Met Byron at 6:30 with a wonderful overcast sky. I displayed, he admired, we rode. Byron had this wack idea that we should go counter-clockwise, cause he imagines that its not that bad and then you get to go down the north side. He has this fixation with the north side. Stupid north side bias, just wait for the 2 miles of babyheads.

We took Cat’s Peak, which I remember being kinda dull, and for the first little downhill it was, and i was vaguely annoyed that I ended up behind Byron after huffing and puffing to the trail head. and then when it flattened out, Byron dropped me on an xc stretch…go figure? There is a cool rockface up the back side of Cat’s Peak that I did not remember, and i flailed initially but then gelled with the Heckler and zoned in. Byron and I both cleared the steep summit, and shot down the slot on the other side. Then the baby-heads began.

It started just as switchbacks and washes, with more and more clutter in the trails, until gradually it was just a long slow uphill of cantaloupes and soccer balls. The Heckler kicked ass. It floated, swallowed, and chewed its way up everything. All the stability and squish let me stay centered and keep spinning. I couldn’t believe it was so smoothly climbing something I get pinballed on so badly on the Blur. The effort and fatigue was kicking my ass, but I was clearing everything, and dropped Byron. The bike just kept throwing punches and clawing uphill, as long as I could just keep spinning. Wow! I had it in my head for so long that big bikes won’t climb like little ones, and while I knew on paper how capable a bigger sloshy pivoting tech bike can be, to have it occurring underneath me was an epiphany. This was a big moment in our relationship together – $3500 of relief, joy, and a whole lotta whoopass poured out with the sweat on this soupy morning.

We came to a downed Saguaro, but the part laying on the trail was low on the trunk, and the needles had worn off. A Phoenix-style log drop!

Got it on the 2nd try.

Missed on the first attempt.

Byron’s chain ring.

Gouges left in the cactus

Onward, slowly up to the saddle. The bike performed nobly, but no one is riding that face up, though Byron went back and tried. I went back too, to come down the saddle! The rockface was easier, still scary but easier, but like yesterday on the Las Sendas staircase, I came too fast on the switchback and dabbed. pre-mature switchback-navigation? next time!

A big group passed us going down, and for about the 10th time someone said we were going the wrong way. seemed like he took a tone…like this way isn’t tough enough for ya? sorry, dick, we must have missed the sign at the entrance. Byron’s quip was the best “it’s my second lap.”

So after a party hat at the saddle, finally on to Byron’s ultimate mega favorite descent – he rode great. i rode like shit: between the on-off-on-off rhythm-breaker of the final climb to the saddle, and a couple shots I tried twice, and sliding sideways on kitty litter, and having had a party hat, and yielding to a horse — I did not ride so well. The bike continued to chew and spit all in its path, and the long rocky sections were a breeze, but the tight turns took some getting used to. The bike can do it, I realized, and after a few I started rolling into and up the rocks in the turns without really even having a line picked out – the momentum and the stability would get the Heckler through it. A few stretches I cleared that I almost never make, and my rhythm returned as we came off the north side and down the front to the Canyons. Good climbing and moving, both of us going fast, a few miles XC to wind down and build some strength. Sweet!

Alex and I had been trying to ride for awhile. I flaked on him last time, because it wasn’t fair to knock G outta bed and into daycare just so’s I could ride. Irregardless of intentions, I was in the hole, and we hadn’t hung out in a while. We set the ride before I knew the bike would be ready, and with the commitment hanging over me, I’d stayed up the night before making it so. A mild time on Hawes was the perfect test ride – not too hard, not too easy, and I knew every bump in the trail. When I told Alex the night before this would be The Cherry Popping Ride, he said he was flattered. As he should be, as well as annoyed; there would be plenty of whining, excuses, and both hemming and hawing.

Got up before 6 with some help from B and G, and I felt like shit with about 2 hrs sleep. I ain’t gonna lie, I wanted to flake. But riding is about pain, and coffee, and wake’n’bake. Smile for the cameras:

Rolling up to meet Alex, there was no escaping this bike was going to kick my ass today. It rolled slow, it accelerated slow, it was slow. Your quads are not supposed to burn after 2 minutes. That which does not kill me, makes me stronger…please let that be true.We jumped on the CAP trail, and the rolling was slow, but the handling was easy. Really really easy. I couldn’t really tell if we were going fast or not, but I wasn’t braking and Alex wasn’t dropping me. He needled me at the first hill leading into Pig Trail, and that was fair cause I thought I was gonna puke. Alex has an exquisite sense of needling.

The first downhill, I was rolling up on Alex without even trying. And he is usually a faster descender than me. But I paid for it on the uphill. And the damn seat was way to low, felt like I was riding a clown bike uphill. Tweaks, climbs, descents, and of course a quick stop to hit the jump at the 4-way (which Alex calls The Church) and I got more air and had a stabler landing than I ever have before. My psych on that carried me through the lame-ass connector trail climb. And down over the rock bridge and the cliff, yeah fuck yeah the downhill abilities were all that and more.

A massive dust storm last night was still hanging in the air, heating up the Valley fast. Alex had a deadline, so we headed back pretty early, and went back past Slim’s wash and up the connector and Saddleback. The downs were fast, the climbs were hard, but I started to realize that they were easier. The bike rolled slow, and was heavy, but it ate the terrain better than the Blur. It adjusted with the bumps, while the Blur kept you peddling steady. Both have their places, and I was thrilled they would ride so differently.

I was riding like a guy on a bike he is not used to. Hot, tired, dehydrated, hungry, and working too hard were all 100% true. but, there is that thing about not sucking…and Alex was giving me too much shit to quit. as I labored on, determined to ride myself out of this slump, the slander continued, culminating in Alex rubbing his front wheel on my back while I panicked “what the fuck is going wrong with my new pristine bike?!??”Bastard. I will get him, oh yes, RR3 in September gives me a month to stalk and plan, he’s going down.  

I didn’t quit. There is no time like the present to get strong, so we climbed up Saddleback and up Hawes. I got the entire Upper Mudflaps section, which even on the Blur I’ve only made a few times. Its loose, at pitch, with waterbars…the Heckler likes terrain. But not me, I bonked at the top. But I made it.

We finished up with the Staircase at the top of Las Sendas. Descending was easy, and i almost was going too fast to make the turn at the bottom. The Blur on that part goes “bang bang bang pick pick bang, pucker, turn”, the Heckler was “bup bup bup, oh shit I gotta turn!” Down the wash, and Alex took off for home. I went back to hit the trials again. Second time down the staircase I was ready for the speed and the turn – there was a rock at the bottom that on the Blur I’d try to avoid in order to creep through the turn. I just rolled right at in on the Heckler to make the angle. Niiiiice.

Let it rip down Hawes and Mudflaps and tried to catch air and hold speed. The air was caught without hardly trying, this bike has like 6 inches more pop on everything. I am still a pussy going fast, but at least dropped a tampon size and took the descent faster than ever.

Back home i wrote down a buncha notes before I even took off my gear.

• Seat – move up a bit. how to mark seat? move it back a bit?
• Peddles – check right cleat.
• fork – compression dampening at 100, might be softer?rebound feels good at 100,compression is most open, feels good. blow off – set at 3.5? didnt use it
• shock – Sag was set at 18. Bill says a lighter guy wants more sag. shock numbers are weight and rate, so 2.8 rate and 350 is weight
• bars – good width. the metal caps are a nice way to protect the ends
• gears – rubbing when crossed up, if you can call 2 -> 1 crossed.Which is pretty much where I spent most of the morning’s ride.

Went to the shop to get the shifting and shock issues resolved. Got the bike in one hand and the bag with the jersey in the other, and the moment he sees the bag (no jersey visible, mind you, just a squishy-looking bag) Bill says “you want to exchange that for a large, cause the Louis Garneaus are a size small.” ME: “yeah, you coulda told me that yesterday”. And as I’m at the shirt rack, a giant cop dressed all in black with all his gear comes pounding out of the dressing room — actually he was not pounding whatsoever, but was rather nimble for a big man, but to say “walking” when seeing an elephant move up close is simply not accurate. Adventure supplies many Gilbert bike cops.

ME: “I hope they let you wear something lighter when you’re riding.”

GIANT COP: “shorts.”

ME: “I’m sorry to hear that bud.”

GIANT COP: smiles at me, happy he was being treated like just another rider, says “thanks man” and pats me on the shoulder as he walks out.

ME: fly headlong into rack of jerseys.

Bill fixed up the bike, and I learned like 10 things in like 10 minutes talking to those guys. It helps when you have relevant, intelligent questions and are a professional at not-asking-the-same-question-twice. Getting all this bought, built, and set has been drinking from the damn fire hose, and my head hurt. A few more notes, and I was out ahead of schedule. Time for a beer at Indigo Joe’s to let this beautiful orgy of bike love sink in, and then go pick up G.

• Shock travel is 2.5. SC recommended 15mm, Fox says 25% which is .65 inches, or about 16mm. spring is the right one, shock is right. rebound feeld ok. try letting air out of chamber to make it softer, but ride it some more.
• keep an eye on maxel cap dont let it get too loose. the other side can overcompensate and make it seem attached when it can wiggle off – can’t replace just the cap. .
• ride it for awhile and dont change anything. xc riders start by liking it stiff. but i think i want it softer?