Cubist
Still wavin'
- Location
- Ovver 'thill
Mum has been in hospital having dislocated her hip on Saturday, so I drove down on Monday to give my sister a bit of a break from all the hospital visiting, and put the Soul in the back of the car in case I got a chance to nip over to Cannock. After a day spent with occupational therapists making sure her bungalow was well enough equipped to have her back I went and collected her yesterday. Today was a morning spent getting her in front with the housework I left her in the capable hands of a couple of physios and went over to the Chase. I rode it last month on the Ibis, but wanted to see how well the hardtail would cope.
I rode Follow the Dog and the Monkey as a single lap and boy was it engaging on the Soul. I managed to get hung up on one rock garden ("Dick" if my memory serves me correctly) by taking a line too far to the right and hitting the post, whereupon I found myself with the front wheel jammed between two rocks, my shorts stuck on the saddle nose and my right shoulder jammed up against the upright. Fortunately no one noticed (I hope!)
Just uploaded Strava and I got 138 PBs. Don't let anyone tell you Hardtails aren't better over that sort of trail! I went through all 120mm of travel on the fork, and had an absolute whale of a time. The Devil's Staircase was awesome, and Lower Cliff descent was an absolute hoot. The bike launches off in-trail jumps with abandon, and at one point I had to stop and reduce the rebound on the fork after being all but spat off into the weeds on one brilliant section. After that it really showed just how much abuse that bike can take. Fantastic couple of hours!
I rode Follow the Dog and the Monkey as a single lap and boy was it engaging on the Soul. I managed to get hung up on one rock garden ("Dick" if my memory serves me correctly) by taking a line too far to the right and hitting the post, whereupon I found myself with the front wheel jammed between two rocks, my shorts stuck on the saddle nose and my right shoulder jammed up against the upright. Fortunately no one noticed (I hope!)
Just uploaded Strava and I got 138 PBs. Don't let anyone tell you Hardtails aren't better over that sort of trail! I went through all 120mm of travel on the fork, and had an absolute whale of a time. The Devil's Staircase was awesome, and Lower Cliff descent was an absolute hoot. The bike launches off in-trail jumps with abandon, and at one point I had to stop and reduce the rebound on the fork after being all but spat off into the weeds on one brilliant section. After that it really showed just how much abuse that bike can take. Fantastic couple of hours!