I rode with a guy I know who lives here. Turns out my timing was perfect, because for the last 15 years or so, he's been organizing a Tuesday night ride with his friends. One of the guys owns a local bike shop and hooked me up with a bike - the Kona Hei Hei.
This bike, in many important ways, is the exact opposite of my mountain bike at home. This bike is full suspension - mine is a hardtail. This bike has gears - mine has but one. Needless to say, it took me a while to settle into it.
The group turned out to be a big one - larger than I have ever ridden with - 14 guys. There were a few guys named John, so by about the middle of the ride I was calling everybody John. They didn't care, and in return they called me the "new guy." During the ride we lost three Johns, because one of the Johns crashed real good and it took two other Johns to get him out.
We rode a great trail at the National Whitewater Center.
I was impressed with a couple of things on this ride. First, this group hammered the entire time. We started off fast with few stops and never slowed down. In an hour-and-a-half of riding, we stopped less than five times to regroup. That's rare in a group ride this big, and due to the fact that they ride so often together, I reckon. I was also impressed with the quality of the trails we were riding. Fifteen miles of singletrack with lots of climbing and tight turns. Didn't hurt that it was also a full moon that night.
So now the big question...do I want to go back to a geared, full suspension bike? The answer is a solid "no", and that makes me happy. Keep it simple.
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