|   Full moon ride at Hawes - Friday Night? | GregR
Mar 27, 2002 1:04 PM | | Sounds like a great idea...wish I could make it! Actually the full moon is Thursday, but what the heck eh?
Have fun!
G |
| test | test
Mar 28, 2002 2:35 PM | | About a month ago I went ahead and purchased my first cyclocross bike from a guy in my mountain bike club. He's a freak, and is only happy riding his fully rigid singlespeed mountain bike on the trails (a freak because he rides technical trails like La Milagrosa on the thing). The CX bike just had too many gears for him. Luckily he was the smallest guy in the club, so the frame fit me well. I scored a '01 Kona Jake the Snake in great condition for $550. Originally I was planning to ride it primarily on the road. Having never been on a road bike before, it was a completely different feeling. The bike felt light and twitchy, and the new hand position on the bars was something to get used to.
A few weekends ago I finally got up the courage to try it out on the road. I mostly rode around the main streets around the residential area that I lived. Then I decided to try something crazy. I went ahead and took it on the fire roads behind the houses, just to see how it performed on the dirt. We went slow at first, since I had to get used to the new bike and feedback from the slim tires under me. But the little fire road was a blast, and it quickly came to and end when I reached the end of the road that popped back out onto the residential street. Directly across the street was the V-gate entrance to Fantasy Island, a local one-way singletrack trail. This was the south entrance, and I knew that the south loop was pretty tame. Before I knew it, I was crossing the street and going through the gate. Might as well see how the bike performs on singletrack, right? The south loop was only about 5 miles long, and I wouldn't get into any big hills or terrain that was technical, so I figured I wasn't too insane.
What a different feeling that was. Take a trail that you ride just about every week, that you know where all of the dips, bumps, and curves are, and see how everything totally changes with a different bike. With the rigid front and rear, I learned how braking bumps really suck. I took everything really slow (slower that I'm used to riding on that trail). A few wash crossings I decided to walk for the first time, since I wasn't used to riding with skinny tires. I did notice how easy it is to jump off of the bike and push it, compared to the mountain bike. I was grinning from ear to ear by the end of this first ride on the dirt.
Last weekend I decided to repeat the ride, with a few variations. I took the bike up the road a few miles to the north trailhead of Fantasy Island. I felt 5 times faster riding on the road with this bike compared to the mountain bike. The coolest thing was approaching the trialhead. A few folks unloading their bikes from their cars glanced at me riding up the road and figured I was just another roadie. Then I signaled my left-hand turn and rolled right past the line of cars in the parking lot and cruised right up the first little dirt hill leading to the entrance gate. I turned a few heads with that one. I then jumped on the main trail of Fantasy for my ride home. At this point, I was getting used to how the bike reacted under me in the dirt. The hills actually weren't all that bad to climb, probably due to how light the bike was compared to my mountain bike. Once again, I decided to jump off and walk a few of the wash crossings. Eventually I'll learn the whole CX dismount and how to shoulder the bike to carry it over stuff.
I used to get tired of riding Fantasy Island with my mountain bike. I had ridden it so often and had become so familiar with the trail that I was beginning to loose interest in riding it. The only thing is that it is extremely close to my house, and I rode it often in the evenings out of convenience. All that has changed with the new CX bike. The trail is once again challenging, and seems new. I'm beginning to get used to the new bike, and I'm starting to ride faster in the flat sections of the trail. The bike is
About a month ago I went ahead and purchased my first cyclocross bike from a guy in my mountain bike club. He's a freak, and is only happy riding his fully rigid singlespeed mountain bike on the trails (a freak because he rides technical trails like La Milagrosa on the thing). The CX bike just had too many gears for him. Luckily he was the smallest guy in the club, so the frame fit me well. I scored a '01 Kona Jake the Snake in great condition for $550. Originally I was planning to ride it primarily on the road. Having never been on a road bike before, it was a completely different feeling. The bike felt light and twitchy, and the new hand position on the bars was something to get used to.
A few weekends ago I finally got up the courage to try it out on the road. I mostly rode around the main streets around the residential area that I lived. Then I decided to try something crazy. I went ahead and took it on the fire roads behind the houses, just to see how it performed on the dirt. We went slow at first, since I had to get used to the new bike and feedback from the slim tires under me. But the little fire road was a blast, and it quickly came to and end when I reached the end of the road that popped back out onto the residential street. Directly across the street was the V-gate entrance to Fantasy Island, a local one-way singletrack trail. This was the south entrance, and I knew that the south loop was pretty tame. Before I knew it, I was crossing the street and going through the gate. Might as well see how the bike performs on singletrack, right? The south loop was only about 5 miles long, and I wouldn't get into any big hills or terrain that was technical, so I figured I wasn't too insane.
What a different feeling that was. Take a trail that you ride just about every week, that you know where all of the dips, bumps, and curves are, and see how everything totally changes with a different bike. With the rigid front and rear, I learned how braking bumps really suck. I took everything really slow (slower that I'm used to riding on that trail). A few wash crossings I decided to walk for the first time, since I wasn't used to riding with skinny tires. I did notice how easy it is to jump off of the bike and push it, compared to the mountain bike. I was grinning from ear to ear by the end of this first ride on the dirt.
Last weekend I decided to repeat the ride, with a few variations. I took the bike up the road a few miles to the north trailhead of Fantasy Island. I felt 5 times faster riding on the road with this bike compared to the mountain bike. The coolest thing was approaching the trialhead. A few folks unloading their bikes from their cars glanced at me riding up the road and figured I was just another roadie. Then I signaled my left-hand turn and rolled right past the line of cars in the parking lot and cruised right up the first little dirt hill leading to the entrance gate. I turned a few heads with that one. I then jumped on the main trail of Fantasy for my ride home. At this point, I was getting used to how the bike reacted under me in the dirt. The hills actually weren't all that bad to climb, probably due to how light the bike was compared to my mountain bike. Once again, I decided to jump off and walk a few of the wash crossings. Eventually I'll learn the whole CX dismount and how to shoulder the bike to carry it over stuff.
I used to get tired of riding Fantasy Island with my mountain bike. I had ridden it so often and had become so familiar with the trail that I was beginning to loose interest in riding it. The only thing is that it is extremely close to my house, and I rode it often in the evenings out of convenience. All that has changed with the new CX bike. The trail is once again challenging, and seems new. I'm beginning to get used to the new bike, and I'm starting to ride faster in the flat sections of the trail. The bike is
About a month ago I went ahead and purchased my first cyclocross bike from a guy in my mountain bike club. He's a freak, and is only happy riding his fully rigid singlespeed mountain bike on the trails (a freak because he rides technical trails like La Milagrosa on the thing). The CX bike just had too many gears for him. Luckily he was the smallest guy in the club, so the frame fit me well. I scored a '01 Kona Jake the Snake in great condition for $550. Originally I was planning to ride it primarily on the road. Having never been on a road bike before, it was a completely different feeling. The bike felt light and twitchy, and the new hand position on the bars was something to get used to.
A few weekends ago I finally got up the courage to try it out on the road. I mostly rode around the main streets around the residential area that I lived. Then I decided to try something crazy. I went ahead and took it on the fire roads behind the houses, just to see how it performed on the dirt. We went slow at first, since I had to get used to the new bike and feedback from the slim tires under me. But the little fire road was a blast, and it quickly came to and end when I reached the end of the road that popped back out onto the residential street. Directly across the street was the V-gate entrance to Fantasy Island, a local one-way singletrack trail. This was the south entrance, and I knew that the south loop was pretty tame. Before I knew it, I was crossing the street and going through the gate. Might as well see how the bike performs on singletrack, right? The south loop was only about 5 miles long, and I wouldn't get into any big hills or terrain that was technical, so I figured I wasn't too insane.
What a different feeling that was. Take a trail that you ride just about every week, that you know where all of the dips, bumps, and curves are, and see how everything totally changes with a different bike. With the rigid front and rear, I learned how braking bumps really suck. I took everything really slow (slower that I'm used to riding on that trail). A few wash crossings I decided to walk for the first time, since I wasn't used to riding with skinny tires. I did notice how easy it is to jump off of the bike and push it, compared to the mountain bike. I was grinning from ear to ear by the end of this first ride on the dirt.
Last weekend I decided to repeat the ride, with a few variations. I took the bike up the road a few miles to the north trailhead of Fantasy Island. I felt 5 times faster riding on the road with this bike compared to the mountain bike. The coolest thing was approaching the trialhead. A few folks unloading their bikes from their cars glanced at me riding up the road and figured I was just another roadie. Then I signaled my left-hand turn and rolled right past the line of cars in the parking lot and cruised right up the first little dirt hill leading to the entrance gate. I turned a few heads with that one. I then jumped on the main trail of Fantasy for my ride home. At this point, I was getting used to how the bike reacted under me in the dirt. The hills actually weren't all that bad to climb, probably due to how light the bike was compared to my mountain bike. Once again, I decided to jump off and walk a few of the wash crossings. Eventually I'll learn the whole CX dismount and how to shoulder the bike to carry it over stuff.
I used to get tired of riding Fantasy Island with my mountain bike. I had ridden it so often and had become so familiar with the trail that I was beginning to loose interest in riding it. The only thing is that it is extremely close to my house, and I rode it often in the evenings out of convenience. All that has changed with the new CX bike. The trail is once again challenging, and seems new. I'm beginning to get used to the new bike, and I'm starting to ride faster in the flat sections of the trail. The bike is
About a month ago I went ahead and purchased my first cyclocross bike from a guy in my mountain bike club. He's a freak, and is only happy riding his fully rigid singlespeed mountain bike on the trails |
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