Recent Ride Containment Thread - Post Your Recent Journeys Here

[SportingGoods]

Makes sense! Thanks for the clarification.

My son is only 10 and I have swapped his bike from rigid to suspension fork last year. We ride in the Alps and a rigid fork was dangerous for his wrists. But I agree that it's probably still OK in NL.

Going back to the original topic, my next ride is going to be epic, it is my BIG race of the season, the XC Marathon French Championship. 80 km, 2600 m of vertical climb in the Vercors mountain on Saturday.
Then on Sunday my son races at the same place, for a fun race (not real competition).

[MTB2223]

Going back to the original topic, my next ride is going to be epic, it is my BIG race of the season, the XC Marathon French Championship. 80 km, 2600 m of vertical climb in the Vercors mountain on Saturday.
Then on Sunday my son races at the same place, for a fun race (not real competition).

That's a lot of climbs Have fun for both.

[carbonazza]

There is a rigid fork on the bike of my kid too.
Telling him we would put a suspension fork if it was too uncomfortable.
For now he likes it a lot.

He is very light and in our Brussels area the terrain can't compare to les Vosges or Alps.
Coming from the Alps, SportingGoods must be very shocked indeed

[325racer]

Race that I did this past Thursday evening.  Wish I was a stronger climber, but I pace myself so I don't burn out on the first lap.  Problem is I get stuck behind people that are stronger climbers, but have much less technical ability.  Even on a Full Rigid, I'm faster than most of the guys and gals around me, but I think they are mostly roadies, so they climb well, but hold me up when things get technical.

I end up making a bad line choice and pushed further off when the guy in front of me bails on the climb right near the top, forcing me into a section with a stair step right at the top causing me to fall backwards.  Didn't land on my Ass, but came off the bike, nearly knocked the guy next to me down, but made a quick recovery.

[voodoo320]

325racer. Good to know nothing happens to you... But you still have more races to come... better luck next time!!!

[Carbon_Dude]

The terrain is so much different than I ride.  Thanks for posting the video.  I noticed a wide range of different bikes in the race, from a skinny tire gravel grinding road bike to a 29 plus tire Surly.  You are in the sun the whole time since there are no trees around and the thorns on the cacti look pretty scary.  The trails here consist of 99% shade, much rougher with lots of roots, rocks, small drops, berms in some of the corners, pine straw, mud, and the occasional squirrel jumping out in front of you.  Big difference between the Eastern US and the Western US as far as the trails.

[voodoo320]

What a great view to relax!!!

[325racer]

3 more races to go.  I think this week will be this same course again, probably with a minor tweak in the finish section.  Then two more races in a different section of this park.

I haven't really been able to train as I've been in the middle of remodeling bathrooms, so the wife gets on my case when I'm not doing house work.

I grew up and started biking in Massachusetts, so I know about the different terrain, and kinda miss the riding where there are trees, etc.

Speaking of the cactus, there was a night race a year or so ago, that a guy went down in a cactus and had a giant hunk stuck to his arm.  Didn't really look fun!!!!

Oh and because we are in the land of super cool stuff, we occasionally have people like Tinker Juarez and Ned Overend show up.  Ned was actually at this past race, running Expert Masters of course, so I never saw him, which is actually cool, because that means I didn't get lapped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Carbon_Dude]

This evenings ride was a bit muddy but the 3.0" wide tires really worked well.

[tripleDot]

Took the newly assembled bike for a spin early this morning.  About 45km ride.  Gave that steepest part in town a try to see if the 38Tx11 setup could take me up to the top.  Deliberately tried the climb without shifting to the last 2 biggest rings to see if I could do it.  The reason is we sometimes climb that part with the mid-day sun at it's highest, so I have reserves to compensate against the heat.  Made it with heavy breathing, hahaha.  Very happy with how the bike handle, also glad I went for a shorter stem as the frame size was in the upper range of my height.  Sad thing was the saddle (DDK Race 3.0) was very uncomfortable.  Didn't liked it at all, was sore pretty much the entire ride.  Currently replace the saddle with a Haro Retro saddle from my Haro Projekt fixie.  I've no idea why Haro had a rooster on that saddle (probably so you can say you're riding on a cock) but that is by far the most comfortable saddle I've ever used.  Did a 150+km ride on that fixie last April without a sore behind.

[tripleDot]

Did the Audax 200km brevet yesterday on the new Chiner bike.  Only found out about this event/organization last week.

[voodoo320]

@triple dot.  where was this held?

[tripleDot]

@voodoo, this one's at Davao City, Philippines.  First time for our city to be a part of Audax.  The picture was taken at the 100km mark, an overlooking view deck.

[voodoo320]

@tripledot. That's a good thing to know. I just thought it was in Montalban, Rizal and BTW nice looking build you have.

[tripleDot]

You mean Timberland area?