My wife and son have been back East all week visiting family and so I had ambitious plans of riding throughout the state both near and far. And while I got in an Artist Point assault and a visit to the Stevens Pass Bike Park (for an upcoming Seattle Times story), for the most part my sub-5 hour Tour de Whatcom has left me pretty much worn out.
So instead, I've been pedaling from my house and enjoying some CX-ploration rides on my cyclocross bike. The above pic is from the Burnout Road Overlook; that's Samish Island and Mount Erie (ouch!) in the distance. Below is from the towers at the top of Galbraith Mountain.
On both these rides, I was trying something new: a Cirrus Body Float seat post suspension thingee. For months, Charlie Heggem, who's RD of the Mount Baker Hill Climb, has been trying to get me to try one and truthfully, I haven't been interested. (He's involved in a sales and marketing capacity, I believe, with the Bellingham company that makes them.) Last thing I want to do is add anything to my bike, especially something that looks frankly, a little dated.
But after two rides with it installed on my cyclocross bike--totalling about 50 miles, most of that on gravel road and hard-packed trail--I have to admit, I kinda liked it.
On Tuesday, Charlie and I rode Galby and I liked how the Body Float absorbed the bumps on seated gravel road climbs. I felt less jostled and pushed around than normal, able to track better and keep a straighter, more efficient line up the road. (My cyclocross bike is a fairly middle-of-the-road Giant TCX 1; aluminum w/ carbon fork.)
When descending, the differenence was even more noticeable. Fast descents on logging-type roads can be pretty miserable on a 'cross bike w/ cantilever brakes, but on the way down, the bumps felt like they were being gobbled up; I felt a lot more stable and confident and thus was willing to go faster. I found pretty much the same thing the following day on a 30-miler that took me to the top of Burnout Road and down into the Lost Lake basin.
I'd be interested to see how the Body Float worked on my rigid-fork, single-speed 29er. But I can't see using it on my full-carbon road bike which is already comfortable as heck and never leaves me sore.
Check the website for more details about it; I don't know if it's available now or will be soon or even how much it costs. (What good am I?)
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| Riding a road bike w/ skinny 23C tires, Charlie climbed to the Galby Towers and descended the Wonderland Trail. Guess what: he got a flat tire. |
Even ignoring comfort, a friend rides a TitanFlex, typical rides 100km-200km; after about 10,000 kms he says he rides significantly faster, working theory is he spends less effort standing up over bumps, more effort just going forward.
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