She was my black stallion, and, after my first 3 rides with her, this is about how ridiculously hooked I was: click for a quick bit of a read.
She was one heavy pony. And that fork had what, about 6" of travel. And, best of all: I was running a 32x17 on that little ... Beast. (26" wheels).
I was riding her in all my favorite climby places: white ranch, indian creek, falcon, breckenridge, nederland. yeeehaaawwww.
Point being: I could ride my heavenly little beast, 32x17, up the worst the front range trails had to offer. And you know what, I was riding it all, and feelin' good, strong... and powerful. I cut major time off each of the trails/routes that I'd normally ride with the gearie (a FS Truth). I felt SO GOOD. (Bear in mind that after a few months of this I subsequently damaged my back to the point that riding my SS was no longer an option. gee. I wonder why).
Hum.
Fast forward to the present day.
My current SS pony:
Now, a 29er, not too much lighter, but at least the fork has relatively normal (little) travel... and I'm running her at a 32x20. (no, I don't know how that compares to the 26" ratio -- but regardless, it ain't even close ;-))
Anyway, point being: last night I took her out for the first REAL singletrack jaunt (not including the handful of dirt-road forays this spring) since, oh, April 2nd, when Ez and I went out and beat the pp out of one another...
... and holeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee kick the the stomach. And I couldn't ride ANYTHING. Bergen obstacles -- ALL of which I can ride with the gearie: NADA on the SS -- not that I could even get a 1/4 of the way up the mtn to begin with. Sheesh.
That explains a LOT. Guess I've been a bit of a spinn-princess ;-) So much for POWAAA!
I've got a lot of work to do. So I'm going to go get after it.
;-)
jj
6 comments:
God, I wouldn't even want to see what I'm like on a SS..I'm so used to gears, especially my super granny, LOVE super Granny!
Not to be the engineer nerd or anything but those ratios are only about 4.5% different :)
~48.8 in for the 26er and ~46.6 in for the 29er.
Throw a 19t on the 29er and you'll be pretty much smack dab right on the ratio for the old 26er.
That said - nice work!!!
Yes, this is what happens when an engineer doesn't have much to do at work at the moment! :):)
Oh and Uhl-face used to apparently race a ~98 in gear, granted she never had to go up any hills!!!
OH. well. stupid me ;-)
i used to have more powa. yesteray was really telling ;-)
now... where did i put my 22?
;-))
and yes, uhl is the magic 1xbunny;-)
jj
take it one tooth at a time grasshopper and the POWA shall return!
You were riding that bike at the bean fesst where you first met ed. I remember the weirdest stuff sometimes.
pablo: yup!!! that's the one...
;-) i think ed has pix somewhere!
jj
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