Bikes at Giants Neck

The Helmetless riding big box store bikes.

Vacation Bliss.

My first taste of Carbon Fiber with the Gary Fisher Superfly 29er

My second demo ride at The Happening at Huntington last Sunday was on a Carbon Fiber, Gary Fisher Superfly.  If you think a Ti bike is light, carbon fiber is much lighter!  This bike had to have weighed 21 to 22 lbs and it felt like a race horse that just wanted to Giddy up!  Since I had an hour and a half to kill till the festivities began I opted to lead a small group, just one other person, Daren Casey, a Trail Ambassador from West Hartford, to see what this bike could do.

The mistake I made was taking it on CT NEMBA's Rock and Roll Trail which is a very technical trail to ride and I just slogged through it but then Daren and I hit the Big Burn that's when I saw what this bike could do.  First thing I noticed was the 80mm fork, it was a little stiffer and to me the right amount of travel for an XC race bike.  Big Boy wheels combined with a more competitive fork meant it really ripped through the trails.  Add the 51mm offset on the fork crown and the G2 geometry makes this bike extremely maneuverable.

Cornering on the Superfly was superb compared to the diSSent and the Lynskey.  It just felt like I had way more control and of course the lack of weight meant it was hungry to climb.  The only thing that I had trouble with was getting used to the SRAM shifters.  Being so light, I never needed Granny's help to climb anything.

This bike is a pure racing machine and it would be something to ride it on some of the courses in the Root66 series, but then it would seem like I was cheating riding with gears.

The bike had a different feel to it that I quite couldn't pin point initially.  Makes me wonder if I should be on a bike with an 80mm fork rather 100mm.

Photo Credit:  Dave Francefort

Bent Rail on my Origin 8 Flyte Saddle after three months of riding?

I heard this creaking sound the other day while riding the diSSent. At first I thought it might be the headset because I have been down that road before but I then I realized that it was only happening while seated. I got off the bike and inspected the saddle upclose only to discover that I have a bent rail. I have never seen this before.

I fired off an email to J&L Distributors, the importer for Origin 8 products and this is what they told me to work with the shop that I bought it from.  Dropped it off last night at the Bicycle Goodie Shop so lets hope they come through.

I bucked one and Timbuk2 ... under my saddle!

I felt it was time to replace my current seat bag after 200 miles of riding because it didn't seem like it was going to hold up much longer.  That's what you get from the bargain bin at the LBS.

I noticed on the Timbuk2 website that they are making seat bags so the first thing I did was contact them and ask what size I would need to hold a multi-tool and a 29er tube. They replied with the large so I ordered one the other day and it finally came in.

As you can see it holds the tube and tool just fine. Also in there I have about 6 inches of chain, too, and there is just enough room for perhaps a gu pack and my keys. That is something that has always bothered me with the previous seat pack. I never felt that it would hold my keys securely and while I never had a problem the fact that they were just in the bag loosey, goosey just made me nervous. Especially if I ever got a flat and had to pull the tube out, my keys would drop right to the ground. I think I will feel a little more comfortable that the Timbuk2 has a key tether.

The bag looks pretty good under my saddle.

Goes nicely with the bike, too.

I think I am going to have to get one for the Monster Crosser.

Miller Time! Riding Wrong ...

Jon Petersen of Bikerag.com fame posted on the CT NEMBA Facebook page on Tuesday that if we (CT NEMBA) were going to ride Millers to stay of the XC Loop because it was too muddy.  I always equated what he calls the Practice Loop with the XC Loop and what I called the Practice Loop was that you rode down along the eastern edge of the pond and then did a nice fall line climb to intersect with the Red Trail.  In the map above it is the trails around the "DSA" (Double Secret Agent) section on the map.  His other recommendation was to ride everything clockwise except for the Practice Loop.

I guess you could say we heeded Jon's directions well at first but by taking the Practice Loop counter clockwise but then arriving on the bail out to the access road is when our folly began.  Instead riding back the other way we ended up riding the South Loop counter clockwise, counter to Jon's advice and it turned into a Death March:

death march n. a ride that turns into an investigation of your endurance limit. "The bridge was out, and I had to go all the way back the way I came. So the morning's nice, easy ride turned into a Bataan death march."

Looking at Jon's Map, what we should have done was ride back towards the parking lot and then rode Combo Meal (CM), which is the start of the South Loop into Crack Attack (CA) and then if time was not permitting, after all also on the agenda yesterday evening was our regularly schedule CT NEMBA Board Meeting, Beer, and Pizza, we could have bailed out on Bee Line (BL).

Al & Jack

None-the-less, it was a great ride with good people, a fantastic workout, and got to meet somebody new, Jack who is off next week for Military Training.  Al recently went back to little boy wheels and wasn't liking the bike decision for the technical riding which Millers is known for.  In fact this was the first CT NEMBA ride where little boy wheels outnumbered big boy wheels.  After riding at Huntington last weekend on not one but two different geared bikes I found that I think I would have liked to have gears for this ride, too!  Hopefully, my buddy out east can fix the derailleur cage on the Dillinger and I will have a bike more suited for riding Millers the next time!

On one particular rock outcropping we stopped so that Glenn could look for his visor that he lost riding through this section last November and unbelievably he found it!  Glenn is a machine, riding a heavy Monocog rigid on this stuff and cleaning most of it!