Fitwerx and Parlee Z5 Review

Ever dream about finding that ultimate bike shop? Of course, it would have to sell high-end bike goodies-even better, it has them in stock so you can see and feel the bounty, as if you need something to push you over the edge. Then it's instant gratification--out the door you go with the much "needed" goods--much better than the standard operating procedure of "we'd be happy to order it for you."

If asking for in-stock, super high-end goods was not enough, let's ask for a staff that knows more about all things bike than you ever thought possible. Now I know this is already sounding too good to be true, but in my dream world, the customer service would be second to none and while I'm at it, I would also ask for a mechanic that treats my bike like the piece of art that it is.

Well, I finally found the perfect place--Fitwerx in Waitsfield, VT.

I had avoided getting a new road bike for quite awhile, mostly because my current road bike at the time was a rolling torture chamber and I had no desire to pay a lot of money to revisit that pain in a new flavor. After talking with Joey about how much less taxing it can be to train on the road, he assured me that Ian at Fitwerx could solve all of my problems. After doing some online research, all of which was extremely positive, I took the plunge and called Ian to talk about my needs. We scheduled a fitting (you can read about the process on their website). The fitting was most impressive--four hours later, after many measurements of both me and my current bike, much conversation and some very cool video footage, Ian had his numbers--the magic angles, inches and centimeters that were going to change the years of unnecessary suffering I had done on my Litespeed.

Much of the conversation was about my desire to have a road bike that was not only race-worthy, but more importantly, comfortable enough to ride all day. Of course I had to build the bike with components that will last a good long time. I was amazed by Ian's knowledge of a wide variety of frames and components but even more remarkable was his insight on how each of these parts would or would not best suit my needs. I left the shop thoroughly impressed. Several days later I got an estimate for my perfect bike and as you know, that was the Serotta Ottrott--I can only say I love it more now after several thousand miles than the day I got it.

Ottrott

So why am I writing this now? Well, several months ago you may remember the wheels started churning so to speak and I wanted to build a bike to climb Mt. Washington. So again

I called Ian and did not really say much more than "I need all the help I can get to climb Mt. Washington in August--what can you build up that is super-light, comfortable and tough enough to ride everyday?" We discussed several frames and that was that. Realizing that my requirements were somewhat of an oxymoron, I was not expecting a build quote by the end of that day but I got one. Again-perfection! A mixture of components that I never would have thought of on my own--and I do a lot of on-line research--built up on the new Parlee Z5.

I took a couple of days to research the parts I was not familiar with--the frame, Zipp crankset, and Hive brakes, to name a few--all of which got high praise across the board in the performance, light-weight, style and durability departments. The most clever part of the build is the SRAM XX rear derailleur and 10 speed cassette which will give my feeble little legs a bunch of bail-out room as the gas starts to leak all over the place half-way up Mt. Washington--very smart and I'm sure I'll love it even more when I have to use it.

I can go without my power so I have the 404 on the back for training purposes.

The Zipp 202 tubular--I went with Continental GP 4000 tires because they are super puncture resistant. I'm sure I could brake the 13 pound mark with lighter tires--not sure it's worth it.

I also used Tufo Extreme gluing tape instead of glue which works very well--lots less hassle and has eased my "transition" to tubies.

The SRAM XX 11-36--lots of bail out room.

It's like a piece of jewelery--now I want to upgrade the mountain bikes to the XX.

The 202 rear wheel with the SRAM XX 11-36 cassette. I think I will eventually try a Red 11-28.

This wheel is close to a pound lighter than the 404 (with Powertap).

I'll tell you what, I sure do love having power on board--my only regret.

SRAM XX rear derailleur to accommodate the XX 11-36 cog. I am going to put a Red derailleur on after Mt. Washington.

The Selle Italia SLR team edition with carbon rails--the same saddle that is on the Ottrott--love it more and more each time I ride it. The Easton EC90 post is an old favorite--I think it's my third one now--if it just had some markings on it to help with adjusting saddle angle it would be perfect.

The bottom bracket area is big and stiff. I can't honestly tell the difference of the narrower BB30 bottom bracket which is a good thing. The Zipp cranks came with ceramic bearings--very nice!

I've never been a guy to buy high end pedals but these rock and were well worth the upgrade.

The Zipp cranks are another piece I wish I had put on the Serotta as they are lighter and of course look great. The biggest benefit though is that you can go to a 53x39 by changing the rings--a lot cheaper than swapping out the whole crankset.

Everyone seems to love the SRAM red. I keep hearing great things about it, but truth be told, I did not put it on the Ottrott because after riding it I was not impressed. This time around, after hearing even more positive feed back from other riders I went with it--still reluctantly but justified my decision because it weighs less than the Dura Ace. I'll be honest and I thought I would never say this I'm a big fan--it just took awhile to get used to. Now I'm wishing I had it on both bikes because going back and forth between the two is causing me, with my limited mental capacity, to make a lot of bad shifts.

The Hive brakes--awesome--what else can I say. They stop like crazy and are super easy to adjust--can't ask for any more than that.

More about this later--the new Joule 2.0.

With this build, after the initial estimate, I worked with Steve for the majority of the process--with big-time industry credentials, he knows bikes and could not have been more awesome to work with. Like Ian, Steve went above and beyond--prompt in returning phone calls and e-mails, and pleasant in dealing with my last minute vanity changes--top notch customer service.

So, here she is, all 13 lbs 2 ozs of her.

( wt is with the 202 rear wheel)

So back to why I am writing this now. I picked up the new bike a month ago and have had the chance to really ride it (close to a 1000 miles now)--again, as with the Ottrott, the Z5 fit is spot-on perfect. As for the ride, out of this world--for being as light-weight as it is, the bike feels surprisingly beefy, stiff, smooth and super comfortable and yes, it climbs like a mountian goat. I'm still waiting for the stem, which is on backorder from Zipp.

My second go-around with the crew at Fitwerx was again fantastic--since getting the bike, I have received several e-mails and a card thanking me and reminding me to let them know if I have any problems. More so, these guys love their bikes and they just plain want to make sure I love mine too. So you can bet on it, I'll be back--hopefully in time for cross season, if I can just somehow sneak it past my wife.

DirtRag Dirtfest and the Niner Carbon Air 9

Yes, I'm still alive--just been in recovery mode as far as the blog goes. I spent the last four days down in PA at DirtRag's Dirtfest with Mike, Mark, Dave F. and Rich. We got off to a very early start Thursday morning. I was up at 4:20 which probabaly would not have been so bad, except I didn't get to bed until 3:15. Mike picked me up and we were off to Raystown Lake, PA --about a six-hour drive--you know how much I hate to drive, so I was most excited to find out that Mike seems to live for coffee as much as I do. Our first stop was Starbucks in Scranton which is about two hours away.


The bikes were looking like a blur through the sun roof in the blue morning light.
We arrived a touch ahead of schedule at 11 am--not bad considering we stopped and got a bit lost in State College. The first thing I saw when we arrived at the campsite was Rich's espresso machine--SWEET!--I had heard rumors that he might bring it. Between Dave's camper and Rich's machine, this was hardly "camping." I should also mention that the weather was absolutely perfect--70 and not a cloud in the sky.

The fruits of my 3 am labor--my Niner Carbon fork arrived at 5:30 pm Wednesday. I had been hoping it would get here as I really wanted to test out the bike as it will be set up for the Blackfly +/- the wheels--powertap or not?

Pretty slick and about 2 lbs. lighter--I was exceptionally impressed with how it rode all weekend. The trails were a perfect testing ground as they were no bumpier than the roads up at the Blackfly. The fork is very smooth and responsive, so needless to say I'm very happy with it. It should be perfect for the Iceman as well--can't wait.

I'm guessing there is something like 40-50 miles of trails in the park. My understanding is that they were done by IMBA and what a great job they did. 95% of the trails are rippin' single track--the rest had a touch of rocks and roots here and there--nothing really technical.


Mike coming up Ray's Revenge--I think this was our favorite. The view from the top was spectacular. I believe I read somewhere that this trail had the most climbing which was in the neighborhood of 750 ft. None of the trails seemed to hit very hard when climbing--of course I would have preferred a bit more punch going up.

A little hot dogging at the top of Ray's Revenge. We rode about 30 miles a day and only missed one trail (Loco-Motion) by the time we left.

We finally made over to the festival to check out the vendors. At sign-in they were giving away the mini Stan's sealants. It became somewhat of a competition as to who could accumulate the most--the winner had 18.

I'm guessing there were about a dozen bike manufacturers there--I stopped by Stan's to see if I could get my badly beaten rear wheel trued--it was beyond repair so it's got to go back to their shop this week. I've got to send both the front and back wheels back--I hit something on the last day--I think it was the rock garden and now the front rim is more out of whack than the back.


Before we headed back out to ride the rain came and it got a bit chilly--some hot coffee from the Standing Stone Coffee shop hit the spot.



So is this what you want to know about? I was fortunate enough to demo the new Carbon Air Niner--Wow!! In person, it is much beefier than it looks in pictures.




I was not sure what to expect as the bike was not mine nor was it set up especially for me. It was set up as a single speed--I'd spent the past 3 days on gears. For starters, it weighed in at just about 19 lbs. but it sure felt a lot lighter that that. I got about 45 mins. on it and all I can say is that it is sick--it climbs like crazy and it's so responsive going up the hills it felt like I was on my road bike. I was a little tentative going downhill as it was starting to get wet and slippery (not to mention that this is a bike you cannot buy yet). I could not believe how rock solid it was going down and through the corners it accelerated and went exactly where I pointed it. As you would expect, the carbon dampens the vibrations which is really nice--it's stiff and light--pretty much perfect for a bike but I still have my concerns about the durability of carbon for a mountain bike if you crash or it gets hit. Time will tell. The coolest thing about the bike is what Niner calls the CYA botton bracket system which allows you to run the bike either as a SS or geared.
The frame is designed to hide the derailleur cables a small detail which I absolutely love--it is such a clean look. Will I get one? What do you think?

While I was on my dream ride, Mike was demoing a beautiful Atomic Blue ONE 9--which he absolutely loved. I think he is torn as to which one he wants--he loved the carbon but the One 9 was so nice he may not be able to wait.

After our Niner detour, we were about 4 hours into our day--neither of us had counted on being out that long and we were running short on calories. Sitting pretty next to the Stan's sealant was a box of Reeses--no competition on those but they saved the day. I think I ate four of them and was good to go.



You can't really tell from the photo but we were covered with mud--it pretty much had been raining for two hours now and didn't stop until the next morning. Other than being a bit slippery (the Stan's Crow on the back did not help), the mud was actually a blast--the fine watery stuff which was a nice departure from the thick stuff I ride up here.


As it had been the previous two nights, dinner was fantastic, although the rain brought the party inside. I managed to doze off shortly after taking this photo at 10 pm--have not gone to bed that early in a long time. We woke to rain and ultimately called it quits, heading home without riding on Sunday--a bummer, I chalked it up as a rest day--could not wait to see the possums.

We had a great weekend-fantastic food, ride, rest, ride, more food and lots of sleep--oh and did I mention Rich's espresso machine. I think we are going to plan a trip back in the Fall.

Wood Beetle Attack!

The Baby Don was kind enough to give Cora this little treat for Mother's Day. When I asked him why he did it, he said, "I didn't--it was a wood beetle that attacked me because he thought I would taste good."

It must have been a hungry beetle--Donny was pretty sure he tasted good.

Here's Waldo--the cover-up which I guess made sense 'cause a Trump-style comb-over was certainly out.

You have to hand it to Cora and me--we sure are consistent in our parenting style--we are now 3 for 3. At the age of 4, each of our kids managed to cut their own hair. Well, that depends on whom you believe--apparently Max told everyone at school I "did" this to him. All is good--Max is now convinced he is more aero on his bike.

Rocked by the one cog--Single speed polooza race report

What a weekend! After 9 hours in the car on Saturday, I got home in time to take the new climbing bike for a quick spin before total darkness. I finally collapsed in bed at 11 after packing for Sunday's race. 4 am came around rather quickly. At 4:42, I went out to the car and felt a bit of optimism as the forecasted rain had not yet appeared. I headed back inside to brew a cup for the road. When I returned outside at 4:49, it had started to alternate between drizzle and light rain, which continued until about an hour and a half into the race.

When we got to Stewart State Forest, it was obvious that the SB8's were not going to work, so I put on a set of Kenda Karmas, which was a wise decision--as even the Karmas were caked with mud and sliding all over the place. The other equipment decision that was questionable was my choice of gearing. I have raced at Stewart twice before and both times the singletrack was hard and fast. I decided to go with a 32-17 on the 29er after hearing from the awesome folks down at Dark Horse Cycles that after the big climb, the trail was relatively flat and even if it did rain, the course would hold water well.

Ouch!!

So how did the race go? After a brief and inadequate warm up which left me wet and covered in mud, I got to the start line and waited as my group started last. I started on the front line and managed to make the turn into the singletrack in the top three. Feeling pretty good, it did not take long to realize it was going to be a long day with a 17T on the back. I popped out of the first singletrack loop in 7th or 8th and headed for the climb, which started on the road and after a very short flat section turned into the woods and started up on the single track--not fun on 2 inches of thick slippery mud on a over-geared SS. I was able to ride the climb but it was taking way too much effort and very slow-going. I felt like I was turning the pedals over at about 30 rpm--just crushed my knees.

Popping out on the road to start the road climb.

After getting over the top, the descent was a host of sharp off-camber turns again with the thick mud and now the wet roots were making their presence known--did I mention my SS has a rigid fork--reconsidered that choice all day! The hill, both up and down, killed my hopes of a top ten finish as it seemed like I must have lost 10-15 places--mostly on the descent. As I was told, after the descent, the trail was relatively flat with nice manageable rollers--the gearing felt much better and I just tried to be efficient and choose the best lines. The trail was still very wet and slippery but more of a watery mud, not the super thick stuff that sucks the power out of you, so I felt like I was going good. Towards the end of the first lap, the course detoured through a old building which was pretty cool--would love to see those pictures. By this point, I had been riding by myself for half an hour or so and was guessing I was in about 20th place.

Somewhere on the flat part of the course getting killed by the rocks and my rigid front end.

As I finished the first loop, I was still feeling really good all things considered and my goal for the second lap was to pass 10 people--I managed to get by 4 by the top of the road climb and I held them off through the singletrack climb which was now totally trashed after 250 people had ridden over it--that hurt! I got 2 more before the trail spit out on the next road section where I got on more that was number 7. Back on the singletrack, the guy I passed on the road passed me, so I was at 6 and he seemed to ride away on a little downhill through tight trees. I did not see him or anyone else for that matter for a long while. On the other road sections, I could see people up the road but could not close on them. It was not until the last mile that I caught him and 2 others--there was a steep little rock face that we all came into and I ran up, getting ahead and managed to hold them off for the last couple of minutes. I ended up passing 9, which was nice--unfortunately they were not all from my group. I finished in 2:31 which was a lot slower than I had planned--of course, my planning was based on the dry super-fast singletrack I rode at the 40 2 years ago.

The steep little rock face that I mentioned--got by 3 on foot.

In retrospect, with the 17t, I felt like I definitely had an advantage on the road sections and probably passed a dozen or so people; however, I got killed on the wet, muddy hills. My goal was to get in a 2.5 ish hour hard training ride and have fun doing something different,which I did. This was my first SS race and I must admit I greatly under-estimated single speeding as a specialty--I have a lot to learn. Will it be my last? Not sure, but safe to say it was my last for a while because the one cog killed my legs and the rigid fork beat the piss out of the rest of my geriatric body--man am I sore today! No wonder I've been loving the road bike. In all seriousness, I did this race to break up the monotony of training and that was accomplished, but I'm so sore I'm not sure I could get on a bike today if I had to and tomorrow's intensity may be out the window as well.

It's worth mentioning that I think Stewart State Forest as a race venue isn't the greatest--i.e., very limited resources/parking--which always makes it hard on the family, but with that said, the singletrack rocks and the folks at Darkhorse Cycles have always put on great events--they did not disappoint with the 2010 SSAP.

Just before the finish--still love to play in the mud--man were my legs cooked.

About the cleanest my glasses were all day-- During the race I had to spray them with my water bottle every chance I got just so I could see.

What's going on.

It's been a long week. I worked the last 3 nights--really long, really painful, but finally over.

I have 15 hours of riding scheduled this week--lots of z1z2 and some well-planned intensity. I set new zones this week as I got the data from Joey--as always, it makes everything feel harder which I love--makes ya feel faster. I took today off for some much needed rest.

Tomorrow I'm off to Fitwerx to pick up the Z5--rumor has it it weighs in at an anemic 13 lbs. 2 oz. fully loaded with heavy tires. With light-weight tires twelve something pounds should be very reasonable for Mt. Washington. I'm going to ride App Gap and possibly Lincoln Gap after I pick up the bike--should be a pretty sweet maiden flight. Not sure what I'm going to do on Sunday. I'm registered for the Single Speed a Polooza which I have been really looking forward to, but the combination of cold rain and the 6 hours of driving has me reconsidering. I did put the 17t cog on the SS earlier today and after a quick spin I can say it feels pretty darn good--we'll see. Sorry about the lack of pictures--it's your recovery 'cause you know what's coming--uber bike and rocking the one cog in the rain!

No more rest!

Yes, Obi-Wan, I have been transported here to work on the house--man is it slow going! Back to the shop tomorrow to finish up some of the window crown for the bedroom--we'll finally have the bedroom windows done and on to the bathroom.

It feels like it's been awhile since I have trained hard. I think my taper was preceded by a rest week and the ToB was followed by a rest week so it's been about a month since I have had a lot of volume and intensity. The next two months are loaded with both--I'm kind of excited as my training is all focused on Mt. Washington and raising my LT. That means a lot of time doing intervals.

Looking down my new home away from home on the bike--Cornish Hill is steep and takes pretty darn close to 5 mins to climb at threshold wattage.

Today I went out with Chris for about an hour and a half and then headed over to Cornish Hill for the day's real suffering.

I got in 9x 5 mins at 300-310 watts with the only rest being the ride down hill, which was about a minute. I'm going to try to do this workout twice a week until Mt. Washington--hopefully this will morph the legs and up the threshold--we'll see.

The Wabash Trace Ride

Got a few miles in today on the old Wabash. Mack and Jess walked and scouted on foot.

Right before we took off.
Getting back from a grueling off road trek, about 7 miles total. About 3 on trails and 4 on rock road. Q prefers trails.

Mack got some mileage in with his buddies big wheel.

2010 Battenkill Race Report

After a relatively peaceful night at the "Duck Hotel" in Albany, we were up at 6:30, which frankly came as a relief, as I had been lying in bed, drifting in and out of sleep since 3 am. I was a bit startled when we got out to the car and it was 35 degrees and windy as shit--great day for a bike ride.

We made it over to the race venue by 8:15, which for once left me enough time to warm up and attend to all of my pre-race rituals. I was feeling pretty good after a meager 20 minute warm-up--I was sweating and the now 41 degrees and even windier than shit was starting to feel somewhat manageable. As the forecast was for sunny, warmer weather by early afternoon, I wasn't entirely sure of what to wear. I went with the knickers, fleece jersey and a vest, which worked out perfectly, as the wind really never let it warm up.

My start time was at 9:55am--our group of fifty was off and we spent the first ten miles or so at a pretty chill pace.

I had the race profile taped to the handlebars--I was told that our race would be decided early, on Juniper Swamp Road, which is the second tan little blip on the chart. The climb on Juniper Swamp Road is relatively short, but steep. Someone with 20 years of racing experience told me that this is the only place they've ever seen pros get off and walk. Not sure if that's true or not, but nonetheless, you get the point. I knew that when we got to the hill, I had to be out front, which I was, and I managed to get over the top in third or fourth place.

My crew froze their asses off waiting on top of Juniper Swamp.

At least she froze in style. . .

Working hard over the top as the field started to fall apart behind me. I managed to get into a five-man breakaway--working together, we quickly put a nice gap on the field.

The five of us rode together until about the 52-mile mark, when we lost one off the back and the eventual winner managed to get out about 30 seconds in front of us.

Taking my turn up front--I tried to pull at about 330 watts, which seemed to work well, but it was awfully tough in the strong headwind, which were gusting at about 25 mph.

Heading up the last climb, we were still 30 seconds behind the leader. We seemed to slow down quite a bit on the climb. I felt like I had 2 choices--to attack and try to close the gap by myself or to stay together and take my chances in a sprint.

I'm not sure what the right decision was--I'm still kind of kicking myself for not attacking. I guess I felt I had a better chance in the sprint and was worried about overcooking it on the climb, getting dropped and placing fourth. So the three of us rode the last five miles together, taking very short pulls. We were all racing for second now--we made the last right-hand turn with 300 meters to go. I started the turn on second wheel, went really wide to the left and couldn't see the finish line. I waited for a sprint that never really came.

I finished second in my group--a great start to the season.

I almost missed the awards ceremony when I went to the car to change. Cora borrowed a stranger's phone and called me to tell me to hurry the hell up. I rolled up just in time to hear "In second place, from Jackrabbit Racing, Matthew Jones."

To the victor go the spoils. This Battenkill Creamery chocolate milk is phenomenal and I'm sure you'll find it hard to believe that I had a ton of help finishing it off. The jug is going to make a fine trophy--hopefully the first of many that will line the walls of the CBC.

A quick rest before loading up the car.

Got a little help from Don Bull who reportedly told Cora that it was all because of him that I got second because he's been teaching me to go fast.

In case you forgot, a spot on the box earns a burger and fries. We made it back to Cooperstown in time to take my mom out for a birthday dinner. A good time was had by all.