The Dirt Demo

Ok, time for some more.
Vegas was a blast. I had to take a test and a quiz on the first day of the riding demo, so I ended up leaving here at 10:00 pm, driving to Vegas by myself and then sleeping in my car at the parking lot of the site. The guys from the shop had been up partying the whole night so I they slept in, then woke up and got breakfast, etc. I was anxious to ride so I headed in as soon as the gates opened. The first bike I rode was a Surly Crosscheck cyclocross bike. Basically, a 'cross bike is a heavier version of a road bike that you can ride on dirt, gravel, and easy trails.(http://www.surlybikes.com/bikes.html) I rode it on the 3 mile closed road loop they had set up fopr road bike riding. After that brief warm-up I returned to the Surly tent and checked out the most unique bike at the show, the Pugsley. This bike has giant 3.7" tires (I run 2.1" or 2.3" tires on my mountain bike) so you can ride it on sand, snow, loose gravel and if you pedal really, really fast it can probably go across water. I took it out for a really short ride, but it was fun to ride across loose gravel that would sink a normal bike. And you CANNOT burnout the back tire, no matter how hard you try to pedal. The Surly guys were really fun to hang out with and after talking about riding around the Cities (they are in Bloomington) I headed over to the Redline booth to ride another cyclocross bike. It was ok, but I liked the Crosscheck much better.
Now that I was warmed up, I headed over to the Turner booth to ride the newest version of their 5 Spot mountain bike (dual suspension with 5 inches of travel) I wanted to try out a 19" bike (which is generally considered too small for someone who is 6'3", but I like smaller frames.) The woman working insisted on a 22", so I took it out. The dirt riding consisted of 3 loops of varying distance and difficultly, with the number 1 loop being about 1.5 miles with rollercoaster type hills, some pretty sharp corners and some fast banked turns as well as a few little jumps.
The very first turn, I came into it too fast and the long ass bike did not react like I am used to, so I went straight through it. I wasn't hurt, but I felt like a dumbass, especially since I had sat and waited at the start for some chubby dude to get a headstart, thinking that I was faster than him. Anyways the 5 Spot experience sucked, due to being unfamiliar with the trail and the bike feeling really big and unresponsive. From there I headed over to the GT booth. Our shop does not carry GT but I wanted to try them out. I rode a I-Drive 5 4.0 which has the same 5" travel, dual suspension set-up as the Turner, but costs the about $300 less as a complete bike than the Turner frame alone costs. After climbing up a gravel road for a mile or so I turned around and took it out on loop #1 and ripped through it twice, even catching some air on the jumps. I liked this bike and it was really easy to jump. I went back and picked up a I-Drive 7 2.0. This bike has 7" of rear suspension, and a triple clamp front fork like a motorcycle, meaning the front fork is held in place by three clamps, not just one like most bikes. This thing is heavy and is meant to go fast and jump high. I peddled it up to loop #1 and did a lap. The jumps at the end were so sweet, (I was higher than I have ever been on a bike, which isn't saying much but it was a awesome feeling.) I decided to do the loop and again and really hit them. The first one was fine, the second bigger one wasn't so fine. I pulled up on the bars at the lip of the jump and realized right away that I was way too sidewise. I tried to correct it but pretty much fell 6' out of the sky going 20+ mph and ejected myself off the sidewise bike. I didn't get hurt too bad other than some nasty shin and arm road rash and a big bruise and sore ribs. It must have looked bad because the rider behind me dropped his bike and came running up to me as I was dusting myself off and laughing. My jersey, shorts and the bike all suffered though. Rips in the clothes and I twisted the fork and handlebars pretty badly so I rode back with the wheel pointing straight, and the handlebars about 40 degrees to the left. I located a booth that had good old plain water and not some new fangled sports drink, washed my wounds out and took off on a Norco Shore 2. http://www.norco.com/ts/pass/templates/bike_model.php?lang=en&loc=fs&sloc=fr&tabloc=1&id=shoretwo&col=matteblack
I thought I was getting on a 5" travel bike that was just built heavily. It pedaled around very well, which surprised me because it looked and felt very heavy. I did the #1 loop and yes, I did try the jumps, and felt so good on the bike I took off on the 4 mile #2 loop. I stopped at one point to let some riders on lighter bikes get a headstart down a hill and noticed I the bike I was on was actually a 7.5" travel beast! And I had been catching people going up hills while they were on hardtails and short travel bikes on this thing! Needless to say, I was impressed. Going down hills and into rough sections was unreal. It was like a motorcycle, and I could FLY. I went back to the booth and talked to the reps and met some of the guys from the shop who were getting ready to ride the shuttle truck up to the top of the big downhill run. I didn't have and pads, and the thought of waiting in line for 2 hours to ride a truck up a hill and then come down really didn't interest me. I like to pedal bikes, that's why the have them. So I wandered around, grabbed some bars, gel packets and sports drinks, tried to choke down a beer and then rode the Redline 'cross bike again. I was starting to feel tired and hot (I wonder why, riding for 4 hours non-stop in 90 degree weather.) so this little "break" was nice. After that I found a booth serving some turkey dogs so I chowed that as I walked to the Marin booth. I took out a lightweight, four inch travel Mount Vision. I climbed the long gravel road that lead into the canyon and the steep, twisty trails back there. This bike was a a lot of fun and really is the only mountain bike that I rode that I would consider buying. It is was a real climbing machine and you can lock the rear shock and front fork so it doesn't bounce around (and rob power) when you pedal hard uphill. It was a lot of fun and I rode it probably 50 minutes or more before heading back. The wind had picked up at this point and there was only about an hour left (some booths were already closing) so I picked up the Crosscheck again, but this time took it out on the #1 loop. Once again, I was surprised. I could ride this bike very fast on a rough, winding mountain bike trail. Fast enough to catch other riders and have them pull aside to let me pass. Fast enough to pull away from some leg-shaver on a hardtail racing type bike. It was a kinda scary experience riding through corners on dirt all hunched over and using the drop bars of a road bike, but fun. And yes, I did jump it! I even hopped off a 3' drop-off with it. After two laps, I was tired, dirty, bloody, and was ready to go home. BUT, I am buying a Surly Crosscheck.
Bye for now, I will report on the tradeshow and other events next time.