Climb...

[Argos]

Just curious, perhaps I missed the thread, but a while back you showed us your Ottrott that you had built with Mt Washington in mind.

Why'd you wind up using the Peg? Mind you, Ithink the Peg is Georgous, just curious about the geometry differences between them and why you chose one over the other.

Jason

[Climb01742]

a number of things factored into the decision:

i wanted to use 9-speed for MW to get the desired gearing. tearing apart any of my DA10 equipped bikes seemed a bit destructive. especially since i've gotten each of them tweaked just where i like 'em. and i had that older cckmp frame stripped down just hanging around, so using it to build up a single-purpose bike was easy.

i wanted to use a simpler, more "honest" bike. as a first time rider of MW, using a high zoot frame would have seemed somehow "wrong". maybe an odd point, but it's how i felt.

of all my bikes, there's just something about how a cckmp feels when you climb out of the saddle. a number of my bikes feel great out of the saddle climbing (the ottrott included) but a cckmp has just something extra. maybe only a psychological edge, but... (funny aside, once on MW, and into the race, i never spent one second thinking about the bike...you're into pure survival mode, your brain is 100% focused on turning the cranks and dealing with the incline and other riders...the bike disappears from your mind.)

i'd say i did maybe 60-70% of my MW training on the ottrott. of my bikes, it is -- without doubt -- the best day in, day out, all road condition training rig. other bikes i have do other things more to my liking, but as a go out and hammer daily trainer, on crappy new england roads, hands down, ottrott is it. i very easily could have done MW on it. it is remarkably light, climbs really really well, and is very efficient. thing is, that description fits a parlee and a vxrs equally well too...if not slightly better. there are a number of extraordinary bikes being built these days. the bar has been raised. in my experience, the ottrott is the best all-around training bike. but pure balls to the wall performance bike? gotta catch up to all carbon...oh wait...isn't there a new serotta? a highly personal subjective opinion, your results may vary. ;)

[Argos]

I did not have my Ottrott when I did MW a year ago with Ergott, so I stripped and built my 5500 for it. I know what you mean though. After shedding any unneeded weight, very little about ride quality matters at 4-5 mph, except of course for frame stiffness...

Thanks, just wondering.