New Rig:

“I love to go mountain biking, but you have to go so far to find good trails.  I just about never go.” 

I’ve heard that quote a lot, and uttered it myself from time to time.

A SOLUTION PRESENTS ITSELF!  Now, thanks to the good offices of the South Side Cycling Club and Peachtree City government, we don’t have to go far at all.  In fact it is now possible to ride our bikes to the trail head, and play in the dirt locally.  There are two different trails in town.  One of them is at the Baseball Soccer Complex, and the other, the Stinky Trail, is accessible from the bike paths, just off of Crosstown Road.  (If you are unclear on location and access, please come by Bicycles Unlimited.  We are happy to direct you and advise you on trail conditions and equipment.)

I greatly enjoy off-road riding.  Playing in the dirt.  Mountain biking.  But like the complaint I opened with, over the past five or six years, I’ve gone out less and less.  The time commitment needed to go to event he more local trails has tended to restrict and limit.  As a result, I’ve gradually eliminated all of the more serious dirt riding equipment from my stable.  Sure, I have a couple of rigs that do “okay” off road, but they aren’t true mountain bikes.  More, I’m basically a road rider.  I guess I just sort of lost the incentive.

With the advent of the local trails that has all changed.  I’ve ridden the BSC Trails on the FrankenFixed, and had a lot of fun doing it.  I tackled the Stinky Trail on the old ‘Goose SS.  That was fun too.  On those occasions, it occurred to me that the bike was limiting what I could do.  Sure, it was fun, but…

Enter the Solution!

I just got this baby.  It’s a Giant.  It’s an XtC 29er.  That means it’s an aluminum frame, hardtail, with a set of 29er wheels. 

The new ride

The thing is a no bones, mountain bike.  It’s made for cross-country riding, and it’s a great machine for our conditions.  Might I add, it climbs like a scalded cat, and handles with surefooted quicketude.  The brakes are fantastic.  (Yahoo!)  More, the wonderful folks at Giant and Shimano have developed a “29er specific” driveline.  But most important (to me) the bike fits!  It fits in a lot of ways.  The size is right, and it fits my particular riding style.  Wow!

Technical Digression  (skip this if tech stuff bores you):  You who have followed this blog for some time, will know that I’ve played around with various forms of the 29er type bike.  I’m impressed with how well they handle climbing, and how readily they roll over the rough stuff.  But there is an inherent problem.  You see, a 29er is actually a 700C sized wheel, with mountain tires on it.  It’s about 29 inches in diameter.  (Hence the name.) 

The thing is, with all that extra width, each rotation of the tire takes one about 12% farther.  When you consider that the usual “step” between gears is around 5 to 7 %, that’s pretty significant.  Boiled down, conventional mountain bike drivelines are just not low enough to handle the effectively higher final ratio of the big tires.

The 29er specific driveline has a much lower final, and is a bit lower on the high end.  That makes for delightful climbing, and still delivers plenty of top end.

~~ End Digression.

I’ve had the new bike on the paths in Peachtree City, and I’ve managed to do a fairly good, and seriously proper, off road ride with it.  It’s a blast!  Absolutely huge Fun Factor.”

The fun won’t stop there.  I expect to do a good bit more riding on this.  I’ll be spending a lot more time on our local trails.  I fully expect to take some of you with me.  Keep watching for more on that.