July 27th (Afternoon)

We’re back into the hot weather now, still not as bad as it can be yet though! 36° today with no wind and lots of sun. The ride was pretty good and enjoyable, though. I had a blast cruising down into Peterson’s Creek. I did pump up both tires before I left to somewhere close to 37psi I think (the gauge on my pump isn’t very accurate). I liked the extra firmness, and yet still made the two sandy sections coming down Tom Moore, so that was really good.

Even though my speed coming down into the valley was good, at the same time I didn’t feel very “accurate” today. I think that’s the best way of describing it? I wasn’t picking the right lines when I needed to, rather I was slightly off a few times. As such, when I got to the wood walkway portion of Tom Moore, as soon as I hit it I didn’t feel right. I don’t know if you remember the picture I posted the first time I found this Tom Moore trail (see July 16th (Afternoon) post), but it’s actually a tricky section. With my 27-1/4” wide bars, I probably only have about just over a foot of room to spare between the railings. Going up is usually worse, as it’s a tough climb so I have to really concentrate on keeping the bars straight. Going down is usually not too bad if I keep a decent pace going through I don’t have any issues.

At least ‘till today. Today I got on this boardwalk and within about 5 feet, I managed to bounce off the right side railing. Well, once I hit that side, the railings started playing pinball with me and I couldn’t manage to get it under control, so I panicked and grabbed a fistful of brake. So, on a downhill, grabbing the front brake hard with a springy suspension and 230 pounds of flesh bearing down on it, sure enough the fork compressed, and my handlebar slid right underneath the railing (I managed to get my hand out of the way in time with minimal damage). So there I was, my bike stuck under this railing! I couldn’t slide the bike out sideways simply due to the way it was positioned and the amount of pressure the forks were putting on the handlebar, pushing it up under the railing. With the bar ends, it was really rather stuck! So, I pushed, jumped and hopped up and down on my front fork ‘till I finally managed to pop it loose! Wow… After looking around and not seeing anyone watching me and laughing, I continued on…

The rest of the ride was good, still can’t make the creek crossing yet and one stop up the hill on the other side.

I did meet up with another commuter again. He was on the lower Frolek’s road as I came down from the upper trails so we stopped at the gate and talked a bit. His name is Jonathan and he’s apparently been commuting for about 3 years now he said (downtown to Juniper). Another dual suspension rig!!! Seems like that’s all people can think about buying around here… I really don’t think I want to, though. That extra weight and potential energy losses on the climbs just isn’t worth it. Again, the descents he appeared faster, but the straightaways and climbs I gained a lot of ground on him. He did, however, mention that he was feeling pretty slow today, so maybe I caught him on an off day. Anyways, I’m still a believer in hard tails for these trails, especially after riding with three guys here now with duallies and noticing their slower climbing speeds. But, regardless, I think when the time comes to upgrade my rig, I will be testing both!