Matt Calls Them "Rollies"

Mountain biking lately has been up and down for me. Matt doesn't recognize ups and downs on trails though. He simply calls them "rollies", so there you go ...

Let's go with alternating ups and downs.

UP

Great video from the 24 Hour Hurkey Creek race:




DOWN

My Light and Motion battery died and so I have to use my stupid NiteRider backup light. Man I hate it so much. It's dim, it's mounted on my head and it seems to get dimmer the faster I go on the bike.

It does just enough on the climbs, but on the descents it is just freaky. If there are ruts ahead of me or rocks or anything sketchy, I can't see them. I have to trust my knowledge of the trail and just ride through whatever is there.

I'm trying to order a new battery (150 dollars?!?) so I can keep night riding.


UP

I felt really good on the ride last Saturday. Managed to do the entire ride in my middle ring (Holy Jim-Joplin) and I was happy to ride around 90% of Joplin. As a side note I find it very hard to actually estimate how much of a trail I've ridden. I hiked down a few sections, but what percentage of the trail was that? Who knows.

Joplin was nowhere near as scary as I remember it. I actually had a good time on it and look forward to riding more of it the next time we hit it.


DOWN

Work has been insane lately and I had to cancel a Tuesday night ride because I had to work late. I don't know what the problem is, but I've been just really worn down lately.

I've been finding it hard to get motivated to do anything, much less ride the bike. So hopefully some more good Saturday rides with the crew will get me excited.


UP

I bought a new front tire. I've always wanted to try the Kenda Nevegal's and so I finally broke down and spent the 50 bucks. My rear tire had a small tear in it anyways, so I just put my old front tire onto the rear and put the Kenda on the front.

The Maxxis Crossmark tire I was running in the front washed out on me quite a bit. It just couldn't hold a good line and I had several crashes due to it.

It's strange but different tires have different flexibility. The Crossmark would come off the rim if you looked at it strange. The Specialized tires I was running for a long time were incredibly difficult to get on and off the rim. The Kenda's weren't easy to get on, but not tough either.

I'm hoping the Kenda's will hold lines better and give me my confidence back in the turns.