Amazing Race

Phil Keoghan's "Ride Across America Presented by GNC" will kick off on March 28 in Los Angeles and end on May 9 in New York City. Along the way, he'll attend meet and greets with supporters at local GNC stores, visit CBS affiliates, attend open-casting calls for the next installment of THE AMAZING RACE, sign copies of his best-selling book No Opportunity Wasted,attend Bike MS rallies hosted by the National MS Society and ride alongside ex-racers and fans of THE AMAZING RACE.

Phil is riding from coast to coast. Click here to see if he is coming to a city near you.

Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor gloom of night…

Sunday’s OMBC opener at Mohican Wilderness in Loudenville, Ohio was with out a doubt the best and worse race I have ever done.

The morning started off with some light drizzle and the trails were tacky but very ride able shape. Then with less then an hour prior to the start the skies darkened and opened up with a deluge off rain, snow and ice for about 30 minutes. This cold front not only brought the precipitation but also dropped the temperature from a chilly 46 to a cold 37.

This caused many participants to pack up their cars and return home…not me. I am not sure if it was the fact the wife and I drove 3 hours to get there or that I already paid the $25 entry fee.

I have raced this 9.5 mile course several times and the longest it has ever taken to complete a lap was an hour – twenty minutes. So I assumed that the mud and rain would add 20 minutes tops. WRONG! Try over 40 additional minutes for the and an hour longer for the second when the mud turned to what could only be described as peanut butter.



I was not having any fun so when I came around for the start of the second lap Mrs. Averett brought me some dry gloves and said “…you can do it.”. There were several opportunities to quite…but I could hear my wife’s voice in my head saying “I am proud of you for finishing.” That was all it took to ride through cramps, cold, snow, rain, ice the course and mud.

So with what will be a time of over 4:40 I did not DNF. Thanks to everyone who stuck it and waited for me to finish especially my wife. See you at Vultures Knob on the April 18th.

Paragon

I received my 2009 Gary Fisher Paragon 2 weeks ago and I have been holding out on passing any judgment until I had enough saddle time to give an honest evaluation. That time is now.

First off the color…I have had a thing for white bikes I believed them to be plain and generic but wow the white has a iridescencent bass boat coating to it that when the sunlight hits it looks amazing.



After racing and ridding a Niner Air9 last season I was not expecting to notice much in the difference between the Air9 and the Paragon. Fortunately I was wrong wayyy wrong!

The 29’er platform offers many advantages with their larger wheels giving more surface contact, ease in rolling over small roots and rocks and carrying more speed and momentum. But there were always two things that I wish would go away. Those same larger wheels made it harder to maneuver around tight switchbacks and acceleration was poor.

Gary Fisher has taken care of the issue of maneuverability through employing his G2 Technology. Gary's proprietary G2 Geometry with a custom offset Fox F80RL 29 and the use of Bontrager Race Lite Big Sweep handlebars that have 12 degrees of back-sweep improve slow speed handling giving the impression that I am flicking a smaller 26 inch wheel through rock gardens and around tight single-track.

As for acceleration I am not sure how this has been accomplished. The Paragon is about pound and half heavier then my Air9 but for some reason I have noticed the ability to use less power to climb up steep climbs and more speed coming out the corners. The two frames measure up to be about the same dimensions but when I am ridding the Paragon it feels like I am ridding a 26’er. I don’t feel like I am hovering over the ground and trail.

Having never been a supporter of SRAM Components it was a hard sell for me to see the benefit of X9 versus Shimano XT while also having to relearn how to use my shifters. The X9 derailleur/shifter combination does have an almost metal/mechanical engagement that is quicker and more precise then the XT’s. I still need to remember which lever is which though. I ended up on a low gear during a few short steep climbs.

The only change I would have liked would have been to scrap the Custom Crank Brothers Candy pedals for an upgrade from the Shimano FC-M543-SK crank to a true LX or SLX level.

After several rides I am looking forward to this year on the Paragon. The bike is spec’ed well except for the crank and rides much lighter the scale would have you believe

Look GREAT for a GREAT Cause

A Little Bit About Team Fatty

Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting for Susan is a big ol’ group of cyclists (and a few runners and even one triathalete) raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation to fight cancer. There are now more than 360 of us. We’re the top fundraising team in all four event cities: Austin, Seattle, San Jose, and Philadelphia, so we’d darn well better have some matching outfits when we line up at the various LiveStrong Challenges.
40% of Your Fat Cyclist Gear Purchase Goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Yep, when you buy one of the Team Fatty jerseys, 40% of the price of that $75.00 jersey (ummm, that works out to…lessee…$30 per jersey) goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. And since we’ll be donating that through the Team Fatty fundraising pages, you’ll be helping us stay the top fundraising team in all four cities.

In the past I have always waited until Twin Six would release the the full order of the Fat Cyclist Jersey and every season I have been dissappointed when my size would be SOLD OUT.

So now that T6 has announced that pre-orders for the Summer 2009 jersey will start today I will have one this year. The Team Fatty jersey pre-order extravaganza is for one week only. It ends Tuesday, March 17, 5:00pm CT.

Eyewear Done RIGHT!!

Yesterday I came back from a hard day of work to find a package with familiar markings sitting on my desk. The markings were that of Ryders Eyewear. Inside I found several of the sharpest shades I have ever set on my face.



I first started wearing Ryders last season. They were a prize for winning the 4 Man at last years 12 Hours of Mohican. I wore them the next ride and then the next and the next...you get my point. They have a great fit, don't slide of my nose plus they look good on. A special thanks has to be given to the marketing dept at Ryders for first offering great swag at last years race and now for more pairs of my very own.