Blogs

Had a great ride out at Sunny Hollow Park on my fresh Salsa Spearfish.  Speaking of Sunny Hollow, I must note what an incredible job Fellowship of the Wheel has done with that place.  Go to their site and give them all your money and try to make some time to hook up with a trail crew and put in a day out in the woods with those awesome folks.  Oh, and get out there and ride!

Ok on to whats important here, a new bike!

I had never thought much of full suspension mountain bikes, having always rode rigid single speeds, but after attending the United Bicycle Institute to learn all about suspension systems my interest was piqued. I jumped at the chance to get on a Salsa Spearfish.  The Spearfish was designed for endurance - long rides, endurance racing, and bikepacking.  The single-pivot design of the rear suspension coupled with stiff stays makes the Spearfish pedal, and climb on par with a hardtail.  The 80mm RockShox Monarch still takes the bite out of the rough stuff.  Salsa really struck a great balance with this rig.

I call it Orange Crush.

Here are a few more pictures

Who said that fat bikes are just for winter riding; not us. Here are a few shots of our buddy Eric's Pugs that he just had in for some work. He has been ripping hard, getting it dirty, and subsequently ripped the derailleur off. With a new one installed and the shifting dialed in the Pugs is ready to ride another muddy trail.

With the size of those tires it like riding a bike with a couple inches of travel all around. Also with the increasing popularity of fat bikes are increasing accessory options. Think adventure touring, logging road bumping, and lost coast exploration.

Greg has been at it again. It wasnt too long ago that Glenn rolled in a dusty, dirty, and rusty 1892 Gormully and Jeffery Rambler No. 1 into the shop. If you have checked out ourMuseumpage its easy to assume that some of the older bikes do not look like they would be the smoothes ride on the rough roads of times past. This Rambler No. 1 is an early attempt by a major bicycle manufracturer to solve the problems associated with rough roads. Here are a few before shots of the G & J Rambler No. 1. Rear suspension, coupled with a pivoting bottom bracket, and rear wheel 30 inches in diameter were an attempt at smoothing out the ride on the bad roads of the late 19th Century in America. A good old tug-a-war. Not a sinle part on this rig was seased and it all came apart and went back together. Check out some after photos below andmore here. Before. After. Check out that half link design. It does not look like something you would want to have your fingers sucked into. After Greg completed the revival we installed a suspended oil powered "Brilliant" head lamp also produced by G & J. If your ever in the area, swing by the shop and check it out.

We held the first installment of the MAD DASHES roller race series last week at The Monkey House. We had 22 racers sign up, and ran 21 races, including a couple 100 meter dash tie breakers and a 2,000 meter long distance run among the normal 250 meter dashes. The fastes racers of the night were Colin Deez, who sprinted his way to both first place in the bracket series, and also came home tied for the fastest time along with David Boyd, who both clocked in with a record 10:784 in the 250m.

We took the fastes times from the preliminarys and put the top 4 men, and top 2 women in a bracket series to compete for prizes, including Old Spokes Home hats, tshirts, stickers, some bells, tire levers and more. Here are the results:

Mens Semi Finals:

Colin Deez vs. David Boyd - Winner: Colin Deez

Dan Hock vs. Bill Lockwood - Winner: Dan Hock

Womens Finals:

Camilla Mahon vs. Rachel Gitajn - Winner: Camilla Mahon

Mens Finals:

Dan Hock vs. Colin Deez - Winner: Colin Deez

And the timed results:

10.784 - Colin Deez

10.784 - David Boyde

11.737 - Dan Hock

11.740 - Bill Lockwood

11:782 - Brian Miller

12.016 - Dylan Morgan

12.264 - Kevin Duniho

12.270 - James Stoops

12.490 - Stefan Burbeck

12.530 - Jeff Price

12:532 - Ed Doyle

12.775 - Shaun Boyce

12.782 - Alex Pelman

12.805 - Mark Premo

13.270 - Chris Olah

13.282 - Will McManus

13.281 - Camilla Mahon

13.739 - Anthony Locicero

14.297 - Rachel Gitajn

14.297 - Sarah Comtois

15.326 - Gretchen Stokes

Camilla vs. Rachel Mad Dashes from Old Spokes Home on Vimeo.

Dan Hock Vs. Colin Deez Final Race Mad Dashes from Old Spokes Home on Vimeo.

Come out and give it a spin for your self. Friday March 9, @ Manhattan Pizza and Friday March 23, @ Maglianero.

March made its debut in Vermont and we are now on the same page of the calender as spring.  This means, of course, that there is plenty of good snow up in the hills!

Last weekend I took my Pugs out to the Duxbury side of Camel's Hump and found the conditions to be great for fat tires.  The trails were packed well from skiers and snowshoers and although that section of VAST trail was closed to snow 'chine traffic it was perfectly accessible by bike.

The climb up Beaver Meadow to the beaver ponds offers spectacular views of our 2nd tallest hill the whole way.

Now of course, the snow is bound to turn to mud and the mud will dry (in some places) to dirt, but it must be said that Fat Bikes are not just for snow anymore.  These bikes will take you literally anywhere you want.  They float over thick grass, crawl through mud, and give you a bit of cushion over rough terrain.  The Fat Bike sector of the bicycle world is only growing as more and more people discover the fun and possibilities that these bikes give.  We have two Pugsleys left in stock for the year a Small and a Medium and we have knocked $100 off the sticker price, So come on down and get 'em while they're hot!

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