Dirty Kanza preparations are in full effect

Quiring - epic setup side view
Originally uploaded by Chewieez

I've been working on my setup for Dirty Kanza for a while but now it's time to collect everything and put it all together. I got my frame back and built back up Monday right, after driving back from Dallas all day. Started gathering all the bits I'm borrowing and last minute items I needed to buy. I did a short shakedown ride last night to test out the handlebar setup with bags and bartape. The bike is riding great with the extra load. I thin because so much of it is on the front, the bike really doesn't ride like it's heavy at all.


I'm still waiting on one more bottle mount to put on the downtube. This will give me 4 total bottle placements and with my new sexy red bottle and full 93 ounces of fluid on the bike, and not on me. Only being able to have two mounts in the frame (and no frame bag) is one drawback of the design I went with on my Quiring, but it also means I have a lot of seatpost to utilize. I borrowed some clamps and a bottle cage from Dan and got it tucked in under the saddle bag. There wasn't quite as much room as I thought there would be so I tried mounting it on the front of the seatpost. I rode around the yard with it and quickly realized it wasn't going to work. My thighs were rubbing the bottle... nope, can't have that! So back it went to the backside of the seatpost. With 1" of tire clearance the bottle is tucked in right up under the saddlebag. The bag is actually touching the bottle but it should help hold the bottle in on the choppy gravel roads.

I also borrowed a Jandd handlebar/seat bag from Dan and got it mounted up. It's relatively small but holds more than you think. I have a tube, chammy cream, drink mix, tools and a vest in it for now. I taped up the exposed areas of my handlebars to give me full use of all the grip options. I scored some great red and black left over tape from Eastside Cycles and did my first wrap job. It's not overly professional looking but it should do the job. One full wrap of red tape and then I added a little bit of black to cover the brake lever mounts.

My food is going in the Epic Designs Gas tank (on the top tube) and my Epic Ride Research Feed bag. This will give me total access to all the food and places to put my extra light battery and some odds and ends like sport leg pills and chapstick. (I'm borrowing the gas tank from Thad, who is using a custom Epic Designs frame bag on his new RigorMoooootis)

I'm running my normal slim saddle bag. I like that it doesn't rub my legs anywhere and (generally) stays put nicely. In it is one tube, multi-tool, 3 Co2 cartridges, Co2 blaster and a patch kit.


For lights I'm running a Cateye Commuter 3 LED light that runs on 2 AAs and has a super long run time and a flashing feature. I'm also going to use my new Niterider MiNewt USB light with an extra battery for a 6 hr run time. I'm planning on using the Cateye when I can and only turning on the MiNewt when I need more light and more light throw.

The main goal of this setup it to keep all the stuff off of me. This is something both Dan and Thad stressed as essential for long rides. Let the bike carry the weight, you just pedal. I've really enjoyed working through all the different choices of gear and setups and being creative with the tools I have at my disposal, and donated from nice friends.

Long haul truckin' preparations have started

I've spent the afternoon contemplating which bike I will bring to the 200 mile Dirty Kanza ride coming up at the of May. As someone who has trouble making decisions in a timely manner, I'm still undecided, but at least I'm armed with more information now.

One big consideration I'm...um considering... is how best to carry my needed stuff on the bike. Lots of options are out there but with limited funds comes limited options. I did purchase a Epic Ride Research Feedbag which will go on either bike I decide to ride. It attached in the nook between your stem and your handlebars with velcro straps. The bag is deep and has some good structure with a rip cord closure system that is suppose to be easy to operate one-handed. I have yet to use this bag out on a ride, but it's mounts up easy and looks like it will work out well.




Another sure thing I've picked up to use is the Niterider MiNewt USB LED light. Again, I haven't had an opportunity to use it on a ride yet but it was easy to mount to both bikes. I got the Plus model that also comes with an extension cord and a helmet mount. First impressions are that this is a VERY small light and battery package. Supposed burn time is 3 hrs so I'm planning on trying to have 2 batteries for the Dirta Kanza ride. I'll most likely also have another light with me, either a commuter style LED light or maybe my big Trailtech HID.

Frame bags are gaining popularity it seems. Perks of this design are that it keeps the weight more centered and lower to ground than a rear rack or front rack. Another perk is that the bag is accessible while riding, unlike front/rear paniers. Jandd makes a very inexpensive frame bag which I've had my eye on for months. I was able to borrow one from 8Ball to see how it would fit on my bikes. I knew it would be tough to get it to work on my Quiring. With the very compact frame design I ended up with, there is very little room for anything inside the main triangle other than a couple water bottles. I still wanted to try it out though to see my options since I am leaning towards riding the Quiring at Kanza, since it's already setup SS and is custom fit to me (and has a flat bar).

I went through many different ways to mount the bag to the Quiring.

Option #1:


This was my first idea before even getting the bag to try out. Plain old mount it backwards. Works ok except I will lose the use of my downtube waterbottle cage. I'd like to use both water bottles and a camelback as I'm expecting atleast 50 miles between rest stops.

Option #2:


This is a more secure mounting since it is how the bag was intended to be used, but again, it will mean I can't really use my waterbottle cage, or I can't fill up the bag all that much. Not really a good option.

Option #3:



This is the best option of the three for how well the bag is secured to the frame. Again though, I will only have access to one water bottle cage. I decided to fill up the bag with some mock cargo to see how this option worked out. I put a jacket in the right pocket and some food and a small tire pump in the left pocket. The bag held it well and I still had access to the downtube water bottle but.... (a big one) The bag was really wide. With it down near the seattube, this meant my knees were rubbing the bag every pedal stroke. Not good.





Ok so moving on to my other bike option. My Surly Crosscheck. Pros for this bike are a larger frame area for bag placement, rack mounts if I were to go that route and gears if I decide I don't want to ride the race singlespeed. Cons are the drop bars are somewhat narrow for my tastes so less climbing torque, the leather bar tape doesn't provide much cush and the frame is a tad bit small for me so it doesn't fit quite as well as the Quiring. (oh and it has gears...pro and con)

I was curious how the bags would mount up to the Crosscheck so I went ahead and tried it out. Feedbag and light mounted with ease. The Jandd bag mounted perfectly, leaving me full access to both water bottle mounts.






So looks like for storage possibilites it's Crosscheck 1 Quiring 0
(not that this was a big surprise)

I'm planning on trying a Epic Designs gas tank soon too that Johnny5 is letting me borrow. I imagine this will be a sure thing for use on which ever bike I bring. I also am still planning on getting some new tires for the ride and haven't yet decided which ones. I've narrowed my choices to the WTB Vulpine 2.1 or the Kenda Small Block Eight 2.1. Not sure if these will fit in my Crosscheck... more things to check out.

2007 miles, inspirational

Who can say they rode every day in 2007? This guy can: http://www.mattmagic.com/item.php?id=2043

He logged 11965 miles in 2007, 70% off-road and 30% road!!! My 962 miles are really looking weak.



....in other news, Bike prep for Snake started tonight. I cleaned and regreased my Hadley hub on the Ventana (not the bike I'm taking though) because it has been feeling odd the last couple rides. Turns out the axle wasn't torqued down and my cassette was a tiny bit loose.

I donated a tube from the Ventana to use on my SS, and patched another tube that I apparently flatted last ride I took the Soma on.

I finally found some zip ties that would work to hold my Microwireless to my handlebars on the SS. Now I will be able to watch the miles creep by this weekend. I think I'll be leaving it on the time display for the most part, a watched pot never boils!

I also finally took the time to mount the thumb shifter Dan gave me to replace my broken pop-loc lever for the Reba. It's prob been broken for 2 months now but I never bothered to mess with it. I quickly discovered I didn't have any extra cable to use to mount it so I just put it on the back burner and was planning on getting Ivory to do it at MOAB. I thought I'd try to recycle the same cable and housing I was using before. It worked, but it's not pretty and not perfect. I decided to mount it on the right side of my bars this time b/c the housing is just a little too short to put the lever in reach on the left side. It's current position makes it look like a trigger shifter. I don't know if this will be the preferred spot for the long run, but it should work fine for Snake. I'm interested to see if it'll be worth having the thumb shifter and being able to set the fork between full-open and fully locked-out on the fly.