The slippery slope

Its been about a month riding the sola. What began as a "soft" addiction is teetering dangerously on full on crackhead status. I've never really felt this way about a bike before. Not sure if its the Seven (very likely!) or just the riding (again very likely) but I am hooked on riding dirt bikes in the woods. 

It is kind of awkward as we fast approach cross season and all I can think about is carving through swoopy trails on my sola....I've said it before I pretty much hated mtn biking before the sola. Not sure if things have finally "clicked" or what but I am digging it right now. There is sooo much to love about riding in the woods with a crew of fast and fun dirt riders. For me a lot of it is the diversity. Roadies are pretty much a dime a dozen, same M frames, same boring carbon bikes, blah, blah, blah...ok there are a handful of super cool roadies but in my mind they are crossers who ride the road in the summer and kick my ass in the fall because of it...

Not to steal a page from Rosey but we are going with a LIST!!!! In a month of riding here are some quick thoughts and experiences from Pats Peak and beyond:

1. You can open a beer bottle with a Time Atac pedal!

2. Disc brakes are amazing! When your hands don't feel like they are going to cramp and fall off from trying to brake with canits you can actually concentrate on the riding.

3. There are some super busy and dedicated trail builders around here. I seriously need to join Nemba (eww it sounds so much like Nambla doesn't it?) They rock!

4. Following a skilled rider through sketchy singletrack makes you feel like superman even when that rider is a mother in shorts and a tank top riding in front of her junior son who is racing 24 hrs of Pats Peak. I am not joking. Twice I came through the crazy singletrack at Pats Peak following her wicked smooth lines just shredding until she pulled off and then I proceeded to revert back to my usual bull in a china shop style of smashing into every root and rock on the trail. Goal #1 I must get my flow on!

5. Mud rules! These Indian summers/nice falls are killing me. I got into cross for the mud for gods sake...turns out if you want to ride in the mud its all about the summer and mtn biking!

6. Bontrager Mud X tires are incredible. I have been running them on the Stans Olympic rims Molly built up for me and they hook up better than any tire I have run. The Olympic rims have been great. I am running them with tubes at pretty low pressure (30-32) and haven't had any trouble

7. Tubeless is sooo tantalizing yet daunting. So want to do it but tubed has been working so well I don't see the upside to the risk having stans sealant explode all over my hands and face. It kinda makes my mechanic nervous as well

8. I really need to get over my fear of wood bridges...my god those things freak me out! Sure it could be the time I was ejected of one in Marin County and did a yard sale down the side of the mtn with the coup de grace being me getting run over by my own cartwheeling bike at the bottom of the hill..now that not only hurt the body but the pride.

9. The mosquitos have been laughing at my deet bug spray...we've been getting eaten alive! And for some ungodly reason gnats or flies have been literally burrowing into my ears...wtf

10. Beards rock! Another reason mtn biking rules. Full on hockey playoff beards don't really fly in the roadie circles, on dirt they make you a God...no way my family will sit by while I grow a Viking beard but I so covet one!