Less Gears, More Vegas

I am in love with full-suspension bikes. That being said, I only have one. The Sworks stumpy carbon bike is rad. I enjoy it. Here's the 'but.' But I have two singlespeeds. I have been riding singlespeed bike since I lived out in San Jose back in 1998. Steel stumpy, rigid at first. When I moved back to the DC area in late 1998, I rode that thing to death. I rode it to work from Takoma Park to the League, I raced it at 24hrs of Canaan, 12hrs of Lodi, Wed at Wakefield and just rode it and rode it. My Bontrager Race Lite saw very few miles until I got my first dualie back in 2000. It was December and it was a gift from my wife. I still have the frame. Rocky Instinct. From there, I got into the Sworks stump 120 and rode that thing all last season. Starting this year was carbon 5" bike at sub 27lbs. Lovin' it. But. I rode the single at Patapsco yesterday and felt pretty good. I like the bike. It's fun. The Phil with the Lefty and that WTB Weirwolf 2.55lt up front with the Spec'd Rockster sworks tire on the back. Plus, you can't forget about the Brooks saddle. Hell yes.

I felt pretty good and managed to do a big loop from Rockburn to Morning choice over to the top of the fire road climb then all the way back along Ridge trail, across the swinger bridger, up Soapstone up to UMBC to Hilltop, river trail, bridge, Cascade to Landing Rd, parallel trail back to Rockburn. Fun. Sure, I went a little slower on the downhills, but I felt a greater sense of accomplishment and probably went faster. I'll do most of my training this Fall/Winter on that bike, methinks. Unless I get a 29'er from Jamis (hint hint!), this will be it.

By the way, it seems that most of the big boys have got their new sites up for 2007. Cannondale, Specialized, (new Sworks Enduro SL from their site), Jamis will probably launch in the next few days or so. I know they were trying to get it going late this week or early next.

Next week, I'll be posting from Vegas. INTERBIKE is the big industry trade show and four of us from City Bikes are going. I'll have some great pics (I think) and some good stories. No Marzocchi girls but maybe a picture of some product. I hear Moots has a new carbon bike that they are only showing me at the show. Whoa! OnDirt Demo is Mon/Tue so I'll be riding more new bikes at Bootleg Canyon. Diablo, Moots YBB 29'er, more time on the Demo7... Poor me.