Slowpup's blog

Like they say in the classics Life is better with a partner.......

After hearing about the wonder that is the Convict for years and years I finally succumbed and got an entry for Dad and me. Dad's 70 and last year his independence was curtailed by events outside his control, so I figured I'd take a bit of control for him, do an N+2, and get a tandem bike for the two of us to race.

Henry at Maxadventure was great and created a Tandem category in the 50 km race. Unfortunately we had to follow doctors' orders and Dad hasn't been able to get on the bike yet.

The SS drivetrain was perfectly suited to the track condition yesterday, and ran faultlessly and silently.

The powerplant however performed less well. I managed to clip a tree at the 17 km mark and OTB. After passing a snake of numpty scummers in some single track the bunch in front stopped to inspect a log roll over at about 20 km in. I was forced to dismount, the act of which caused me to cramp a hamstring. This was the start of cramps which were to dog me to the end. Blondie caught up to me while I was trying to ingest a handful of salt tablets and Cramp Stop pills.

On the penultimate day of our family holiday to China, I was finally allowed out for a bike ride. It was led by an expat Aussie, Tim, who runs a cycle tours business in Beijing, and the four was made up by my BIL Rob who lives in Beijing, and his neighbour Reece.

Reece is also an addicted MTBer and had dragged a collection of bikes with him from Canberra. Thus he could lend Rob and I a hardtail each. We spent a pleasant afternoon before the ride doing maintenance and set-up.

What with the atrocious conditions lately, and the flu, and generally being lazy in the cold weather, I had only ridden the Yeti about 50k's in a month. What with El Rancho's warm up ride next weekend and a few days of warm (relatively) weather, it was an ideal opportunity to get some miles under the wheels.

This is just a record of set-up and impressions as I get the Yeti dialed for riding position, and suspension settings. Bike Addiction spent a lot of time (and with the way I chat that is a big lot) getting the bike set up, and teaching me what to look for and how the different adjustment relate to body mechanics. If you've never been pro fitted to a bike, I'd recommend paying for a session just to see what improvement can be made.

After a night, sleepless with exitement I rose to a slightly overcast morning, but no overnight rain. Perfect for an exploratory 20 km ride on the new beast.