During my week of rest I was working doing some physical therapy and got a call that the back door on our house was kicked in and the alarm was going off. Someone had broken in, but thankfully it all turned out well. I was expecting to have a bunch of things stolen like when someone broke into our old house in Clarksville a few years ago, but we came out good this time. They tossed our bed and went through some drawers, but we could not tell that anything had been taken. All the main things were there. My theory is that they did a smash and grab job because we have a super loud alarm system. I had it set with a 30-second delay to allow us to turn it off when we come in, so I’m guessing they spent 30 seconds going through our bedroom then high-tailed it out when the alarm went off. They were really close to finding some things worth stealing, but in their rush they passed right over them. I do make an effort to hide most of our things from plain view and it paid off for this type of burglar.
The following day, Shannon got a call from a guy near Clarksville that found a purse with her name in it. It turns out that something was taken from the house. On their way out the door, the burglar grabbed what appeared to be a purse, but was Shannon’s church bag where she keeps her scriptures, choir materials and nursery lessons. I bet they were very disappointed when they opened that bag and found a Bible instead of cash and credit cards! God tried to give them a sign, but I doubt they got it as the bag was found in a ditch on a backroad with everything still inside. A farmer had noticed it lying in the ditch as he was opening the gate to check on his cows. I thought it was nice that he took the time to find the owner and get it back to us.
Last time we had a break-in, it felt like we were violated. Someone was in our personal space. Really, that house never felt the same again. There was sort of a disconnect between us and the house. This time I did not feel that. This time felt like a small victory. I made a lot of adjustments after the last one, like having better hiding places for things and reinforcing doors and windows. While I did not keep the burglar out, I sure did make their life more difficult. They first tried to kick down the back kitchen door. It took quite the beating with little more than a dent to show for it. Then the person took a brick from our garden and threw it at the window of the door, but it too held up. It didn’t crack, just had a small scratch on it that I probably would not have notice had there not been shards of brick all over the back porch. The den door was where they finally got into the house. There was more room for a running start for the kick and they were able to split the door frame and knock the deadbolt out of the wood. The alarm we got after the last break-in did its job in scaring them away quickly before they could find anything valuable. This was actually a good test for all those changes I made and gives me the opportunity to better protect us in the future. We actually live in a really nice rural area, one not known for crime of any kind, but scum are everywhere and given the right opportunity they will try to steal anything.
The last weekend of March was Easter so we had a break from racing. I had been bike shopping after riding Carson’s Specialized Epic S-Works after Chickasaw. I had not even looked at Specialized as they have always been way out of my price range. But Jeremy Chambers at MOAB Bikes in Franklin insisted I give Specialized a chance. I was looking at the mid-level Epic which has a carbon main frame with an aluminum rear triangle. Jeremy felt I should at least go with carbon wheels as he felt they were far superior to aluminum wheels, which means I had to go up to the Epic Pro model. Jeremy and I are good friends so I felt he was selling me the bike I needed not the bike he wanted to sell. So I began to look at the higher models, especially after he gave me some prices and it was clear he was going to give me a lot of help. They had a 2015 S-Works Epic down at the shop that he wanted me to come look at, along with a cross bike. I had saved a lot of money over the winter and was ready to update my entire mountain bike fleet. I went to the shop with intentions of ordering an Epic of some sort, a cross bike and also an all-mountain bike to replace my worn out Remedy. I was leaning towards the Santa Cruz Bronson 27.5” for that and the Trek Boone for cross.
He may have had the S-Works Epic in stock, but I had no intentions of buying that one. For one thing, the S-Works retails for between $10,000-$12,000 depending on the build you choose. That price violates all things I stand for. I cannot stand when someone spends a ton of money on a bike they don’t need. For instance, a Cat. 3 mountain biker on a $8,000 World Cup race bike. Or a Cat. 5 road racer on Peter Sagan’s S-Works Tarmac with Di2 shifting. I know I race Pro and all, but I stand with the little guy and feel bikes are becoming way overpriced and spending $10,000 is not necessary to be competitive. Besides, I did not like the paint jobs on the S-Works bikes. If I’m going to spend that much money, I want a bike that I feel looks good.
When I got to the shop he had the bike waiting and dang if it did not look awesome! Being a 2015 model, it was different than what I had seen online. It was flat black with white decals. I love the flat black. I rode it for a while and it felt just like what I wanted. The price he offered me was significantly less than the huge price tag, but still more than I wanted to pay. I was riding it around an old cemetery in Franklin and had a few minutes of serious reflection while I was over there. I knew how hard I had been working over the past few months to commit myself to racing mountain bikes, but could I really justify this much money for a bike? After arguing with myself for a while, I just went with what felt right. My gut said get it. It was now or never. Time to go all in. Needless to say, I did not buy either of the other bikes I had planned to get since this one had such a big price tag.
The following day I had my first “new bike day” in quite a while. It was the end of the 26” era for me. I feel like I was one of the last holdouts so 26” must be close to dead for sure now. I still felt bad from the tough week of work, but I nearly broke my all-time lap record on my second lap of my backyard trail on this new bike! I didn’t even try to go fast and missed it by a handful of seconds. The next day, I did a real lap to see what I could do and shaved off 2:36, which is amazing considering I know every turn, bump and root on the trail. There are a few sections that I was sure I was going as fast as the trail would allow, but now I am going faster.
All my fears of moving to the bigger wheels were destroyed in just over 23 minutes. Handling was not slower in tight singletrack and the bike wasn’t too fragile to jump. The longer wheel base felt a lot like my Remedy. Riding so much on a 6”-travel bike finally paid off. It made the transition much easier. I was very impressed with how well the Epic jumps. It does not jump up, but rather forward. On my first trip over our wooden table top that I usually clear with some effort, I jumped over the whole thing, downside and all. The suspension rebounds you forward. For those of you familiar with dirt bikes, I would compare the handling and jumping ability of this bike to the difference between an enduro bike built to go on the road and trails with a bike set up for motocross. It’s like a rocket compared to my other bikes. I can scrub jumps more easily and have more of the need to scrub due to carrying more speed over all obstacles.
I had a Brain shock when they first came out in 2004 and did not like the inconsistency that came with it being slow to open the Brain valve when on smoother trails with scattered roots. That is no longer an issue. I can feel the valve open sometimes on the rear shock, but it does not affect the ability to soak up the bump. The Rock Shox RS-1 inverted fork with the Brain valve is flawless. It did take me a few days to get used to hopping logs without being able to preload the fork, but thanks to all my years of riding and bunnyhopping on flat pedals, I again made the transition quickly. The bike also accelerates super quickly, probably due to a combination of carbon frame, carbon wheels and thru-axle wheel mounting, all new things to me so it’s hard to tell which one thing has made the biggest difference.
So here is my set-up for all of you techies out there. I got the 2015 Specialized S-Works Epic 29er. It has a full carbon frame with full internal cable routing. It has a Rock Shox RS-1 inverted fork up front with Brain technology inside. The rear shock is the Fox Brain with the Autosag feature. It’s built up with XTR M9000 1x11, with a 32T chainring up front and a 11-40T cassette on the rear. The new XTR rear derailleur has a clutch system that locks the derailleur in place after the wheel is mounted, which virtually eliminates chain slap and all chance of dropping your chain on a single-chainring drivetrain. This feature also allows you to be super sneaky on the trail! The bike rolls on Specialized Roval Control Carbon SL rims with a SRAM carbon front hub and Specialized Roval/DT Swiss rear hub. It came with Specialized S-Works Fast Trak tires, but those will be coming off as soon as my Maxxis rubber arrives. The build is completed by a Specialized S-Works carbon flat handlebar, Specialized lock-on grips, Syntace F109 alloy stem, S-Works carbon seatpost and Spezialized Phenom Pro saddle with carbon rails. XTR disc brakes provide the stopping power with a 180mm rotor in the front and 160mm in the rear. With my Crank Brothers Egg Beater Ti pedals mounted up, the complete bike weighs 22.8 lbs (one bottle cage and empty SWAT box). My Racer-X was 26.3 lbs. so I am shaving quite a bit of weight despite going to bigger wheels.
The bike includes the SWAT box attachment. I was not familiar with this, but it is a very cool option Specialized has added to their bikes in recent years. SWAT stands for Storage, Water, Air, Tools. Its main component is a plastic storage box that fits below the bottle cage on the down tube. The box attaches via a third bottle cage mounting bolt and a bolt to the bottom of the bottle cage itself. The SWAT box is large enough to hold a tube, inflator head and one air cartridge. There is also a small multi-tool that clips under the top tube just above the shock mount, and a chain quick link and chain breaker hidden in the top cap of the stem. Specialized’s years of racing long stage races like Cape Epic and Trans Alp are really showing in the addition of the SWAT system. I am excited to use it and eliminate the need to carry a tube and tool in my jersey pocket.
I am very grateful to many people for helping me get this bike. First off, to my wife for letting me spend a bunch of money. She has been trying to get me to buy a bike for a while now and I finally listened to her. She would let me get any bike I want, no matter the cost, if I told her I needed it. She is more trusting and more supportive than anyone will ever know. Thanks to everyone at MOAB for the help. Jeremy, Mark, Rick, Kyle, and Thad all helped me get this bike and get it set up properly. I really appreciated the few extra minutes Kyle took with me to show me the ins-and-outs of the SWAT system and the fastest way to remove wheels with the thru-axle system. Thanks again buddy! And thanks to my Dad for going to the shop with me and ultimately talking me into going for this bike. Now it's time for me to learn how to use my new weapon!
More on the new bike in the coming posts. Next up on the race schedule is Sunny King and then to Tsali for the SERC Series race, the first time I will race the new bike!
The following day, Shannon got a call from a guy near Clarksville that found a purse with her name in it. It turns out that something was taken from the house. On their way out the door, the burglar grabbed what appeared to be a purse, but was Shannon’s church bag where she keeps her scriptures, choir materials and nursery lessons. I bet they were very disappointed when they opened that bag and found a Bible instead of cash and credit cards! God tried to give them a sign, but I doubt they got it as the bag was found in a ditch on a backroad with everything still inside. A farmer had noticed it lying in the ditch as he was opening the gate to check on his cows. I thought it was nice that he took the time to find the owner and get it back to us.
Last time we had a break-in, it felt like we were violated. Someone was in our personal space. Really, that house never felt the same again. There was sort of a disconnect between us and the house. This time I did not feel that. This time felt like a small victory. I made a lot of adjustments after the last one, like having better hiding places for things and reinforcing doors and windows. While I did not keep the burglar out, I sure did make their life more difficult. They first tried to kick down the back kitchen door. It took quite the beating with little more than a dent to show for it. Then the person took a brick from our garden and threw it at the window of the door, but it too held up. It didn’t crack, just had a small scratch on it that I probably would not have notice had there not been shards of brick all over the back porch. The den door was where they finally got into the house. There was more room for a running start for the kick and they were able to split the door frame and knock the deadbolt out of the wood. The alarm we got after the last break-in did its job in scaring them away quickly before they could find anything valuable. This was actually a good test for all those changes I made and gives me the opportunity to better protect us in the future. We actually live in a really nice rural area, one not known for crime of any kind, but scum are everywhere and given the right opportunity they will try to steal anything.
The last weekend of March was Easter so we had a break from racing. I had been bike shopping after riding Carson’s Specialized Epic S-Works after Chickasaw. I had not even looked at Specialized as they have always been way out of my price range. But Jeremy Chambers at MOAB Bikes in Franklin insisted I give Specialized a chance. I was looking at the mid-level Epic which has a carbon main frame with an aluminum rear triangle. Jeremy felt I should at least go with carbon wheels as he felt they were far superior to aluminum wheels, which means I had to go up to the Epic Pro model. Jeremy and I are good friends so I felt he was selling me the bike I needed not the bike he wanted to sell. So I began to look at the higher models, especially after he gave me some prices and it was clear he was going to give me a lot of help. They had a 2015 S-Works Epic down at the shop that he wanted me to come look at, along with a cross bike. I had saved a lot of money over the winter and was ready to update my entire mountain bike fleet. I went to the shop with intentions of ordering an Epic of some sort, a cross bike and also an all-mountain bike to replace my worn out Remedy. I was leaning towards the Santa Cruz Bronson 27.5” for that and the Trek Boone for cross.
He may have had the S-Works Epic in stock, but I had no intentions of buying that one. For one thing, the S-Works retails for between $10,000-$12,000 depending on the build you choose. That price violates all things I stand for. I cannot stand when someone spends a ton of money on a bike they don’t need. For instance, a Cat. 3 mountain biker on a $8,000 World Cup race bike. Or a Cat. 5 road racer on Peter Sagan’s S-Works Tarmac with Di2 shifting. I know I race Pro and all, but I stand with the little guy and feel bikes are becoming way overpriced and spending $10,000 is not necessary to be competitive. Besides, I did not like the paint jobs on the S-Works bikes. If I’m going to spend that much money, I want a bike that I feel looks good.
When I got to the shop he had the bike waiting and dang if it did not look awesome! Being a 2015 model, it was different than what I had seen online. It was flat black with white decals. I love the flat black. I rode it for a while and it felt just like what I wanted. The price he offered me was significantly less than the huge price tag, but still more than I wanted to pay. I was riding it around an old cemetery in Franklin and had a few minutes of serious reflection while I was over there. I knew how hard I had been working over the past few months to commit myself to racing mountain bikes, but could I really justify this much money for a bike? After arguing with myself for a while, I just went with what felt right. My gut said get it. It was now or never. Time to go all in. Needless to say, I did not buy either of the other bikes I had planned to get since this one had such a big price tag.
The following day I had my first “new bike day” in quite a while. It was the end of the 26” era for me. I feel like I was one of the last holdouts so 26” must be close to dead for sure now. I still felt bad from the tough week of work, but I nearly broke my all-time lap record on my second lap of my backyard trail on this new bike! I didn’t even try to go fast and missed it by a handful of seconds. The next day, I did a real lap to see what I could do and shaved off 2:36, which is amazing considering I know every turn, bump and root on the trail. There are a few sections that I was sure I was going as fast as the trail would allow, but now I am going faster.
First day on the new bike
My parents came out to ride today too
All my fears of moving to the bigger wheels were destroyed in just over 23 minutes. Handling was not slower in tight singletrack and the bike wasn’t too fragile to jump. The longer wheel base felt a lot like my Remedy. Riding so much on a 6”-travel bike finally paid off. It made the transition much easier. I was very impressed with how well the Epic jumps. It does not jump up, but rather forward. On my first trip over our wooden table top that I usually clear with some effort, I jumped over the whole thing, downside and all. The suspension rebounds you forward. For those of you familiar with dirt bikes, I would compare the handling and jumping ability of this bike to the difference between an enduro bike built to go on the road and trails with a bike set up for motocross. It’s like a rocket compared to my other bikes. I can scrub jumps more easily and have more of the need to scrub due to carrying more speed over all obstacles.
Dad
Dina rode today as well
Mom
So here is my set-up for all of you techies out there. I got the 2015 Specialized S-Works Epic 29er. It has a full carbon frame with full internal cable routing. It has a Rock Shox RS-1 inverted fork up front with Brain technology inside. The rear shock is the Fox Brain with the Autosag feature. It’s built up with XTR M9000 1x11, with a 32T chainring up front and a 11-40T cassette on the rear. The new XTR rear derailleur has a clutch system that locks the derailleur in place after the wheel is mounted, which virtually eliminates chain slap and all chance of dropping your chain on a single-chainring drivetrain. This feature also allows you to be super sneaky on the trail! The bike rolls on Specialized Roval Control Carbon SL rims with a SRAM carbon front hub and Specialized Roval/DT Swiss rear hub. It came with Specialized S-Works Fast Trak tires, but those will be coming off as soon as my Maxxis rubber arrives. The build is completed by a Specialized S-Works carbon flat handlebar, Specialized lock-on grips, Syntace F109 alloy stem, S-Works carbon seatpost and Spezialized Phenom Pro saddle with carbon rails. XTR disc brakes provide the stopping power with a 180mm rotor in the front and 160mm in the rear. With my Crank Brothers Egg Beater Ti pedals mounted up, the complete bike weighs 22.8 lbs (one bottle cage and empty SWAT box). My Racer-X was 26.3 lbs. so I am shaving quite a bit of weight despite going to bigger wheels.
The bike includes the SWAT box attachment. I was not familiar with this, but it is a very cool option Specialized has added to their bikes in recent years. SWAT stands for Storage, Water, Air, Tools. Its main component is a plastic storage box that fits below the bottle cage on the down tube. The box attaches via a third bottle cage mounting bolt and a bolt to the bottom of the bottle cage itself. The SWAT box is large enough to hold a tube, inflator head and one air cartridge. There is also a small multi-tool that clips under the top tube just above the shock mount, and a chain quick link and chain breaker hidden in the top cap of the stem. Specialized’s years of racing long stage races like Cape Epic and Trans Alp are really showing in the addition of the SWAT system. I am excited to use it and eliminate the need to carry a tube and tool in my jersey pocket.
My new Specialized S-Works Epic 29er
Rock Show Rs-! inverted fork with the Brain inside
XTR rear derailleur with the clutch and 11sp cassette
XTR rear disc brake
Underside of the top tube with the SWAT multi-tool hidden above the shock
Quick link hidden in the stem cap. The stem cap bolt doubles as the drive for the chain breaker.
22.8 pounds on my Dad's fish scale. That's 3.5 pounds lighter than my Titus Racer-X.
I am very grateful to many people for helping me get this bike. First off, to my wife for letting me spend a bunch of money. She has been trying to get me to buy a bike for a while now and I finally listened to her. She would let me get any bike I want, no matter the cost, if I told her I needed it. She is more trusting and more supportive than anyone will ever know. Thanks to everyone at MOAB for the help. Jeremy, Mark, Rick, Kyle, and Thad all helped me get this bike and get it set up properly. I really appreciated the few extra minutes Kyle took with me to show me the ins-and-outs of the SWAT system and the fastest way to remove wheels with the thru-axle system. Thanks again buddy! And thanks to my Dad for going to the shop with me and ultimately talking me into going for this bike. Now it's time for me to learn how to use my new weapon!
More on the new bike in the coming posts. Next up on the race schedule is Sunny King and then to Tsali for the SERC Series race, the first time I will race the new bike!
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