Browns Camp

After way too much road biking lately and Saturday's triathlon I decided it was time to go on a mountain ride. The only real issue is that I still haven't resolved the super creak issue in the Curtlo SS 29er so I didn't have a mountain bike to ride today. Or at least not one I was willing to ride. But...I do have the Curtlo Cross bike. It has proved itself to be pretty capable in Forest Park, perhaps it is time to take it on some real trails. Yeah, I decided I was up for it.

DTP came with me. He tried to minimize his nausea by eating nothing unhealthy, fatty or carbonated before the ride, but he still felt off for the first half of the ride or so. I felt great though. At least on the first half, which is less technical than the second half of the ride.

I have never taken a cross bike on a trail like this. Not that Browns is too difficult, but certain spots are a little challenging to clear even on a mountain bike with fat tires. On a cross bike with its steeper angles and skinny tires it became impossible for me to get over one spot in particular. That spot is recorded in the video below. It looks easy, but it is not--I assure it is not at all. With a geared mtb it is not so bad. But with gearing that is similar to riding a mountain in stuck in the outer ring of the crankset it is hard to get the torque needed to climb over some roots and rocks. What looks like it should be easy, becomes hard. Oh, and did I mention that my cross tires don't like to stick to roots or rocks too much? Yeah, well they don't. On packed dirt they totally hook up though which meant it climbed most of the trails like a scalded monkey. I was amazed at how during the first half of the ride I was able to blast up some of the steeper climbs. This bodes well for cross season. Anyway is the video(with low quality thanks to youtube's bulk video installer)


DTP and I had a good time. We stopped on the way back and ate too much food at Muchos Gracias, but it was worth it.

And speaking of overeating--I ate almost an entire medium-sized Super Combo Pizza (ham, sausage, beef, pepperoni, green peppers, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, onions, and extra cheese with a serious amount of red pepper tossed on to get the heat right) from Godfather's Pizza last night. It was just about the only thing I ate all day, but still...I was surprised I could pack that much away at one time. Hooray for gluttony!