Meat beat manifesto

Last week a buddy said (in jest?) that I am not very good on descents. Joking or not, he's absolutely right. I've known this for a long time and I've been practicing, but I still leave a lot to be desired. Maybe it's the lack of skills or confidence, or the ugly head of self-preservation which keeps rearing up. No matter, this year I am going to try to kick all three of their asses and get me some downhill.

I know, it's easy right? Throw on a shock and you're all set! I wish it were that simple though. The last few times I've used my Fox, I ended up kissing the dirt. It's always been on the same kind of situation each time: I hop over one rock/log only to be stopped dead in my tracks by another rock/log immediately after, then it's face meet ground.

I do go faster with it, but the prospect of bashing my face on a rock scares me. I've been lucky that I've only been hitting the relatively soft soil. (I ain't pretty, but I can't afford any more scars.) On those rides I've either ended up with sore palms, face, or chest as I did the soil dive.

To assuage my front shock angst for yesterday's ride at Gambrill, yet get some squish in the front, I compromised: I put on a honkin' fat Nokian Gazzi 2.6 downhill tire. I inflated it to about 10-15 psi. With the super stiff sidewalls there was no discernible squirm. For good measure, I threw on the Tioga Factory DH 2.1 tire on the rear. I think I added about three pounds to my regular setup (Mythos 2.1 & Cortez 2.4).

When I got on the trail I noticed the difference immediately. With the lower pressures, the tires conformed to the surface better. I also got the give I was looking for. I don't usually air it out on lips, but the fat tires gave me more confidence to add an extra inch to my already staggering two inch high jumps. ;)

I even got a little reckless. I let go of the brakes on some sections and let things fly. The front tire had a nice run-in with a rock and heard a "Thung!" as the rim bottomed out on said rock. I stop and take a look and I can't find a dent on the rim. Better yet, I hear no telltale hissing from a flat. Bad ass. It's hard to beat good meat!

Now about the one negative thing: the Nokian is damn heavy. It's almost twice the weight of the tires I usually run, but when going down you don't notice it as much. It gets this funky gyroscopic effect that you can feel when trying to steer. It's like the bars don't want to turn. The smoother and faster the run, the more you can feel the resistance. However, when you're bouncing around at light speed and everything's a blur, this feeling is probably a good thing. It doesn't want to tip over, so you are more prone to staying upright.

I was with some friends that have never been to Gambrill before, and as a selling point, I promised that they wouldn't have to do any uphills. So at the bottom, I humped my way back up Gambrill Rd. Save for about three minutes, I was standing up the whole way stomping the pedals.

I get up to the top and I am wiped because of the redline effort all the way up. Bike on car, I zoom down Hamburg again to get the guys. Lucky for me they are wiped out as well. If I had to climb the hill again, it would've been a really long drive home.