Air 9 ride report...

Well Iv had the Niner out on the trails several times now, including a trip back to the hometown trails in Wilkes. Bottom line is Im having trouble finding motivation to ride the roadie anymore.  

I headed out to the Lake Crabtree trails, which Iv never actually had the chance to ride before, for my first real ride.  I had looked at the map but as with most trails there are so many connectors that you can quickly get turned around out there, but my plan was to just make all right hand turns when I came to an intersection.

As I got to the trailhead I noticed three guys hanging  out talking and so I stopped to ask if they minded me following them around the trail so I could get a feel for it. They said sure, and we set out for a loop around Crabtree. I hadn’t realized how “new” the guys were when I had approached them, but it was fine I was out for a base ride and they were great to ride with. We joked and rode around at a leisurely pace taking time to stop and talk. It reminded me a lot of when I first started riding with my friends, before I had ever even heard of training. We would turn an 11 mile ride into an all day adventure, but we had fun and I miss that kind of riding. Anyway after we finished the loop I told the guys thanks and went on for two more laps around the 7 mile loop. It’s a great trail system that reminds me a lot of the trails at home, just a lot flatter.

It took me a few laps to figure out the air pressure on the fork but once I got it dialed on the third lap it felt nice. The 29er just rolls so well and bombs the descents. Also with the new 60mm stem I put on the feeling of driving a bus is gone. It feels quick and nimble and I had no trouble getting through the tight sections and switchbacks. I may have found my new go to saddle as well. I cant believe how comfortable the Ritchey WCS is for such a lightweight saddle. Even with a 2+ hour ride I didn’t have hardly any pain until right at the end my neck  started to hurt a bit from looking up. I had the bike set up in a very racy position which I like and is fine for anything sub 2 hour, but I want to do some endurance racing on this bike as well so I decided to throw one 5mm spacer under the stem for the next ride.

I took a Saturday to swap the tubes out for a stans tubeless setup. It was actually way easier than I expected and I could really tell a difference in the ride quality the next time out. The place the 29er really shines is on those rocky fast almost straight descents where you can just let it roll. And when those bigs wheels get to rolling nothing is slowing them down. There are a few rocky nasty dowhills that I use to ride on the 26 rigid that I just bounced and “plinkoed” down and now I just glide scary fast over them. The bike feels snappy as well, and accelerates nicely up the climbs (though I do miss the rigid for those few brief seconds). Honestly its just a whole new ride and Im lovin it so far.

Ill try to keep the 29er praising to a minimum after this, but I think the pros for the 29er wheels undoubtedly outweigh any cons.

Over the Memorial Day weekend I took a chance to get in a brief ride back home. Those trails are so smooth the 29er advantages don’t jump out at you but just the faster rolling characteristics really make a difference to keep your momentum through all the flowy sections. That is one thing I like the best about the 29er is being able to put down the power in the flat sections and zoom along like im on my roadie on asphalt.To be fair there are time I feel the bike is a little hard to muscle around tight turns, but as I said the 60mm stem has helped this feeling a lot.

I ended up cutting the steerer with the one spacer underneath. I think this is a good compromise between racy and comfort. Im really happy with the setup, and honestly cant think of another thing I have to change. On a side note, I went to Cycling Spoken Here to pick up  star nut, and they guy went in the back came back and handed it to me. I asked how much and he said “were good”. I know that doesn’t seem like much, but that’s the kinda thing that makes me loyal to a lbs.

Ill be testing it out in the racing environment this weekend at the state games. Im not expecting much from my fitness at this point, but hopes are still high. Look for a race report.