Just got back from my initial ride, not just on this bike, but my first MTB ride ever. Man, what a lot of fun, and so different than riding on the road. I rode from my house to the State Park trailhead, which is about 2 miles on a mix of paved and dirt roads. The trail was mostly covered in wet leaves, but also had some big mud puddles, some sandy sections, some rocks and roots. So it's a pretty good mix of terrain I'd guess. I rode about 5 miles in there then had to get home, so it was a pretty quick ride.
Overall MTB'ing Impressions: It was a different kind of fun than riding on the road. I feel like the road is more "sophisticated" fun, if that makes sense. Maybe it's not the right word. Going fast, carving corners, being smooth etc... On the MTB I felt like a kid again. Smashing through puddles, bouncing over rocks and roots, getting completely filthy. I can totally see how people leave the road and just do MTB, its more relaxed and just more carefree. I still enjoy the speed and group riding / racing of the road a lot, so I plan to keep doing them both, best of both worlds! I do need to adjust my riding for the trail, though. On a couple of short, steep climbs on wet leaves, I stood up and immediately lost traction in the rear and just spun my tire. Need to remember to stay seated and get that traction. My wrist is a little sore from the different hand position of the flat bar, so I'm hoping I'll get used to that.
On the bike: Again, I don't have any other comparisons, but the bike felt great. I had to stop a few times and adjust my saddle position (it's weird feeling so upright on a bike) and both of my rotors are rubbing slightly. Oh, and I need to bleed the rear brake, it was pretty much useless. I ran around 28-30 psi in my tires, which was good on the trail. On the roads, I felt like the low pressure was slowing me down. Maybe that's a difference I need to get used to. On the road bike, I feel like I need to go as fast as I can all the time, maybe on the MTB, I should just relax and enjoy it. The bike surprised me how nimble it was, it turned a lot quicker than I thought it would, and it did feel really light out there (even though my bike is probably one of the heavier 256's). The 1x10 worked awesome, no drops. I did cut my chain too short, so I couldn't use the big cog. There were a couple spots it would have been nice to have, but I didn't have to get off and walk. I would say that the best thing I bought on this bike was the remote lockout. I must have locked out the fork a couple dozen times during my ride.
Finally, a question on the fork. Should I be using all of my travel? I felt like I only used about 50% of it. When I raced motorcycles, we used to put zip ties on the forks to see how much travel you used and then you'd adjust it to make sure you are using most of your travel. Is that something MTB'ers do too? If so, and I'm not using all of my travel, what do I do, take some air out of the fork?
Thanks!
