2020 Trek Fuel EX 9.8 Review - First Impressions

Around the Rock - 154 Miles Around the Tetons - Bike Check and Recap

Around the Rock 2019 - 154 miles in heaven

Admittedly I haven't been in every clime and place this planet has to offer. So I may be a bit arrogant to say this but I'm fairly certain there's no place on Earth quite as spectacular as the Tetons.

Around the Rock is a 154 mile mixed surface, self supported adventure ride held every June. Organized by Fitzgerald's bike shop in Victor Idaho, it requires no entry fee and isn't even considered a race. 50% of the route is on gravel with the rest on pavement and includes 8800 ish ft of climbing. Think of it as a one day bikepacking race. (Though some do it in two)

I've known about the ride for a few years and always thought it was a bit insane. I just couldnt see the appeal of riding more than 100 miles in a day.

Thanks to friends like Austin Gregerson one thing led to another and I found myself bundled up in front of Fitzys waiting for the ride to start this last Saturday.

As the ride started out I was honestly unsure of how the day would go. I haven't been doing much endurance training and the 82 mile gravel race I had done two weeks prior really beat me up.

I took the pace extremely easy and made my way through the flat and smooth gravel roads on the west side of the Tetons. The weather was cold but sunny, and I quickly found myself removing warming layers. Thankfully it never got hot enough to remove my long sleeve shirt.

The climbing really started after turning off of the Ashton-Tetonia rail trail and this is also where some of the rougher parts of the course became aparent. With steep decents and rocks a plenty I found myself airborne more than once as the smoothest line was often over the top of a 12" boulder. I felt grateful to be rocking my 29x2" mountain bike tires after I passed not one but two people with serious tire/wheel damage in this section waiting for rides home.

Despite the physical challege and looming storm, I really did enjoy Flagg Ranch rd. The scenery was next level, the gravel was spectacular, and the wild life was also pretty entertaining. At one point a deer jumped out of the woods and ran a long just 5 to 10 feet in front of me before disappearing back into the forest.

I rode mostly by myself through this section until I started catching other riders after several long climbs. We all rode our own pace and so ended up leap frogging eachother several times. I actually welcomed the company as it meant having a run in with a bear would be much less likely. (And also these riders were a pretty rad bunch)

6 or 8 miles before Flagg Ranch I hit my lowest point. As we had gained elevation the temperature started to drop, then as storms rolled in overhead it dropped even more. Add that to the fatigue of the ride and the cold I had been fighting and suddenly I began to feel chilled, achy, and just slow overall. It also didn't help that the added weight of the trail helmet I had worn that day was doing a number on my neck. I pulled over, put my vest back on, donned my warm gloves, ate some snacks and pressed on.

The last couple miles descending to Flagg Ranch were the some of the roughest, loosest and most washboarded of the entire ride.

At Flagg Ranch I met back up with Austin and Boyd.  I quickly purchased supplies ie a cinnamon roll, jerky, Dr Pepper and gatorade. I ate half the cinnamon roll and then refilled all 3 of my bottles with the Dr Pepper/Gatorade mixture before setting off again.

Thankfully once you leave Flagg Ranch the most difficult parts of the ride are over (with one exception). The gravel is basically done and as much fun as gravel riding is, there is no mistaking how much slower it is than a paved road. Plus most of the climbing is over too so in terms of effort Flagg Ranch is a lot farther than halfway as the mileage would suggest.

We rolled through the park at a zippy 18 to 25mph thanks to great roads and a slight tailwind. In terms of scenery there arent many paved roads in the world with the scenery of the park road in Grand Teton National Park. Even better it has a nice wide shoulder the entire way to Jenny Lake and from there it has a separated bike path.

Getting to Wilson is accomplished by turning off the main Park road and on to the Moose-Wilson corridor road. This section has the last bit of gravel for the ride with a 1.5 mile section that, apart from a few potholes didn't give us much grief. This road is quite narrow and certainly carries it's risk with motor vehicles. It is also quite popular with wildlife. We saw a moose along the way but when the berries are ripe theres a pretty good chance you'll see a bear or two.

Once in Wilson we were faced with climbing the infamous Teton Pass. On the one hand we were almost done but on the other we had to climb the most monstrous bike path I think Ive ever seen. A 5.6 mile climb that gains 2200ft of elevation definitely had me wanting for some lower gears. This is by far the hardest part of the ride especially considering that it starts at mile 136. Honestly I wasn't too bothered. I rode most of it and walked when my knees felt too tight. It was crazy hard but mentally I was fine.

It was freezing at the top of the pass so I zipped my vest back up, put my gloves and sun glasses back on and got ready to drop in.

I gave Austin about a 1 minute head start and Boyd had climbed the pass quicker than us so he was long gone. I knew the quicker I got down the quicker I'd be warm. It's easy to go fast coming down the pass but I tried to play it safe, mid thirties through the corners and mid 40s down the straights. I caught Austin right before the road started to mellow out a little bit and we rode together from there.

About two miles from the finish I was sitting behind Austin who was coasting and feeling like I was going to freeze to death. I took off pedaling at a hard tempo just trying to warm up. Unfortunately I missed the final turn and rode about a quarter mile too far down the highway. Luckily the ride organizers saw me do this and adjusted my time accordingly.

We finished 154miles in 13.5 hours and I honestly felt pretty great. I was really cold at the end and my stomach was shutting down but otherwise I felt solid. There's just something about getting on your bike in the morning and literally just riding all day. Ill definitely be back next year if I can.

Sidewinder - Why is it so popular? - Local MTB Trails

Trek Remedy 8 First Impressions Review / 2019

Several weeks ago I gave you guys the first look at my new Trek Remedy 8 and after about 100 miles on the bike and a couple of solid trail rides I'm ready to give you guys my first impressions on how this bike performs.

The Trek Remedy 8 if you're not familiar is an all mountain trail bike with 160mm of travel in the front, 150mm in the back, 27.5" wheels 2.6" tires and 455mm of reach in a size large.

I really like this bike guys.

So let's start off with a few big highlights.

This bike is highly nimble, and very well balanced. The handling is very predictable and the bike as a whole is highly capable. This thing is so much fun

Let's hit on a few things

Climbing. The Remedy is a very capable climber, I've taken it up long shallow climbs, long steep climbs and short techy climbs (like stair cases). Sure it doesn't surge ahead like a light XC bike but it is acceptably efficient even in that environment. On techy climbs the suspension and the tires provide great traction, the front wheel doesn't wander and it's nimbleness really helps it around corners. I've also run it in the open setting on the steepest climbs and I've found the pedal platform to be very good.

Downhill No the Remedy is no the longest biggest 29 enduro rig on the market. It has smaller wheels, the geometry is more conservative and so it shouldn't be as stable as those bigger bikes. It's probably not but I have yet to find a situation where it felt unstable. What stands out the most though is the way this bike corners. At no time have I ever felt that the Remedy was out of my control, it's cornering ability is really outstanding. The effort it takes to get in and out of turns is really minimal and the Remedy's slow speed handling is really to be commended.

The biggest benefit I have found in the Remedy's handling is that trail features that are honestly a bit scary for me are less intimidating than they would be on other bikes. If I have to let go of the brakes and trust the bike to do it's job it absolutely gets the job done. On the flip side of this, the bike's smaller size and sharper handling means that it's easier to get on and off of the bike in balancy situations and it's also easier to make line changes whenever I need to. Front and rear end traction is also very intuitive to achieve. I don't really have to think about keeping my weight balanced over both wheels. It just happens naturally and I can focus on just riding the trail.

The Spec I talked about the Knockblok in my first look video and while given the choice I would still rather not have it I almost didn't include it in this review because I honestly forgot about it. I can't find anyway to hit it no matter how tight the corner is so for me it's a complete non issue.

The suspension hasn't raised any complaints. The stuff from Rockshox is very smooth these days and both the shock and the fork firm up very well if you want them to.

The Guide R brakes are certainly not as powerful as codes but they have wonderful modulation and I have yet to have an issue with them.

The GX eagle drive train is really beyond reproach. The range is amazing. The 10-42 section is really all you need but having that 50 tooth low gear is really really nice on the big climbs and the 32tooth chain ring was a great choice in my opinion. Shifting is smooth an crisp, I really wouldn't want to run anything else.

A few changes I've made. I swapped the grips to the Ergon GD1s, I swapped out the black fork decals for Orange ones, I swapped in my ergon saddle and I put a mucky nutz fender on the fork.  I've also been switching between flat and clipless pedals depending on the type of ride I am going on. The tires have been just fine but I'm still trying to decide if I want to upgrade them.

As always I will be doing a follow up regarding longevity and other questions you all ask in the comments later on but you'll be seeing much more of this bike in the trail ride videos I have planned throughout the rest of the year.

Have fun guys

Trek Remedy 8 - Road Group Ride - Gopro Hero 7 Black Test

 Total Distance 21.3 miles. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take the Gopro Hero 7 Black for a spin when the shop I work for bought one. After this test I think I'll definitely be getting one.


We didn't mess with much, set it at 1080p 6fps, left the audio on auto, strapped it to the Chesty and took off. Once I get one for myself I'll definitely be messing with the settings a bit more to fine tune everything and I'll be getting a wind sock for the mics! But this is definitely a set up I can get along with.

I originally planned to tell some sort of story with this footage before I set out to film it but after getting dropped from the group earlier than expected on my Trek Remedy 8 full suspension trail bike I decided it made more sense to just showcase the go pro footage for those who are interested.

Why am I riding a full suspension 32lb enduro bike on a road group ride? Because it's fun! I have taken everything from the 920 to both Trek Staches to even my fat bike on the group ride with pretty good success. Getting dropped so quickly (20min) wasn't so much the fault of the bike but the route and weather. We had a headwind, heading up a long slight grade and to make matters worse those on the front were pushing the pace past 22mph a little too early for me. I'll have to take it out again in the fall. For the rest of the summer I'll take the Trek Checkpoint (like I did the previous week).

When I get my own I will definitely try to take it on much more interesting rides but the hypersmooth stabilization and overall image quality really blew me away and I think it will do a great job for my purposes. I've heard about issues with low light and obviously the audio can be a bit finicky but I think I can work around those things with the benefits far outweighing the cons.

Bontrager Wavecel Blaze - First Impressions review

Who else is excited for the helmet battles of 2019?

https://wavecel.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/ - This will take you to Bontrager's Wavecel information page, from here you can download the pdf version of the study they are making their marketing claims off of.



https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycle-helmet-ratings.html - This is the Virginia Tech Bicycle Helmet Ratings list. All Wavecel helmets receive a 5 star rating with the Wavecel Specter taking top honors. Interesting to note that several other MIPS helmets scored as high or higher than the other Wavecel helmets on the list.



https://www.pinkbike.com/news/mips-says-wavecel-performance-falls-far-below-bontrager-claims.html - An interesting read, with no data from MIPS so far I'm not sure what can really be taken from this but it sounds like more information is on its way.

There are many facets to safety in cycling. As mountain bikers, gravel cyclists, roadies and commuters we aren't going to give up what we love doing and I think we all have to accept a certain level of risk each time we jump on our bikes. If anything can increase the chances that we can keep enjoying a high quality of life for longer then that is a piece of tech worth checking out.



Trek/Bontrager's Wavecel Technology makes a lot of promises but how are the helmets in real life? So far my impressions of this Bontrager Blaze are good and I have been very impressed with the Specter as well. I don't think they they fit or function distinctly better than other helmets in their price range but they are at least on par. I'll post additional thoughts as I come across them.



If these helmets are outside of your price range or you can't get on with the fit, looks or slight weight increase then MIPS is a great option. If you read the study you'll see that in many scenarios it actually performed very well.



The ventilation feels slightly different than other helmets but in the cool weather we are experiencing now it has been very hard to tell any difference. Wavecel is a very airy material in person. That said I will have more thoughts in the summer. I do think that it performs much better than Smith's Koroyd material.

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