Conlict of Interest

On Friday, I thought I'd be coming home to the birth of a new wheel set.  I had already been nesting in preparation.  The Vertigo Meatplow V.7 was upside down with no wheels in it.  Pistons pushed in waiting for new rotors to make everything shiny and new.  Tires standing by.

But they didn't show up. Hmmm.

A ride in the mountains planned and the Stickel Meatplow V.6 stem was still on the tarck bike and something that needs done ain't yet.  I reckon on how much work needs done that might need to be redone if I undone it.

I end up putting old wheels with old rotors and a worn out Ardent Race on the rear and Minion DHR+ on the front and prepare for an early start in Pisgah.

All things considered, my lack of preparedness did not stop Zac from being on time and Bill Nye to not be ready for a scoop and Wirun and his buddy not to be waiting for us at Ingle's and Colin to pull up just when we were getting ready.

Wash Creek Rd to Spencer...

To the bottom of Upper Spencer where Zac gets excited and heads down Lower Spencer while the rest of us stand around and deliberate and eventually I go looking for Zac who is down the mountain knowing that mebbe he went the wrong way so he decided to filter some water.

Get back up with everyone and proceed with Middle Fork and over on the Never Ending Grassy Road of Death... where I realize I need a photo of these two bike together.

 If you don't see it, whatever.

Down Fletcher Creek and finally, after three weekends in a row, I'm feeling like I'm getting my 1,000 Yard Pisgah Stare back.  If you don't know what that means, I can't help you.

It's at this point, we all head back up Spencer Branch from the bottom.  2.2 miles with about 1,000 feet of climbing.  I only looked at the data later because I wondered. 

 It does hurt a bit.  Some more than others.

Over to Trace Ridge where Colin told me that he has climbed the initial bit before on a single speed, so I tried and I guess it's okay but ouch.  I raced ahead to get one shitty image out of many absolutely shitty images way down low on Trace.

My take away from the ride, other than a great time, was this:

I'm glad I was able to upgrade my Wolf Tooth ReMote lever with the new Light Action version actuator... thing?

It's pretty much what I wanted when I installed the ReMote in the first place.  My thumb is normally weak to being with, and it's much worse right now.  It worked well enough, but I wanted it to be longer for reasons of leverage and how far my minuscule thumb had to reach.  Now I feel like I can breathe hard on the lever and my post droops.  I was super stoked that I didn't have to buy a whole new ReMote and only had to replace the lever bit for $18.

The other thing.  I'm getting addicted to the Minion DHR+.  As I get my TYPS (Thousand Yard Pisgah Stare) back, this thing just hauls the mail. 

I know that climbing with all this tire in a racing situation is stupid, but once I got my eyes where they needed to be, I was just bashing all the things coming down Trace Ridge.

To the point where I was wondering why I even want a bike with a squish fork.  I'm pretty sure its girthiness takes its toll, and I mighta cleaned the whole 1.3 mile/807ft climb on Upper Spencer had I not been hefting that extra weight.

But I don't know if I care.  It so much fun to ride my bike the way I like it (rigid) but with a lot less concern about things going sideways.

The racer boi in me says no, but the asshole who doesn't give a fuck about anything other than the next beer does not GAF.

So conflicted.