Finally… after ten years, I finally took the plunge and bought a new mountain bike. For whatever reason, the biking bug hit me this year, and I’ve been riding 2-4 times a week. We came into some extra cash, so I bit the bullet and bought this baby, in the silver/black color.
I’ve taken it out twice now, and oooh man, is it ever fun! I’ve never had a full suspension bike before, and my God, is it ever amazing. I go through sugar sand like it’s hard ground. I make it up steep, root-covered hills that I’ve always had to push my bike up before. I’m wearing Mr. Athena out, because I want to ride every day.
It’s been several years since the biking bug has bit me hard, and I forgot what wonderful trails we have up here. Imagine ten miles of single track, going along Lake Superior beaches and then plunging into thick, dark woods, and we rarely see other people on the trails. If these trails were in Colorado (where I used to live), they’d be completely overridden & ruined the first year they opened, they’re so sweet. And these are only the ones close in to town - get out 30 or 40 miles away, and they’re even better.
Way to go! I’m a road cyclist myself, but I’ve been itching to get a mountain bike for a while. I used to do it a lot back home in West Virginia, but it’s harder to find good trails here, when the only choices are suburbs and farmland.
I have a 12 year-old Rockhopper A1 Comp. Love it to death. Specialized is a good company–they replaced a cracked frame on my Hardrock no questions asked. I didn’t even have to show a reciept!
The new one is actually a replacement for my 10-year-old Stumpjumper Comp hardtail (purchased at Bicycle Village in Boulder :-)). I’ve been pretty happy with it, and it was an easy sell go to get a new Stumpjumper.
I know I should replace bikes more often, but one big advantage of waiting ten years in between bike changes is the technology is always amazingly better. I remember getting the first Stumpjumper and literally feeling like I was speeding up the mountains. This one is the same (but no mountains) - it’s such a great feeling to finally be able to ride some of these hills that I previously could not get up. The suspension is great at keeping the back tire down.
It’s another nice day out today - high of 70 and sunny at the moment. Yup, there’ll be some biking going on.
What side of Superior are you on? I ask because I’m going to be biking across Canada next summer and will be skirting Superior on the trans-Canada from Thunder Bay to Wawa. If you are along that route you should invite me over. For the small price of a little land to camp on overnight I’ll regale you with stories of climbing through the Rockies. (Also, if you do live on the Canadian side, I’d love to ask you some questions about road conditions up there.)