I went on a nice ride Saturday. I took my mountain bike to some trails outside of cincy. It was my first ride at the park and my first MTB ride post mohican, cross is in full swing. I now have a Hopey steer damper on my Diamond back XR8. The first time out I ended up in the ER. Second time out was a ten hour stroll at Mohican. I wasn't that impressed due to having some big spills. My opinion changed Saturday at Harbin Park. I went with a friend breaking in her new MTB. I twisted the damper to the maximum stabilization position. There is a dial on the dampener that allows for adjustment from free to max. The trails were twisty and flow well. With minimal technical features it was a nice place to focus on the Hopey. I noticed my increased stability when I grabbed my hydration mouth piece and started to drink while riding down the trail. It was also effective when ride a rutted down hill section. I went slow trough a down hill section with loose sand a gravel that would, in the past, given me problems. I think the more I ride with it the more I will love it.

I have been having loads of fun at the cross time trials at Kings. Cross season is in full swing. I rode in the Frankenbike 50 last week and it was fun. I got lost ,but still had fun. I start with BEATS personal training on Tuesday. Very excited to step up my training regiment. I have a Road TT on the 30th of Sept.

It been a few since my last post. I crashed at Nationals on the first day. I didn't recover from the crash until a few weeks ago. I am back to training. I have also started riding my cross bike in Time Trials on Wednesday nights. I will be racing in a road time trial the 30th of September in WV. I have acquired a set of DT Swiss wheels for road training. They seem to be holding up well. I will post pics of them soon.