Moab Weekend

I spent the last weekend in Moab with 5 of my Mad Dog teammates riding the snow, ice, sand and slickrock, and it was great. The temp ranged from 35-50F on Saturday and 33-39F on Sunday, which wasn't that bad. Of course, any day in Moab is a day worth living, no matter what the conditions. And as an added benefit, there was so much moisture in the sand that it was firm and very ridable and the few patches of snow were no big deal, and sweat was never an issue.

This was my first real chance to check out the Rig SS, and I was not disappointed. As a matter of fact, I was blown away by how much fun it was, and how it worked the crap out of my legs. I rode about 4:15 (tss 327) Saturday on both the Soverign and Amassa Back trails with a 32x20 setup and when it was all over, I was toast - burnt toast! Early in the day, when I was fresh, I was seeing a heart rate in the 160's and up to 175, but later in the day, 20 minutes into the Amassa Back, I was pushing my guts out and could only hit 159, briefly! The SS drained my mojo and left a shell of a man in it's wake. Lucky for me, Chris Holley rode the SS on Sunday and let me ride his 1x9 29er. Thanks Chris, that saved my trip and life.

I learned a few things this weekend.




One, I love my SS.

Two, I'm switching to a 29er for my race bike. I did two front wheel stands that would have flipped me over on my Element, but rolled out of them on the Rig. I was able to go up and down drops on Posion Spider that I walked last year. And, I was impressed with how it smooths out the trail, and I was on a hardtail with 35 psi in the tires. A dual 29er, tubeless would be the bomb for an endurance bike! I also decided SRAM XO grip shifters are a must have. They don't ghost shift and half shifting is not an option. Way cool - bye-bye XTR.

And three, riding with Chris & KC, Carson, Scott and Karl is more fun than should be legally permissible. Thanks for another great weekend in the desert.