Going Soft (80mm At A Time)

UG! After a great ride last night, I was due a bad one. "But you just had a bad one on Sunday," you say. Yeah, but that was my fault. No wait actually that was Wifey's fault for turning 40 and keeping me out all night pretending I was 22 again! Today's ride sucked and it wasn't my fault at all! Seriously it wasn't, it was the bike's fault! Sort of.

I was/am/might be/could be/probably not set on running the El Mariachi for the Lumberjack. Since I haven't been on it since my Hanson Hills 100 pre ride (which sucked), I figured I'd better give it a spin. I LOVE my El Mariachi, I do, but it is NOT the bike for my local loop (by local I mean 25 minutes away via xB at 80 mph). The singletrack is just over a year old, with momentum sucking bumps, embedded rocks in parts, and lots of momentum sucking bumps. Did I mention momentum sucking bumps? That is why I raced the Spearfish on these trails back in April (and did pretty darn not too bad, but not great 'cause I sort of suck). With the 'Fish you can sit and just HAMMER. The trail gets totally buffed out, even with just 80mm of travel. Not so much with a hard tail. Even on the Ti hard tail in which I love.

The El Mariachi actually rocks in technical single track that you would be out of the saddle for anyway and flicking the bike around, like some of the PA single track that I used to ride. Here in Michigan I find that I am faster when I can just sit and hammer. Or I lazy, one of the two. OK, I'm lazy.... and fat.. don't forget fat.

I raced the EM at the Stony Creek 6 hour last month and didn't think twice. But today I was all over the trail, the seat felt low, the brakes felt grabby, the levers seemed too far away (even after I stopped and adjusted them), and I was being bounced all over the trail. In other words the ride sucked, and I aborted after 1 lap. F!!! And by "F" I mean F*CK!

See, it's not my fault... it's the bikes! But not really. I have been on the either my cross bike or the Spearfish for the past month, with probably 200+ miles on the 'Fish. So the HT just felt all cattywampus today. I think in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to race the Lumberjack on the Spearfish, so that is why I opted to not risk pre race mechanicals by riding a local loop today.

I love my EM, and if I had to have one bike, the EM would be it. But I don't... I have two mountain bikes and right now, I am super comfortable on the Spearfish and I am in the zone racing and riding it. Plus when you're as slow as me it could take almost 10 hours of riding to finish, and right now I don't want to do that on a hardtail. The Spearfish could be (and probably is) the wrong bike to race at the LJ100 and most will be on hardtails for sure, but what could it hurt if I do, a few extra minutes? On the other hand, things could be bad if I race the hardtail, realize I'm uncomfortable and suffer for 9 to 10 hours or DNF (not saying I won't STILL DNF).

Spearfish wins.

Not sure if a ride is in the cards tomorrow. I leave for Manistee on Friday, race Saturday (on the Spearfish), and then Wifey and B-Man are coming up Sunday for a little mini vacation action for a few days. As a result I have a TON of work to do on XXC #12 (not that anyone has really read #11, but you can't stop a playa' from playin').

OK, I am letting go of today, taking deep breaths (and my medication), having a beer, and focusing on having a good time and geeked to see my local yokal friends, plus Brad "The Bird Man of Charleston, K., Rob, Chrissy, and a bunch of other of my freaky PA/WV/OH friends. They don't call it the Mother F*cking Lumberjack for nothing. Or is that just me?

Later.