Biking

Last week I got my bike from the FedEx man and I had to instantly put it together. It felt so good just building it and dialing it in. They didn't send me the bolts for my rotors so I didn't have any brakes but I took it out and rode it around the neighborhood for a bit. It felt really big at first. Maybe because I haven't been on a bike in 3 years, or maybe it was the big 29 inch wheels. But it started feeling better and better. Our whole family went to St. George for the weekend for my Grandmas 80th birthday so me and Tuck took our bikes down. I have to admit, I was nervous. I hadn't been on a bike for so long, and here I was taking out a single speed 29er. And this is a bike that cost me $389 plus tax. My old bike was much more expensive, and was fully suspended. This Nashbar 29er is fully rigid. Could my out of shape old guy body take this type of punishment? We arrived at 2 in the morning and slept for about 2 hours (thanks to my wife taking the baby out to the parking lot to get no sleep in the car) before waking and heading out. We rode the Gooseberry Mesa trail between Hurricane and Zions. Tuck was rallying the dirt road to the trailhead thinking he was Ken Block with my new bike on top. I told him to slow down but he persisted to practice his scandinavian flick. When we got out the bike was hanging on by a thread (really) and the back tire was shredded but not blown from rubbing the bike tray. The trail was fun. And there were only a couple spots I had to walk on some short steep climbs. The bike performed beyond anything I had anticipated. The bigger wheels flowed smoothly over bumps and carried me downhill a lot faster than my brother who was on 26's. Even with no suspension the bike charged over and trough everything. I have since been obsessed with single speeds. Everything with a de railer looks weird.