Monday, April 4, 2016

Blankets - Rope Mill

So much work to do... It feels irresponsible to do much else these days. I have managed a few rides though, mainly at Allatoona, but I've also enjoyed the Blankets Creek - Rope Mill combo a few times lately.

Park in the Blankets lot... hit the Van Michaels and Dwelling loops... head over across the highway...

575

...(which always seems weird), hang a right at the old church, bomb down the road...

Old Rope Mill Road Mtb on the Road

...and ride The Mill trails.

There's a bit of a trailhead back up in the woods there, and on that day, there were a bunch of people out there wandering around, none on bikes, checking out the train tracks, for some reason.

The Tracks

They didn't look homeless. They looked pretty normal actually. It was kind-of strange. Maybe they were trainspotting.

I find that I prefer the Rope Mill trails on Sunday. They're not bad on Saturday, I just like them more on Sunday. Still...

Powerhouse

...just look at that. Can't complain about that.

The only thing I could complain about was my bike. It's seen better days for sure. The ghost shifting was terrible hell.

The solution!

1x11

All the kids are doing it these days. Figured I'd give it a go too.

It took a lot of fiddling to get it right. In particular, I had to re-space the bottom bracket a few times. It seems right now but I'm still not sure. That front ring looks weird. I haven't run out of gears on the trail, but it happens pretty quickly on the road. I can't predict the intervals yet, and I've been riding rapid-rise for like 10 years now. It's a lot to get used to, all at once.

It's gonna take a while.

The shifting is dead-on though and the whole drivetrain feels super-solid.

I'll have to see how I feel about it after a couple of hundred miles.

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