Last week I got an awesome opportunity to get out and ride some mountain bike trails. I don't actually own a mountain bike, but working for Trek, I have the ability to use bikes from the HR fleet on the secret trails we have out at headquarters. It's a pretty sweet gig for someone like me. However, when a couple co-workers and I got out there, the parking lot was full of people riding around on bikes so we got curious. We walked over after filling out our waivers and checked out what was going on. It turned out that they were doing demos of some of the new 2014 bikes for dealers, so we decided to join in. What a treat!
They had both the new OCLV Carbon Trek Fuel EX 9.8 and the Remedy 9 29er. Being a bit more of a cross-country style, I chose the EX 9.8. Normally we can use an old Top Fuel 26" wheel, but this was something I couldn't pass up. Both myself and my co-worker who doesn't have a mountain bike were completely stoked to ride some new bikes.
So we got them fitted to our size and got geared up and headed out to the trails. Man, could these bikes move. Being the 29" wheels, once you get them up to speed they just cruise and crush open style courses.
The cool thing about the trails that Trek has built, is that there is nearly every type of terrain, except downhill (since it is in Wisconsin), so you can take the bikes through a range of terrain to get a good feel of how they handle in some open, fast single track, some tight turns through the pines, some technical, rocky sections, some larger, somewhat slopestyle jumps and burms as well as some freestyle kickers. Throughout the area, there are some wood features to ride over that test your handling, putting you up in the air, on a narrow path then dropping back down onto the dirt.
Overall, the EX handled everything well. It definitely excelled in the open, fast sections as well as rolling over any obstacle, and with the full suspension DRCV and full-floater feeling, it never felt like I was going to bottom out the suspension, even without having it properly tuned to my weight and riding style.
This was an aweomse day for me. I like the change of pace from road biking. Getting out into the woods, no heart rate monitor, no cadence sensor, no GPS and no worries except going as fast and hard as I could while still under control. Especially having some better technical riders in front of me, I was really pushing my limits to hang onto their wheels, which got me into some trouble a few times. Such as clipping my pedals on some rocks and knicking my handlebars on some trees. I never actually fell, but had a few good brushes with nature that gave my heart rate a good shock.
If you get an opportunity to get out riding in the woods, I highly recommend it. It really makes you appreciate biking all over again in a different light. It's also a good cross-training exercise since you're working lots of different muscles and working on your handling instead of just speed, pace, and cadence.
-Dave
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