The Maiden Voyage

All dressed up and ready to ride

Today was the first ride on the new bike. I am pretty excited about it, seeing as it is most likely the last bike my wife will ever let me buy. All built up, with pedals and cages it weighs in at 22lbs. Not too bad, considering the bargain basement deals on the parts used to build it up (very cheap fork, free crankset and seat) The wheels, bar and seat post I paid for, and they could be lighter, but I like the way they ride and I am happy for now. The cleanest this bike will ever be.

I got home around 4 after driving sideways down the highway due to the gale force winds. The thought of a road ride by myself was a bit of a downer. I wanted to ride the single speed since I hadn't ridden it yet and it was just mocking me from a corner of my shed. Then, my friend Marc called and wanted to ride over to a quick drying collection of trails that are a good warm up ride away from his house. I was ready in 5 minutes and we were out the door.

After a fun ride over some recently flooded bridges and through rush hour traffic, the trailhead greeted us with dry ground and blue skies. The riding was excellent. Not just because it was the first ride on my new bike, or because it was the first dirt ride of the year, but also because the trails were in great shape. There were quite a few leaves on the ground, but the mud was minimal (better than after a summer rainstorm) and the trails were riding well. We both were a bit disoriented and the loop we rode did a fair amount of doubling back, but we found the best parts of the trails and rode for a total of two hours. A great maiden voyage on the new single and for the first dirt ride of the year.

The ride end with recovery beverages at my house, and was way, way better than suffering through the Northern Vermont wind tunnel on the road bike.