Tip to Tip

I decided to do the Biking for Breakfast Challenge over the 8 Hours of Gore because I haven't done the tip to tip thing before, and it was going to be much cheaper than the 8 hour jaunt through the woods. I figured I could pull out about 8-10 hours on the roadie, but that on a MTB might be a bit rough.

I also realized Im partially retarded when I decided to do the tip to tip(285km) on an antique Peugeot I had recently restored. I tried to go as close to the real deal days of racing complete with spare tubular strapped around my shoulders, steel bottles and of course the old rig. I topped everything off with some wool and an ashtray to smoke for good measure. I retained some of my sanity by keep my clipless pedals and chamois creme....

There were a few of us who headed to North Cape the evening before to stay on the gym floor as to forgo the 3am departure from Charlottetown the next morning. The bus ride was fine and the dinner provided at the school was just dandy. It was early to bed as the crew of us awoke at 4:30 to make our way to North Cape.

To my surprise the Jay boys showed up which proved to be good company. They also pushed the pace a little bit faster than I was planning and within 15km I realized the decision to ride the old bike was a big mistake.

We pushed on and the first 150km flew by. I popped my Ipod in one ear and the soothing voice of Lady Ga Ga helped to numb the pain in the legs, it also brought back memories of french sport directors singing in perfect English who could normally not say a word in my mother tongue.

It was when the hills hit in Bonshaw that Trivett and the Jay boys put down the pepper. Maybe it was the 150km before that, or it being the longest ride since May, or even the fact my smallest gear was a 42x19 but I was off the back like it was 1992. I huffed and puffed as Im sure I looked like I was attacking my own bicycle but couldn't hold strong with those boys.

I coasted into Charlottetown with Matt and a few other guys and I was pleased the see we weren't stupid late, and in fact the Jay boys hadn't left the mid-ride feed station yet as we arrived so quickly it simply hadn't been set up!

Along with this my feed bag with my fresh supply of cigars also hadn't arrived so I was forced to keep the lungs clean for the further kms.

We sat around for enough time to grab a bowl of soup, some bread and a coke and off we went again. The final kilos weren't much fun as it was a steady push all the way to east point. Many of us(myself included) bonked hard but managed to pull it back together enough to finish.

One things for sure, no one was talking the last 100km......

The final 20km were the toughest for me. We maintained a steady pace and the pain of a consistently slipping seat post was setting in. I relegated myself to sitting on the back avoiding all pulls as I knew that would be the straw that broke the camels back. Once again Cory did the brute of the work and we rolled into East Point in 8h 3m. I was cooked....that's for sure.

Trivett proved he is the real deal and stayed strong the whole ride.....scary strong.

I was fully done by the end of this and the only stop I made after was Macdonalds to get a chicken burger and fries....Jesus it was good.... then promptly went to bed at 8:30.

(the fini)

I was up early the next morning at 7 and headed for work...anther day of Kayaking.

Opus Stakh

(MTB bikes look better dirty)

I figured it was time for a new ride. The problem however was the I had no coin to throw down. After thinking about new Mountain bikes for months I decided to take the plunge and borrow some cash. With my strategically laid down new part purchasing along with using some of the newer parts from the old rig I managed to put together a pretty sweet new ride for myself.

I decided on the Opus Stakh. Opus has always been good to me and my Fhast was one of the best riding bikes I have ever ridden, so it wasn't a hard decision to stick with them. There have been many Stakh's floating around PEI the past few years and everyone Ive spoken to has always had good things to say. Because of this I figured I wasn't going to get any bad surprises.

When I pulled then new frame out of the box I was shocked to see I had been given the 2009 paint scheme. Most of Opus paint jobs you either love or hate, and for me this was one of the worst. In my opinion it looks like the french tried to pay tribute to the Crucifixion of Christ with the black, white, and crimson color combined with the weird barb-wiring like font.... I was honestly thinking of painting the front triangle before building it up. hah

I waited a week or so for the remainder of the parts to roll in and between hectic work and drink schedules I build up the new girl. To my surprise and shock the bike doesn't actually look that bad built up. I threw on a mix of Sram XO, Mavic CrossMax wheels which are always solid and the new Fox F100. Ive never ridden a Fox but their reputation is something to hear.

First Ride:

Unreal. That's all I have to say. I took the rig out to the trusty St Catherine's trail on a down pour kinda day(only days I have off really). Despite the rain I had the new rig looking at me begging to be ridden. I have test ridden a few duellys of many brands in my time, but never liked any of them which was why I stuck to the tried and true hardtails until this bike.

I imagine its the VPP technology that Opus used to design the bike but its simply unreal. The bike handles great and instead of feeling like your always working against the bike , it feel like it is complimenting each pedal stroke. I find the bike is the best tool Ive ridden yet for finding flow on trails that have a hidden line. The Fox fork is everything I imagined it to be in a dream fork, and I can see why people have been ignoring the few extra grams in favor of them.

The Sram components are tried and true and have always proven to work well. I would go as far to say I prefer Sram over Shimano XTR now.....which was a bold statement even a few years ago.

I haven't run into any problems with the rig after a few weeks of riding. Its still proving to be a dream machine for me. I find myself looking for the odd couple hours that I can rush out to the trail to get a quick ride on the rig.....its proving to be something that motivates me to ride!

I'm moving to Halifax in a few weeks and I'm looking foreword to doing some exploring on the new rig on some gnarlier trails and testing its limits!