Living the Fat Life... A Month on the Mukluk

The Fat Revolution...

It seems the "next big thing" has arrived in MG's bike room. Yep, I got a fatbike. And to say that I'm stoked is probably the understatement of the year. This is the bike I've been waiting my entire cycling life to own!

Back in the late-winter/early spring of 1990, when I was still a senior in high school, I first met Cycle Works owner, Kris Sonderup while working as a salesman at The Athlete's Foot. I sold Kris a pair of running shoes, and, in the course of our conversation that day, Kris invited me into his shop to test ride a couple of his mountain bikes, as I was interested in trading in my '87 Schwinn LeTour for something with a little fatter tires.

It wasn't more than two weeks later, and I was test riding Trek mountain bikes with Kris at the corner of 27th and Vine, in the waning days of the original Cycle Works location, in a converted car wash building on a corner across from its current location. Since I was still a senior in high school, I couldn't afford to pay the entire $400 + tax price of the Trek 850 I bought up-front, so I put it on layaway and began dreaming of the adventures I'd have with it. I imagined riding up and down steep hills, piles of snow, and just going out and seeing what's out there... regardless of whether there's a trail or not.

What I didn't understand at the time were the true capabilities of the mountain bike as a vehicle with which to travel vast distances. When I finally got my new Trek out of layaway and began riding in earnest, I soon realized I was no longer confined to a 'local' riding setting. The world was truly mine to conquor. And once Niterider began pumping out awesome lights, I was no longer constrained by the light of day either, making it possible to travel just about anywhere I wanted on my bike, anytime I wanted to go.

And in the nearly 22 years since I bought that first Trek 850, I've been fortunate to have traveled to incredible places -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and more -- simply to ride and/or race my bicycle. I've spent the night on my bike (multiple times), acquired 34 screws and four plates in my body courtesy of lunacy on my bike, and wouldn't trade a single thing for the experience.

So what's that have to do with fatbikes?

The next chapter of fat-tire adventure has arrived...

Well, back up to the time while my Trek 850 was on layaway... when I thought "adventure" was akin to bouncing over big snow piles downtown and going out to "see what there is to see" in parts of parks I'd never seen. Once I actually got onto my Trek and started riding, I realized that type of riding wasn't really the best use of a mountain bike. But on a fatbike like my new Salsa Mukluk, it's a whole lot more fun! I was describing the experience to my lovely wife, Laura, the other day, and after stammering around trying to come up with adjectives that related my Mukluk back to traditional bikes, I finally told her that it's almost like a new sport altogether... Like back in the '80s when all we had were road bikes and mountain bikes rolled onto the scene. It's like that... only doing it to mountain bikes! That's what I'm sayin'!! It's BIG!

To wit, yesterday, just messing around over on the Nebraska Wesleyan campus, I rode up to a set of five concrete steps at about 12mph and simply pedaled up them without slowing down. Whoa... That was cool. Other than barely clipping a crankarm on the top step, it was silent and smooth. I'd never try that on a 26" or 29" mountain bike.

Even without a tapered steerer, that's still a beefy front end!

When I built the bike, I set the rims/tires up tubeless right away. I pulled the tubes out when I trued the wheels and used Gorilla Tape to seal the rims up. I'm running my signature "getto blend" sealant, which has been perfect for cold weather running because it's specifically blended to stay liquid at sub-freezing temperatures. The tires sealed up without unusual drama and have been holding air reliably despite my shenanigans. I've been running between five and 12psi, depending on what I'm riding. Fatbikes like low pressure. 12psi is a LOT...

The layout is just like a mountain bike, only bigger. Hub spacing is 135mm front, 170mm rear -- appropriate for the job.

You can see the 10mm shorter-than-stock, 100mm stem, the trimmed-for-GripShift WTB Trail grips, and the upgraded Avid BB7 brakeset I'm running, as well as the Jandd frame bag -- a relatively standard item for me.

I didn't change too many other things on the bike compared to a box-stock Mukluk 3. I swapped the stem out for a 10mm shorter model, as the 110mm stock model felt slightly long to me. Perhaps it was the combination of the stem and the Salsa Bend 3 handlebar, which uses a forward sweep to offset its generous 17-degree bend. Regardless, I had an appropriate stem in my toolbox, and if you were buying a Mukluk, your Salsa dealer would work with you to swap out stems, if necessary. That's one of the values of buying local.

The Salsa Bend 3 handlebar features a wrist friendly 17-degree sweep. SRAM GripShift shifters work well with Bar Mitts or other "pogie" style handlebar-mounted hand covers.

 One small change I also made was to the braking system. I pretty much shelved the entire stock braking system, which consisted of Tektro levers and Avid BB5 disc calipers (160mm rotors), replacing them with a set of Avid BB7 calipers with Avid levers from my parts bin. I changed the calipers to gain larger pads and increased ease of adjustment, while I replaced the levers to enhance every aspect of the braking performance, from power and modulation, to the very important tactile "feel" at the lever. It's all better with the new, revised setup. I also changed the stock grips, which were very crappy Velo silicone, to a set of trimmed WTB Trail grips, which work very well with the stock SRAM X-7 Grip Shift. I used spray paint to install the grips to keep them from slipping on the bars in the cold, frosty and often condensate-heavy conditions the bike will frequent.


As you might imagine, this is the bike I plan to be riding most this winter, and so far, that's borne out to be true. It's a fantastic partner for cold weather exploring and I feel like I may just be scratching the surface on a whole new type of riding that really appeals to me.


I'll keep you posted on how it's going...

One Of the Best Things About My 2011 MTB Season -- My Giant Anthem X-29...

Dirtblog readers and folks in the Midwest mountain bike scene have gotten used to seeing me on my pretty polished silver Giant Anthem X-29 1 during the 2011 mountain bike season. It's a bike I dearly wanted to race, so I feel very fortunate to have been able to race it this season.

Racing my Anthem X-29 to 20th place overall at the 2011 Dakota Five-O (2010 placing was 63rd overall). Photo: Patty Wixon

The Anthem X-29 was a bike I first thought about almost exactly one year ago, while I was racing at the 2010 Dakota Five-O. At the time I was racing a very nice titanium hardtail -- a bicycle I continue to own and admire today -- but I was also on a course that brought out the distinct advantages of the full suspension bikes the riders around me were astride. I'd raced a Salsa Big Mama the season prior, so I understood the power of big wheels and full suspension, and the Giant's Maestro dual-link suspension design was one that 26-inch riders had acclaimed for its pedaling and bump absorbing efficiency. So when I learned the company would be launching a 29-inch Anthem X in late-August of 2010, I was quickly interested.

MG at the 2011 Dakota Five-O. Photo: Rory Stone

Thanks to my sponsorship by Cycle Works and The Moose's Tooth in Lincoln, in late-December 2010 I took delivery of a shiny new Giant Anthem X-29 1 and built it up for its inaugural ride on Christmas Day. Since that time, it's been a fantastic adventure together. And in the end, I won a handful of races, finished second overall in the 2011 Psycowpath marathon series, and recently finished 20th overall at the 2011 Dakota Five-O (out of 700 participants). And while I think I was overall in better shape this season than I have been in the last few, I also think the bike had a lot to do with the consistently high placings and victories I earned in my mountain bike races.

Riding to the check-in of the 2011 Dakota Five-O with Lis Reinkordt, one of Nebraska's finest up-and-coming endurance, cyclocross and heck, just all-around bicycle racers. Oh, and she makes films too. Photo: Nathan Swanson

What's really cool about the Anthem X-29 is it's not a specialist. For as incredible as it is at descending, it's equally good at making me a better climber. In fact, two attributes specifically that help me climb better are the bike's stiffness laterally, and the Maestro suspension's independence from pedaling input, which allows me to focus on powering the bike up steep climbs while the suspension soaks up bumps, roots, rocks... whatever is on the trail. This keeps the tire in contact with the ground, driving the bike forward with consistent traction. My former Salsa teammate, Tim Ek, described me as "having Velcro on my knobs" during one fast descent during the Dakota Five-O, and that's exactly what the Fox RP3-damped Maestro suspension feels like it gives you. That, and confidence.

Confidence... Priceless. Photo: Kyle Hansen

So I'm hopeful I'll be back on an Anthem X-29 again in 2012 (click the link to view 2012 specs on the Giant website), and based on early conversations I've had with my team, it sounds like I will. YEAH!!

One cool note about the Anthem X-29 is that, like many Giant bicycles, you can get much of the same performance as the bike I win races on for much less than the $3675 retail of the top of the line bike I ride. In fact, there are Anthem X-29 models starting at around $2000, and with 2011 models on sale, now is a great time to stop by Cycle Works and check one out!

My Dakota Five-O write-up on DirtRagMag.com...

Click to read my recap of the 2011 Dakota Five-O on the Dirt Rag Magazine website. Thanks to Josh Patterson at Dirt Rag for the opportunity to write the story, and to Patty Wixon for the photographs that accompany the story.

Hey MG, Where Ya Been???

It's been a wild past month... Where to start?  On the last week of July, I both lost my grandpa and my employment, the latter of which turned out to be a blessing, as I was able to spend my grandpa's final days at his side. And I had my eyes open for a new job already, so this just gave me the time (and urgency) to ramp that effort up.

Racing to a class win at the Cornhusker State Games the day before my grandpa passed away. Photo: Kyle Hansen

To this point in my life, I've been fortunate to have had very little experience with the death of relatives close to me, but the passing of my grandpa Gersib put me face-to-face with the death of one of the people I love and respect most... Someone I've always looked up to. So even though in many ways I was relieved for grandpa when he passed, I still have tears in my eyes as I type these words. Because I still miss my grandpa. He taught me a lot of good lessons about faith, loyalty, the value of hard work, how to be a detail-oriented person, and how to have fun. I was fortunate to get more than 38 years with him, and I know that.

Racing to a hard-fought third place finish at the Psycowpath race at Swanson two weeks ago after flatting out of the lead on the first lap. Without CO2 quick-fill cartridges, I was forced to use a hand pump, which slowed my flat repair.  The reality was Lucas Marshall & Eric Brunt were riding super fast, but the result was enough to move into the Marathon series points lead with one event remaining. Photo: Kyle Hansen

The Gravel Worlds rider meeting... For the second time this season, I had a rear derailleur snap off due to mud in the drivetrain, which (unlike at the Dirty Kanza 200) caused me to DNF at around mile 50. Photo: Cornbread

So now I'm busy looking at my options for the future, and I'm looking at a lot of options. In a perfect world, I'd put something together with one (or more) of the bicycle-related companies I've already got a relationship with... But there are a lot of more local things happening as well, so we'll see what pans out. I feel thankful for the friends I have who have stepped up and made contacts for me and reached out to me with opportunities they know about. If you know of a good opportunity for an experienced marketing and public relations professional, please get a hold of me through the comments below.

Hangin' with Rafal at the second oasis, 10 miles from the finish of Gravel Worlds. Thanks to Kristi Mohn, I had already been back to my house and changed out of my lycra, so I was in full spectator mode by this point. Thanks to Schmitty and his family for the awesome accommodations at the second oasis! Photo: Anita Gammel

In the end, I'm confident all this has happened for a reason, and that whatever comes in the 'next evolution' for Laura and I will be as it's supposed to be for us. I just have to trust the process and make the moves that feel like the best ones for myself and my family. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Sunday's Bacon +++ Ride Details...

MW turned 40 years young this past Tuesday. To help him celebrate, please join us for a special extended version of the Bacon ride Sunday at 6am from the Mopac trailhead at 84th Street in Lincoln. We'll ride to Platte River State Park to chow down and meet up with a group Rafal is leading that's coming down from Omaha. Then, with bellies full of sweet, smoky bacon and sweet rolls, we'll roll onto Plattsmouth, where we'll dip our toes into the swollen, angry waters of the mighty Missouri. MW, JP and I have been talking about this for a while now, so last week, when MW mentioned wanting to make it happen, I thought, "why not?" I hope you can join us.

Here is the route we'll follow (which is mostly gravel roads, with some dirt roads and a little pavement):

Or, view the entire map on Google Maps

See you Sunday at 6am -- Mopac trailhead at 84th Street in Lincoln.

Cheers,
MG

The 2011 Dirty Kanza 200 -- Redemption...

Dave Foster captures an elated MG with Dallas-based gravel grinder, Steven Thompson after the finish.

Going into the Dirty Kanza 200 this year, I had a pretty significant monkey on my back. Not only had I not finished the previous edition of the DK200, I also did not finish Trans Iowa v.7 earlier this year due to a number of failures, so more than ever it was especially important for me to get this done regardless of what it took to get there. As a result, I came in very well prepared. And true to Kansas Flint Hills form, it took me every single trick in my bag to get me across that finish line. Here's to being prepared!

Dave Foster captures the start of the 2011 Dirty Kanza 200. Rolling out with more than 300 other riders is cool...

The day started off uneventful enough in front of the Grenada Theatre in downtown Emporia. Led out by three Emporia Police cruisers, more than 300 racers thundered southwest out of town. It's always an awesome feeling in the pack early on at the 'Kanza, rolling at high speed with literally hundreds of other gravel racers... Unfortunately, less than two miles into our first gravel section, 2010 race winner, and my Cycle Works/Moose's Tooth teammate, Corey Godfrey pulled off the front with a flat rear tire. Bummer dude... I knew I'd see him again though. He was riding way too strong for us not to see him again.

 

Cornbread captured this image from the front of the lead pack prior to his first flat of the day, less than two miles into the first gravel section. Bummer...

The "flat tire scenario" was one that would be repeated a number of times throughout the day for several top riders. Few were spared at least one flat. Dennis Grelk had at least one. I had two (both in the 46c Bontrager I was running on the front -- the 35c Schwalbe on the rear was rock solid!). Oh, and yes, I was running tubes for this race due to the wheelset I was running. But flats weren't the worst of my problems... but I'm getting ahead of myself, so, back to the race.

The ride to the first checkpoint was FAST, despite being the leg that was pretty much fully against the wind. There was so much fast pack riding that our average speed was nearly 20mph at the checkpoint. It was very cool and a lot of fun. At one point just after ascending Texaco Hill, eventual race winner Dan Hughes and I were chatting about the epic conditions we raced in during the 2008 edition of the race, and how easy it was for us to ride at 21.1mph sitting ten riders back in the line. We laughed at how fortunate we were at still being able to do this after all these years, and went back to work. For each of us, our days would end quite differently. Shortly after our conversation, Dan went to the front and quite literally blew the pack up, reducing it from 35 riders to 10-15 very quickly, and less shortly thereafter. The hammer had swung and victims were falling quickly.

 Dave Foster catches our chase group coming into checkpoint #1. That's Matt Brown immediately to my left, and Troy Krause over my left shoulder, so I was in good company.

Unfortunately I ended up being one of those victims, so that was the end of the front group riding for me, at least until after the first checkpoint, when the front group would come back together during some on-the-course confusion about the route that worked out in my favor.

Since I'd ridden many of these roads before and was paying attention to the map, I was able to make the necessary turns to stay on course and avoid the extra miles several leaders had to ride. But I was clearly not as strong as the top riders and so when the pace ramped up again, I was quickly blown out the back door and was once again on my own. No matter though, I was content with rolling at my own pace as we entered the full heat of the day, which was formidable.

MG rolling into checkpoint two, captured by Dave Foster.

In fact, the heat between checkpoints one and two was the most severe of the day. Despite being just 40 miles in length, the stretch was the only one in which I fully depleted my hydration. Pretty insane considering I had a full bladder and two full bottles when I took off from CP1. I also had my first flat tire of the event, while following Cornbread down a rocky descent that also gave him a pinch flat. But I made it, and thanks to the Dockhorn and Gammel crews (thank you so much!!) I refueled and made my way over to the local convenience store and sat with Iowa gravel vet, Mike Johnson and enjoyed some tasty gas station food for ten minutes or so. Oh, the delights of gravel grinders!! If you don't partake, you're missing out on one of the best parts of it.

With a full belly I got back onto the road toward CP3. But what's funny about the third leg was that just about everything in the first 3/4 of the leg could just as well have been forgotten due to the thunderstorm that appeared on the horizon about 15 miles from CP3. What I initially thought would bring us simple relief from the heat ended up bringing marble sized hail, torrential downpours, threatening lightning and would fundamentally change the face of the event. Competitors by the dozens immediately chose to stop racing and crawl into the safety of their support vehicles.

I was committed to not being one of those affected by the weather though. "That's why I came prepared," I thought to myself as I pulled my rain jacked and knee warmers out of my Mountainsmith bag and onto my body. But I had no idea of the depth of the adventure I was getting myself into at that point... The fun was just getting started for me.

As the hail lessened, the rain continued and we rode on, until we came upon a series of unmaintained "B" roads, which many riders were simply walking, many through the ditch. I, perhaps foolishly, rode the first of these roads, which gathered cheers from several riders, notably the father & son duo of Curt and Colin Shelman of Paceline Products, makers of Chamois Buttr. Of course I suffered my second flat tire of the day during this, so it really didn't gain me anything, but while I sat and fixed my flat, a local sherriff told me about more coming storms and how crazy we were for doing what we were doing. As I finished fixing my flat, I thanked him and continued my muddy slog.

It was about a half mile after that the face of the race would take a distinct change for me. As I ascended the next muddy climb and shifted into my 28t cog in the rear, the mud and grass hanging from my rear derailleur caused it to get pulled into the rear wheel, immediately ripping it and the derailleur hanger from the frame and bringing me to a quick stop.

Standing on a dirt road in the middle of Kansas with a now unridable bicycle in a driving thunderstorm, I ran through my inventory of tools and spare parts in an attempt to revive my Dirty Kanza dream. And fortunately I'd thrown in a Connex 10-speed quick link, which proved to be exactly what I needed to ditch the derailleur, cut the chain and turn my wounded La Cruz into a singlespeed. And so, with 50 miles left to ride, I had a 38x15 gear with an insanely tight chain, and as long as it didn't blow up, I had a bike. Now I just had to get it across the line.

After perhaps the best pep talk ever from Aaron Gammel's son, Wyatt at CP3, I hit the road with just 40 miles to go to the finish. Feeling like there was nothing that could stand in my way, I did the best I could to push the big 38x15 up to speed, and found that doing so helped me pick off racers ahead of me with relative consistency. This was the case until I came up on Curt and Colin Shelman, and we rode together until Colin flatted about 6 miles from the finish. Up to that point, we were plotting a finish together, but for whatever reason, I chose to ride ahead -- a bad move on my part as it turns out, because I quickly missed a turn at Americus and rode off course for several miles, letting Curt and Colin back around me, so I finished just behind them, in 39th place overall (of 67 finishers, 26th place open male), in 17 hours 43 minutes.

 Father and son duo, Curt and Colin Shelman finish the Dirty Kanza 200 together. Bravo gentlemen!! Photo: Dave Foster

Just a moment later, MG rolls across the line a very happy man. Photo: Dave Foster

It was one of those days where just finishing felt like winning, and you could see that on my face as I rode across the finish line. The monkey was off my back and out of the picture and balance had been restored. All was, and is, very good.

Last night, after more than a week, I finally got around to tearing my La Cruz down and giving it the thorough cleaning and rebuild it needed. After a new derailleur, hanger, chain, cables and other misc. parts, it's once again functional and I'm looking forward to riding it soon.

Thanks to Cycle Works and The Moose's Tooth of Lincoln for their support of my racing this season, and once again to the Dockhorn and Gammel crews for their checkpoint support during the race. I have been so blessed to have your support, and I just can't thank you enough. And thanks also to my beautiful wife Laura for supporting my passion for competing in events like the Dirty Kanza 200, because I know it takes a lot of sacrifice on her end to enable me to do what I love to do. Life is good indeed...

 Edit June 24... Proof for Courtney Hilton... Since you accused me of not completing the DK200 course, I feel compelled to offer up proof. Here it is, complete with the extra bonus miles ridden after missing a couple of turns, most notably at Americus during the final leg.

Edit #2... June 28 -- Courtney followed up with me in a private message and clarified his comments. Apparently he meant them not as an accusation of cheating, but more as a reflection of my position on the course when the storm hit. Saying/writing one thing and meaning quite another is something I'm familiar with, so I can't be too bummed with anyone for that. All is good. My apologies for getting defensive. Because ultimately the only one that needs to know I finished legitimately is me, and I understand that. Thanks for the reminder, Courtney.

Kicking Off the 2011 Mountain Bike Season...

I kicked off my 2011 mountain bike season with the 3-hour marathon at the Swanson River City Shootout. It was technically the second race of the Psycowpath series, but it was the first race hosting a marathon class.  And the racers showed up in force.  We had the largest class of the day (barely beating out the cat 2 men), with 27 men and two women taking to the dirt.

Jim Winklepleck is just out of the picture, off the front as we get ready to head into the singletrack on the first lap. Look at my shiny new Giant Anthem X 29-1!  Thanks Cycle Works!!  Photo: Heather Wolff

The race started off fast, with "The Man in Black", Jim Winklepleck, taking off from the line like he was shot from a gun.  I entered the singletrack on Jim's wheel in second place and we comfortably rode at a nice, high tempo for the first lap.  Thanks to Jim's strong riding, we'd forged perhaps a 10 second lead on the rest of the pack after a lap and a half of riding, but I could sense it was time to make a move, so I went to the front and put the power down.  Lucas Marshall was moving up through the field behind us and I knew without a doubt he was my strongest competition on the day.  If I could keep him chasing me, I hoped he'd tire from the effort.

My plan came close to working had it not been for a mouth full of PowerBar Gel Bites.  On lap seven (of eight), I ravenously tore into a pack of gel bites, unfortunately a little too fast and dropped the entire package, so I had to get an entirely new one (my last one), which took me a long time to do.  And when I finally got into the second package, I put the whole thing into my mouth so I didn't have to do it twice.  So I had basically had a big mouth full of gummy bears...  And that's when Lucas caught me -- as I was trying to chew 10 gummies simultaneously, and breathe at the same time while my heart was beating @175BPM.  Yeah... not good. 

Back up-to-speed after my feed debacle... No, I wasn't too happy at this point. Photo: Heather Wolff

So by the time I got all that crap inhaled (thankfully not into my lungs), I was able to get back up to full-speed, but the bummer was by that point, Lucas was at least a minute ahead of me, and we were so evenly matched that I couldn't make it up.  I could ride his speed, but no faster.  It was cool though.  We had a good race.  He earned it, and I know it's just the first of many great races to-come.

I'd like to thank Cycle Works and the Moose's Tooth for their support this season.  My new Giant Anthem X-29 1 worked incredibly well out at Swanson.  You might not think a course like Swanson is rough enough to warrant full suspension, but a quick check of both O-rings on my Giant reveals I was using every millimeter of the suspension travel.  And I enjoyed the benefit of the bike's 100mm of travel on each of the eight laps I completed during the three hour enduro.  Thanks again Team Rasta!!

Cheers,
MG

Hoss Headlines All Hail the Black Market Blog Today...

Now that's a good weekend...

The VelEau Installed on the LaCruz

VelEau, originally uploaded by MGersib.

With the coming of longer gravel grinders, I'm testing a new option that will give me extra capacity without forcing me to resort to carrying a pack. This is the VelEau. Lincoln-native, now Oregon-based speedster, Trevor Norland hooked me up with the product's inventor. I'll have a full report coming soon, but you can learn more now at www.VelEau.com.