Becoming a mountain biker

I think it's too late for me to start being a mountain biker, but Merriam Webster defines "becoming" also as "suitable, fitting," and that usage seems, well, apt. I rode the trail bred hybrid twice, on Friday and Saturday, and the size extra big seemed to suit me quite well. And hey, who needs a language with so many words when a few words can have so many meanings?

Friday evening was the Trail Blasters junior mountain bike ride with the Northampton Cycling Club, and after missing the prior week, it seemed a great chance to try the trail-bred on some more singletrack, and this time when the saddle slipped again on my way to joining the group, the steel nut handled higher torque much better than the stock aluminum did. I was also appreciating the shorter cranks with lower gearing and confirmed my though from a few days earlier: don't try to step up a bike's fit before the pedals are your desired distance from the bottom bracket. And with the rear rack installed, I no longer had even a light messenger bag throwing off my weight distribution. Yes, shocker, I find the puzzle of bike geometry and fit enthralling.

Another thing I love about bikes: 

how simple they are to fix.

When I realized the excessive rattle 

was the newly installed rack's mud flap 

with a broken spot weld, 

I "fixed" it by wedging a leaf in the gap.

A more permanent fix will be chewing gum.

Friday confirmed wanted a shorter stem. Luckily after a tremendous amount of deliberation with two friends, one of whom checked with a third person who, it turned out I had met five-ish years ago, Saturday's mountain bike ride didn't start until mid afternoon, so I had plenty of time to dig out a short stem and mount it, before mountain biking it! Yup, I'm still trying to consolidate my writing down to a single word used in multiple ways. Heck, drivers try to do that all the time: beep!

The XL top tube lets me run a stubby stem, 

so becoming of a mountain bike.

And with that rise, 

I may even switch to a proper flat bar!

Having spent (I was going to say "squandered", but I don't believe that) as much time on a bike as I have, I know pretty immediately when something feels right. The new stem had me there, and oh wow, having that little weight on the front wheel of a hybrid feels awesome. Bonus, a 2.2" width 29" tire wrapped around that wheel fit inside the fork with ample clearance for my comfort. I just want to yell at the frame designer who failed to offer similar clearance in the back despite an inch of space between the cranks and chainstays on both sides. I need to hunt down a 2" width tire.

Even with the original larger chainrings 

there would've been plenty of room 

to flare those chainstays for big tires.

Oh well, even with a 1.75" width tire not wearing any knobs, it handled the rocky trails of Sawmill just fine, and that tire rolled the longer portion of my ride, to and from there, really swell. I had debated that morning riding my true mountain bike for the day, but the jack of all trades, master of none, did everything perfectly fine. It also allowed me to ride home with two panniers full of food from the market. Eating is pretty fitting for mountain bikers as well!