Sunday, September 14, 2008

Great ride at Fountainhead.

Drew and I headed to Fountainhead for a lap today. I've been sick lately, so I haven't been really riding hard. One lap on a very hot day was a good chance to get out and work my legs a bit.

It was a hot day today... 96 and humid. We'd had rain yesterday morning, so the trails were still wet. I was hoping for tacky, but the roots and rocks were more along the lines of "slimey". The roots and rocks were the problem. When they're wet, it is really easy to get knocked off-line by hitting a wet root or rock. That makes some of the gnarly downhill sections a bit more adventurous.

There were a few things that were cool about this ride:
  1. The bike handled really well. Riding the rough sections was awesome. It let me pick any line I wanted through the rocks and roots. Only the slippery nature of the trail moved me to somewhere that I didn't want to be. There were some steep sections where I really had to do some slow cranking to get up... the bike tracked so well that I had no trouble tracking straight and true. I was impressed.
  2. My gearing is a hair tall for FH. There are a few climbs that I never make. I didn't clean them today. Some that I usually make were a lot more work today. I made it up, but it wasn't pretty. I'll get used to that.
  3. The pedals are great. I really liked the look pedals. I had a few problems clicking in late in the ride, but that was more a factor of me being tired and not feeling great.

Drew and I really had fun. I haven't ridden with him much lately and this was a great chance to go.

Later!

Pete

2 comments:

sean said...

Jealous. Douthat was fun, but I still heart Fountainhead.

I have to get my singlespeed out there this week.

Your Name Here said...

Let me know when you want to ride. I may be able to join you... especially if you can drive. I'm not driving for a little while. long story...

Talk to you soon. Glad you had a good trip to douthat.

Pete