Sunday, October 23, 2005
Salma and Gabby in the Woods
So I took the "girls" up to York River State Park for a nice workout. What girls? My 2 mountain bikes. At the risk of being labeled sexist (I'm not), I'll admit that my bicycles have female personas. I first went out and did two laps of the Ravine on my SS 29er :
Legs were a bit heavy from yesterday's century for the first few miles, but they came around nicely. The trail was in GREAT shape. Kirk and the EVMA crew worked their trail building magic a few weeks back, installing 8-9 reroutes that actually improved the flow of and already great flowing layout. Some areas were leaf covered and slippery, but not too many. Riding through the woods without shifting is really a mind broadening experience. You actually do shift, but with your body position and muscle groups, not with a derailler and lever. I'm planning on spending a bunch more time on my SS next year, I need to get to know her better. She's tall, strong and athletic. She's simple, low maintainance and floats over the rough stuff really well. After the ride I decided to name her Gabby.
Then it was back to the lot to trade off and ride the full suspension Epic. In the short year we've been together we've shared many an adventure. I've spent a bunch of time this past week fixing up her tires and drivetrain, I replaced a broke spoke, trued up her wheels and was ready to have a nice fun frollick in the woods. She's shorter and softer than her counterpart, but every bit as fun, just a good bit more complex and definately higher maintenance. After a little more thought it seened like Salma was a fitting name.
The girls together:
Legs were a bit heavy from yesterday's century for the first few miles, but they came around nicely. The trail was in GREAT shape. Kirk and the EVMA crew worked their trail building magic a few weeks back, installing 8-9 reroutes that actually improved the flow of and already great flowing layout. Some areas were leaf covered and slippery, but not too many. Riding through the woods without shifting is really a mind broadening experience. You actually do shift, but with your body position and muscle groups, not with a derailler and lever. I'm planning on spending a bunch more time on my SS next year, I need to get to know her better. She's tall, strong and athletic. She's simple, low maintainance and floats over the rough stuff really well. After the ride I decided to name her Gabby.
Then it was back to the lot to trade off and ride the full suspension Epic. In the short year we've been together we've shared many an adventure. I've spent a bunch of time this past week fixing up her tires and drivetrain, I replaced a broke spoke, trued up her wheels and was ready to have a nice fun frollick in the woods. She's shorter and softer than her counterpart, but every bit as fun, just a good bit more complex and definately higher maintenance. After a little more thought it seened like Salma was a fitting name.
The girls together:
Its nice to have choices.
RideOn
JB
