Bike update

Saint...
I Just love saying that. So the winner of Hamster "next top pedal" is the Shimano Saint PD-MX80.

Nine pins per side to grip like crazy

Ride report coming soon.

Ernest "Trail bike on road" Hamster

7-Eleven Trail 1500

For this year 2nd 7-Eleven epic mountain bike race  instead of participating I volunteered to do Support work for Team Siglo Siklistas.

Experiencing the race event from a different perspective I gained valuable knowledge on how to maximize distribution of supplies, the art of cooling down a rider, "feeding" efficiently and advantage of having a SAG (support and grub) when racing.

Along the way got to meet people that make up local mountain biking community and got to rub elbows with other Team SAG and supporters.

Race day Sunday
Arrived at Timberland before the first rays of the sun shinned upon the 1500 strong. Wall 1 road was already littered with parked cars on the shoulder. With resorts official parking already filling up was lucky to find a spot before the entrance with a help from team member and race participant Oscar who arrived earlier. Unloaded my gear and proceed to wait for other Siglo Siklistas.

Two bags, one Hamster
The hard part of doing SAG for the first time carrying two bags. Weight is tolerable but since I need to carry two small backpacks instead of just one big...one I ran out of real estate on my back. Initial attempt of strapping the other bag on my chest proved futile, as I pedaled further up Wall 2 the elevation started to climb the bag slipped slowly onto my arms and finally on the handlebars. So a creative method of carrying the bag was needed. Problem was solved by combining the two backpack straps that usually go on your shoulder to one and mounting it like a body bag. It worked but dismounting off the bike was a pain.

Photo courtesy of PMTB

Thou shall not pass
Plan was station my ass with supplies to key feed zones along the race course. BOOM along Sapinit/Giant road was the first key junctions where the majority of trail branches, second Jason's also know as entrance to green zone and exit of nursery.
That was the plan but we did not expect that BASIC fire road going to BOOM was blocked by the organizers probably to avoid last year trail gate crashers.
Only transition/feed zone accessible was at Jason's. Waited for all Siglo team racers to pass providing them with much needed support.

Final Feed zone

Final push
Last 3-5km green zone technical trail, while black diamond the final challenge before crossing the finish line with brutal steep climbs and equally fast holy sh*t down hill sections.

7-Eleven Trail 1500
So concludes second year of 711 Trail event.
For the participants, finishers, and podium placers congratulations you are all winners in my book having to endure one of the toughest race in our country.
Kudos!

Team Siglo Siklistas. Photo courtesy of Gle

Ernest "SAG r us" Hamster

Bike ride, bike update

Bike ride Two weeks worth of night ride with Siglo Siklista's
Jan.22
Broke my 3 yr old pedal, hitched a ride home from mom.
Shout out to guys of Siglo who assisted me THANK YOU.

Jan.29
Fun 50 km ride, capped the night at El chupacabra.

Bike update
Installed Shimano XT BR-M785 brakes on Commencal el camino. Been running ol' reliable Shimano single piston Non series hydro's BR-M486 for around a year. Got them cheap from fellow Siglo member and now the time to step-up to something significantly better.

Dual piston, Ice tech rotors standard

Welgo platform pedals mentioned above now in mountain bike heaven along with box full of parts that Hamster destroyed. Pedals served me well for 3 years through epic rides, races, countless crashes and every crap in between rest well friend you have served me well.

Well...duh

Potential replacement criteria:

• wide platform
• longer, replaceable pins
• reasonable weight

Candidates are:

Spank Spike or oozy trail pedals

Most expensive of the bunch 

Shimano Saint pedal

Favorite for durability, with only the weight as a penalty

Nuke proof electron, neutron pedals

Nylon pedals, reasonable price, great reviews

Couple of hundred pesos cheaper than the SPANK, great reviews

Xpedo Spry

Middle price range of the bunch, wide but thin platform

For the mean time temporarily transferred Beater SS VP commuter pedals to the camino.

Ernest "destroying bike components since 2011" Hamster