It's a chilly one ......

Soooooo ......

I have new forks .... and ... they're rigid Time to try them out.


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It's a beautiful day, bloody cold, but lovely all the same.

Tubes and tools? Check
Energy bars? Check
Pump? Check
Camera? Check

Then lets go!!

We cross the railway line and hit the back b roads for a mile or so.

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The bike instantly feels lighter and stiffer, climbing on this is going to be a dream.

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And we soon turn off and hit the woods. The rigid carbon bars are actually pretty forgiving. It's not going to be as fast downhill (lets put it another way, I haven't got the balls to take it as quickly down hill as I could with short travel suspension forks), but certainly what I could do is upgrade the size of the front tyre and run it on lower pressures. (Rims are tubeless so no danger of pinch flats).
I'm impressed. The bike feels incredibly stiff and every ounce of pedal stroke seems to get used now.

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The frozen ground is probably helping too, although the horses that tramp through here really churn up the trails. That then freezes and it all gets pretty hard work. Speed is your friend here - the quicker you go, the easier it is.

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I quite often listen to music when I trail ride, and more often than not it's classical. Get a morning like this and have 'the lark ascending' or the like playing in your ears and you really can forget the world. Just you and the trail - it's beautiful!

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And it's a real stress relief too. Some exercise, fresh air, nobody .... not one soul about, just you. A real escape that I love.

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We finally get out the woods and hit the sunshine. Theres now a few miles of open fields and head down and get on with it.

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Which takes us to the quickest bit of this route - a very fast 30 mph down hill section. (this is the top ... once we're moving I aint stopping for photos .. !)

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The down hill sections are fun and quite a technical challenge. Lots of body weight movement, and lots of core strength with very light arms and hands. Hang on too tight and you'll be in the bushes! Steer the bike with your body.


The trails change to hard pack smooth stuff and this bike with its light weight and stiff frame is now in its element. And that to be honest is why I changed the fork, It's pretty simple stuff around here - loads and loads of it, but it's not technical, so fast and furious is the order of the day and a rigid fork absolutely makes sense.

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We drop down another slope to the river ..

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Wait for the railway crossing ..

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..and finally head for home.

What a simply stunning way to start your day.

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Poor Cato .... I think he's feeling left out ....

(Soon to be swapped for a 1290 S probably .... !!)

Far too many stops for my liking!

If my back ever gets better, I'll join you one day and show you how it's done.

The Nutty GSER said:

Far too many stops for my liking!

If my back ever gets better, I'll join you one day and show you how it's done.

Click to expand...

As it happens, I went out to do some proper fizz and had a 25 mile route. But ..... I took my camera ...

Doh! That was it ... stopping every ten mins or so and fannying about! Ended up cutting the whole ride short cos I ran out of time!

...... And you'd better get yourself fit Nutty ....


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Why does the bike look like it's built back to front? Whatever, the front end looks very cool.

There's actually one or two in focus pictures there too, well done

Andres

How about these for replacement forks.



PS There are still gears on that bike...

Good one Giles

Some great pics , looks a really lightweight bike to be held up by a twig ,,,

Giles said:

As it happens, I went out to do some proper fizz and had a 25 mile route. But ..... I took my camera ...

Doh! That was it ... stopping every ten mins or so and fannying about! Ended up cutting the whole ride short cos I ran out of time!

Click to expand...

When I was able to ride my mountain bike, I'd do a 60-70 mile off road ride, without stopping, every Saturday. I used to get really pissed off, even if I had to stop and open a gate! It got to a point where nobody wanted to ride with me, as they used to want to keep stopping!

Nice . So the solid forks are to make it more efficient?
Looks good, Inwas on the South Downs the other morning in minus 4 , made things interesting

Outtomunch said:

There's actually one or two in focus pictures there too, well done

Andres

Click to expand...

Ha ha ... I was particularly pleased with the train photo .... I came across the barrier already down and had a light bulb moment in my head! so had to really rush to get back pack off, gloves off, camera out ... I knew in my mind that I would need a flat aperture (so not F11 .. 16 .. but something like 5.6) and that if i could get the shutter at around 60 I could keep the still things sharp and the moving things blurred. Quickly set up the camera for exactly that as I could hear the train coming ...

Robbo1200ADV said:

Nice . So the solid forks are to make it more efficient?
Looks good, Inwas on the South Downs the other morning in minus 4 , made things interesting

Click to expand...

Yes, my old forks were knackered (Reba Race) and the lockout had completely broken somewhere in side. So rather than try and get it repaired or replaced with the same I went for these. Obviously If I lived in the Peaks or Wales (heaven forbid ) the trails would be very different and a rigid fork wouldn't really make sense, but here on this relatively easy stuff it makes the bike very quick. (I did look at those Lauf forks but they're not cheap ... !!)

Giles did you carry that stick you use to prop the bike up all the way round, if so well done.
I would suggest a crud catcher type guard on the back, it will protect shorts and back from all the crap and significantly lengthen the life of your washing machine.

Well done for getting out in the cold, its a great time to ride and mountain bikes grip remarkably well in those conditions.

Lastly here is a photo of my latest cross bike, its a stock photo because mine is in the garage and now has crud catcher guards fitted front and back. Rigid forks, its the way to go.
Steve

Ha ha ... yeah quite a few of the blokes at work are into their cross bikes. It always used to be a real 70's thing but seems to be making quite a comeback .....

(And no ... it wasn't the same stick ..!)

Here you go Giles my rigid bike complete with guards on the South Downs way this dec

single !! That'll get yer legs working .....

Cracking pics loverly time of year to get out,you should think about a cross bike mine will go 90% of the places the mtb will ps steve I like the genisis I had a io single speed a few years ago used to take my little lad out on the back also had a p7 orange and many other oranges over the years to I'm on a Ridley cross and a cube 29er at the minute love them both happy trails