Saxon Hill

First time out in the woods on the new MTB!

Not only the first woods ride on the new bike, but my first time ever riding at Saxon Hill. Man, it's nice there and so close to home. Joe and I rode from home to the trails, did a full lap of them and rode home.

Progress report:

The fully rigid 29er is a very nice platform. It has so many qualities brought over from a 'cross bike or any 700c touring bike. It is responsive and lively and rolls over alot of stuff that I remember choking up a 26" wheel. The 1x8 IGH will find its way to being quite worthy for me. The type of riding that I do and/or prefer to do will find that it is just enough range to keep me satisfied. I do think that I will go to a 32t ring on the front. I have a 35t now and it is a bit tall for some climbing that I did this past weekend. Therefore I know that I will not be happy with it at the VT50. I rather loose my top end to gain some more low end. Research showed that the gear inches on my 29er with 35/20 IGH in first gear is the same as a 26" mtb in the middle/second on a 3x9. I'm missing alot of low end with this setup.

This brings me to my next dilemma! Do I suffer the loss and stay with the simplicity and non maintenance of the IGH or do I lose that and get the full range? There are too more possibilities. I can pair the Hammerschmidt 2speed front with the IGH for more range or I can take the more (much more)expensive route and go with the 14spd Rohloff hub. And of course if I ever want to run the belt drive I can't use the Hammerschmidt but I wouldn't need that if I use the Rohloff. Oh, decisions. Time will tell. For now it is get my fitness back, train, and ride the bike. I have a race to do in about seven weeks. I hope to be my time from last year by 30 minutes. A tall order considering that I lost 8 weeks of training to an injury.