When I get out into the wild, I crave the silence and the solace of leaving the societal world behind. Something about the digital distractions of our everyday life clouds the mind with some permanent state of white noise. I try to escape, but its hard to break out of the grip of alternating current, its interesting to see what small piece retains the hold.
In this case, it was a song by the Indigo Girls. My mind would not quiet, even with the large expanse of air surrounding me, trying so hard to give space and relieve the pressure. “I’m trying to tell you something about my life, maybe give me insight between black and white”
I am out on a 6 day trip with 3 good friends, and one new one. I went to college with Adam and Justin, we have ridden thousands of miles together, and this time they brought along Matt, a new friend that I seemed to have known for a long time. The other good friend was El Mariachi, as I brought out one of the new prototypes with the Alternator dropout to do product testing. We were setting off on a 6-day trip to ride the Kokopelli trail, White Rim, and a smattering of other Moab area trails to connect it all together in bikepacking wanderlust.
“The best thing you’ve ever done for me, is to help me take my life less seriously, its only life after all” the words kept coming in my head. I couldn’t shake the remains of city life, but I suppose it was better than Britney Spears or Justin Bieber.
El Mariachi and I have been friends since 2007, and this third reincarnation brought back all the good memories of our times before. It was that old friend, the one you knew for years, you get together and don’t miss a beat, its an easy friendship, one you know will always be there. It was great to have my friend El Mariachi along in this capacity, as this was the same experience I was having with Matt, Justin and Adam. Sure, we went to school together, but now are spread out across the country, and really are only able to congregate a few weeks a year for good mountain biking trips. But as with any good friends, we can always pick up where we left off.
Leaving Fruita with 26 lbs of gear dry, 300oz of water, and 300 miles of trail ahead, we had the butterflies of the long trip ahead, but the excitement of what adventures these 6 days would bring us. We had done Kokopelli the year before, so the first day was very familiar. We did however find that an MSR ceramic water filter does not work as well in the muddy Colorado as it does in the crisp, clean streams of Minnesota. The first night was spent 62 miles in, with no water, and dry EasyMac for dinner.
“I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains, I look to the children, I drank from the fountain. There’s more than one answer to these questions, pointing me in a crooked line. The less I seek my source for some definitive, The closer I am to fine.” The ladies kept singing into my ear, even in the painful dehydrated night, and while I could not shake the noise in my head, the lyrics they were telling me were soothing, giving me reason to why I was willingly out in the desert suffering. Healing. Being out, not knowing what is next, adventure. It heals my wounds from a consumerist metropolis lifestyle.
A night void of water for the body can only be followed by dry oatmeal and cold, hard to swallow Pop-Tarts. Those first 25 miles were painful, but soon after another crossing of the Colorado, we found a nice flow out in the slickrock domes, devoid enough of silt to allow the little MSR to fill us up. As the heat of day picked up, it felt good to finally be rehydrating. Throughout the pain of dehydration, one piece of comfort was the El Mariachi was beneath me, acting faithfully as ever, working perfectly without complaint, showing that even some new clothes wont spoil its inner beauty.
“I stopped by the bar at 3am, to seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend, I woke up with a headache like my head against a board, twice as cloudy as Id been the night before, I went in seeking clarity” Clarity is what I was seeking. But reaching the next stream on the map that was supposed to be clear and a source for water found us with an opposing force of the desert heat only a few hours previous; snow. We were camping up above Onion Creek at around 7000 ft, and the steam was frozen. Prepared for the desert with our 45 degree down bags, we froze, dehydrated again when the temperature dipped to 23 degrees. Clarity is why I came out here. I swore a few times that night wondering what kind of idiot does this for fun?
Taking a break at our halfway stop in Moab, we went into one of the local gear shops to ask how they got water out of the Colorado. Alum. Take the muddy water, let it sit in a container, add alum and it helps precipitate out the sediment. Then filter. Local knowledge is precious. Mental note, ask first next time.
The next few days were spent out in Canyonlands National Park, the only one where you can ride a mountain bike off-pavement. With knowledge of water harvestation, gorgeous views, and a full belly of Denny’s Grand Slam, the next few days seemed to be more exciting than the last. Plus, the altitude is only about 5000 ft, so it wouldn’t be as cold.
“We go to the bible, we go through the workout, we read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout. There’s more than one answer to these questions, pointing me in a crooked line. The less I seek my source for some definitive, the closer I am to fine.” The 5th day was my 29th birthday. I was out, enjoying the most gorgeous country on my favorite 29er. Some of my yearning concerns and questions were beginning to fade into the red rocks. My mind was clearing. We reached camp, I went to the river to start some filtering, and found a naked man. He was bathing where I wanted to get drinking water. He sure was nice though, as he offered up 4 gallons of fresh distilled, jugged water and a 6 pack of ice cold Bud Light. What a birthday gift. Thank you naked man.
Closer to fine, the name of the song that remained in my head, over and over for 6 days. I felt it. As I rode my adventure with all of my good friends, human and steel, I felt every day that I was getting closer to being fine.
Wednesday May 19th, 2010
| 7 Comments | Kid Riemer
Back in October, when we introduced the first prototype of the Enabler it caught some folk’s attention. That’s a good thing right? Well, except when you’ve got folks fired up for the product but you won’t deliver it for a few months. Sorry about that. It did take us a bit longer than planned to come to market.
Well, we’ve had the Enabler Fork in stock now for a while (as many of you have noticed) and it seemed time to share a bit more about the fork and just what it allows you to do.
It is a slightly complicated, freak of a fork in many ways. People often get hung up on the massive tire clearance and immediately think ‘snow bike’. There are a couple things to keep in mind in that regard however. Remember, the Enabler is a 29’er fork. Throwing it on your existing snow bike might throw it out of balance a bit. Check the Enabler product page for all the critical measurements and compare to whichever fork you are currently using.
It does ENABLE you to create what we’ve been calling ‘snow bike lite’: a 29’er with a bit fat Surly Endomorph or Larry tire up front. Lots of floatation for snow or sand, and if you run a wide rim (like a Salsa Gordo 29’er Disc) on the back end with a 2.5” 29’er tire, it just may turn unrideable terrain into rideable terrain, without buying a new bike.
Here are a couple shots from this past winter of Jason on board his prototype El Mariachi set up as a ‘snow bike lite’.
But don't let yourself get pigeon-holed into just the Enabler-snowbike lite-phat tires mindset. Remember, the Enabler is at heart just a kick-butt 29'er fork. Clearance for Endomorphs or Larrys means that there is gobs of room for any 29’er tire. That in turn ENABLES you to run your choice of 29’er rubber up front for ‘regular’ off-road riding.
Remember that bit about it being a ‘freak fork’?
Well, the Enabler uses a rear wheel. If you’ve got a spare 29’er rear wheel it will drop right in and become your front wheel. It uses a front brake adapter however so you don’t need to worry about coming up with a second rear brake adapter. Your front brake will swap straight over. Essentially the Enabler is a sweet riding fork for those rigid riding situations that has a ton of clearance and other features. The fact that it uses a rear wheel is just another benefit.
Why have a rear wheel up front? Well, for longer adventures it does give you a backup should your freehub go bad. If singlespeeding, it also gives you the potential to set up your front wheel with a different sized cog thereby giving you a second gearing option.
But wait, there’s more!
This fork ENABLES you to run water bottles on your fork legs. While some might scoff at this, I’ve come to love having water bottles to access there. It allows me to carry enough water on my bike that I rarely ever need to have a hydration pack on my back. Plus, we’ve placed the water bottle braze-ons to offer two positions: high or low, depending on your preference, or as mandated by your ohter equipment choices.
The fork also ENABLES you to run racks and fenders. We’ve got braze-ons for racks and fenders on the stainless steel, forward facing fork dropouts. Plus, we’ve included mid-blade lowrider mounts. The Enabler will work perfectly with our upcoming Minimalist rack and Down Under lowriders.
You just may want to ENABLE your 29’er to become a rack-toting, bikepacking or off-road touring machine.
As you can see, the bottom line is that the Enabler allows you to do a heck of a lot with your 29’er. In fact there are so many options that we all have different favorite things to say about it.
Jason - My favorite thing about the Enabler is how it makes my current El Mariachi, or most 29ers, even more versatile. With the Enabler I now have a “Snow-Bike Lite” and it opened up new trails, lakes and places to ride. I also like carrying stuff on my fork, something I can’t do with current rigid 29er forks.
Pete - My favorite part of the fork is that I got to design the I.S. mount to be front specific, but offset to work with the rotor location of a rear hub. This allows the user that is adding the Enabler fork to their existing frame/bike to simply swap over their existing set of brakes. For someone doing a new build, it gives them the convenience to purchase a standard front/rear brake set instead of having to locate two individual rears or an extra rear adaptor for the front brake. In short, you get to use a standard front disc brake on the front fork…no gimmicks, just common sense & logical. It also means no funky stuff for the wheel either. No special proprietary hubs, no funky offset, any plain old 135mm rear wheel will work in this fork. (Disc-ready of course if you intend to run a front brake!)
Tim - It’s the first fork to allow 29ers to take lowrider racks.
Joe - Carries stuff, clears mud, floats on snow, and it is intelligently designed.
Sean - I think the enabler is great because it just adds versatility to your bike. It lets any normal 29er (preferably a steel El Mariachi) become something new and totally different. It adds a whole new way to ride and enjoy the trail just by changing out the fork!
Mark - You can give your bike that ‘monster truck’ look you’ve always wanted.
Kid – For me, it takes the rigid fork and elevates it into a Swiss Army Knife of sorts, but having the water bottle access is my favorite thing. My snow bike and Fargo turned me on to that in a big way; I don’t know why I’d ever do without it on a rigid fork.
Every so often, we receive photos from Salsa riders. They come in from all over the globe. They aren't always good, but sometimes are great. But regardless of the arguable quality of the photos themselves, they show our bikes being put to good use. You can't ask for more than that.
City Creek Canyon overnighter in Salt Lake City, Utah
Out of work...go for a tour? December tour of Washington & Oregon coast.
Tour de Africa. Four Fargo riders in Sudan. And yes, that is a deceased and rapidy dessicating camel. Don't forget to drink.
Thursday October 22nd, 2009
| 1 Comments | Kid Riemer
This is a bit of a different sort of I'd Rather Be Riding Here post, as it is just a quick overview and links to a couple sites.
This past summer, Chipps Chippendale, editor of the UK's Singletrack magazine, took a riding holiday to France and Spain. He did a lightweight tour on a Salsa Fargo, climbing a lot of mountain passes, sleeping in campgrounds, and eating in cafes. Sounds like a nice trip doesn't it?
Chipps was kind enough to let us share the links to his trip so here they are. Check 'em out and then try to figure out what you are going to do to break the 'I wish it were me' feelings! -Kid
A couple of weeks ago I posted some short videos captured during my Fruita to Moab Kokopelli trip. It was an amazing trip that challenged me both mentally and physically. Thankfully, I had ridden the trail about 15 years ago. This previous experience helped me shape my gear and narrowed my bike choice to the Salsa Big Mama. Read on to read more about the Big Mama and view some of my pictures taken on my 13.5 hour 125mile solo Fruita to Moab journey.
I chose the Big Mama for this journey. Fifteen years ago I rode the trail on a hard tail with racks and panniers. The Kokopelli is a trail that has it all. Both ends of the trail are capped with epic desert single track. The middle sections are filled with two track desert road with surfaces ranging from sand, rock, to hard pack. At times I felt like I was in the Sahara. Other times I felt like I was on mars.
I could have ridden any number of Salsa bikes including my Fargo, El Mariachi, Dos Niner, Big Mama, or a couple of prototypes. I choose the Big Mama. Why did I choose the Big Mama?
- It pedals so well. We've sent a fair number of the El Kaboing and Big Mama's out on test rides over the last several months since showing the bike to the media last June. Many folks agree including several media reviews that this bike pedals really well. Given I'd be pedaling for so long, I would not pick a bike of mine that didn't pedal really well.
- Suspension. Now truth be told, I could have ridden any bike I mentioned above on the trail. Each would allow me to do different things. However, for me the Big Mama provided me with the perfect balance, comfort and capability. It did everything I wanted it too and ate up the terrain. I flipped the pro pedal on for the middle flat sections and flipped it off for any single track or rocky path. I love suspension and how it eliminates my spinal compression and corresponding pain.
- Feel. Now this is one of those things that isn't necessarily measurable nor the same for every person, but the Big Mama has a certain feel to it. It's stiff in the right places. As mentioned, it pedals well. The geo is really good for all day riding. Also, since I had weight on the front and the back of the bike, I needed a certain level of stiffness and rigidity to the bike. In my eyes, the Big Mama was my only choice.
- Performance. In over 200 miles of trail over 4 days carrying all my gear, I did not have one single mechanical. The bike performed perfectly.
That is why I chose the Big Mama. I love this bike. It gets the job done and is ready for the next day. Time and time again.
Now....All was not perfect on my ride. I did have a few issues. My right hand went numb and I'm still having a few issues with it. My next trip will at a minimum have carbon Salsa handlebars on the bike, probably some new grips, and likely some gloves that are more than a single thin layer of soft leather. I'll likely have a new saddle as the one I used is great up to about 4 hours. After that, not so good for me. I also need to have a custom frame bag made to go with my custom Epic Designs seat and bar bag so I can carry more stuff on the bike as opposed to on me. Next time.
In the end, I couldn't be happier with my choice or the bike. It's a keeper for sure. My next adventure later this month will be with my Fargo where I tackle dirt, pavement, gravel and single track in 3 different states.
Oh.....And if you got this far and are considering a Big Mama or El Kaboing, we've got a new MSRP for the framesets ($1315). We let the Salsa dealers know last week. If you've been waiting for just the right time, I think that time is now. Go buy one. You won't be disappointed.
Monday, I shared a brief video of my Kokopelli Trail ride. I had an ambitious plan. Some things went well. Some did not. I had planned on heading out on Sunday, but the weather forecast wasn't great and I decided to head out on Saturday instead. I was three hours into the day, I changed my plans. Instead of riding to Moab in two days with a campout, I decided to keep going and ride it in one day.
I had crazy weather on this day. Temps were relatively mild but I had severe wind, rain, dust storms, and even some hail/snow! I was actually thankful for the little bit of rain. I would have been in trouble had it really rained. Thankfully, it was just a little bit of rain and it kept the dust down and firmed up the soil, making my ride faster.
Because I changed plans mid ride and decided to do Fruita to Moab in one day, I decided to roll the last 30 miles into town on pavement. I was crushed as I had been pedalling for 9.5 hours straight with little rest. The last 30 miles were no cakewalk either thanks to more wind and rain. Finally, the weather broke for good and I rolled into Moab.
That's a wrap folks. While I didn't do the whole Kokopelli, I did end up riding almost 120 miles in 13 hours. All in all a great test of body, mind and equipment. Just what I was looking for from this trip.
I finished the night off with a Subway feast and then rode up to the Slick Rock campgrounds in the dark to meet some friends from Nebraska, Colorado and Montana. The wind was gone and the stars came out making for a perfect evening.
What a day! I will never forget it. It was without a doubt one of my more difficult days of riding ever.
Thursday March 26th, 2009
| 0 Comments | Kid Riemer
One of the goals I set for myself this year was to do at least one overnighter each month. Calling that a goal doesn't exactly sound right though. A goal sounds like work and these overnighters are definitely not intended to be work. They are meant to be a nice quick way to have some fun, get in a mini camping excursion, sleep outside under the stars, and breathe some fresh air.
A few years back, Grant Peterson of Rivendell took to calling these overnighters Sub-24 Hour Overnight (S24O) trips. I don't always agree with Grant but I think he hits the nail on the head with his thoughts on overnighters. If you want to read more about what Grant says about S24O's you can do so at www.rivbike.com. Click on READ and you'll see some stuff about bike camping and what to bring. Another site you may enjoy is www.bikepacking.net.
My outing last night would officially qualify as a S9O on the Rivendell scale, but to me spending a night outside is priceless. That doesn't always mean I get the best night's sleep, but it is worth it to me anyway. At the most basic level I just like being outside.
Because I wasn't going to be out long it was easy to keep a very light load for the outing. Even lightly loaded there were plenty of things I could have left behind I suppose.
Here's my gear list from last night:
Fargo with Wildfire Designs frame bag Mini pump, tube, 3 Allen wrenches, tire levers MSR Titan kettle MSR Pocket Rocket stove and gas cannister Princeton Tec Apex Pro headlamp 36 oz Nalgene bottle with water 2x 24 oz water bottles Ridgerest camping mat full length GoLite ultralight backpack An old ground cloth Marmot super burly down sleeping bag, too warm for the conditions Matches, tea packets, granola bar Puffy synthetic jacket My lady's digital camera (shhhhhh!) and a super light mini tripod
The temperature was just barely below freezing which felt pretty warm after a winter with some good cold weather. It also meant the ground was hard so my gear and I stayed mud-free.
A quick ride took me to my stealth location for the night: under a stand of pines where it makes being seen at night virtually impossible, unless you are prancing around with a light on. Best of all I had a sweet unobstructed view of the downtown skyline just a handful of miles away.
It was an uneventful night. A bit of wind now and then, but basically a peaceful night that let me think a lot.
On the ride home this morning I was going through a small park a mile from my house and had the good fortune to have a fisher run across my path about 10 feet in front of me. Not the Gary Fisher type of fisher mind you. I'm talking about the animal type of fisher. That's only the third time in my life where I've seen a type of weasel out in nature doing its thing. No pics though as the camera was zipped up in my jacket pocket. It was a very dark brown, almost black fisher about 28 to 32 inches long I'd say.
I did experiment with using aero bar extensions as my sleeping pad carrier last night. It worked well. Road bars and the wide sleeping pad I was using were a bit limiting. I think it holds more promise in the warmer months of holding both my sleeping bag and a sleeping pad. Look for some more experimentation with this in the future as I think it could work very well with mountain handlebars. Potentially, a more intentional bend of the current aero bar extensions could hold both items out in front of the handlebar with no brake lever interference.
And yes, folks. Put that one down in the record books! Kid Riemer is using aero bars! Booyah!
9 Comments
9 Comments | Permalink
.jpg)
