Living up to your potential

For anyone who lives in the Central Florida area this should not come as news.  It rains here.  In fact, it has been raining off and on for a week.  Luckily all of the rain has coincided with the end of the year which even luckier is when I get all of my vacation time.

Yesterday, however, was a nice day.  So I went out and rode for a couple of hours at Snowhill.  Im sure everyone is pretty bored with hearing about my rides at the Snowhill trails (or rather, Little Big Econ State Park) so I will keep a ride report 'short'.  Needless to say, my bicycle finally lived to this blog's illustrious name.

Mud.  Oodles of it.  This doesnt really look like much, as I didnt get a picture DURING my ride and before alot of it fell off.  The trails off Snowhill can get really wet after a few rains.  I did one small 'river' crossing going through the swampy area. The other 'river' crossing I did was alot deeper than I thought it was.  There was about a five foot wide area that was pretty wet at the bottom of an embankment.  I assumed it wasnt very deep.  I was wrong.  It was deep enough to soak my feet pretty well - and make my drivetrain sound like it was grinding for a few minutes.  For those of you who dont know - when a drivetrain gets wet and muddy, it can sound like hell for a while.  The tires were absolutely slick with mud until it flung off.  My legs were also absolutely slick with mud.

The waitresses at Tijuana Flats asked me 'what were you doing to get so muddy??'  Im not sure what they must think of me when I go in there after a ride - shorts and a t-shirt with bib tops dangling out, and the most atrocious helmet hair ever.

Anyway - the bike is absolutely a dream to ride.  I zipped by some dude on the trail yesterday and he shouted after me : "How do you like that 29er?"  I can honestly say - I love the frigging thing.  I have put about 120 miles of single track on it over the last month. All of the kinks have been worked out: The brakes have bedded in and do not rub at all.  They squeal when soaked - what brakes don't - but will stop you on a dime. It flies through gears with no problem.  There have been zero ghost shifts on any of my rides after adjusting cable tension.  The saddle is comfy enough for 2+ hours straight in the saddle.  I do need a few things, however.  I could use another half inch of seatpost to get optimum leg extension.  A slightly shorter stem would be nice as well, and the front wheel is slightly out of true.

El Nino says 'Rock on!'