Last night went to Lebanon Hills for a good training ride. Met Ben there and the first lap we went fairly hard and for the second lap decided to switch bikes. Tried out his Chequamegon set up- carbon fork, full rigid, 22lb, 29'er. Forearms got quite the workout on that! I was surprised though- I felt good on it. I could tell that all the power was going directly to the ground. While the Turner has a spectacular pedaling platform, there is always going to be a little power soaked up in the front and rear suspension. The 29'er also felt near impossible in comparison to break the tires loose and could really rail through the turns more than my bike- especially if the turns were flat or a little off camber...the front tire really stuck to the ground. Pedaling the bigger, heavier 29 inch wheels also was not as tough as I thought. Coming out of tight turns and random acceleration points I could feel a little, but, could carry a lot more momentum throught the rest to make up for it. Getting back on my back afterward, as Ben said, felt like riding a chopper, haha. The suspension feels nice- especially on the rough stuff. I don't know. Right now though I need to find a cyclocross bike.
Also, yesterday I found an online document that Rick Ochs had told me about. It's an interesting read comparing tire pressuress, widths, etc. using some good scientific data. Check it out here.
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