The Break-In Ride: What MTB Gear To Bring With You

After you rip off the reflectors, pack up this gear and hit the trail.

1. Tire Lever, Pump and Spare Tube – While you should be bringing this with you on every ride, the chances of something going wrong is the highest after an install. New tires can be pinched in with tubes without you even seeing it, so having the extra gear on board insures that a flat doesn’t end the day.
2. Shock Pump – While you might have known your exact pressures on your last mountain bike, it is more than likely that your new suspension is going to behave differently under different pressures. After a little bit of trail time, you will know what adjustments you need to make with air pressure in the fork and rear shock.
3. Multi-Tool - A multi-tool is another necessary item for all rides, but your break-in ride is a crucial time to carry as many tools efficiently as you can. Derailleurs might need small adjustments, bolts might need tightening…anything can go wrong on the trail that were not happening in the stand. When you put a mountain bike under load on the trail, the forces put a different stress on components and the frame. Being able to make trail side adjustments will keep the ride rolling without a creak.

While you are on the trail, you need to be watching out for loose bolts, shifting issues due to new cables (you typically won’t see too much cable stretch on the first ride, but the cables can “set” causing your derailleurs to go out of adjustment), suspension settings not correct and any creaks or noises that are not part of normal riding.

Carrying a little extra weight with you on the initial break-in ride can mean the difference between walking and riding. Otherwise…get out and cover up that shine with fresh dirt…

There are two things I know when I grab my SS.

1. It is going to be painful – When you ride as many longer travel bikes as I do…grabbing the rigid, singlespeed insures that I am signing up for pain.
2. It is going to be nice and quiet – A rigid, ss makes zero noise.

We loaded up the truck and hit the road ready to conquer the dirt without gears. For those of you that haven’t ridden a singlespeed or are wondering why you can’t just ride your geared back without shifting…the singlespeed experience is a different form of mountain biking all together. Prior to riding a dedicated SS sled, there is a misconception among many that just riding your geared bike without shifting is comparable…but in reality…it is not even close.

Wolfhound Rigid SS 29er

When I get out on my SS, there is a different aura surrounding the ride. There is a calmness before the ride that is unlike any other geared mountain bike excursion. It is almost as if I am preparing my body for the increased power requirement but with a solitude of quiet calmness. The ride I am about to complete is going to require a much different approach. The rigid platform is going to be unforgiving to my mistakes…the steep pitches and climbs are going to have to be attacked without the aid of an increased gear range…the downhills are going to have to be navigated with a precise line…and all of this is going to be done with only hearing the rubber of my tires gripping the dirt and the wind on the leaves.

When you ride a dedicated SS, the entire ride is different and one of my favorite aspects is that you have to think…but in a different way. I am no longer worrying about gear selection as that is replaced by getting creative with ways to keep momentum. I am not looking for the nastiest line to plow through…I need the fastest, smoothest line from point a to point b (which is just as challenging in technical terrain).

By the end of the ride on Saturday…my ass was officially kicked. I really need to get out on that bike more often as it completely exposes how lazy and sloppy I have let suspension let me get. Every single one of my mistakes comes glaring in the face as the rigid bike takes no prisoners. You either ride the section right…or get a sharp reminder of what you are doing wrong. Riding my rigid, singlespeed keeps me honest.

Saturday – Bull Mountain Ride

There are several riders in our core mountain biking group that are trying to get in some extra miles for a couple different reasons. Three of us (me included) are trying to get our legs ready for a really long ride at the end of July. The other two (the married couple that ride places you could only dream of) are trying to get ready for their annual Switzerland road riding trip that compounds elevation change.

To get the extra miles in, we headed up to Bull Mountain. Bull Mountain is an IMBA epic trail located in the backwoods of north Georgia. Bull is known for its rooty, rutted out mess that just eats up suspension and provides technical climbing and descending that will work even the best heart rates. Lately, the horses have done their part of making the trail even more chopping than usual. The pure fact that Bull Mountain is not one of those “paved” local trails is what makes it so appealing. It is my closest source of big mountain riding as it is only 1 hour from my front doorstep.

The day couldn’t have been any better. I took the Turner 5 Spot up for a good thrashing in the woods and it didn’t disappoint. Fast, twisty, natural drop filled singletrack is where that bike calls home as it begs for you to give it all you can.

For this trip up, we had a group of 9 and it turned out to be one of those rides that you just can’t forget. For some reason, I felt incredible. With the right amount of hydration and nutrition, I was finding my grove and exactly where I could call home in my pacing as we continued on the 30 mile ride. Everything was about perfect…that is until…I went ass over tea kettle in the middle of a field. As you can see by the picture below…there was nothing around me as I attempted flight without my bike. I was looking at a stupid steep technical climb ahead of us instead of watching what I was doing, and the front end of the bike just left me. I ended up over the bars and in 2 foot tall grass. I guess there are worse things to fall into! I enjoyed my cushy fall and laughed at myself a bit before we continued on. That was definitely one of those…”way to go idiot” moments that you just have to laugh at.

By the end of the 30 miles at Bull, I felt great. I had gotten in a full day of technical riding and paced myself so that there was still some left in the tank. I might not ever be ready for the ride next week to its fullest…but I am making progression. Better yet…I had a fantastic weekend ride with friends that enjoy the same obsessions I do. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Data below is from the Garmin Edge 705 using GarminConnect.com

Photos are by Laurie @ MyLifeonabike.com – She did an incredible job given the low light, high humidity and point and shoot camera conditions!

Sunday – Wrenching and Washing

On Sunday morning, it occurred to me. After months and months of water restrictions, it was now legal to water your lawn, wash your car or wash your bikes on Sundays if your house was an odd number. I took this chance to get some much needed bike cleaning done and show my neighbors exactly how OCD I am about cycling. One by one, I drug every bike out of my house and gave it a wash down. In true online obsessed fashion, I Tweeted (@mtbby198) and updated Facebook (on my personal Facebook page) with the pictures below as I finished my quest in making every bike in the sable clean.

After they were all done and dry, I got some much needed wrenching done as well. Here is the list.

• Disassembled the Ventana El Terremoto (my personal bike) and got it ready to sell as a frame only (more to come on this later).
• Organized all of the TM parts to get them ready for the next build.
• Took the Hope Tech M4′s off the Ventana El Chucho – Review on both coming soon…
• Packed up the El Chucho to get it ready for shipment back to Ventana.
• Installed Avid Elixir CR’s on my wife’s Felt Virtue 4.
• Re-greased, re-lubed and did a once over on the rest of the stable.

It was a great weekend that got a lot accomplished. This was just a little insight into the weekends of 198. As you can see…I have it pretty good these days and I enjoy the hell out of every second of it. Hope you guys had a spin filled weekend…if not…hopefully you got to do something that puts a smile on your face and helps you forget that load of work that is waiting for you on Monday…oh wait…you are procrastinating Monday right now!

As you can probably imagine, I am not going to want to jump in head first with this one on no preparation, so it is time to start getting some serious mountain and road riding in. That is…of course…unless I want to be that shriveled up mess on that side of the trail that someone has to come rescue out of the mountains, and that does not sound like a great way to spend a weekend riding.

Anyways…yesterday we decided to head up to a local ride about an hour and a half early for some bonus miles. In typical 198 fashion, I hit the trail hard straight out of the gate and we put in a HOT warm-up 17 miles. When everyone showed up later that morning, I was feeling pretty confident (minus a couple of little mechanicals) as we started the second leg of the journey.

About 3/4 of the way through the second 17 mile leg, I really started to feel it. There were no cramps or drastic issues, just that “I can’t feel my legs and I can’t believe they are still spinning” situation. We got to the end of the ride (with a total of 35.1 miles…yes I added the .1…we earned it!) and I felt like I left absolutely everything on the trail. That is a good thing as I needed to stress my body a bit in preparation for the hurt fest later next month.

So I woke up this morning…and my legs feel like jelly! Yes, I left everything on the trail yesterday and now my legs are spun out. What I should really do is jump on the road bike today and spin the hurt out of them, but we will see how the day goes. When I prepare for these longer rides, there tends to be some uncomfortable days in the process…ah the things we do to enjoy our mountain bicycles…no wonder people think we are crazy!

We had a great ride planned in Tennessee for today, but unfortunately everything is wet just like it was yesterday. We were hoping that the that green stuff on the radar was going to break up (like it usually does when it hits the mountains), but this time the scattered thunderstorms held on and turned our trails into red clay mush. Pretty surprising actually because the weather.com geniuses have been wrong 99% of the time lately.

Its all good though I guess. This will allow me to get several bike related things done that I have been putting off.

• Multiple wrenching sessions. Its time to get all of the bikes in perfect working order and ready for more reviews.
• Article writing. This kind of time off allows me to get a lot of blog work done to lighten the load during the week.
• Road Ride – Yes! Just because the trails are wet does not mean I can’t ride a bike! I just need things to dry up just a little bit to head out and get some miles in.

In many areas, you guys are able to ride your trails in the wet, but here…we are blessed with beautiful red clay that completely rips up the trail when ridden on wet. So for all of you out there enjoying the long weekend or just getting out for a ride, enjoy it! All of us in the southeast US are looking for other alternatives…

LOL…re-reading this post makes me sound really bitter…

We were all getting together yesterday because there was a friend in from out of town. It made the perfect excuse for a “we can’t bail on this one no matter what the weather channel says…” ride and we headed out in the woods without a care in the world whether the sky opened up or not. Luckily for us…the weatherman was wrong again yesterday and we had a fantastic ride without getting wet from water falling from the sky.

I brought out the Ventana El Chucho 69er with the Hope Tech M4′s to get some testing in. The El Chucho did a lot better with a stouter set of brakes and the new M4 mounts (more later this week) really cleaned up the whole cockpit. Unfortunately, I had been sick for most of the week, so I had to cut the ride a little short at about 19 miles, but it was more than worth it to get out and enjoy some sweet singletrack with friends. I spend a lot of time thinking and tinkering with parts and bikes, but when it all comes down to it…its about days like yesterday…sharing the stoke with friends…

I thought you guys would like to see the pictures because it isn’t everyday that you ride in conditions like this…even around here in the spring…

The following pictures are courtesy of regularjoe…