It’s all I hoped it to be and more.

A bit over a year ago, I was still a big-wheel virgin. I finally tried one out during one of the demo-at-Demo days hosted by the fine folks of Trailhead Cyclery; an Intense I believe. And I was sold. I never cared too much for the 29er hype and zealotry, but there are some pretty obvious advantages to it, in particular if you’re somewhat tall. Half a year later, I bought a frame and had a summer project. Another half year passed (yes I do like to procrastinate) and I got a 29er.

The larger wheel in front of you gets rid of that ‘help I’m gonna endo’ feeling on drops and steeps; the extra traction of the wheel because of the increased radius of curvature is definitely noticeable on climbs and in turns; my favorite 29er advantage though is the ‘freight train’ effect: the increased rotational inertia, with respect to the total weight of the bike, makes you more efficient on ‘rollers’ and it feels like you can blast through the stuff the trail throws at you so much faster. The Mamasita, being a light race frame, especially stands out in this regard. I can’t believe how much more fun my usual trails in the ‘hood became again. Alas, no pain no gain: the seatstays of this hardtail may be made of carbon, but your bones will be seriously rattled on long bumpy descents…

The course was surely off the beaten path: calling French Meadows a remote location is rather understated. But it was as pretty as it was isolated. I ended up being quite happy with my race: I finished without getting all too hurt, a bit faster than I expected, not troubled too much by the heat, my back took a break in acting up and the whole event was a bunch of fun. My full writeup is here on MTBGuru, results are here, and there is a Cycling News report as well.

And I’ve also officially drunk the 29er kool-aid now: the new bike felt like a high speed freight train on the flats and descents and had excellent traction in the corners. Being a hardtail it climbs and accelerates like a mountain goat, the only drawback is of course the bone rattling nature of fast techy descents on it…

…with a new ride, sore back and expecting unpleasantly toasty temperatures.

The bike is awesome, more about that in later posts, below another teaser pic. I’m taking a bit of a risk doing such a long ride with it immediately - nothing like an imperial century on dirt to break in a new bike! But last weekend I took it to far more technical terrain than what we can expect in the Tahoe Sierra 100 and it held up perfectly (after tightening up things here and there). And it feels so damn fast - maybe I should call it the ‘Red Rocket’ (now if only I could ride it real fast, but that’s another topic).

Tylenol should take care of the sore back (a bruised vertebra? old age? my entire lower right side and leg are acting up these days). I’m kinda dreading the heat though, my frail Northern European constitution is more set up for cold. Anyhow, my goal is just to finish it, preferably way before darkness falls… it should be good masochistic fun!