Demo Dirt Ride!

Forest Of Nisene Marks & Soquel Demonstration Forest. Long name but great trails. Some of the best riding I've done in my life. So my buddy Augi called yesterday and said he could actually do a ride! He's in retail so weekends are usually spent helping people spend money and keep the economy going.

I asked the boss (and his Mom) if I could go and got the green light. My poor Wife! She has to watch the little king 6 days a week without any help. I can believe I'm going for a 2nd mtb ride in as many weeks.

We're supposed to meet at 9:30, but knowing Long I said we should make it 10am. Augi and I got there right on time and we waited. And waited. And waited some more! It was cool just hanging out, but I wanted to hit the trails. Long comes flying down the road closer to 11am and soon enough we're off.

The "warm-up" climb was killer. I am in such bad shape! The rest of the guys seemed to be doing pretty well. Though my hardtail wasn't a liability on the climb, it didn't seem to be of much help either. I was barely able to hang on to the others and this was just the first few miles.

Luckily the climb was over before I was. We dropped into some sweet singletrack and started flying back down. It was great! The Bonty continues to impress being both nimble and resilient. I did wish for some more cush, but I can't blame my lack of speed on the bike. It's the nut behind the bars! More trail time will cure all woes. I am definitely rusty from being off the mtb for so long.

The guys are flying which allows me lots of open trail ahead. We stop for a picture and then head down another trail. Augi jokes that the slowest guy should go first, as this is the fastest way to get better. I jump on the pedals and ask for a generous time gap. I'm sure they obliged but I'm on a really good clip. Then I hear it. The sure sounds of someone catching up! I go a bit harder and dive into the corners deeper. Unfortunately the eggbeaters can't take the pressure and my right foot disengages from the pedal. I click back in only to have the left foot fall out on the next turn as my front wheel washes out wide. Augi takes the inside line and laughs as he goes by. Bastard! I jump on his wheel but he's fricking crazy. We're both riding Bonty hardtails but he's clearing the trail at a much faster clip. I guess I will be getting one of those fancy dual suspension bikes!

We regrouped at the bottom and decided to just climb out to the cars. 3 miles and what feels like an eternity later, we're packing up and heading home.

Just another great day sampling NorCal's finest trails!

-Hong

It's about time! Finally hit some dirt.

Been doing mostly road riding since I moved to California. Sure we've got some great roads around these parts, and a very serious roadie community, but...

I'm a Mountain Biker!

Can't believe I've waited this long. Finally got my dirt fix satisfied!

Went to Skeggs with my buddy Long. I was riding my latest bike in the quiver, one of the last REAL Bontragers from Keith before being bought by the big bad Trek. It's a Race model built up with mostly vintage (?) era appropriate XTR and chi-chi cottage industry parts. Even has a ratty old Flite saddle that looks like it is from 1997!

The Bonty performed really well, especially for having been put together at midnight yesterday! Long would drop me on his FSR when the trail headed down, but I was able to hold my own on the climbs. By the end of the two hours I was getting really familiar with the Bonty's handling traits. Even with the longer travel fork, it was still a sweet riding machine!

The only downside was that I did only have 5 cogs working, then it became 3 gears (small, mid and large chainrings!). The bike came with this XTR RapidRise derailler that I thought didn't work. Turns out it's the XT shifter. Only goes up/down four clicks. Oh well.

Going to put 8spd XTR on it now. Even have the old 12-32 Titanium cassette which is superlight. Going real old-skool and stepping up to the 'R.

-Hong