Love early morning MTB spins!

Savage single speed spin // It keeps getting better!

I'm taking advantage of the free time I have on my hands, so I decided to slip out for another mighty single speed mountain bike session this afternoon. This time I wanted to have a real tester on the 1x1 Beast to see who would I manage the heavy climbs on the local trails. I picked a nice but quite difficult route mixing up my favourite singletracks and off I went.

  

I had 2 big and long climbs on the way and I have to say that both of them were pretty horrific on the single speed bike. Horrific but good of course and mostly manageable. Seems like I'm getting the hang of this whole single speed game! Happy days! :)

I've done a bit over 40 km just under 2 hours and 20 minutes with 665 m elevation gain on the way. And I have to say this 665 m was earned the hard way! So, when I got back home I figured I deserve...  

... a little reward! :)

3 spins in 6 days // Great to be on holliers!!!

Now, I think I could get used to this! I managed to get 3 spins in over the last 6 days. Needless to say how happy I am about this as I don't even remember when was the last time when I got to ride my bike 3 times in one week.  

I'm spending my 2 weeks holidays at the moment and I'm only half way through, so I have a good feeling there's still more mighty mountain bike sessions to come. Bring it on! ;) 

#summertime

On dusty dry trails

On a random farm gate...

Sunset

Niner EMD 9 - SS // First impressions

Taking out a new bike and spend the first couple of hours in the saddle is always a brilliant feeling. This is the time when I get to experience something I was only reading about up until now.  

Alright, let's have a look at this. Since I picked up this Niner EMD 9 SS just a few days ago I had 2 spins on it with the total of 3 hours and about 60+ km. So, I guess it's about time to post this first impressions post.

The bike is a 29er and I'm sure we all know by now how freakin' cool it is to ride one. The geometry is great, the bike feels comfortable and handles very well. But I think it's no surprise from a 29er specific company. I won't get into too much details I think, instead I'd like to talk about the rigid carbon fork and the single speed setup as I find both of them pretty unique. 

No suspension 

I've been riding off-road for almost 20 years but I never had a bike without a suspension fork. So, rocking my favourite trails on a rigid bike was a new experience! It's pretty rough but once you find the flow of the trail and you get things right it's absolutely manageable. Tyre pressure can be critical, so I need to find my way around that too. 

1x1

So, single speed, eh? I was riding the SSWC '11 and back then I was usin a 2:1 ratio on the bike. This one has slightly easier one with 36T x 19T, but when you're riding a single speed MTB off-road the word "easier" has a completely different meaning...

...it is hard as hell. Dealing with the climbs with only one gear knowing there's no option to change gears is a savage task. But it is also very rewarding! I also love the simplicity of the bike, simple and straight forward with no complications. It feels very pure!

A new chapter has started in my mountain biking life with the machine and after 2 rides I can tell one thing: it's gonna be a savage, brutal hard but fantastic chapter indeed. All I need to do is raise to the challenge! Bring it on!

Niner EMD 9 - SS // Here's the new chapter!

Good bye Cannondale - Hello Niner! I just got this beast of a bike as the replacement of the faithful F29 that I've been riding recently. The change was from one unique bike to another. And this time I opened Pandora's Box I think: I'll be riding this fully rigid, single speed Niner EMD 9 XC weapon from now on!  

Niner has been also on my wish list for a while and I can't deny that I'm happy to get my hands it. I always loved their bikes and of course their rigid carbon fork is a whole new level in my opinion.  

What a beauty! 

Real nice & tidy

But let's see some of the details here: the frame is a Niner EMD 9 that isn't single speed specific model, so there's always an option to build the bike up with gears. The fork is Niner's full carbon, rigid 29er fork. The bike rolls on Mavic CrossRide 29er wheels and WTB tyres. The stopping power comes from the set of Avid Elixir 7 brakes with carbon levers. 

The drivetrain is built from Truvativ Stylo cranks with a pair Shimano XTR M-980 pedals fitted, Hope 36T front chain ring and a 19T Niner rear sprocket. To keep everything tight I have a chain tensioner fitted also.

As simple as it can get

As a finishing kit I have a 720mm wide Niner alloy handlebar with a 90 mm long inverted stem, ODI grips, Truvativ seatpost and my favourite Fi'zi:k Tundra saddle. Sweet setup I think!

Riding single speed mountain bike is not new to me, I have tried it before and even competed on a single speed bike back in 2011. It is a hard work...and it can be brutal many times...but in case I'm havin' a hard time here's a nice message from the lads from Niner:

Motivation when needed! :)

So, this is my new machine from now on and I can't wait to enjoy all the simplicity and brutal hard work that only a single speed MTB can give you. 

I couldn't resist anymore so I had a sneaky little spin already on it last night and all I can say: it...is...awesome! Sorry, I mean AWESOME!!! :)

Some late night snacking #yummyumm

When things don't go well...

Something happened today. Something that never happened before...But let's go from the start. Today's spin has started out pretty well, I went up to the highest point in Hungary. The peak called Kékestető is at 1014m above sea level and the route I picked was about 45 km each way. The weather was very hot (32-34°C) but hey! It's summer time, isn't it?! 

The way up went well, nothing extraordinary happened besides battling the biggest climb in the country. I had fun as you do, took a quick photo and the turned back home. Even managed to spice things up by picking the mega fast descent on the ski slope.  

Descending on the ski slope is alway fun

After the long descent back to Gyöngyös things started to feel a bit "funny" though. I started to feel bad on the bike and things got worse pretty rapidly. At first I couldn't place this thing at all since I've had plenty of water & food along the way...

I was dizzy, I had nausea, head ache and I got pretty bad chills. Needless to say how difficult was to ride the bike like this, nevermind the little stinger climbs... 

I ended up feeling so bad I decided to stop and call for a lift. At this point I've done almost 80 km and I was close enough to home but I couldn't carry on any further. I got off the bike, walked a few meters and then just stopped. I called for my Dad and asked if he could give me a lift home ...

This whole thing was a massive slap in my face as I never aborted a spin before. Never. I had countless very hard moments on the bike before but I never reached the point what I reached today. 

It turned out I managed to get a heat stroke thanks to the proper Hungarian summer. Yeah, it's nice to ride a bike on a hot and dry summer afternoon but I have to admit that I'm not used to this temperature anymore. I have been away for almost 10 years and it seems like this time was enough to make me soft...but at least I can ride well in bad weather. Thank you Ireland, haha! :)  

Now, it's time to get some rest and get the system back to normal.

   

DIY bike repair stand

Well, first of all it's not an advanced bike repair stand type thing really, but after all it makes things much easier when it comes to bike repair in my shed! Needless to say too much, let's see the project:

The shopping list:

               - 10cm x 10cm wood column (2 x 50 cm long pieces)    

               - 1 shovel handle (cut up to 50cm long pieces)

               - 6 pieces of plastic wall dowel plugs

               - 6 pieces of 18 cm long bolts

               - 6 pieces of washers 

               - 1 set of handlebar tape

• First we got the wood planer and got the wood columns nice and smooth.
• Then we drilled the holes for the bars and for all the fitting bolts as well. 
• After all this we got all the necessary measurements right and got everything fitted.
• At the end I wrapped the bars with the handlebar tape to make sure it won't damage the frame.

Here we are, it's ready :)

It's possibly the most simple thing that can be used as a bike stand but in the end of the day it's enough to get basic maintenance jobs done and they'll be much easier this way then having to get them done with the bike on the floor. And considering the fact the total cost of the whole unit was about 6 EUR makes me feel even more happy about it! :)

Testing the latest upgrade of The Bike Shed

I'm sticking to the plan!

Jaysus, the racing season is in full swing and if I'm not careful I'll miss out on all the XC and XCM events! But of course life is hard and it's quite difficult to allocate time and sources to racing. I'm absolutely dying to race again, especially because I would be racing in the Hungarian field after a decade. 

So, am I planning? Sure, just as always! I have my eyes on a couple of XCM races and it would be amazing if I could do 1-2 of them. I'm being focused and I'm putting the training in...now, that isn't too much these days unfortunatelly but still, feeling good on the bike and the motivation in through the roof!  

We'll see what is it gonna be enough for, I hope I can test the legs soon! :)

Training spin with my Dad

Wow, how cool is that?! We had a training spin together with my Dad this evening! The last time cycled together was about 10 year ago, so needless to say how nice it was to go for a spin together after all this time.

We used to cycle a lot together and we did a fair amount of racing together as well back in the day. Now I'm living in Hungary we have the chance to refresh things. 

It was great to see him back on the bike. I'm very proud to say that I have a Dad who is 62 years of age and still fit and in a very good shape. All we need to do is a few more spin like this and then we might even plan some marathon racing towards the end of the summer. 

That would be 100% brilliant, hah?!