Last night during my weekly ride at Sesqui during my daughter's soccer practice, I took the Rig out for a spin. This area is very sandy with lots of pine straw and some decent single track. I would not say it is the preferred place to ride for most, but it is dirt and dirt is better than pavement any day. There is a 5 mile loop out there that I have been TTing for about a year now. My best time on the 69SS is about 18:24 which was done last year on a 56" gear. Since then I have primarily been riding a 52" gear for the knees and it helps with recovery rides. This year my best time has been 19:20 on a 52". Last night I took the Rig out with a 52" gear and wanted to see how it would handle on these trails. During my warm up, I let it hang out on some of the downs and quickly found the edge. I had one of the worst high speed accidents I have had in a long time. The last one I remember was bombing down some fire road in Clemson with Jonathon, somehow loosing control, and ending up OTB in the bushes. Luckily no damage to the body or bike. That is how most accidents are, but this was a little different. I was flying through a turn with a lot of roots and sand in it and the bike just was not responding, as I continued to correct all of a sudden the front wheel grabbed and the next thing you know, I was wrapped around a 10" pine tree. The brunt of the force was taken by my shoulder and head, the bike may not of even hit anything. Dazed and confused, I got up checked and things out. First my bike. Everything is working and looks ok. Then my body, no blood, collar bone is not broken, helmet seems fine. Let's ride before the pain sets in. So I continued with my warm up and the movement in my shoulder was very limited and very sore. I guess I found the edge...
For certain, a front suspension bike does not handle the same as a fully rigid. I think the problem was that I was used to pushing the bike through corners knowing what the front end was going to do. With a sus fork on the front the suspension is limiting the amount of weight applied to the front wheel. The handling is somewhat less predictable, and I paid for it.
After the warm up I started the time trial and rode with no incidents. The time ended up being 19:17, slightly better than the 69SS, but too close to call. I did notice that I was sitting a lot more on the Rig, and a taller gear would not be a problem.
Bottom line. I finally have the Rig fit dialed in and the brakes are broken in and working perfectly. I think I am going to hang it up now until I get the tubeless strips and get it set up. I may not ride it again until I head to the mountains for a real ride. Until then, I am going to nurse this extremely sore shoulder and get back to the basics.
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