Riding Rosey but where's the snow???

I had high hopes and expectations for snow last night and today so I was pretty happy when the flurries started to fall around 9:15 leaving my house for Rosaryville. 5 Minutes later they were finished and that was the last snow we'd see for the morning. So much for calling it the roses in snow ride.

Brian and Adam decked out for the chilly ride. We've got to get Brian some new gloves already!

Anyway, Brian, Adam and I all met up for the chilly ride in honor of Martin Luther King Jr Day and for my first ride on a geared "26'er" in probably a year. I was pretty anxious to try out the new bike; it'd be my first experience really riding any kind of a full suspension bike with it's minimalistic 2.5" rear squish.

Pre-ride rig shot.

Short report:

It was awesome! It tracks like a dream and goes exactly where I point it. I didn't quite recognize the lose of complete precision in switching to a 29'er I'd had. Granted the 29'er allows for that with it's rolling capabilities but with the light weight Scalpel set up I think I'm pretty happy with the bike. I need to get a full run down of the bike and I'll add a full report on my initial feelings as well but for now I'll just say it is perfect for me.

Rollin' the Boardwalk, we'll be havin fun...

The ride itself was great. The trails were perfect aside from the deep ruts (probably from people riding last weekend after the 1" plus of rain fall) that were frozen and somewhat hazardous if you didn't hit them just right. Cass came along and did her usual follow the leader deal.

Cassie following at low speed (so I didn't crash while trying to take the picture).

I did some pretty hard efforts through some of the fairly tight and twisty areas on the trail and I think I rode some of those sections harder and faster then I ever have before. For a majority of the ride though we rode pretty moderately steady and took a few water and talk breaks throughout.

Adam was highly impressed with the inner loop in general and the boardwalk specifically.

The inner loop was a blast and Brian and Adam were both riding it for the first time and were very happy with it. I couldn't believe how hard I could rail it through there. I need to work on getting my speed up going over some of the bigger steeper logs but once again with the low weight on this bike I feel like I can do so much more.

Brian has helped move the boardwalk boards around but had never riden them before today. Totally gratifying I believe.

Post ride we got beers and BBQ at a Texas BBQ place in Clinton (highly recommended) and then went our separate ways. A perfect way to spend a morning off. Thank you Dr. King! :) Well for that and everything else of course!

We all looked this happy after our beers and BBQ. Yum.