Brad Baker's

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Mountain biking is perhaps my greatest passion. I have been into mtn biking for about 7 years. Most of my biking has been in Virginia and Colorado. I started out riding a Nishiki Meridian, moved up to a Haro Impulse Comp with full XTR. I managed to break the Haro frame in about 8 months and now I am riding a Raleigh MT700 (aluminum front triangle and prestige rear triangle). I used to be an obsessed "weight weeny", but now I'm more concerned with durability and functionality. Broken parts, especially handlebars, made me rethink my costly obsession with light weight.

Recently, I have focused on learning to build wheels. I think it stems from "tacoing" all of the store bought wheels I've had. I must have about 8 wheels right now. No real need for that many wheels, its just hard to pass up good deals on rims and hubs from the Colorado Cyclist return bin. I just switch wheels around once in a while, or after a good crash when I need to rebuild.

My latest project is to rejuvinate my old Nishiki. I have stripped the paint. Now I just need to figure out what pattern I want for the paint job. It is in desperate need of a new bottom bracket, headset, chain, handlebars, crankset, and freewheel. Too bad I don't still live near Colorado Cyclist :-( I'll have to find good parts cheap somewhere.

Since moving to Ontario, I haven't been riding much.  The riding around here is OK, but not stellar (I was spoiled in Colorado).  Basically, I've been riding enough so that I don't die during the annual 24 Hours of Canaan mountain bike race.  We have a four person team that competes in this race every year.  It is tons of fun, but lots of work.

Update on Canaan 96: The race was great! Our team did really well, placing 43rd out of 172 teams in our division. We had no mechanical problems and not a single flat. The course was tough, lots of climbing and lots of slippery wet roots. There were some excellent technical downhills. I had a good time and had four good laps, even though I managed to break a bone in my foot and mess up my hand in the first ten minutes of my first lap (oops).

Update on Canaan 97: Our team did even better than last year.  I had been especially lazy this year and had done a lot of rock climbing, but little biking.  I thought I would bonk hard, but actually did quite well.  Our team kicked butt.  Next year maybe I'll get off of my butt and do some training, but I've been pretty obsessed with climbing lately.  Mud sucks...wet roots suck worse... and riding through both at night is torture.  I hope next year is dry.

Update on Canaan 98: This year we entered a Co-ed team consisting of two men and two women. We totally kicked butt, coming in third place! I still didn't train enough, but things turned out pretty well. Looks like this may be my last year for Canaan, I'm moving to Colorado soon.

Update on Moab 99: Well, I ended up moving back to Colorado and there was no way I was going out to West Virginia to ride Canaan. So, I ended up riding 24 Hours of Moab. The course is way way easier, with much less climbing and no mud. It was even drier than normal this year and we had to ride through tons of dust and sand. I ended up doing very well even though I had two mechanicals. I turned a 1:24 for my first lap. My rear derailleur broke and I had to run the last half mile. For my next lap (at night), I rode a 1:36. During my final lap I bent my rear wheel and ended up riding the last 10 miles with no rear brakes. Even with the mechanical problems, I still rode a 1:35. Overall, our team got crushed, but we all did pretty well and nobody had any disasterous laps.

My bike, or what's left of it

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