It’s not a Trip unless you see Colors!

There are a few rides that you can only do at certain times of the year and it’s these rides that I look forward to all year long. It’s the “Fall Foliage” ride. I’m sure different parts of the country have variations on this theme, but here in the Desert Southwest that means Colorado Aspens.

Now everyone has their favorite place to go to experience this type of scenery. The top in my book has to be the Southern San Juan Mts. The Cumbres Pass East of Pagosa Springs is a classic, with the Cumbres to Toltec Steam Railroad running through it. Something about hearing the wail of that locomotive as it makes its way up the pass in the golden glow of Autumn.

Another favorite of mine if you really want to experience the colors of Colorado is the La Plata Mts. (West of Durango) and specifically the Dolores River Valley. The Stoner Mesa area has to rank up there as one of the most spectacular stands of Aspens in all of Colorado. It is huge and covers such varied terrain.

We have trek-ed to Dolores the last couple years to enjoy the experience of this spectacle and it never fails to impress us. This year was a little disappointing in that the Autumn hit cold and hard early on and the leaves literally got burnt on the trees. We saw many Golden and Green colors from the stronger stands, but many leaves were also brown and still on the trees. It’s no matter though, the colors that were to be had always leave me feeling like I am experiencing the end of another beautiful season of riding. It may signal the end, but it also represents the best.

A couple years ago we did a ride up Eagle Peak Trail and then came back down the Stoner Mesa Trail. I wanted to duplicate this ride with more of a “through ride” experience and I wanted to stay longer up high. Pouring over the maps, I decided that gaining the Eagle Peak could be done from a number of directions, but the one that made the most sense, based on where we were camped, was to head up the Johnny Bull Trail to the Calico Ridgeline and across to the Eagle Peak Trail descent.

It was a shorter approach to the ridgeline than the actual Eagle Peak Trail and I knew how rugged that trail was. I was a little nervous about how difficult this approach would be. It would be a leap of faith, because we could end up having to sling our bikes up steep ledge climbs. And people wouldn't have been too happy about that. But then again, it is an epic!

Pouring over the maps seem to indicate a stout initial climb up some switchbacks and then a climb along the contours up to a steep climb to the peak itself. That’s where the uncertainty lay.

I put a shout out to "El Freako from Rico”, Mr. Jeff Hemperly, but he had never attempted a climb up that side of the Calico Ridge. He did give us feedback that a friend of his who had ridden it, didn’t suggest doing it. Ok, not quite what I wanted to hear, but that's just one perspective. And they ride Single Speed and we were "Geared" so maybe it wouldn't be too bad. At least that's what I told myself for reinforcement. With little in the way of local knowledge, and sharing what Jeff had to say, we decided to go for it. Isn't that what an adventure is all about after all?


We drove up Denton Road from our Camp Site at the West Dolores Campground and found the vaguely marked sign for the Johnny Bull Trail about 3-4 miles up from the Stoner Mesa Road cutoff. We geared up and off we went.

First we had to get across the Dolores River. It is shallow here but somewhat wide and you had to roll it because there is no rock walkway. Just be prepared for that initial challenge. Then sure enough the first mile or two were climbing up a steep well defined trail through worn but ridable switchbacks. A couple miles up the trail leveled out and sure enough climbed slowly up along the contours. Aren’t Topo Maps great!

We rode along through some nice meadows and before we knew it we had reached the intersection with the well known Calico Trail. I guess the best I can say is the Johnny Bull is not an easy trail to climb, but it is a nice track and it isn’t what I would call heinous by any stretch of the imagination. I guess we lucked out, or was it good map reading? Ah, what do goat's know anyway.

From here we encountered a stiff hike a bike for about a mile or less up a skree field to the ridgeline below the Calico Peak. The scenery up on the ridge was spectacular! The views across the valley of Anchor and Expectation Peaks, with Calico and Eagle Peak along the ridge, were all about why I ride my bike. Some folks may find their thrills in other places, but mine is on top of the world!





From the top of the Calico Ridgeline we had a mostly downhill run to look forward to from here. About 20 miles of downhill fun! The ride down the Eagle Peak Trail to the Stoner Mesa Trail is one of the best downhill adventures this side of Monarch Crest in my book! It really is that awesome.




This was an epic ride no doubt. Not as daunting as the Wheeler Trail adventure but the altitude gain will challenge you. However, the variety of terrain is spectacular and with the Fall colors it just seems to come alive. Once pointed downhill, the 5-6 miles of pain that Johnny Bull provides begins to fade into the splendor of the season. Autumn doesn’t get much better than this!

Here’s a link to our pictures at the Stoner Mesa Photo Album.

There are long rides… and then there are Epics!

Everyone has their own idea of an “Epic”. For some it is moving back and forth along flowing fast single track for miles on end. For others it is managing to survive a long technical descent or powering up a long sustained climb. And yes, I guess any real Epic will incorporate all of these attributes.

However, for me, the basis of any true Epic is the scenery. And in my mind the greatest of all scenery starts above Timberline. I have a saying on MTBR that “something changes at 12,000ft”. And no doubt, there’s a whole other world up high.

The problem with these types of “adventures” is many times they are not the most ridable of Mt. Bike trails. Unless you are doing a downhill bomb of Monarch Crest, much of what is above timberline will be somewhat marginal when it comes to riding. The trails tend to be what I like to call “Rocky Mountain Single Track”, which is usually a deep trough of crank busting notchy trail with areas of tufted grass meadow over growth separating some pretty stiff steep climbs. And as we all know, there is a difference between a “hiking trail” and a Mt. Biking Track. Many times these adventures include a healthy dose of “Hike-a-bike”. However, my objective is to try to find those gems that are ridable, scenic and provide a variety of experience, while minimizing taking my bike for a hike! Of course, that which goes up, must come down!

Now these types of adventures are surely not for everyone. Although those who have hung in there and finished them will after some time admit that the effort was worth the experience. And maybe after some recovery, they’ll actually get bit by the “Peak Bagging Bug” and go in pursuit of “High Alpine Adventure”. So attitude is everything. The other thing about being a “Peak Bagger” is it requires a dedication to amping up your game down low in order to be able to survive and perform above timberline. It's the main reason why I race and train. Gotta have a motor at this altitude. It also takes experience to understand the limitations and warning signs of trouble up high. You can die up there if mistakes get compounded. Injury, physical exhaustion, weather and mechanicals can all turn a wonderful, exciting outing, into a life threatening situation. I guess the best I can say, is Epic’s of this proportion are not for the meek of heart and take lots of preparation and training. Be safe up there!

So with this in mind we went off to complete what has to be close to the avowed Breckenridge Epic. The Wheeler Pass Trail is well known to those of the B100/Breck Epic Racing crowd. Many ride over Wheeler Pass into Copper Ski Basin and do the paved “Bike Trail” around to Dillon and back to Breck. But why miss out on all that high country. Instead you can circumnavigate the "Ten Mile Mountains" by linking the Wheeler Trail to the Miners Creek Trail and then down to the Peaks Trail. If you’ve found your fill up high you can always drop right down the Gold Hill Trail and call it a day. This is what we ended up doing, since we had ridden Gold Hill to the Peaks Trail the day before. Now if this doesn’t qualify as an “Epic”, I’m not sure what does.

The riding combines quality single track with the ascent up the Burro Trail out of the Breck Ski Basin. Once up to the Crystal Creek area you are then faced with some more lung busting climbing on the actual Wheeler Trail up to a “Leadville Columbine Mine Verified” hike-a-bike to gain the ridge. In reality, I’m sure Lance or Dave could clean it, but yours truly hiked it.

Once on top, you can then ride much of the lower alpine meadows up to the Wheeler Pass ascent. I made a bit of the switchbacks to the pass but my lungs finally gave out and it was back to walking. The view from the pass is awesome. In my book, well worth the climb! Once off the backside towards Copper, it was a hairy bit of a descent with some exposure, until you hit the intersection to the Miners Creek Trail. Then it was more hiking combined with some wheeling until we finally got to the Miners Creek Pass. From here it was all sweet downhill.



OK, a few get offs to clear skree areas and swamp meadows, but can you visualize 12,400’ to 9,800’ in about 6 miles or so. Yee Haw! We then had to climb up to the top of Gold Hill Trail, which after our little adventure seemed to go on forever. It’s one of those climbs that isn’t steep and isn’t really hard. It’s just a grind! However after all day at +12,000’ you just want the pain to stop. You know you have to keep going though, because the beer is calling you. Finally we got to the top of the “hill” and it was truly all downhill from there to the paved bike path. A nice little 5 mile ride up to the town and back to the condo and we were some spent but happy puppies.

Doesn’t get much better than this in my whirld. On the Epic Scale I’d give it a solid 8 out of 10. The scenery was some of the best in the “WORLD”. And the trail conditions were not that bad. Hike-a-Bike rating was about a 15%. Which is a decent amount of it, but the views more than made up for it. Downhill component was about a 7 out of 10. I would have given it more because hauling down the Miners is way cool, but then you have to climb up to Gold Hill. Climbing quotient is about a 6. The Burro Trail is a solid climb and my honey Sandra is the “Queen of the Burro”! Beyond this the climbs get pretty tough and although the quality of the Gold Hill ascent is awesome, when your legs are running on mile 20 after significant altitude, it’s hard to appreciate it.


Now the big question; is it better to do it in the opposite direction? Hmmm, the climb up out of Miner's Creek is rugged, but I guess not quite as long and arguous as going up the Wheeler side. You will have to climb up to Wheeler Pass from the Miner's intersection as well, but again shorter and steeper (I'll take shorter!). And I think the downhills might be better coming off the Miner's in that direction and also to the south side to the Burro Trail. I'd like to try it someday to see!

And the all important last question; would I do it again? I'd say heck yeah! I have other peaks I want to bag, but I would consider coming back to do Wheeler again, especially in the opposite direction!

So if your objective is to get to the Top of the Whirld, I’d say go for it! The Wheeler Pass is definitely “Goat Approved”!

Check out more pictures at the Picasa Album for the Wheeler Pass Epic

Survived a Coyote Attack

Well, I’ve been a little slacking on the updates here, but before I get too far into the hole I guess I should lay down what I’ve been up to recently.

The NM Off Road Series (NMORS) which is sanctioned under the USAC/NORBA umbrella had its kick-off event in the wonderful town of El Paso. TX.

What, you may ask? Texas isn’t New Mexico, and believe me, we KNOW that!!! But in the spirit of comraderie with it’s sister city of Las Cruses, the NMORS allowed the boys down there to put on a race in the series.

The event took place on March 30th and was called the Coyote Challenge. Well what a challenge it was. The course was setup on the trails at the Franklin Mountain Park just north of El Paso. It wound through 9.5 miles of beautiful desert landscape complete with arroyos, cactus, dry creek beds and ledgey canyon faces. It’s the kind of terrain that makes Southwestern Mountain Biking so enjoyable.

Now the Expert Class would be expected to do 3 laps around this little torture track. With the start being a little longer to spread folks out, it would come out to 30 miles more or less.
The terrain there is some really pretty foothills that run right up into the mountains but it is rocky. Most of the trail was littered with loose baby head rocks and it was tough to get any type of rhythm going. The climbs were loose and just wasted your legs if you went at them too hard. Bottom line is it was about the toughest 30 miles of racing I’ve ever done.

So how’d I do? Well I finished!!! And that is saying something. But to be honest I was what is called in race parlance the DFL Expert. DFL is an acronym for Dead Freakin’ Last and I will be the first to admit my performance wasn’t steller. As I commented to my teammates, I’m not sure I’m an Expert Level Racer yet, but I did complete an Expert Level Race.

Now for those not too familiar with USAC race catagories, understand that “Expert” class is one step below the Pros. “Sport” class did two laps out there and if you look at my split times here you’d see I would have finish 4th in the 50+ Sport class out of 12 racers.

So I am a decent “Sport” racer. But the bottom line is not many Sports want to race Expert because it is so grueling. My attitude is that which doesn’t kill ya just makes ya more ornery. So I’m racing Expert and loving it.

Now before you take this too deep to heart, understand that one of my mottos is that "half the battle is just showing up, and the other half is finishing." So even though I was slow compared to the other Experts, I gutted out the race and ended up “snagging” 2nd place points in the 50+ Expert Class. I was in effect on the podium.

How so? Well there were only 3 people racing 50+ Expert and although I was more than an hour behind the 1st place guy in my class, the other guy DNF’d. So hey, I rolled into second place in the overall points so far in the series.

Like I said, many times it isn’t the fastest rider that gets the prize. It’s the one who keeps the cranks turning, doesn’t do anything real stupid and works hard to finish. I have no illusions as to where my little run in the Expert class will end, but for now I have some point padding going into the next rounds, and if I keep showing up and keep finishing, ya never know how it will end up.

So don’t give up out there, even if you are DFL!!!

Tiny little circles...

Well, I've been working on something now for a while during my commutes and it seems to be taking hold. I always wondered how the roadies and cross folks could generate so much power and maintain it for so long. It's that "cadence with power" thing I've been alluding to. I kinda had an inkling of what was up, but I've really begun to feel it.

You see most of us "riders" only use half our power. We are what some people call "mashers". Now I always thought a masher was someone who got out of the saddle and hammered away on the cranks. Kinda like the Single Speed folks. And I though "spinners" were people who sat on the seat and just spun, spun, spun. And maybe that is a proper definition.

But I think another definition of a masher might be someone who only presses down on their pedals. Never pulls up. Whereas a spinner is someone who rotates their foot through out the crank rotation. I think anyone who rides a bike appreciates that power is developed by not only pushing down with one foot, but pulling up with the other. Basically doubling your power output.

Now before you go "Well no dah Doug", hear me out on this. I always knew that was the case, but how much do you really work at it. If you're like me, you might catch youself at times thinking you need to be doing it, but after about 5-10 minutes, you pretty much forget about it. Yeah, maybe you're 50-60% efficient at doing it, but do you always do it?

What I'm getting at is learning to spin tiny circles or as the roadies would say "float the pedals" takes muscle memory training. It's one thing to say to yourself you need to do it, but it's another to have your legs do it sub-conciously. Like I said, it takes training!!!

I've been really focusing on my commutes to make sure that I am pulling and pushing, pushing and pulling all the time. Turning tiny circles, and yanno, after a while I have begun to feel some action in muscles I obviously don't use much, considering they get sore. It's mostly in the back of the Quads during the pull up and extends into the Glutes. It's a different kind of muscle sensation than I'm use to and it's obvious to me as I ride that I don't use them as effectively as I should.

As I've continued to work with this, I've felt my cadence change a bit. It's obviously become more powerful but it's also become more of an ingrained stroke. I'm going to continue to work with this and I'll let ya know how it evolves, but I really do believe that you can become a lazy rider if you don't focus on your pedaling form or stroke. Road riding gives you the opportunity to do that, and when you take it to the dirt, that's when the magic happens.

Good luck out there...

Commuter Training

Yanno, some of the toughest racers around are commuters. Commuting to work (or any place for that matter) has many advantages. It allows you to get lots of miles in doing something you would normally do anyway, it compresses your training schedule so you have some free time, it saves gas and thereby hopefully helps a wee bit with the global impacts of fossile fuels and it usually involves road miles.

Now as I alluded to in my Cyclocross piece, if you want to be a solid moutain biker, get a road bike, or better yet a Cross Bike. Most high level racers know that tons of road miles will make you faster in the dirt. Again it's the whole "cadence with power" thing.

Having a Cross bike means you can race Cross in the fall and get the training associated with that. Plus they tend to be a little more robust in their build and hold up well under the demands of commuting. My Cross bike (a Lightspeed Appalachian) is actually a touring frame that is pretty well regarded in Cross circles as a solid bike if not a bit of a vintage design. But it is Ti and it rides damn smooth. At about 20lbs it is heavy by road bike standards but that extra weight will make ya stronger. So it's all good!!!

I've been commuting to work now for about a month and I'm actually pretty fortunate. You see you can't really pick your commute. The type of training you get from your commute is based on where you live and where you work. Yeah, you can route your commute to get a specific workout, but if you just want to ride back and forth to work, well you're kinda stuck with the route you got.

My route is pretty cool. It covers 13 miles one way or 26 miles round trip. Thats a pretty good bit of distance to pound in one day for training. It covers about 1900' of elevation, which is also a nice bit of climbing to work around. It has flats to work on power or speed intervals and the climbs are gradual enough to really gear up and work out of the saddle.

But the thing that is really cool is in the morning it's more of a downhill ride, which makes it fast and I don't work up too much of a sweat. There's a few hills to keep it interesting but it's pretty straight forward. Now on the way home it's more of an uphill run which allows me to get in some good interval sessions.

There are some busy streets and intersections I need to negotiate but generally it's what I would call a fairly safe route. In fact almost a 1/4 of it is on an Albuquerque City bike path which is really nice. Now I wouldn't call it pretty, but I'll talk about "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" in another post. For now here's my GPS map. Like I said, a great way to get my training in and I'm helping to reduce my carbon foot print to boot. So commute to work and get the benefits that only road training can provide....but be safe out there!!!

A day on a bike...

Well I had a chance to demo a Titus Racer-X 29er in the San Ysidro Dirty Century thanks to the folks at High Desert Cycles. So I thought I’d do a write up on my impressions. Now mind you this is my opinion and I’m not looking to start any religious discussions here. Go to MTBR if you want one of those.

With that said I will give you a quick run-down on MY opinion of 29ers. I have an Orbea Alma 29er as my light duty XC Racing rig and I like it...A LOT!!! However, a 29er, like everything, has advantages and dis-advantages.

Obviously, what sets them apart from a 26er is the big wheel. The big wheel has more reciprocating mass further from the axel and has a larger contact patch to the ground. The rest of this is pure physics, even though it seems to get argued about…A LOT!!!

Like a Single Speed, I think that 29ers make you a stronger rider because they work you harder on the long sustained climbs. There is extra effort needed to get that reciprocating mass and the drag of the larger contact patch to the top of the climbs. But it is rewarded when you then unleash all that potential energy you have built up and stored, to roll back down hill.

A 29er builds up momentum faster because of the reciprocating weight. Due to the bigger wheel they roll smoother because of the shallower “angle of attack” to the ground. Consequently, they roll over obstacles easier. And because of the larger contact patch, they have better traction while climbing technical ledge sections as well as cornering. But they cut apexes wider and can be somewhat sluggish in their steering. The reciprocating mass and large contact patch also means they accelerate slower. There, enough said about that subject.












I presently ride a 26er Titus Racer-X Exogrid and was curious to see how it compared to the 29er version. Since I’m tackling religious subjects today, let me take a moment to extol the virtues of Exogrid.

Many people look at Exogrid and call it purely “bling”. Well it is bling no doubt, but it is also technology in action.

Until you have ridden an Exogrid frame it’s hard to express. I liken it to the ride difference between Titanium and Aluminum frames. The smoothness of Exogrid compared to pure Titanium is amazing. It really is that dramatic and can be instantly felt at the first stroke of the pedal.
















http://www.titusti.com/titus09/exogrid.php

The Exogrid frame is an “engineered” tube set that is designed to be light, stiff and provide exceptional “dampening”. The way that it dampens vibration is phenomenal, really really "quiet". This gets back to the point that until you ride one, it's hard to appreciate it.

My experience riding a RacerX Exogrid is, without a doubt, the finest riding frame I’ve ever had the honor of swinging a leg over. Ok, enough of that Titus advertisement.

So what did I think of the RacerX 29er? Well, in summary I would say it is an increadibly smooth race chassis. The RacerX is well respected for its stable climbing ability combined with excellent suspension response under braking and pedaling forces. Horst Link suspensions just plain work and even though many have tried to duplicate the capabilities in many ways, the simplicity of the Horst Swing Link design is hard to improve upon.

So it’s no surprise that the 29er version of the RacerX retains the climbing stability and suspension response of the original. This combination with a 29” wheel makes for an incredibly smooth and comfortable ride.

As to handling, manufacturers are starting to get the geometry of the frames dialed in. The head tube angles have been steepened, thanks to the increased 29er fork offsets. This has resulted in 29er bikes now feeling much more neutral compared to the sluggishness of earlier versions. What I mean by “neutral” is that they respond quickly to steering input, but aren’t twitchy. They feel like steering a good 26” wheeled frame. The RacerX as well as my Orbea, seem to exhibit this neutral quickness of steering.

So how does it climb? Well it works you, as it is a 29er after all. However, it seems really well balanced. I know MTBA commented that they felt the chain stays might be a little long at 18”. I found that “on the nose of the saddle” spinning resulted in a real solid climbing capability. Out of the saddle maybe was biased a bit forward and so you could spin the rear if not careful, but I was able to shift and weight the rear to get traction. So I’m not sure I’m totally convinced that the chain stays need to be shorter. I guess it could be a matter of cockpit setup and riding style.

As to weight, the Aluminum version I was on weighed about 28-29lbs. My Exogrid 26er weighs about 25lbs and it is pretty well understood that a 29er version of the exact same bike will weigh about 2 lbs more given the wheels and extra frame material. So I could see an Exogrid 29er coming in at around 27 lbs.

So now the big question, would I give up my 26er for a 29er RacerX. That’s a hard one and one I’m still struggling with, but I think ultimately I will make the switch. Why?

I really did like the ride of the 29er. I feel that the geometry is now getting refined to the point where the handling is really spot on and responsive. I’m also beginning to be convinced that the advantages of the 29er wheelset out weigh the main disadvantage of the extra effort required on the long sustained climbs. The extra traction is a big plus both on decents and while climbing technical ledgy sections. The ability to smooth out rugged terrain on the decents also helps with control.

As I said in the beginning of this post, the extra effort needed to climb on a 29er will make you a stronger rider. That extra power that you develop climbing will pay off in the flats and undulating terrain where you can let the big wheels do what they do best….roll baby roll!!!

Yes we can all get along!

Well folks, I upgraded the Litespeed App Cross rig this spring. As I mentioned, I intend to do a lot more road riding, both commuting and training, so I figured I probably ought to upgrade the drive train. It was an old 16 speed vintage Campy Veloce and Mirage setup. Kinda budget based components to boot.

The real issue was it had a standard crank with 38-46 gearing. I really felt I needed a lower end for the grass Cross courses and I didn’t feel I had enough top end when I was out on the road sections. So the first step was a SRAM Force 34-50 Compact Crank set. That has given me a much better range.



However, the interesting thing about this upgrade is what I did with the rest of the transmission. You see I’ve always had a bit of a Franken-bike. I run Spinergy wheels with a Shimano Hub (it’s what came with the bike). The eight speed cassette was spaced to work with the Campy derailleur. Fair enough.

However, when I started looking at upgrading, the question of running all Shimano came to mind. The problem was I REALLY like Campy shifters. The thumb shifter is so natural and double tap just doesn’t work for me. So what to do? Go all Campy?

Well that would have required a new wheel set and since I had two sets of Spinergy Wheels for Cross and Road, I was in a bit of a dilemma.

Then I saw it. Like some sort of premonition it was written up in Cyclocross Magazine in their Bike Hacker column. “Can’t we all just get along?” was the title. It basically pointed out that the Campy 10 speed Ergo shifters pull more cable than a Shimano shifter, so if you mate the Campy up with a Shimano 10 speed Derailleur you could make it work. Unfortunately, it only works with an 8 speed cassette.

Great, not many of them around unless you want to build it from individual cogs like my original cassette. However, here’s the magic. They pointed out that with a little change in how the cable is mounted to the derailleur, you can get it to work with a 9 speed cassette.

Well now were talking. 9 Speed cassettes are still plentiful and probably will be for some time. A 9 speed works a little better than a 10 speed in the dirt and muck of a Cross race. Plus it’s a wee bit lighter. Well let’s giv’er a go!!!

Rod, my mechanic at the Bike Coop was a little skeptical as was Greg and the rest of the gang. But there it was, written up plain as day in the magazine. Ok, they said, they’d work with me on it and maybe we’d all learn something. Not everyday you get to teach some of the most experienced mechanics in Albuquerque a new trick.

So I got a Dura Ace derailleur, a SRAM 11-26 9 speed cassette/chain and a set of Campy Chorus Ergo 10 shifters. I was also fortunate to have one of the Nob Hill Velo guys stripping his Campy stuff for SRAM and he offered me a smokin’ deal on a Record Compact front derailleur. I was set. Rod went to work and with a little fussing to get the shifting dialed in he had it ready in a day.

I’ve been out on it for about three rides and had it tweaked for the expected cable stretch. How’s it shift? Really nicely. Solid and predictable. Much smoother than my original setup, but of course we’re talking much higher end componentry.

Rod feels it’s maybe not as “buttery” as a single manufacturer 10 speed setup of that quality, but he also feels that it’s bullet proof. 9 Speed setups are just so much more predictable in their shifting. A single touch of the lever, a solid clunk and I’m in gear…sweet!!!

So what you see here has affectionately been named the “UN of bikes” by Rod. Not only because of the components, but also because it's blue. Plus it proves that yes we can all get along!!!

And yep, those are Chimay Bottle Corks for bar end plugs. I got the idea from a combination of Steve Williamson telling me to shove corks in the ends when I lost a bar plug and seeing Mike Pease using the Chimay Caps as ends. I figured what the heck, use the whole damn cork and cap. Now what could be better than a Belgian Bottle cap on a Cross Bike...truely is the UN of Bikes!!!