Post Birthday Ride

While things didn't quite work out for a Birthday ride for me on Friday, Saturday was another story. Friday night through my bday dinner with the fam I managed to pester Brian hard enough to convince him to ride with me in the morning despite his scheduled long run. We headed over to Fairland for simplicity and he broke out the new bike for the first time.


Bri airing out the new rig. I promise this will be the last shot I post of this "jump".

I brought Cass along for the ride and we rode the still frozen trails for about an hour or so. Nothing too hard or fast, we just rode. Brian broke in the new bike with some sweet and solid single track and a few jumps here and there for good measure. His riding is going to benefit so much from the bike (and vice versa considering it's been sitting on the shelf of Proteus for the last 2+ years). Just the switch from the old Raleigh is night and day; by the time the season rolls around he's going to be solidly kicking my ass as opposed to just handing it too me. I'll take at least partial credit for that thank you very much.

Fairland "very close to my house" Park

I HATE that the weather is warm right now. Well, really I don't mind the warm, I just don't like the big shifts from cold to warm in a matter of a couple of days and back again. You say, yeah well that's mid-atlantic weather for ya, get used to it. I say I want to move west.


Loving this look, I gave him a hard time for it and had to get a picture of course. Yeah Brian! or should I say Lance!

I really had a great day today actually. I ran some errands this morning including picking up a new freewheel from another MORE member, getting some more Christmas presents at REI (and scoring a pair of Pearl Izumi Lobster Mitts which I've heard may actually keep my icy hands warm in winter riding), and picking up the race prime for next Saturday's Celtic Solstice 5 Miler.


Grabbing some air with a 40lb bike and the "stock" metal flats.

Afterwards Brian and I met up at Fairland Recreational Center for our first ever ride there with high hopes since it's only about 15 minutes from our respective homes. Brian's rode his 20 year old Raleigh that we "fixed up" yesterday and I rode my cross rig that I "fixed up" last week. Turns out Fairland is pretty sweet! A lot more trails then I expected with some pretty fun sections and some great little rolling areas. We managed to get a little bit lost even and ended up riding a paved trail for a little bit to get back to the cars.


The steed. Need I say more? Well, yes I do. This doesn't capture the true glory of the bike that is the rusted Alivio components, the 40lbs of bulk or the swaying of the tires "trued" by yours truly.

I was surprised by how many other bikers we saw out there including one of the single speed outlaw riders. We talked to another pair of riders from the area, one of which seemed to have a pretty varied interest including trials riding, mountain biking and road biking. While I don't think I'd want to compete in trials it seems like the skills it'd teach would be incredibly helpful for technical trail riding.


Just look at that smile! Somebody is hooked, and this wasn't even the fun part.

Anyway, both bikes held up fine, though I essentially rode single speed since the shifters just won't engage most of the time, plus I seem to have forgotten that shifting is an option. Brian was happy with his as well, though I think he's decided against keeping it sense it is, in reality a size too small and is somewhat uncomfortable for him. I think after two trail rides he's enjoyed himself enough to justify the investment in a better bike. Anyone know selling, or know someone who is selling a 17.5/Medium hardtail, maybe 29'er, or not, for in the $500-$800 range?


Couldn't let him have all the fun... though on an aluminum frame with an aluminum fork and and 28's probably running around 35 to 40 psi, abuse may be the better term for this one. I'll feel it tomorrow.