My turn to bang out a lap. Don Mon came in strong. Amazing what he can do on a fully functioning bike. For ole times sake, I ride my oldie but a goodie. It is a 1993 Klein Attitude. I purchased it new in 1994. Prior to this bike, the only frame I had ever had that lasted over 2 years without cracking was a Specialized M2 Team Edition (yes the orange Ned Overend Edition). It has a Mag 21 with probably .5 inches of non existent suspension. Who needs dampening when there is no compression? The rest of it is stiff as a board. Climbs great but makes make you feel every inch of it. The first half of the course is through dirt singletrack. The Klein absolutely shined in this section. Lean as hard as you can into the turns. Clip the Apex, then power down. The front end lightens up as you are catapulted into the next turn. A nice flat singletrack connects the two halfs. The Klein allowed me the privilege of pushing the big chainring as I shot past campsites. The second half was a different story. The closest thing I can compare it to is Moab. It is like a granite moonscape. Laird has us weaving up and down this mound. While it may be petrified rock, it is not smooth. It was so bumpy that my eyes could not keep up with the surroundings. I would just see a blurr of yellow slashes showing the trail against a canvas of grey rock. My hands were killing me. Finally a little relief of singletrack then back onto the rock. I tried to maintain as much speed as I could but i was getting beat up. Finally, I come off the mound and into the parking lot for the finish. Funky is there for the baton hand off. That is a nice change to have a teammate there when you need him. I interpret as, "Hey Man, thanks for putting in the effort, the least I can do is be here for the handoff." We will see how the Funky Jim Medina does. This is his first race ever. Not an easy course for an introduction into the sport. |
Ode to the Oldie
Yetimon says:
That bike should be taken out back and shot like the broken down suffering horse it its. What was once a very nice bike is now a corroded paint bubbling creaking squeaking catastrophy waiting to happen. We found him one just like it at Velo-swap four years ago hoping beyond hope that he would retire what even then was a danger to itself and its rider. Of course it still sits in its box waiting for the original to finally break beyond repair. Any sane person looking at the bubbled paint and exposed corrosion at every critical weld and joint would be afraid to even ride the thing around the parking lot. It has a one piece stem and handle bar that was dangerous when it was new for gods sake. Please Brent I fear for your life put the old dog down. |
Donaldh813 says:
 This may require some motherly intervention...I am calling Barbara on this. |
Baby Boy says:
No - not Mommy. She will definetly have the Klein put down. |
Funky jim says:
The first thing out of Brents mouth is " be careful jim" in a very serious voice. I am thinking... wow, OK Brent I will be....there is no way I am going to hurt myself my first ride out...I am going to take it easy and get through the first lap with everything in tact...bike, me. About ten minutes later on the ride- Oh crap that tree just would not get out of my way....about five minutes after that...oh man that ground is hard, but aside from a few scrapes I think I am OK. Shortly thereafter I hit the face of the moon and slowed down quite a bit...I had definitely decided I was returning in one piece. |
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