Sunday, August 06, 2006

Trail Trimming

I took the singlespeed out for a ride at Bald Mountain this afternoon. I brought some clippers along with me and did a little trimming while I rode. (OK, I stopped to trim ;-) ) I'm still physically in a little funk after my trip to Germany so I thought it would be nice just to go out for a ride and not worry about "training".

It's been awhile since I've ridden a rigid fork on the trail. I'd forgotten how much it tires your arms out. On the other hand, my singlespeed is noticeably lighter and more efficient than my regular bike. In short, it's just a fun bike to ride.

This ride also got me thinking a little more about switching to a short-travel full suspension bike for next year. I don't want a lot of travel, just enough to take the edge off of some of the bumps in the back. I had trouble in a few sections at the Stony race with the back end of the bike bouncing around on me, mostly on flat, rough sections. I think that there may be a decent advantage to be had if I could keep the rear tire on the ground in those spots so I could keep pedaling. I'm also considering that there might have been an issue with where I had my weight on the bike in those sections; maybe it was too far forward?

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