Monday, November 14, 2011

A real ride


Today Blü.2 got a true test of her mettle.
Nassahegon.

For those not in the know, Nassahegon is some of the best riding in the state.  Super twisty, flowing, great climbs (for CT), some rocks (and then some more rocks).  When you think of classic New England singletrack, that is the Nass.

The trail gnomes had been hard at work out in Burlington cleaning up the wrath of Albert, and other than some heavy leaf coverage the trails were good to go (for the most part).

I don't know if it was the  headwind commuting to work on Saturday, or the installation I did on Friday, but my legs were toast.  I really wanted to ride Mary Jane set up as a 1x8.  But then I remembered the last time I rode gears at the Nass after a storm.

With the tight twisties, I was really appreciating the sharpness of Blü.2's handling.  She really carved the corners.  The quickness actually is something that I'm going to have to adjust to when the trail turns down, and keep my weight back a little more.

On the uphill side of things, the lower front makes her quite a nimble climber.  

We were only riding for a couple of hours, but the constant switchbacks made it seem like longer, but in a good way.   Like shoving 3 hours of fun in to 2.

The size of our group and the nature of the trails, we'd appear to all be heading a different direction when looking down the trail.  Here we appear to be just standing around in the woods.

Mookie wins the prize for actually riding the whole climb we're standing atop.

Things beyond  Blü.2's control even worked out for the best.  I only pulled my feet out of the pedals when I was doing something truly stoopid, and my brakes were silent when dry, which is good enough for me.

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