New bike and Gnomes

If you've read my previous posts you know that I was hoping to get the replacement Gary Fisher Ferrous frame built in time for Gnome Fest.  I was waiting on the eccentric bottom bracket to arrive.  The good new is that it did indeed arrive last Thursday.  The day before Gnome Fest.  The bad news is I had to finish the build in a hurry.  However I was successful (thanks largely to the Rassussen crew being very helpful, patient and generally awesome) in getting it built and ready.  And here it is:

It turned out pretty well.  I was excited to get it to Gnome Fest and get some trail time with it.

Gnome Fest is a bunch of mountain bike riders, mostly single speeders, that get together once a year to celebrate Gnomes and mountain biking.  The crew from Des Moines was Cory Fallor, Brian Sheesley, Matt McCutchen and Melissa Crook.  We rolled out from Des Moines at about 7:30 on Friday morning.  The goal was to get camp set up and a ride in before dark.  The morning started off very foggy.  You can see Duggan the Gnome is having a hard time seeing.

The driving arrangements put everyone in the minivan in front of me.  While Duggan and my chocolate lab rode in my car.  Cooper is relaxing on the road.

It wasn't until we got into Wisconsin that the fog really lifted.  We were treated to good driving conditions and scenery.

We arrived early as planned and headed out for a ride.  I was excited to give the Ferrous it's first workout and the bike did not disappoint.  The steal of the Ferrous is quite different from the aluminum frame of the XCal.  It is much more forgiving to ride and really deaden's the trail vibration that cause fatigue.  I am very happy with the ride.  The night ended with the tapping of two New Belgium kegs.  Everyone was happy by the time the second keg ran out and we continued the happiness at our campsite.  Also worth noting is the campsite fire was started by Melissa.  Not one of the pyromaniac men.  She is very proud of her fire:

Saturday morning arrived and so did the blahs.  After breakfast the group split and Melissa headed out for a ride with the girls while the rest of us left for a ride of our own.  We didn't last long though(and by we I mean me) and before long we were back at the campsite hydrating and snacking trying to repair the damage from the night before.  We went out again in the afternoon with much better results.

We rode some really cool trails.  This section is referred to as Toad Road.

I don't remember which section this is, but the rock wall on one side and the downhill slope on the other was fun to ride.  There were lots of little sections like this.

We wrapped up Saturday by heading over to a near by campground which had showers.  After two days of riding a shower was very necessary.  Others wrapped up Saturday by renewing their wedding vows.

Gomez, I mean Gary, one of the patriarchs of Gnome Fest turned 50 and was in for a fat tire surprise.  He got a Pugsley for a gift.  Complete with custom color and stickers.

Saturday night ended in style with mini bike races.

With Saturday in the bag we woke up early on Sunday to get a ride in before heading home.  Melissa again went off and joined the ladies to ride.  She was enjoying the conversations with the girls while out riding.  It was quite different for the humor us guys have.  Which I'm sure she had enough of.  Riding with the girls though she missed out on the group photo.  Here are the guys on the lookout point.

I'm working on adding her to the picture, but with the dark shading on us it's really tough.  Not too metion the strange pose she chose.

The rest of the Sunday morning ride was covering what we liked from the previous days.  We road Toad Road again where Brian thought it would be a fun place to crash. He went down right here.

Luckily though he was ok, nothing broken, and we continued on.  We wrapped up the riding and headed home.  We all had a great time and are hoping to make a return trip next year.  The trails at Levis Trow mounds are very fun.  There is plenty of climbing and downhill.  The trails are a bit spider web like so you can make a loop as long or short as you want with as much or little climbing and descending as well.  Overall a very fun place to ride.  I know I'm leaving a ton out, but for the sake of an already long post and to protect the innocent I will leave it at that.