Russ vs. the Rock

On the Rims trail there is a drop off of a rock that has taunted me since the first time I tried it.  I landed the drop just fine and 120 bucks later, my bike was fine too.  The rock has freaked me out ever since.  But with my new mountain bike, I should be able to tackle it.  I did once, kind of skirting around it, but I've been itching to go back and try dropping off the face again ... but I've chickened out every time.

Here's a funny video of my attempt.  I post it here because I don't really want it shared on facebook, but I figured the few of you who actually read this blog might get a good chuckle.

Riding the Rims

11 Miles

Rims Trail

I took my helmet cam out for another ride today.  I wasn't really feeling it and made many, many mistakes but I had fun.  This is one of the more challenging rides that I do and since I haven't been on this bike for months (except last Monday), I'm not very comfortable on it yet.  It definitely wasn't one of my best rides.  I'm still getting used to the new mountain bike.  It's so much heavier and slower than my old Trek 4300 but it rides like I'm floating on a cloud.  It was built for downhill riding so any climb is a real challenge on this bike.  Oooh, but it makes that rimrock so much more tolerable. 

Broken spoke?

7.5 miles
50 degrees
30 mph winds

I rode the Black Otter Trail again today and I am pooped. I had to climb 27th Street with a head wind but at least I was able to use all of my gears. I got on the dirt trail as soon as I could and tried the same trail that Mike and I took a couple weeks ago. Its a tough one and I found myself in the wrong gear too many times. I had to walk it several times. Before I even got on the dirt trail though I noticed a lot of road noise from my back tire. I looked down and could see the rim was way out of true. I stopped and noticed a broken spoke. I must have done that yesterday on my ride. I really need to figure out how to replace those things and true a rim.

I babied it a little partly because of my rim but mostly because I'm still not comfortable with this trail yet. It would be too easy to end up at the rock ledge 20 feet below me or even worse, off the rims. It was a fun ride and despite the wind, I did it fairly quickly. I really need to bring a camera one of these days.