ALLISON MANN

Moving Full Circle

24 Jan

Sunday was an interesting day. The skies had cleared Saturday after my ride, but temperatures remained cool and we had plans to head over to Orange County and ride with Snaks and Sauce.

Justin and I hadn’t ridden with Sauce in quite awhile, likely since…2007?! Shocking.

I’m actually rather surprised I have any riding photos of Sarah as at the time she was really fast (not that she isn’t fast now, but I distinctly know that she was far, far faster than I was at the time).

At any rate, she’s getting back into riding a lot, so it was cool to have another female around for Sunday’s ride in OC.

In addition to riding with an actual fast female, I also rode another test bike. I don’t have much experience with hard tail mountain bikes. At all. My experience is limited to the following:

A Surly 1×1 that I was strong enough to ride about 5 times (ok, ok, I rode it quite a bit, especially as I improved my riding skills and strength, but still sold it in 08, I believe).

Justin’s AIR9 one day on vacation when my brake hose was pulled on a shuttle truck (long story).

And, last but not least… Justin’s 2009 S-Works 26″ HT one time I rode on a fun local trail system and promptly upon hitting dirt said, “Why on earth would anyone ride a HT?” To which he responded, “I don’t know.”

Yup. That about sums it up.

So, when ROCK N ROAD, my awesome supporter bike shop suggested (again), to go with a 29er hard tail, I was skeptical. Justin and I spent nearly an entire 2 hour car trip discussing full suspension vs. hard tail, vs. 29 vs. 26. There are so many bike decisions it seems crazy!

I think many people don’t realize that I actually spent quite a long time (er, ok, 2.5 years, but that’s nearly half of my time since I got a bike and started riding in the first place) on a 29er. Justin had one before it was in style.

He got his SIR9 back in March of 2006. Here we are doing the first part of the ride we just did on Sunday:

Yes, I drank the kool-aid, even back then.

Later that year, in preparation for Counting Coup 2007 Justin slowly and piecemeal built me up a super light (it was 23lbs at its lightest, I believe) Salsa Dos Niner in October and November ’06, and I rode and eventually raced that up through 2009.

And, I was still riding it a bit in early 2009

So, I’m no stranger to big wheels. Though, New Year’s Eve was the first time in probably 2.5 years I’d ridden one.

Full circle.

I see what you did here… (PINK)

Which brings me to Sunday… after nearly a month back on small wheels (I haven’t crashed (KNOCK ON WOOD) since I demo’d the 29er Epic on NYE, btw) I test rode a 29er hard tail.

Cruising up the wash, Sarah in the lead

I distinctly remember, 2 minutes up the road, turning to Justin and asking, “Why does anyone ride a hard tail?” In its defense, it was tubed, so higher tire pressure than I am used to, and the road is bumpy.

By the time we started climbing Holy Jim I’d long forgotten my complaints. We (minus Snaks, who dropped us all) climbed at a nice and social pace, chatting all the way up. I enjoyed the company for once.

The trail was hero dirt from the prior day’s rains, and we all rode pretty well. I even cleaned one sketch section that I haven’t ridden in years, if ever.

Thanks, Sarah, for capture the moment! It may not look like much…

I had to stop to eat again (I think I was the only human in attendance, needing food breaks and to water the plants)

It’s funny, now, looking back. I remember in 2006 and 2007 when we did social rides with huge groups of awesome people that Sarah was much more serious about riding, training, racing. I was just a heavier girl enjoying riding my bike and hanging with friends, eating Chipotle and burgers after rides, drinking Guinness and Fat Tire. I knew nothing about racing, and didn’t care. I didn’t understand the mentality or drive that someone like Sarah had, or why she cared. I understand now in many ways, for myself at least. That feeling of accomplishment and self-confidence that is gained from cycling for me has been nearly life-changing.

Meanwhile, hopefully we can find a middle ground and enjoy some fun riding together while we train and try to better ourselves out there.

Nice day for a ride…

The only thing I can really think of to explain how I felt climbing on this bike was that it was “clean”

I didn’t spin the rear tire on anything, it accelerated up steep stuff really well. Justin did point out that the dirt was prime, and we’d had super super dusty and dry/loose conditions from almost 2 months with no precipitation.

On Trabuco a big rock jumped up and destroyed Justin’s rear derailleur and rear wheel, but no matter… He still was hot on my wheels

I told Justin, and Chris when we saw him and El Gato at the trailhead, that “it didn’t totally suck”. I had thought, actually, that it would be bad. That despite its big wheels I’d still have that hard tail feeling of discontent. But, it climbed well, for a heavier beast of burden (I kid), and descending, while not as plow through everything steam-rollerish as the Epic, still went really fast. It felt super predictable and comfortable cornering. Being a medium instead of a small 29er, I also didn’t feel like I was sitting up on top of the bike anymore.

Big wheels keep on turning