RAW with Heartburn

Went out for a quick ride Thursday after work in order to try out the new Ergons and to work off some of the Cinqo de Mayo celebrations at work.  We had a chili cook off and I submitted an entry but we had to all vote on everyone else's entry which mean there was a lot of chili consumed.  You know what they say:  "Beans, beans good for your heart, the more you eat the more you ...."  On top of that, all the spices and tomato sauces lead to indigestion and heartburn.  Didn't have a lot of time because I had to take my son to baseball later that day so it was a quick rip at Upper Paugussett. 

I just did the basic 4 mile loop starting from Tamarac Rd,  up the Poly Brody and down the Gussy, without the knobbies ever coming in contact with Pave.  It was a great workout under an hour.  Would have been less but I brought the helmet cam and took some vids on both log rides and the blue crossed roller.

Not a good way to show the new Ergons in action with Horse biscuits seen here on the Poly Brody Forest Road at Upper Paugussett State Forest.  First biscuits of the season can only mean that we'll probably be seeing more signs of horses on the trails.  Yet, ironically, I have yet to see a horse on the Upper Gussy Trail.  Seen plenty of hoof marks and biscuits but never a horse.  

I like these grips a lot better because as I mentioned in an earlier post because my hands are not completely out on the bar ends as they would be with the GX3s.  I can get the brakes quicker and that of course is a lot more comforting.

More on the topic of horses, I found some prints on the section of trail leading to the third stream crossing on the Gussy (first if you are coming down) but the funny thing about them is that they were longer than what I would expect from a horse.  I know a lot of people in the area run their horses shoeless and maybe this is what I am seeing here, however, it just doesn't look right.  If it's not a horse and it's too big to be a deer, could it be there is a Moose on the Loose at Upper Paugussett State Forest?  I doubt it and it's probably just horse tracks.

The diSSent is treating me well and I love riding it.  I still need to get a firmer spring for the Minute.  I am torn between the Heavy and the really heavy spring.  When it comes in, I am going to have the steering tube trimmed down at the same time.

Ergon Grips

I got a new set of Ergon grips the other day and planned on putting them on diSSent.  While I like the GX3s I find no matter how much I tighten them they still move when I am trying to get the most leverage out of the bar ends in order to climb.  I think this is because I used them pretty hard last year and they have had it.  The bar ends on the GX3s are full hand but I am finding that I don't need to be that far out anymore to get the same amount of leverage, gosh does this mean I am becoming stronger? Since I needed another set of grips I decided to try the GR2s, they looked better than my old GP1s that I used on the tandem and are made for a three finger bar end.  

Tested them out at Upper Paugussett and they were great!  I really like the three finger bar end now because it puts my hands more on the sides instead of out front of the bars, which means I can slide back to the braking position much faster.  

Looks like the GX3s are going back on the Dillinger and the GP1s go back to the Tandem.

Norwalk River Trail Meetings

Another shot at Huntington

Went back to Huntington on Monday for another ride.  Planned on meeting Tren Spence to catch up on some things with the CT NEMBA chapter but since Huntington is so close I took a quick loop, 1.6 miles, before he got there for a warm up lap.  That really helped.  We rode a lot of what I rode on Saturday, only in reverse.  It was a good ride and I didn't feel as skittish as I did on Saturday, in fact I felt really good.

I was feeling so good, and maybe a bit cocky, that I tried to do everything and almost did it all.  Could it be when riding alone the Chicken Shit Factor increases two fold but riding with someone else the CS factor is overridden with Bravado?  Not to mention, Tren was geared, is even more impetus to try and ride everything.  Rocked the Roller in the Big Burn, dabbed on the tippy, top of the sick climb on the blue (usually get about half way up) and once again cleaned the new South Pond gravel road.  What did Peter at Misfit say?  Ride the bike into the ground!  Well, it felt like that Monday evening and the bike came up just wanting more and more.

Tandem Trail-a-biking on the Farmington Canal Greenway

As you can imagine for a beautiful spring weekend day, riding on the Farmington Canal Greenway is always a treat.  Got the wheel back for the Qball on Friday and put the bike back together Sunday morning and it was good as new.  I brought the tire pressure up to 70 psi and what a difference that makes.

Usually, we start out at one end or the other either at the top of the trail in Cheshire or what is probably the middle of the trail at the Stop & Shop parking lot in Hamden however today since we were having lunch with the boy's great grandfather in Cheshire we continued on to Brooksvale Park and began our ride in the North Hamden.

We rode north to the terminus of the trail.  At some point it's supposed to extend all the way Southington and then connect to the Farmington section, which then you could ride all the way to Massachusetts but that seems to be far from complete.  Turning around, we rode back, past where we parked down to Sergio's Pizza restaurant where I wanted to get the boys Gellatto only to find that it was processed in a facility that has nuts and both Elliot and Brodie have varying nut allergies.  They had Snapples instead and a promise for Ice Cream on the way home.