- Bad Idea Racing – HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

Sure, why not?

That’s a shitty picture for sure, but that’s how much water (72oz) I had in my Camelbak when I went to drain it last night.  That means my total liquid consumption over 12hr 10 min was:

28oz of water
22oz of Gatorade (I lost a full bottle of Gatorade somewhere in the darkness)
18oz of PBR

I thought I was doing a better job than that.  I was trying to empty out my bladder to get the weight off my back, but obviously I failed.  I don’t wear my heavily modified Blowfish pack very often, but when I do it hurts.  Once again I’m kinda wishing I woulda stuck out the Ergon sponsorship deal a little longer.  You may not remember, but I was holding out for the GX-1.  They were not available for awhile, so I ended up with the less rigid fork friendly GE-1.  I shoulda held out till till the ones I wanted were available, and then maybe, just maybe I coulda got the oh-so sweet BD-1 hydration pack.  My lack of patience killed the deal, or maybe my inability to just ask for what I want… who knows.  Since I’m now riding less than 10-15 times a year with a full pack I can’t justify buying a new one unless I see something at a swap meet.

Now about that Thudbuster…

You may notice that I had to go with the less paint scheme matching blue bumper over the more pleasing to my queer eye gray bumper.  If I were going to ride naked the gray woulda been just fine, but the added weight of my cycling garb and a 20 pound pack was pushing the limits of the more aesthetically pleasing squishy part.  With the gray bumper installed things were just too bouncy, and I was blowing through the 1.3″ of travel with ease.  The blue bumper was perfect in that it took the edge off all the bumps and jolts for twelve hours (and ten freakin’ minutes) without wincing.

A bunch of folks at the Double Dare were unfamiliar with the updated short travel version (I say updated, but it’s been around for years).  Most people seem to remember the old version (now called the Thudbuster LT) that has 3″ of travel and is similar to the one that was introduced in the late 90′s (I think).  Since my bike sat around quite a bit on Sunday a few folks took it for a spin and were surprised at the subtle action of the post as it soaked up the little bumps around the campsite.  It really is “just enough” travel to take up some of the shock that would normally be absorbed by your lower back without really noticing that something’s funny is going on under your butt.

Keep this in mind.  When Eric Smith from Cane Creek offered up their support to Bad Idea Racing he asked me if I needed anything.  I already had a 110 Headset, but it was good to know they would be there for me in the future.  Eric asked me if I would be interested in a Thudbuster, and I pretty much laughed that off from the start.  C’mon, a Thudbuster for a badass such as myself?  Never. I want nothing to do with comfort, control, or happiness.  Gimme pain, scary moments, and a sad, lingering death.

Then came the decision to do the Double Dare on fixed gears, which then sent me back in my cerebral cortex files to my conversation with Hodge in August.  Cane Creek was offering me sack salvation from saddle sore inducing fixed gear saddle-to-ass pounding.  I woulda been stupid to not try it.  The post performed better than I would have imagined, and I experienced no lower back pain like I have in the past when I’ve done other endurance events on a fixed gear.  This thing is staying on my bike for awhile, but it will still get my…

Seal of Semi-Approval

But why?  Well, when racing season starts I’ll probably take it off.  The weight weenie in me combined with the “gotta look hard to scare people” image  is hard to pull off with a creature comfort like a Thudbuster.  I’m still gonna keep this thing on for quite some time in the coming months, as I must admit it’s very nice to not hurt sooooo much all the freakin’ time.  If you don’t have the presence of being a badass established I highly recommend picking one up if you’re looking to take a little edge off your hardtail ride.  You won’t regret it.  Being such a badass I’ll probably take a fair amount of ribbing at the local trailheads this winter, but I have a feeling folks will change their minds after a short spin on my new comfort machine.

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