Crest ZTR Review

I've always got my eye out for a good deal, especially when it comes to race gear and bike parts.  I've bought parts and frames from Ebay, Craigslist and from individuals in bike forums.  I've met sellers in parking lots, movie theatres, trail heads and gas stations.

So when I seen the ad for a pair of Stan's ZTR Crest 29in wheels, I immediately set up a meet at a local gas station.  They were in such great shape, I could have been convinced that they had never even been ridden on.  We agreed on a price and I took my new treasure home.

A few days after the Berryman Adventure race I pulled the Bontrager wheels off of my Superfly 100 and started the swap.  The first thing to do was remove the disk brake rotors.  They are held on with six T-20 Torx head screws. 

The next thing up was to remove the 10 speed Shimano cassette.  Easy to do once you have the right tools.

A cassette removal socket with guide pin:


And a chain whip:

Then it was simple to transfer the removed parts to the new wheels.  The only things to watch on the brake rotors are to keep them clean and pay attention to the direction of rotation.  I torqued each screw in a star pattern with a new application of blue Loctite.

Be careful when moving the cassette, it is a stack of spacers and rings that could get confusing if you mix them up.  I lifted the stack off the old wheel and moved it to the new wheel without setting it down. I put a light coating of synthetic grease on the rear wheel hub to prevent it from seizing over time, and installed it with the same tools I used to removed it.

The Stan's yellow rim strip and tubeless valve looked great.  They were in perfect shape and had been installed perfectly. I got my hopes up that I wouldn't have to fight with getting the tires to seal in a tubeless set-up.  While I was doing this I noticed that the ZTR's have 32 butted (1.7 / 2.0) black stainless spokes per wheel, the Bonty's I was replacing only had 28.  This is cool.  I get a much lighter wheel set (1575 grams) with more 4 more spokes per wheel (more spokes = stronger and easier to straighten when I eventually bend one).

I pulled the Kenda Slant Six tire off of the Bonty old rim using a couple of Park Tool tire levers.

I got them fitted onto the new ZTR wheels without any hassle.  Remember these tires are directional, so check before you install them or you are going to make a mess with the sealant when you have to take them off.

I put two cups of Stan's sealant in each tire, after shaking the bottle good to make sure the rubber particles were well suspended. 

I should patent my invention for seating tubeless tires.  In the picture below you can see it.  The 1/4 diameter automotive vacuum hose and small hose clamp work great with the nozzle on my air compressor.  The tires popped onto their beads and sealed instantly.   The other two set of wheels I've set up tubeless before this leaked for up to two weeks before finally sealing.  (As I write this - a week after set-up- I still haven't had to add air)

Now with the work completed it was time to ride!  I took the bike to Indian Camp Creek.  It is a fairly easy local trail with a good mix of creek bottom flats and easy climbs.  It is a great trail to ride fast.  I took off through the winding tight turns in the creek bottoms and I could tell right away that the wheels were light and fast.  My confidence in the wheels grew fast and soon I was leaning through the dusty corners trying to feel any flex in the wheels.  There wasn't any.


While I was riding, I noticed that the tires looked fatter on these wheels.  They are the 29 x 2.0 size, but they looked fatter than some other 2.1 tires I have ridden.  I looked on Stans website and found out why:  ZTR wheels use Bead Socket Technology, which is a fancy name for a lower bead hook height combined with a wider rim (24.4mm).  The bead design allows the tire to stretch out to a more natural rounded shape and reduces sidewall flex.  No wonder I was feeling so fast in the corners!


I rode over to the smallish climbs these trails have and rode up them easily.  I was able to lift the front wheel over obstacles without a problem.  I can't wait to get these wheels out to some trails that have some real climbing (ie Matson Hill).


The tubeless Kenda Slant Six tires were hooking up incredible!  I had the tire pressure at 28 rear and 26 front.  It felt just right for my 170 lbs.  I didn't expect to feel increased traction from a wheel change, but it's there all the same.  It must be from the reduced rim height/increased width combination.


Both hubs are Stan's 3.30.  The rear has a different sound than any previous wheels I've ridden on.  When freewheeling it sounds like a rattlesnake.  Kinda funny, I guess I'll get used to it.  For now I'm going to take it to mean that I'm getting good multi-point pawl engagement.


The ZTR Crest wheel is really light weight so it is recommended for cross country and light trail use with a maximum rider weight of 190 lbs.  Sounds perfect for adventure racing where a lot of the riding is gravel/dirt roads.  I'll get a few long races on them this fall and find out what they will be like long term.  So far they look like winners!

Trek Mountain Co-op Ride & Superfly

I LOVE MY SUPERFLY! I know what you’re thinking, you just read a post that said I was almost in tears because I hated the Superfly. Well things change and boy they did for me. I planned a Trek Mountain Co-op ride with about 20 of my closest friends, and this ride was going to be my second test of the Superfly


If you read my last post on my new Superfly you will remember how I hated the tires, handlebars and seat. So I took the bike back to the Cyclery and told them about my misadventures with my new bike, that’s when Andy flew into action.


First thing he did was a sit test, so he could figure out just how large that seat was going to have to be to make sure my junk was comfortable. When he showed me the seat, I gave him the “there is no way I am going to like that seat, it isn’t the same as the one on my Top Fuel” look. He told me to trust him, he was a professional after all. Against my better judgment I decided to try the seat, knowing that he was wrong and I was going to hate it. It’s kind of like when I program my Garmin to go someplace then tell the Garmin lady, better known as Australian Karen, that she is wrong, drive a different route and end up lost. This has happened several times or well maybe, possibly more times than that and every time it happens, my kids tell me “mom you have to trust Karen, she is a professional”. So I chose to trust Andy and get this, he was right, I loved the seat, not one time during my ride, did I complain about my big trunk hurting.

Andy took the handlebars I had on my Giant and swapped them with the stock bars on the Superfly, and then I sold my Giant. That’s Right! I am now a completely Trek Mountain Girl, no more Giants in my stable. I love those handlebars too, Andy cut them to fit me perfectly when I bought the Giant a few years ago.

Last and probably most importantly, Andy ordered some rim strips from Trek and put a couple of my favorite tires, the Kenda Slant Six, on the Superfly and made it tubeless. Now I can ride it with very low tire pressure, which helps the tire grab, which keeps me on the bike.

I thought a Trek ride would be the perfect time to take a second shot at riding the Superfly, I had no preconceived notions that the bike would be good or even great, in fact I had it in my mind that it was going to suck and I would be crying by the end of the ride. I kept telling myself, just give it a chance.

We met at the mound at Weldon Springs, Kate, Patrick and I carpooled from Edwardsville together and it was such a beautiful day, I couldn’t help but be in a great mood and ready for some mountain bike action. We met, Mark, Chuck and Bill there and there were tons of cars with bikers at the mound, there were only six of our group at the start of the ride, but I thought we may come upon some late starters once we got on the trails because I had 10 or so replies from people saying they would be there.


We zipped down on the Hamburg Trail and turned onto the Lost Valley trails. LV starts out with a steep, long, gravel covered downhill, it’s fast and sketchy. We hit it fast and bombed down it. Kate hung back riding her brakes a little because she is new to mountain biking and was being a bit cautious. At the bottom of the hill we headed straight up a hill similar to the one we came down, it was tough, but the Superfly was beating this hill. When we made it to the top we stopped and waited for everyone to get up the hill so we could regroup. This was a no drop ride so we stopped at every trail intersection and regrouped.

This was also the place where I realized my gloves smelled really bad. The first time I wiped my face with them, I got a wiff of the awful girl sweat from at least a few past rides, it almost knocked me off my bike. Yeah, those gloves went in the wash when I got home.


We rode through the first big dip, it was short, but steep, but it was dry so riding it almost felt like being on a roller coaster. At the top of the dip was a rocky area where on our last ride at LV, Patrick blew a tire, a rock sliced into his sidewall. The good thing was he booted it with a Honey Stinger package and was able to finish the ride. Chuck and I both yelled watch the rocks to Patrick on our way through. The picture is a little blurry, but this is Patrick jumping out of the dip.


We rode for a while then I rode past an intersection where the gang was waiting and shot a cool picture of them coming down a hill toward me.


We started flying through the trails and all was well, I made a quick pit stop and pulled out just as Patrick and Kate were coming by.


I got on behind Patrick and in a tight rocky spot, he had a bit of a problem and ended up on the ground, it’s a good thing I was camera ready and was able to get the shot before he got off the ground.


Patrick is such a trooper, plus he crashes more than anyone I know, he has it down and he doesn’t crash because he doesn’t have skills, he crashes because he is trying some crazy stunt. He isn’t afraid to try anything, so we always try to talk him into everything. Most the time he will try it too. Once he was off the ground, we caught up to the others, I was bringing up the rear and we had to move over for a gang of about 15 riders coming through, I knew some of them, they were the GORC guys and some adventure racers.


We talked briefly as they came through, we were headed down through the creek and they were coming up the other side. About half of them made it, while the other half put a foot down or pushed up the hill from the creek. It is a kind of squirrely little section that is hard because you have to ride across some flat rocks then through the creek, to a steep little climb into narrow single track over a large root and around a big tree. It’s not as easy as it may look at first. We got the chance to try it on our second loop. Chuck, Bill and Mark seemed to make it without a problem, but I didn’t make it, so I wanted to try it again. As soon as Patrick came across I went back across the creek to try it again, Patrick pulled out his camera to get a video, I think he was waiting for a spectacular crash, which is exactly what I thought was going to happen.

Can you believe it, I made it, I was so happy. Next Kate came across, but she opted to take the safe route and hop off not wanting to give Patrick a chance at the video of the year award. Smart thinking Kate!

We finished the first loop and decided to do a crazy eight loop, I call it that, but it’s really just a figure eight with a killer climb. We started up the climb and I was in front with Bill and Chuck, and Mark was right next to me, they soon rode away from me, and then Kate just rode past me like I was standing still, then Patrick came around and by the time we got to the top of the hill I was chanting I love hills, trying to make myself believe it, but the gang was way ahead of me and my only saving grace was that the GORC crew was coming through and everyone stopped to talk, so I finally caught up. We then realized the reason so many people were out was because it was Mountain bike weekend in Missouri. LV, Mattson Hill and Klondike all had rides going on. At first I thought maybe GORC was having a work day and that’s why all the riders were out, but it was just a have fun riding mountain bike weekend and having fun was just what we were doing.

I was having so much fun, I loved chasing the guys down on the single track and chasing Kate down on the double track. Its funny no one was chasing me down, but then again, I always have the excuse that I had to stop for blog pictures. I’m not sure who was the fastest in our group, Mark, Chuck and Bill seemed to always be upfront, but the position kept changing at every stop. I think everyone was just having fun. At one stop we looked for blood, you know its been a good day if there is both mud and blood, we all had mud, but Patrick won the blood contest, he out classed Bill’s bloody knuckle with his knee puncture.


Although, we had made a couple stops to eat Honey Stinger waffles, I was starting to get hungry, I looked down at my computer to see we were almost 17 miles in, so we decided to finish the loop and head back to the van for some lunch.


We rode some more single track where we went under some low hanging branches, I hit my head pretty hard on a limb, but lucky for me I had on my Hardnutz Rock Hard helmet which has a visor and the visor prevented me from being smacked in the face by the limb. Next it was on to some double track then we made a stop to discuss which trail to take back. When we were stopped the bugs were starting to bite and that was after we had all doused ourselves in bug spray before we started. I think my ankles were starting to show vampire mosquito bites all over them.


Our choices to head back was some fun single track or a long steep climb on double track, we opted for the single track. As we rode through the trails we came upon the place where I once crashed and Chuck yells, “I think I know someone who crashed there once” that would have been me. It’s funny how I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I can remember every single, stop, crash, sound, or comment made on every mountain bike ride I have ever been on. I’m sure I am not alone in this skill, I know everyone riding with me can probably boast of the same skill. Sometimes I think I spend more quality time with Mark, Chuck and Patrick then I do with my own family, they are like my extended fun family. We just have all the fun together without all the responsibility. The only responsibility I have on the trail is too make sure I tell their family that they died with a smile on their face or in Patrick’s case he died taking a dare we challenged him to. That is the promise that all mountain bikers make when they ride together.

We headed back to the van and had lunch on Trek, it was Subway sandwiches, chips and assorted drinks, and although it was just sandwiches we were so hungry that if felt like a feast, I was going to offer some to the GORC guys in the parking lot, but we pretty much devoured it all.


I know you are waiting to find out about my final thoughts on the Superfly. This is why I now LOVE my SUPERFLY

1. It rolled over every rock and root, like they weren’t even there.
2. I flew up and down the hills as well as on the flat, it just rolled smooth as butter.
3. I never once felt the seat, it was like I was sitting on air, thanks Andy!
4. The handle bars felt like they were made specifically for my build.
5. The tires grabbed the dirt and just took me where I wanted to go.
6. It was the bike that everyone told me it would be. I was almost too happy for words by the end of the ride.

So it might not have been Love at first ride, but it was definitely LOVE at Second Ride.


I want to give a big THANKS to Trek for allowing me to be part of a great program. The Trek Mountain Co-op is a fantastic way to promote mountain biking to all walks of life not just the pro riders. And it’s always nice to have free food and drinks after a great ride. And thanks to Andy for making me fall in love with my bike and of course a big thanks to all my friends that came out to ride with me on such a beautiful Sunday morning.

Kenda Slant Six Tire Review

ROCK Racing has enjoyed the support of Kenda for several years now.  Our team members have ridden on the Nevegal with great success.  These tires will hook-up on any surface and keep you moving.  The only problem is they are quite commonly overkill for the terrain we are racing and training in.  All that traction and bulletproof construction comes at a price.  Nevegals are heavy, noisy, and not road friendly, I swear you can feel every one of those giant center knobs rotating under you when road riding.

I also tried the Small Block 8.  It is definitely lighter, has a great road feel, and is nowhere near as loud as the Nevegal, but you give up the awesome traction of those giant lugs.  I really had trouble with the Small Block 8 in snow and mud, lots of sliding around and then recovering steering lines, rear wheel spinning up hills.  It is a good tire when used for its intended purpose, but not for the crazy varying conditions found while adventure racing.

So when Kenda announced last year that it was coming out with a new tire, called the Slant Six, I was curious what it would be.  The advertizing was calling it “The perfect blend of John Tomac's two most winning tires - The Small Block 8 and the Nevegal.”  If Kenda could pull off a successful blending of the best traction and smoothest rolling tire they would really have something.  I wanted them.

About the same time I got myself convinced to try the Slant Six, I made the jump to 29” tires.  I bought a 2011 Trek Superfly 100.  I would no longer need 26” tires, and just my luck, the Slant Six 29’er wasn’t in production yet.  The bike came from the factory with some crappy looking Bonty tires on it, thin sidewalls and almost no tread, the lugs were barely visible, these might be alright road tires, but they would never work on the rocky trails in MO.  I had the shop swap them out with some tubeless Maxxis Ignitor tires.

The Ignitors are good, but may be lacking in durability.  These tires have a nice looking round profile and continuous rounded knobs along the centerline to help make a lower rolling resistance.  They are knobby enough for good traction on rocks and roots, and light enough not to kill you on hills.  This was my first experience with tubeless tires, and they sealed up easily during installation.  My first race (2010 Castlewood 8hr) on these tires resulted in a ripped sidewall.  I was so lucky it happened less than a mile from the finish line.  The Stan’s sealant sputtered and sealed, then finally left me flat right at the finish.

So, I kept watching for a 29’er Slant Six. 

More Slant Six details from the Kenda site:

I wouldn’t be buying the downhill version, it doesn’t fit the kind of riding I do, too heavy for extended climbing. The single-ply cross-country tire sounded great, it would be the one I’d be trying.  The Nevegals and Small Block 8 tires I used before were the DTC rubber construction, so I already knew about it.  I really like the thinking behind DTC.  Here is a description of it:

A durometer is an instrument for measuring the hardness of rubber.  This difference can also be felt by hand when applying pressure to a tire’s tread.  Try pressing your thumbnail into the knobs of different tires.  On the DTC tires you can feel harder rubber center lugs and softer outer lugs.

In March 2011, the Slant Six 29’er was finally available.  I would be able to get a set in time for the LBL 24he adventure race! 

I ordered the 29x2.00, 120TPI, DTC, folding bead. 

TPI stands for threads per inch.  It is the number of threads contained in one inch of tire casing. The lower the TPI number, the larger the individual cord diameter is in the casing, which makes the tire more durable. The higher the TPI, the more lightweight the tire becomes and the more supple the ride of the tire.  I wanted lightweight and supple, so I chose the 120TPI tire.

I set them up tubeless with Stan’s sealant and Stan's presta valves.  It took several days for them to seal up completely, but once they did, there hasn’t been a leak.  Tubeless tires allow you to run lower air pressure without having to worry about pinch flatting a tube. This allows for maximum traction because you have more surface area contact with the ground, the tire flexes and forms itself around obstacles, to pull you forward.

The tires are directional.  You cannot just throw them on the wheel any way and expect them to perform at their full potential.  Take a good look for the rotation arrow and install them on the wheel so the arrow is pointing in the direction of rotation.


I got out a caliper and measured one of the tires after it was installed.  With 28 psi the tire casing measures exactly 2.0 inches from side to side.  The next measurement I took was from the outside edges of two adjacent side lugs.  I got 2.25 inches.  The tire packaging said each tire weighs 735 grams.  I took a tire up to my local post office and mis-used government property.  The tire weighed 697 grams.   Maybe not a tire for weight-weenies, but well in the acceptable range for me.

Once I had the tires set up, I started experimenting with pressure.  With tubes it is unwise to go too low or you will get pinch flats.  I weigh 165 lbs, so for my first ride I went with 35 psi front and back.  The tires rode great, I tried lower, and lower.  I finally settled with 28 psi rear and 25 psi front.  At that pressure the tire has a nice rounded profile on top, and a good bulge at its contact patch on the ground.

These tires ride great.  I’ve been up steep rocky climbs without breaking traction in the rear, even when there is loose gravel scattered over the trail.  I’ve ridden miles of paved and gravel roads and they felt smooth, fast, and quiet.  The loud annoying ‘buzz’ you hear from other tires is not as prevalent.  The small ramped lugs on the tread centerline do their job as advertised, the gently ramped front provided a smooth ride and the abrupt end on the tail of the ramp providing great braking. 

Those big side knobs grab like mad in turns and keep you on track, no sliding out and having to make crazy steering recoveries. They grab wet tree roots without sliding you off the side of the trail. 

I was waiting to do this post until I got some time to ride them in the mud.  I try to do the right thing and protect our trails.  So, I stay away when they are too wet, but this weekend I raced in Conquer Castlewood.  There was plenty of mud.  I started through the first muddy sections taking it a little easy since I hadn’t tested them in mud.  But I quickly gained confidence on them and by the time I got to the long muddy top section of trail I was flying.  The front grabbed quickly and took me right where I aimed it.  The rear never lost traction or spun out even under power when passing other racers.  The lugs never clogged up and got that heavy feel, mud flung off of them quickly.  The only time I did slide around was on an off-camber greasy bank, and even then the slide was easily controlled.  I never lost confidence or thought I was going down.  Not bad mud –performance for a ‘cross-country’ tire.

The Slant Six is simply the best all-around tire I have found.  It is now my go-to tire for adventure racing and training.

Robin’s take: I wanted to put in my two cents.  I just recently purchased a Superfly 100 just like Chuck’s and just as Chuck mentioned it came with stock Bontrager tires that just really sucked.  I wasn’t on the bike 10 minutes and my tires were spinning out in the gravel, and it wasn’t even deep gravel.  That same night I ordered a pair of Slant Six tires and now I am in control of my new bike and riding like a pro, well at least like a really bad pro, but it is all because of my Kenda Slant Six tires that keep me on the bike and allow me to ride though any hazard.

Before I end this post, I do have one gripe for Kenda.  We need this tire made ‘sealant compatible’!  Everyone is running tubeless these days, surely there is a market to do this for us.  I hate seeing the disclaimer telling me that sealant use voids the manufacturer warranty.


SEE MY UPDATED REVIEW HERE: One year later

Robin's New Superfly 100

I know lust is bad thing, something we aren’t supposed to do. I can’t help it, I was lustful and I couldn’t hold back the urge. It didn’t matter where I saw it, or when I saw it or what it was doing when I saw it, my mind would go directly to lustful thoughts. I had to have one, there was just no way around it, the lust would never end if I didn’t get it.

So I did, I bought a Superfly 100 and now people will lust after my bike, I will no longer be getting all glassy eyed and fantasizing about what I could do if I had a bike like that. I might even become a fast woman, now that I have one.



Oh, I know what you’re thinking, I need another bike like I need a hole in the head, how could I ever justify getting a new bike. I can’t, so what I have decided to do is sell one of my bikes. So… drum roll please, I’m selling my Giant Anthem Advanced. The Giant was my bike of choice before I got the Trek Top Fuel, but now I never ride it and I can’t even claim it as a backup bike because I have both a Top Fuel and Superfly. I guess the Giant will soon be a memory in my stable of bikes, it was a great bike, but has outlived its usefulness and now needs to go to someone who will love it, like it deserves to be loved.

This event is so momentous in my life (my first 29er) that I documented it every step of the way. My Superfly was shipped to the Cyclery in Edwardsville, my favorite bike shop, where everyone knows my name.



I found out when I went in, that I wouldn’t be the first to see my new bike, because my son saw it a few days earlier when he was in the shop buying me a Mother’s Day gift. I was still excited to be the second person to see it.




Allan unpacked the bike and got it on the stand ready for Big Andy to work on it. (by the way, Big Andy is no longer big, he is more buff, but I can’t make myself call him Buff Andy) As Allan unpacked my Superfly, I ran out to my van to get the cage, Ergon grips and computer that my kids bought me for Mother’s Day and brought them in to be put on my new love. I really wanted a Bontrager Evok 3 WSD saddle, but the bike came with a Bontrager Evoke 2. When you have as much junk in your trunk as I do, you would want the WSD saddle too, it’s just a little extra padding where it’s really needed. I had planned on swapping out the tires for tubeless Kenda Slant Six tires, but unfortunately there were no rim strips to be found, so I couldn’t go tubeless right out the door. That’s ok, I will just stop by the shop when they come in and have them swapped out.

Andy started working on the bike while I stood around and drooled. I chatted with the shop guys about SRAM vs Shimano. This is my first encounter with SRAM, I hope I like it. Most of the guys are SRAM lovers, but there was one SRAM hater in the room. I guess I will make my own decision on it, once I have used it for a while.



Andy showed me the carbon armor on the bottom, telling me it was almost indestructible.



He got my gears all setup and working, although he hit a few snags in the process, but being the skilled guy that he is, he found a way to get me on the trail.



He also cut off about 3 inches of handlebars, this will stop me from throwing myself off the bike when I roll through the narrow single track with tight trees.



Andy fished up the build and fitted the bike to me, and then I took it out for a test ride in the parking lot. It felt great and looked incredible.



So last night after work I took it out for its maiden ride. I have an off-road race in two weeks at Castlewood State park, so I took the Superfly out to test ride the course on it. I was ready to have the ride of my life, I was so excited I could hardly wait to get off work and get on the trials.

I met Chuck at Castlewood and he was as excited about it as I was, we pulled our bikes out of our vans and checked the air pressure. Since I don’t have tubeless yet, I had to put a little more air in then I usually ride. I had me tires set to 32 and 30 psi. The tires felt hard and were bouncing around way too much. The Bontrager tires were ok, for road and hard packed dirt, but they weren’t doing me any favors on the rocky, rooty trails. Even where the gravel was not very deep, my wheels were just spinning. I don’t like these tire at all, I’m not sure why anyone would want these. It was so bad that I had to stop and let air out of the tires, down to almost 26 psi. I didn’t know any other way to get the tires to grip. Now I had to worry about a pinch flat and I didn’t have a spare tube.

I was also having problems stopping, I had the brakes on so hard that I was afraid I was going to break the brake lever off and I still wasn’t able to stop on the steep down hills. At one point a guy was climbing toward me and I barely was able to stop in time to get out of his way.

Shifting was really not fun, my thumb wouldn’t reach the shifter, so I had to turn my hand and arm in positions that they are not made to go into just to shift.

The handlebars are bent at some weird angle, and I really hate them. And worst of all, the seat completely sucked, I hate it, I have to get it replaced right away.

So at the end of the first lap, I was almost in tears, I just spent a fortune on this fantasy bike and after being on it for just 6 miles, I hated it. Chuck suggested that we make some adjustments. So I pulled out my toolbox and he adjusted my shifter levers so that I could reach them, then he adjusted my seat, it was too low, then he tried to figure out why my brakes weren’t working, but wasn’t sure what it was.



He swapped front tires with me to see if the brakes did the same thing on his bike and they did.



We decided to ride with the tires swapped to see if we could figure out the problem. First the bike rode much better with just one Kenda tire on it. Chuck started complaining right away about the Bontrager tire, he said he felt like the tire was bouncing him all over, and that was exactly what it was doing to me. He didn’t know how anyone could ride with these tires. His comments vindicated me a little, at least I wasn’t being a whinny girl, there was something wrong with those tires.

We continued riding and Chuck said that the brakes were getting better and maybe there was just some kind of oil on them from the factory and it had to wear off before the brakes would work correctly. My shift and brake levels felt better and I could now reach them. I still hated the handlebars and saddle though.

Now I plan on swapping the handlebars with my handlebars off my Giant Anthem and replacing the Bontrager 29-3 tires with Kenda Slant Six tires.



I’m also replacing the saddle (I’m affectionately calling it satan’s saddle) with the Bontrager Evoke 3 WSD.



It’s so hard to stick more money into an already expensive bike, but I think this is the only way that I will ever come to love this bike the way everyone else loves their 29er.

I was envisioning this experience to be one of total euphoria, but when I rode the Superfly, it was like falling out of a dream and into a nightmare. I am hoping that after I make all the changes to the bike, it will roll right back into that dream.

Now for the big decision, which bike is my “go to” bike, is it the Trek Top Fuel or is it the Trek Superfly. Which will make me lightening fast and make me feel like I might know what I’m doing. Which do I choose? Which should be my race bike and which should be my “just for fun” bike. I guess in the end it comes down to one thing.

Which of the bikes makes my butt look smaller, that will be my new favorite mountain bike. You tell me, leave me a comment and tell me which bike is the best for me.

LBL 24hr 2011

To say that the Land Between the Lakes was the hardest adventure race I have ever completed is just not enough.  In no way can these few words explain to you exactly what I was feeling and what I was thinking, that is when I was lucid enough to have an actual thought.

24 hours, that’s all it was to be, heck Chuck and I have done longer races than that and in what at the time seemed like much more treacherous territory then the Midwest could ever be. Let me just tell you, the Midwest is no place sissies.  

We arrived at the pre-race meeting with speculation as to the race start time and where we would start from, but like every other speculation we have ever had about adventure racing, this one was just as wrong.  We even tried to trick Jason into telling us the start time before the meeting, but Jason is sharp, he just laughs and says I guess you will find out at the meeting.  We were kind of hoping for a 7 am start, but were sure it was going to be a 12 am start.  So when Jason said the meeting would start at 12 am and that we had 40 points to plot, everyone groaned.  Lucky for us he then said “April Fools!”, we thought it was a gift from God when he said the real start time would be 7am.  We thought everything was going our way, ha ha, now that was a completely goofy thought.  We were given our maps and some instructions and sent on our way. 

Back at the hotel we plotted the points and realized just how long the mileage could be on all of the legs, but we were pretty confident that it would be no problem for us.  I mean we were nervous, but still confident.  I guess our confidence has been a real laugh, now that it is over.  So off to bed it was, I woke up every 45 minutes worrying that I was going to miss the alarm.  5:30 am came and I loaded my gear into the Adventure van and was happy about the warm temperatures outside.  Boy, was that a mistake, I would have liked it to be about 10 degrees cooler as the day went on.

We lined up at the starting line, which was after what seemed to be 10 trips to the bathroom. 12 hours racers in front, 24 hour racers in back, then with 15 seconds to the start Jason says, 24 hour racers, you don’t have to carry your packs for the first leg, but you do need your cell phone.  On one hand I was relieved that I wouldn’t have what felt like 30 pounds on my back for the first four checkpoints, on the other hand, we had to scramble to get our packs off and grab our maps before the race started.  Luckily our new Osprey packs are easy to organize and Chuck had the cell phone out in a flash.  This was just another of Jason’s little surprises.  He likes to surprise the racers every once in a while to keep us on our toes.

We took off and all was going well, we ran the entire first leg and went directly to all of the checkpoints.  At CP3 we had two choices, walk across a very long log over the lake or run a long way around the lake, we chose to cross the log.  I really think Chuck wants to see me swim in these events, but lucky for him I made it across without falling into the lake. CP4 was the transition, so we headed back up a long steep hill to grab our packs and our bikes.

CP5 through CP11 were bike points and they were all on single track. If you have never been to LBL, they have some of the best single track around.  We were moving through this section, hitting short steep climbs and rolling over lots of roots and logs.  This part made me think about Castlewood, there is a section at Castlewood that has a short steep climb and just before the top there is a tree root and some rocks and no mater how hard I try and can never ride through it without getting off my bike.  I have even tried to go up and down the hill trying to make it through, but I have never been able to do it.  So now we are hitting sections that are 10 times as hard as the section at Castlewood and we are riding through every one of them.  I just can’t figure out why that section of Castlewood beats me every time.  Sorry about the digression, back to the race. We quickly picked up CP 5-8 and then we rode and rode trying to get to nine.  On the way we passed a team that was having mechanical problems, their chain had broke for the 3^rd time and they didn’t have a master link to fix it this time.  We didn’t have one or we would have given it to them.  They were really tough though, they were running pushing the bike and hopping on during down hills and coasting.  Get this, they were keeping up with us!  Somehow we were discussing the chain issue and rode right by CP9.  We rode for about 5 minutes and realized we had gone too far, so we turned around and rode back, only to see the bike pushing team at the CP.  I don’t know the team’s real name, but I would really like to know if they got the chain fixed and finished the race, they really deserved a shot at finishing after that, most teams would have just dropped after the 3^rd break in the chain.

We hit the bike drop at CP11 and took off for a long orienteering section, which based on the maps looked to be at least 18 miles long.  We were told we had 7 hours to be finished, if we didn’t finish in 7 hours we would start losing CP’s , the first one being 1 second after 7 hours then 1 CP for every 5 minutes after that.  We knew we had to do what ever it took to be back in 7 hours or we were just wasting out time finding CP’s. 

We had a plan to pick up most of the closer CP’s then check our time and see what else we could grab.  Things were going pretty well, we were finding the CP’s exactly where we thought they would be.  I had forgotten to bring a headband and the wind was blowing my hair in my eyes, I really needed to see what I was doing and it wasn’t working too well.  We came across a tree that was marked by an orange ribbon, so I pulled the ribbon off the tree and tied it around my head as a headband, it worked really well, even if I did look like a dork.

Of course now there is some deer hunter out there wondering around in the woods unable to find his deer stand because I took his marker.   I’m pretty sure it belonged to a deer hunter because right after I grabbed the tape, we found a deer skull close by.

I was starting to get tired and there were a lot of really steep hills. Chuck even mentioned that I had not talked for 6 minutes which was a record for me, he knew something was going wrong when I wasn’t talking the entire race.  We hit a road and started walking for a few minutes, as we crested the hill we saw the Alpine Shop team coming toward us.  They were all hooked together by bungees and Jeff and pulling the entire team along. They were moving and looking as tough as ever.  Of course here we were walking and looking like death warmed over.  Chuck and I said the same thing,  “I can’t believe Alpine Shop just caught us walking”  it was too late to start running and no use doing it for show, they would know we were slackers just trying to look good. So as they ran by I said “I can’t believe you caught us walking” Oh and that wasn’t the worst of what they caught us doing, more about that later.

The next CP was at the end of a long plowed field.  We were lucky it wasn’t all mud, but walking through the plowed rows was no picnic.

We were watching the clock and knew we needed to start heading back to the transition at CP29, so we decided to skip CP26 and go after CP15 then head in.  Well something happened, I don’t really know what.  This was probably because I was starting to fall apart.  I was connected to Chuck with a bungee made out of carabiners and surgical hosing.  Chuck was dragging me behind and I was just thrashing through the thick brush, trying to jump logs to keep up before I fell to the ground and was dragged to my death.  We finally stopped so Chuck could look at the map a little closer and we found out we were way off course, so we trekked over about 3 or 4 more hills looking for a road. 

 We finally found the road, but we only had 23 minutes to get to transition and Chuck estimated that we had 2000 meters to go. So we took off running, the longer we went the tighter the bungee was being pulled, by the time we hit the last section of woods, which was covered in thick branches and logs that were left from the ice storm of 2009, the bungee was at it’s breaking point and so was I.  I knew Chuck was running so fast because he felt like it was his fault we might not make the cutoff time, but the truth is, I’m no help at orienteering, so he gets no second set of eyes like most teams do.  I wasn’t going to blame him if we missed the time cutoff, because if I would learn to orienteer, we probably wouldn’t be in these kinds of predicaments.  We were running fast and I couldn’t go any faster so I told him if he went any faster I was going to be laying on the ground and he was going to be dragging me, of course he thought I was joking, I wasn’t.  Then I told him I was going punch him if he didn’t stop dragging me, I think he still thought I was joking, I wasn’t, I was ready to resort to violence.  

We made it to CP29 with only 3 minutes to spare.  Our cheerleading squad was there, Chuck’s wife Lori and his boys, Sam and Jacob and my mom, daughter China and niece Kayla.  China and Kayla were stuck up in a tree and I think Sam and Jacob were just glad they couldn’t get down, because those girls just about drove them crazy talking all weekend.   Team Torti was there and we discussed the best way to start the bike, by either heading through the woods or taking the longer road route.  Fletcher (a fantastic navigator) convinced us the road route was better, I need to thank him for that.  I was really tired of crawling through downed trees and I didn’t want to do it with a bike on my back.

Lori gave us some updates from Checkpoint Tracker. We had lots of shout outs from our friends.  Kate, Shannon, and Mark were keeping it positive, while Patrick was telling us to get our butts moving while he took a nap. Oh and my son Garrett, asked if he could use the credit card for beer because he was having a party and they were out, what a joker he is. Those shout outs really gave us some motivation, because by this point I was thinking that maybe adventure racing was not fun any more.  We both ate a sandwich and put on a few more clothes, it was starting to cool off a little and the wind had really picked up, we knew we would be cold on the bikes.  We had been having a hard time all day figuring out what clothes to have on.  It was the type of weather that standing still or moving slow you were cold, but the uphills would turn you into fire.  We spent the entire race, dressing and undressing at the CP’s.

We said our goodbyes put on our Hardnutz helmets and headed out on the bike for the next leg, this leg had a lot of biking, but most of it on dirt and gravel roads, so we thought it might go faster.  

It was a long way, the leg was 40 miles by the time we reached the next transition.  I was glad I was riding my Trek Top Fuel, but as I watched Chuck on his Trek Superfly 100, I was getting 29er lust.  It just seemed like the 29ers roll through the hills, and turns with no effort.  It could just be the rider, but I would like to believe if I had a Superfly I could be the one riding effortlessly through the trails and making it look so easy. As we left on our bikes Chuck said he was so tired that it was like he was riding on flat tires.  As we headed up the hill and I fell in behind him, I saw why it was so hard for him, he did have a flat tire. 

We pulled off the road and fixed the flat, we only had to air it up, Chuck rides  tubeless tires, so we thought maybe some air and a rolling wheel would seal the leak.  I seemed to work so we kept riding, we did have to stop one other time to add air, but the new Kenda Slant Six tires took the beating well and we didn’t have to tube the tire at all.  We then rode right past our turn, but figured it out quickly and turned around.  It was really getting dark, if we turned off our lights we couldn’t see anything.  It’s a good thing we both have great bike lights.

Like I said the bike leg was long, but the CP’s were pretty easy to find, well that was until we hit CP35.  It was about 1 am and we found the creek we thought that the CP was in, but somehow were too tired to think straight and couldn’t find it.  So we rode on thinking maybe we were one creek away.  Well we figured out that the CP was just a little off the road and we didn’t look well enough, but we did not want to spend the time to go back, so we just rode to CP36 which was the bike transition.  We had ridden though a couple creeks and we both had wet feet when we got to transition.   We hit transition, quickly made it through the gear check, there were some great volunteers working the CP, they had built a campfire to warm up by.  We added a few layers of clothes, it was really starting to feel cold, probably because we had wet feet and legs.  I had an extra pair of socks so I put them on, Chuck didn’t have extra socks so he sat down and put his feet in the fire.

After a long transition, we headed out.  This is where it really fell apart for me.  My feet were hurting, I had gotten a cortisone shot in my foot a couple days before the race, to help with an injury to it, but the affects sort of wore off after the first 12 hours and now every time I put my foot down it hurt.  I’m not going to sugar coat this, I was whining about it the whole race, I think Chuck was about to resort to violence if I didn’t quit whining. Chuck did a little whining too, his knees and feet were hurting, but I was taking the prize for the biggest whiner.  I was also having problems eating.  I had eaten almost everything I had, I thought I had one Honey Stinger Rocket Chocolate left, but couldn’t find it in my pack. I did have a pack of sport beans, but I just couldn’t make myself eat them.  Chuck tried to get me to drink a bottle of Ensure he had, but I knew if I did, it would end up in projectile vomiting, so why waste the Ensure, he could drink it and keep it down.  I was stumbling around, I couldn’t walk a straight line. To top it off, we were told at the pre-race meeting that the maps were not correct for this section and didn’t show the trail in detail.  Chuck needed to study the map and I needed to stop just for a minute, so we stopped on the side of the trail, I laid down on the ground and went right to sleep, just as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard something, 4 bikes came past us, it was Alpine Shop.  So now not only did they catch us walking earlier, they caught me sleeping.  They asked if we were ok and Chuck told them we were just taking a break.  Well, that was pretty embarrassing, so we got up and started moving again.  Two more times during this trekking section, we had to stop for me to take a 15 minute snooze, but I would not have been able to go on without it.

As we walked up the last hill into the transition area, where we would pickup the last set of CP’s, we discussed our options for finishing the race.  With the condition I was in at the time, we weren’t even sure that we could get one canoe CP, then do a trek and ride to the finish.  This is what we were expected from the next map based on the comments we overheard at the last CP.  The fastest teams had already come through and picked up bikes, heading to the finish line.  We knew even with the 29 hour time limit we might not be able to make it back in time.  We discussed skipping the last CP’s and taking the hit.  We were not sure if that was legal. If that would be considered a withdrawal, we would not do it, and would take our chances on making it back on-time. Chuck mused that maybe he could leave me at the finish and complete the race solo.  Even though I wasn’t sure I could make it, there was no way I was sending him out solo, plus I think that is illegal and wouldn’t fly anyway.  I thought I was going to have to revert to violence again and kick him in the shin so he couldn’t go out.   

We reached the top of the hill and came down to the transition which was also the finish line, where we handed the volunteer our passport, ready to start exploring our options once we received the next map.  The volunteer said “Good Job you’re done.”  We both looked at each other and said, “Nope, we have one more map and a canoe to get into”.  That’s when the birds started chirping and the angels were singing and the sky opened and a rainbow with a pot of gold showed up.  Well that’s how it felt at least.  We were told that there were 50 mph wind advisories and that we were not allowed on the lake, therefore we were finished.

All of the sudden a feeling of relief so great came across me that I almost cried.  I really wanted to grab that volunteer and hug her.  But, as the seasoned adventure racer that I am, I decided that maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do, so instead we got a picture at the finish line, then went to the tent where I ate a chili dog minus the dog, which bye the way completely renewed my lease on life and I started talking non-stop about the stroke of luck we just had.  Chuck ate a baked potato covered with chili and he called Lori at the hotel to come pick us up.  My plan was to go back to the hotel, take a shower and a nap and head home.  I thought we had done so badly that there was no use staying for awards.  But Chuck being the optimist that he is, asked if we even had a chance at the top three and was told you are probably second or third.   So guess what, no nap, we had just enough time to go take a shower and make it back to awards.  Chuck found a few extra minutes to find the biggest plastic cup he could and fill it at the Kuat Rack trailer with his favorite Springfield Brewery pale ale.  Thanks Kuat!

We ended up in 3^rd place in the 2 person co-ed division, which gives us a load of Checkpoint Tracker points towards the national rankings and a prize.  We both ended up with 30 dollar gift cards to the Alpine Shop, it’s only our favorite store.

Even though in the last few miles of the race, I had decided to end my adventure racing career, move to some old folks home and never workout again.  I now, after some of the pain has faded, am considering another race. I guess Chuck is stuck with me for a while longer.  And one last note, I am covered in chiggers and still removing ticks from my body.