Tuesday, December 19, 2006

off road fixing...

Is what I am looking forward to. I have ridden some cross races on the fixed but have yet to get a full on xc ride in on the fix. I have been riding it around town a bunch and hitting the trails, but they are more walking paths and such than real single track. I have however been trying to hone my skills on the bike while here in town so that I can be kind of ready when the time comes to actually put tire to dirt. I have set obstacles outside the house and hop up and down curbs, drop off things of varying heights whenever possible, this is all I can do when trapped in the city for most of the time. That and the weather here has been so miserable, rain, rain, wind wind. I wonder how many trees are down out on the trials right now, inside the city it is a disaster. So below is an image of the little obstacle that I have out front. It is 8 inches high and 12 inches wide. I can now bunny hop it on the fixie, soon I will be making it a bit higher to further improve my skills. By bunny hop I mean clear it, no tire touching the obstacle.

On the fit front I have been trying to find the right position and I am getting close. I have tried many different stems, stack heights, and am getting close to feeling great on the road, now I have to ride off road to see how the muscles hold up on the rough stuff. My friend keith thinks that I am going to crash and burn and can not wait to see it. to him I say this, when I beat you down with out coasting, I will laugh sooooo hard. I am not sure that this is possible, but I will give it the old college try. so on one of the first bunny hop attempts I had the pleasure of crashing , I landed a little over the front end and proceeded to land face down on the pavement, I only burised my hand a bit, but I tore my favorite bar tape, concrete is a little less forgiving in the give department than dirt. I have gotten the sticker on downtube. I think it looks good. The bar tape ripped, thats ok I messed up wrapping it the first time so I will wrap with new tape soon.



I am really liking the fixed gear riding right now, cant wait to get out on some longer dirt rides in the near future. enjoy the holiday's. i must say the wade at vulture made a bike like now other, it is soooo fun to ride and beautiful to look at. thanks so much wade. cheers. as always keep pedaling.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fixed + Dirt = Rad.

Anonymous said...

Nice one Nat. I have an 18t Shimanko cog laying around in the shed I'm planning on drilling for 6-hole disc mounts. Should make for some entertaining off-roading later this winter.

I like the training idea for around the house. I should work on that.... maybe I'll actually be able to bunny-hop more than 2-3" (LOL).

Anonymous said...

Nice one Nat. I have an 18t Shimanko cog laying around in the shed I'm planning on drilling for 6-hole disc mounts. Should make for some entertaining off-roading later this winter.

I like the training idea for around the house. I should work on that.... maybe I'll actually be able to bunny-hop more than 2-3" (LOL).

Mike said...

Please describe your bunny hopping technique. I can bunnyhop my fixie, but haven't tried to bunny hop over something. Better yet, post a video of you clearing that thing!

-M

Anonymous said...

Remember, I too am armed with new Vulture-goodness. You may not crash and burn, but you shall not beat me down the hills, hahahaha. (and if you can, I'll have a nice new Vulture frame for sale, as I'll be taking up Golf). Happy holidays, bro.