I Rode My Bike Today...

Maiden ride of the new bike today, some local desert singletrack with the weez. Short and sweet, beat the heat.


Initial impressions of the Ranger, running the shock in full open:

• Ascends impressively. Amazingly, actually. If you stay with it, you can climb ridiculous terrain.
• Uphill traction with a firm 2.4 Rekon on loose gravel-y surface should have been marginal but wasn't. Suspension kept the tire on the ground in some surprising situations.
• Reacts instantly to pedal input in any situation.
• 115mm of suspension felt virtually bottomless on these trails. There are no extensive rock gardens to smash through, but lots of random embedded rocks and loose surface. Drops less than 2' felt trivial. It might be worth noting that I've been off FS bikes for months, but the limitation of the travel so far is less noticeable than I expected.

The bike feels different than anything I've owned, but reminiscent of my old Czar and Pivot 429c in some respects – both DW Link bikes with a firm-ish feel. The Ranger geometry is where the similarity ends. Slack enough head angle to feel confident pointed DH or navigating features. Longer wheelbase, but shorter than the 1200+ mm WB bikes I've been riding for a couple of years. It felt a little twitchy at first, but I quickly got in the groove.

The fit seems right on. Compact but not stubby. Neutral is the word that comes to mind when pedaling along. The bike kind of disappears. Small bump compliance is great, and it exudes the impression that long hours on the bike could go by quickly and comfortably. Which is exactly what I got the bike for. With no identifyable weaknesses or quirks, I'd give it highest marks so far.




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JordanHMay said:
Long day today. Took a friend across the main divide. His first time going past the golf ball. Mellow pace taking pics and enjoying the day. Up Blackstar, across to Harding and down. He wanted to climb so we skipped Motorway. 37 miles 6500 feet.

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I think I've ridden across Main Divide a few too many times. I know exactly where that photo was taken. :Roflmao

Nice ride! :thumbsup:
 
As @SnakeCharmer mentioned in the Video thread , we rode the Super Strawberry yesterday. First time for him on that stretch of the Gabrielino. :thumbsup: Someone has been doing some work. The tree that we cut partly back in the meadow has been trimmed further, and there is a rocky rideable line. No more dismounting... :inlove: Several smaller trees on the climb to Lawler Saddle are also gone, as is the tree on the final descent to Red Box. :inlove: Nice!

The Gabrielino from Switzers to JPL is in great shape...

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Tacos afterwards... I took a recommendation from @Luis for the shrimp and octopus. I have a new favorite. Everything else is vying for second best.

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28/3200
 
Today... I took the Black Beast and went for a quick Ken Burton Loop. I managed to push the heart rate out of my comfort zone for most of the climb. Chasing PRs!

I passed a few groups heading up Brown, which is normal for a weekend. Ken Burton had one hiker with his dog... They were both thankful for the bell. :thumbsup:

I moved the dropouts on the Black Beast all the way back to give her a wheelbase almost 3 inches longer than the Hightower, and 3.1 inches longer than the Chameleon. She still managed an "A" on the switchbacks... Two dabs out of 23. Although there were a few times that I put the front tire where I normally place it, and found the rear end smacking into rocks unexpectedly. Oops. :Roflmao

Bikes are fun.

19/2200/2
 
mike said:
Maiden ride of the new bike today, some local desert singletrack with the weez. Short and sweet, beat the heat.


Initial impressions of the Ranger, running the shock in full open:

• Ascends impressively. Amazingly, actually. If you stay with it, you can climb ridiculous terrain.
• Uphill traction with a firm 2.4 Rekon on loose gravel-y surface should have been marginal but wasn't. Suspension kept the tire on the ground in some surprising situations.
• Reacts instantly to pedal input in any situation.
• 115mm of suspension felt virtually bottomless on these trails. There are no extensive rock gardens to smash through, but lots of random embedded rocks and loose surface. Drops less than 2' felt trivial. It might be worth noting that I've been off FS bikes for months, but the limitation of the travel so far is less noticeable than I expected.

The bike feels different than anything I've owned, but reminiscent of my old Czar and Pivot 429c in some respects – both DW Link bikes with a firm-ish feel. The Ranger geometry is where the similarity ends. Slack enough head angle to feel confident pointed DH or navigating features. Longer wheelbase, but shorter than the 1200+ mm WB bikes I've been riding for a couple of years. It felt a little twitchy at first, but I quickly got in the groove.

The fit seems right on. Compact but not stubby. Neutral is the word that comes to mind when pedaling along. The bike kind of disappears. Small bump compliance is great, and it exudes the impression that long hours on the bike could go by quickly and comfortably. Which is exactly what I got the bike for. With no identifyable weaknesses or quirks, I'd give it highest marks so far.




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That's so awesome to read. Not just because I love my Revel too, but because it seems to tick all the boxes for you and raise your stoke meter even higher, if that's possible. :thumbsup:
 
Another 6 day work week last week, so my schedule was thrown apart.

got out Saturday after work. Was again just planning a quick and easy loop around Oaks. Wanted to save my legs for a bigger ride on Sunday.

shortly after entering the park, ran into a friend and joined him. I was working way too hard to keep pace. Oak, Yucca, Coachwhip, Barham, Chutes, Cactus, BumbleBee, Hawk and home. Ride with faster guys to get faster....so I hear.

fun ride but definitely burned a few too many matches. 15 / 1900’


Scraped my plans for a early early start. Didn’t get on the bike til 8:00. From the Tree Farm, B* had not yet become a zoo.

the climb up was methodical...but kept jumping from cold to hot to cold to humid.

reached Beeks and didn’t stop. My legs were somewhere else, and if I had stopped, I may have turned back.

down Skyline and PR’d a couple of the ST’s....who knew. Quick stop for water and turned back up. The breeze was blowing....ugh, the climb felt horrible. But just out your head down and pedal.

eventually made it to the top and had a quick debate with myself if I should continue with my plan to go to Sierra Peak...so I did. It was ugly. Still had no legs. Made it to the helicopter pad, looked over at Sierra Peak, saw a bunch of hikers and some motos and decided I didn’t need to join the crowd.

turned back and head towards Beeks. Legs finally made a short appearance before Beeks. Kind of a chilly run back down Blackstar.

I got out, met my numbers for the day.

32 / 5000’

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Three day trip to Santa Cruz..phone having issues so no photos and partial strava...
Day one. UCSC. rincon parking lot.. climbed up pogonip. then down what we thought was magic carpet but who knows what crazy trail we went down back to the highway... then climbed back up and found sweetness... then back up and did possibly magic?? no signs so confusing asf but generally going in the right direction... great conditions.. great riding...short day ..
Day two demo...
classics: up ridge, down braille, up suffer (sulfur) springs, down flow (fun asf), and half of our group went back up suffer and did the newly opened sawpit trail while the rest of us went back to car and drank beers in the sun...
Day three: twin gates
rain in forecast turned into perfect riding dirt...
mailbox (all time favorite) to engelsman climb back to UCSC and down airborne....

3 days of awesome dirt..
beer
sleep
food
back at work to rest...

wrist and thumb not 100 percent
mental not at 100 percent
but 100 percent stoke and recharged...

Oh my I love this place.. third time in last 7 years... always great..
 
Another Harding-Joplin-Luge run on Sunday. This was penciled in a few weeks ago but it was a bit touch and go as I got my second dose of the vaccine on Friday and I was wiped out on Saturday. But Sunday morning I felt pretty good.

We parked on Crystal Canyon and started the grind by warming up on Modjeska Grade and weaving through the resident turkeys and started up the ever pleasant Harding. My buddy John was off the bike for the last few weeks so we took our time, taking a few rest stops along the way. We passed a surprising number of hikers. Not many bikers except a staggered group of pretty fast guys, pretty much all on Specialized Epics. Later we would find out it was a single crew of 7 riders visiting from San Diego out here for Harding Joplin Luge loop. We would leapfrog each other the entire ride. The weather was near perfect with overcast sky and cool temps.

Quick stop at four corners and onto Joplin drop. We let the SD crew drop in first and would catch up to three of them as they seemed to be cautious XC types and they let us pass without drama. I HABed one or two more sections than last time but I had more fun and stoke than the first two times, perhaps due to familiarity. Joplin rocks!

We passed on Lower Joplin as John was cramping by this time. So hopped on the Luge and back to the van. I think Harding-Joplin-X is my favorite ride around here:thumbsup:

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Rode over the weekend on a trail that I've always said I would get to sometime (Loch Leven). Finally started at Loch Leven, riding up to upper SART P.O. loop then up Middle control road, then back down Loch leven. Nice mellow climb up LL, approx 7 miles up. A little disappointed since I heard the road narrows down to ST, however it turns into paved road near the top. It still was a scenic climb ! PO loop was awesome as usual!
The weirdest thing happened to me as we approached middle control road, I couldn't clip in on my left pedal........my cleat was GONE!?!? Never happened to me before, right in time for the climb up MCR. As it turned out it wasn't that bad climbing. Great weather and riders, @trmn8er , other friends August and Cosmo (15 yo).

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I traveled south for a Santa Ana classic... Black Star to Motorway with @mtnbikej , The Professor and Mumbles. It was raining when I left Altadena, which had me a little concerned about getting caught up in the Santa Ana Soup. As soon as I hit the 210, though, the weather improved, and became progressively sunnier and warmer on the drive.

Although I knew it would get chilly up top, it was 70ish at the start. According to the clock, Black Star did not go by quickly. But it seemed to... Same with the climb to the ball, and then to Hagador. The downhills across Main Divide were covered in ball bearings... I have to admit that my Specialized tires are great for the bigger rocks in the San Gabes, but they do not stick to the loose stuff in the Santa Anas. A Rekon would have been a much better tire in this case. Chilly temps for the ride across Main Divide! Sun sleeves made it tolerable, but chilly.

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Trip #100 down the Motorway was uneventful except for the sore hands... This has been going on for awhile, and I need to figure it out. Different grips for a start? First time there on the steel beast. 100 trips with 6 different bikes. :confused: The only part that I really charged was the slippery scree in the beginning. Jason was moving pretty quickly, and I hung on for the most part- slipping and sliding. Classic Motorway surfing. :p

A nice burrito afterwards, and an easy drive back to Canada... :thumbsup:

26/4300
 
As mentioned above, @Faust29 inquired about a night ride in da OC. He left the route up to us. Hadn’t done Blackstar/Motorway in quite some time.

we knew it was gonna be chilly up on Main Divide....the problem with that was that it was nice and toasty early on. Over dress for the start, or underdress for the end....

now I’ve been fighting a cold the last few days. About 2 miles up Bkackstar....I wasn’t sure I’d even make it to Hidden Ranch....yeah, I was feeling pretty crappy.

we pushed on and I did eventually start the feel better. Once you by Hagador Peak, the temps dropped and wind picked up. Made for some interesting times as the cross wind blew over the ridge.

I walked the parts I normally walk. I cleaned the climbs I normally clean. We were definitely not fast to Motorway....but it was a social ride.

hadn’t been down Motorway in a few months, so I was a little hesitant to go balls to the wall....I did push the pace.

was done when we got to the bottom of Motorway.

guess I pushed too hard, cause gg the time j got home, I was feeling like I stepped out in front of a freight train.

still glad to get out...it hurt, but it was fun.
 
bvader said:
@Faust29

This has been going on for awhile, and I need to figure it out. Different grips for a start?

You know in the past when this creeped up on me.. noticed my saddle slowly was working it's way nose down a bit.. which was putting more pressure on the hands..

Of course I also think the OneUp carbon bar is also a big plus
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Both valid points… :thumbsup:

I tend to run my funny saddle more nose down than a traditional saddle. Hmmmmm… Easy variable to change for a test run.

And… The Santa Cruz carbon bars are far less forgiving than the Forte carbon bars on the single speed…
 
evdog said:
OK @Faust29 we need to do a geography lesson. The @Mikie 's and @mountaingirl sara 's of the forum can claim Canada since they live really far north. You can claim Fresno. Or Sacramento. Maybe even Southern Oregon on a good day, but nothing north of Medford. Definitely not Canada. Sorry, eh! :Roflmao
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Sounds like we’re negotiating… I think we can settle on South Canada?

I stopped in Medford a few times… That’s not gonna work. :stop: :p
 
evdog said:
OK @Faust29 we need to do a geography lesson. The @Mikie 's and @mountaingirl sara 's of the forum can claim Canada since they live really far north. You can claim Fresno. Or Sacramento. Maybe even Southern Oregon on a good day, but nothing north of Medford. Definitely not Canada. Sorry, eh! :Roflmao
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:laugh: Thanks for clarifying that, eh!
Pasadena is not worthy to be called Canada..I should know! :p
 
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