For Fathers day I decided to treat myself to a long mountain bike ride...typically my favorite local spot is close enough to home that I can ride over to the trail head, so after years of hauling the bike and usually a buddy or two an hour plus to hit the dirt, the last three years I am happy to report that until a couple of weeks ago i hadn't had the mountain bike in the car (ditched the roof rack about the 5yrs ago after ripping a bike off the top going into a parking garage....arrgh). But, seeing how it was Daddy Day and wifey had given me the free pass to "ride until i didn't want to ride anymore" .....I tossed the
Monocog into the back of the
Honda and was off. It seems that after years of riding anything and everything that even resembles a dirt trail I've come to realize that I like riding familiar trails. Its become fun to focus on subtle trail features that might go unnoticed on a first run....a tree root that I can loft over to set up a turn, or a new chainring scar on a fallen log crossing the trail. The beauty of riding the same trail year round is that it gives us the opportunity to watch nature creep through its life cycle.
Anyhoo, back to
Banner Lakes.....it had rained the week before, but referencing my normal ride, in my mind the trail should have been plenty dry and just moist enough to provide the perfect riding surface for my over sized small knob treads......WR0NG!!! to say it was a soupy mess would be an understatement boarding on the obscene. here's a picture of what my bike looked like after the ride.....
This was a good 'ol fashion mud fest....but not really inna good way. It reminded me of the enthusiasm I had for mountain biking in my twenties, then it was about conquering the trail.....now its about coexisting with it. It was a fun ride...more because riding is like pizza and sex, it might not always be great, but if we're really honest with ourselves its very rarely bad......the plan is to provide a more formal trail review in the future with useful bits of info like mileage, a trail map, skill level, and some nifty photos of trail markers. However, with the trails conditions being what they were, I opted to start that process another day.
As it says in the title line....my good friend
Buddha scored a
Surly Long Haul Trucker from a friend (thanks Billy).....and we built it up this week. The bike will ultimately be used as a commuter, but its maiden voyage will be on
RAGBRAI (this is a tour across Iowa for the outta towners tuning in).......thought I'd post a picture of it in case anyone is looking for inspiration for their own build:
We built it up as a 1x9 with
mavic aksyium wheels,
truvativ cranks,
Avid cantis and levers, a recycled
brooks saddle, and a smattering of other parts poached from the shop. well, that's all I got for the day.....RIDE FREE!
PS----here's a random shot I found of an all wood bike i found on line....kinda weird, but cool...I'd link the website, but its all over the bike :0)
PSS----I'm starting a new feature: everytime I get a bike mag, I'm going to post the average price of the bikes reviewed. this weeks mag:
BIKE ; average price of reviewed bikes: $ 4952.50 !!! R U F*#king Kidding ME??!!!!
