J
Jonesy
Guest
So, I went out yeaterday, and rode my favorite trail. Some
observations:
Geometry matters. My beater has a slacker headtube angle
with a suspension fork, and that slows down the steering. I
was riding my Fango yesterday, and damned if I wasn't
sawing the damn bars all over the place for the first half
of the uphill.
Weight matters. The Fango weighs a lot less. I climbed for
quite a while before pausing to get back my wind, errr,
grab a snack.
Disk brakes rule. My beater has a disk front/V rear. The
Fango has full disk. Braking is easy and automatic on
the Fango.
That creak you hear might be just a dirty seat tube. Cleaned
and lubed the post and the tube, no more creak.
Wide tires at low pressure help traction. Duh.
Buff trails are fast and fun. Duh, again.
Going out in the middle of the workday means less traffic.
Met one hiker with dogs ("Hey, they're all friendly!" Uh-oh.
Except they were actually all very friendly, well-behaved
dogs.), and one cyclocrosser.
Shooting the breeze at the LBS can mean free stuff. After
the ride, I went to a place that's kinda out-of-the-way, not
really local to me. But they are great guys, good prices,
and OK service. Murphy's Law states that they are the
farthest away from where I live (of all the bike shops in a
15 mile radius) and have the least open hours. Murphy was
right, that fscker. Anyway, they had a return on some partially-
used Avid disk pads, and asked if I wanted them. "Yup."
Now, why would Danny be proud? Well, see, I beat the Real
Quiet Waters both ways. The uphill by the sunken boulder has
a tight off-camber kink right after grinding up the steep
part, and that's the place I've failed so many times before
- balancing traction, effort and steering. For some reason,
it all came together and I just whipped it like I never had
walked it before. Or dabbed, or fallen, or took a mud bath
in the stream, etc., etc.
I was so pumped after beating it that I didn't even think
about cleaning the switchbacks and the other places that
seem to require just a little more attention than normal. I
went and found a different trail, I used some higher gears,
I helped the guys at the LBS with some wrenching, I bought
some other gear (new shoes for my clipless pedals, ones that
don't sqeeze the life out of my feet) and had a freakin'
great afternoon. Best of all? I didn't have to do any insect
colony eradication on the trail.
--
Jonesy
observations:
Geometry matters. My beater has a slacker headtube angle
with a suspension fork, and that slows down the steering. I
was riding my Fango yesterday, and damned if I wasn't
sawing the damn bars all over the place for the first half
of the uphill.
Weight matters. The Fango weighs a lot less. I climbed for
quite a while before pausing to get back my wind, errr,
grab a snack.
Disk brakes rule. My beater has a disk front/V rear. The
Fango has full disk. Braking is easy and automatic on
the Fango.
That creak you hear might be just a dirty seat tube. Cleaned
and lubed the post and the tube, no more creak.
Wide tires at low pressure help traction. Duh.
Buff trails are fast and fun. Duh, again.
Going out in the middle of the workday means less traffic.
Met one hiker with dogs ("Hey, they're all friendly!" Uh-oh.
Except they were actually all very friendly, well-behaved
dogs.), and one cyclocrosser.
Shooting the breeze at the LBS can mean free stuff. After
the ride, I went to a place that's kinda out-of-the-way, not
really local to me. But they are great guys, good prices,
and OK service. Murphy's Law states that they are the
farthest away from where I live (of all the bike shops in a
15 mile radius) and have the least open hours. Murphy was
right, that fscker. Anyway, they had a return on some partially-
used Avid disk pads, and asked if I wanted them. "Yup."
Now, why would Danny be proud? Well, see, I beat the Real
Quiet Waters both ways. The uphill by the sunken boulder has
a tight off-camber kink right after grinding up the steep
part, and that's the place I've failed so many times before
- balancing traction, effort and steering. For some reason,
it all came together and I just whipped it like I never had
walked it before. Or dabbed, or fallen, or took a mud bath
in the stream, etc., etc.
I was so pumped after beating it that I didn't even think
about cleaning the switchbacks and the other places that
seem to require just a little more attention than normal. I
went and found a different trail, I used some higher gears,
I helped the guys at the LBS with some wrenching, I bought
some other gear (new shoes for my clipless pedals, ones that
don't sqeeze the life out of my feet) and had a freakin'
great afternoon. Best of all? I didn't have to do any insect
colony eradication on the trail.
--
Jonesy