After one ride down here in southern Cal I have realized I need a full suspension bike, or at least a bike with gears. A fellow co-worker just happened to be selling his 2004 Yeti ASR SL frame with a Fox RP3 rear shock. It's an aluminum bike with carbon chain stays. So, last night my buddy Mike and I went over to the Northridge location and built it up. We only really ran into one major issue. The headset I was given is a Chris King steel headset that has longer internal cup pieces than the more commonly used ones. That plus a slightly tapering head tube equals no headset coming out, and a o-so slight buldge in the head tube. Kinda sucky, but seeing as how I can never have the frame warrantied anyway, I figured what the hell. Its a King, will I ever need to replace it? I built the rest of the bike up with SRAM x-7 and Xt brakes. I also snagged a set of handbuilt wheels from the northridge shop with Sun rims and XTR hubs. Its sweet. The fork is a Manitou R7. Its nice and light, but the spring inside "knocks" a little. Nothing really beats a lefty.
As for the ride today.... Mike and I drove out to Placerita Canyon for an intense ride. It was a long climb, but with gears it's not too bad. The climb was not as steep as the last ride I did, but it was way longer. Once we hit the top we received our reward for the long hot climb. It was a fast descent with huge ruts all throughout the middle line. Before I knew it we were hitting some very fast very steep and very sandy single track. At one point I stopped to prepare for what was in front of me, only to hear Mike at the base shouting "point and go!". Once we reached the bottom we had to follow a creek back to the road. Crossing over flimsy metal bridges to reach the trails I slipped and washed my socks! Now, its only a few more rides before I am ready for 12 hours of Temecula! Or at least in theory....
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