If your suffering "cycling fatigue" from too many cycling posts on the Lee-Side, never fear. I'm in the middle of a set of non-cycling posts. Monday is always a Training Update post, so please forgive this one. In the last Training Update I promised to reveal how I was able to ride on dirt in Colorado with my mountain bike still 8 states away in Maryland. The answer is:
A Gary Fisher Superfly that is!
The Superfly is a carbon fiber 29er hardtail mountain bike with a race level component build weighing in at 22lbs. Three weeks ago I had no idea what a Superfly was. Ramine recently bought a Gary Fisher 29er hard tail and has been extolling its virtues to me ever since. Doug mentioned the how light the carbon Superfly was and the wheels were set in motion. When my bike was stuck in Cleveland for the Greenbrier Race I bought a Superfly thinking I'd have a bike to race. The plan was to buy the bike through a store in Boulder but pick it up from a store in MD the morning of the race. This would work because even though the Superfly in MD was already sold the buyer wasn't going to pick it up until later in the week giving the Boulder store time to ship out a replacement. The Superfly is an immensely popular limited production mountain bike and when I got off the plane in MD the buyer had got word of the plan and changed his mind. It worked out because I would have trashed it during the Greenbrier Race. When I made it back to Boulder after the Superfly was waiting.
I've ridden the same Santa Cruz frame for the past 8 years and in that time had many heated discussions on how a carbon fiber hardtail wouldn't be the bike for me and how much I dislike Bontrager components which the Superfly is riddled with. All of those discussions evaporated into dust from my wheels the first time I rode up the Poor Man climb with Ramine just outside of Boulder. The light weight carbon and 29" wheel literally allowed me to climb a full class higher than on the Santa Cruz. Usually Ramine and his "helium in the veins" climbing leave me in the dust, but I was able to hang with him the entire climb. I humbly take back all my self righteous Bontrager bashing as the Superfly owes much of its anorexic 22 pounds and I owe my new climbing ability to Bontrager RaceLite components.
Back to last week, it was a good one! I was able to ride the Superfly on a variety of trails and learn it's traits. Monday was an short, but intense technical ride at White Ranch. Tuesday was a 20 mile carve on the smooth single track of Buffalo Creek with Doug (blog post to follow). Wednesday was a 2 hour road ride. Thursday was a rest day due to knee pain. Friday was a morning Marshall loop from the house with Jo. I ended the week Sunday with a Betasso Loop from downtown Boulder with Ramine. For the first time in my life I was able to clear the entire link trail without stopping. At the top of the loose and steep lower climb I usually crack and have to put a foot down. Sleep deprivation and too much caffeine gave me a minor heart attack, but I managed to clear it all at a good pace without putting a foot down, a small personal best.
I'll post more about my carbon hard tail 29er impressions soon, but not so soon to cause more "cycling fatigue" on the Lee-Side.
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