The Hei Hei's best version

 I got my hei hei cr in 2020 and since then I've changed or modified basically every component, mostly in the search for lightness and more speed on the race course. Sometimes that search went a little too far but for the most part it's trended in generally the right direction. I mean, who doesn't like a lighter mountain bike?

That is just about the best a Hei Hei CR can get, in my opinion. Right about 26lbs flat for an XL, 120mm travel bike on somewhat real tires with pedals and bottle cages and a dropper that works. There are a few things that could make it a touch lighter but some things were chosen due to availability at the time or price or both.

The highlights are that it's a hei hei. DT swiss carbon wheels, X01 axs drivetrain. guide rsc brakes, bikeyoke divine sl 125mm dropper, Industry nine a35 stem with raceface carbon bars, and an assortment of fancy little titanium and carbon bits. I also swapped the standard grip damper in the fox 34sc for a fit 4 which has more control of low speed compression, and then revalved the shock to a firm digressive tune which makes it more responsive while pedaling hard but still pretty smooth over rougher stuff (I think).

The tires are the biggest variable, and depending on what I'm doing they might be something very flimsy like the thunder burts I used for the butte 100, or the minion dhf/aggressor combo I rode for awhile but decided was just a little too heavy and slow for a bike like this. What makes this bike ride the best to me are an aggressive XC or light trail tire. This spring I started out on 2.35 racing ray/ralphs because I had them, and now it's on Vittoria Syerras, which I also rode last fall. The syerras manage to be pretty light and fast while offering better grip and durability than your average XC tire. I also have an insert in the rear tire.

It's basically a bike I can ride just about anywhere, and it'll go pretty fast and be fun while doing it. So now that it's just about perfect I'm considering a new bike of course. 

If anyone wants a list I guess I can do that

Frame: 2020 Kona Hei Hei CR
Fork: Fox 34 step cast performance, 120mm, fit 4 damper. 78psi, 10 clicks rebound, 14 lsc
Shock: Fox Float DPS, Digressive rebound firm, digressive compression firm, 0.4 in^2 volume spacer. 210psi, 5 clicks rebound
Wheels: DT Swiss XRC1501 with 54t ratchet
Tires: varies, currently vittoria syerra, 19/20 psi f/r
Cranks: truvativ stylo carbon, 34t chainring
Cassette: X01 10-50
Derailleur: X01 AXS
Chain: XX1 copper
Brakes: Sram Guide RSC w/ carbon blades, 180/160 clx rotors
Handlebars: raceface next R. 780mm, 25mm rise, esi chunky grips
Stem: Industry nine A35 50mm w/ ti bolts
Seatpost: Bikeyoke Divine SL 125mm
seat clamp: bikeyoke squeezy
Dropper lever: Wolftooth light action
Saddle: Shimano pro stealth offroad
Pedals: shimano XT race
bottle cages: arundel mandible carbon w/ ti bolts

A new bike - Trek Procaliber

 Last summer the shop started carrying trek after open road closed. I had been trying to get a new XC race hardtail for awhile at this point but the Cannondales and Orbeas were out of stock. Although strangely, the exact Alma model I wanted was available on the pro's closet, in my size, brand new. Don't really understand how they get those bikes when we're told none are available. I think the cannondale would have still been my preference because it's a little lighter and a little slacker.

Anyhow, with Trek they have a great and easy to use EP program, allowing you to order or backorder whatever you want. The more videos and quizzes you finish, the better the discount, so I chugged through a whole bunch to get the highest level, which is significantly lower than wholesale pricing. Cannondale only lets you EP a bike when there are a certain number in stock (but at a similar discount to trek) and as far as I know orbea doesn't have EP and you have to pay wholesale.

So anyway, I filled out the form and ordered myself a trek procaliber 9.6, which had the shortest ETA and the best frame color. It showed up in september.

Not quite the build I wanted though, with a pretty heavy and terrible fork, mid range shimano drivetrain, and narrow aluminum wheels. No dropper either. It also weighed slightly more than my hei hei. So all that stuff came off

By november, I had pretty much all the parts I wanted for it but then it was winter.

I kind of went all out. XX1 with a rainbow cassette (although mechanical not axs), Sid SL ultimate with a lockout and the shiny blue lowers, the new Kovee RSL 1200g wheels, a transfer SL, level ultimate brakes with 2-piece rotors, rainbow ti bottle cage bolts, rainbow valves...

So yeah, that made it weigh about 21.5 lbs. I also ditched the 2.2" XR2s for 2.4 pirelli scorpion XC/RCs with the bright yellow hot patches.

(the kendas went on for the mullet climb along with a rigid post)

short answer: it's light, and it's real fast uphill. But riding downhill makes me really appreciate the hei hei, even in an XC race.

Depending on the course I'm still riding the Kona, even on a few that went all the way to the top of marshall, where the procaliber might be faster overall. I just didn't want to ride it down the full descent at race speed. The kona was the right choice for the Spirit bear race in kalispell and the Butte 100 as well (for butte I borrowed the wheels from the trek). 

On the plus side, it is pretty good for a lot of missoula riding. Last week I just went up the road to point 6 and back. It's also ideal for my regular quick trips up to the overlook and our recent "death ride graveL" And it turns out I've actually ridden both MTBs about the same amount this year. I did also still race this bike quite a bit on wed nights and at scratchgravel in helena. Pretty ideal for that course. Also, I wasn't super thrilled with the fancy fizik 3d printed saddle I put on there. So now with what seems to be a more comfortable ergon I'll be happier about riding it?

It is still a very different experience downhill and at higher speeds. head tube angle is 68.75 degrees, which, not great, not terrible for an XC bike, but that number creeps up when you're actually riding it. The hei hei is 67.5, and longer overall, and with more reach. Both have similar stack, and I put a 20mm longer stem on the trek to get the bars in about the same spot. Little more drop though, and you're more over the front of a bike with a steeper hta. I find it a little harder to stay balanced on it and the pretty low handlebars probably don't help. I suppose that just comes with the territory of an XC hardtail, and I did ride one for many years with a tall seatpost just fine. But I still find myself wondering what the cannondale would be like, as it has a 67 degree HTA (or 66 something on the himod with a 110mm fork). 

So I'm contemplating what I really want for both MTB riding and racing. Maybe a racier and lighter full suspension bike like the new oiz or a scalpel in place of both bikes. The hei hei has been really solid all around but it's getting up there in miles and is just slightly heavier than I'd like as a race bike. I'll probably stick with both bikes for another season though.

2023 butte 100 race report

 I did that dumb 100mi mtb race again. it was hot and I still feel bad. My 5th time going so i thought maybe the'd make me a little copper mug or something for the "500mi club." Steve has done this 9 times now and last year they gave him one with his name on it for doing 8. But first i did have to actually finish.

I need to figure out a better night before sleeping situation. I thought i had it figured out by driving up there before the race meeting to grab a spot down the road a bit away from the highway but it was all full. I also thought my new giant air mattress that barely fits in the tent was going to help. But then I wound up on the ground and basically not sleeping at all so welp, fucked that up I guess. Ate breakfast in my car in the dark at 5am, managed to poop before the start, and off we went. First climb is about 10-15min in and goes up for awhile, I found myself sitting in 3rd behind last year's winner who is a real pro bike racer and is going to marathon worlds and then Adam, who finished 4th ahead of me last year and used to be a real pro bike racer and is also a pretty good nordic ski racer. But Adam was in sight and I was comfortable. John, who won the helena race and is also pretty good ultrarunner was back there, along with some younger kids like Aiden from Butte and Elliot from team stampede who has moved up to racing in u23 and elite categories.

Then we ran into either a mis-marked part of course or someone fucking with the arrows, because we get sent up this like steep rocky thing that doesn't seem right and we're all walking and wandering around. Like a dozen other people are there and going up higher and I'm like no i don't think this is right and go back down and by ignoring the arrow I get back on track with some other people. There's a group in front of me now and I have no idea how far ahead Chris or Adam are and it cost about 10min. I'm going up the regular course and John comes out of the bushes so it worked out for him and we rode together for awhile. But I'm kind of thrown off, pedaling harder than I should because of the panicky "must catch up" feeling and am thrown off a bit but I guess we're all in the same boat.

Throw my vest at AS2, I didn't plan on stopping there and didn't really need to wear the vest and it makes it harder to get stuff out of your pockets. I had some snacks in cargo bibs plus about 500cal in my two big water bottles so I mostly just needed to drink them both and have a few shot blocks before AS3 at mi 25. Stop at 3, get two more big bottles of mix and cram two gels in my face. am now with John and another guy (matt?") who don't stop but catch back up to john and we're back riding together. 3-4 you descent some actual singletrack instead of endless up and down sandy moto doubletrack. I had generally been a little all over the place on the thunder burts in the sand. Rode off trail a few times but stayed upright. John is descending faster than me and that I find a bit annoying because he's a runner and on a hardtail. I'm climbing faster though and on the sandy slog up to AS4 I leave him behind and then go by Matt who is stopped there. Get to 5 and grab a quick splash of water and then see someone up ahead of me. Oh hey it's Adam, I thought he was gone. He kept pace and didn't want to have me just go by but I put in a little bit of effort up a moderate climb and get some space going into the start/finish. We leave together, then you descend down from the pass to the butte valley on this ridiculously steep doubletrack full of huge washed out ruts. I let Adam go first and then get back to him on the road. You climb through a neighborhood then up a trail then drop down to the highway and climb back up a bit to AS7. I leave Adam on the climb, another quick half bottle of water at 7, and I'm on the way to basin creek. By now it's over 90f and the course only gets harder.

At AS8 I get two more full bottles of mix, one insulated, plus a 3rd bottle of just water in my jersey pocket. I needed it. You climb like 3k feet to get to the next aid station and it seems endless. I had been carrying two bottles of mix up to here but kept one full of just water the rest of the way just to pour on myself. Legs are starting to feel unhappy and the heat is unpleasant. I get off my bike and walk a few times. Start catching the tail end of the 50mi race. Start getting some light cramping. Get to AS9 feeling not great wondering how in the fuck I'm going to get up the next climbs and to the finish. It's still 20 fucking more miles. Two more bottles and maybe a gel and some blocks or something, plus salt cap chews and a tylenol. Legs work a little better but right out of the aid station is steep as fuck and starts to get a little more rocky and technical. This is the highest point of the course on the CDT, generally over 7k feet, and fuck it's hot. I feel like I'm barely moving. Misery. I think my max HR for the last 4 hours was 153, so tempo-ish. Keep looking back, see no one. Tell myself if I feel this bad they all do to. Kind of have fun on the descents, hei hei is ripping through the rocks and the thunder burts are much happier on the packed dirt instead of sand (i also let some air out at the halfway point because of the heat, and ran my suspension a little softer than normal). Thankfully the rocks are all pretty rounded. At one point I clipped a rock with my foot/pedal and tensed up and my legs cramped so hard hard I couldn't move them for like 10-20s. But then you just try to pedal and ignore how bad it feels. Finally get past limekin hill and have a pretty extended downhill to the last aid station. Have a shot of pickle juice, have a cup of coke, get a bottle of water and a bottle of mix, and just have to make it the last 9mi. Again, you're climbing off the bat, but the grade is more reasonable. It's not exactly a continuous climb and then a continuous descent but it's close. Couple of breaks on the way up, couple of short rises on the way down. It takes about 40min to get to the point where you're generally on the way down. Then 20 more to the finish. I see the R1k crew from town, say hi, and yell "this fucking sucks." but seeing friends out there is a nice pick me up. I think I went through about 14 bottles, most with 200-250cal of tailwind in them. And then about only ate shot bloks and vanilla gels. I tried a bite of a honey waffle at some point, and did put a few bars in my bags, but it's just really hard to chew and swallow things.

Get to the finish almost 20min slower than last year. My goal was to be faster and I had the fitness to do it, but the early detour, slow and sandy conditions on the first half, and really fucking hot weather conspired against that a bit. Surprisingly from the bottom of basin creek to the finish I was only 8min slower over 4 hours compared to last year. That shit really sucked and I didn't want to keep going. But uh, I did get 2nd overall so there's that.

For some reason they didn't do awards or a podium and then ran out of food before like half the 100mi finishers were done which was kind of shitty. Maybe they'll mail me something.

Tire review - Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H

 This spring I was looking for a replacement gravel tire for the Schwalbe G-one Rs that I ran last year. I did generally like those tires and would buy them again but there's so much out there I felt like trying something new. The schwalbes also seemed a little slow rolling so this time around I was going for speed. I did consider trying a g-one RS on the rear, and those do test real fast.

Anyway, with the shop having trek now and trek kind of pushing pirelli and having the race team use them I thought I'd try some out and ordered the Gravel H, for hardpack. There's also a M, for mixed, S, for soft, and RC, for "race" I guess.

Very low profile and tightly spaced center blocks, getting a little taller and more spread out as you go toward the edge knobs, which are low profile, but do exist.

These come in 35, 40, 45, and maybe 50mm, and black or tan. I got the 40s, and black because the black tires were listed as slightly lighter. Mine were like 485g which is not all that light, but when it comes to gravel tires I'm finding a little extra weight is worth the added durability. I also have vittoria air liners in there, plus a hookless "MTB" rim with pretty wide sidewalls to hopefully all help prevent flats. On the 23mm IW rims these come out way bigger than listed at just under 44mm. They just barely don't rub in the chainstays and leave no clearance for mud or an out of true wheel. I put some aluminum foil tape in the potential rub spots and so far it's staying pretty clean though.

The first test for these tires was day 2 of the montana gravel challenge, a loop that goes from ninemile toward town on mullan, then along the south side road to petty creek and back over to ninemile. So a good amount of pavement, not much for big climbs, and then 20 miles of pretty rough gravel road. This year we were flying and I was way on the back of the group after being in poor position at the start of the dirt climb toward deep creek and then after losing some more spots when i realized my brake hood was loose and slipping (I pulled out of the line and thought about trying to tighten it on the move and then just decided to ride the rest of the way in the drops). So I was back there, just having to stay on wheels, not getting a good view of line choice of what was coming, and being in all the chaos as people had flats or mechanicals or just got dropped. It was a long time before I actually felt like I was "in the group" and not just barely hanging on. We probably had 20+ in the front at the start and by the time we hit petty creek there were 8.

So the tires made it through. And they feel fast (and test fast), and are high volume that lets me run pretty low pressures. I've been doing like 32.34 in the front and 37-38 in the rear. The low pressure aids grip but they are really low profile and I guess we'll see how they go on drier and looser stuff. Liking them overall though. Be nice if they measured closer to listed as my major jake doesn't have the best clearance.