Poaching

Why riding a bike is better than updating the blog...



Today I spent the day at John Muir trails. I'd converted the Ferrous from SS to 1x8 with vintage (not old) SunTour XCPro thumb shifter and a SunTour Sprint rear deraileur. Everything works fine on the 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28 Shimano XT cassette. After failing to get the SunTour bits to work with the Surly cogs for 24/9 I copped out and put the Shimano on her. Why does anyone need 3 chainrings? The 34 up front provided plenty of drive with the rear range.

I got there early and enjoyed the upper 30's until the sun warmed things up to the low 50's. By noon I'd done three laps of the blue loop and needed a break. I cracked open the thermos of coffee and all was good.

By midday the FIBs were out in full force. I kept to myself for most fo the day but as I went to go out again I saw a pair of 29er SS's loading up after their ride. A nice Gunner and a Soma were put on the roof of a Volvo and I chatted for a bit with Dave and his buddy. Afterwards I got back out and did two more laps.

It was too easy to rail on the Ferrous. I didn't dab once all lap and cleaned every climb without using the 28. Flying on the flats on the 13 was a treat too. Again, didn't touch the 12.

Maybe Russell was right the other day, 6 gears is plenty.

I ended the day with a couple of hits from my SunRingle flask. Mmmmm, tasty.