Well I did it. I bought the ‘24 carbon Smuggler. Barney needs a few personal tweaks before I actually ride it but pretty sure it’s a major upgrade over my ‘18 aluminum Smuggs. I feel bad though, that one is still riding strong. Probably should find a new appreciative home… image0.jpegimage1.jpegimage2.jpeg Steve Cobble 781-254-8796 Call me, it's still better

Gettin Fat(ter)

The latestaddition to my stable is a Borealis Crestone . Carbon frame made by pretty much the original fatbike company. 27.5 wheels with Hope hubs and Mulefut rims and 4.5" Maxxis Colossus tires. Mastodon 120 mm fork, Thudbuster LT post. Answer 20/20 carbon Alt bars. SRAM Hydraulics, 12 speed GX. Coming from a Pugsley, the only similarity would be the bars and seatpost. And that they both have a dark sparkly finish. I had demo'd a Flume from Doug at Aunt Betty a year or so go, and would have gone back for the Crestone, but I found this one at BikeBarn in Whitman and could not resist this 'Midnight Beast'! I love my pugsley too, with zippy 26" wheels. My first impression on the Crestone was that is was sluggish, and heavy up front with the suspension fork. The fork did add 3+ pounds, and I noticed that first. After the first 3 rides, I didn't notice it any more. The ability to bash through rock gardens and roots outweighed the extra weight. The bigger wheels and tires gave me thatt first sluggo impression, but found that once I got the bike in motion, it just wanted to go faster. The Thudbuster has been on almost every hardtail I've ever owned, but it really excels on this bike. Not sure why, but the sum of all these parts make it into a monster hardtail! This bike is the culmination of all my dreams of having larger volume tires on my bikes. I've never been a fan of any tire under 2.4 ( at least since 1992 ) on any mountainbike. Currently I run a Rekon 2.8 up front my Transition Smuggler, which won'y accept more than a 2.4 rear. Thats a fun bike. But I'm really loving the Borealis. It's been my main ride for awile now. I originally thought I'd just ride it in the messy 'shoulder seasons', but I rode it through the summer as much as I could. Now into winter, I'm really looking forward to some snow riding!

from one blog to another

Check out Green Mountain Trails for real New England riding

Always check your axle bolts

So, there I was, getting my Gnar on yesterday. Just Riding Along, on my Transition Smuggler, in Wompy. I heard a clunk as I descended from mad air coming down prospect hill in a cloud of dust as I GiddyUp’d and put the hamma down🔥🤪. Ok I exaggerate alittle. But my AVS did turn out to be the fastest this year for a 60yo with bruised ribs and shortened T11, nevermind all the other geezer aches and pains. I will however give credit where it’s due, to Jeff G, a BikeBarnRacing.com buddy of mine, who I came across about halfway through. We decided it would be more fun to ride together rather than solo, it always is, and yeah, it’s always inspiring to ride with someone else, especially someone faster and more technically adept. Younger too of course. So anyways, back to the clunk. We had just been talking about rear shocks and my Fox Evol RP3 HIJKLMNOP or whatever it is. I run it on the middle setting mostly, in the ‘hardtail’ setting when the trails are smoother and I wanna go fast. But just to clarify, it was in the middle this time. The reason I don’t use the plush setting is because I inevitably pedal strike everything, which more often than not, I get thrown off. So this was the subject of conversation. That maybe I should seek and install a ‘volume spacer’. So when I came off that tiny lip, and heard the clunk, I thought of that and figured, yeah! That’s what I need, then I can run the shock full bore like it should be. Of course, I heard the wheel go ‘ping’ at the same time, and maybe shoulda suspected something else. But I was having too much fun at maximum warp, and the bike seemed ok. Back in the parking lot, off the bike, something was wiggly. Not the usual dropper wiggliness. And all the sudden it wouldn’t shift or pedal. Grabbed the rear tire, gave it a squeeze and wiggle, sho ‘nuf that was it. The thru axle was loose, hanging by a thread! So I tightened it, mounted the bike in the truck and headed home. When I got home, I figured I’d wipe and lube things down. NOW, the rear is locked up like a fixie. WTH??!! Shit, I broke the wheel, too??!! Visions of having to shop for a new wheel, spending more cash on a stupid mistake, but still drooling over pictures of expensive new wheels an how much faster they’d make me go. So I take the wheel off, put it back on. Still jammed. So I took it off again and removed the Eagle. All looks fine.....cleaned it all up nice .... then I pulled off the XD driver, and all those little clickety bits fell out. Or at least a couple did. Apparently, there was so much play in the hub/frame interface, a couple of them got jammed between the hub and driver. Have it all a cursory wipe, put all back together, voila! That was it. My 3 year old wheelset is still rolling, and I’m happy with it. Stan’s Flow S1, neo hubs. Ironically, I usually take pretty good care of my bikes. This one just slipped by me. And Mark, at BikeBarnRacing.com will take care of that volume spacer next week.

Social DisDancing

here we are what about 7 weeks into our Covid 19 Virus/Small Business Closure/Social Distancing/Economic 'Downturn', whatever the label, this staying home and not working, mask-wearing, social shaming, unemployment collecting, and most importantly, the deadly consequences of infection, WHEN'S IT GONNA STOP! Nobody seems to know, and I'm fine with that, as long as I'm collecting my hard earned tax dollars and can stay solvent. I've accomplished a few projects around the house, my family doesn't mind me cooking for them all day, and, I GET TO RIDE MY BIKE ANYTIME AS MUCH AS I WANT! I wanna retire someday, soo I guess in a twisted way, this is part of my RIT program ( Retiree In Training ) that I've been chuckling about the past few years. I'll be 60 in September, so I have a few more years to go, and a few more years for my mutual funds to bounce back before I really need.... So, yeah, over 100 miles/week now, at least 1/2 on trails. A couple of the Blue Hills roads are closed to cars for now, and they happen to contain most of the good climbs in the park. It's been a WET spring, and trails are suffering from the deluge of newly-found outdoorspeople who are traipsing ( and riding )around all the puddles and wet spots and blowing them out. Nobody likes their new running shoes to get wet and muddy, and there are still alot of riders who JUST DON'T GET IT! The good thing about BLue Hills, is that most of the trails are actually old carriage paths, built of hardened gravel and rock. So I have choices> Clean but boring solo road ride, or potentially ass-soaking trail ride. The Hills has some drainage problems, so much of this time of year, water is flowing on those hardened trails. The aforementioned mud spots, in defense of those who prefer to go 'round, are much a part of the drainage problems, and need to be remedied. But the Blue Hills despite its wild feel, is an 'urban park', and the DCR has many roads running through it, so ALL of their maintenance goes into paved roads and gates and stuff. ( somehow I got distracted and never finished this, so, "it is what it is" )

Good Pain

Finally doing PT, with Scott Taylor at New England Baptist Hospital in Dedham. Being a cyclist as well, he’s setting me on a good track to get back on it. Starting with stretches last week, already into some weight training to help me regain the core muscles that went to shit from underuse when I had to wear the chair back brace. So I’m already feeling a lot less stress in my core, and less pain!