October 20th (Afternoon)

My knee was pretty sore still from this morning, so I had a bit of a lazy ride home. I didn’t push too hard, but still tried all the hills. I did pay for it, as all evening I was limping pretty good…

I took the fire-road again around the trailer park, but then followed the single-track that drops me down into the garbage and trailer storage area of the trailer park and continued on. A little bit of fun on some quick trails anyways.

As I went through Peterson’s Creek (made the root, didn’t make the steep climb due to my knee), I heard some squealing disc brakes coming down the hill. As I started riding up and out of the valley, I did turn around and saw Phil descending the final stretch down into the creek, but never saw him again after that. I didn’t even make the bypass trail climb, as I hit a rock at the beginning which set me off line and lost momentum, and I couldn’t get started again…

The ride as a whole was just “lethargic”, that’s the best way to describe it. I had a good ride, some good downhill speeds, but overall with my knee hurting like it did, I wasn’t pushing anything too hard.

Actually, as I was riding down Summit Drive, I noticed a “thump-thump-thump” feeling in the back wheel. So, I pulled over at the entrance into Peterson’s Creek and sure enough, my rear tire was separating from the bead in THREE places! None of them were too bad yet, so I rode the whole way home with it like that, but as soon as I got home I drove down to Taboo and picked up another tire. As my budget is tight (like always), I told him I could only afford something in the $40 range. So, he found a slightly used Schwalbe Rocket Ron that he had taken on a trip with him this summer. So, for $40 I got a used $80 racing tire! Sweet! The tread is low nobbies, meaning less rolling resistance and lower weight. However, traction is still supposed to be pretty good (check out the reviews here at MTBR). Hopefully it lives up to the hype!

Again, sorry for the blurry shots… If I can afford a small, lightweight camera soon I will buy one and take better pictures!!! Anyways, here’s the new rubber, Rocket Ron!