Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Are two singlespeeds better than one?

I keep asking myself this question every time I ride my new Misfit Psychles diSSent and ponder when I am going to get back on the Dillinger.  In fact, the last time I rode the Dillinger was 100 miles ago of riding the diSSent, which is a month ago from tomorrow.  I guess what might make a difference is if both bikes were set up differently for different types of riding then it would be worthwhile.  Of course, my other idea is to make the Dillinger a 1x9.  For now, I am going to keep it Singlespeed.

A few Dr's appointments this afternoon and a cancelled 5 PM meeting meant the knobbies were going to get some dirt love today.  Decided to take the Green Machine out since I put nearly 100 miles on the diSSent since the last time I rode the Dillinger almost a month ago so it was about time that I got out on it.  Also wanted to test out my Ergon GX3s that have been giving me trouble and they are still being ornery.  They are torqued to spec and yet they still move on me.

Huntington is finally drying out with only a few soft spots here and there but a bit buggy.  I wanted to find a good route with minimal overlap that has a lot of terrain variation with plenty of climbing and that is what I found.  Today's ride took me 8 miles and it was a great mix of singletrack and carriage road, including the Big Burn, the Blue Trail (my new favorite trail I have been looking for a good route upwards of 8 or more miles and I found it today.  From the Upper Lot on Dodgington Road, take the red trail to the singletrack climb over to the lower Dodgingtown lot.  

I was having some issues unclipping with my right foot.  I have Crank Brother flats with built in eggbeaters and for some reason it's really hard to unclip.  It wasn't too much of a problem until I stalled out on a little short up and fell to my right.  If I could have unclipped I would have been fine but I couldn't get my foot out in time and went down on a Mountain Laurel stump, banging my forearm.  It hurt a little bit but not enough to stop riding so off I went.  Later, while riding home is when I noticed the bump.

3 comments:

Ben said...

Sounds all good to me....how much mud can the diSSENt handle? As for Connecticut riding, I'm in your state now, but no rentals here in Hartford! What the?

Mark said...

@Ben, I don't think anyone in CT rents bikes. CT isn't a biking destination. The only place that I would think you could rent bikes, besides the ski areas is Kingdom Trails up in Northern Vermont.

Julian said...

Bummer....I always to try to rent bikes in cities I travel to.