Coffee and Rain

What do you do in Whitefish when you're supposed to be landscaping but it's raining too hard? If you're the biker type that likes to drink coffee, head straight to Great Northern Cycles. It's where true aficionados meet to talk bike and bean. Their coffe is some of the best. I'm half way through the cannibal ( a stiff cup of drip infused with two shots of espresso) and the restroom is occupied. Sandry construction is doing some road work across the street and I'm eyeing their port-a-loo. Later

The recession pig delivers

Today was a special day. We are moving out of our toxic black mold cave we've been living in for the last four months. I can't wait for my asthma to subside so I can return to exercising. Jamie and I have been slowly filling the recession pig with spare change over the winter and now it's time to reap the reward. $67.36 to be exact. We both agreed to go to dinner with the money but now the question is where. I think Jamie's choice would be the Lotus Cafe. It's super heady vegan and gluten free. To be fair you can get meat and wheat there too and it's actually really good. My choice is the War Bird Cafe in Driggs, ID. The War Bird is a war plane museum and cafe with a view of the Driggs runway. In the summer you can take to the sky in these classic air combat beauties. What more could you want!

Choice #1 Lotus Cafe


Choice#2 War Bird Cafe




Doug "loves all planes" Dale

It is derby season

It is called the rental derby and from the numerous folks I've talked with, it is the hardest and possibly the most dangerous event you will ever do on alpine skis. The drill is simple. Grab a pair of sport skis (beginner skis, usually super skinny old Volkl's that we rent southerners who have never skied) and set the binding to a type 1 skier (super loose release setting). The skis cant be above your chin. Every rental shop employee in Jackson (probably almost 100) does this and we all ride the tram to the top of ol' Jackson Hole. At the top everybody throws their skis in a pile and heads to the start line 100 feet away. It is a Le mans start and you have to grab the first two skis you see. You might get a 140cm Volkl and a 160cm Rossingnol. Immediately set the binding to fit your boot and take off down the hill. The first man to the bottom wins, absolutely no rules except you have to cross the finish with both skis on your feet. The stories are gruesome, and crashing hard is part of the game. Endurance and a neutral stance are the key to survival as a slight bobble will be too much torque for the rental binding to take and you'll be on your ass and sliding down some icy chute before you know it. The fastest route down is heinous, and even on a good year it is rocky and steep, this year it might be almost unskiable. I'm going to try to round up a helmet cam. I can't wait!

The great rear suspension dilema

Here is the issue: Jamie wants to buy a new full suspension xc mountain bike. She wants my help. Her criteria for the perfect bike are listed below:

Fun and comfortable to ride all day but could still be raced occasionally.

With this in mind I have set out on a researching frenzy to find the best four to five inch bike for the buck. What I've found is mind boggling.

Being a 29er single speed hardtail rider for many years now, the last time I looked seriously at a full squishy was when I bought the original Jamis Dakar XLT 1.0 back in highschool. It was great on the descents but a true pedal bobbing power robbing pig on the climbs.

I've been researching suspensions designs for two solid weeks now and the next bike I buy, whether it be a xc racer or an all day trail bike is going to have full suspension. I'm very impressed with the new systems out there.

The holy grail of any full suspension is a vertical axle path. The two biggest obstacles for any bike designer is to have a rear suspension that doesn't bob under pedaling inputs and doesn't stiffen up under braking. Pedal bobbing has to a large degree been alleviated by advanced shocks with special valving built in that counter acts pedaling forces (i.e. Pro Pedal for Fox, SPV for manitou). Braking is a completely different can of worms. I'm not an engineer and this shit get complicated really quickly, but to put in layman's terms, the more vertical the axle path in relation to the bottom bracket, the less changing chain tension affects the suspension, and the more active the suspension will be under braking. Basically there are a bunch of designs out there that are trying to do the same thing. It's too complicated for me to explain so i'm going to let the Mountain Bike Action dual Suspension encyclopedia explain.

http://www.mbaction.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=64EA566E28D243838F273868DD20362A

They won't let me use the copy/paste function so go to their site and learn for yourself. Here is what any perspective full squishy buyer should focus on.

DW-Link: Pioneered by Dave Weagle, this is my favorite system. Check it out on Dw-link.com


Maestro: Similar to the DW-link and some say it's a patent infringement. It's Giants system and it's really sweet



VPP: Virtual Pivot Point. Used on Santa Cruz and Intense. A really good system as well.


ABP: Active Braking Pivot. Developed by Trek/Fisher and used on both bikes.


Horst Link: This is a Specialized patent with a pivot point below the rear axle and has set the bar for full suspension for many years.

Felt Equlink: I think this is similar to a dual linkage system like DW or VPP but with a fifth bar added. It looks really complicated

4 Bar: Kona uses the four bar system, but many other systems are considered four bar.

Magic Link: Kona's new system, I don't know much about it yet.


ETSX: Rocky Mountain's rendition of the Horst Link with the pivot moved slightly above the rear axle to avoid paying royalties to Specialized

Single pivot: The original and when executed correctly, can be as good as any of the others. Cannondale still uses single pivot, and Trek's design is basically a single pivot with the ABP


As you can see things get confusing quickly. After extensive research I think the best system is the DW-Link but finding a bike with this system at a $2500 dollar price point is proving very difficult. Anyone with any sugestions or personal experience should pipe up. There are very few deals here in Jackson and Jamie wants a bike for Moab in three weeks.

Doug "Full Suspension" Dale

Vertical update, hair between the toes, and quinoa

Howdy again from Jackson Hole. I'm overdue for an update but that's nothing new.

Lets start with the vertical challenge update:

I talked with Pippo the other day and he is destroying the field with 25 trips to the top of biggie, a.k.a 55,000 leg ripping vert. Pippo 2.0 is getting fit

Horan skied with Jensen at Stevens pass last weekend so I'll estimate his weekend vert at 7,ooo which brings his winter total to 7,018( It's six vertical feet to the washer in the basement of 904 Monroe and I'm guessing Horan has done laundry three times this winter).

I'm trailing a bit with a winter total just shy of 26,000. I have lots of spring skiing to do in March so that number better start to grow or else I'm not going to be very fit for my 2010 comeback

Who else is climbing up mountains? Shaun? Brice and Ice?

Jackson Living Update:

The harsh reality of the recession has been a brutal wake up call. A summer of recession landscaping and doing jobs for pennies over cost and now working petty wages as a rental tech has strained my bank account. Out of necessity rather than choice I've compiled a wants and needs list.
What's out:
Booze-too expensive
Limit my Double Americano's-Drip coffee tastes almost as good and is half the price
Driving to work-Jackson has a great bus system
Prepared food- Jamie's homemade food tastes better
Eliminated almost everything I don't need to survive

What's in:
Quinoa-tastes better than rice, better for you, I'm a big fan
Bulk Food-Way cheaper, takes longer to cook but better for you and less packaging
Reusing plastic bags: We've been re-using them to pick up dog shit and as garbage bags
Not wasting any food: Hardly a morsel of edible food finds its way to the trash.

Conclusion: With a little care you can live really well on very little money. New Doug is going to live below his means. If America is ever going to get out of the hole we've dug ourselves I think everyone needs a want/needs list. More on this in a later post.

Other interesting news:

Groomer is adapting to the cold of Jackson. She is growing lots of hair between her toes/pads. I noticed she was lifting her paws a bunch and having trouble with the cold in January but now after a bunch of walks and a few trips up Teton pass her paws have gotten very furry and she no longer seems to notice the cold. Thankfully Jamie hasn't started growing hair between her toes.







If Groomer can adapt to her environment in a matter of months I can't imagine what my descendants will look like and act like a few generations from now. Are my ape like features and ancient saggital crest no longer needed in modern society? Will the proper happenings of evolution weed out my deep eye sockets? I sure hope not. Oh well, until then you're all stuck with this.....







Dale

Vertical Challange: First to 100K wins

Here is the Challenge: First man or woman to climb 1oo,000 feet wins. Pippo has skinned up biggie 6 times @2,200ft/time giving him 13,200 ft so far. I've done Teton Pass 4 times @ 1,200ft/time, Snowking 2 times @1,550ft/time, and the randonnee race at Targhee @5000ft giving me 12,9000 ft. I think we should include the cycling house crew and all their trips up Mt. Lemon. I would like to keep cycling a separate category from running, skinning, hiking, but if you have a way to document elevation gain with a powertap or GPS on a ride by all means include it in the cycling category. The deadline in April 1st. I think this is a very achievable goal and many will probably surpass it. Everything is on the honor system, don't be a lame ass and pad your numbers. If you need a way to measure elevation gain on a run or ski I'm sure we all know a couple of dorks who own those fancy watches. My guess is Brice and Ice start running Jumbo in the mornings and Pippo goes ski crazy and crushes Biggie five days a week. Horan will hike jumbo once, Joel will continue with his 20 minute runs and Shaun and Toby will climb 30K on nordic this winter. I'll be lucky to see 100K by April. As for the cycling house crew, we could see some big numbers from them. Parsens and Mulfield are in a different group because I bet they have already put in 100K this winter, but I want to know their total numbers. Send your numbers to me and if this gets big enough we might have to start a continuously updated vertical chart.

Ski,Hike,Run Category

Pippo 13.2K
Dale 12.9K

Cycling Category
TCH Crew?

It's looking a bit like Christmas

• If finally snowed in Jackson. Quite a lot actually. 18 inches this morning and there looks to be more on the way. I've been working a bunch and the skiing is still abysmal so you'll have to wait awhile for reports. I did nordic ski up at Targhee on Friday and had a jolly time. If you have not skate skied at -20 with a poorly groomed track at 8000ft you haven't really lived. I made it 8k then though my lungs were going to prolapse out my mouth. Oscar 50K is going to be a real challenge if I keep training as little as I've been. Tourist are starting to move in and it looks to be a busy season. I just hope the folks from Jersey stay out east, they tend to be quite rude. No offense if you're from jersey, I'd be mad if I lived there too. That's all for now folks.

Dale