Then we headed to Little Compton where we parked at The Commons and set out on a loop that passes by a nature area where I could test the bike on some trails. Jeff was riding his mtn bike so he could do the trails too.
Here she is on a little bridge.
The road in to the pond was a little adventurous with lots of loose rocks and downhill as well. I had my hands on the hoods for stability and steering, but as I gathered speed going down the hill I realized that the brakes were really not functioning well! Fortunately I was still able to gradually slow down! They may need some adjustments before I do a lot more with them, or perhaps there is some grease on them that needs to ‘cook off’. I'm not sure yet. At the bottom of the hill, there was a nice grassy area by the pond and some double track into the woods.
In the woods. In case you are wondering, this is a size 47, the smallest one available. I ride a size 50 road bike, but had to go down a size for the 'cross bike with this brand.
This was very nice terrain and I want to go back to do more!
Can you see me? Jeff had a hard time taking pics of me since I kept disappearing behind trees.
The ride back up the hill was a lot easier since I didn’t need to use the brakes!
The only other trouble I had was with one of my new Candy SL pedals. I just could not get clipped into the left one. I could easily catch the front of the cleat on the pedal, but it would not clip in even when I put all my weight onto it. I am going to have to try to break it in on the trainer. Hopefully I can make it behave!
The cross bike feels very different from my road bike and mtn bike. It will take some more rides to get really confident on off road terrain, but it is very comfortable to sit on and is a smooth ride on those cushy tires. I am going to like the smooth, but fast ride over our bumpy roads around here especially in the cold weather (bumps always feel worse when I'm freezing!). I am using the stock saddle for now which is designed for men. It would definitely be comfortable for a man and isn’t that bad for me, but doesn’t quite line up with my sit bones, so I’ll have to pick another saddle soon.
It was fun to ride right away and we did 17.6 miles in all on the first ride. Hopefully we'll be out test riding Jeff's new bike soon. I let him try mine a little in the woods and I know he's feeling a bit jealous!
1 comment:
I hope mine shows soon (possibly on back order until November!?) because I can tell you, keeping up with a CX bike on a mountain bike is no picnic!
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