Autumn Riding

The Great Pumpkin Metric was a great ride this year.  Fantastic weather.  I rode the Paramount on the 100k route and felt great.  Even the hills I hated most in years past, Burdette and St. Phillip, though tough were much easier than in years past.

Last weekend was Hilly Hundred weekend.  It's a great ride with a lot of riders.  Saturday was chilly with a high of 55° and gloomy, including some rain.  Sunday was also cool but sunny, making it much more pleasant.  Probably not too difficult for people who live and ride in Colorado, Tennessee, etc... but challenging for many of us flatlanders.  I rode the Cannondale on that ride.  I wanted to try out my upgrades in gearing and brakes this time around.  It was tough but the improvements were apparent.  It probably would have been somewhat easier had I ridden the Paramount though.

Looking back down Mt. Tabor

I recently ran across another good deal.  I picked up a Diamondback 29er priced at 1/3 off.  I have been wanting a newer, more capable MTB for some time.  Those 29er wheels look huge next the old one's 26's.  The bike just looks big.  Sitting on it, the front wheel simply looks massive when I'm accustomed to looking down to see a front wheel, this one's wheel looms much more prominently ahead.

It will be interesting to try out the hydraulic disc brakes, as well as the massive gearing, on the trail.  On my short jaunts around the neighborhood it appears that if I can keep the front wheel on the ground, I can climb it.