The Gauntlet has been thrown down

Tim Zimmerman said that he's building up the sickest Diamondback Mission the world has ever seen. Tim is claiming a Death Star theme, which sounds like big talk from a guy who can't even name what gas they were mining in Cloud City. I challenge Tim's "best Mission ever" claim, and here is exhibit A:

This is my Sea Otter midpack machine, and I'm going to go ahead and say that this is the sickest Mission ever built.

Some highlights for you to think about Tim:

• Zee derailleur, XTR shifter. Because I know where to put the quality. Derailleurs come and go, but that XTR shifter will be shifting like new ten years from now. I'm a baller on a budget.
• Ditto for the Chris King Hubs and detagged Stan's Rims. I think I'll probably have to service the hubs sometime between the next presidential election and the Robot Singularity. Tastefully chosen in the blue anodized color. It's a different color than the rest of the build, but I think it's distinct and low key. They don't jump out and scream "look at me I'm an anodized orange handlebar."
• Saint Brakes, because that makes sense on an all mountain bike, right? Okay, okay, just to be reasonable I downsized my rear rotor from a full 203 to 180. Fair enough.
• 38 tooth ring, because if I'm going to pedal uphill I might as well be miserable.
• 60mm stem, because this isn't a downhill bike.
• Gravity Light downhill cranks, because if I wanted flexy cranks I'd ride for some other company. Also, I chose cranks in Gravity's "Ice Grey" theme, so as to remain new and shiny looking after years of abuse. Even the best black cranks look pretty tired after a full season of scratched and wear, but my Ice Grey cranks actually improve with age. That's science.
• And of course, Kenda Tires.

Since this photo was taken at Sea Otter, I've thrown a dropper post back on there, added some more spacers under the stem, and switched out to a slightly more reasonable set of 785 XT brakes. I'm still running Kenda tires, and I'm still running that 38 tooth ring up front, which is pretty gnarly on steep Oregon rides.

Me and my Mission are going to go to Hood River today to go check out this enduro thing. I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to race yet, mainly because I don't want to tarnish my perfect record.

Right now I'm 2-2 on Super D and Enduro wins, and that's a record I don't want to mess with. Here's the score board as it sits:

2012 Schweitzer Super-D: 1st place out of four pro men. A highly competitive race, obviously.
2012 Cold Creek Enduro: 1st place out of five pro men. Also highly competitive.

I'm an Enduro specialist.

So if you race enduro when you retire from downhill, what do I race if I retired from Enduro?