new race bikes showed up on friday and it was a mad scramble to get em built up before race day. in fact, the bigger scramble was to find some replacements to fill our slots at the shop on sunday. we inadvertently asked off for the do the rock rain date, rather than the actualy race date. we hoped for rain but it appeared as if the race would go on. thanks to pete, shaw, and dan, we made the trip.

all the bits i had procured went on the steel darkness 2.0 without trouble. its always the small things you forget about though. chain, seatpost clamp, tubeless strips. it came out to near the exact weight of the darkness 1.0. a couple of newbies to try out for the season. xtr 960 crankset and some hayes stroker carbon brakes. had no issues. the maiden voyage was about an hour after work on saturday night. the main goal was to make sure everything was tight, working, and stretch the chain.

sunday came too early as we headed to rockford bright and early. we had failed to check the travel time and arrived way too early. after sitting around we finally headed to warmup. they had warned of some muddy spots and a few that were soft. after two miles on the trail it was apparent that it was gonna be a mud fest. mud nests formed around the crank and rear stays. we had a hunch the sixty five and a half gear inches was a little too steep. we were right.

Comments

[blissontwowheels]

way to kill it baby! sorry your water lasses werent there to feed you two.