Meet Jen's new ERIKSEN 650B HARDTAIL

My new Eriksen 650B Hardtail is finally built and ready just in time for race season. We had so much unexpected chaos this spring I wondered if all of the parts would ever come together in the same place at the same time- and almost got used to living with a dropdead gorgeous frame, seatpost and fork nested in the viewing room like another piece of fine art bicycle furniture. Pleasing to look at- completely un-rideable.

A week out from the Gunnison Growler (a race about which I am feeling particulary grouchy after going to pre-ride a few weeks ago and finding nothing but 30+ miles of moondust where I had remembered lovely sagebrush singletrack) Dave informed me the Hardtail had built up at under 21 pounds complete with bottle cages - jaw drop- and was ready for its debut.

Just to look at this bike and to touch it the artisan craftsmanship is obvious. To ride it makes it undeniable. This bike is not designed to take the rider out of the equation and does not allow for much laid back cruise time. This is a wake up and ride sort of machine. The real allure of the bike starts in the Eriksen shop in Steamboat where the conversations and laughs and scratching of the head all take place before the gents (and lady) get down to business engineering and welding and finishing the frame and seatpost imbuing it with their mastery and enthusiasm. You feel it when you touch the frame and know it when you ride it. The fork was engineered by some of our finest Grand Valley geeks, then machined and assembled just down the road at MRP/White Brothers. Not everyone loves the LOOP...I do. I love the edgy responsiveness it allows the frame to enjoy. A true XC race machine demanding you to sit up, stand up and ride.

Then there are the wheels- handbuilt here in Palisade by the BikeMaster himself late at night after work. He is a slave to detail demanding the absolute right spoke for the job at hand and choosing each nipple for the perfection of it anodization. Be assured, you cannot buy these bad boys at your online discounter.

Add to all of that some of the latest XTR 2x10 bling, with sculpted shifters and brakes and a little cra-bon for the sake of modernity and, VOILE! you have my new Hardtail Race Rig and latest art acquisition. How cool is that? I can hardly wait to get her dirty and given what I anticipate in Gunnison this weekend- it won't be long!

The TOC Cometh...

Last year we saw a great mix of talent shown in the Tour of California after a delayed start. Lead-out men beating their sprinters to the line (not without the most badass of apre-race trick sessions, mind you), solo victories on Sierra Road, and, of course, Jens Voigt yelling at us in his Germanic accent to get the hell out of the way - didn't we know there was a bike race going on?! OK, so the last one didn't exactly happen, but after a chilling hour on the top of Mt. Hamilton, we did see this famous hard man holding his own at the back of the break.

Then, in Solvang, we saw American time trial legend Dave Zabriskie rewrite the history books of the infamous course with a time of 30minutes and 35seconds, shoving the second place finisher, Levi Leipheimer, some 14seconds behind.

But ultimately, it would come down to the dynamic duo of Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner (with no small assistance from Matthew Busche and Ben King) the next afternoon on Mt. Baldy to seal the race's fate with Horner's overall win.

The course this year is taking an exciting local twist and for the first time, going up Mt. Diablo. While they're not summiting the climb, it is rather cool that after seven years it's finally being incorporated into the route. I just want it to go on record here on the greatness of the interwebz that I will be in school that day, unless of course that I start to feel a cold come on... *cough, cough*

Tune in for the fun starting Sunday via web-streaming or on Versus (NBC Sports) if you're more of a "big screen" person.