Saturday, September 3, 2016

Mountain Bike Madness

I am planning on upgrading my mountain bike to something that's more Utah-ready. But, I wasn't sure what I wanted. Fortunately, my local shop has a demo program. But, when?

Ahhh ... dad was coming to visit! We can go riding. So, I scheduled the demo for Friday afternoon.

So, after putting out about 5 fires at work Friday morning, I loaded up my mountain bike (for dad), then we drove down to pick up the demo, a Specialized Stumpjumper full suspension 29er. After a stop at Chipotle for lunch, we continued up to Snowbasin.

We put in a couple hours exploring up there. We didn't even scratch the surface of the trails up there. Well ... maybe I did. The trail certainly scratched the surface of my left knee. I also bruised up my left hand. Finally, I realized that I needed to put my foot down ... literally!

I didn't have to take the bike back until noon today, so I figured I'd give it another spin on some trails closer to the house. Somehow, I convinced dad to tag along again. Three hours (and a flat tire on the bike dad was riding) later, we were at the bike store to drop off the demo. Note: the flat was due to a Goat's Head thorn, and it caused a relatively slow leak, so we were able to continue on by repeatedly airing up the tire.

The Stumpjumper is an awesome bike for chewing up rocks, roots, etc. It seemed a bit lacking in climbing ability, which is kind of a big deal. But, as far as trail bikes go, it's a more downhill oriented setup, so I guess that's too be expected. Anyway, I don't think that's what I'm looking for right now.

Pictures: one of dad after riding at Snowbasin; one of both of us on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail south of the house.

6 comments:

Tanya said...

Is a bit deal the opposite of a big deal?

ET said...

No. It was a typo.

Tanya said...

I know. But a typo that may have resulted in a helpful discovery! You should try to coin the phrase "a bit deal"!

ET said...

Ha ha.

ET said...

Ah, so this typo could just be a bit deal. Or, it could turn out to be a big deal.

Tanya said...

See how useful it is!