This is a follow up to the previous post that has map data. Local people – if you like climbing, and you like sketchy singletrack, you should come on out. Poke some sticks in your shins. Fall down.
Using the Rivendell “grab bag” as a bar bag worked okay for uphills, but with an ipad, a dog leash with a heavy choke chain and a 22oz Ninkasi “Spring Reign,” it turned out to be a liability on the descents.The weight pulling on the bars was the crucial edge between getting your weight back and managing the descent, and just bailing.
It’s something you could master, but the bandit trails around here are really steep, and even though the sun was shining, the ground was still slippery enough that a 4 legged 60 pound dog was leaving slidy pawprints on mild gradients. The human fared about the same. The bag’s high-tech mounting technique (wrapping a bunch of strap around the bar) came loose a couple times, and had to be fixed as the bag ZWWIPPed against the knobby tire.
I pushed the bike and drank my beer up a really pretty trail, listened to music (bluetooth blah blah playing Theme Time Radio Hour on random, so Bob Dylan’d introduce Bob Marley, and Shellac would come on instead), and had a good time with the bike and the dog.
Still, this isn’t a recommended bag rig, and I had to brush the mud off the bag after. Still isn’t clean. Kind of undercuts the metrosexual man-purse look I was going for.
The bike on the other hand had me wondering why I was jonesing after a Jones bar. The Midge is great, especially off on the ends.