Water Everywhere

What can I say except I really, really enjoyed the decidedly low tech ride Dan and I had on Sunday. 2.5 hours of Granite basin's finest.

The climbing was more prodigious than usual, and what we did not do in elevation, we made up for in steepness. Highlights included: descending 40 in snow and ice...carefully; putting down my seatpost 4 inches for that descent, and then never raising it again the rest of the ride, simply no flat areas; crossing a very swollen Mint Creek below the overflowing Granite basin lake dam; cleaning the steep climb out of mint wash (both of us yee-ha, I never thought I had a prayer on an SS); nearly flipping over the bike on one manual across a stream (like the short stays!); flowing streams freaking everywhere, unbelievable amounts of water out there; being faster than Dan for 5 seconds on the final steep climb since I had grampa gearing and his legs finally gave out a bit:)

I laughed out loud many times on this ride. It is so nice to have evenly matched equipment (rigid SS) and two relatively close riders (at least on the descents). Thanks Dan.

The Zion performed superlatively. Cheapest frame and components I have with narrow (23") bars I found to replace the Mary's. Still had a ball.

Took the Rig to work today got in 1/2 hour tuning ride at lunch, then another 40 minutes on trails on the way home. I am feeling the short CS/short cockpit love for sure. Sooo much easier to lift the front for rough sections, bunny hops, etc. No regrets on decommissioning the Ventana.

Speaking of the Ventana.....I found a very subtle crack in the PC under the HT-DT junction that is concerning for possible fatiguing weld. This stinks as I almost had it sold, but there is no way I will sell it in a possibly unsafe condition. Fixable, but would mean return to factory for chin gussets, re-heat treat and re-paint. Probably not worth the expense. Might make a good office decoration because it is eye candy. Waiting on price to fix it.