Red Barn Cycling Caps !!

cotton-$20, wool-$30, wool w/flipups-$35

Tracy and Dan rockin' the new cap.

speaking of cold weather

While on the subject of cold weather it should also be noted that we've got a bunch of new winter clothing arrivals for those hardy souls that ride year round.

Shrek says " Cold Weather Gear is here ! "
by

Craft
Pearl Izumi

and

Bellwether

the $225 Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX

Craft rain jacket with pit zips and fleece lined collar and the Craft Storm tights with windproof fronts and lightly fleece lined. Either option for $100

Bellwether Windstorm gloves with fleece lining

so it is currently a balmy 1d outside, and heck no i'm not riding in this weather. Hopefully everyone is some place warm, but if you're not might i recommend a swig (or two) of Glenlivet Nadurra to warm you up a little bit. Thanks to Thomas for sharing the fine spirits.

on the tuner: Medeski, Martin and Wood; Note Bleu

1937 Schwinn LaSalle

here's a couple of pictures of a beautiful fully restored Schwinn that was done by Bob of Bobs Bicycles from southern California. Kurt.....the new owner was explaining just how nice this bike was for about a month and until he finally brought it in for a FULL assembly words really couldn't explain how nice and straight everything was. Typically the fenders would have a few dents, and some scuffs towards the bottom of the fender....the tank may have a few dents or dings here and there, maybe a little rusting on the chrome....but everything and i do mean everything was in super clean condition. Pretty amazing considering it's a 70 year old bike. Thanks for letting us build her up for you Kurt !

the six seater

yes it runs......BUT, we'll need a waiver signed first

speaking of pedals

the Straitline

the urban camo Twenty6

Meddle with the custom pedal

so we were placing an order with Tyler over at twenty6 recently and he was telling us about these Special Edition set of pedals that he just finished. Intrigued by things of special intent we craved more details and before i knew it and by the end of the conversation Tyler had us sold on a set. Yes they are expensive.....very expensive but constructed and finished with perfection. Limited run of twenty-six, introducing you to set #6.

new Red Barn waterbottles

that are

100%biodegradeable and made from 20% recycled materials

20 oz - $3

24oz - $4

read more about the new Biogreen bottles

MT State Championships

Nov 23rd was the MT State Championship CX race and also the last race of the year......you know, i kinda fell in love with cyclocross this year. It's just a blast to be shot of the line with a group full of fellas that all have the same interest of diving into that first piece of singletrack at 25+mph. That holeshot......worth an hours worth of agony to me. But it doesn't stop there, after 2 or 3 short laps you'd eventually recover from that all out starting effort and settle into a good pace that made riding the track a bit more enjoyable. Hitting a nice piece of off-cambered singletrack on 700 X 32c tires is a fantastic experience. The slippin' and sliddin' when the ground has moisture and being able to keep that damn bike upright or in my case, sometimes not just brings a grin to my face that goes ear to ear.



The folks that put on the races this year all did a fantastic job. Every race was promoted well and ran smoothly and we'd like to give a shout out to John Coulthard and Geoff Proctor for putting together a nice series. Hopefully the Red Barn crew can host a race down here in Hamilton for 09'. Hamilton needs a local CX race.....it's been years since Jeremy Oury hosted a few races out on his family's ranch and i think we need to bring CX racing back. Whatchu folks think ?? I'll be calling upon you locals for support.

But anyway......i suppose a 3rd place trinket isn't too darn bad of a placing for a pop of three and a full timin' bike shop fella that likes to ride but doesn't like to train.

Happy Thanksgiving Folks !!

Turkey day stroll with Shrek around Como Lake.

Shrek says to ride it and i say....heck no, i can barely walk across it.

650b Ventana stylie

the Ventana El Bastardo

here's a few pics of Sherwood Gibson's spin of a 650b wheeled full suspension bike. We've had this beautiful bike built up for a couple of weeks now and it's honestly been heading out the door almost everyday for demo rides. Same response each and every time. Big grins coming in the front door followed by a Holy $hit that felt goooooood !! And since i've now ridden the bike a half dozen times on a variety of singletrack i can also comment on the behaviors of the 65o Ventana .

on my first ride out on a very rocky Blodgett Canyon trail which climbs slightly uphill along a streamside gradient i noticed that the gearing of the 650 wheels was fine and i could push that middlering much more often as opposed to dropping into my inner ring on a 29" dually. It should be even more noticeable once the real climbing of summer approaches. I also noticed that when in technical terrain that required quick bursts of speed to get past or up and over a certain obstacle the 650 wheels accelerated very good. It also wheelied well when trying to get the wheel up and over a rock, waterbar, etc. I pretty much credited this to the chainstay length (17.5"), which is a half inch longer than the 26" wheeled equivalent ElCiclon (17") and much shorter than the 29" wheeled El Rey (18.3").

Climbing, the bike really handled much more like the ElCiclon, which could have also come from the shorter stays and possibly the combination of gear ratios being closer to the 26" bike. I honestly didn't seem to notice any benefits of the 650 wheels, but it did perform well and the wheel size certainly didn't hinder any climbing abilities.

Decending at medium to high speeds was the true surprise of this bike in my opinion. This bike carved tight turns so well, and once it got really rocky with speed was the first time i really FELT the benefits from the larger wheel. I could pretty much pick the straight line through a section and the bike really kept it's momentum very well through the chunk.

all in all....another well designed bike from those folks at Ventana and to make bike purchasing even more confusing another wheel size that works very well too. I suppose the only hangup for a consumer at this point would be the lack of tire, rim and true 650b suspension fork options. Only time well tell if the bicycle industry gets behind the idea. For 5" + full suspension bikes i think the idea really makes sense as it doesn't disrupt frame geometry's or put constraints into frame design. We also reap the benefits of a larger wheel size that does indeed roll over obstacles easier.

the 2.3" Pacenti Neo-Moto

if i really had my wishes granted i'd take one of each....26", 650b, and a 29er ! A cup of tea for just about everyone.

come on in and demo the El Bastardo to see if it is your favorite flavor.

CX Loop

One of the nicer areas to ride the skinny tired cross bike in the bitterroot valley would have to be the slice of State Land located at the end of Hamilton Heights road called Calf Creek. The trails are numerous and have no official numbering sytem but you can easily put together a few nice loops. It's elevation also allows cycling late into the fall and it's south-west facing hillside typically dries out first, come springtime. One of the reasons it makes for such a nice cross ride is the fact that most trails are lacking much technical difficulty and the buff trails are perfect for the narrow tires which also makes it a perfect place for the beginner/intermediate mountain biker. Be cautious though as it is an area that is also well visited by our equestrian brethren.......if you see a parking lot full of horse trailers be wise on the decents....grab a little brake.

a link if you need better directions or information on the area: http://fwp.mt.gov/lands/site_280490.aspx

here's a few pics taken from a my wed afternoon spin on the Felt F1X:

remnants of Hamilton's once apple orchard boom

new Hadley front

one hub - 4 different axle configurations.

Here's the hub that we've been asking for, thanks to Mike and Suzanne over at Hadley Racing for making it. A high quality front hub that converts to most of the popular fork axles. 20mm thru, standard QR, 9mm thru axle, and now the Fox Shox 15mm thru axle.

Price $160

halloween cross pic

Here's a great picture of Aaron 'Joe Dirt' Riley tearing it up at the halloween cyclocross race last week. Gotta love the front pocket beer cuzzi.

new stuff

Chris King has been promising delivery of a bottom bracket for years. They held off during the Octalink and ISIS years, neither of these were bottom bracket options that they wanted to pursue. Then the new and current external bearing design has taken off and has pretty much been adopted by the world. Now this seemed to be something King could grasp. We even saw some early pics from the FELT designers where they actually had a King headset pressed into a threadless bottom bracket shell. Pretty cool.....it was only a matter of time.





So as a huge believer of their in-house made bearings we're very happy to announce that we have good stock of their new bottombracket. And in true typical King fashion.....available in a plethora of flavors.

Kalispell CX

So the Kalispell events went well......we headed up north this past weekend to race CX on both saturday and sunday. The early morning wakeup on saturday was rough though and then the proceeding 3 and a half hour drive up to race at 10:30 am was even rougher. But it even gets worse when you have a young lad Karl Vanderwood from Helena and now racing for MT Velo kicking your arse in the mens B field. Allthough after a tough course that consisted of plenty of climbing and a bad start i managed to work my way up into a small group which was tailing Karl by 30 seconds. Eventually myself and another fella from Whitefish ended up riding together for the remaining race.....we stuck together tightly and on the last lap i managed to form a small gap and for a brief second i thought i was going to sneak into 2nd place. But i wasn't the one sneaking as the cyclist from Whitefish managed to catch me within 30 yards of the finish and he eventually came around me nipping me at the line. Oh well......i'm just out there for the pain....right ?


On sunday and on a different course, cold weather, and with a smaller field .....Karl-less with his recent departure to race with the fast guys. I managed to get a good jump on the field and took off at a decent pace. It didn't feel as painful as usual and my small gap got a little bit larger. I keep riding hard, enjoying the singletrack sections of the lap and then i noticed that my course flags dissapeared.....i looked around me just in time to see the rest of the field go buzzing by ! Yep.....i took a wrong turn. Maybe i should have prerode the course more than once : ) , so i turn around and ride like hell to catch the new leaders. It took about a 1/2 lap to catch back up and another 1/2 lap to catch my breathe from the effort but i eventually worked my way around and back into the lead taking one other cyclist with me. We worked together for the remainder of the race and then on the last lap on a small run up that i was able to ride, created a small gap on him that i held to the finish line. A win in the b's is a win. But i'd eventually like to suffer in the back of the pack with the mens A group. Maybe soon, maybe in time for the MT state championships.


Matt Baldwins pics from Off the Grind

cyclocross

welp......i survived. I hurt like hell for an entire hour, thought about quitting the race about 15 minutes into it as my stomach felt like it was turning completely inside out. Yessir indeed, pure hell for those first minutes......so, instead of focusing on that damn pain i started to focus in on the fun sections of the course. And there were many as reminded to me by my three kiddo's who were sitting course side with trident in hand. Actually trying to spear me in the arse. Okay kids.....i get the point. (and thanks for instigating the juvenilles Howie)


So, with that in mind i noticed the race beginning to be half enjoyable, and before i knew it the race was down to three very short but intense laps. I was sitting in 7th and just caught by a group of 4. Crap ! I tried hanging on but all four were much faster in the flat sections that required hard pedaling. I ended up satisfied with 11th place out of the forty or so starters. Chalk it up. This next weekend.....Kailspell MT for two back to back days of hellish pleasure. So kiddos......bring on the trident !! Link for this weekend


and thanks to the fellas and gals at Montana Cyclocross for the fantastic, well organised event. You've certainly put on one of the best cycling events in MT.

Rolling Thunder

third stop on the Montana Cyclocross series is tonite and under the ballpark lights.........racing begins at 4pm in Missoula at the American Legion Park. I'm signing up for the pain but am actually going for the good times and free beer. So wish me luck on all three.

check here for the details.

www.montanacyclocross.com

pics from the 3rd annual Chicken Crit

the annual Chicken Crit has come and gone......once again i drew up enough courage to ride the tyke bike as did almost twenty others. I probably shouldn't have rode and just sat my arse to the sidelines to officiate ; ) as i ended up scoring one of my roughest crashes of the year and also managed to come across the finish line with my shoelaces completely wrapped up on my pedal spindle.......thinking back i don't think that's happened to me since i was about 6 years old. Oh well......the things that happen when you tip a few back.

So here's the race wrap up......Dillon, our good pal from Missoula was easily the fastest thing on 16" wheels but with a slight self made course modification he earned a DISQUALIFICATION !!!! Thats right...you heard me correct, first time ever in CC history. But don't worry...... Dillon more than made up for it by being one of the first to go down the cattle ramp, sacked up for the fire jump and easily had the finest dress attire of the bunch (allthough B George's embroidered shirt made for a close second). But anyway......that gave Hamilton's very own Tim " Big Kahuna" Buhl the victory. And we all know how he deserved it......he trained hard all year. Ate the right foods and substained from alcohol and sex. We're proud of ya timmie. Hot on tim's wheel was my beautiful wife Tracy......she was smoking fast and she made pedaling the small bike look natural. Third place was taken by Lance....very well done sir !

AND......the offical standings:

1 - Tim "BK" Buhl 51sec

2 - Tracy D 54sec

3 - Lance P 57sec

4 - Chaybo 1.01

5 - B George 1.03

6 - Dan Gager-bomber 1.07

7 - Alaska Jim 1.08

8 - Cassie 1.10

9 - the flying kiwi Warwick 1.13

10 - Shrek 1.16

11 - Dean the machine 1.20

12 - Jeff 1.23

12 - Shiela 1.23

14 - Jerome 1.26

15 - Thomas 2.18

and a few pics before, during and after:

socializin'

cass & tra

yours truely laying out the course and the rules (which changed by the minute)

safety first.

the course......first you had to chug a brew, and then thread your way down the cattle ramp. Once safely down the ramp you headed off into darkness and around the barn.

if you were lucky enough to make it this far, eventually you were guided by the light of the bonfire, a bunch of hecklers and small jump

gotta love this photo, which gives "trusting in your partner" a new meaning.

after you got past the jump you headed around the power line that Jenny tried taking out with her subie and then back down the road and across the teeter-totter from. A few more feet past this and you arrived at the finish.....and if you made it around the course without crashing you were one of the few. Easy to do......if you didn't par-take in the socializin' : )

and a few other noteable pics, the hecklers:

campfire hucking

campfire hucking gone bad

new schwalbe fat alberts

these are the new Fat Albert front and rear specific tires and an increase from a 2.35" size to 2.4". We also have the regular sized Albert that comes in 2.25"

750 g for 2.4" size

670g for 2.25"