Mark and I are flying back tomorrow. After going out for a traditional diner breakfast, I’ve come back to the hotel room to try and make a start on all the web stories I need to get edited and on to Singletrackworld.com - and Mark has gone out in search of a tattoo parlour… Yes really… I’m sure there’ll be an update here shortly.
Last night I fitted some XTR cranks to my Orange Patriot. They are beautiful pieces of engineering, took me all of 20 minutes to fit and weigh not very much at all.
I then thought I’d treat the bike to some new gear cables.
Now fitting new gear inners to X0 shifters is a bit more involved than with the X7s or X9s and requires taking the cover off the shifter, removing the old cable from a plastic spool and then pushing a new cable back through the hole in the spool.
I’ve done it a couple of times with no problems, but last night, and indeed tonight it’s just not happening. The cable wont go through the hole in the spool. I’ve spent about an hour in total trying to change a gear cable. That’s not right is it?
If only they didn’t work so well…
Right, I’m off to poke a cable at a hole, wish me luck.
Morning folks,
A reasonably average day at Interbikes go. Mark and I were at the show not too long after the 9am door opening, did some regimented aisle walking, stopped to be interviewed by cycling.tv, Mark finished our first Interbike video podcast (podcast.singletrackworld.com), then we did some more aisle walking. Finished the day with some cheese and wine at Dirt Rag and a glass of Caol Ila at Knolly Bikes. Back to the hotel, download some pictures, eat a Subway sandwich, then a cab to the Cross Vegas event. There was an all star cast for the race, including Adam Craig, Jeff Kabush, Ryan Trebron and all sorts.
A super-fast course on Las Vegas grass at the soccer club (which resembled moss, rather than grass - must have been hell to race on) which the racers whizzed round. Nearly got arrested for throwing beer on Nat Ross (the organisers objected to it, but Nat didn’t seem too bothered - I have some fine video of him grabbing a beer and continuing the run-up without losing a single stride. That’s professionalism…) And then finally (11pm or so til 3am) to the Double Down Saloon for some roller racing and some beers with the, er, more singlespeedy part of the Interbike crowd… Five and a bit hours til the show starts tomorrow… Oh well eh?
Well we made it. Close run thing as we made our flight in Newark with just five minutes to spare after we got all confused at the bar about what time it really was.
We are staying at the Flamingo Hotel on the The Strip and it’s bloody huge!
Despite being a resident of the bike industry for almost ten years, this is my first trip to the World’s biggest bike trade show. Everyone else here claim to be jaded veterans but you may be able to tell that I’m having quite an adventure right now. I wonder how long it will last
We’ve got the day off today so we are going to see how far we can stretch the crappy dollar exchange rate in the shops with Mike D (bikemagic) and Tim Johnson (Sideways Cycles). Here’s the view from the hotel this morning.
In about 15 hours Mark and I are off to the States for Interbike. Before I go, I have to finish the plan for the next issue, make sure I’ve got lots of work for Sim to work on on Monday, pack and make sure all my cameras, computers and assorted gadgets are charged and ready. Oh, and sleep… I’m sure I’ll get it done…
Look for daily reports from Interbike as Mark and I trawl the aisles for fun stuff. And hopefully we’ll get time to go out on at least one evening there to check out the bike industry nightlife…
I did finally put the finishing touches (cables mainly) on my new Salsa Casseroll frame. It’s going to be my winter road bike and summer tourer. With some mudguards fitted, even I won’t be able to come up with enough excuses not to ride it, so I’m looking forward to giving it a go when I return. It’ll be proper autumn then too. A good time for jackets and tights and chilly rides and warm cafes. I’m looking forward to it…
I’m looking forward to actually riding bikes soon - the silly show season is currently upon us - and as well as the Eurobike/SSWC/Fort William fortnight, I’ve just done Trek, a wedding, an off road duathlon (for fun apparently) and a view of the 2008 Saracen bikes. On Saturday Mark and I are off to Las Vegas for a solid week of Interbike. Once back we’ve got a fortnight to get the next issue finished (with the welcome distraction of the Marin Dusk Til Dawn race) and, with the exception of the Cycle Show in London, we can start winding down the travelling a little and ramping up the riding… As for the duathlon - doing a 5k run/20k mountain bike/5k run with the minimum of running practice now means that I’m walking around like someone just lopped a couple of inches from my hamstrings… All good fun though…
I’m a firm believer that a stiff legged start to the week is the sign of a weekend well spent. After a three week ride drought, thanks to life getting in the way of riding, it was good to get back to night riding last Thursday followed by two days of riding on Saturday and Sunday, aka “As things should be”.
Saturday saw a route that took in some of the best portage and steep will sapping climbs that Calderdale has to offer. But climbing is good (that was my mantra anyway) when it leads to the kind of sustained singletrack we took in on the descents. Bonus late season dusty trails helped too as did the beer and homemade chips at Ed’s garden party.
Sunday we celebrated SteveM’s birthday with a figure of 8 plus further loops around Oxenhope trail choice being determined by wind direction more than habit. A perfectly timed ride saw us dropping off the hill just as the rain started, a situation that always feels good.
So two rides with that perfect combination of friends, bikes, “perfect” weather and that dull glow of satisfaction that makes Mondays back at work that little bit easier to face 
Matt and I are back from our two weeks of planes, trains and automobiles (and ferries). After doing Eurobike into the Singlespeed World Champs in Aviemore and then Fort William, I was quite glad to get back and spread out in my own bed - no tents, no hostels, no kitchen floors. We now need to work out what’s going in the next issue, plus the next year of magazines, this week. I’m away again on Thursday to go to a product launch in Milton Keynes on Friday and another one in Banbury on the Monday. Then it’s four days in the office before Mark and I fly to Las Vegas for Interbike for a week. I have a week off booked for November (my next spare weekend) and it’s looking mighty tempting.
Well, I’m still in Aviemore and everyone’s out riding - well apart from me. With the exception of the ace SSWC on Sunday, I’ve not ridden a bike for three weeks, what with deadlines, tradeshows and my own misplaced loyalties of writing about bikes for the magazine rather than riding them for fun for myself. The trouble is, with 400 pictures to edit and format and write about from Eurobike, and Fort William’s coverage starting tomorrow, I’m never going to get time to do anything, let alone ride bikes for fun. Should I work less and ride more? Or should my loyalty be to the readers’ desire for mountain bike news rather than my own liking for riding bikes? A tricky one - and it does sound like I’m whingeing again… (Though I’ll happily bore anyone who suggests it’s all sunshine and press trips…)
Singletrack’s deluxe Eurobike HQ for Matt and Chipps just before it rained. Now where’s that ’sunshine’ comment? 
In order to try and get the word out and give myself enough time to sleep, I thought I’d try a bold new move and let Singletrack Blog readers have a look at the raw, unedited and captioned pictures from Eurobike. I’ve put them up on the Singletrackmag Flickr page - Have a look see here: Singletrack’s Flickr page You’re welcome to comment or email us for more info on a particular picture - and slowly we’ll get the story up on the main page of Singletrack. But for now, the STW Staff Blog is the only place to get the link, so you’re special, OK?
I’m just taking a break from building up an Orange 5 frame. It started quite well…
Syncros headset squished in nice and smoothly. FSA crankset went in alright (just try not to look at the rounded-out bearing pre-loading nut thingy). Shiny new pair of Marzocchi of XC700 forks trimmed and installed. Some random 31.8 riser bars and 70mm stem stuck on there for the time being until something nicer arrives. On slide on a nice pair of Outland locking grips (from issue 38’s group test). Shimano XT wheels, rotors and shifters went on simple as.
The XT disc brakes went together okay and it was a pleasant surprise to have them bled-up and ready to rock with the ease and speed of other (non-XTR) Shimano brakes.
And then the usual sort of bike-build problems began…
The rear brake hose was a little on the short side (anyone who says “measure twice, cut once” to me will get cut.. possibly thrice). Grr. A little bit of hose re-routing along the top of the swingarm instead of inside it and the problem was solved - albeit in a disappointingly ugly way.
Time to put the front mech on. Everyone hates installing front mechs. They’re such a lottery; either working perfectly from day one never to be thought of again OR they’re absolute twats from the kick-off. As it turns out the XT front mech we have doesn’t fit the Orange 5 (it fouls the swingarm). Cue mucho swearing from me. So on goes a scratty
-looking old XT low-band front mech for the time being.
That’s as far as I’ve got with the build so far. I need to pop to the LBS to get a star fangled nut and a chain. And even then we’re still waiting for a 190mm eye-to-eye rear shock, 400mm 27.2 seat post, a saddle and a pair of tubeless-with-gunk tyres before the bike can head for the hills…
It currently weighs 24.8 lbs by the way (for all you weight geeks out there).