Nobody really wrote anything about this, but Root, JT, and I went on a CroMo hardtails-only ride on Sunday, 02 March 2008 at Ditch. Root showed up with his 10th Anniversary Fat Chance, JT had his Bridgestone XO-1, and I had my drop-handlebar Bridgestone MB-1. The climbs were so nice on bent-over, lightweight bikes, but the horsey-print trail surface made for some punishing conditions with no suspension and skinny, high-pressure tires. Aside from the inevitable monkey-butt, there was some good neckache from craning to look ahead, and vibro-itch on the jiggly parts of the arms. We rode out to the end of Ditch then came back and did the inner loop. We actually rode all the steeps, but didn’t do much of the stuff in the rock garden.
The MB-1 climbed amazingly well with the drop bars. I guess it put my body weight more centered between the wheels and lowered my upper body angle for more pedaling efficiency. It ripped up hills that are otherwise a grind. I’m sure the overall weight helped too. The steering geometry was nice and quick, so threading precise lines wasn’t a problem. I’ll definitely take this bike off-road in this configuration again!
The old Cateye Cordless II batteries were nearly dead, so after about 2km, there were no readings, so there is no ride data. Look at the pictures here.
0 Responses to “Leap Year Ride”