Three Questions: Pugsley, XC / SingleTrack, McGill Team

Hello

Well I have two questions which are fairly straight forward:

1)Has anyone ever played around with a Surly “Pugsley” (http://www.surlybikes.com/pugsley.html) before? As I find my self interesting in trying a lot of different things which often not many people do, the best example was the Ktrak though in hopes to start limiting the amount of money I spend on things before playing around with them I decided to see if anyone else has used it before or (if I am lucky) has one. If you do, your experience with the bicycle and its handling would be greatly appreciated.

2)Does anyone ride a lot of single track or cross country? I currently have a Specialized Rockhopper 2008 Pro Disc and have not been using it that much other then at the beginning of this year where I did a little snow biking with it, tested the Ktrak with it and then road around some dirt roads in the Magog area (because it seems I am not allowed ridding on the cross country ski trails or around mount Orford). Anyways I would like to get to use it a lot more so if anyone out there does a lot of cross country riding / single track and are interested in bringing someone along I would be glad to go (as I don’t have a car) and will gladly pay my share in gas / food.

3)Does the mcgill cycling team allow other people outside the team to go to races with them (e.g. grab a ride) as long as they pay there fare? I don’t expect to race under the teams colors as I don’t actually go to McGill.

While I am here, I must admit I want to build an other bike so bad its like an addiction :twisted:

In response to
2) There are a number of us that ride cross-country. If you keep checking the “rides” section of the forum you might be able to find some rides, although we haven’t been doing a ton of riding recently. I’m sure no one would mind if you came to these rides.

  1. Spots in cars would be allocated to people on the team racing for McGill first and foremost but if there are extra spaces in cars then I’m sure you would be able to join us. Is it the races in the spring you are thinking of doing?

Pugsleys are turbo-cool. I haven’t ridden one, but if you buy one, please, please let me. I suppose you could make it cheaper if you ran it singlespeed, but they aren’t the cheapest bikes pound-for-pound. QBP is the American distributor for Surly (and its owner,) and they are very easy to get hold of, but I’m not sure who deals them up here, or what kind of mark-up you’d be looking at.

@Christina
Thanks for the reply. As for the mountain bike rides I will look out for them and join when I can as I find my bike simply isn’t going to much use at the moment at least not as much use as my single speed.

As for the ride to competitions / races, I figured as much that the McGill team members would have priority though you answer my question by saying it was possible. Right now I am mainly looking at TT’s / Track simply because that may be the only thing that UCI Regulations allows me to do at the moment as I sold both my actual road bikes at the beginning of the year and built up a single speed. It would be for kicks at the moment though I am trying to improve. I think I will only start doing road racing when I can pull off 55/13 on my single speed (currently only at 46/13) with a high amount of wind resistance and moderate climbs.

I will be able to do XC races though or event’s as it’s well within regulations. I would probably like to compete in as many races as I can to get a better grasp of it, I still have to talk to the company I work for and hopefully convince them to sponsor me or at least get them to invest 1000 – 2000$ as long as I show there colors (that 2000$ is suppose to be available to me anyways though that’s a long story).

@Mike Prebil
I will defiantly inform you if ever I do get one. Chances are it will be an other custom build, so I would order the frame and have some people I know in the states bring it up next time I hear from them or go down and get it myself. Most of the other parts I can get here in Montreal, re-paint, weak etc… I was thinking single speed once again as I already have one (as per response to Christina) and like it, I am still able to get good speed and climb not to mention less chances of snapping my chain and cutting my gear cable as well as breaking my derailleur arm… I tend to be rough with my equipment…

Brief: it will have a touch of its own and serve me well… just have to find more room to stash my bicycles and more hills to ride.

hey kevin,

JR cycle on Rachel has some Surly for rent, even their Big Dummy model, of which i have read mad reviews concerning the hauling capacity, if you’re into long distance treks.

I actually just finished building a xc mtn bike myself, so i’m also looking for rides.

As for riding 55/13 uphill in wind and feeling “comfortable”, i think it will be a long time before you start road riding :lol:

Thank’s for the info!

I will have to drop by and check that out. As for 55/13… ya hills might be a no though I am sure I can pull off the wind, it’s hell and gear would really rock though I find challenging myself in a sport to be my motivation.

As for XC riding, if you have the transporation I have your gas covered and will go when ever I can.

:twisted: