I had a good off-road ride today, in that it seemed a little easier. I lowered my seat about a centimeter, and I tried to be more loose on the seat, lifting up slightly when I’d hit rough spots, and using my arm on the handle. Thanks for all the tips, they helped. My back still bothered me a good bit, but a wee bit less, I think because I was able to relax more. Also, we figured out the tricky bits in the trail (read: we didn’t get lost today :)). I had a lot of fun on the down-hill sections. That is always the easiest / best part for me, but today they seemed especially fun and easy. I also managed to go up some things I didn’t on previous days.
So all in all, a good ride. They have all been good but this one was better. And yes, Chris, I used my leg and wrist armor (I had been using only a helmet).
And that’s what it’s all about. Not crank lengths, ratios, Levels, removable pedal pins and so on… just enjoying the ride, and feeling you’re getting better at it all the time. :0)
Did you try out your static mount? Klaas gave some pretty good tips for it in another thread. I’m going to make you learn to jump mount directly to hopping when I see you in a couple of weeks. I’m bringing a drill sergeant whistle with me.
I did once try a static mount, but not the jump mount. I didn’t do that well on it, but I did better than I expected. I got about 1 revolution forward before falling off. I never quite got stable. I think what helped me was that I was down in a slump in the trail and so the wheel was less inclined to roll back. I think I fell when coming out of the slump. But my boss was well ahead of me so I only tried the once.
I have done a roll-back into a hopping position once, and I can roll-back into an idle sometimes. I wonder if I can jump mount into a hop. I may work on that when it gets cold in a few months.
