Dan Action

Caught out June 18, 2008

  Got out for a ride on the ‘cross bike today after spending an hour or so trying to get to somewhere in Jersey. That place is where decent driving directions go to get slaughtered. I got caught out on the trail when the rain came. I origionally put myself under a bridge when the rain first started. Smart. I got a bit cocky as it lessened and headed out once again only to get dumped on.  Everything on the trail got real slick, and on the CX bike, that’s not my favorite, not to mention I got real cold. I headed in.

Mornings have still been my jam. Getting a few hours on the bike before work, but also riding early on the days off, giving me a whole day to do whatever. It feels so good,  plus it makes my naps that much sweeter.

I have been taking out some of the demo mountain bikes from the shop lately. Namely an Orbea Lanza 29′er, and an FSR expert 26′er. Both have there merits. I have not ridden trails on a 29′er before last week, and I have to say, I’m psyched about it. I always thought of them as being a bit unwieldy, but I was wrong. It was so fast and agile. I chased my friend Lee all over the woods and had a blast.  The Stumpjumper as also pretty stellar. It climbs like no other full suspension I’ve extensively ridden which kind of blew me away. With 120mm travel, it handles all the rocks and crap really well, but I found the bottom of the suspension right around the same time as i found the dirt jumps at the local trails. The bike definitely took the hits, but didn’t really like it too much.  So to give it a break I was checking out Spec.’s specials page during a slow time at work and happened upon a freeride hardtail they were blowing out. It’s pretty much just like my last one, which was a Santa Cruz chameleon but with better brakes.  It was cheap, and I am excited. I will get it tomorrow, so Friday morning hopefully I will see those jumps again.