Just 99 miles to go

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

I gotta learn to hop log correctly.

Saturday I'm out with Pete and a group of casual/moderate riders at Rosaryville. The goal for the day is 4 laps, 40 miles.

On the 3rd lap about 1/4 the way through I get over a log with my usual finese.
This equates to popping the front wheel onto the log and dragging the rest of the bike over the log. Momentum being the key ingredent to my success.

The problem is my back rim takes the one helluva initial blow.
I try to pull it up as quickly as I can but I'm usually too slow.
Its not pretty, but it gets the job done.

Because of my technique , my rim is always getting knocked outta true.
Saturday was the worst I've ever seen it.
One spot was rubbing on the frame and starting to wear a groove into the aluminum.

I had to cut the ride short at that point and ride the road back and fix it.

A smarter man would practice,practice, practice, hopping over logs until he could do it with some finese.

Me?

I'm finally going to shell out the bucks for a nice heavy duty rim.

Why practice when you can buy your way to riding good?

Seeya

2 comments:

rickyd 2 said...

What is it with Fishers and their lack of good tire clearance? What are you running on the back anyway?

If you break this frame because you rubbed through the inner part of the chainstays, I believe that they'd give you a hard time if you tried to warranty it. Even though it highly sucks, it is avoidable with a skinnier tire. It doesn't take long to wear through that skinny metal either. Be very careful!

gwadzilla said...

I say get a rear wheel with either a tandem rim or a downhill rim
and
get in the habit of practicing taking some of the force of the back
by just lifting up some of the back end with the use of he clipless pedals