Before and After

Before

After

No good blog emphasizing fatness would be complete without Before and After photos...

In addition to the pump, bottle cages, handlebar, rim sticker removal, grips, and cog, some of you may have identified the squishy fork as a difference between the photos. 

That's a 2012 Manitou Tower Pro in 100 mm flavor with a XX-Firm Spring (Clyde Ride kit) installed. There's a lot of information out there that sometimes contradicts other information sources, sometimes references another travel or year, or is simply too long to try to comprehend in one sitting.  So here is my post to document my experience of putting the XX-Firm spring in a 100 mm travel 2012 Tower Pro.

In addition to the Manitou website (where you can download the manual as well as service guide), I consulted these sources:
twentynineinches.com 
29eronline.com
MTBR (Even though it's the print view, that link includes all the 400+ responses...ugh)

Parts, Tools, and Oils/Grease:
Manitou recommends 5WT fork oil.  I have the email from them.  They said 10WT is too thick for their shim stack.
I'm going with Motorex stuff (their carbon grease is awesome - highly recommend):
5WT Fork Oil 
5W-40 Semi-Bath Oil
Manitou Prep Grease

I also ordered one of these to measure damper oil level:  Motion Pro 08-0121 Fork Oil Level Tool. I ordered everything from Amazon.

To put an XX-Firm spring in a 100mm fork, you need the XX-Firm Spring for the 120mm fork and the pushrod from the Medium kit for the 100mm fork.  The stock fork came with Firm Spring kit.

You'll need to call Manitou, get the part numbers you need, then have your local shop call and order the part. I'm sure there's another way to do it, but I'm not going to post up to order a particular part number from PricePoint, and then later find out Manitou changed their offerings or whatever. PricePoint obviously has a relationship with Manitou, as their page is linked from the Manitou home page. Ordering the $200 tuning kit for the damper is tempting, but more tempting is to call Suspension Experts and ordering whatever pieces I need, if I get to that point.

After installation of the XX Firm spring in my fork, I noticed some play in the fork.  Basically it felt like the spring or air wasn't pushing the lowers all the way out.  A quick email to Manitou revealed that in fact I needed the pushrod from the medium kit, which they dropped in the mail free of charge.  After the new pushrod installation the play is gone and I've begun the process of tweaking the fork.

XX Firm Ride Kit for a 120mm fork

XX Firm spring on Left
Firm (Stock) spring on Right

Pushrod from Medium kit on Right
Stock (Firm kit) pushrod on Left

Oil height (5WT Fork Oil) in all Tower Pro models is 85-90mm with 87mm nominal. I'm going to max this out to 90mm to get things running a little stiffer. Oil height is listed on page 23 of the fork manual. If this plus air pressures don't get me to where I want, then I'll get into shim stack adjustments and calls to Suspension Experts. Sag settings for the 100mm are 15-20mm; I'm going for 15mm.

Semi-Bath oil goes on top of the air piston (5 mL) if you are doing MARS service. Semi-Bath oil also goes in each side of the lowers (16 mL) if you didn't keep it in the fork during service.

Tips during disassembly/assembly (Watch the video on 29eronline linked above):

Casting Removal
I had to drive the lowers all the way to the crown, bleeding off as much air as possible. This resulted in some oil getting into my shock pump. I don't think I lost too much, but that's half the reason why I bought more oil and the level tool. I haven't gotten around to checking it yet. To loosen the compression rod screw, I placed the steerer tube on a doormat, used one hand to drive the lowers to the crown, and the other hand with a ratchet to loosen the bolt. You need a way to drive the compression rod into the bottom of the lowers. Otherwise it just spins inside and you get REAL irritated. The little trick in the video didn't work for me. During all this, the fork is upside down. The oil in the lowers will stay inside. Once the lowers are free to be pulled off, I put painters masking tape over the bolt holes to hold the oil in. Then slowly slide the lowers off. I used a trash can in case the tape didn't hold.

Spring/Pushrod Replacement
Follow the Manitou Service Guide, but if you are only swapping spring and pushrod then you don't need to do anything at the crown (like removing the air cap). You can get to the spring and the pushrod from the bottom with a variety of long tools. I opted for a Craftsman Pick Up Tool, which is invaluable for correcting the combination of clumsy hands and small parts near crevices.

Castings Installation
Slowly slide the stanchions back into the lowers to get them started. Turn the fork upside down. REMOVE the tape. If you don't, you'll build pressure in the lowers and blow the tape off, probably with some oil.

A bike stand makes the whole process a lot easier and other than being pretty nervous about tearing apart a brand new fork, it is a fast and easy process.

ps I've dropped about 10 pounds so far this year.

Meltdown Report

Front Squish (Manitou Tower Pro, more on that later - the post is still in draft), 34x20
Wolverine 2.2s
     36 psi front / 38 psi rear (first 4 laps)
     33 psi front / 35 psi rear (second 4 laps, I reduced the fork pressure too)
Course condition: Very, very good.  Not enough racers to sweep the pine straw off, though.

Note the number plate placement so I can avoid scuffing up my new pretty Thomson bar. The Tower Pro is a 100mm travel, with an XX-Firm spring installed.  I've ridden it on one long ride prior to the race. There is still tweaking left to do.

Four races into the season and I've yet to begin one feeling well rested and prepared.  This time it was the splitting headache (no - alcohol was not consumed last night) that woke me up from my sleep and still lingered in the morning.  I took some Vitamin I and drank a lot of water before heading out the door.

Racing singlespeed has led me to believe that the long gravel road lead-in to an endurance race is the dumbest idea ever.  It exists not to space out the racers before entering the singletrack, but to penalize the singlespeeders for having the talent to ride one gear.  Still dealing with my headache, I took it easy on the lead-in and waited long enough until I thought the racers were spaced out enough that passing wouldn't be a complete chore.  I picked up the pace to one that was unsustainable (for me at least) and worked my way up the field for about half the lap before I settled into something more realistic.

The headache dissipated by the time I finished the first lap and I turned out 3 laps without stopping.  The only real issue going on was the bike felt too firm and my back was starting to bother me.  I know where the back issues were coming from.  Lots of stress going on and I'm tending to roll my shoulders forward.  I was having to make the conscious effort to pull my shoulders back and locked down, as well as leaning from the hips and driving my chest toward the stem instead of rolling my back.  Unfortunately, it's pretty tough to consciously focus on body position for 6 hours straight. (Anyone who has made the mistake of asking about the kettlebell workouts has heard a long-winded testimonial about how awesome James Wilson and his programs are.) At the end of the third lap I grabbed more bottles, took some more Vitamin I, and set back out.

Sometime during the first half of the fourth lap, someone jammed a screwdriver through my spine.

Well, maybe it wasn't that bad, but I decided that I needed to take an extended break at the end of the lap to try to soften the bike up and maybe stretch the back out.  I let some air out of everything and grabbed some Biofreeze for my back.  I have a tube of Biofreeze and even carry a single-use packet on the long mountain rides.  It's awesome; similar to Icy-Hot, but better, tingly, and it smells minty versus like medicine.

I got going again and the Biofreeze and Vitamin I started working.  The bike felt better and I turned in laps 5 and 6 without stopping.  After lap 6, I grabbed the last of my bottles and ate a PBJ. Pulled out of my pit with an hour before the cut-off time knowing I'd make it in time to pull an 8th lap, which I did.

I believe I did the 8 laps (apparently ~54 miles) in 5:54, or so I'm inclined to believe when someone said I had 6 minutes to spare.  From what I understand, I was 3rd, but the singlespeed field was fairly small.  I'm more interested in seeing my splits, knowing lap 5 should be a good 10-15 minutes long.  Bob Moss turned in 10 laps, and Jeremy Morgan turned in 9 laps.  MAYBE if I didn't have the headache and the back issues, I would've gotten in a 9th lap.  It's still pretty unlikely that I would've kept up with Jeremy though.

I've given up on Strava for now.  I wasn't about to carry my phone around so it could log the same loop 8 times.  I am anxiously waiting for the Cateye Stealth 50 to come out (supposedly May). It's half the price of a Garmin 500 and still has GPS and ANT+ capability.  I just want the GPS to log the ride, so I don't need the mapping functions.

Beaverdam and New Light Challenge Report

Full rigid, 34x20
Wolverine 2.2s, 36 psi front / 38 psi rear (typical trail for me)
Course condition: Decent

This is how I spent my day prior to the race.  8 cubic yards of mulch spread in the flower beds, including making a new flower bed.  I also dug about 10 feet worth of border rock from the backyard (actually all the border rock is from the backyard, but I didn't do it in one day).  I forgot to take a picture of my bike either before or after the race.  I know someone took my picture at three different places along the course, but I haven't seen those to steal one.

This time around I lined up a little more towards the front to try to get into the woods in a better position.  Upon seeing this, Jeff "Bionic Man" D. questioned why his Double Dare partner wasn't lined up at the front.  I resisted the temptation to scoot up a little and get in the midst of company of which I don't belong.

I hit the trail with the mindset of hammering for the first 5 miles and then resting on the road. Immediately I realized that Kelly wasn't kidding when he said that Beaverdam was rougher on the rigid fork. Still I held on to the acceptable pace before finally getting jammed up behind two geared riders that downshifted too much.  I managed to run up the trail and not let the 10 or so people that also got jammed up to not pass me.  Soon after I found an acceptable place to let the 5 people that I was slowing down to get by me, but not before I got by the 2 geared guys.  The trail was rattling my fillings out and I was holding on with a death grip.  Both hands had gone numb.  I rang my bell once instead of braking and apologized to the guy in front of me for not knowing what I was doing.

I hit the road portion and spun as fast as my tired legs could go.  There was a guy a couple hundred yards in front of me turning 32x20 and I wasn't making up any ground.  I began to question my pre-race day activities.  I began to wonder if my nutrition plan of running bottles for a 4 hour race was a good idea.  A paceline blew past me at 20+ mph, with Steve (race director) calling out to try to hold on if I could.  I think I heard someone else snicker.  I resigned that this would just be a ride and not a race.

I entered New Light and saw Vanessa (Kelly's wife) who asked how I was doing.  "Horrible," was all I got out.  Shortly after that I think my body starting realizing that we were an hour or so into a race and it started to act like it.  I picked off all those guys that passed me in the paceline.  I also got a song stuck in my head.

I don't know where this stuff comes from.

Thankfully that song got replaced by another, but since I don't know the words, it was only a section.

I don't think this was any better.

Either I held a better pace on the way back, or everyone else got slower.  Only three people picked me off on the road and one was Steve right before we turned into the Beaverdam entrance. Steve made the mistake of stopping at the drop before entering the South Loop.  With half a bottle of electrolyte left, I knew that I could skip the bottle I left at the drop and make up some more time on the loop.

Or half of the loop.

When I hit the wall, I hit it hard.  After I stopped crying, I ate the ProBar and Honey Stinger I had, hoping for miraculous instantaneous energy.  It didn't work.

I pushed in several sections that I shouldn't need to push the bike.  I did however, clean the rock garden.  I think it was pride.  Tears of joy streamed down my face when I saw the exit of the South Loop and my full water bottle.  I chugged the whole thing on the way to the finish line.

My goal for the race was 3:45.  I did a 3:50.  15 minutes behind second place SS, and missing the podium by 8 minutes.  At least the pizza was hot when I finished.  Not the case for the Storm Endurance...

I also found out that Strava doesn't record the race if you never push start.  I guess the smartphone isn't so smart after all.

Bushwhack Race Report

Full rigid, 34x20
Wolverine 2.2s, 38 psi front / 40 psi rear
Course condition: Pristine (Note post race bike condition)

For my second race of the season, I decided that I'd treat it purely as a conditioning test ride (especially considering I was coming off a week of working in NYC and came home to a sick wife and kid).  I need to see what it's going to be like to pedal a SS for long periods of time.  For this reason I also left the 34x20 gearing alone assuming I'd need to pedal this gear on some of the long races this summer.  I came to regret this...again.  I did run a slightly higher pressure than normal to roll a little better through Umstead.

Learning my lesson the previous week, I spun my legs quickly trying to get into the woods a little sooner to avoid having to pass as many people.  I tried to balance this and avoid blowing up at the beginning of the race. I dropped into my groove and worked steadily through the trail, picking off people at my leisure.  I caught up to Nate, who I have always regarded as a better rider than me (though not THAT much better, but better nonetheless). I was feeling pretty good about myself until I realized that Nate was jammed up behind about 10 riders.  I announced that I was going to take the whole group and asked if he wanted to go too.  It probably took us a mile to get by everyone, including Mr Appalachian State jersey guy that was leading the whole thing and apparently couldn't hear me asking to pass.  (Apparently the 3 or 4 people behind him had decided not to pass either, which is why we were all jammed up in the first place.)

Once we cleared the group, Nate settled in behind me and we spun through the rest of Crabtree without incident or the need to pass anyone.  We hit the road to Umstead and for some reason Nate pulled away from me with ease, even though we were both on singlespeeds.  I never saw him again.

Actually, no.  I did see him again, at the very end.

Umstead started out okay, but about halfway through I couldn't keep my speed up on the climbs and had to get out of the saddle and rock the bike up the hill.  Mr Appalachian State jersey guy passed me.  Then a girl passed me.  Then I got pissed.  I knew I'd eventually catch App State guy on the trail, but the girl looked strong and I didn't want my friends to see me come in laboring to keep up with the girl that looked like she was just out for a cruise.  I struggled to keep my speed up in Umstead and watched both of them turn into tiny dots up ahead.

I finally hit the singletrack. Just like the previous week I started picking off people that passed me on the road.  I started reeling in the girl.  I was stronger on the steeper/tighter trail (if you can call any part of Crabtree that), but she was still cruising pretty good on the smoother flat sections.  Then she stopped and took a drink of water.  I don't know why.  Maybe she heard me panting behind her.  Oh well.  I kept my speed up and continued working the trail and rolled up on Mr App State. Hah! At that point all I cared about was getting out of the trail with enough of a lead on him so that he wouldn't catch me on the last bit of road.

I hit the asphalt and spun my legs as fast as they would go.  About halfway through the asphalt section, Nate drove by me with his bike loaded up on his car.  He looked well rested as if he had finished the race some time ago.  I waived.

I did the course in 2:51.  James will probably point out that he did it in 2:29.  I did hold off both Mr App State and the girl.  I also didn't unclip for the entire duration of the ride, even when I started crying on some of the Umstead hills.

Storm Endurance Race Report

Full rigid, 34x20
Wolverine 2.2s, 40 psi front / 45 psi rear
Course condition: see photo

For my first race of the season, I decided that I'd treat it purely as a conditioning test ride.  I need to see what it's going to be like to pedal a SS for long periods of time.  For this reason I also left the 34x20 gearing alone assuming I'd need to pedal this gear on some of the long races this summer.  I came to regret this.  The only thing I did do differently is run a higher pressure than normal to roll a little better on the road.

The previous evening's adventure at the bar was a mistake and I wasn't feeling in tip top shape.  I decided to take it easy on the start.  I came to regret this too as I'm quickly learning that I ride the singlespeed faster than the geared bike on the trail.  I managed to pick off a few people on the trail and maintained traction on most of the trail in spite of conditions.

I hit the road feeling fresh and was spinning a ridiculous cadence.  I settled into a more realistic pace and held my own on the slush and ice covered gravel roads.  Once I hit asphalt nothing really changed for me.  For all the other riders on their fancy geared bikes, they quickly upshifted and passed me with ease.  This was pretty frustrating for me knowing that I was going to have to pass them again on the sloppy singletrack while they had the benefit of a leisurely pass on the road.

Near the end of the road portion I was starting to pick off the people that went out too fast, regardless of asphalt or gravel.  One guy was so nice.  As soon as I passed him, he offered a pull and let me draft behind his fancy gears for a little ways.  Around this time I ran out of water.  I knew I had about 45 minutes of trail coming up and that I could stop at the truck and refill, but screw it.

I hit the mudfest out of the saddle and picked off 5 or 6 people, most of whom I recognized as passing me out on the road.  I counted 2 dabs and 2 dismounts on the second loop of the singletrack.  Not bad considering trail conditions.

I came in as the 5th Clydesdale (3:55) but only 11 minutes behind the 1st Clyde.  I didn't realize we were so packed together.  I went home, washed my bike, lubed the chain, got 4 hours of sleep and then jumped on a flight to NYC.

CFRCF

Classy Fatty Racing Conditioning Facility

That diminutive kettlebell really kicks my ass.  I have, however, conquered the foam roller and ExerSaucer activity center.

My kettlebell workouts are going okay.  I'm missing about one of the four weekly workouts on a regular basis, but I'm hitting all of the "Hard" workouts, which are on Wednesday mornings at 5am (all of the kettlebell workouts are at 5am, except the Saturdays are sometime during the day...if I do it).  Today the munchkin woke up at 4:45, and I have some groveling to do after an unauthorized landscaping purchase.  So I trudged upstairs to collect the munchkin in spite of the calls for "Mama" over the monitor.  Munchkin decided that she wanted to play with her popper and that it was best played with downstairs, near where Mama was trying to get some additional sleep.  So my valiant attempt to maintain a quiet house was in vain.

The interesting things about the kettlebell workouts are:

1. It always starts out as feeling too easy
2. It always ends up being pretty freaking hard about halfway through
3. I sweat a lot more with the kettlebell than any other strength training I've ever done
4. I'm never sore the day(s) after a workout
5. The next week I can do the same exercises a little better than the week prior

So I guess it's working.  It was designed to give a core workout and develop stability and mobility on the bike, without leaving you too tired and sore to actually ride the bike.  I think James Wilson nailed it.  The only issue I have is that I'm not losing any weight.  While I feel like a stronger rider with better balance, I'd like to feel like a stronger lighter rider with better balance.  I'm going to have to work in more runs or circuit training at the gym during lunch.  In fact, I should be running now instead of blogging, but there's a group playing ultimate frisbee at lunch, and that means the shower room downstairs will be packed around 1:00, so I should have started the run at 11:30 to get ahead of the rush, but I was on a call.  Eventually I'll start running around with those kids playing frisbee again, but I'm hoping this whole stability/mobility stuff gets my ankles up to snuff.  I can already tell a difference in the elbow that has been noted as having arthritis.  I guess that means at least I can resume participation in Cornhole matches before working up to Frisbee.

When Life Interferes

I added Double Dare to the race calendar.  Also, I'm racing the Burn 24 hour solo instead of as the slower half of a duo.  While I've allowed 2 months to recover after the Burn, it still is placing a lot of confidence in this workout/training thing.

My friend Jeff told me that he isn't going to be recovered from shoulder surgery fast enough to race duo with me at the Burn, so I responded "But you still will have plenty of time to train for DD" which he took seriously.  So Jeff and I are doing Double Dare, which really isn't that intimidating to me, considering by then I will have completed one 24-hour race and two hundred-milers.  It is unfortunate that Jeff crashed and needed the surgery, especially from the purely self-centered reason that I was looking forward to doing a lot of long training rides with him during the off-season.

The morning workouts are tough to maintain.  I'm getting most of them in, but it is tough to roll out of bed at 5am and go lift a kettlebell over my head.  It would actually be easier to drive to a gym and then workout, assuming that I'd be fairly coherent by the time I arrived.  Instead I stumble up the stairs, do about 10 minutes of warm-up and stretching before lying down on the floor and holding 35 lbs over my face.  To make matters worse, I started a class at Wake Tech on Wednesday nights.  I don't even get home until 10:30.  Even more worse, I found out that James is showing up at PMBAR. James is alright, but I really want to beat him and not as a result of some kind of injury DNF.

The kettlebell workouts are actually going pretty good.  I'm not losing weight because of them, but it is all core. My climbing is better and the descents, especially through technical areas, are easier.  It feels like I'm both strong and fluid at the same time.  Looking forward to how this all pans out in a couple months, that is assuming that the other things in life don't knock me off course.