I've always been a slow rider. Not proud of it but that's just the way it is. Stop to take pics of nature, catch some video of friends on the trail, yeah, I'm that guy. I'm in no hurry to get from point A to B on the trail. Well after riding at Swanson with Cody on my day off, I realized that I need some suspension underneath my body! Cody was kicking my butt on the trail. He was rocking it and I couldn't keep up. The roots are just too rough to be riding a full fat rigid bike. Hmm...now if I only had a bike with suspension!
I finally found that jump and gap that is located at Swanson. Yup, no thanks!
Tried out the helmet mount for the GoPro that day. While it works, it really makes for a stiff neck!
Wait...I do. A full suspension Trek has been sitting in my living room for two months waiting to get a tire resealed. Note to those using tubeless tires, do not let them go flat! When they do, it breaks the seal from the sealant and you have to reapply the goop to make it set. Those of you with true tubeless tires and rims know how tight those sidewalls are on the tire and what a pain it is to get the tire on and off. Instead of taking the entire casing off the rim, I just inserted two tire levers and made a 1 inch wide gap with about 1 centimeter of an opening. I grabbed a scoop of Stan's and poured it in. Did some tire pumping with my massive arms and got it to set! Good to go! Next it was time to clean some of the bikes.
Time to do some spring cleaning on the bikes!
I've enjoyed the Mukluk a lot over the past six months. It's still my fun bike to ride and it rolls very easy. And it rolls over everything! My Trek on the other hand wasn't in the best of shape. Over the past year it seemed like a lot of effort to ride that bike. You spin the wheels and they just stop after a rotation or two. Brakes pads were rubbing, things needed adjusting and cleaning...part of the reason why the bike has been sitting around collecting dust. Alot of people have told me to just sell it. It was time to fix all that. I did a massive cleaning of the bike over the weekend. Turns out that I had tons of grass wound up in various parts of the bike. I'm not sure of the technical name, but the chain guides/wheels that keep the chain in place next to the rear derailleur weren't even spinning! There was so much grass and dirt stuck in there that they were practically stationary! Now that's pretty bad! Got the drivetrain all cleaned up, threw the wheels back on. Wow, they actually spin freely! Took it for a ride at Tranquility yesterday. Fast. It's just like everyone who rode with me over the winter said. I'm going to be fast once I go back to the "skinny" tired mtbs. And that I was! The suspension eats up the trail and you just float over it like you're relaxing in a lazyboy recliner. I was loving the ride yesterday! Fun on the fatty. Fun on the old full suspension. It's like a rejuvenation! See you guys on the trail!
It seems like there is always a post ride drink
No comments:
Post a Comment