Time To Get Awesome

I obviously can’t get awesome all by myself, so I needed some help. Let me explain.


My “friend” over at Bad Idea Racing has been using the Awesome Strap for a while now, so I thought I would try it. Why did I put the word “friend” in quotes? Well, I guess I don’t know him well enough to call him a friend. Sure, I’ve talked to him a few times (I’m sure he doesn’t remember), but that’s about it. While I do read his blog from time to time, I guess I am just a fan at this point. Besides, he’s way too famous to be my actual friend. Plus, I still ride small wheels (for now) and use gears so that’s probably a no-no as far as being pals with Dicky. Hell, I can’t even approach him to get an autograph on my copies of Dirt Rag. I’m just too starstruck I guess. For some reason I fell under the spell of his Awesome Strap review and decided to order one. So, let’s get back to my awesomeness.


At first, I hesitated ordering the Awesome Strap, since I have plenty of velcro straps in the shop that I thought would do the trick. I never tried them though, and I can blame that on laziness. I decided to let someone else do the work for me, and I’m sure I’ll be better off for it. However, I carry a lot of shit in my seat bag, and I wondered if the Awesome Strap could hold it all.



I decided that it was time to try something new. Besides Dicky’s review, I had several reasons for wanting to ditch the seat sack:


I was getting tired of replacing them all the time, since they seemed to wear out fairly quickly. Most notably would be the holes that opened up, causing me to lose the contents all over the place.

They rattle around, making weirdo noises (I make enough weirdo noises when I ride), so I was growing tired of having one strapped to my seatpost and hearing that shit all of the time.

I no longer wear a backpack when I ride, unless it’s while performing Bike Patrol duties (I carry a ton of first aid crap.) So, I couldn’t transfer the seat sack contents to a back sack for normal everyday riding and races.


I finally broke down and ordered the Back Forty, figuring that it would be sufficient for my needs. It was only $10.95, and they offered free shipping. What a deal. It showed up after a couple of days and I was pretty excited. I was even more excited when I opened the package:



Yep, not one, but two Awesome Straps. Was there some kind of shipping mistake? Had these guys heard about how inept of a racer and mechanic I am and decided to send me two because they knew I would break one trying to install it? My questions were answered with a handwritten note on the order form:



Wow, I got a bonus Awesome Strap for knowing someone I hardly even know. How about that? More importantly, who else is watching? I know the government is always watching, but now I have other people checking up on me as well. Big thanks to the folks at Backcountry Research for hooking me up. And also I’d like to thank my internet friend and new hero Dicky for helping me get on the path to awesomeness. Now I owe him I guess.


It was time to get down to business. After I watched the instructional video on their website, I was ready to begin. I emptied the contents of my seat sack and prepared to get awesome.



Seat bag contents: 3 CO2 cartidges (one in the inflator), two tire levers, Crank Brothers multi-tool, tube, spare derailleur hanger (I’ve broken a few on local rides), SRAM master link, and some tie-wraps. Geez, that’s a lot of shit to carry.


I starting loading up the Awesome Strap, and I really didn’t have any issues cramming all of my crap in there. I grabbed my new little bundle of joy and had it pose for a photo:



The only thing I didn’t try to squeeze in there was a manual Kenda pump I got a few years ago at a race at Sugar Mountain. I started carrying the pump with me all the time after a CO2 mishap at the Tree Shaker last October, but it fits nicely in my jersey pocket. It’s old and beat up, but I still love it and it does the job. Hell, maybe I should cram my water bottle in there too while I’m at it.


I went outside and proceeded to strap some awesomeness to my seatpost:


It was tight like a tiger


The only thing left to do was to take it for a ride. While the Awesome Strap may indeed look awesome, it had to perform on the trail. I can’t have my shit falling all over the place like some kind of trailside yard sale and still be awesome, can I? Tune in tomorrow to see the results of a potentially awesome test ride. You know you want to.