Hi,
Hope all is well. I just returned from a wonderful camping trip to Aravaipa Canyon (http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/arizona/preserves/art1946.html) northeast of Tucson. I went with my wife, father and best friend Dave. How's that for a great group?
Aravaipa canyon is a beautiful amazing place with way more water then I am used to seeing in the desert. It is a perenial stream located in a wilderness area that has a lot on endangered fish in it and bighorn sheep. I actually saw my first wild bighorn sheep herd on the trip, a crane, and a bunch of leopard frogs in various colors. Very cool.
So since my last post I had my first race on the new bike. It was the Prescott Punisher up in Prescott Arizona. I came in 9th. I would have obviously loved to have gone top 5, but that is racing. It was actually cool, which was a first for the 20 plus races I have done in Arizona. That was nice, so I didn't get dehydrated like I often do. Beautiful course, and of course great bike.
Speaking of the bike, the more I ride it, the more I like it. It is a fantastic bike with so much good about it. The on thing I want to focus on this time if front end stiffness. The lateral stiffness of the frame it fantastic. I would call it subtle, because it doesn't beat you up, but it goes where you lean and point it without complaint. I didn't realize how much my other bikes flexed at the head tube till I started riding my GT Marathon Carbon. I love how stiff it is. I have been trying to come up with the appropriate analogy for the front end. I like 'Strong like a Gorilla' as a phrase, but that doesn't really do justice to lateral stability. Strong and stiff are not the same thing. What I am talking about is how much the front end resists twisting when you lean on it. So stiffness is what I think I am talking about. I don't know a lot of appropriate stiffness analogys. So lets go with "Stiff like a box truss" I know it ain't great, but it will work for the moment. Thanks for reading!
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