Going for it

I have just been getting hammered this week. Last week was the week of all commuting. this is the week of no commuting.

I was able to get out for a ride at Granite Basin yesterday after an early day at work. I was running on 3 hours of sleep. Took El Comandante. The conditions there are just primo right now, the dirt is slightly moist, rolls fast, and hooks up so you can rail corners. Much different from Saturday's night ride.

I entered from Katahn road and right away knew things were going to be different in a good way. Basically, I decided this ride was all about fun (aren't they all?). Fun in the way of trying new lines, having no plan, going wherever I wanted at the next corner and not worrying about getting enough climbing, or trying to plan out a loop, etc.

At the top of the climb, I turned right at the gate to take the nice swoopy , smooth downhill toward the Williamson Valley gate. I just hauled down it. Totally spun out, way too deep and fast into the corners, feeling the front Nevegal, start to slide, but not give up. Hitting every rock or lip for air on the way down. It was heavenly.

Had to stop for a rear thorn flat half way down, and decided what to do with the cash: not a custom frame, but new tubeless rims for both bikes. I am sick of thorn flats.

At the Williamson Valley gate, I decided to go through and try the technical singletrack that is 345. At this point, I fell in love with this bike all over again. This trail is simply put, awesome, rock crawling fest in tight, slow singletrack. I was unstoppable. I was cleaning rough stuff no hardtail SS bike has a right to. The bike simply responded telepathically to what I wanted to do. If I hit a rough section, I just kept pedalling, trusted the wheels, and cleaned it. I felt like a superhero. Did an out and back here, and also enjoyed the great scenery of Mint Wash on this trail. All the agave plants are starting to shoot up into the sky for reproduction. Flowers are coming out. Did I say I freaking cleaned everything on this trail? I was taking lines on the boulders way off the trails. I felt like a tamer version of Aquaholic or Scrublover.

On this ride, time and distance covered did not matter. What mattered was sessioning the rocks.

I came back and then went right at the gate and continued up Mint Wash towards the lake, hitting every possible off trail rock route I could find. Many I had not seen before, and now am kicking myself for not trying them previously. I even got into situations where I had to force myself to commit, situations where you get to the top and are about to fall over the top of a boulder, and if you try to stop or slow down, you will probably crash. I usually cave to the mental pressures not to try, or to bail, but at least twice, I just went for it to the point of commitment, committed, and rode it out no problem.

I cleaned everything going one way, then cleaned everything going the other way, climbed back up the smooth ST, and down to the car.

I think the squishy fork will stay for a while. It just allowed me to ride things at a pace, and safety that I really like. My problem is that I try to ride a rigid fork nearly the speed of a Squish fork, and that will get me into trouble sooner or later.

Let me gush on El Comandante a bit here. Why on earth would I ever consider a custom frame? What could a custom possibly do better? I can't explain why, but this thing makes me a better rider, no doubt in my mind. It is sooo stiff and responsive and light When I was hauling, subtle weight shifts put pressure just where you want it. It goes exactly where you point it and holds a line. It flys when you want it to, lands predictably and responds to body english. It is nimble to an extreme, but not twitchy. In technical situations, it has no bad habits, I was cleaning ridiculous stuff on it. It also kicks the crap out of you with its stiffness a bit, just to let you know you were riding. That's the only thing I would change, but I fear I would lose the essence of the frame in the process.

When I started the ride, the bike felt too small, the bars too wide, the cockpit too short. I was rolling up the hill thinking "what am I doing on this bitty bike with short stem, and wide bars." Guess what, as soon as the fireworks started I never again had to think about the bike. It disappeared and did it's job better than any machine I have yet ridden.

PS: I am sure the creak is coming from the cranks now, not the EBB.

PPS: I broke an eggbeater pedal wing for the first time on this ride...before the rocks.