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The Woodsmoke Returns

 I bought the small Salsa Woodsmoke years ago as a hardtail mountain bike for bikepacking where a gravel bike wouldn't be great. I liked it much more than the Salsa Cutthroat at the time. I realized that the Woodsmoke was too small as a flat bar bike, and I put drop bars on it. I got a Medium frame, transferred the MTB components over, and was running a dual Woodsmoke setup for a minute. It was great. However, I got annoyed at the geometry and gearing. The bike geometry was unstable at really high speed on pavement, and I couldn't get the gearing I wanted easily for gravel racing. I had a hard time getting a bike fit that was really comfortable, and I wasn't aware of my hip deformity. So, I converted it to a flat bar bike and let my girlfriend-at-the-time borrow it as a mountain bike.  Meanwhile, my flat bar Woodsmoke became my primary fun bike - the Soma Saga was my commuter, the Woodsmoke did almost everything else. I'd run 42mm tires and a rigid fork for gravel ridin
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Canyon Lux Trail CF7 - Initial Thoughts

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 Fedex didn't deliver the package until 8pm, which makes me sad. I was hoping to get a ride in this afternoon. Man, I've tried quite a few mountain bikes, and I'm rarely all that happy with them. My first "mountain bike" was a Salsa Mukluk, which I really liked. Hardtail, but a 4" or 4.8" tire will make for plenty of rear cushion and traction. Setup as a drop bar bikepacking rig, it was incredible. I sold it for a Salsa Cutthroat. My first real mountain bike was a Jamis Portal. That thing sucked. I hated it. Felt so damn slow. Sold it and swore off mountain biking entirely. Well, then I got annoyed at the Cutthroat's lack of tire clearance, so I got a Salsa Woodsmoke. That thing was a lot  of fun. Then I got an Ibis Ripmo after renting one and demoing a Fezzari La Sal Peak - holy shit, the efficient suspension platform! But, well, 150mm of travel isn't ever going to feel fast on the trails I really like, and I hate the overbiked feeling. I got an
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My 3T Exploro build

I have a love/hate relationship with my 3T Exploro. On the one hand, it's insanely fast. On the other hand, it's a bit of a pain in the ass. In any case, I just replaced the crankset, and I felt like writing up the overall build. Intention This bike is my "gravel race bike" or "road bike" or plain ol' "fast bike." I'm not going to go camping on it. If the road is super rough, then the Fargo is the choice. So I'm biasing my choices towards fast and light. Drivetrain When you're picking out a gravel bike drivetrain, you need to decide on 1x or 2x. I wanted a 2x - after all, I'm taking this out on road rides, too. SRAM's 2x choices these days are all eTap AXS - and wildly expensive. So that leaves Shimano. Shimano hydraulic road brake levers are extremely expensive, so I scoured eBay and managed to find a set of new take-off Shimano 105 R7020 levers and brake calipers. These have been working great, and I'm happy with them.
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Poseidon Redwood Review

 The Poseidon Redwood is an interesting bike. Just under $1,000, yet it offers all the main things you want in an adventure bikepacking bike. Lots of mounts, clearance for fat tires, drop bars, and a decent component spec to start. My girlfriend was looking for a first bike - something that would work for bikepacking, gentle mountain biking, and commuting around town. The options were a cheap hardtail, a hybrid, a used gravel bike, or - this. Before we get into the bike itself, I have to say, the market segment of this bike is very  interesting. It's not marketed at beginner cyclists. It's marketed at experienced  cyclists that want to get their friends into adventure biking - their friends who balk at the idea of spending more than a grand on a bike to get started. Or maybe it's marketed at experienced cyclists that want a cheap beater for bikepacking, instead of worrying about a nice carbon bike? I'm not entirely sure - it's a weird rig. Weird, interesting - these
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CO2UT 2022 - Canceled

 Well, I was excited to post a race review on CO2UT, my B race for the year. But it was canceled due to muddy conditions. Fruita had an unexpected rainstorm yesterday, and the roads are impassable. I am now absolutely loaded up on carbohydrates and am in totally peak condition. There's a 40 mile group road ride that's a replacement of sorts for the event, which I'll be doing instead. It'll be fun to sprint instead of marathon, I guess.
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Cycling Upgrade Priorities

 Everyone wants to know: "What can I buy to make my bike faster?" And the stock answer is, for some reason, so unsatisfying . The best bang-for-the-buck looks like this: Bike fit Coaching/training plan Power meter Heart rate monitor (slightly cheaper than power meter, but also less bang-for-buck) Yoga and strength training Actual bike components Getting a bike fit is boring . You spend a bunch of money so someone can tell you to spend even more money on unsexy stuff like stems and handlebars. Maybe some spacers for your pedals and a shoe insert. These changes have two huge effects: you're more comfortable on the bike (and can train more), and you'll be more efficient about putting power down (and can go faster/train harder). The next thing is actual coaching, or a training plan of some sort. If you're not training smart, then you'll eventually plateau. Training harder, at that point, just leads to burnout and injury. A coach will help you figure out how to act
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Review: Rapha Technical Trousers

My Outlier OG Climbers have officially reached end-of-life after nearly 5 years. They're still in great shape, but they're a bit worn looking, and I've lost enough weight that they don't fit. Unfortounately, Outlier stopped making the OG Climbers, so I'll have to figure something else out for a technical pant. Rapha's Technical Trousers seemed to check all the boxes - they look nice, aren't terribly technical looking, have lots of stretch, and they're Rapha, so I'll get to engage in some of that delightful conspicuous consumption. Rapha's jerseys have been phenomenal, and I keep trying their other stuff, usually to be disappointed - there's often just one thing wrong that ends up being a total dealbreaker. Let's start with the positives. The pants look great. I ordered the navy color, and the fit is excellent. I have larger legs and hips from powerlifting in the past, and the pants have a flattering fit without being too tight. A much ski
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