Hot lap, sick, then another lap

Last week Wednesday I finally got the bike out on dirt singletrack.  It felt like it's been just too long!

I took the fatbike as my scalpel needed some love. I went to the Reforestation Camp, it always dries out faster than Baird's and it's a good place to run some baseline laps and get out there.  It helps that it's only 10min from my house vs. 20min for Baird's.

Anyhow, the fatbike has always been and is fun for singletrack and it was fun to get out with the tubeless setup on summer tires on the bike.  I ended up setting my fastest lap time for the green loop that I've done ever.  I was kind of surprised as I didn't think I was really going fast enough to do that.  As I got further into the ride though I knew it was a quicker lap than most I run so I tried to keep the pace up.  It was a 54:3x lap which is good but my goal I think for this year is to get <50min.  I think that's achievable but I need to really focus to do that.  It is good to have a goal.

To get the Scalpel ready, I had to remount tires with new Stan's.  I also took the chance to change out my cassette setup.  Late last year I went to 1x10 with a 32t front ring and a 11-36 in the rear.  I upgraded now so I've got a 42t bailout gear and added a 16t inbetween the 13 and 19 (I think).  The goal there is to extend the cassette range a bit.  After riding the XX1 setup all winter on the fatbike I knew I wanted more range than what I had.

So, went out yesterday for the first ride I've done in a long time on the Scalpel.  It's so different from the fully rigid fatbike and has major advantages in some areas, but at the same time does not have advantages in others.  For these local trails the full suspension is a waste, I can say I think the fastest I'd be is on a hardtail 29er with something like a 80-100mm front fork.  When riding the fatbike I feel the bumps more (they aren't brutal) but any time the trail is rough downhill with turns I feel I give up a lot of speed.  Those are the faster ones on the scalpel but it's hard to beat efficiency of a full rigid setup and the grip of the fatbike is great.

My lap yesterday was only about 25 sec slower than my lap last week.  I was not really trying to be fast at the start of the lap so it was surprising to be in that range.  I for sure am feeling the benefits of riding the fatbike all winter and also the power class.  My legs feel significantly stronger than they did last year.

First real good week of outside riding

Sunday I did a ride on the Mountain Bay Trail, out/back with about 1hr out and a bit over that back.  Ended up at about 33ish miles on the caadx.  I love the new bars.

Last night I went mountain biking at Reforestation Camp, set a new PR for the green loop on the yampa which I was pretty excited about.  That bike is fun but it beats me up a lot.  I've gotta get the Scalpel all tuned up and ready to go for a bit more speed/comfort.  It looks like my work over winter has paid off a lot.

New bars for the caadx and Gravel River Road Ride Report

First off, I have been wanting to try some different bars on my caadx.  It's not that the ones on there are a problem, it's just they're the stock ones, don't seem to be exactly what I want, and I never use the drops because of the position they put me in.  I am still new to a road bike and not really sure I'm doing any of this right anyway, but I want to be comfortable on the bike and have as many hand positions as possible.

Enter the Salsa Woodchipper - I saw these on a few bikes here and there and thought about them.  Took the plunge last week and ordered a set of the widest ones (46cm).  Got them mounted up Thursday night in anticipation of a group ride Sat (more on that in a sec).

Figuring out exactly where to mount the levers was a bit of a guessing game but I ended up OK, and this is my first time doing tape.  George had some of this tape around in red which is the color I'd wanted anyway - it's Zipp CX something and I really like it.  A bit more all weather than other tapes I've seen and nice and grippy and comfy.  After only one ride I recommend it.

I got a chance to try the setup out on the Gravel River Road Ride Saturday.  This was an informal, free ride put on by a local rider.  I think this is the 2nd year and I would say there were somewhere like 30-40 people.  Weather was a bit cool at 35ish degrees and it turned out pretty windy later in the day.  We rode out of a park and ride near Manitowoc, then north to Denmark through a few different roads, then back on the Gravel River Trail (old rail trail).  That part was the best, just cruising along.

I have never ridden in a big group ride like this before, I was surprised at how much different it was riding in a pack for overall speed and efficiency.  I do not really love it, I prefer long, solo or small groups to big groups still but it is nice to have company.  Obviously there are all different speed/capability levels in a group this size so it was pretty spread out by the end.

The ride was a blast, Eric did an awesome job of setting it up and keeping it low key, friendly.  I will look to do this type of ride again in the future for sure.  Idealy it'll be gravel though for most of it.  People say I should try to do the Bear 100 as it's kind of like that but all gravel and nice and low key.  I'm going to have to see if I can stretch family schedules to allow for that.

I was pretty happy with the bars on their maiden voyage.  I was able to use more different hand positions, still prefering to be on the hoods mostly, but the drop portion of the bars are way more usable for me and much more comfortable.  I'd worked on the truck Friday and had bruised my palms a bit (long story), so my hands were hurting by the end of the ride but not terrible.  I think the combo of extra hand positions and new bar tape helped a lot.

Hoping to get out on singletrack soon...