Hello again from far, far away land! I know, I know my avid blog readers have been without any good reading in awhile but I have been out of the loop for a couple of months now and will be so for a little while longer as well. I am suffering badly being stuck somewhere there is no mountain biking and no mountains to bike on! Meanwhile back at the ranch the new ETSX-70 Bonfire is being constructed from the ground up by the LBS and starting to take shape, I have given my buddy Charles, (the extremely competent mechanic at the LBS) the challenging task of setting up the Hope Mono M4’s that I bought for the bike and if anybody reads mtbr.com you know from the reviews that isn’t a easy task. Speaking of the new bike of course I have to spec it out for ya so here we go. Rocky Mountain Special Edition ETSX-70 Bonfire 16.5” frame, Mavic XM 819 UST Disc Rims, Hope Pro II hubs with DT Swiss double butted spokes and gold nipples, Hope Mono M4 disc brakes, Continental Vertical Pro UST tires 2.3’s( reviews say they are thin more like a 2.1 so we will see), Shimano XT 760 Crankset & cassette, Shimano XTR 952 rear derailleur(last of the good regular shift, I hate rapid rise) XTR960 front derailleur, XTR 952 shifters(also hate brake/shifter combos), Easton EC70 seatpost and handlebars(low-rise), Race Face Dues XC stem, Chris King Gold Headset(whats with all the gold stuff?, check out the frame you’ll understand) Marzocchi MX Pro w/ETA 105mm fork, WTB Speed Gel seat and Yeti Grips(yellow). Yep it is a beauty, hence forth known as TrailBlazer now if only the rider can become half as good as the sum of the parts and be around for a full season (before he turns 40) I might have a chance to put together a decent one. I am looking forward to trying it out at the Pig Trail Race for the first time in August and then on to Santos for the 13hr race which I still plan on solo riding. Training on a stationary definitely sucks but been getting in some good cross training and lifting hopefully it pays of. Well that is all for now I will post again upon my return or if there are some more interesting pics to post but until then have fun riding and eventually I will See You on the Trail.
