See Spot Run

Like a phoenix, my 26" Spot rose from the ashes of "B" bike obscurity and rocked the Thursday ride as a rigid 69er...or 96er....depending on your preference. Personally, I like 69er, but, that's just me. She's seen a little action on the last couple work days as my "B.O.B" bike because I don't have the 29er yokes, however, the old creaky bottom bracket kept her from any serious rides. All this changed when I found a set of Stylo cranks with a decent external BB in the bottom of a long forgotten parts bin. I installed the new(ish) cranks on Sunday and hit a quick lap around Schaeffer with the Big Dog on Sunday. Enjoying the ride, I thought I'd try out the rocky goodness of Frederick on the old girl.

The MoCo crew met up with Darius and DCTony for a sweet ride of the southern Shed and parts of Gambrill. DKEG, always the mother hen, brought along some swine flu prevention masks and we entered the woods prepared for anything. The rigid fork was scaple precise as we made our way down into the valley and I was once again in love with my first single speed. Tire pressure needed to be adjusted to lessen the beating my forearms were taking, but, other than that the new configuration was a joy.

Darius was riding like a man possessed and was clearing sections of trail I've never seen cleared before. By the time we got to Stegosaurus rock he was on fire and cleaned most of the lines available and some new ones never done before. Everyone started to get in on the action and soon we started looking for additional rock to crawl. A large outcropping above the main line provided a lot of amusement for everyone and we spent a lot of time sessioning this section of trail. Concerned with light we pressed on back towards the watershed. We took Jedi the hard way up to the cell towers and bombed across the utility trail. Lawnmower went fast and furious and I was amazed how well the rigid setup picked it's way down the trail. High speed turns were precise and the large tires absorbed the hits nicely. I jumped on Darius' wheel down and around Rusted Bug and we popped out on the road several minutes before the rest of the guys. From there is was the tight twisty fun of Busted Knuckles back to the cars.

As we cracked a couple PLB's everyone commented how it was one of the best after work rides in recent memory. We got a little bit of everything and a few unexpected surprises. Fast descents, long grinding climbs, rock crawling and flowing single track. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Photo by DKEG