The lone biker: First Ride

First rides on new bikes are always pretty awesome, today was no exception. There are always lots of unknowns that you know will be answered, hopefully they are all pretty good with no negatives.

My mind still set on "Winter riding" mode didn't know how to take the sudden Summer conditions that have taken over the valley. The conditions are for the most part quite awesome, that coupled with a sweet new rig made for an awesome morning.

There were a few pre ride questions I had regarding this Altitude. The handlebar width was the biggest question. Riding around the neighbourhood it felt twitchy and I wondered how it would handle on the trails. It seemed to help flow through tight technical singletrack like an aging stripper could handle a stripper pole. This great handling coupled with the larger wheels made me feel unstoppable, what was really impressive were the short "microburst" climbs where I always thought larger wheels would be a disadvantage. Maybe it was the new bike adrenalin but those climbs were all handled with ease.

The only drawback was the dropper post, I blame lack of experience with dropper posts on this one but one of the two times I remembered to us it, I came off the trail and had to step off. I seem to have no control with no post and saddle there as I always seemed to use my inner thighs to control my bike. Time will only tell if this dropper post thing is for me.

Saying that is a negative would be completely wrong, the only negative from the ride was bonking after Rolling through Rowland and limping back to the Jeep. I was hoping to go alot further this morning. So back at home base for a rest getting pumped listening to Enrique Iglesias before ride two in Fort Saskatchewan. Giggidy!