XTRA!!

So while we all know how much Yaya likes to monkey around on rocks, little know fact, his XTRA does too. And since YA had not ridden the xtra since 18 hrs of Fruita, I took it on a lil rock jaunt just today. BAiley was kind enough to bring the djVAN back to T-ride the other night and with a fresh dusting of snow up high this morning he decided it was time to ride back over Ophir pass to silverton and then durango. Well as a show of appreciation I led him out on the Xtra, despite the raging head winds and inability to draft a long tail.. Well luckily the wind was at our back for the climb up the pass, but it was a pretty steep rock and scree slog and the Xtra was happy as could be to kickin' around the pain cave. SO anyway long story short, Ya's Xtra is happy, Bailey hopefully has made it to Durango, and we're going on tour this weekend with Xtra's down the Dolores river, and we're gonna climb rocks, just like Ya! Whoo HOOO!

RoToR Brand

The wounds from SSWC are starting to heal... no damage from the race, just some scrapes from slam dancing in Birkenstocks to French Miami.

...and post SSWC wounds are on their way. Days ago, MC Slap made it over a big log dropping from Hay Park, but SteveZ didn't.

I moonwwalked over my bike to create my own little bailout package. (my bike moonwalked over me, too) I reached back for it, grabbed the rear wheel as it flailed in the air, and felt and smelled the nagging inconvenience of burning flesh. I've had chainring tattoos, but never a rotor brand.

I will consider the pattern of my brake rotors for next time. A polka dot thing would probably look a bit better.

we'll make a fleet

Seems like StOmpaZ will be keeping Metal-Head-Aaron-Mayes-ze-Welder-Guy pretty busy fabricating our new race fleet. Be sure to make em SS & Rigid so we can race them at 24hrz of Moab. Little concerned about the handling on tight turns.... Meanwhile these babies will tote groceries, beer, babies - whathaveu. In between racing, each respective Bonedale neighborhood will keep the charge of one of these handy little whips & use it like a $5 whore. Did I just write that?

SteveZ wins the take home prize!

SO, tonite there was a 'wish you all could still be here' party in Durango, at Ska of course. We really just wanted to super thank our volunteers. Free drinks and food was had by all, with another lap around the art lounge atop of said beer headquarters. Eventually, words and prizes were also handed out...

So , big thanks goes out to ROn ANdrews((you know the one), and he gets free pick of any of the framed entries on the wall. Of course the choice was obvious, but amidst the assortment of beautifully framed pieces, Ron quickly decides on the "pinkasaurus on rotten wood", neatly photoed next to a fine shrubbery, and of course framed with love. It was a breathtaking moment in STompa history, and myself and TricERahops were lucky enough to bear witness.

dancin stompaz

So for a brief recap, the STompA DanceOFF was appropriatley convoluted at the afterafterPRTY of SSWC.. The sweeet Niner Carbon fork Scooba secured for give away was indeed given away.. thing was, the 5'3 girl who 'said' she rode a two9'r was in fact about as drunk on sswcLUv as the rest of the stompaz.. Particuarly the ones who were giving away said fork to the best dancer.. well she was undoubtedly better at shakin it than the handful of 6'+ tall fellows competing against her.
So we gave her the fork.. Well later that night i got her email and expressed slightly, my concern for her future bike with large wheel and so forth.. So next day i get an email response along the lines of, "I'm sorry, i guess i don't really ride a niner, i feel horrible, perhaps i should give it back?" Well suffice it to say SSWC lends itself to the kind of positivity that would have someone come to that conclusion upon winnning an inaprorpiate item, versus selling it on ebay. SO I called her up and we got to talking.. it turns out she was en route to Trexlertown to race in the collegiate track championships for Fort Lewis with a one Dave Hagen leading the charge as team manager. Throughout the weekend I had become aquainted with Hagen who is a rad dude and the amount of energy he put into SSWC plus the amount of flak he took from the community for the course. We had a particularly nice conversation hiking up to the ridge monday morning to retrieve the radio relay that allowed the course marshals to be in contact on race day, and he showed us a rad cave under the ridge trail. well he seemed like the perfect recipient, and Sarah was stoked as well to give him the fork. I told her to stage a shot of Hagen's 20 year old Yeti SS with the Carbon Judy Rock shox and her giving him the fresh NIner Carbon fork, and that's that.. As always, timing and preparation come together and STompAZ are stoked.. hopefully we can find a lil ladies stomp jersey to send her for doing the right thing, that is, blindly dominating dance contests in the wee hours.. HiphipHOORAY!

BikeSNOB hearts DurrHangover

justINcase u hadn't, take a little looky here................BikeSnob threw up a good blurb. http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2009/09/bsnyc-ride-report-2009-singlespeed.html
(& i happen to see that BikeSNob hearts StOMpaz too - we gots a JVT w/ ze talls, a D$, a DBL R DBL T's fixie & a laughing R2 in the background of yet another pic while the shoulder of another StOMpa jersey peeks out...

And, and, and.... look HERE http://www.flickr.com/photos/13538329@N05/sets/72157622288832983/ we got sum StOmpaZ in these here photoz! YeaHya NiRad, Great WHite Hope, YaYA...

Sooo NZ..

Soo yeah this is what a route might look like if we crashed the folks spot on the south island and then toured up to the race.. just sayin'...

So how long has it been....

I know, I know... It's been ages. Somewhere around the time that there was a lot of tension about going to Napa (of all places) last year. Durango threatened to take it, and Slappy got all worked up. I found it convenient to not be a blogger. But that's water under the bridge.

NZ '10 - get there however...

Really all I wanted to say is that the 36'er got a thorough test this afternoon. I couldn't stop riding it. I did three separate rides, finishing with a near dark descent. It is a dream. It flies nicely from the hip jump. Rallies Star Wars. Cruises up the meadow and Stacy's like one of those sweet old Cadillacs. Loving it all over the place. The new gear is 32x25 - roughly ends up on the easy side of my main SS. Maybe some day I'll let you ride it.

PS- Ordered some knobbies for it today!

I luv bikeSNoooby

"If you're wondering which wheel size works, the answer of course is: "All of them, provided they are round." Until someone tries to market a square, rectangular, or rhomboid offroad wheelset there's really not that much over which to deliberate. Sure, different sized wheels perform differently, but it's really not all that complicated. If you find yourself pondering the differences between 26-inch and 29-inch wheels, the main thing to remember is that the 29-inch wheels are bigger. The whole argument's totally moot anyway (that's "moot" and not "Moots"--a "Moots" argument is incredibly expensive but has "meticulous welds") since I just returned from the SSWC (which of course represents the vanguard of mountain bike fashion) and it's obvious that the future of offroad cycling is the 36er:

get yer skid on this Saturday

Skid Competition
Originally uploaded by pistbiker

clay center skid contest...

good stuff

The US educated Rafael Correa of Ecuador explained that when Washington demanded a military base in his country, he agreed but on one condition–if Ecuador could also have a base in the US near Miami. That, of course, was not to be but the punto was made!


thanks to Danny @ www.newsdissector.com/blog/

sswc

Dear STompaZ, it is such a pleasure to see so many of you all out and about gettin after it in DRGO.. my heart is aflutter, and i'm a bit veclemped.. but I'll see you all soon for BRN'z clay party and perhaps some decomp riding.. thank you all for being there.. 'twas rad xoXxo slpppy

I was busy lounging.

OK,
sometimes you just DO what you're doing and forget to document. Here are a few images of stuff that fit in between other stuff.

Yaya, in addition to being a fast SS red rider, is also a whiz at tying things up. This exercise in tensile structure design made for some extreme relaxation between rides.




This is pretty much what all of Durango looked like afterwards. Just beer canz....







The sunglasses are done, finally.








Wearing the DFL belt at the art show... I didn't REALLY get DFL, but I think I deserved it up until that steep downhill section that I ripped in front of thousands of screaming fans; that last climb to the top of Secret, which apparently, I alone rode; and that last corner where I busted out in a full wheelie sprint.


The polo playing was most enjoyable, and we did good. 3rd place, in fact! Nice ball-whackin!

Thanks to MCMC, BenZ , Scotty, R2, Will, Garrett, Diesel, Roger, NiRAD, GWHope, Collette, Devon, JVT, Jordan, Bailey, Chad, Doom, Buff Pleasure Dome, Julia and the boyz, Eccher and everyone who came out.


Goddamm, I love those stompaz.

I [heart] hurtin'

My simultaneous attempt for world champion and DFL ended in less pain than i was hoping for.   But they published it anyways......

Scotty2Hotty's tourtured wurdz of love re: the WORLD SS event

sirrah attocs posted this on FaceBook & it brought tears to my bloodshot eyez -therefore, I must share.... (once more of us have recovered enough, there will be additional documentation in the form of love letterz & photoz.) ~R2

A Test of the Fascebook wurd-limit...
It just happened - SSWC09 - That'd be SingleSpeed World Championships for the '09 season. Go to sswc09.wordpress.com for lots more.
It hit me like a train today, and to a point yesterday... It was a stres...sful week of preparation, then running/living/being the event - then it was over. I was only a small part of the work and love that contributed to one of the most memorable bicycle events to date, and it would be a massive effort for anyone to do something that could touch the feelings that I have for what just happened last weekend.So much inspiration and thought went into preparation. The coloring contest entry, the course selection, the events and the sponsors. No one will ever say enough about the volunteers and the absolute passion that went into it. The overall venue, the feel of the setting, the multiple nights of music, art, and bicycles.
I spent more than the week helping to assemble part of the art show, giving support, picking up riders, hosting housing/rides, meeting tons of new people, and just trying to spend my free time seeing the whole thing in action. 9-10 hour work days, finished with 5 hours of volunteer time, then 4-5 hours of sleep a day doesn't exactly make you ready to race physically, but mentally it is so powerful. Probably spent most of the first of the week helping set up venues. Spent entirely too much time at my day job as well. Finally free for Thu-Sun. Hectic, hectic, everyone arriving/riding/calling/texting/here/NOW.
Rode a bunch, twice a day. Saturday AM, tired from the big dirt jump party on Friday nite, roll to town.
9AM - chrome silver hot pants go on.
9:46AM - short mid-rif kids tank top goes on
9:47AM - sweet flea market vintage goggles go on
9:48AM - cut beltloop to hold dugout and lighter pouch
9:55AM - photo shoot in the park
10:15AM - slow parade ride warm up (for me) - full costume
10:30 - AM i ready?
Somewhere between there and 2PM, I got psyched up, high fived my friends, breathed deeply twice, rode 22 miles with ?vertical, yelled obscenities (and jokes), walked, crashed once because i was riding too aggressively in a rock field, had 1930's glass goggle tunnel vision, jumped stuff, chased people, got chased, ate bacon, drank any beer offered, and generally had the best time of my life. I have no doubt that something equally as fun will come to me soon.
Finally, the good news. Next year is going to be NZ. I will be racing it on my 36" Black Sheep 1x1, which by the grace of God came to me through a sweet raffle ticket. Ridiculous. You'd just have to see it. I still can't believe that bike is mine. Post race party turned into after party turned into almost no sleep turned into coffee, then breakfast, then leisurely bici polo spectation. Eventually the impending rain made me decide that I should get home... Immediately fell asleep - got up a little bit later, but basically was beyond comprehending much more than cartoons for those few hours. Went to bed at my normal time Sun PM, got up and went ot work today. What?

My first thought was (of course), that I had to see all my friends off. So - got a bit of free time at lunch, and, just like clockwork, I managed to find all those beautiful people I needed to see, and we got to properly say goodbye. The rest of the day worked out equally as well, which finally finds me here. Emotional trainwreck, the beautiful spectacle that it is. I wish I had more right now.
I just sent off some great friends from Carbondale. Later today I saw off more at the airport. It is sad to watch them go. I wish this shit could be every day. Not the airport part, just the absolute passion that is what this last weekend just was. I'm certainly floored, ecstatic. It probably shows. I don't care. It doesn't matter. What matters, is that these things can happen all the time, and if your there it's so amazing, so involving, so real.
I hope your weekend was half that. I hope your there next time.
XXS*

TreeHouseDanceParty Grand Prize

Groovy.
Stomparillaz and Niner Bikes collude to bring you the newest, sweetest 1x1 critical component: a Niner carbon fork, as the grand prize for Saturday's TreehOuseDanceparty!



This fork was won by Dave Hagen, the Ft Lewis Cycling Team Manager!

four days and counting....

be there or wish you had been.

12 hours of stompin'

our strong single speed stompaz rode hard and strong, coming in a proud third place. 1st, 2nd and 4th place teams all had gears. Gears are for pussies.


MC coming through strong for the team's first lap.


Haulin'crack has time to smile for his photo.


Will finds the perfect position for his gear.


The damn nail that kept Will from slaying the 12th team lap!

it's coming!

less then a week away folks! and we will be ready! how about you?



sneak peak at what pioneer s&m is coming to sswc with.... kaKAAA!

36er Mtn Bike MythTake

So, there has been talk in world of building better and better bici. (Not necessarily bigger bici, but in this case, yes) The idea has been thrown about to build a 36" wheel mountain bike. Well, it was kind of a good idea, but with one fatal flaw: Its simply not possible... at least not the normal way. The issue is head tube angle. You can see that this bike is only good for wheelies. Apparently, its REALLY good at wheelies, and maybe not much else!













The only way to do this right is to make it a tall bike, as shown here. Aaron, this is a calling for us as stompaz. Shall we make it the SSWC 2010 GrStompaDanceParty Prize...?

Reintroduce Velociraptors

Sweeeriously, the wolves aRE so hard to kill, reintroduce Velociraptors to make it harder on them hunters still...

d9

world champ

lookin young aint eaazy.. but it'll be harder after worlds

The addition of swim fins & a snorkle would make this a perfect Birthday ScoooBaSuit

It's ScooBaSteveZNovyHarding's healthy lifestyle & snappy
dressing that has kept him looking so young & spry all these years ;P

Training for SSWC

Get your game face on...

Turn That Shit UP

This flyer that our local POlice left on our door is purrty self-explanatory...
I guess I could buy a beer with that $4... Hmmm.

Or is it just a hoax?

.

WHere YOU goin?

Hard tellin' not knowin' they sayz. . where are U goin?
DUhwango of course, for there be the course, to glorify all
hoooray. Seeing spots already, 9 18 1981-09 - 28, whew
SO thankful for every last one out there seeing it onward.
to SCOOOBASTeveZ for double upping the boomcycle.
Long maY zeee SToMP.
Prepare for Polka DOtZ, and polka dotting
anyone able to secure and old tennis racketz? cut out the strings inlay polka dotz
tag team back painting on the run up
the van is gettin there, All MIghty WIlling! Just removed the aerial aluminum antena
from the house, specifically for mounting on the van, need lights for the mobile sswc pole dancer
antena, hmmmm stretch, must remember to stretch...