And assorted vicarious moments.

Pics of SSAZ surfaced overnight. Here’s me at the back being friendly, during the neutral roll-out. Scott Morris to my right hiding his shifters and gears.

Yes, that’s one of the Riding The Spine guys in front.

Soon after this pic Scott zipped to the front as the pack fractured, and I tried to “bridge” spinning the 30×20 at 200+ rpm.

Here’s Moab Randy getting into the meat of the big climb. A very good job was done in stringing out the field before the singletrack. It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful course.

Also surfacing (on MTBR) are the first of the pics from the Handmade Bicycle Show in San Jose. Lots of custom carbon, track bikes, fancy lugs and paint. Lots of retro as well, much use of Brooks products. Of everything, what spoke to me the most was this hunk of steel:

I think those shifters are truly smart. After trying and only half-liking a Kelly Take off on my Juice last fall, these would be the ticket. An expensive novelty these days, I would expect.

It was the components that spoke most loudly. White Industries has a very clean looking Ti square taper bottom bracket, and this new system:

On an Eno no less! Are we witnessing the slow death of the thread and lockring? Perhaps, though the half-dozen or so proprietary systems are gonna have to slug it out and make the market more cohesive first. I have to wonder if, logical though it certainly seems, there is actually that many dedicated fixed riders out there. Of course, I rather doubt there are many fixed riders who are NOT dedicated far more than is the norm. Rather like SSers, and 29ers to an increasingly lesser extent.

Phil’s getting into the Christ King game. I really like the purple, but a purple Phil bb is really the epitome of self-indulgence. Plexi bb insert, perhaps?

Of the elaborate lugged beasts, I like this one the best.

Great take on the GT theme, clean curves, and track ends. I like track ends.

I should mention just what an excellent solution to the track end and disc brake issue my bolt-on Hope hub has been. I know King’s will not do the fall-out-the-bottom trick, I wonder if a bolt-on Phil would? Something to keep in mind for the proverbial “next build”. My current dream: a fixed 1×1 snow bike with Large Marges and 3″ Gazz’s, drop bars, front disc, Jim Brown hubs, Brooks, blah blah blah.

Our fiendish capitalist ankle biter. In the real cue I have an Alpacka raft, and perhaps a super-light Western Mountaineering bag. Given how warm the 30 degree was last weekend, I think the 45 degree, no zipper model (which weighs I believe an even pound) would be the ticket for fast trips into the backcountry.

It all brings the “porn” label into a good contrast. Things we really don’t need, and talk ourselves into with the help of the world at large and too-easy mass communication. Information, the modern commodity, cuts both ways.