Second Ride

... well, third in total, but first proper.
I went up "The Zoo" yesterday, for over 5 hours.
The bike is awesome. I love it.
The bike pedals great, no bob or anything. I didn't even move the Propedal lever or crank up the compression on the fork for the ride to the trailhead. Riding up the hill through the properties was no trouble in the middle ring.
From the parking lot I took the single track all the way to the top, which I probably won't do again, as it left little time for riding down.
One steep climb I cleared first time, and it was easy. I clear this about 10% of the time on my other bike. It's a tricky climb because there are so many little tricky bits along it, and it's quite steep too. If you clear the first root, corner, double root, small log and steep climb, you're still only half way up. My fork's too stiff on my other bike, as I loose all momentum when I get to the root, and any I manage to recreate gets killed when my back wheel hits it.
I only took my little camera with me. If I thought I would be in the picture-taking mood, I would have taken the D90.
It was a hot day. I love being in the trees though. I can stand the heat in the shade - I just don't like the sun on me.
I took T-Bone down, then all three Chicken Runs, and onto Fluid. I rode a long bridge I'd not ridden before. I then tok Teacup and Blue Balls, then got lost somewhere, but made it on to De-Analyzer (I think), and down the Providence Farm trail.
I can't believe how easily this bike holds speed, because it floats over the bumps. On my other bike I'd really have to pay attention, pick the smoothest line, unweight over roots. It was a handfull to keep planted. Going down the Providence Farm trail (which is mainly an old stream bed, whith lots of loose rocks, off cambre banks, and quite steep in places) at 30 km/hr was scary on the hardtail, as it would be all over the place. According to my GPS track log, I hit 53 km/h, and didn't have one scary moment. Safe as houses.


Total time: 5:42
Total distance: 32.1 km