The season begins, but not before I rant about 29ers first!

The mountain bike wheel size debate rages on.  Actually there isn't much of a debate, it's mostly people accepting whatever the marketing types tell them is better.  I'm okay with this as long as the bike companies keep making 26" mountain bikes for dyed-in-the-wool curmudgeons like me.  This is actually a real concern of mine.  First-world problem, I know.

Really, I don't care what size wheels other people like.  The part that ruffles my feathers is when people try to tell others what wheel size they should like.

The short story is: I like 26" bikes because they are fun to toss around.  They aren't better than 29" bikes, but they aren't worse.  People have this fascination with what is "better."  Nino Schurter just beat the tar out of everybody at the World Cup on a 650b bike.  That pleases me to no end.  I can't wait to see how many people jump on the 650b bandwagon (I might).  Julien Absalon won the previous round of the World Cup on a 26" hardtail.  That pleases me even more.  The bike that VeloNews declared as "dead" two years ago just won a World Cup.  Or maybe Julien Absalon just won a World Cup.    

This was inspired by Geoff Kabush's blog post, which I think is refreshing, although I wonder if he's telling the whole story.  Most of his points are valid but I'll bet there's either pressure from Scott for him to ride their latest and greatest 29er or it's keep-up-with-the-Joneses.  Still, I think Kabush might be the first big-time pro to be honest about the whole thing and I agree with most of what he says.

Anyway, the race season has started and I'm feeling decent on the bike.  I've raced a Buck Hill Thursday night race and the Spring Fling at Hillside.  Both are very fun, laid back races.  I had middling results but as the Euros say: the sensations are good.  I think the Little Guy Racing team is going to be strong this year on the mountain bike scene.  Guys are motivated and ready to rip.  I'm looking forward to racing with them this season.

Photo by Griff Wigley