Rain, rain, go away...

Had a great morning, got the car washed and touch-up paint onto the mountain bike and 'cross bike.  Ready for Brecktobercross tomorrow.  Got a good strategy for the first cross race of the year - just finish.  Unfortunately, it's raining right now, so I figured a little blog-dropping was in order.

Spent all afternoon Friday at the Mountain Pedaler, dismantling the rear swingarm of my mountain bike to work on the rear shock.  The weatherproof wiper on the shock cylinder came out during the XC race at Breckenridge last week, and just now getting around to fixing it...for the fifth time since I bought the bike.  The Specialized Epic has very polarizing pros and cons to it:

Pros:

• Very svelte for aluminum full-suspension frame
• Classic race bike look
• Downright quick for full-suspension - IMO, the first real and "gold standard" XC race-worthy full-suspension bike
• Specialized "Brain" (mine has the Brain Fade) keeps the bike hardtail firm until you NEED the suspension
  
• Has stood up very well for three full race seasons on it

Cons:

• Suspension design puts the rear shock along side the rear swingarm, and right in the splatter from your rear wheel
• Dust wiper has a tendency to come out of the shock body
• Aluminum nut used to secure the linkage bolt is susceptible to damage (i.e. taking it off with a crescent wrench is doing a good job of rounding the corners off)
  

I feel the pros outweigh the cons, but the cons are a serious pain in the ass when they come about.  The good news - on current Epic models, Specialized moved the shock to under the top tube to (a) get the shock out of the muck and (b) eliminate the eccentricity of the shock forces.  AND they're making the Epic in a 29er version for 2010...which is the front-runner in my "Eric Needs A New Bike For 2010 Sweepstakes".  Others in the mix - the Kona Hei Hei 2-9, Gary Fisher HiFi Pro 29, and Intense Spider 29.

Oh yeah - gameday.  KSU versus UCLA.  GO CATS!