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Wednesday, May 9, 2007
A Fully Rigid Transition - Rich's Take
One of my Team Baggy buddies, Rich, had some great words in response to my first real 29er ride, so consider this a guest entry:
I think you're on your way to becoming a fully rigid 29er singlespeeder and you just don't know it yet! Not quite, but I do think you will ride that bike more, and come to love it, perhaps more than any other bike you are currently riding. Here's why, in my own experience, I say that: First, it is a simple bike and will always be ready to ride right out the garage with no fuss. ( That aint no NIXON Fork on there ) and second you will be riding this bike right out the garage, whenever you want, on your own schedule, for whatever pupose your heart desires. In other words this bike will bring you back to the true freedom of the wheels that our first bikes brought us when we were kids. You will get to know the lay of the land in your new community looking over the front end of this bike and so, in a way, it will become your best friend for exploring the local rides available to you. And, I've discovered this for myself on the monocog, because the bike is fully rigid you don't want to load it up in a car and take it to Grouse Ridge. That's a good thing because what it means is that this bike is aching to rock out on the "trails in the hood"! Give me buff dirt roads, give me swoopy "easy" single track near town, give me mixed dirt and road rides that I'd never even looked twice at before on my road bike or my F.S. mtn bike....You'll be out on the niner for short "workout" rides close to town and you won't need to spend an hour prepping the bike, drive anywhere, or scare up a ride buddy, just plug in your i-pod and go ride for an hour or two. A month from now your fitness level will be way up and the sky is the limit as to how far you want to go with challangeing yourself in this regard. Monday, after getting back from Moab, I looked at my tired, muddy, sqeaky, loose pivot linkage, Blur and said "thanks for all the great rides in Moab" and then turned my back on her ( instead of spending two hours cleanaing her up for the next ride) and rode the moncog to Nevada City and back on a variety of dirt roads and pavement. I bought a beverage in N.C. and sat on a bench and watched the middle aged shopper hotties strut their stuff between botique shops ( thinking, "thank God she's not my wife!") before hopping back on my ride and dissapearing into the wooods on the "backside" of town. I'm glad I had the Blur to ride in Moab, but for the close to home stuff, I love the monocog. I think you'll even come to love the fully rigid bit of it. It will force you to re-think your riding style as you've already noticed. You'll find yourself out of the saddle looking for the sweet line that "flows" Once you start riding like that, and you happen to go our for a "real" ride on the Reign, you will be amazed at how well you climb and fly over obstacles in ways you never even considered before. You will be more effecient and fit and ride with a new sense of "flow" and it will all be better than ever before thanks to that rigid 29er of yours! just a few thoughts and predictions from my own experiences....Rich
Initial Review of Pearl Izumi Alp-X Mid Shoes
I picked up a pair of Pearl Izumi's Alp-X Mid shoes, mainly as a "town riding" shoe. My intent was to have a shoe that could use clipless pedal cleats, but also be comfy to hang out in while sitting in a coffee shop for a few hours, and also not look too dorky. I've had a few hours on these shoes now...
First, fit is great, very comfy shoes. They also are light weight, and seem to breathe well. Most of my riding buddies think they're ugly, although they've only seen the online pics. I think they're pretty nice actually, and they're slightly more subdued, and less space-agey than the web site picture.
These shoes will definitely rock for riding around town: comfy, easy to walk in, and most folks probably won't even notice they're a cycling shoe, and will just think they're trail running shoes. But, they are NOT shoes to use for serious riding. They're more squishy in the foot-bed overall. So while the shoe sole/shank itself is stiff, they feel squishy when you stand up and hammer on the pedals. If you're spinning, you don't notice it at all, and they're simply nice.
Thus, so far, they definitely satisfy the goals I had when I bought them. And, I may even use them for various mtb riding as well, we'll see.
First, fit is great, very comfy shoes. They also are light weight, and seem to breathe well. Most of my riding buddies think they're ugly, although they've only seen the online pics. I think they're pretty nice actually, and they're slightly more subdued, and less space-agey than the web site picture.
These shoes will definitely rock for riding around town: comfy, easy to walk in, and most folks probably won't even notice they're a cycling shoe, and will just think they're trail running shoes. But, they are NOT shoes to use for serious riding. They're more squishy in the foot-bed overall. So while the shoe sole/shank itself is stiff, they feel squishy when you stand up and hammer on the pedals. If you're spinning, you don't notice it at all, and they're simply nice.
Thus, so far, they definitely satisfy the goals I had when I bought them. And, I may even use them for various mtb riding as well, we'll see.
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Tuesday, May 8, 2007
First Real Ride On 29er
Today I did what I'll call my first "real" ride on my new 29er. By that I simply mean it was of decent length, and involved trails (even if it was a small chunk of the ride). There are two very short trails within town, so decided to see what it was like to ride over to one of them from my house, ride it and come back. The quick of it:
Distance: 13.7 miles
Time: approx 1 hour 45 mins (of which about 20 mins was on dirt :(
Ascent: 2300'
The trail, Ridgeline, was quite buff - with scenery/surroundings that made me think a lot of Skeggs/El Corte de Madera in the Bay area: shady with tons and tons of trees, lush, buff trail with a few small rooted sections. It was actually the perfect intro to a dirt ride on the rigid 29er. It is going to take some getting used to to be fully effective on a rigid bike! The thing rolls really well, and it climbs quite well. But, I did a small little drop off, and wham, uh, ya, there'd be no give at all in the rear end :) Interestingly enough, it's really the rear suspension that I miss/notice the most. I think the front is more obvious, and I'm lifting the front wheel as needed more. I will most definitely be getting some fatter tires for mtb riding (and I already received the Schwalbe Big Apple 2.35 mostly-slicks for town riding). The bike definitely rails the buff singletrack, very direct-drive. Any way you slice it though, it's a fun ride, just have to re-train my brain a bit. One note... I haven't played with tire pressure much on this bike yet I was running the tires pretty hard, mainly cuz I've been riding on pavement a lot. For real dirt riding, I could go lower pressure, plus, as said, I'd use something bigger (I'm riding the WTB Nanoraptor 2.1's, will likely go with some Panaracer Rampage 2.35's).
The ride overall was nice, mainly because I got out for a couple hours on my bike in beautiful weather, and got to be on some dirt (even if it was weak). About 30 mins in I was pretty hurtin' and just bummin' over my fitness. But, by the end, cranking up some seriously steep hills, I was enjoying it a lot, and much more positive. Hopefully this ride, and some others will become a multi-day per week event going forward. Working at home again I'm feeling I'll be able to do that.
Distance: 13.7 miles
Time: approx 1 hour 45 mins (of which about 20 mins was on dirt :(
Ascent: 2300'
The trail, Ridgeline, was quite buff - with scenery/surroundings that made me think a lot of Skeggs/El Corte de Madera in the Bay area: shady with tons and tons of trees, lush, buff trail with a few small rooted sections. It was actually the perfect intro to a dirt ride on the rigid 29er. It is going to take some getting used to to be fully effective on a rigid bike! The thing rolls really well, and it climbs quite well. But, I did a small little drop off, and wham, uh, ya, there'd be no give at all in the rear end :) Interestingly enough, it's really the rear suspension that I miss/notice the most. I think the front is more obvious, and I'm lifting the front wheel as needed more. I will most definitely be getting some fatter tires for mtb riding (and I already received the Schwalbe Big Apple 2.35 mostly-slicks for town riding). The bike definitely rails the buff singletrack, very direct-drive. Any way you slice it though, it's a fun ride, just have to re-train my brain a bit. One note... I haven't played with tire pressure much on this bike yet I was running the tires pretty hard, mainly cuz I've been riding on pavement a lot. For real dirt riding, I could go lower pressure, plus, as said, I'd use something bigger (I'm riding the WTB Nanoraptor 2.1's, will likely go with some Panaracer Rampage 2.35's).
The ride overall was nice, mainly because I got out for a couple hours on my bike in beautiful weather, and got to be on some dirt (even if it was weak). About 30 mins in I was pretty hurtin' and just bummin' over my fitness. But, by the end, cranking up some seriously steep hills, I was enjoying it a lot, and much more positive. Hopefully this ride, and some others will become a multi-day per week event going forward. Working at home again I'm feeling I'll be able to do that.
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Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Head Angle has moved
My blog, which has been basically dead (unless you count comment spam) for a while will has moved to Blogger, and I am going to start up again. My ride with Jay today has refreshed my desire for riding and writing about it. I am planning to do things a bit differently, and hope I can keep it up. I plan to write a bit longer "story" style entries, and won't be writing every day. I hope to have the first story done by the end of the year...
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