Morning Ride at Nebo

Ron and I spent the evening at the cabin. It was quite cold. Despite a raging fire in the woodstove, the temperature never really crested the 60-65 degree mark. We left Irvington at about 9, and we were in bed by about midnight. Ron's phone alarm went off at 6:00 and it was still dark outside. It was hard to get out of the warm sleeping bag and put the cold riding clothes on. We were on the bikes by about 7:00. The cabin lane and gravel road ride to the Nebo trailhead was really, really cold. We warmed up (and the sun came up) on the Nebo climb. It was my first ride on the new demo bike (19" '06 Kona Dawg Primo). The bike was feeling great. The trail was super solid and frozen. The conditions were fantastic. We got to the top of the Nebo climb and decided to continue out Nebo to do the WB loop. On one of the downhills my rear shock blew out. Bummer. The bike was still rideable so I limped it back to the cabin. It happened 75% of the way through the ride, so not all was lost. The trails were just barely beginning to get soft on our way out of the woods at 9:00 a.m.

The new bike was great despite the problem with the rear shock. I still need to change the cassette to an 11-34 instead of the idiotic 11-32 that came stock on it. Why would you put that gearing on a 32 pound, 5-inch travel trail bike? I'm also going to put Sram X.9 derailleur and twisties on it. The Shimano triggers are horrible. They feel about as solid as shaking hands with a four year old girl. The upshift is somewhat OK, but the downshifts in the rear are totally imperceptible. The Shimano chain will go away as well. I'll give it to my worst enemy. The shifting was unpredictable. The Hayes brakes were very solid, and the Race Face crank felt very stiff. I've used RF Evolve cranks in a splined style BB as well as the new outboard BB design. The outboard design does feel a bit more stiff and solid. The handlebars are 27" wide now. That's about 1" too wide for my liking. I'll trim them to 26" and probably be real happy. I really liked the WTB saddle as well. I've used a lot of Speed V's in the past and liked them, but I think I liked this Laser V a little better. I also must mention that the green color of this bike is fantastic. It's a real good looker.