The bollocks displacing adrenaline filled riding vacation in Jan has left an even bigger void this year. Usually it takes a few weeks to get back on the saddle at the local teletubbie trails and try to eke out remnants of any adrenaline twitch. This year other than some running, all I can do was spud on the couch.
Then I realize I'm just tired of the same old feelings letting the suspensions work its magic on the flat featureless trails around here...
As I looked...right at the end of the stack-- was an almost forgotten oddity. My Pugsley. The rigid fat-tire bike that purists would have choked for I have desecrated it with a Gravity Dropper.
Once on the trail.. some good ol' feeling started returning. All of a sudden I was reminded of choosing lines (well at least for the first 5 mins).... The rubbers sure as hell suck up a lot of the bumps but still it's a rigid bike after all.
Strangely it wasn't so much a lack of front suspension causing my peripheral nervous system to ping but the familiar feeling of getting kicked up in the rear and needing to fight for more control up front to steer the bike out of trouble. While arms are still affixed into crab-clawed posture from last few years of AM riding with long bars but hips down, instinctive xc habits came back faster than you can get hooked on crack.
Soon I wasn't even touching the dropper. The little bitch reminded me its ok to ride but if I take to the air, she's still gonna chomp down hard on impact.... Ok so here I was probably looking funny to anyone looking... A wriggling xc ass mated to a lobster stance on the handlebar.... railing berms like no cross country bike would ever dream but still pedaling up in lycra clad weenie fashion.
While its lacking travel up front, having learned to pump the Pugs can be willed to produce an amazing amount of flow over the rough.... oh yea, I'm 10 mins into the trail by now. Screw the line choosing... everything and anything goes... Barney here just laps it all up. All I had to do was ease off the grip....
No-Frills Riding. Somehow all the extra cable and dangles just detracts from the looks of the bike... ThunderThigh gave me his Fleegle bar which helps correct the setup with more sweep. Everything's looking good...
Next up was last night's nite ride with Jackboot. We hit the jungle trail and again I tried pumping the bikes before those fallen logs -- whaddaya know. It works in the dark too. All cleared. The Pugs has 26" hoop but adds up to a 29er circumference with those hi vol hi height rubbers... I hate to admit it but guess there really is something about bigger size wheels cleaning out the roughs a lot more effortlessly at speed over its smaller cousins.
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| A mtb version of C3PO or Johnny-5.. help me decide. |
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