Watch out Jeff Hall! I am going simple & ultra-light for the Powder Monkey

In what was suppose to be an exercise in simplifying my life, I was at the Ski Hut today with my trusty Gunnar 29er [made by Richard Schwinn and cohorts down in Waterford, Wisconsin under the watchful eye of their shop dog, Gunnar] for something like 4 hours!!! The original plan was that I would simply modify my gearing in a manner that would reflect the realities of the Spirit Mt. Race Course and my racing abilities...Basically the idea being that if ya need a granny gear in the Midwest, you're lying to yourself, Karl Rove, and your family [fact is that if you are using a granny gear--you need to lose some serious big-time weight and start lifting some dumbells with your weenie quads], coupled with the fact that unless you're a pro or on EPO, you ain't gonna need that big chainring cuz you ain't got the guns to push a 46/44 or even a 42 up them ski hills in Duluth, Therefore instead of using the standard "weighty' over-done triple chainring...my simple plan was that I would split the difference and just run a single 36 in the front and use the standard 11-34 in the back and in doing so, cut some weight as well, cuz I wouldn't need a left shifter or front derailer(spelling?). So I go to my favorite LBS [The SKI HUT] with my favorite guyz [Dean and Rosscoe] and I get me an empty bike stand, some hard-core black-as-coal coffee and get to work...I'm not there ten minutes before I strip the bolt out of my XT crank [For those of you that don't know, thatz a major screw-up!]. Dean has to stop working on the paying customers' bikes and drill the damned thing out and I end up costin' these guyz some time...time that they should be using on the paying public...next thing I know the damned 36 teeth chainring won't fit on the Gunnar....the teeth hit the chainstays!!!! So it goes....living the easy life ain't SO EASY!!!! Still, when it was all said and done, I walked out of the Ski Hut tonight with a 1 X 9 sporting an old worn-out 32 Shimano chainring in the front and an even older 11 by 34 Shimano cassette on the back, so I should be good to go on Sunday...so it goes for the consummate amateur bike racer... :) Watch out Jeff Hall!!!!

Feeding the Rat: Seriously, I spent 4 hours down at the Ski Hut today trying to simply my so-called life!!! Number of hours on the bike= Zero! Number of hours dealing with the bike= 4 Hours!