Nassahegan 06-28-09

Ended up getting a later start since Mr.evil had to back out due to power outage issues, oversleeping, laundry not done, plans, etc. Since I had no plans today(and I had the Giant demo bike again) I decided to try and do an extended solo ride. Decided to started out of Scoville to be able to get some more mileage in and was about the fourth car there around 7:30. Started out on the cemetery twisties much of which rode just fine til I got down to the first stream(the one that had the old rickety bridge) from there on the trail was real muddy up all the rocky areas and pretty much walked a lot of the trail. The water on the fire road to the FTC was flowing pretty good, but the FTC was fine, just the usual mud in the corners. At the top were it flattens out there is a good size tree down across the trail that you have to climb over(should keep the hessians out since I didn't see an easy way around it).

Rode the trail to the first rocky ledge climb and bailed to the fire road to Stone. Took the blue entrance to Stone and followed it to the rock garden. At the trail intersection before the garden someone blocked the trail? Don't understand why, but was easy to get around. Did the usual stuff and stayed away from the low area that is always wet and also the caveman drop area(from talking to Ruler post ride he mentioned he did some armoring in the wetter spots and it should be fine to ride). Rode the dirt jump trail out into an empty Stone parking area and pedaled up Stone to the usual entrance to head up tot the DK bypass.

The hill up to the bypass was in good shape,with a couple questionable spots, but did notice a lot of small twigs.branches laying in the trail, a derailleur nightmare if you catch one just right. The fun downhill was in good shape except at the very end at the fire road. My intentions from here was to ride the fire road back to the car and call it a day, but of course I took a turn and ended up crossing the river that has the steep rooty DH or uphill clime in my case, by the time it dawned on me were I was going I was at route 69 were we cross from the Session area so I back tracked and found the trail I was looking for!

Got back to the car around 10:15 were Ruler and his gang were gathering for a 10:30 ride. I ended up doing 9.56 miles with an average speed of 4 mph, not too shabby for me!

I really liked the Giant Reign demo bike, a totally different bike than my single pivot bike and even with the 6" travel, I don't think it slowed me on any on the uphills.

If you guys are riding today, definitely stay towards the Stone area.

Again, sorry about bailing on you.

Sounds like you really liked the Reign, are you going to get it or demo a few more bikes?

Nice TR, sounds like a good ride! One question, what's FTC? Do you mean FKC?

bvibert said:

Nice TR, sounds like a good ride! One question, what's FTC? Do you mean FKC?

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yes FKC

MR. evil said:

Again, sorry about bailing on you.

Sounds like you really liked the Reign, are you going to get it or demo a few more bikes?

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Don't worry about bailing, I still made it out to ride.

Not sure what I am doing as far a bikes go, this was the Giant reps personal bike, 2008 Reign 0 ($3400 +/- new), not sure what they will knock off the price since it is demo/used. It did perform well all around and the down hills were great, probably was going too fast down some considering I was by my self, but wanted to get a good feel for the bike.

I do want to try out other mfg bikes with different types of suspensions to get a feel of how they differ so if you hear of any demo days or if a LBS has a demo bike, let me know.

Buying the bike right now would save me a lot of time that I am going to be spending cleaning the thing up for them since I would feel guilty returning it looking like it does!

o3jeff said:

I really liked the Giant Reign demo bike, a totally different bike than my single pivot bike and even with the 6" travel, I don't think it slowed me on any on the uphills.
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Its not so much the amount of travel as the head tube angle that really effects how a bike will climb. That Reign has a 68d head tube angle which is about the max I would personally go on a trail bike that sees alot of climbing. Alot of guys ride bikes with 67d HT angles have have no problems. My bike is designed around a 69d head tube angle and a 5" fork. I actually have a 6" fork on there and that changed the HT angle to a hair over 68d. On steeper technical climbs it can be a challenge keeping that front wheel on the ground and the bike tracking in the direction I want. But it is getting easier the more I ride the bike.

o3jeff said:

yes FKC

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No problem, I though there was some new name for the climb of something. I was having a hard time coming up with what T stood for..

I read this earlier, and decided to hit the FKC from Scoville as well.

Conditions through the FKC are overall, pretty decent outside of the 2 little river,streams in the twisties pre-fire road, and then the fire road itself heading up to FKC was pretty river like.. ride-able but running water.

Over the top of the FKC, some mud spots again, I even walked a couple areas over there being that I am still not 100% comfortable with the rocky muddy mess I found up there.

The downhills where very nice, I actually surprised myself a bit and hit them better/fuller then my previous runs. Even a couple areas that I had been nervous about on prior runs for OTB possiblities I found myself just rolling em.. without a thought.. just the afterthoughts of "wow that was a bit easier then usual.."..

I turn left after the down hills.. at the T as it is the only route I have take. I would guess the right would head toward stone road...??

Either way, I pounded my way up to 69, cross it, and as I was hoping wasn't the case was... north end of hinman was a muddy mess. I fell in some of it.. lol.. and walked around most of it. eventually clearing up..

Good run overall...

Complaints: My legs felt fine.. and were there every time I needed em.. but I could not get my heartrate/breathing down pat until post FKC. Not sure why, but man I was all out of sorts on the FKC. I did pretty good on it and feel I am a few more attempts from a clean run to the top.

I had planned to session the top ledge.. decided to give part of it a run, I got over the root and just called it done for today.

Still nursing my right hip a little, and my left leg.. so I took extra steps to just.. be overly cautious.. and etc.

I am definitly getting used to the pedals.. and liking them more and more each ride.

New shin/knee guards/armor stuffage was nice too..

New back tire with only 40psi was excellent. I had a couple of short quick slips.. and actually noticed my front slipping today more than the rear.. unheard of in my rides.. the few little slips I had on the ass end where totally recoverable..

Overall confidence level was up... due to the new tire and psi, shin/knee guards and getting used to balancing on the bike with the new pedals as well as actually unclipping much better then a couple weeks ago.

Great ride:

I am attaching 2 pics of trail blockage that OP mentioned above.

First one is on the FKC, near the top by the firewall crossover.

Second one is on the downhills post FKC, the far right is a narrow area to get around.. my bike is on the far right at the go around..

Both need/should be removed.

Nice to see you back out after being bruised up. As far as breathing, I find my breathing is usually pretty heavy on all climbs, I just live with it and keep pedaling!

Also forgot to mention that the demo bike had 2.35 Kenda Nevegal tires and I found them to be better than the Moto Rators I have as far as traction and self cleaning. When the time comes to replace my tires, I will definitely look into getting them.

o3jeff said:

Nice to see you back out after being bruised up. As far as breathing, I find my breathing is usually pretty heavy on all climbs, I just live with it and keep pedaling!

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Yea, my breathing was out before the FKC.. I may just need to add some Jug-a-Lugging to my ride.. for a bit more warm up action..

Course, this is my first ride in 2 weeks... might have a part to play in that.. lol

I've found my wind will take a big hit if I don't ride within 3 or 4 days since my last ride. I'll probably be well over a week before I get out again so I expect to be huffing big time.

Trev said:

I am attaching 2 pics of trail blockage that OP mentioned above.

First one is on the FKC, near the top by the firewall crossover.

Second one is on the downhills post FKC, the far right is a narrow area to get around.. my bike is on the far right at the go around..

Both need/should be removed.

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Build up on both sides of that first one and it looks like it could be a fun up and over...

bvibert said:

Build up on both sides of that first one and it looks like it could be a fun up and over...

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Not a bad Idea actually, might even be wise to do make a short trail that goes off of the beaten path there to hit an up and over as well. I will assume someone will chainsaw that thing out of the way soon enough.. some atv guy or something..