Hello Trail and Mud

 

I left home at 7:30 or so.  when I got to Upper Hutt I found the e-mail from Neil: “Turned out to be too early for me, still in bed. Hope you managed to get bike dirty.“ – Oh yeh, I got it dirty all right.  Enter my new/old Felt F1X cyclocross bike.    I built it from a second hand frame and a mix of new and second hand parts.  When I say I built it I mean i loosely put the bits together and trusted Oli to make them work together.  Oli did  a great job and everything on the bike worked flawlessly. 

Except the rider.  Note to self: don’t try turning when in a puddle, through 2 inches of mud and no momentum.  You just fall sideways.  At least the mud cushioned my fall and there was no one around to see me.  Just when I was getting the hang of surfing through mud, very wet and squashy grass and jumping over dead branches, I hit a dead end by the paintball place close to the hutt river.  it was on the way back that I was getting ahead of myself and the bike and got dumped.  

On the way back home I stopped for a coffee at the Petone esplanade.  people were quite surprised to see me  on a ‘road bike’.  By the way I looked, muddy and all, a mountain bike was more expected.  he he he…

so all in all, the ride was very enjoyable.  I was impressed with the semi slicks tyres I chose.  Only slipped couple of times but still had enough traction to keep me moving forward. 

So a great trail bike. very smooth, and easy on the limbs.  even the odd pot hole I wasn’t ready for didn’t phase the bike traction and direction at all. 

I spent quite some time cleaning the bike once I got home, before parking it in the shed.  Its amazing how persistent mud can be.

That seat bag is way too big – its going back to the cupboard (once its dry after washing all the mud off).  the light has now moved to the right seat stay to make room for a rear mud guard.  I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid.

Now the problem I am going to face now is which bike to use and when.  trail or road, commute or climb, mud or gravel? and how do I explain the line of mud on the carpet in the office that leads to the bike parked behind my desk.  its going to be a very fine balancing act to ensure I keep both my bikes happy, and have enough time to for work and family.  What a predicament to have!