Habanero ti ‘cross/gravel/touring frameset + extras
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@drevil 159001 wrote:
Did you notice if anyone bothered to use fenders? All the pics I’ve seen show everyone with the mud stripe straight up their back, chest, and face. I would’ve at least fashioned up a large Evian/Deer Park fender for the front by cutting it in half!
BTW, if you’re new to mountain biking, this is a HUGE NONO on public trails. However, the Bakers Dozen (where this pic was taken) happens on a private farm in Leesburg, and apparently they don’t mind the bikers roosting mud on their property. NEVER ride muddy trails in parks because it destroys trails and there are lots of volunteers that put in a lot of time to design, build, and fix them (including Sunyata and Dane in the pic).
Do whatev’s on privately-owned trails, but you might want to get permission first
^ YES! Never ride muddy trails unless on private property and for a stupid race. Our bikes (and the trails) are trashed. 😡
That being said, it was great fun until my last lap where I literally could not push the bike because of how much mud was caked on the frame. All the mud made the bike too heavy to even lift. It was a nightmare. Seriously, I had nightmares Saturday night about all the mud.As for the fenders, it is pretty funny you asked about it. On the first lap (where it was not too muddy, but just enough to be slick and cause that mud stripe), a guy passed me with a fender on. I laughed because his back was the worst of anyone that I had seen so far. I told him that I hoped my back was not that muddy and he looked back and cursed his fender!
But yeah, fenders did absolutely nothing. I have done muddy races before, but this was by far the WORST. To be completely honest, the race should have been postponed. I know the organizers pride themselves on having a rain or shine (or stupid crazy wind and snow) race, but even the first lap was too much. After the first lap, things got pretty dangerous. When a pro tells you that conditions are dangerous, you know things are bad. It was a HUGE mistake for me to go back out, but you know how it goes. Luckily no one got seriously injured. But, like I said, most everyone’s bike was completely trashed. And the trails will take a lot of work to get them back into decent shape.
Haha, I don’t miss that one bit
I’ve had similar experiences when I did a few 24 hour mountain bike races in West Virginia where the mud was so bad that people’s shoes were getting sucked off their feet (1994 24 hours of Canaan). It was like dragging your bike through 10″ of peanut butter for miles. Peoples’ tires took the shape of their seatstays and forks as the mud and grass filled until it couldn’t be moved anymore. The night before the race, I came back to the tent after dinner and our air mattresses were floating in 2″ of water 
How many laps did you and your team do?
@drevil 159091 wrote:
Haha, I don’t miss that one bit
I’ve had similar experiences when I did a few 24 hour mountain bike races in West Virginia where the mud was so bad that people’s shoes were getting sucked off their feet (1994 24 hours of Canaan). It was like dragging your bike through 10″ of peanut butter for miles. Peoples’ tires took the shape of their seatstays and forks as the mud and grass filled until it couldn’t be moved anymore. The night before the race, I came back to the tent after dinner and our air mattresses were floating in 2″ of water Wow, 24 hours of Canaan sounds BRUTAL. I love the Revenge of the Rattlesnake (ROTR) race out there, but haven’t done it in a couple years (now it falls right around my youngest’s birthday). I remember the first time doing that race, we were riding in Dolly Sods (before it was a wilderness area) and it was just streams of water everywhere — and raining lightly, kinda like today/yesterday/Monday. The guy behind me was cursing how he was gonna need a complete new drivetrain after that. Then they sent us down the ski slope and I had to replace my brake pads at the bottom. That was a brutal “race”, but I was addicted. I raced it 3 or 4 more times after that and it is by far my favorite race. By “race” I mean that I just raced to make the time cutoffs at the checkpoints. That was challenging enough for me. That is some of the best mountain biking out there.
@drevil 159091 wrote:
Haha, I don’t miss that one bit
I’ve had similar experiences when I did a few 24 hour mountain bike races in West Virginia where the mud was so bad that people’s shoes were getting sucked off their feet (1994 24 hours of Canaan). It was like dragging your bike through 10″ of peanut butter for miles. Peoples’ tires took the shape of their seatstays and forks as the mud and grass filled until it couldn’t be moved anymore. The night before the race, I came back to the tent after dinner and our air mattresses were floating in 2″ of water How many laps did you and your team do?
I ended up doing 1 and 3/4 laps. Since I went first, our team had 3 3/4 laps. Pretty sad, but we were all being super cautious out there – me especially due to my wrist injury. We still had a great time though and I enjoyed getting to spend the last half of my 3/4 lap with Dane since I never actually get to ride with him. He might be faster on the bike, but we are about the same speed when attempting to slog our way through “wet concrete” mud. :p
But we both made the “promise” to not do any more muddy races. We shall see how long that “promise” lasts. Somehow I have a feeling I will break it on June 3rd… Good thing the Warbird has better mud clearance than the Dakar.
I finally got the Habanero frame I bought from hozn after some prodding from Birru. It took me a ridiculously long time to decide on components and a similarly ridiculous amount of time to complete assembly. Bill convinced me to bring it to Conte’s in Old Town to finish it out.
It’s a really fun bike. Very light and much more aggressive than all of my other bikes. I highly recommend riding the same size frame as Hans.
Parts I put on it:
SRAM PG1070 10 speed cassette
SRAM Truvativ GXP Bottom Bracket
SRAM Force 1 Carbon GXP 42t Crankset
SRAM Force 1 Hydraulic Left Brake Lever and Hydraulic Disc Brake
SRAM S700 10 speed Right Brake Lever and Hydraulic Disc Brake
Fizik Orange Bar Tape
Fabric Scoop Titanium Saddle
Salsa Cowbell 3 Handlebars
Thomson Elite Seatpost
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