Sunday, July 24, 2011

Bent.

Plan: After this week... just get some saddle time. On dirt.

Result: Mission accomplished. I wake with a massive headache. But after this week, I'm gettin' some dirt! Hop on the HighBall and spin out to the Austin Greenbelt.

Spot this out at Zilker Park along the way. I have fond memories of pedaling around this thing around from the Terlingua race a couple of years ago. I'll leave it at that.

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First time on the Greenbelt. Rocky. Lots of baby heads.

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And chunks.

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It's fun riding. Very different than the sandy loamy trail I'm used to. And very convient.

Legs feel good. Head hurts like heck. The bike continues to impress. Still adjusting my technique to the hardtail. It's certainly rougher, but I actually like it better over the rough stuff. Much more predictable. And the suspension doesn't absorb all the momentum.

On the downside... I nurse the bike home very carefully. After getting on smooth pavement it was clear something wasn't right. Several of the rear non-drive-side spokes worked themselves totally loose. One almost out of the nipple. The drive side is still tight. I'll have to de-tension it to know if I bent the rim in a couple of spots or it's a tension issue. I couldn't recall any hard hits. But, I'm above the, errr, recommended weight for these rims. And it can be easy to torque the rim around a rock gap. Stay tuned.

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