Skinny

I was running a little late for work, so I jumped on the "fast" road bike to blast the streets in to work with my plan being to stop for a run and test the new shoes after work in the Dells.

I planned to ride/walk the bike into the Dells, then stash it somewhere safe until after the run when I would pick it up.

Once at the entrance to the Dells, I lowered the saddle and started to ride in.....



I was surprised to find myself walking almost nothing....

This led to the following thought: "Who am I kidding, running sucks."

Sooooo, I just continued riding this skinny tired, fendered thing through and over the rocks for a lap in both directions over the course of an hour or so.



Truly I am amazed at the capabilities of this bike. The tires are no name 41c, so they are not exactly roadie fare, but still not exactly big. The rest of the build is pure MTB components with a rather beefy flow wheelset, so I wasn't worried about killing my self too much.

Riding the bike in technical terrain took a lot of finesse. I definitely didn't want to go fast, and I could not blast up and onto stuff just bashing into it. Climbing grip was impressive on granite and terrible in the dirt. Sand killed all forward momentum. The low BB probably annoyed me the most. I constantly smacked pedals and did a lot of ratchet pedalling to get through techier bits.

I also had a couple rude reminders about the low BB as I scraped teeth off the triple in front. No bash on this baby.

A hiker was kind enough to snap a few photos.







I also ran and I like these wacky shoes lot.

Rigid and Fun

Pics from yesterday's intensely technical, slow, immensely fun and satisfying ride.

This is my cheap, piece of junk bike and I simply love it.






I put the "Zion" steel fork (and beefier front tire) back on it and greatly prefer it to the more flexy carbon fork I was running (at least in technical bits). There is something sooo immensely gratifying about finessing a rigid bike through difficult terrain. I love the precision involved in the braking, in getting the front up just enough so you barely feel the wheel land, in using momentum, strength, balance and one's wits to pick the best line.

An outside observer might have thought I was up to something else given all the happy "Whoops!" occurring when I cleaned something tricky.

More Fun

Pics from this ams pre work tech ride.

Two Simon Bars are more fun than one:



Dan just set his up rigid for an upcoming race. I just finished riding mine rigid while awaiting the warranty Zoke. The SB is fun rigid, but I prefer it forked.

Dan gives a rip about such things and always builds his bikes pretty.








Walk the Notch



Pivot on the Nose



Drop



Modulate the brakes



Pass on the Rubble Roll



(Pretty sure he would have hit it with squish up front)

Nose pivot followed by manual or hop if you want to make this one



Braaap



Land



(Air up those tires:O)

Roll in