2 hrs of mountain biking
1400' up then down
I have been scouring ebay for 3 months searching high and low for a good deal on a full suspension mountain bike. Friday, Bethany convinced me to go down to a local bike shop and actually take one out for a spin. I grudgingly agreed, knowing that I would never pony up the dough on a brand new bike that met my requirements. Later on Saturday, I was on my way to get a haircut and noticed a little hole in the wall shop called Youngblood Cycling. I stopped in and perused their Gary Fisher line. The bike tech really talked up the 07’ and 08’ HiFi bikes. They boast 5” of travel both front and back and come loaded with disc brakes and shock lockout features. The shop owner let me take out their Demo for the weekend… for free. I was tied up Saturday but on Sunday I headed out to Bent Creek for an early morning ride on Green’s Lick.
The trail that climbs up to Green’s Lick takes you up in the mountains on burley single track about 1400 vertical feet over 5 or 6 mile. I really paid attention to how the bike climbed and purposefully rode over every root and rocky section on the way. To my surprise, the bike didn’t feel that much heavier than my old hardtail and no matter what I did, the rear tire maintained great traction. I rode up over some larger log obstacles and did a few tabletop jumps in the flatter sections. It took a little while to figure out how to balance myself over the bike on the obstacles but that probably had as much to do with my lower confidence level on a new rig and having not ridden for many moons. For being out of riding shape, I was psyched to make it up to Ingles Field Gap (the ¾ way point) without stopping. I rode in circles up on the gap for a few minutes to catch my breath and then continued up to the top of the Lick.
Now for the downhill... Green’s Lick is a 2 mile long trail that descends around 1000’ and resembles more of a winter luge course with jumps than a mountain bike trail. It is pretty smooth overall and many of the turns are banked about 4’ high so you can almost get horizontal zipping around corners. I am used to constantly steering my hardtail back tire around and in between the bumpy stuff so I don’t get my tail popped up in the air. I quickly realized that with the full suspension that wasn’t necessary. I pretty much just pointed the bike down the middle of the trail and hung on. It was ridiculous the things I could just float over. The immediate result was me going so fast I quite frankly scared myself. I had a few moments of uncontrollable ear to ear grinning but for the most part I was just shocked about being on way more capable a machine than I am a rider.
When I got home, Bethany knew right away how things stood just from looking at my expression. She muttered something about a kid in a candy store and went and got out the credit card. Today I went to take the bike back and pick out my new steed. The demo had been a Hifi Deluxe that came with a slightly higher end fork and Hydraulic disc brakes. I was psyched to see they had a standard Hifi in an 07’ model on sale for $600 cheaper than the 08’ deluxe. It has slightly heavier tires, mechanical disc brakes and a different brand fork but it is still plenty of bike for my needs.
I can’t wait to give it the virgin ride this weekend!
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