I got to sit in with another band last night. Hooked up with the Frederick Five for a gig in the north Shed. Being early July, I'm well into my Old, Soft, Grumpy stage of the bike season. A week of 100 degree days had me dreading the thought of a slow rock crawl over trails with icy names. Driving up Route 15 towards Mountaindale, staring at the dark clouds west and north, hoping for a shower to knock the dust down on the gravel drive up the mountain. Turned out to be about a 45-minute most welcome downpour which dropped the temp about 25-30 degrees. Soooo nice. Wet rocks, yeah, whatever...
Riding Iceberg right off the gate, and right after a rain shower is like being handed an automatic Mulligan, a pass, an instant excuse. You're never gonna clean it when it's wet, so you may as well relax and not even try to kill yourself.
Ended up with several great runs, cleaned more spots than I usually do, and was even given a couple of solos by the frontman. This trail, and it's neighbor F2, are a lot like parts of Buzzard Rocks Trail, where if you can stay on your bike for 75 yards at a time, you're thrilled. I'm pretty sure I hit 80 yds on a few occasions last night. Some of the large angled rocks were grippy when wet, some of the flat ones weren't. Hard to know which rocks were gonna hold you. Hard to believe that that didn't stop us from trying the angles. It's cool that the skills can still grow while the fitness and body fades....
Soooo, I'm in need of some opinions/suggestions/links etc.
I need a fork. a 100mm one, preferably reallll simple, and cheep (though I've been told cheep and forks are not a good combo (like parachutes or something). How 'bout used? Old? Closeouts? I'm pretty sure any fork is gonna feel different for me, and I doubt I'd appreciate all the blingyness of the latest $1000 offerings from Fox. I know about as much about springy bike things as Ghana know about taking penalty kicks. And I don't really care to learn that much about them. I don't like taking forks apart, and I like putting them back together even less.
Help a rider out
ephemeral playthings dropped at the end of our alley thanks to some street improvements
cleaned a certain flat rock in Meeshow for the first time last night after watching Howard work it out. it's one I've half-tried before, and have watched 2 others nearly get it. hope I can still pull stuff like that on the new ride
