Double Top Secret

Hopefully the weather will hold out this weekend so we can complete the top secret scouting mission for a certain event to be held sometime next year. Can't say anymore than it will be epic. I'm going crazy for some long bike hours. Since Firewater 50, I've logged a total of 8 hours on the bike (pretty sad).

I can't believe no one wants to buy the Ghisallo. The pic album has been viewed 545 times, and the closest we've gotten to selling it is some jerk that was a complete fraud. At this point, I think that I may Wobble-naught the bike for me and prepare my Orbea to sell. We don't need 3 road bikes in the house. I really don't deserve a road bike as nice as the Ghisallo, but we're not going to *give* it away either!

Sounds like the enduro nut crowd had a fun dinner at Interbike last night, organized by Karl of Ride424. Sorry I missed it :(

While everyone is at Interbike....

I'm not. Boo.

I'm trying to enjoy my in-between-season break...it doesn't seem like I deserve one since I didn't race much this year. But then again, it's not really much of a break either, I have been so busy with school. I did run today, for the first time since March. As much as I didn't want to admit it to myself--I just can't ride as much anymore with my schedule, so I'm mixing in running. I took the dogs off-road on some local semi-technical trail and we actually had a grand ole' time. What's funny is that I was actually faster today (without working as hard) than I used to be when I was "training" to run earlier in the year.

Even though I'm not racing, I'm really looking forward to the 24 hour race at Conyers this October. There is going to be some serious heat in the womens solo category!! It will be fun to spectate, drink beer, and cruise around. For once, I am not racing OR supporting, so it'll be fun.

I can't wait to see Interbike pics. Especially 29er stuff. When oh when will Fox make a 29er fork. My Fox is the only thing I miss of my 26" bike. Oh well.

Firewater 50

I did it! I am the first female to ever do the full Firewater 50 on a singlespeed. It was hard, but not as hard as I thought it would be. I had some stomach issues, as always, but tried my best to stay focused on the task at hand. I was pretty happy with the result, especially since I've really only been training hard on the weekends, not much during the week because of school. It took me 6:45 total, but stopped a lot to make bike adjustments (as I was racing Eddie's Unit 2-9er, not mine). I think my ride time was probably more like 6:15. I will try to do a full write-up, but time is scarce now adays.

Winding down...

I guess my season has been winding down since...July....but now it's official. One more "race" to go, it's not really a race, it's more of a grassroots event that's grown pretty big in the last year..this year should be huge. It seems like everyone and their mom are doing it. It's called the Firewater 50, and it will probably be the hardest 50 miles I will have done yet. After that, Eddie and I will find some Smithwicks to drink since it will be his 31st birthday on Sunday!! Should be a big fun weekend.

After that, it's time to get married (woohoo!) and work with my coach on a base training program to get me super strong for next year ;) Can't wait!!

Oh--one last thing--while we figure out how to update our 55nine website, check out the 55nine Blog for the latest news updates and testimonials.

Straight from the Mighty Dog

I'd like to be able to update this kind of stuff to our website, and I will soon... Anyway, Chip Whitworth of one of the nation's most successful Adventure Racing teams, Team Mighty Dog came in to see Eddie for a bike fit last week. This is what he had to say:

I visited Eddie O'Dea at 55nine performance last week for a precision bike fit. Most here will know who Eddie is. If you don’t know him, he just finished an outstanding fourth at NORBA 24 hour Nationals. So, he spends mega hours on a mountain bike and is extremely dialed into the importance to be powerful yet comfortable for the long haul races. Eddie uses the Wobble-Naught fit system. Honestly, I felt like I had myself pretty well dialed into my bike before going to Eddie and this was going to be more a confirmation that I had indeed fitted myself right. I was surprised when we made some pretty drastic changes to both my hardtail and my full suspension bike.

You can read the wobble naught website to get the specifics of how the fitting is done but basically, Eddie takes a bunch of measurements from your body. I mean a bunch, from head to foot. Then he takes measurements from your bikes geometry. He plugs all this into the computer and it spits out measurements on how to set up the bike. Then you get on a trainer and he watches you ride and makes some small adjustments from there. You take the bike out and ride around outside for a while to make sure it feels right. It sounds simple but be prepared to spend 2+ hours on each bike. Its pretty in depth and a minor tweak here will change something elsewhere. Suffice it to say you get your monies worth and Eddie doesn’t send you away until you are satisfied that you are totally dialed into the bike.

The biggest changes I made to my previous fit was actually lowering my bars in relation to seat height. This sounds counter intuitive for being comfortable but when everything else is properly aligned it worked for me. I had actually been going the other direction, more upright, in an effort to get comfortable. By getting all the angles right, my bones are now supporting my weight rather than my muscles doing that job. I’ve had one race since the fit and I felt more comfortable and more powerful on the bike than before.

The fit cost 165.00 for the first bike, if you do 2 or more it gets a little bit less for the second bike. That may sound expensive for a bike fit but I feel it is well worth it. I look at it this way. I have spent more than that to shave a few grams from my bike. A good fit that will allow me to deliver more watts and ride comfortable for longer is a way better investment in speed, dollar for dollar, than any component I could buy. Another bonus to this is that both my bikes feel the same when I get on them now. By changing stem length, seat height, bar drop ect. both bikes now have the same geometry where as before they were vastly different.

If you do get the fit, you will want to take any extra stems, seat posts, saddles, bars ect. that you have laying around. Chances are you are going to be changing your existing ones out. Eddie has a lot of stuff in stock but he can’t stock everything. And if you already have a part might as well use it. You’re going to be changing your cleat placement as well so it’s a good time to change the cleats out so bring a new pair with you if your old ones are shot.

The number one thing you can do to ride better is train more, After that I would say the number two thing is to get a proper bike fit. I feel its helped me out alot.

Chip