him to please not sell to anyone else. I cancelled the trip to Montreal. I had bought a Pulsar!

to be continued.....

Week 1 now full in SC

2010-10-22T18:58:00.003-04:00

It is exciting to see so many folks returning to the mansion. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people enjoy themselves while staying at the house. However it makes me sad when I have to turn people away on weeks that are full. But I guess that's just life sometimes. I promise you I'll get a 2nd house one of these years so that we can handle the overflow. In the meantime please accept this old picture of me with a sad face. A face that very well could be saying "What can I do, I told you to book early."

Keep doing what you do,
Benno

There's plenty of Benno to go around

2010-10-22T18:23:00.002-04:00

Thought I should take today off from exercising. I got to sleep until 8am, which was glorious. I woke up at about 5:30 am so it really did feel like I was sleeping in. I think going to bed at 10pm is the key.
Anyways I took the evening off from riding and, despite some protesting, I only worked a 9-5er at Hardwood. We are super busy getting ready for the ski swap this weekend. If you need ski gear or want to try it out then this weekend is a good time to buy. I think the snow has gotten a lot of folks excited. Though 10 minutes North of Barrie where we are, we didn't get much snow at all.
Lots to do with getting SC up to date and keeping track of all the folks that are coming down. Week 1 booked up solid today, the house is now about 40% full.
Also have to lay the framework for the Hardwood DEVO Gold coaching that I am doing again which starts Nov 1st.

I have been calling around a bunch of insurance companies. State Farm quoted me $250/month for the GTi-R which seems a little steep since I am only paying $120/month for the Civic. I am still willing to pay $250 but thought I would call around and see if I could do better.
Nov 6th is probably the weekend that I will be buying the car. I have taken the 5th-8th off work.
-Up to Nov 6: Looking at Ontario cars
-Nov 5: Get insurance sorted out
-Nov 6: Drive to Montreal to check out a couple cars at an importer (and hopefully buy)
-Nov 7: Buy one in Ontario if I don't like anything in Montreal (or drive my Montreal car around and be happy).
-Nov 8: Certify, e-test, validate plates, all that jazz. Drive car around and be happy.

I have been trying to make arrangements to see some more Ontario cars. Just in case I don't like the car(s) in Montreal then I can buy one in Ontario.

What else? I have a couple bikes to work on and need to clean out the barn for our Halloween movie night. But other than that it is business as usual. I am also putting together a proposal for next weeks Cycle Solutions AGM because I think they might want me to do some coaching for the team which would be alotta fun.

As for the sucka that thought I would fail after one week of training, well did I ever show you!

Let the good times roll,
Benno

Week 7 in SC is now full

2010-10-15T17:36:00.003-04:00

Another large group has booked the whole house in SC for week 7 (April 9 - 16). Don't worry though, the house is only about 1/3 full at this point.

Now I am going for a ride, you should do the same :-)
Benno

I bought the ring

2010-10-13T19:11:00.005-04:00

There might be a direct and understandable correlation between the frequency in which I post and the frequency in which I ride. Tonight is one of those much needed days off the bike after doing a lot of "running" around on my 2 days off work. I was able to see a couple GTi-R's yesterday, and despite not being able to take one out for a real road test (the road test car I drove had almost zero clutch left so it was dead slow) I was still able to get a good idea of what is available out there.

I must say I am very impressed with the R. They are tiny and really cool looking in person. Driving on the right side made almost no difference but the stick shift on the left will take some getting used to as well as turn signals on the right of the steering wheel (pedals are normal if you are a JDM newb, it is still left to right -clutch - brake - gas). Anyways I was just checking some out since I am not looking to buy for at least another month. Though I was impressed enough that I sealed my commitment and ordered my plates.

As for the training it is going very well. I feel great and the early mornings are getting easier. I am just getting the base fitness up for when the snow falls and I can wax up the skis.

Pro Trainer looks much better from the last 10 days or so I must say.
If you are thinking of staying with me in South Carolina it is starting to book up early so if you are limited on which weeks you can stay then it might be a good idea to get it together since a lot of large groups are booking up some weeks.

That's all for now.

Benno

Still going

2010-10-07T20:27:00.003-04:00

Day 3 was easier in some ways and harder in others than day 4. Yesterday I was still super stiff from the onset of weight training but staying really light and am getting used to the movements (I learned my lesson about starting too hard maaaany years ago).
The getting up at 6am part doesn't seem to be a problem. I think the fact that it gets dark so early is helping me to get to bed earlier. This morning I felt like a complete zombie, though most of the stiffness has left my "muscles". I think by staying at it every day with light exercise has helped me get through the awkward beginning stages of strength training much quicker and I'll be able to start doing real work in the next couple days.
Right now I am just working on general fitness. On work days I roll out of bed at 6 then immediately go for a short 20min jog (with the Ay Up headlamp which is awesome for running with). After I have a quick bite to eat I do my little workout circuit for about 40 minutes to get me going for the day. I alternate days between core/upper body, and core/lower body. I plan on doing this 7 days a week (pending extenuating circumstances).
After work I grab a quick something to eat and head out on the bike for 1-2 hours. I will integrate a little more riding (or skiing!) structure next month but for now I am just spinning along and having a good time. I ride 3 days and take one day off. I don't abide by a days-of-the-week regime because my work schedule is completely random.

For those of you who are betting on my failure upon me buying my dream car (about 6-8 weeks from now), you'll be pleased to know that I have made appointments to go see and test drive 3 or 4 of them this Tuesday. I am very excited as I've never even sat in one of these things let alone driven one. I figured I better make sure I don't think it's a piece of junk before I order my plates lol.

Anyways that's it for now. 4 days done.
Benno

Getting over the day 2 hump

2010-10-05T22:37:00.002-04:00

I am there. Day 2 of my training went well. Went for my early morning jog followed by some strength training and then an easy ride. I think if I can get past day 3 then days 4-800 will be easy. I am super stiff even though I went overkill easy on the weights.
Keep fit and have fun!
And yes Matt I added an "Until the new car shows up" training failure option.
Ben

Lets give this training thing a try

2010-10-04T07:58:00.002-04:00

I was somewhat disappointed with the easiness of the 24 hour solo thing so I think it is time for a new challenge. I am going to start training again. I will give you an update of how this is going once I get a better idea of my game plan.
Here is how the last month looked, pretty sad story.

So lets see how this thing goes. IMO for me personally there has been no greater challenge in my life then the day to day of real training. I can usually make it for a month, max, but then lose motivation. Lets see how long I can keep it going. I also see no reason at this point to do another 24 hour race solo.
Place your bets!

Ben

How-To: Service hydraulic calipers and change pads

2010-10-01T22:32:00.013-04:00

How-To: Service hydraulic calipers and change pads

Ok so this is a really handy thing to know. Bicycle disc brakes aren’t super complicated there are just a few extra things you need to learn to be able to service them properly yourself. This is one of the most regular services that I perform for people. There are a few reasons why:
- People are scared of working on hydraulic brakes
- People try and service their own brakes without understanding how they work
- Pretty much all mountain bikes over $1000 now come with hydraulic discs
- Disc brake calipers require regular maintenance to keep them operating properly

For this service I seriously recommend you stay within the parameters of the How-To. Brakes are one of those things that are sort of important to your health.

In this How-To I am going to show you how to clean and lubricate your calipers, reset your caliper pistons to “zero”, and install new disc brake pads. I will be illustrating this How-To on my Anthem X1 which has Avid Elixir R disc brakes. Your brakes may vary slightly but the procedure fundamentally stays the same.

Tools needed (pictured from left to right)
-clean container for small parts so you don’t lose them
-Allen keys
-general purpose bicycle bearing grease
-plastic tire lever
-your new brake pads (model specific)
-Shimano mineral oil
-small clean rag
-small screwdriver

Step 1
Remove the wheel for the brake you will be servicing. It is easier to remove the back wheel if you shift down into your hardest cog first.

Step 2
Remove the safety clip from the end of the securing pin and then loosen any securing pin that your brake might be using. For the Elixir it is an Allen bolt, some are slotted screw heads, some brakes have no securing pin at all.
*Be careful when trying to loosen the securing pin. It is really easy to strip the head of these bolts and turn this into a really big job*
Store the pin in your clean container where you won’t lose it.

Step 3
Remove the old brake pads. For the Elixirs this is easy to do with just your fingers.
*Some brake pads like Avid Juicy’s or Hayes snap into place and do not require a securing pin. These pads are almost always harder to pull out and often require needle nose pliers. Pull the tab on the pad towards the center of the caliper to pull the backing plate of the pad away from the piston. Then pull the pad out through the caliper slot, it will snap out of place.
The reason you pull the brake pad backing plate away from brake caliper piston is because the caliper piston will have a post protruding from its center that helps to hold the pad in place. If you try to pull the pad out and it is stuck on the piston post then you could shear the post right off (been there, done that)*

Inspect the pads. Mine did not need to be changed but I have an example of some old pads that were definitely in need of replacing. As you can see all of the “meat” of the pad had been used up and it was pretty well worn down to the metal backing plate. Backing plate on brake rotor = death to rotor and not so good stopping.

These old pads are very worn. Time to replace.

Step 4
Inspect your caliper. See how on my caliper one piston sticks out quite a bit further than the other. This service will address this issue and reset both pistons back into the caliper (zero)

Step 5
Clean up your caliper.
Obviously mine isn’t too dirty but for the bad ones I like to use Finish Line Speed Degreaser. It is acetone based and evaporates without leaving any residue.
Take your small clean rag and floss it through your caliper. It will be easy since the absence of pads makes the caliper opening much larger. Doing this gets rid of all your accumulated brake dust and other crud that might be hindering the operation of your brakes.

Step 6
Expose a piston.
So here’s the deal. Your hydraulic brake lever has a plunger that pushes the brake fluid when you squeeze the brake lever. This fluid is what pushes your pistons out and clamps your pads down on your rotor.
That part should be pretty obvious. However there is also a reservoir of fluid located in the lever that can allow more brake fluid into the brake line via the flow port. This allows your caliper pistons to move further out as your pads wear but your brake lever will still feel the same when you pull it.
The good part about this is that your brake lever will (should) always have the same feel throughout the life of the pads. The bad part is that when you remove the old pads you need to manually push the pistons back into the caliper (zero) to accommodate the larger thickness of the new pads. Pushing your caliper pistons back into the caliper is easy to do because when the brake lever is not being pulled the small flow port that allows fluid to move in and out of the brake lever reservoir is open for business.

We need to expose a piston so we can service it. To do that start by holding one piston in place with your plastic tire lever. The plastic lever is good because it is a soft material and wont damage your caliper pistons. Many pistons are made of ceramic and are easy to chip, crack, break, damage if using a metal screwdriver.
While you are holding one piston in place, you need to squeeze the brake lever slowly to bring the other piston out of the caliper. Don’t go too far because it is possible to push the piston right out of the caliper and then you will need to bleed the brakes.

How I position myself as I do this service

Exposing a piston

Piston is now exposed

Step 7
Service the protruding piston.
Now all you gotta do is wipe the dirt from the piston walls with your clean rag and the screwdriver. Make sure the screwdriver doesn’t poke through the rag and scratch your piston walls.

Step 8
Lube the protruding piston.
I like to use Shimano mineral oil for this because it is a very neutral lubricating agent. I’m sure you could use DOT fluid for brakes that use DOT but mineral oil won’t attack your paint and is very non-toxic. I use it with great success.
Place 1-3 drops of mineral oil on the piston wall and let it bleed around the piston and cover its circumference. Using too much will just make more of a mess that you will have to clean up later before you put your pads back in.

You can now see the light oil coverage on the piston walls

Step 9
Get the piston lubed and moving freely.
You want to work the piston in and out of the caliper so that it gets well lubricated and moves relatively easily. First push the piston back in with your tire lever. Make sure to push on it squarely or it could get jammed in the caliper.
Hold the opposing piston in place like you did before and pump the brake lever to bring the same lubricated piston back out again. Repeat this 3 or 4 times to get the lubricated piston moving freely with reduced friction.

Push the piston back into the caliper

Now hold the opposite piston in place with the tire lever to bring the lubricated piston back out

Step 10
Clean up the excess mineral oil.
With the piston pushed all the way back into the caliper get your small clean rag (a fresh one if the first one you used got really dirty). Floss the rag through the caliper and get as much of the oil outta there as you can. You are now finished servicing this piston!

Step 11
Service the other piston.
Repeat steps 6 through 10 for the other piston to get it cleaned, lubricated, moving again, and pushed back into the caliper.

Now that both of your pistons have been serviced the main bulk of the work is done. On a typical caliper service it takes me about 5 minutes per brake (both pistons for front or back) to get to this point. So reading this How-To should take a lot longer than actually doing the service once you know what you are doing.
With both pistons lubed, moving freely, and pushed all the way back into the caliper we have achieved what I like to call “zeroing” the caliper.

Step 12
Prep for new pads.
To make sure that our pistons stay as centred as possible when we insert the rear wheel, you need to loosen the caliper bolts so that the caliper can move freely.

Step 13
Install pads
You need to prep the pads by installing the return spring onto one side. Next bring the other pad onto the spring and pinch them together with your fingers to make sure the spring is in the correct place and allows the pads to close fully.
Slide the pads into place in the caliper. This might take a few attempts as you will find that sometimes the return spring can get dislodged. Take your time. If your pads snap into place like Juicy or Hayes then wiggle them as you push on them, make sure they go all the way into the caliper and they snap into place or they will just rattle and fall out while you are riding. The Elixirs, Shimano, Formula, Hope, just slide into place. Push on them to make sure they are square.

Position the return spring onto one pad

Sandwich the pads to make sure the spring is in place

Slide the sandwiched pads into the caliper

Let go of the sandwich and push them squarely into place

Step 14
Lube that securing pin!
This is the last magic piece of the secret service-your-brakes-like-a-pro service. The little securing pin is often the source of creaky brakes. The pads slide back and forth on this pin and if it is dry then the caliper will creak when you pull the lever.
Take a minuscule dab of bearing grease and roll the pin in your fingers to lightly lubricate the pin.

Just a very thin coat

Step 15
Install securing pin and pop the safety clip back onto the end of the pin. Don’t over torque this bolt. Remember what I said before, it is easy to strip the head of this bolt and that can be extra work you don’t want.

Step 16
Install your rear wheel. Do this on the ground with your body weight on the saddle to make sure your wheel is square in the dropouts.

Weight on the saddle as you close the lever to make sure the wheel is square in the frame

Step 17
Pump up your brake. Since our pistons are still pushed all the way back into our caliper we need to pump the brake lever 10 or 15 times to bring the pistons back out to where they are supposed to be and have a solid feeling lever. Remember since our caliper bolts are also loose it allows the pistons to float naturally into the position they want to be.

Step 18
Center your caliper.

Step 19
Now is the perfect time to check any other bolts for that brake. Remember you don’t always have to turn a bolt to make sure it is tight. If a bolt is already tight you don’t want to over tighten it.

That’s it you are all done! Your brakes will reward you with long life and superior performance.

Stay tuned!
Benno

How I roll - the stuff in my pockets

2010-09-30T21:25:00.008-04:00

So I dunno if you've noticed by now but I can be pretty particular when it comes to.........well anything really. Since cycling occupies most of my time, it gets over analysed ad nauseam. The benefit to you? I do a lot of the hard work, trial and error, and money wasting.
Here are the basics of what I take with me on every ride and why. Obviously it varies by the length, temperature, and type of ride but these basic tools will be with me 99.999999% of the time.

-pump/CO2 inflator
-CO2
-multi-tool
-tube
-tube patches
-Shimano chain pins / quick link
-cash
*on solo rides*
-MP3 player and headphones

Genuine Innovations - Second Wind mountain bike version
First things first lets take a look at the pump. Found this little gem probably about 5 years ago and I am lovin' it! So it's a mini pump, no big deal, gets the tires up to about 40psi with a billion strokes. The great thing about it however is that the head of the pump can be un-screwed and you can use it as a C02 inflator. It is an awesome inflator too.
Sooooo if you get a flat you can use it as a regular C02 inflator. Then if you get another flat you can use it as a pump when all of your CO2 is gone or you screwed it up the first try or you are too cheap to use a cartridge (me).
I replace this guy about every 2 years because like any CO2 inflator the seals tend to get a little worn out and it stops working effectively as an inflator. They make a road version that reaches higher pressure but I have yet to try that one. I think they are actually updating/upgrading this for next year so not sure if this specific model will be around much longer. You can bet I'll be one of the first to try out the new model.

Topeak Nexus multitool
This is what separates the mechanics from the guys who watched their buddy adjust their brakes that one time. This thing has everything you could practically want on a ride, meaning that you will be able to fix 99% of the trouble you might expect to realistically encounter while on the bike. Has all your common Allen key sizes, some spoke wrenches, couple screwdrivers, a Torx bit for disc rotor bolts, and a really great chain breaker (even has a little wire that holds the chain together while you repair it). There is even a slot that nicely fits a couple Shimano chain pins. I keep a 9 and 10 speed pin stowed in the rare occurrence of a Shimano chain breakage.

Tube

Doesn't really matter which route you go here. I always keep my tube in a ZipLock bag for an extra layer of protection. The higher end tubes ($10) are nice because they are wrapped up smaller, come in their own plastic, and have talcum powder dusted on them already so they slide into place better.

Honestly I neeeever flat. I find the only tubes I use are for my ill-prepared friends. Probably for the best because you should replace your spare tube at least once per season. Nothing sucks more than fixing a flat only to find out that your spare tube has a hole in it!

No glue tube patches

So this is how the story goes. I was riding with a friend (Mr. Tomsic I think??) down in South Carolina. We had set out on a fairly epic 160km mountain ride that traversed a bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. I had already had a flat earlier that day when I ran over a piece of glass, my spare tube was now gone (used).

So we get to the Parkway to find that it is closed, no big deal bikes are still allowed (I think?). We are bookin' along at about 75km/h when I double flat on chunk in the road. So here is the problem, I have 2 flats, we only have 1 tube left between the 2 of us. The real problem was that we were about 40km from anything....... like a person. The road was closed so no traffic to flag down. I was thinking ohhhhhh damn.

As we considered our options I started to remove my shoes as walking seemed like the best course of action. Just as we started to set off to certain death an angel floated by on two wheels and proceeded to give me a tube. It was the only cyclist we saw the whole 7 hours we were riding that day and I vowed that I would never be stuck like that again. It was a sign.

So that is the reason for the patches. They cost like $4, have 6 self glued patches you just peel and stick, and take up very little space. A must have.

Quick link and/or Shimano pins

For whatever brand of chain you used. Pictured is the one for my KMC chain. A SRAM link will work on Shimano chains of the same speed. Usually I will use the Shimano pins on Shimano chains because, in my opinion, it is a stronger bond.

Cash

Cause you never know when you will get the munchies.

I keep all this stuff in the ZipLock bag because then you can just grab and go. Bag doubles as a rain jacket for my MP3 player and headphones in the event of precipitation.

MP3 Player - Creative Zen 8 GB

I know what you are thinking, "you ride with music?? OMG that is like soooo dangerous! What if a blood thirsty Pterodactyl swoops down and pecks your eyes out??!??!?!"

Lets just say that life is full of risks. It's like a big game of risk vs reward and in this case I like my music so I ride with it. Really what difference is it going to make if I can hear the car behind me that is about to run me over? I don't have eyes on the back of my head and I'm sure as hell not going to look back every time I think I hear one. I ride defensively, obey the traffic laws, ride predictably, and pay attention to my surroundings. I think that goes a lot further towards me staying safe on the bike.

Favorite ride music includes but is not limited to:

-Depeche Mode

-Massive Attack

-Daft Punk

-Deadmau5

-Moby

-The Prodigy

-Beastie Boys

-Dave Matthews

-Various 1-3 hour long electronic/techno/dance albums

-Genesis (Phil Collins ftw)

Headphones - Ultimate Ears 700, earbud style

Did I mention that I like music?? Well I do. And I take is seriously, I guess. These babies are amazing. Did a couple months of research before deciding on these. They are supposed to be the best mix of sound and lightweight. They block outside noise (a nuclear blast would go unheard) and are dual armature which means they cover lows and highs with two different drivers. Took some monkeying around to find the best fitting earpieces but they are supplied with tons of options.

Here's a trick to not having the headphones pulled out of your ears when something pulls on the cord. I zip tie a safety pin to the cord of all my headphones. I attach the pin where the two ear piece wires join together. Clip the pin to your shirt (or jersey) and anything that pulls on the main cord will just pull on the safety pin and leave the two ear piece cords unaffected.

That's it. That is the stuff that is bulging in my pockets when I ride. Now you know.

Ben

XTR Shadow Ben-meya rear derailleur

2010-09-22T23:45:00.007-04:00

Wow what a journey! This sucker is done.........................................
well errrr ok not 100% but very very close. Just need a couple more tiny bolts since a few of the ones I ordered didn't work out (ok well one didn't work out and I accidentally ruined the other haha). Looks like it will be around the 145-150 gram mark once the finishing touches are done. Went for looks and durability over stupid light weight. Still how I managed to take 40 grams off of the normal weight of this derailleur is pretty nuts. Not bad for my first project.

So here is the master list:
-drilled out steel pivot pins. Tapped threads and replaced pins with aluminum screws.
-main derailleur body had some material shaved and drilled off. Polished to a mirror and painted gold.
-carbon upper hanger plate. Painted gold on one surface and re-cleared.
-aluminum upper hanger plate bolt. Polished gold anodizing off part of the surface and brought to a mirror, gold anodizing left on some surfaces.
-Token aluminum pulley wheels with ceramic bearings. Polished gold anodizing off of the surface and brought to a mirror. Gold anodizing left in cutouts.
-carbon short cage from Speedware. Painted gold except for the outwards facing surfaces (left raw carbon) and re-cleared.
-polished cage spring bolt
-polished main body spring
-all screws replaced with gold aluminum
-custom support stand fabricated from old shadow cage lol

What is left?
-lower hanger plate bolt (purchased in gold aluminum but didn't fit. Re-ordering in Ti)
-gold aluminum cable pinch bolt and polished cable sandwich plate, ruined the gold one I had trying to cut to size :-( .
-respray a few damaged areas and blemishes
-final polish of mirrored surfaces.

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for!

Where it all started

There's one at every party

2010-09-21T13:48:00.002-04:00

You can only be polite for so long.......

Speed on a bike cannot be created or destroyed

2010-09-20T21:47:00.003-04:00

only transferred from one rider to another.

Pauls Dirty Enduro - 2010
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. A time where overused phrases and cliches were used, with ill efficiency, to segue into one mans 1st person account of what happened that fate full day.

The build up
Ok so here's the deal. I am pretty darn fit right now but I know that kid was much stronger than me last year. He also seems to be beating me on a fairly regular basis in the O-Cup scene. So where is my advantage? Well I am really hoping that I can win through some technical fault or fluke like last year. I like my chances.

Red eyed Sat a.m.
K seriously wtf 5:45am??? I was smarter this year to not wake up at 5 at least. No point in sitting around in the cold for 45 minutes. Might as well get some extra blanket time.
Actually pretty warm out considering the sun isn't even up yet. I am sooooo thankful for the weather. Luck strikes again for Paul's!

Arrival at the venue
Oh geez there are way too many people who are all like "gonna win another one eh Ben". I guess they don't realise or don't remember that I really shouldn't have won last year.
Why does this dude insist on taking 8 centillion photo's of me? Why must they document my inevitable failure??
Aw look they have some photo's of Paul Rush riding the Ganny. Wish I could have met him. I bet he would have had a lot of fun doing this awesome 100km course. Gets better every year.

It begins
So looks like a pretty good group this year. I see that my nemesis is here. Really he is a lot like me so technically if he wins than I am actually the real winner through some convoluted logic which seems to have come and went as quickly as my energy during the 80km's that follow.
Not even bothering with the headphones this year. I know it will be a battle and not a solo ride in the woods like previous years.
That Tall Tree's rider (who I later found out was named Matt) seems to be going out awfully hard for someone I have never heard of. He is gonna blow for sure. Seems to be running into a lot of stuff. Zac is going fast too on his singlespeed. He usually dies in the last 40km's though, he's not a threat.

45km's done
Well we all got through that feed zone pretty fast. Quite the scramble. Organised chaos but old hat for me since I have been using the 2 bottle method for 3 or 4 years now.
*The 2 bottle method is as follows:
-start with 2 full 750mL bottles, one on bike, one in jersey
-toss empty bottle at first feed zone (20km's in)
-finish 2nd bottle by second feed zone (45km's in and at the start/finish point again since it is a figure 8 course).
-grab 2 bottles placed by me at the start/finish and keep riding
-toss empty bottle at next feed zone (65km's)
-fill up bottle at 80km or 90km feed zone if needed.
Total stopping time for the entire race = 30 seconds

wow we are really starting to pick up the pace. I think Andrew is trying to drop me and Tall Trees Matt. I think he might be over extending himself a little.
Ok we're 70km's in. Andrew is towing me around like a sac of potatoes. Definitely not overextending himself. Tall Trees Matt is gone off the back. I am really going way too hard. I have felt out of my comfort zone since the big push began at the 50km mark. Oh well if I am going down it's gonna be in a blaze of glory.
Ok starting to feel a bonk coming on. Getting dizzy, stomach is angry at me. Better eat a bar, even if it is a little ahead of schedule.
Ahhh that feels way better. Where are we now? 75km's eh.
Ok the 2nd last feed zone. Andrew is stopping for a second. Maybe I'll test the legs a little. Ohh boy they are so very done. He caught back up I'm sure 5 seconds after stopping. Kid's got energy to spare.

*"OK that's it, I'm done"
"What? No you gotta keep going"
"No I can't. Have fun"
"See ya"

And just like that he was gone. I had lost. Why did I decide to shut her down juuust after a feed zone? I am sooo hungry. I'll pinball my way through the trees and try not to think too much about the delicious PBJ sandwiches waiting for me at the 90km mark.

The 90km final feed zone
Ohhh thank you jebuz. Nom nom nom; life giving PBJ, nectar of the gods. Ok I've zoned out long enough. Time to get back on the bike and finish this SOB. Oh look there goes squeaky drivetrain Tall Trees Matt. Guess it was I that blew up. Ohh the irony.
Perhaps it is a PBJ induced coma but there goes Mr. Zac Wheeler cranking by me on his singlespeed with 1km to go on the never ending 5 minute long climb. Well if you're not first you're last. It was worth it!
Hmn still 10 minutes faster than last year. What an amazing day of racing. I am actually really glad that there is such a fast field to make this extremely hard race even harder. Almost a personal best time for me. Next year should be amazing.

That's a typical Paul's Dirty Enduro experience in a nut shell. I'd have to say it was the funnest one that I can remember. All hail King Andrew and long live old man Dawson. Yes I am just a man now, my reign of terror is over.

-photo's when they come. Send me some if you have them!

Bean-o!

Carolina Tour Option - Caesar's Head

2010-09-20T20:19:00.001-04:00

Thar's cycling gold in them hills!

Caesar’s Head – Road ride
This ride leaves from the scenic Table Rock State Park. Wind your way East through the twisty back roads to the base of the Caesar’s Head climb. Roughly 10km’s of switchbacks taking you up to about 1000m above sea level. Regroup at the top and take in the scenery at the overlook. Quick descent down the backside and back onto the extremely scenic, meandering, velvety paved roads which take us West to HWY 178. Make the climb back up to the continental divide and enjoy 2 switchback descents followed by some more meandering as we make our way East back to Table Rock State Park.
Ideal lesson topics covered:
-Pacing
-Descending
-Cadence
-Riding in a group

Location: Table Rock State Park
Est. driving time: 45 minutes one way
Difficulty: Intermediate
Km’s covered: approx. 95km
Ride time: Est. 4hours

Race Prep Pro in Peterborough on September 28th

2010-09-20T19:53:00.003-04:00

Like the title says. I will be in Peterborough on September the 28th and available to service bikes. Flat rate of $20/hr. I will have all of my tools and will be fully operational to the max. Available hours are limited and it is first come first serve. Let me know what you need and I'll make it happen!
Service is performed at the location I am staying. I can come pick the bike up and drop off (for a fee) or you can drop off and pick up.

text or call: 705 229 6923

email: benmtbdawson@yahoo.ca

Benno

Carolina Tour Option - Pisgah National Forest

2010-09-16T21:44:00.004-04:00

Pisgah Trail System: Black Mountain – Mountain biking
Strap on your shoes for a truly epic experience. Pisgah is the real deal! This Black Mountain ride has easily become one of my favourites after spending a week last year perfecting the route. Ride 45 minutes of scenic twisty fire road (or 45 minutes of extremely technical singletrack climbing, you decide) as you creep closer to the top of the first peak. Duck into the singletrack for another 15-20 minutes of steep, technical climbing taking you up the sister peak to Black Mountain (2 free beers to those who manage to ride all the way to the top of this peak!). You get a little bit of a breather with a great singletrack descent which brings you to the base of the Black Mountain climb.
Steep, technical climbing sprinkled with some hike-a-bike portions will challenge you to see how far you can ride different sections before having to put a foot down. Finally you’ve made it up to the scenic vistas on Black Mountain.
After taking in the view you get your first 10 minute descent. Let your brakes cool with a quick 5 minute technical singletrack climb before heading down the second 10 minute descent. The latter featuring flowy berms and jumps, bringing you back to Hwy 276 with a short 5 minute ride to the car. If you are feeling adventurous we can head back out to Coontree Mtn. aka Mt. Motherf***er for a final 15km loop with a relentless climb and amazing ridge ride singletrack descent right back to the car.
Ideal lesson topics covered while at Pisgah:
-Pacing
-Technical singletrack climbing
-Energy conservation
-Selecting a line

Location: Pisgah National Forest
Est. driving time: 1 hour 30 minutes one way
Difficulty: Advanced
Km’s of trail: 300+km
Ride time: Est. 4-5 hours

Starting the long climb up

InSaNe Deal on Hardwood 2011 mountain bike season pass

2010-09-15T21:11:00.004-04:00

Hardwood Ski and Bike in Barrie have an awesome deal going on right now for their 2011 mountain biking season's pass. When you buy the early bird you also get the rest of 2010 free.

"$99 + tax Early Bird Mountain Bike Season Passes go on sale on September 15! Purchase your season pass for next year after September 15 and ride for free for the rest of 2010!
There are a limited number of these adult and student (13 to 19) season passes available. Riders aged 6 to 12 pay only $75 + tax."

Here are the normal rates:
"Season Pass Fee for Riders Age 20 & Over $215.00 + tax
Season Pass Fee for Riders Age 13 - 19 $179.00 + tax
Season Pass Fee for Riders Age 6 – 12 $99.00 + tax
Riders Age 5 and Younger FREE"

Thought I'd spread the werd since I know a lot of you come to Hardwood to pre-ride for races and whatnot.

You can check it out and print the waiver here
2011 Hardwood mountain bike season pass - Early bird

Benny

For Sale - XT M770 trigger shifters

2010-09-13T11:01:00.002-04:00

Up for grabs are my XT triggers that came off the X-Ben. They have been modified to release up to 2 gears on the rear shifter when shifting to a harder gear (like XTR). Included are the gear indicators that were removed when I first got the bike, they are easy to re-install if wanted.
The shifters are in perfect condition cosmetically and mechanically. They make a great upgrade.
Reason for selling, now have XTR shifters on the X-Ben.

Price - $50 picked up
Shipping - $5 in Canada

2010 Pauls Dirty Enduro - Pre Race

2010-09-09T18:58:00.004-04:00

Ok so it looks like it is that time of year once again. I think this is my 7 or 8th time doing the 100km course and I seem to always forget just how much singletrack there is in this event. I'm thinking the 6 hour ride wont feel as epic being fresh off the 24 hour a couple weeks ago but then again it is a different kind of event. There is a ton of climbing and I hope the weather cooperates since I don't function too well in the cold.
Went for a 4 hour ride earlier this week, my first real ride since the 24. Definitely still hurtin' from that one but I'm sure I'll be good to go by the 18th. Just hoping that I don't start to get a cold the night before like I have for a bunch of times in the past.
Last year we raised over $17,000 for the Canadian Mental Health Association and this year we are hoping to raise even more. Please donate a pledge for me if you can and support a great cause.

http://www.onlineregistrations.ca/paulsdirty/list.php

I'll let you know how it goes. Apparently I am the defending champion having won it the past 5 times in a row. Hopefully I can hold off against the tidal wave of young whippersnappers biting at my heels.

King Ben

Testing - Polar RS800 CX Bike

2010-09-08T23:39:00.005-04:00

I have been using Polar products for probably about 6 years now. I think I would feel lost without a heart rate monitor. Most of all I have come to love and rely on the Pro Trainer software.

The year was 2008, bikes were 23% flexier and 12.6% heavier on average. It was the year my S720i finally bit the dust after its many many rides and hard use (4 or 5 years). I was now in the market for something new and exciting. Enter the RS800 CX Bike.
Now the RS800 comes in a few different models depending on what you will be using it for. There is the running model, which comes with their s3 stride sensor. The multi-sports unit containing their G3 GPS sensor. And finally the bike model which comes with the CS speed, and now cadence sensors. All accessories feature Polar’s W.I.N.D. wireless technology which uses 2.4 GHz transmission frequencies to cut down on interference from other sources such as power lines.

Out of the box
Well let’s see. Out of the box Polar sent me the wrong unit. I was shipped the running one instead of the bike model so it had the s3 pedometer. I thought oh well I will check out the watch before I return it for the proper model. Well watch wouldn't turn on either. You think they would make sure the battery isn't dead before they shipped out a $500 watch but I guess I am just picky. 3 weeks later I got the real deal, the RS800CX Bike. Came with a bike sensor, bike mount, CD, USB infra-red stick, wheel magnet, warranty card.
It is a very attractive unit. Much more sleek and quite a bit smaller than my previous S720i.

On the trail
This unit is awesome. It seamlessly collects and organises all of your data. The bike sensor is very accurate with speed and distance provided you calibrate it properly. The screen is easy to read and it is also easy to pan through the different displays while you are on the go. The strap is the most comfortable yet and doesn't slide around even on my pigeon chested little torso. Doesn't suffer as much from interference as previous models. Hydro wires will still give you funky readings when you are in close proximity but not as much as older models.
My RS800 CX Bike didn't come with a cadence sensor. I believe all new models do. It’s not something I would mount on my mountain bike anyway.

Specs and features
All of the wireless accessories are coded and need to be calibrated to the watch. It only takes a couple seconds and ensures that your watch won’t read the 100 other heart rates that are close by in the start pen of a race.
There are about 5 different screens you can navigate through while you are in a workout. Each screen displays 3 lines of data. You can choose from a list of about 20 different options of what you want each line to display and every screen is customisable. What this means is that you are no longer stuck with what Polar programs from the factory. You have complete display freedom!
It is much easier to customise your displays and settings while your watch is synchronised with the computer. This is very easy to do via the tiny infra red “IrDA” adapter that plugs into the USB port on your computer. This is finally included with all RS800 models.
I looooooove the Pro Trainer software! It really helps to keep me organised when and if I decide to do a little training. This feature is where Polar really shines. You can click on each day and get into as much detail as you want. It puts all of your information from the ride that day into graph form and plots all of the data against itself for easy comparisons. Pan your watch over any time in the workout and get a little bubble of info about exactly what was going on at that point in time (speed, altitiude, temperature, ect). There are about a million features in Pro Trainer and the watch. Read more on the Polar website or ask a specific question so I don't have to write the great Canadian novel.

Back to the watch. The red “start workout” button is hyper sensitive and really easy to push. The downside of this is that if you want to wear the watch as a watch for normal daily activity you will bump the red button about 1452 times per day resulting in extremely annoying beeping noises.
The battery in the main watch only lasts about a year but now uses a much easier to find 2032 battery. However the last time I had to change it all of my settings were wiped out on the watch and for some reason my computer did not update the watch when I sync’d it shortly after. Instead it seems the watch tried to “update” the computer and wiped out all the settings on the computer as well. This angered me as I had to spend the next hour re-calibrating all of my wheels, heart rate zones, menu’s ect, ect……
The rest of the batteries used in the watch and sensors are easy to find and easy to change. You no longer have to wait 2 months and pay $40 to have Polar do it for you.

Verdict
Polar definitely have some quality control issues so it is not uncommon to have to send it back to their ridiculously slow service department. As mentioned I opted for the standard wheel magnet and wireless sensor RS800 instead of the one that relies on the GPS receiver to gather its speed, altitude, distance, ect data. Two reasons I stayed away from the GPS. First is reliability, I’m sure it would turn into one big headache. Second is accuracy. It is not uncommon for a GPS based cyclometer to be inaccurate %15+ in heavily wooded and twisty singletrack.
I knew the bike sensor was tried and true and is 99.9% accurate as long as you calibrate it properly. I am still happy with my decision to not get the GPS and also like that I don’t have to carry a bulky receiver with me on my rides.
On the other hand the GPS model would be great for skiers, runners, hikers, pretty much lets you use your Polar for any sport though keep in mind GPS accuracy problems would still persist. After 2 years my watch no longer keeps accurate time. It is about 1 minute fast per week so it has to be reset every month or so. I will let you know if it gets worse.

Pros
-Pro Trainer software is awesome
-Works very well when it works
-Heart rate is reliable
-Tons of features and menus while riding

Cons
-Poor reliability
-Red button too easy to push
-Short battery life

Rating
Value – 9000 calories out of a 10579 calorie epic ride
Performance – 18 hours out of a 24 hour mountain bike race

Mounted on the bars of the X-Ben
W.I.N.D. Speed sensor
IrDA infra red Syncing up the watch

The whole system works very well together

My hardest ride to date. Ignore the distance, it got screwed up when I took my spare bike for a lap.

Carolina Tour Option - DuPont State Forest

2010-09-03T09:41:00.002-04:00

DuPont Trail System – Mountain biking
DuPont is an extremely scenic location with multiple personalities. On one side of the river is steep, rocky terrain. There are fast and technical mountain climbs and descents with large areas of exposed slick-rock as you make your way up Cedar Mountain. Black Mountain is also located on the Southwest side of the river and has flowy berms and jumps as you make your way to the top of its steep technical descent which takes you back down to the main trail.
Take your shoes off (and hang on to them tightly!) as we fjord the stream and make our way over to the vast Northeast section of trails. Smooth and flowy IMBA style ridge riding with long climbs and descents will keep you smiling. All advanced difficulty trails here are optional and can be avoided for less experienced riders.
Even the drive over is amazing as you pass over famous Ceasar’s Head.
Ideal lesson topics covered while at DuPont:
-Braking while descending
-Descending
-Technical singletrack climbing
-Selecting a line

Location: DuPont State Forest
Est. driving time: 1 hour 15 minutes one way
Difficulty: Moderate to Advanced
Km’s of trail: 60+km
Ride time: Est. 4 hours

Is that a piranha?!

Carolina Tour Option - Issaqueena Dam trails

2010-09-03T09:28:00.004-04:00

Issaqueena Dam Trail System – Mountain biking
Located only a 20 minute drive from the house, Issaqueena is the ideal location to get in some early season miles on the mountain bike. The terrain is a mix of fast twisty singletrack with rolling hills and descents. It is well maintained and owned by Clemson College and contains over 70km’s of trail. The trails there are not marked in any capacity and it takes a long time to learn them all. Take advantage of my thorough knowledge of these trails when you choose Issaqueena as one of your guided rides for the week.
Learn the art of cornering properly, the hardest skill to learn! I break it down for you in easy to understand steps.
Ideal lesson topics covered while at Issaqueena:
-Cornering
-Weight distribution
-Braking
-Gear selection and cadence
-Clearing obstacles

Location: Issaqueena Dam trails just North of Clemson
Est. driving time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Km’s of trail: 70+km
Ride time: Est. 4 hours

Derek does the wallride on the DH course at Issaqueena

How-To: Adjust rear derailleur limit screws

2010-09-02T22:30:00.008-04:00

What the heck are all these screws for???!

Limit screws are very crucial to the proper operation and longevity of your sensitive and expensive parts. They are located on your front and rear derailleurs. Here we will deal with the limit screws on your rear derailleur.
These guys are super easy to adjust and are yet another 5 minute job once you get the hang of it. This How-To assumes that all other adjustments are in spec (cable tension, b-tension, hanger alignment, friction free housing/cable). Of course once you get more familiar with how everything works in harmony you will be able to switch around between all of these adjustments since one adjustment usually affects the other. So adjusting limit screws you may run into a cable tension problem, or b-tension problems, or discover that your housing needs replacing. Don’t be intimidated, just take your time.
Limit screws are used to, you guessed it, limit the rear derailleur. Since the spacing on frames and cassettes vary slightly, and some bikes are 7, 8, 9, or 10 (ok Campy or 11) speeds there needs to be a way to set limits for the amount the derailleur can travel. By adding limit screws it means a lot of the time you can use the same derailleur for 7, 8, 9, or 10 speeds.
Limit screws are little screws that physically stop the rear derailleur from moving out of a certain range regardless of what your shifter is doing. They are like the bookends and have no function unless you are in your easiest or hardest gear on the back.

Here you can see the limit screws on the sexy Ben-meya derailleur and how they contact the body of the derailleur to limit its movement.

This is the other limit screw on the Ben-meya. One for the High limit, one for the Low limit.

Tools needed:
-Slotted screwdriver
-hand

It is important to select a screwdriver that fits snugly into the limit screw. Some limit screws are soft aluminum (like the ones on my 7900 DuraAce) so by selecting a tool with a secure fit it will ensure that you don’t damage the head of the screw (which sucks as you might have guessed). Also note that some derailleurs you need Allen keys to adjust the limit screws (SRAM XO and others) and they may be located in an entirely different place on the derailleur. Just look for the two screws labelled “L” and “H”. Sometimes you can also tell which limit screws they are by shifting to either the lowest or highest gear and locating the screw that is blocking the derailleur from moving beyond that point (as pictured above on the Ben-meya).

As always, make sure your wheel is square in your frame. I do this by leaning over the bike from the other side, putting my weight down on the saddle to keep the wheel square in the dropouts, and closing the skewer while my weight is keeping the wheel square.

Tighten

Step 1:
Shift your rear derailleur into the hardest/smallest cog on the back. Locate the limit screws on your rear derailleur. On my DuraAce they are at the back and labelled “L” for Low (easiest) and “H” for High (hardest).

Step 2:
Check your High limit.
When you are in your hardest gear the upper pulley wheel on the derailleur should sit squarely in the centre of the hardest cog when viewed from the back. Spin your cranks so that your chain is moving to make sure it is running smoothly along the hardest gear if it does look centred.

Symptoms of improperly adjusted High limit:
Screwed in too far
-chain wants to jump up to the next easiest gear. In doing this your chain makes a *clicking* noise every time your cassette makes a revolution or your chain hunts around between the two hardest gears (or doesn't go into the hardest gear at all).
Screwed out too far
-chain wants to jump off the hardest cog and into the frame. It can get jammed in there and wreck your chain, derailleur, frame, hanger, ect……

Step 3:
Adjust your High limit.
Use your snug fitting screwdriver to make the appropriate adjustments. If you are screwing out counter clockwise and your derailleur isn't moving down towards the hardest cog it means the derailleur is being held in place by cable tension. Release some cable tension with either the barrel adjuster on the shifter/derailleur, or by loosening the cable pinch bolt on the rear derailleur. This will allow the derailleur to rest on the High limit screw.
*You rear derailleur will always rest on your High limit screw when you are in your hardest gear if your High limit is adjusted properly.
When cable tension and High limit screw are in harmony there is often just a tiny bit of slack in the cable when in your hardest gear on the back.

Here you can see there is lots of slack in the cable which will allow me to adjust the High limit as I please.

When it's all said and done there should be the smallest touch of slack in the rear derailleur cable and the derailleur should rest against the High limit screw when in the hardest gear.

Step 4:
Final check of your High limit.
You want to stress your High limit to make sure that your chain is not going to jump off the cog and into your frame. To stress your High limit and expose it to the kind of forces it will encounter out on the trail you need to and pull your rear derailleur to try and get the chain to come off into the frame.
Do this by firmly grasping the derailleur in your hand. While spinning the cranks, pull outward with a small amount of pressure. If the chain jumps off into your frame it means you need to tighten the High limit screw a bit more by turning it clockwise.
Finish up with your High limit.

Chain will fall off when derailleur is loaded by hand if not properly adjusted.

Step 5:
Check your Low limit
When you are in your easiest gear your upper pulley wheel on your derailleur should sit squarely in the centre of your easiest cog on the back. Again spin your cranks to make sure your chain is moving smoothly along this gear.

Symptoms of an improperly adjusted Low limit:
Screwed in too far
-chain wants to jump down to the next hardest gear. Makes a *clicking* noise with every revolution of the cassette or the chain hunts around between the two easiest gears or doesn't shift into the easiest gear at all.
Screwed out too far
-chain wants to jump off the easiest cassette and get lodged in your spokes. This is the most common cause of death for a rear derailleur/chain. Often the derailleur cage will get caught in your spokes and the whole derailleur will get ripped right off the bike. Usually it making a big mess of your rear wheel in the process.

Step 6:
Adjust your Low limit.
Again use your screwdriver to make the appropriate adjustments. Essentially just screw in your Low limit clockwise until it snugs against your derailleur when you are in your easiest gear. Or if your derailleur won’t make the shift to your easiest gear then screw your Low limit out counter clockwise to allow your rear derailleur to travel a little bit further up the cassette to complete the shift.
*You rear derailleur will always rest against your Low limit screw when you are in your easiest gear if your Low limit is adjusted properly.
When cable tension and Low limit screw are in harmony you should feel your derailleur just touch your Low limit when shifting into your easiest gear. Not enough to make it hard to shift into that gear, just enough to know that it is resting against the Low limit screw.

Step 7:
Final check of your Low limit.
Now you want to stress your Low limit to make sure that your chain is not going to jump off the easiest cog and into your spokes. To stress your Low limit and expose it to regular every day riding forces you need to push on your rear derailleur to try and get the chain to come off into the spokes.
Again grasp the derailleur firmly in your hand. While spinning the cranks SLOWLY, CAREFULLY push your derailleur towards your wheel with a small amount of force. If the chain jumps off into your spokes makes sure your wheel is moving slowly enough to not damage your chain/spokes/derailleur in the process. If it does jump off it means you need to tighten your Low limit screw a bit more by turning it clockwise.
Finish up with your Low limit.

Chain will fall off into spokes when pressured by hand if the Lower limit is not properly adjusted. Better here than being torqued up a hill out on the trail!

That’s if my friend you are all finished! Again, takes some fiddling back and forth but eventually you will get it. After a while you will get a feel for it and you will be able to troubleshoot almost any problem that comes your way concerning shifting. Every bike is different and practice makes perfect.

Let me know if you have any questions, concerns, comments, stories.

Benno

I did it, it's done, and that's all she wrote

2010-08-30T13:29:00.004-04:00

Well I guess I'll elaborate a little.
Had my 24 hour race this weekend. Really not a whole lot to say to be honest. The only reason I signed up for this event was a burning curiosity I've had for quite a while now. I wanted to get to a point where I thought it was impossible to continue, and continue from there. That alone was my reason and I think it helped me a lot when I was out there.
Now I'm a pretty philosophical guy (though I do still acknowledge that us humans are merely a stones throw away from poo flinging monkeys) and I wanted to get just a small sampling of the pain that some have to endure in less fortunate circumstances than I. I really can't say that I have a better understanding of this but it did help me to keep moving.
The goal for the race was to just keep riding and not stop. I set out at exactly the pace I wanted to ride, and rode that pace until the end. Up until about 8pm I was feeling much better than I thought I should and didn't start to feel uncomfortable until about 1am. Uncomfortable I can say would be the theme of this event for me. Sure 6am rolled around and I got to a point where the hours ahead of me seemed unmanageable but I quickly reminded myself, this moment is what I came here for. I was glad to be able to recognise that and continue.
So all things considered it was a very good experience. I am humbled by the human body which seems to be able to work itself to death provided you have the mental fortitude. Not sure if I will do it again since the experience has been experienced.

Huge appreciation for my brother Joe who stayed up all night in the cold and was the one person I could trust to rely on in the event of a mechanical or mental break down. Thanks to my sister Mary for the support and the awesome memento from this experience (I hope little Joely enjoyed his first camping trip). Thanks to Jason for keeping my brother company in the wee hours of the morning. Thanks to momsie and Doug for their 4 star cheffery and tolerance of my demanding demands. Thanks to Jacob and Tristan for joining me for a lap (Tristan are you ok after that crash dude??).

8pm, waiting for the pain to start

Last 10 feet of the race. Sooo happy.
Tired but happy. Helmet is wet because I rode the plank matey and survived.

Joe made it all happen. Gave him the jersey so he will ride more!

All I can say about this photo is that Sean is putting out the vibe!

The man hands are still soft as a baby, no harm done!

Getting the X-Ben cleaned up. On to the next ride.

I feel awesome today and I am going for a ride tonight.
Benno

All set to go

2010-08-26T22:02:00.004-04:00

Have all my stuff together for this 24 hour thing this weekend. Should be an interesting endeavour. Not much to write, just a few pictures of the spread.

Smorgasbord. Figure I might as well get diabetes in the process.

The Beast will be with me for most of the suffering.

My backup courtesy of Trek Store and Hardwood.

Heading out tomorrow after work and staying there overnight. I am campsite 61 so feel free to stop by and say hi (I probably won't be there, don't touch my food!). My team name is "It's my birthday and I'll die if I want to", Sunday being my birthday. My brother will be there for mechanic and sister for managerial duties as well as my mom and Doug for moral support. Can't think of a better way to spend a birthday then by experiencing the feeling of death.
More packing to be done!
Ben

There are many different stories about what went down that day

2010-08-24T21:40:00.003-04:00

this is what really happened............

Ontario Cup #7 - Provincial Championships
Woodnewton, August 22nd, 2010

Pre-Ride
I am liking this course. Whole vibe reminds me of where it all started, racing at the Bethany farm with the Martyns and Alpha Racing. Nice fun and fast singletrack and that flowy downhill is a work of art!

Morning at the race site
Stomach has been killing me for the past couple days. Maybe I am stressing about this 24 hour too much. Maybe I shouldn't have bought all those fresh Jalapenos at Price Chopper.
Glad I got to see my little guy become Minime Provincial champ. Darn kid is fast. Motivated people make me feel like a slacker.
Wow it is really raining, lets go check out the course and take a survey.
Hey there is the Mr. Cabardos
*Hey Louis how's the course??
Slippery as hell, put on your rain tires!*
Hmn Louis is a pretty strong technical rider, must be pretty bad out there.
*talk to a bunch of folks*
Ok the consensus is that it is apocalyptically muddy out there (except for the ever wise Chico who insisted on staying with dry tires). That's it I've hit my 2 hour cut off, time to make a decision. Mud tires it is!!!!
Sealed up my Maxxis Medusa 1.8 super knobby tires no problem. They didn't lose any air and was able to run them at 23psi which was about as low as I wanted to go for such a low volume tire.

Warm up
oooooooo k I think I am starting to regret these mud tires. Not gonna lie to myself about that, other people sure, but I can't fool me.
Feeling fine though. Stomach seems to almost be sorting itself out. Feel a little low on power but the legs feel good. Maybe just a little lightheaded but sometimes I think that the fact I've been out of school for so long has left my brain unchallenged and I am slowly getting more spaced out. Would drugs help this?
It better start pouring rain so I can justify these tires!

Lining up
Hmn not much exciting going on here. Looks like mostly everyone is here, all super chill. I am actually pretty darn fit right now but this stomach thing is making me nervous. Or are my nerves giving me this stomach thing? I think I think too much. Oh the race is about to start.

Lap one
Off to a decent start. Stomach thing went away, score. In a pretty fast group of slow riders, picking a few off. Liking this course and the mud tires were totally awesome for that 100 metre section of mud.

Lap two
Well this is starting to suck. Core feels super tired, I think my stomach gymnastics have taken their toll over the last couple days. I am really starting to go backwards quickly. Alright this is leaning towards a DNF. Definitely have to think of a reasonable excuse before I call it a day. I could use the multi-excuse tactic. Lets take stock; my tires are slow, my stomach has been bothering me, I am old (classic excuse), I am tapering for 2011.............
OK Ben get yourself together! You know what is easier than thinking of an excuse for DNFing?? Actually trying and not needing an excuse at all. I mean if I can't make it through 2 hours of suffering I am well and truly screwed for this 24 hour race.

Lap three
Gettin' her going now. Adrenalin is starting to kick back in and I am feeling better. Getting that heart rate back up where it should be and starting to pick some guys off again that went by me on the 2nd lap fiasco. Hey there is Brendan, I would be happy with the day if I could beat him.
Ohh look a spectator on a collision vector with your narrator.
*a brief foray off the beaten path*
Good times by the feed zone. No harm done.

Lap four
Brendan is strong. Wonder if I can shake him. He is much faster than me in the singletrack so he can rest. I am faster on the open stuff and climbing so if I stay out front in the twisties he won't get a gap.

Lap five
after Brendan has let me lead for 2/3 of a lap we are heading down the long, slightly uphill front straightaway.
Brendan "Sorry I would do some of the work but I feel like I am going to die"
Me "No worries dude, sorry I am so slow in the singletrack."
Feeling tired ehhhh, well I guess I should try and lose him now so he doesn't drop me in the singletrack. Maybe he wont bother chasing if I can get out of sight.
Score got a gap on that hill, legs are starting to cramp but it's the last lap so they are allowed.
And we're done.
That's strange, my heart rate stayed at 135BPM for 10 minutes after the race.

All in all it was a rough day in the saddle. I did feel better once I got going again but I could in no way use my fitness to its potential. I have abandoned all feelings of stress about the 24 hour this weekend and just making sure I am eating well all week and getting 8+ hours of sleep each night (opposed to the 6 hours I got all last week).
Maybe I can convince some of my family that are helping out with my race to do some live updates on my progress. I'll bring my laptop and rocket stick so stay tuned for potential updates on my deteriorating condition.
Grain of sand, I'm off to Never Never Land.
Ben

How-To: Align your rear derailleur hanger

2010-08-21T21:24:00.009-04:00

A rear derailleur hanger is the small tab of metal that connects your rear derailleur to your frame. It is designed to be the weak link so that it breaks first and saves other more expensive parts from failure. Almost all hangers are specific to the model of bike you are riding and even vary year to year. It is a good idea to have a spare one on hand instead of trying to track one down when you really need it (like the night before a race).
It’s not too often that I don’t feel the need to check the alignment of a rear derailleur hanger. It is also a rare occurrence that a hanger doesn't need aligning, they are almost always out of spec. Even brand new hangers purchased to replace bent old ones frequently will not match up perfectly with the frame and will need aligning.
Most of the time it is not visible to the eye if a hanger is bent or not. Telltale symptoms of a misaligned hanger - the rear derailleur will shift fine at one end of the cassette but will lose it’s ability to shift and hold a gear as it moves from one side of the gear cluster to the other. If your hanger is way out of whack your derailleur will appear to be pitched on a sideways angle as you eyeball it from the back of the bike.
No matter how fancy you get with your other adjustments, your rear shifting will never function normally unless you have an aligned hanger. That is why performing this alignment is usually one of the first tasks I do when adjusting a rear derailleur. There is no point in fine tuning all of the other adjustments only to have to do it all over again once the hanger is shifted into alignment.

Tools needed:
-5mm Allen key
-Hanger alignment tool

Now I know what most of you are thinking………. “I don’t have a hanger alignment tool!?” Well no you probably don’t. I do really think these are one of the most important tools you can own. I bought one right away as soon as I decided I was going to be working on other peoples bikes as well as my own a little more seriously. These tools are well made and durable and will last a lifetime. The updated tool (as pictured) accommodates most of the bikes on the market. This Park Tool hanger alignment tool retails for about $100.
Or you can take it to your shop. It is about a 5 minute job and should cost <$10.

Now this job is really easy to do. It should take you 5 minutes or less after you've done it a couple times

Step 1: Always make sure your rear wheel is centred in the dropouts. I always do this with the bike on the ground. Stand on the opposite side of the quick release lever, lean over the bike putting weight on the saddle to push the wheel square into the frame and close/tighten the quick release lever. No point in adjusting a derailleur to perfection only to find the wheel was crooked in the frame sending you back to square one (it happens to us all).

Step 2: Now with your bike in the stand (or flipped upside-down a la poor mans work stand) shift your rear derailleur all the way down to your smallest cog on the back. This relieves a lot of the tension on a chain/rear derailleur and makes it easier to work with.

Step 3: Use your 5mm Allen key and make sure it is securely fit into the B-axle bolt on the rear derailleur. Sometimes derailleurs are torqued on there really tight so taking the extra 2 seconds to ensure a secure fit with your 5mm helps prevent any bolt rounding/cursing/hacksawing of frames. Break the bolt free then proceed directly to Step 4. Do not pass GO at this time.

Step 4: This step is pretty important for protecting your hanger. It is made of soft aluminum (remember it is designed to break first) and the threads are also easy to strip out (commence cursing, and dremeling, and opening of wallet). By grasping the entire rear derailleur in one hand, rotate it clockwise so that it is floating free of your frame. When it is floating free you will be able to loosen the B-axle bolt quite easily with your other hand while guiding the derailleur straight back towards you as not to damage the final few threads of the hanger on derailleur removal.

Step 5: Now that you've loosened it all the way out, just let the derailleur sit out of the way of the hanger.

Step 6: Wipe the crud off your hanger so you have a nice clean surface to attach your hanger tool.

Ohh clean

Step 7: Carefully screw your hanger tool into place. Don’t cross thread. Your hanger tool is steel and your bike hanger is aluminum. Your hanger will lose and you will have to buy a new one.

Step 8: Now that your hanger tool is installed it is time to adjust it for use. Always make sure the set screw is snug to eliminate any wobble in the tool. Then line up the hanger tool arm with your wheel valve stem and adjust it to within a few mm’s of your rim. The reason we use the valve stem is because you want to reference the same spot on your wheel since the entire wheel might not be perfectly true.

Line it up with the valve stem

Step 9: Now you can actually align the hanger. How this is done is by making sure it lies on a parallel plane to the wheel. Rotate the tool clockwise around at the same time you spin the wheel. Keep the alignment arm right by the valve stem and make sure there is an even gap between the arm and the rim as your rotate around.
You’ll only be able to rotate so far before the frame gets in the way but you’ll be able to align it ¾ of the way around the wheel which will inevitably result in the hanger being aligned for the ¼ of rotation that is blocked by the frame.
*Don’t drop the hanger tool onto your seat stay, it is a heavy tool and your bike is a delicate flower.

If there is not an even gap between your hanger tool and rim then you need to push or pull the tool to bend the hanger into alignment. Remember if there is no gap at the bottom of the wheel and a 5cm gap at the top then just bend it in 2.5cm at the top and it will bring the bottom out the other 2.5cm. Always rotate the wheel clockwise so that it can freewheel and you don’t have to bother with the chain moving around.
*Note* Aluminum doesn't like to bend. If a hanger is out of whack by a lot then there is a chance you will break it by trying to align it. There is very little danger of damage to the hanger if it is only off by a little bit.

Keep manipulating your hanger by bending it with the tool until there is an even gap as your rotate the tool and wheel all the way around. Take your time.

Step 10: That’s it, your hanger is aligned. Unscrew your hanger tool from the rear derailleur hanger. Now you can carefully begin installing your rear derailleur back into the dropout. Again grasp it so it can go straight in.
The reason we rotate the derailleur clockwise in our hand is so that the B-tension adjustment screw will clear the tab on the derailleur hanger that it eventually rests against. Tighten the 5mm B-axle bolt until the derailleur snugs up against the derailleur hanger and then loosen it ½ a turn. Release your grip on the derailleur and allow it to rotate counter clockwise back down into place.

This is especially crucial with Shadow derailleurs. They work a little bit differently. There is a plate that fixes the derailleur to the hanger. On it will be a tab of metal that needs to sit right against your frames derailleur hanger. Make sure there is no gap.
Torque the B-axle bolt to its final tightness. Be firm but not ridiculous, 7 out of 10 on the perceived exertion scale

We rotate the derailleur so that this screw will clear the hanger as you screw the derailleur back onto the bike

Before you torque it down make sure this screw (B-tension screw) rests directly against the hanger. Or in the case of a Shadow rear derailleur, make sure the plate on the derailleur is oriented in such a way that the metal tab rests against the stopper on your frames derailleur hanger. (I will illustrate this later)

That’s it you’re done! Go forth and adjust the rest of thine derailleur knowing thou hanger hast been purified.

Questions, comments, and suggestions welcomed.
Benno

How-To: Adjust your rear derailleur - Q&A Section

2010-08-20T23:50:00.004-04:00

-my derailleur shifts slowly or not at all on the upshift and downshift
Most likely try replacing your cable and housing
Similarly-my derailleur shifts poorly in both directions
Most likely try adjusting your B-tension screw.

-my derailleur shifts well for only half of the gear cluster
Most likely try aligning your hanger

-my derailleur suddenly started shifting into my spokes off the top or into the frame off the bottom
Most likely try aligning your hanger. Your limit screws are off and since they don’t adjust themselves the problem usually lies in a bent hanger.

-my derailleur shifts into the spokes off the top and/or into the frame at the bottom
Most likely try adjusting your limit screws.

-my derailleur is slow to shift in one direction (either up or down but not both)
Most likely try adjusting your cable tension.

How-To: Adjust your rear derailleur

2010-08-20T23:43:00.008-04:00

Over the next couple of weeks I will be de-mystifying everything there is to know (mostly) about how to properly adjust your rear derailleur. Ever wonder what all those little screws do? Ever shake your head at the mechanic that can perfectly adjust your shifting with 1/2 turn of a wrench after you've been suffereing with poor shifting for a month? This will be your one stop centre for all things rear derailleur.

Topics covered

link------>How-To: Hanger alignment <------link

How-To: Cable tension adjustment

link------>How-To: Adjust limit screws <------link

How-To: Adjust B-tension

How-To: Replacing cables/housing

Q&A Section

Stay tuned..............

Little wheels keep on rollin'

2010-08-19T17:50:00.004-04:00

Well they should with their Tiramic ceramic hybrid bearings.
My Token gold alloy pulley wheels arrived in the mail today. I love the design of them and got the gold to match up with the Ben-meya rear derailleur. Unfortunately when I opened them up I realised they were no where near a match to the gold I have been using so something needed to be done. I began the painstaking process of mirror polishing every surface of them. I decided to leave the cutouts gold for a nice hint of colour and since it is such a small amount it is not noticeable that the gold isn't a match. In fact they look amazing! I was certainly questioning my sanity as I brought the Dremel closer to my 5 minute old pulley wheels but I am glad I did.
Took about 2 hours to do the job and will make a nice addition to the finished product. I am undecided at this time about the pink/red bearing caps, will wait and see if I want to leave them or polish them or paint them gold. They do have that "look at me I'm ceramic" appearance but we'll see later.
Still waiting for my custom carbon short cage, carbon hanger plate, gold alloy hanger bolt, and gold pulley screws. They are coming from Germany so a couple weeks for them. After that it should be pretty much finished (though I have found a couple more bolts I can replace with Ti lol).
Oh and I had a eureka moment for tuning a 7700 DuraAce 9 speed cassette. Can't wait to get started on that. Hmmnnnnn so many things to do, so little time and money.
Benoit

2010 Ontario Cup #6 - Kelso

2010-08-12T00:20:00.004-04:00

Kelso has always been one of my favourite races on the Ontario scene. Sure sometimes they screw it up a little but for the most part it is a great time. Here is my first person account of how it went down that day.

Pre-Ride
Hmn feeling a little weak or maybe it's just the wind. Damn kids I coach are getting too fast, no I'm just old and it's not my fault.
Saw 2 Nissan Skylines parked in a driveway, awesome.

Lining Up
Good to see everyone again. Feels like forever since Buckwallow. I'll file in somewhere in the last 1/3 of the pack since I'm not a great starter and not feeling super fit.

Lap one
Wow got a pretty good start. Passed a bunch of guys, lol at people trying to ride up the gravely right hand side of the hill only to spin out and have to run it.
Huh a little rattling noise that doesn't sound normal. Oh well probably just my number plate screwing with my Nokons or something.
Oh crap my seat just fell off.

*stop and gather up the seatpost pieces and saddle and wait for all the Elites to roll by so I can soft pedal the 500 meters to the finish. Looks like a DNF :-( *

I think I lost a part of the clamp. Now I'm going to have to buy a new seatpost. But I'll have to put on that heavy ass RaceFace post in the mean time while I order another Token post because I really do like this post.

*Soft pedal out into the open field just before the lap/finish and my impending DNF*

Look down and
Oh wait all the parts are still there. Screw this I'm fixing it and finishing this biaaatch. Why do they make these damn screws so tiny. Oh yeah that's right I went for the lightweight. I regret nothing!
Wow this is really hard to fix. Wouldn't that be funny if I couldn't fix it and had to DNF because it was too hard. That is not an option and would be very harmful to my reputation as the greatest bicycle mechanic to ever touch a 5mm.
Ok so it's fixed! That was way harder than I thought, I think I lost about 10 minutes in that whole mess :-(
My seat is now at a very awkward angle. No time to adjust it now!

Lap 2
Ah catching some of the Elite Women back. Shouldn't be too long before I make my way back up to the back of the Elite Men pack. Maybe on the 3rd lap.
Oh crap that rattling is back better stop and torque the crap out of it. Look out little titanium bolts, we're going 5Nm and beyond!!!
Ok it is definitely tight now, and it fixed the angle of the seat, feels pretty close to normal.

Lap 3
Good rhythm. No complaints. Where's that Elite Mens pack??

Lap 4
In the grove now. Still feel kinda slow but again I'm old so I have an excuse.

Lap 5
Where the #*@& is that Elite field. Oh there they are! Only 2/3 of a lap left, better pour on the gas. DFL is much better than DNF but DFL still sucks.
Ok I see a pack of 3 or 4 guys. Hey that must be Cory in the 3-Rox kit.
Just coming up on last place now, closing fast. Right on his wheel.

*boom, I hit the dirt hard. My bars spin around in such a way that bars arent meant to be spun. Bars connected to things like Nokons, and Magura Durin SL's, and FSA K-Force handlebars.*

Nooooo my bike!! Oh great another mark on the top tube. Better stop and loosen the brake and shifter so I can twist my bars back without marking the frame up any more.
Alright I'm good. Better hop back on and oww that hurts when I have to move. Oh well just superficial stuff, spin it out.
Oh look there is the finish line. DFL is better than DNF and at least I was close to the next guy.

Well I still did have fun at that race. Glad I rode it out because it is still good for the fitness. Looking forward to Provincials in 2 weeks and foolishly looking forward to my 24hour solo on August 28-29.
Goodnight
B-b-b-benny and the jetsssssssss.

Santa brought me some bolts

2010-08-05T01:02:00.004-04:00

Yes he did. Got my little bubble wrap envelope today that I had been waiting for. Figured it was a good time to finish up the last main body piece of the Ben-Meya rear derailleur. So it is 1:00am now and I am done a good bulk of the work on this project. Waiting on some more parts, carbon short cage, carbon hanger plate, aluminum hanger bolt, and aluminum pulley wheels. These parts are pretty much bolt-on so not much time to put into this any more. I still have a final polish to do on all of the parts and plan on putting some paint on the carbon cage but other than that should only be a couple hours work left.
This baby is a mix of lightweight and good looks. Sure it could be lighter but I think it will be a good solid piece that I can put alot of mileage on. Needless to say I am thrilled with how this project is turning out and makes me look forward to the next component on the list for modification. I think as soon as I am done the Ben-meya rear derailleur, which should be by the end of this month, I will get started on a wheelset.

From the front, with camera flash.

From the front, no flash

Top-backside, flash

No flash - you get the idea

Backside

New screws all around, including b-tension and limit screws

So stay tuned for the conclusion of this exciting saga.

Goodnight!

Benno

Movin' along

2010-07-27T23:29:00.003-04:00

Got another piece finished for the Ben-meya rear derailleur. Had to go back and respray the front plate, paint wasn't sticking. This time I used an acid etch primer and it worked great. Pieces still need a final polish to remove the small scratches on the mirror and to blend the paint lines a little better but I'll wait a couple days for the pieces to fully cure before I do that.

Stuck a screw in there to test the fit, screws I have on order are alloy and gold in colour :-)

Front

Back

So far so good.

Benno

Some colour

2010-07-27T02:59:00.003-04:00

Got the front link plate all masked off and sprayed with 4 coats of chrome gold paint and 2 coats of clear. Might have to go back and try again with primer if it doesn't cure properly in the next couple days. Needs a final polish to blend the paint lines in better but overall I think it came out great. Now I can do the rest of the peices.
Got the mirror finish I was looking for too. Just buffed up really nicely with a rotary felt pad and some Turtle Wax. All that sanding prep really paid off!

Masked and ready for paint

Finished product

View from behind

Finished vs rough machined

Forget Yumeya, this is Ben-meya.

Ben-meya out xoxo

I'd tap that

2010-07-26T00:31:00.006-04:00

Ohhh baby we're getting down to the nitty gritty. Got home from work and just went straight to the workshop without even realising it. Made some good progress on the derailleur front. Did some experimenting with the Deore to figure out what size bolts I am going to need and what thread size/pitch. Settled with M4 x 0.7 which required pretty much the least amount of work and highest likely hood of success with the finished product. It is also a fairly standard sizing so I was able to source exactly the bolts that I was looking for.

One side gets tapped, the other enlarged

It's a pretty easy setup. The old steel pin was pushed into place and sat in a bushing which would allow the derailleur to pivot. I bored out the bushing sleeve so that it would fit snugly with the M4 bolt.

Using an old screw I had laying around I mocked it up to try the fit. Works perfect, you can also adjust the preload on the bushing by simply tightening or loosening the screw. Finished product will be purdier of course.
I was feeling ambitious so I moved on to drilling out the rest of the XTR Shadow pins. I also bored out and tapped the holes where the new bolts will be going in place of the pins (bored out one side, tapped the other).
This would be what you'd call a completely disassembled XTR rear derailleur.
Was feeling reeeeeaaally ambitious and polished up (wet sanded) one of the pieces and got it ready for paint prep. Progressively polished up to 2000 grit sandpaper in the areas where there will not be paint and left it at a 600 grit for the areas that are getting painted.
I also ordered the bolts that I am going to need to put it all back together. Found them on one of my new favourite websites, http://www.tastynuts.com/ Don't ask how I found that site. They are coming from the UK however so I suspect it will be a couple weeks for them to arrive. Pretty much how long it will take me to get the derailleur ready to be re-assembled. Then there are other parts to address like retro-fitting the SAINT short cage, new pulley wheels, Ti body and cage springs, carbon hanger plate, aluminum hanger bolts................ better start making some orders soon!

Now it's time for bed.

Goodnight

Ben D

You have got to love a Canadian Tire sale

2010-07-23T14:24:00.003-04:00

Thought I might as well treat myself to a new toy being that it is my day off and all. I have been waiting for one of these to come on sale for a couple months now so it seemed like fate when I checked out the e-flyer and spotted it.
Snuck out this morning before lawn cutting and bicycle riding and picked up a table top drill press. Now she is by no means top-o-the line but it is more than adequate for the small tasks that I have in mind. Also conveniently HSS drill bits were on sale, surely a sign. I have already put them to good use, drilling into my practice Deore rear derailleur to figure out how I am going to go about pushing the pins out of my future X-Ben XTR Shadow derailleur project.
The drill press made very short work of this task and I am confident that I can shortly move on to the XTR.

The new kid

Great success!!

Brothers

Looking forward to moving this project along!

Benny

It's the little things

2010-07-22T22:36:00.005-04:00

See, now there is very little in this world that gives me greater pleasure than tweaking my already amazing mountain bike. To my surprise over the past month I have started getting bushing knock in my rear shock at the top bolt mounting point. Now I know this is a somewhat common ailment of dual suspension bikes but I was still surprised seeing as this is my first Fox rear shock that has developed busing play since I started riding them in 2007. I am now on my 4th bike with a Fox rear shock since then so I was actually not expecting it to fail.
However it was a good excuse try out a fun new-er-ish product on the market from the folks at Real World Cycling. They are based out of Arizona I think and appear to have some sort of partnership with Enduro Bearings. They make a nice little kit that replaces your shock bushing(s) with needle bearings.
I installed them right when I got off work this afternoon since I wanted to go riding but the bushing knock was DriViNg mE CraZy!!!! Not that I could actually detect it while riding but I knew it was there. Only took about 10minutes and the new bearings pushed in really easy and it mounted up to the Giant without the need for any spacers or reducers which was nice. As soon as I tightened the bolts back up the play was gone! Zero! no more knocking. Now I've heard that these develop a bit of play over time but it is normal (since you don't want bearings to be super tight) and it levels off and doesn't get any worse. Well after a 2 hour ride there is still zero play but I'll have to ride them for a while before I can decide on a verdict. The way I see it, if they last a full 12 months then they are worth buying. They were around $25 too which is amazing. I swear the suspension now operates a bit smoother but who knows. Certainly got rid of the klunk so I am expecting good things.
I also decided to try out their fork seals since OE seals leave a lot to be desired. They have built their reputation off of the fork seals which are also only around $25 so I thought there's no harm in trying (unless they destroy my $1300 fork, but such is life). They also installed very easily which took about 10minutes. I installed them after my ride so I will post back about them in a couple days once I get some miles on them. I hear they have a short-ish break in period.

The goods :-)

Needle bearings to replace your shock bushings
Fork seals

Fork seals installed

Needle bearings installed

It is only possible to replace the top shock bushing with bearings since there is quite a bit of proprietary hardware used in the lower mount. Lower mount is pretty much impervious to wear anyway so it's not necessary to replace.

Only beef is that the blue fork seals look ugly on my bike. I wish they came in black (or orange ;-D ) Enduro, please give us a choice of colours! Yes I am high maintenance.

I'll do a write up on these products once I get some mileage on them.

-Benoit

Lifestyles of the rich and the famous

2010-07-20T20:43:00.005-04:00

Was away most of last week, did you miss me? I was summoned out to Canmore Alberta for National XC Championships. Though I was not racing, oh no, I am far to slow to make that expensive of a trip for a mid pack finish. I was asked to be the mechanic for 3-Rox Racing, a team containing some of the fastest folks in Ontario and also Canada. Had a great time out there and the team did great. Derek (my boy) finished 3rd in the Elite Men's race behind Kabush and Plaxton. Amanda Sin was 2nd behind Pendrel.
My pro-elite mechanic skillz ensured there were no mechanicals and I got an awesome sunglasses tan hanging out in the tech zone all day. Was a perfect day for racing with amazing 360 degree mountain views.
Kyle Douglas and I did a full video lap of the course which can be seen in 3 segments here

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl7kG0Hz7gg&feature=player_embedded

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7zrfi7kRA&feature=player_embedded

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTgX8P-7FsY&feature=player_embedded

Kyle was destroying me on the climbs (if you listen close in the last 15 seconds you can hear me say something to that effect). The one rider that blew by us was Daniel Sessford on a hot lap so I don't feel so bad for getting smoked.
That is about all for now. Back to work at Hardwood and enjoying the hot weather.
Benno

View from the motel

Kyle and I head out on a mountain ride after filming a lap of the course

Catching a mountain goat for dinner.

How-To: Install/Remove New Style Shimano Cranks and Chainrings

2010-06-27T23:50:00.013-04:00

In this how-to I am going to de-mystify the whole crank area of a new style Shimano equipped bike (excluding new 970 XTR, that is a whole different story). Being able to remove the cranks helps greatly with servicing the hard to reach areas around the bottom bracket (BB for short). You often need to remove the crank to be able to remove the small and middle chainrings in order to clean or replace them.
Even though I use my own 2 ring setup, most of what is done in this how-to is applicable to a typical Shimano 3 ring crank.

Tools needed for crank removal
-Rubber mallet
-5mm Allen wrench
-Shimano fixing bolt tool.

Step 1:
Inspect the area we are going to be working on. I actually just did a full service on my bike a few days ago but since it decided to rain today my bike collected a bunch of mud in the hard to reach areas of the Anthem X frame. Since I wanted to do this writeup anyway I thought it would be a good excuse to pop the cranks off and get the mud outta there.

Step 2:
Start by using your 5mm to loosen the non-drive-side pinch bolts. You want to alternate back and forth between loosening the bolts a few times so that you are relieving the pressure equally on both sides. Loosen the bolts to relieve all of the clamping force but you don’t have to remove them completely from the crankarm.

Alternate between the two bolts to relieve the pressure evenly

Step 3:
Loosen the plastic fixing bolt using the Shimano fixing bolt tool and turning counter clockwise. It should only be finger tight and easy to remove. If it is stuck then you might have to bust out the Vicegrips to get a firm hold on the Shimano tool to break the plastic bolt loose. Don’t damage the bolt as it is very much needed to reassemble the crank properly.

Step 4:
There is a small plastic shim with a pin sticking out the bottom. The pin slots into a hole on the crank axle as a last resort measure to keep the non-drive-side crank arm on the axle in case everything else comes loose. It pivots up and out of the way as illustrated in the photo. You will not be able to remove the crank without popping this shim up. You won’t be able to remove it completely, just pivot the one side up.

Step 5:
Now the non-drive-side crank arm is ready to be removed from the crank axle. You can wiggle it off or give it a few taps with the rubber mallet. I always make sure my rubber mallet is clean before I use it so that it doesn’t scratch any of my parts.

You can see what the axle looks like with the arm removed. You can also see the hole that the shim pin slotted into and why we had to pop it up. As you can see mine is already clean with fresh grease on the spline because I just did this. Yours might look different i.e. dirty/dry.

Step 6:
Now you can remove the drive side crank. Begin by tapping the end of the axle with the mallet.

Grasp the crank near the chainrings and start to wiggle it out. Pop the chain off the chainring down onto the axle.

Once you have the axle almost completely pulled out of the frame you might have to give the drive-side crank arm a little mallet tap to get it the rest of the way out.

Step 7:
Inspect your mess of a BB area. Don’t panic at this point. It is pretty easy to put this all back together correctly.

Bonus Points –> How-To Remove Chainrings
*No need to remove the chainrings? Skip to Step 14

You will require a few more tools for removing the chainrings and they really depend on your crank. Some have Allen key bolts and some have Torx bolts. Mine are Torx.
Tools needed:
-Allen key or Torx bits
-Chainring nut holding tool

Step 8:
Remove the small ring first.

Step 9:
Remove the big and middle ring. They usually share the same bolt, since mine is a 2 ring setup there is only one more ring to take off instead of 2. This is where you need the nut holder. Seems a shame that such a helpful tool be given such an awful name but hey it’s a dirty job and something has gotta do it. What this tool does is holds the chainring bolt nut so that it doesn’t spin when you try to loosen the chainring bolt. Comes with 2 different ends for 2 different types of nuts.
Now you know what that slot is for on the nut, not just a huge ass flathead screwdriver ;-) Takes some co-ordination to hold the nut tool and Torx wrench at the same time. Make sure to keep your knuckles away from the chainrings cause they are sharp!

Step 10:
Keep all your bits and pieces together in an organised fashion so you don’t forget where they all go and so you don’t lose anything. Clean it all up. Use either a rag or scrub with degreaser and a toothbrush (remember to rinse with water after using degreaser).

Clean :-)

Step 11:
Now you can start to reassemble. Put the big and middle rings back on. There is an orientation arrow on my rings, on Shimano rings there is usually a bump of some kind. You need to line this bump up with the crank arm so that all of the rings work together in harmony. For most big rings there is a pin that prevents the chain from getting jammed between the ring and the crank if the chain were to shift over the top of the big ring. That pin is the alignment indicator, line it up with the crank arm. Again on the middle ring you will see the bump or protrusion of metal or carbon on the inside of the ring. Line that up with the crankarm as well.

Step 12:
Finger tighten the middle/big-ring chainring bolts. Tighten bolts that are across from each other to evenly distribute the load (as illustrated in the 2nd photo). Use a 2 stage torque sequence meaning tighten the bolts to about 5Nm or 4 out of 10 first and then finish it off by tightening them to their final 11Nm or 8 out of 10. Lots of chainring bolts are soft alloy and are quite brittle so err on the side of caution tightening them. Some blue Loctite will reduce the required tightening torque. You may (probably) also need the chainring nut holder to keep the nuts from spinning while tightening.

Tightening pattern

Step 13:
Install the small ring. In the first picture you can see I have lined up the small ring orientation arrow with the crank arm. Torque it down the same as you did the big/middle ring bolts. You can also use blue Loctite here.

Torque it down

*Re-install cranks
Step 14:
Clean up that hard to reach BB area of the frame. I didn’t do a world class job here, I’ll save that for your bikes ;-)

Step 15:
Your cranks are now ready to be installed onto the bike. Using some general purpose bearing grease give the two smooth/shiny parts of the axle a light coating. These areas are what contact the BB so grease will reduce noise and potential wear.

Step 16:
Flip the chain up onto the crank axle and insert the spindle into the BB shell of the bike. You might need to tap with the mallet. Don’t push the spindle in all the way until you move the chain up onto the small ring so it doesn’t get pinched between the crank and bottom bracket potentially damaging it. Once the chain is on the small ring you can push or tap the crank into the frame the rest of the way.

Tap most of the way in but be careful not to pinch the chain between the frame and the crank.

Lift the chain up onto the chainring.

Tap the rest of the way in

Step 17:
On the non-drive side of the bike you will see the other side of the axle protruding. Use some more bearing grease on the spline.
Install the non-drive side crankarm onto the spline and push it on with your hands as far as it will go.
Push that little plastic shim/pin back down into place as well.

Step 18:
Install the plastic fixing bolt. This bolt is and important part of the system. It controls how much load the crank applies to the bottom bracket. Not tight enough and the cranks will have play back and forth. Too tight and the bottom bracket won’t spin freely and you will blow up the bearing pretty quick. Tighten it semi-firmly like you would a headset (once you tighten the pinch bolts a little you can spin the crank and see how it feels).

Step 19:
Tighten the pinch bolts slowly rotating back and forth between the two so that they are tightened equally. Final torque spec is around 12Nm. Be careful not to round out the bolts, it is easy to do. Give them a spin to see if you have the right bearing preload. Please ignore my messy front derailleur cable in the picture ;-)

That’s it you’re done. Admire your handy work and develop a new understanding of why I avoid mud.

The pile of dirt that got cleaned off

That's all for this How-To. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Benno

Biking and bikes vs blogging about biking and bikes

2010-06-23T23:04:00.005-04:00

Ok wow I realise it has been forEVER since I have updated on here. Lets just say I am much more passionate about working on bikes and biking than I am passionate about updating my blog so guess what wins my time.
What is new and exciting?? Ok yes I realise there were tornadoes and earthquakes today but what do you expect when you are floating on liquid hot magma hurtling through space at a gajillion miles per hour.
On the more interesting front I have a difficult decision ahead of me. No it is not the Pulsar GTi-R vs R32 Skyling GTS-t debate, that has been settled. Over the next couple of years I am going to be building up a bike. It has been something I have always wanted to do and feel I am ready to start the process. Obviously it is going to be a dually and obviously it is going to be a Giant. I am trying to decide between an Anthem X (100mm travel) and a Trance X (120mm travel). I am starting to lean more heavily towards the Trance X because I feel I can baby it a little bit more than I could an Anthem X. I am still going to keep the Anthem X-Ben but I think I will work away slowly on a Trance X on the side. I will keep you posted but it will be my Guinea pig bike to test out all sorts of fun bits. I will keep the Anthem X for most races and big training rides.
But this is just a thought, not completely decided yet. Again priority number 1 is getting my hands on an SR20DET equipped Nissan as soon as possible :-)

OOoooooooo yeah looking good for 2011
The next X-Ben project has been started.

On a side note, does anybody have a pooched SRAM XO derailleur I can buy? Bent, blown up, whatever, I need a few parts from it for R&D.

Stay thirsty my friends,

Benno

Race reports are lame. Here's mine

2010-05-31T21:42:00.003-04:00

Ohh it was a good time this weekend at Hardwood. Had a bunch of transients staying on my floor for the race. Pretty convenient when you live 200 meters away from the start line. It was an amazing weekend weather wise. I'm sure you all remembered how crappy it was last year when it actually snowed for 5min at the start of our race.
Was hot hot heat and the course was pretty rough and tumble so I knew it would be hard to recover if I went too far into the red zone. Lucky for me it wasn't really much of an option since I really haven't been training fo real since I got back from down South. I had no power anyways. I started right at the back of the pack with my friend Cory. About 50m off the start there was a pretty big crash mid pack on my far left and we cruised right by. An easy way to make up 20 spots right off the start lol.
It was a slow start for our group. I think the fog of war (aka thick ass cloud of dust) limited our visibility to about 10 feet for the times you weren't blinded by watery eyes. Mouth felt like it was full of baking soda toothpaste. I made sure to hock out all of my spit in the first couple km's to avoid ingesting too much of that crap. The slow start made it easy to catch back up with the main group just in time for the traditional first singletrack slow down.
All in all it was a good time. I didn't have any wipeouts and I actually don't think I got passed once during the race. I had a late last lap surge going by the tech zone and managed to pass 4 more people before the finish line. Finished up mid pack in 34th which is probably much better than last year when I really sucked. Maybe in the next couple months I'll be able to get my top end speed back up to par with some training. My fitness and endurance is great cause I have still be riding quite a bit, just nothing structured. Hard not to ride given my surroundings. Anyways Mountainview this weekend should be fun. I DNF'd last year due to the heat so it should be easy to top that lol.
Later.

Nice dirt line post race

HSB is throwin' down.

2010-05-25T19:44:00.003-04:00

Getting some good riding in at Hardwood Ski and Bike as always. Seems like I have been having trouble lately resisting the urge to hurl my body against the ground in a I-hope-nobody-saw-that-flail fashion. Luckily both times there were no witnesses and also both times my bike came out of it pretty much un-injured. I would say I too for the most part have come out un-injured given the serious potential of the crashes.
First one was on Friday. For some reason my pedal came unclipped just as I was cresting the steepest part of boneshaker. Thought I was going to be able to ride it out but just as I was reaching the steepest part my bike got spooked and tossed me upside-down onto a nice new patch of quick-crete. It's like landing on 2-grit sandpaper lol. That one got me pretty much all up the right side with a swollen ankle, wrist, and a bit of rash on my calf, hip, arm, and back. Again was lucky to get away with only superficial damage.
Today I was doing some tempo laps and my front wheel washed out on a steep downhill corner. It was one of those 20km/h launches where you have about 36 seconds of hang time in the air before gravity brings you back down to reality. In the interest of protecting my sore wrist I decided to break my fall with my face which worked really well. At this point I am glad I bought the Rudy Project sunglasses that were designed for S.W.A.T. to be impact resistant. Amazingly my helmet shows no damage but I think I should probably replace it to be safe. Got a bit of a shiner on my forehead and added to my raspberry collection on my knee and arm and hip. All in all a good day in the saddle.

The Canada Cup course is pretty tough and it is going to be a hard race. Laps are long and moderately technical with lots of climbing and very little rest. It is going to be a race of attrition with lots of people struggling on the later laps. Hopefully my fitness will make up for my lack of top end speed and I can come out of it in a decent position. It is already very slippery and dusty so if this heat and dryness keeps up it is going to be a really tough race. You know the ones where black dust sticks to your whole body and lungs and nostrils and you cross the finish line looking like an 80 year old coal miner.
Should be fun as always!
Benoit

Carolina guided tour info

2010-05-19T22:02:00.012-04:00

New tour format.

Put the mountain in mountain biking. Come spend a week with me in beautiful South Carolina. In the spirit of affordability I have come up with a good solution to the traditional cycling tour.

What is provided:
-4 days of guided riding, create your own tour itinerary
-Accommodations for the week in the beautiful 5000 square foot house
-Training program guidelines and advice for your early season if required
-Full service by a trained bicycle mechanic, me
-Rides include beginner to advanced instruction when required
-Instructors are first aid certified - 2 coaches for groups over 5 people
-End of week BBQ and celebration on Friday

Arrive on the Saturday and stay till the next Saturday, a full week! Usually the best plan is to spend Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday on the bikes. Average ride is targeted for 4 hours. This is aimed at riders with a decent fitness base who are wanting to take their cycling and fitness to the next level. All options including coaching and instruction and even participation are just that, options. So if you feel tired that day and would rather do your own thing you are welcome to. Or if you just want to get in some amazing riding without all of the coaching and instruction well that's fine too. Come out and enjoy some of the finest cycling North America has to offer. It's no wonder why I am going back for my 7th year in a row! South and North Carolina feature epic ridge riding at Tsali, huge slick rock trails at Dupont, technically abundant riding at Pisgah, and super fast snaking singletrack at Issaqueena. On the asphalt you can experience long switchback mountain climbs, rolling twisty back roads, courteous drivers, and great pavement! Amazing vistas are absolutely awe inspiring and beautiful weather will put a smile on your face year after year. I will show you the best of the best.

What is not provided:
-Food
-Transportation
-Gear

Bring your own car and buy your own groceries. This keeps my overhead low which saves you hundreds of dollars and me a logistical nightmare. Convoy to the trailhead in your own vehicle.

The tour is now available on any of the 9 weeks. There will be a dozen or so different ride and lesson options to choose from. Create your own tour itinerary! Book early to have first choice of how you want your tour week to be organised. Different groupings include Road, Mountain, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, with lots of options for each. Mix 'n' match, do 1/2 road and 1/2 mountain, or 33.33% mountain and 66.66% road, or 1/4th road and 3/4ths mountain, or 100% road, or 100% mountain (percentages over 100% not available).

Pricing breakdown - Includes accommodation at The Palace
1-2 people = $450/person/week
3-5 people = $400/person/week
6-10 people = $350/person/week

Ride options: click on a ride for more info - more to come!

Mountain Biking options
Issaqueena Dam trails
DuPont State Forest trails
Pisgah National Forest - Black Mountain

Road Riding options
Caesar's Head