Off Road Rock and Roll
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Ah yeah. Unit and I got out on the trails yesterday evening. We rode as hard as we could for as long as we could. It wasn't nearly long enough. The early fall sunset comes on a lot too early to get in a full workout now.
Then again, with sunset coming so early the temperatures dropped into the perfect riding temperature range. It made those last few minutes poking my way along a trail I could barely see some of the most enjoyable riding I have experienced in a long time.
Too bad for me I'd forgotten my lights. No bugs and great weather... It would have been the first perfect night ride of the Fall 2007.
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Should have known...
When this is what you see as you head into the woods....you should figure that you won't get in a full lap.
What riding we did was a blast though...looking forward to a bit more riding today!
MTN bike
Cool Surly. What's with the rigid fork? Ouch. I thought I was old school with just a front fork shock instead of a full suspension.
I hope to do some mtn biking this winter but I suspect I will be on the road bike down well into the teens (temperature).
Fully Rigid all the way
Fully rigid is the way to go!
Actually I have no idea whether that's true or not. I've never ridden one of them sussy bikes. I hear full squish is good for hands / wrists / elbows / neck / back / whatever bone you want to protect, but it seems like the better I get at riding off-road the less it hurts. Possibly I'm learning better to avoid the bumps, or maybe I'm just more tough now than I was last year (Not likely!)
My real opinion: Suspension's just something else to go wrong at worst. It's something else I'd have to maintain at best. And anyone who knows me knows too well I'm not the world's best at maintaining my equipment.
Rigid
There is no "partially" rigid...either you run rigid or you don't...therefore no need to say "fully". (someone ranted on me about that once, and it sort of made since...thought I would pass the love).
Suspension is definitely something else to go wrong, but what is more, it allows the rider to go faster on rougher terrain. While, I am not totally against buying speed, I am cautious when you are potentially skipping over the step where you learn the skills needed to harness that speed (I see the symptoms of this a lot).
Rigid allows for very precise handling too. I feel that in the slow uber-tech stuff, rigid feels like guiding a surgical blade instead of a machete. Nothing wrong with a bigger blade when speed is the priority, but sometimes you need to feel where you are going....Most trials bikes are not equipped with springs for this reason.
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