Not the typical report that comes from the site, I know, but I think its worth mentioning since diversity in thought helps contribute to an inclusive group!
I’ve got a history in racing, but from the side of running, so I’ve always had an itch that a race usually scratches, just that sense of competition (and the comradery) that can only really develop in a race. Obviously, I wasn’t riding for the podium, so it wasn’t cut throat, but instead cheerful, friendly and chatty. There were quite a few interesting bikes out there. Some retrotechs, blackcats, singlespeeds, vintage MTBs, full carbon squish machines, you name it, there was a good variety in the group. The people were mostly top notch as well, with most speaking out against the hard-ass personalities that can sometimes dominate the group during these kinds of events, so it was nice to see and hear all sorts of people out enjoying a fun and difficult day out on the trails. Still plenty of interesting comments and reactions to the ol’ Clem Smith, though, mostly from the single-speeders and other rigid bike riders. I stripped the bike down to its basics: Two bottles, ½ framebag, no racks or basket (wah wah), and even switched out to my racey clip pedals rather than my normal flat pedals, but kept the brooks and my safety triangle for some flare. Things worked well for the most part, except I had some drivetrain problems with friction shifting (hence an update to the advent in the last month) and took a wrong turn at one point, whoops. I endo’d twice and busted my brake levers and tweaked the front brake in the process…did I mention it was muddy and very wet? Needless to say, it was a tough course on the bike and the body, but the bike definitely performed better than the body. Overall it was a great day, I stayed around the middle of the pack and had fun with the other riders and the course volunteers and realized that a lime-a-rita tastes amazing at the end of a hard race, ha! Here are some before and after shots, hopefully it gives you a good idea of the level of muddiness that was on the trails that day… (scroll to the bottom of the album https://photos.app.goo.gl/JU2uuwp957K5S5H79) Enjoy the week everyone! Collin in Oakland -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/763eec61-22f0-4ce3-b02c-c7c2ad8d710c%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
