I know, it’s been ages since I’ve posted anything. Plenty of things to catch up with, but I’ll break that into a few posts. This one will just stick to bike-related stuff.
Prior to leaving NZ, I rode a Marin hardtail mountain bike for several years. On returning, I took up mountain biking again, and have been spending a lot of time on the trails. The bike’s been showing its age, and I’ve had to replace quite a few parts over the last few months. Due to the pricing structure of parts vs. buying a whole new bike, going for a full upgrade started looking like a better option.
The classic mountain biking thing is to start out with a hardtail, then upgrade to a full suspension bike (before later going to a singlespeed, then a 29 inch bike, but that’s another story). The NZ dollar has fallen dramatically in the last few months, and this has significantly driven up the prices in local currency. So there was a bit of thinking about whether I should go for a more expensive full suspension bike, and just how much did I want to spend. A few catalogues and trips to bike stores later, and I bought this from one of my local bike stores:
A 2009 Giant Trance. Very nice setup, all SLX components, full suspension, weight pretty similar to my hardtail. I took it out for a ride around Woodhill that afternoon. Very different feel to the old bike – it just rode over obstacles on the track, with the rear wheel staying on the track, and not losing power. Flew down the trails, staying in control far better – this could be trouble though, as I’ll be tempted to ride much faster than perhaps is safe.
To that end, I went to a mountain bike skills clinic. Sure, I’ve done a bit of riding in my time – but I learnt a lot on this one day course. A large part of the day is getting your bike set up correctly – this alone was worth the entry fee. The skills covered are very fundamental, but they do go against the bad habits I’ve picked up over the years, and will take a bit of getting used to. Once I’ve got it right, I’ll be far more in control on the trails, and able to take on much more challenging terrain.
These new skills didn’t manage to prevent a rather spectacular crash though. I was riding through some long grass, and rode into a pothole obscured by the grass. I went into it, tipped over the bars, and because I was clipped in, the bike went over after me. Somewhere along the way something smashed into my thigh, and gave me a rather nasty gash. Good thing Gabby (the instructor) had a decent first aid kit with her…