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Tuesday, March 20

The more things change...

The more they stay the same.

Odd that this is the way millennials (I think he's a millennial anyways) communicate.

Tagged in a Instagram story serving as notification that my new grips were in at the shop.  As much as I don't wanna make too many changes to my stock (less so now) JaBronson, I like the feel of ESI grips too much.  They're on all four of my bikes now.

The stock Palmdale grips were a little longer, so now I have a more room between my TOGS and the lever clamp... which I needed.

Another change?

The Minion DHF was great and all, but I got so used to staring down at the Rekon 2.8 when I was running it on the Stickel Meatplow V.6 that I was missing it.  I feel some extra confidence looking down on all that rubber in front of me.

The last few weekends of back-to-back-to-back trips to Pisgah made me aware of a few things.

I'm very comfortable descending on fun rides at about 85% of my ability.  I'm honestly not feeling the "need for speed" like I did when I was younger.  I just wanna play bikes in the woods and not die.  Getting to the bottom as fast as possible now replaced with getting down the mountain as fun as possible.

The JaBronson do dat well.  I'm fairly certain I'd get down faster on a comparable 29er, but I'm not racing anyone or chasing down STRAVA glory.

That said, it's time to hang the JaBronson on the wall for a bit.  I'll be "racing" the Vertigo Meatplow V.7 at the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek.  "Racing" because my partner has given me advanced warning that he's been doing very little bike riding to prepare for his three hour serving of Warrior Creek.  Not the worst news in the world, as it gives me a pass to postpone my own fitness chasing.

I got out this past Saturday on the V.7, and I have to admit that as fun as the JaBronson is to pilot around the woods, my rigid single speed still owns my heart.  Everything just feels right about it, and being back to sending the cannon jumps and the gap/drop I feel good about at the Backyard Trails puts a huge grin on my face.

Since the "season" is fast approaching, I decided I didn't feel all that great about riding on the torn-then-patched Forekaster.  Also, the 2.2 didn't plump up like I thought it would.  I reached out to a couple people that I trust when it comes to tire advice, and I found out that a tire that I shoulda known existed indeed do.

The Rekon 2.25 with all the letter-jumbled tech on the sidewall.  It's plenty plumpy, and I already know how I feel about the all weather capability of the tread pattern so buenos.  Oh, three outta four of my wheels that see dirt now have Rekons of one size or another on them.  I guess I must like it... a lot.

So next weekend, the Tour duh Charlotte, then a weekend to feel all warm and fuzzy with an old friend, then 6 Hours of Warrior Creek... where we'll probably finish with a nice view of the podium from the barbecue line.

And...

Just now looking at the calendar.   Not really much time (if any) to ride the JaBronson again before I need to stick it in a box and ship it to Arizona for the Send-ona Mancation '18 for a full week of squishy shreddies to come home with one weekend to get back into rigid single speed mode before PMBAR?

I really need someone else to schedule my life things better.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What do you use to install the grips? I am exhausted after and sore the next day.