The B side

August is somewhat the mid-point of the race season for me and I have not competed since July. The NEO PowerSeries continues Labor day weekend at Manitoc, which is where I will find out if my off road training regimen did the job or not. I don't expect to be flying by any means. Hopefully my speed will progress throughout the next two months just as it did last year. The great thing about self coaching is that I have only myself to blame if things go wrong. I must admit that the West Branch enduro race has me a little concerned. The longest I have ever raced off road is about 3 hours, and I'm sure it's no secret that I tend to go really hard at the start of a race...then explode on the last lap. I ordered some electrolyte tablets to try. Maybe they will help thwart off those nasty cramps that left me pedaling with one leg for nearly 2 miles at the last Knob race.

And now for some really boring tech talk. After well over 100 hours on the Groovy with the 650B wheels I have to say that I made the right choice. I did give up a little in the really tight stuff, like Reagan. However the bike rolls noticeably faster over rough stuff. I have not put much time on a 29r, but I can only imagine both the steering and traction changes would be even more exaggerated. I can't see myself enjoying any further handling loss, even if it meant faster rolling elsewhere.
Rody set my headtube angle at 73 degrees with neutral steering. This would probably not suit a novice rider very well. The tight angle also changes the angle of attack for the Fox fork, making the suspension feel slightly less supple. But this is what I asked for...super tight steering, and that it does very well. The speed of this bike has actually scared me on several occasions this summer, each time leaving me laughing my head off at the near misses with trees and other hard objects. Someday I won't be laughing so hard when I hit one of these things hard, but until then I will continue being too stupid to slow down.