Maiden Voyage

Friday afternoon I braved the roaming showers and drove to Gambrill to take the Gunnar on it's first ride. Gambrill because I know its route well and because it would certainly show the bike's character in technical rocky conditions -- which is descriptive of most of next weekend's race course. Surprisingly Gambrill was bone dry, as if it hadn't rained there in a week.

I really like the way the bike handles, and will probably like it more as I spend some time on it. I was a little afraid that because of the longer chainstays necessitated by the 29" wheels that I would have some trouble lofting the front wheel, a technique I've come to use a lot in technical terrain, but so far I've not noticed that it's much harder than the Fuel was. I need more time to know for sure. The Gunnar is so much easier to bunny hop than the Fuel -- the solid (and substantially lighter) back end comes up with an alacrity that was missing with the full suspension.

All in all the bike had a feeling of solidness, and preciseness, that was very refreshing and which made the Fuel, considered a pretty stiff short travel race bike, seem like a wet noodle in comparison.

The other thing I (again) realized during the ride is that riding singlespeed in that kind of terrain is very hard work, that my left leg is weak compared to my right, and that I'm going to need stronger forearms -- Popeye's would be about right.