One Step Closer

Finally, my new bike got a chance to get out of town.

Just on the edge of the NC mountains stands Rocky Knob Park, and it would be my first out of town test on the new Enduro™ bike. 

Little Miss Sunshine and I got there in the afternoon, hoping that it would be a little warm.  It wasn’t.  It was chilly, so we bundled up and went out to play.  At least we would warm up quickly, because when you get there it’s climb, climb, climb.

It’s worth it though, because the downhill stuff is super fast and full of fun.  We reached the first skills area and decided to stick around and play for a bit.

It’s pretty much my favorite kind of trail:  climb, descend, climb, descend.  Pedaling such a heavy bike up climbs was something that I hadn’t done in a while, but it was worth it.

There was another little skills section after another climb, and the little lady worked on her balance.

I did too.

After riding up and down out there, we decided to finish on the (what I think is anyway) crown jewel of that place, the PB&J trail.  Fast, flowy, rocky, and full of jumps and berms, it was as if they built that trail just for my new bike.  I hit lines where I would’ve busted my ass with any other bike, and I had way more fun this time.  While most of my friends were out suffering in Pisgah that day, I was taking my bike out on a play date.

Even the pump track was fun.

Little Miss Sunshine can attest to that.

So maybe I should take a minute to talk about the handling of the ROS9.  In those short, technical sections, it handled like a dream.  The short chainstays made turning at slow speeds quite effortless, in spite of the long travel fork.  I rode those skinnies without incident, save for once when I got a little cocky and tried to sit on my rear wheel.  Although not really a park bike, the pump track seemed a lot more fun too. 

The day didn’t stop there, but today’s post will.

See y’all tomorrow for part two of our mountain adventure.

Holy shit, I’m so glad I built up this bike.