What do you do when you get a new bike? You ride it!
Just yesterday I finally finished putting together my new mountain bike and so in spite of the fact that it rained like hell all night and was still raining early this morning I strapped on the seatpost fender and headed out to Grand Ridge.
The ride up and over Grand Ridge was just a prelude to a Fluidride clinic I had purchased and was treating myself with. I'm not usually the quickest to adapt to new equipment so I figured a ride plus a clinic would be super useful in getting my skills squared away on my new ride.
And let me tell you, that Fluidride clinic was the best I have ever had.
I drove to Issaquah, got changed clothes, hopped on my bike, it started raining, I hopped back off, grabbed my raincoat and finally got underway. Man was it wet… but it was also warm!
As I was riding up the dirt road that parallels I-90 my front brake started rubbing and squeaking. Since noisy bikes drive me nuts I stopped and opened my seat bag to grab my multi tool. It wasn't there. Shit. I must have left it at home… I thought I could ignore it until I got to Duthie Hill (where I was hoping I could pawn the use of an Allan wrench off of someone) but just half a mile into the climb up Grand Ridge I couldn't stand it any longer and flipped a bitch.
Back to the van I went where I luckily keep a spare tool. It just took 60 seconds to fix the brake and then I was off for real. Good thing I had gotten here early. :)
This bike climbs great! I'm not sure if it's the larger wheels/larger contact patch or the tires or what but I was rarely spinning the rear wheel even in the wet conditions. Speaking of wet, Grand Ridge drains like crazy! The trail was in excellent shape really and suddenly I realized that it had stopped raining. Since I was steaming, I pulled over to remove my raincoat. Nice.
It also felt like this gear was slightly larger than on my old bike…
old bike: 34 x 20 = 45.9 gear inches
new bike: 32 x 20 = 46.4 gear inches
Well what do you know, it is ever so slightly larger.
When I got to Duthie I did about three loops and then sat my ass down on a log bench to wait for Simon Lawton. When he showed up it was like meeting a big kid that is still super pumped about RIDING. He was great! We worked on weight distribution, shock absorption, cornering, climbing and I could have gone on for several more hours no problem. Simon shot tons of video and I hope to be able to post it as soon as I get my hands on it.
We did a lot of drills and then took the skills out on the trails. I seriously could have gone twice as long as we did.
On the way here I dabbed three times, two of which were total get-offs where I just figured I could not ride the upcoming section of trail and so bailed and walked. On the way home I rode the entire trail. Not fast mind you - I was pretty tired at this point - but I cleaned everything.
Fluidride - it's worth it. Now I can't wait to ride more. BRING IT.
| Sleep | 6 |
| Waking HR | |
| Body Weight | |
| Body Fat | |
| Breakfast | |
| Lunch | |
| Dinner | |
| Workout Food | 2 large bottles each w/3 scoops Perpetuem |
| Injuries | |
| Therapy | |
| Time of Day | 11:30 AM |
| Workout Type | getting to know my bike |
| Weather | upper 50s to mid 60s, rain at first and sun at the end |
| Course | |
| Results | |
| Time | |
| Distance | |
| Pace | |
| Equipment | Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper Carbon 29 Singlespeed |
| Clothing | bib shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, wind vest raincoat, cap |
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