http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224177

It’s Wendy (Nathan’s wifey) - just a quick post from me to tell you about the October Decline Magazine. It’s on the shelves right now and features a very cool interview with Nathan, as well as a fantastic overview of the Mount Ashland Super D.

In the interview, Nathan threw the gauntlet. He officially challenged co-racing daddies Eric Carter, Myles Rockwell, and Mark Weir to a Daddy Race. Sleep deprivation is a must. He hasn’t heard back from them yet.

For those of you unfamiliar with the course I’ll try to lay it out for you. The start is at the Mt Ashland ski lodge at 6500 ft elev. from the start you can see the approximate area in Ashland where the finish is at about 2000 ft elev. Then you dive into a few miles of old road bed turned double track under a canopy of firs. After sprinting off the start & basically tucking & coasting for these first few minutes the joy ride comes to an abrupt end where you make a 180 and start up a 10% grade with about 500ft elev gain over about 3/4 mile. The worst part is after you make that 180 you’ve got a good 45 seconds to watch over your left shoulder to see if the guy who started behind you is making time on you while you’re suffering.

After the climb there is some pristine flowing singletrack for a few miles that eventually dumps you out onto a super fast decomposed granite fire road. A couple miles of drifty corners and it’s back to single track in the form of our local DH race course, followed by some swoopy single track and then a steeper bit of switchback track to the finish line. One thing I think a lot of the racers liked is that there are about 3 places on the 12 mile course where you’ve got a chance of a flat–So if you are cautious there you’ll more than likely get a clean run. Ha!–More on that later.

This years conditions consisted of darn near perfect dirt, supplied by daily thunder showers up to the day of the race, until the last couple miles where it finished on super dry loose granite( which is always the case for that section unless it’s actively raining on it).  It was foggy and cold for the morning start times up on the mountain and really blowing fog up to about the halfway point down the course where it gave way to overcast conditions and then finally the sun poked out at the bottom.  Remember around 5000 vertical so things can change quite a bit.

I don’t know how else to describe the race other than from my perspective.  I started second off the line 1 minute after Miles Rockwell’s standing sprint off the line.  I cruised the first couple miles knowing about the climb that was rapidly approaching figuring I would start the climb mellow and ramp it up as I went.  I started mellow but never ended up speeding up much.  Still I was able to catch Rockwell just as the course turned DH for a while.  Hit the 3 miles of fireroad and the fog at the same time.  No big deal I’m rockin’ the goggles and I know that road so I kept my speed up.  Popped out of the fog at four corners (about half way down the hill) entered catwalk trail doing mach-a-little-faster than-I-shoulda-been-going, Gee-d out in the rock garden jammed pedal into ground which simultaniously bent my crank, broke my pedal, broke my freehub body!, and launched me into the air at an awkward angle towards the LAST tree in the garden.  Hit the tree while in the air which sent me into a horizontal helicopter blade style spin.  Bike spun off into woods and I was left with enough time to think about the Super-D kit of choice (The Skinsuit, with half shell helmet…AKA skivies and a half shell) before hitting the ground in a baseball slidin’ into home slide.

Got up. Got bike. Shake it off. Point it towards the trail and wammo here comes Jason Moeschler my minute man.  Damn already a minute back.  Get on the bike. Pedal floppin around. Broken freehub body= can’t pedal=hemoraging time.  Soon Rockwell recaptures me. I crash again (minor).  Next Adam Craig passes me while I’m walking skateboarding my way along a bit over a mile of flat & climbing. I keep going. Next Timmy Evans passes me.  More flat stuff.  Coast…kick kick…Coast.  I’ll spare you the rest, I did not do well.  I did have a pretty good result on the Avid Chainless Challenge the day before.  But that’s for a different post soon.

The cool thing was how close the battle was for first place and just how fast those guys were going.  Jason Moeschler posted a smokin fast 33:47.52 which was a new course record until Craig came through with a 33:45.21   Ouch!  I’ve had a ton of respect for Moeschler having known him for a few years now and I’ve know for a while that he could rip this course.  I gained a whole new respect for Craig though.  The thing you may or may not know about that result is that he showed up at midnight the night before, got up race morning, got a cup of coffee, rolled up to the the start line having never even seen the course before, never once ridden it, and set a new record! Nut’s.  Sam Koerber rounded out the top three with a 35:18.01

On the Women’s side Willow Koerber had a clear victory with a 39:57.55 followed a few minutes back by Sharon Hill and then Jamie Stamps.  For complete results from all classes go here

Huge thanks go out to Simon @ Fluidride.  Also a special thanks to SRAM for stepping in to support this race.  I think their backing is a big part of what made this years race the biggest badest one yet. Next year no crashes.

Look for the “Avid Chainless Challenge” write-up soon.

I am currently recovering from Downieville Race registration syndrome.  That is to say I feel like I just got done racing the actual race while sitting at my computer anxiously waiting to see if I won the lottery.  No that’s not quite right either.  I feel like my body just shot it’s entire race dose of adrenaline into my system at 7:59 pm tonight with no outlet but my computer keyboard, and it’s just now flushing out of my system.

Last year the race sold out in about 3 minutes for the Pro category.

The race registration process really condenses a whole year of race tweaking, strategizing, and stressing into a truly anxious couple of minutes. I was way more amped up for registration than I think I’ve ever actually felt at the starting line of any race.  Ever. Maybe it’s because in my mind I see roughly one million other racers who are, at that exact moment in time, scattered across the country, also tensely crouched over their computers hoping to type fast enough to obtain one of the coveted 200 spots for the All mountain category.   Maybe it’s because I know it has nothing to do with my speed as a rider and everything to do with my speed as a typist.  And those two things are in a direct inverse proportion of each other. It will probably take me longer to finish this post than it will take me to finish the race in July.

My wife came in and coached me through the process. As if I was a passenger trying to land a commercial airliner after the pilot died.  As if I was sent in to defuse a bomb and told to cut the red..no! green wire.  She stood over my shoulder and calmly reminded me to check the box that said I was over 13 years of age(that one put at least 20 seconds on my reg time last year) and to check the other box ( I don’t remember what it was for).  I won’t say she kept me sane during those 2 minutes.. Because I was an absolute nutbar.  I felt like the Scrat from “Ice Age” freakin’ out about his acorn.

When it was done I found myself in the kitchen, flushed with improperly dosed adrenalin, almost shaky with it.  My wife smiling and looking at me like I’m nuts.  I am.  But I’ve got my pain ticket reserved.  I’m gonna race D-ville again!  The obsession continues.

I did go for one ride and I made sure to hurt myself good in that hour of blissful headwind.

Some new developements have cropped up to totally shoot down the “only riding one bike for the season idea” and I couldn’t be more excited.   I can’t talk about them yet and that makes it even cooler.  Mmm yes secret stuff.  Now aren’t you curious.  Yeah I didn’t put a question mark after curious because I figure it’s more of a statement than a question.

And wouldn’t you know it…Every time I’m out riding any one of my bikes I spend a decent portion of the ride thinking about–Oooh I wish I had my DH bike for that section–and then man my HT would have been just perfect for that last 200yd section–I could have gone like 3 seconds faster through the last mile if I’d just had my ” ?bike”.  I think you see where this is going.  It’s not just the bikes either next you start thinking about different tires for different corners and if you could somehow magically grow & shrink your bars for certain trails.  Next thing you’ll be wishing you had a riding kit that magically turned into a skinsuit when no one was around to see it & then back to hip moto baggies for the photo ops.  It’s a sickness really. If any of that rings a bell then you’re probably a bit of a weight weinie too–like me.  Be honest. If you’re not like that then you can stop reading now knowing you are a more balance person than I. I however am spoiled by it all.

So after thinking on all this I started thinking about when I first started racing.  I had a bike.  As in one bike.  And I raced everything on it.  DH, DS, XC, hillclimbs, and it was my road bike too.  It was a simple time and I knew no better.  I don’t think anyone did really,..except for those of you who had a road bike too–you knew better.  It was just what you did in a time when most suspension forks had as much horizontal travel as they had vertical travel.  Not to mention rear suspension was still considered suspect by the general mtn biking population then. Yes I am 33 years old.

And then I thought “well bikes are way better than they were back then, why don’t I challenge myself to race every event I enter this year on one bike like in the beginning”.  Hmm why don’t I?  Every Pro DH, DS, Super-d, XC, (cyclocross?!) on one bike.  It’s doable.  I’d get my butt kicked at most of those race types simply by not being on the perfect race weapon. Especially when getting your butt kicked in a gravity race is usually a matter of seconds. Sometimes like seven seconds. But I bet I’d still beat a lot of people.  They wouldn’t like that.  That is what racing is all about right? Proving your physical prowess over others. Those of you who are currently saying “no it’s about  joy & camaraderie & teamwork”—I already told you to stop reading like two paragraphs ago–Here’s a link now stay there.

There is a certain kind of masochistic allure to it.  Last year I was shall we say “extreme” about my diet, and I’m not doing that this year so maybe that side of me is just looking for a new torturous outlet.  Still though there’s something attractively simple and bad-ass about the idea.  While I hate not winning I also really like this idea of the one bike.  No excuses for a season.  NO thinking about if only I had such & such bike for this or that.  Just—I’m here, I’ve got my bike, and I’m gonna rip it as best I can.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not about to get rid of the quiver ( refer to paragraph one). Just because I’m spoiled by them doesn’t mean I don’t still love my toys. It’s just an idea right now.

The reason for my lapse is that I’ve had other stuff happening–so there. Like having a son. To the 2 or 3 of the 6 or 8 of you reading this now who have had kids you will know that it is the most amazing, beautiful, inspiring, awesome (in the purest sense of the term) truly valuable,….time consuming thing, you could ever do with your life on earth.

However. I’m going to make a promise to post at least once a week from now on. Those of you who have blogs & post multiple times a week, or day, will think this to be a Pansie promise. OK. It feels like a pretty big commitment to me.

In closing I present you a picture of my son Ripley Riddle

Cute-as-a-bug!

 http://kdrv.com/sports/30263 

Before the action I’ve got to give everyone a little back story here so that you can fully appreciate the obsession that Downieville can create and also to know why I’m so happy right now. I mean what else could drive a normally sane person to give up alcohol (no weird vegetarian rules here–ALL ALCOHOL) refined sugar, coffee, and make about one meal a day cottage cheese for seven and a half months–thats 7 1/2 . My co-workers thought I was crazy, my Wife,…well she knows me. I’m doing interval work outs to my Downieville helmet cam footage all winter long. Hello obsession we’ve got to go to work now.

Then Lars, Phil, & I stop by Weir’s pump track on the way back from the Sea Otter this year and inspired by Lars’ truly Jedi ninja warrior pump track skills I go off & break my navicular scafoid (Wrist bone that is the slowest healing bone in the human body–no joke). Doc say’s elbow to knuckles cast 6-12 weeks. I think it’s going to be 6 but yeeha it basically takes the full 12. This whole time the the motivational hamster in my brain is going nutty for some real riding.

Now it’s Thursday before Friday before Downieville XC Saturday & DH Sunday and I finally get my cast off. 2 days before the race I finally get my cast off and look at my arm. Now my arms aren’t much bigger than a dogs legs anyway but the cast arm now looks like it belongs to an albino featherless chicken. Or Mr Burns on a good day “Smithers, squeeze that front brake for me” And inspires exactly that much confidence when I try to grip the bars.

Now it’s Friday and we’ve made it through all the smoke and arrived in D-ville, in all the smoke, and I hitch a ride up to the DH start to get a practice run in (something I will later realize was the stupidest thing I do all weekend unless you count the fact that I raced). At the start line I take a moment to reflect on my Doc’s parting words yesterday “It’s mostly better but if you crash on it you will re-break it…What?…Yes even with the brace”,& then I pedal off onto my first dirt in 3 months. I spend the next 46min in..well pain. Hand pain mostly. I’ve got my sweet CTi Carbon fiber wrist brace to help support my 15% range of motion in my wrist but I totally forgot about the fact that the skin on my hand has gone back to babies butt soft. I end up with a constellation of blisters on my palm and it soon eclipses the pain from my wrist itself.

Now it’s Saturday morning. I spray liquid skin on my palm, Moleskin over that, & athletic tape over that & make my way to the start of the XC race. I figure I can at least race the first uphill section and if I have to pull out somewhere on the DH section then so be it. There are 800 racers this year. New record attendance. After the start gun roughly half those racers blast past me on their way to eventual inevitable grim implosion. I’m pedaling along next to Miles Rockwell, Brian Lopes, & Greg Herbold and Brian says it best “See you guys later”. I smile because I know these people wizzing by in the first mile have no clue what they’re in for. I wait a polite moment & then head off on my own pace and steadily pick people off during the almost hour long climb. Then there’s the descent. All I’ll say about the descent is that it share’s a big part of the DH course and the part it doesn’t share is perhaps even more rough than the DH course itself. I whined like a six year old all the way down, But I didn’t see a single person the whole way down so maybe I didn’t make a sound after all. I caught & passed some more people on the flats & false flats leading back to the finish & eventually ended up in 10th in the XC All mtn Pro class. Stoked about that!! Everything from this point on was gravy or icing. Ross Schnell won the XC in a flat out killin’ it new course record kind of way. Jason Moeschler got 2nd, and Weir got 3rd. I think Lopes was somewhere in the top 20 and Rockwell somewhere in the top 30 but I’m not sure about those.

Now It’s Sunday morning and I get real pro active about those blisters. 3 layers liquid skin, moleskin, duct tape, boot foam to try to space the blistered area off the bar a bit, then another layer of duct tape, followed by an Ibuprofen. Then it’s off to the races as they say. I had the honor of going 3rd off the line based on my 3rd place from last year. Let’s just say the Doc’s words went through my mind a few more times as I sat at the start line. I watched Weir take off, Jason, & then all too soon I was cued up & on the course.

I was a bit cautious…3 months prior it was my goal to win the DH…and lining up to the start I no longer had any expectations at all. I kept thinking I would see Jergen Beneke’s ghost catching me–#4 off the line. The slower technical turny bumpy stuff is what bothered my wrist/hand/pain-claw the most & the high speed open stuff was pretty OK. I started seeing dust near the bottom of Butcher & then turning off the bridge & starting the climb I saw someone in a WTB jersey just getting ready to turn the corner. Didn’t see Jason again until the finish. After the climb there’s a super fast section of wide open 40mph stuff with 25-30ft floaters–Fun stuff. And then you pedal, and pedal, little tiny downhill shred’n about here, and pedal, a lil’ bile here, and pedal, and then finally you’re done.

After I caught my breath at the finish line - things were looking pretty good indeed. There was a buzz going on. the gap between Jason Moeschler & myself was very small & no-one as yet knew in whose favor it was. We had both posted times about a minute and a half faster than last year’s times. Weir hadn’t come through yet and he was first off the line. Jergen was well off the pace–A bad mechanical like Weir–we later found out. Rockwell & Lopes came through with good times but not faster. A bunch of others but none closer. Then Ross Schnell…Damn him. Seat set at XC height..XTR Dual control shifters…little blood on him…had to pass 9 racers—–Killed us. about a minute faster. Psst…Let’s not tell him about Gravity Dropper Seatposts..MmmKay? I don’t care though..I am SO Stoked with 3rd! and damn happy with the chance to share the podium with legends like Rockwell & Lopes
When the dust settled the DH ended up;

1 Ross Schnell 44:35

2 Jason Moeschler 45:27

3 Nathan Riddle 45:38

4 Miles Rockwell 47:04

5 Brian Lopes 47:23

In the All mtn overall results I ended up 6th….

A huge thanks out to Simon & Fluidride for all the support to help make it happen. Big thanks also to all the Team Sponsors. Huge Huge thanks to my wife Wendy for carting me to and fro Downieville all weekend. Huge thanks to the people of Downieville for letting us overrun their territory for the better part of a week.

I figure in about another month I’ll start scheming & obsessing over next years Downieville.

1st step; Get yourself a set of the Shimano XT M771 or M761 “big gear” cranks. They are different from the regular XT cranks in that they come equipped with a 48/36/26t chainring combo and a slightly longer spindle–thats the important part– to accommodate the extra frame clearance these rings would need. They are available in 165mm, 170mm,175mm,and 180’s too I think. Here’s the tricky part. They’re really hard to find in the States. If you’re a shop rat you may be able to get a set of these cranks through BTI, where I got mine, or S.A.C. (Shimano America Corporation). These cranks were designed as “trekking” or “touring ” cranks and are very popular over in Europe.

Now that you’ve gotten your cranks the modifications begin.

Remove the little black plastic spacer that sits on the bb spindle all the way up against the back side of the drive side crank arm.

If you’re using a chain guide of any kind, or your bike has ISCG tabs (which I’m pretty sure you’ve said yes to at least one of the above if you have a bike with an 83mm shell) Get out the hack saw–This part sucks cause you’re gonna do things that can’t be taken back. Ok deep breath–Exhale. Cut off all 4 of your new granny ring posts as flush as you can against the spider. Don’t of course cut off, or in any way damage, the part of the spider that you will be bolting your middle or big ring to. When cutting off the granny ring posts be careful not to hack into you’re bb spindle–I found that using the little dust boot that goes in between the bb cups worked quite well as a guard. It should be pretty obvious before you tackle this step that you will never again be able to use this crankset as a triple setup or run any chainring on it smaller than 32t.

Now use a file and try to file those hacked off granny ring nubs as flush with the rest of the spider as you can. You’ll have to believe me that every mm in this process counts so don’t skimp on this step. Again you can use the same bb cup dust shield as a bb spindle guard so you don’t nick the spindle.

Now that you’ve got everything cut & filed down. It’s time to start assembly. Oh and if at some point in this process you happen to face your bb shell down to say 82mm all the better. No spacers anywhere in the system. BB cups thread into frame– no spacers. No dust shield/spacer between the cups on the inside of the BB shell–It won’t fit (that’s why it doesn’t matter if you narf’d it up with the hack saw or file). I have an E-13 LG-1 chainguide bolted up to my ISCG tabs with no spacers in between the ISCG tabs & the “boomerang”. If you are using an E-13 like me you will have to bolt your single chainring on in the “big ring” position. If you are using a 36t or smaller ring you may have to trim the inner “cage” of the top guide for clearance with the tops of the spider as it revolves.

If you follow all of the above steps you shouldn’t have to take your cranks on and off 20 times like I did in this process. The spacing & spindle/crank overlap worked out perfectly. When all was said & done I ended up knocking about 3/4 lb off my bike, getting a great chainline, and getting better cornering clearance due to the lower Q-factor of this set-up. Saint cranks w/ single ring & BB 1030 grams vs. XT M771 w/ single ring & BB 730 grams. These cranks are listed as 900 grams w/bb but the difference between the 3 rings I pulled off and the single one I put back on was right around 200 grams.

Or you can just wait for the new Saint cranks to come out which are reported to be about 100 grams lighter than previous Saint cranks. My way’s still a couple hundred grams lighter though(give or take). And definitely a little narrower in the ‘ol Q factor. But, arguably not quite as strong and subjectively maybe not as cool looking.