Fun with My New Bike at the Valmont Bike Park

I treated myself to a new bike 2 weeks ago.  A 6 month early Happy 50th Birthday to Me present.  My old bike is over 11 years old replacing some of the old equipment was going to be a project and maybe not cost effective so I decided it was time.  I thought I would test ride different types of bikes and sizes (hard tail vs full suspension, 27.5" wheels vs 29er and all combinations thereof) and wait for the shop to get demo versions so I could try them on trails, probably in April.  But after renting a Trek Lush 29er full suspension in Sedona I became convinced that I wanted another full suspension bike and that I could handle a 29er therefore a 27.5er would also be fine.  So when the Scott Spark 27.5er arrived in the shop I test rode it around the block to be sure of fit and bought it without worrying about trails or demo bikes or anything.  I reasoned that the bike was lighter and would be easier to handle than the 29" Specialized I was considering plus the added benefit of being able to lock out both front and rear suspension from a lever on the handlebars.  And you can either lock it all the way out or part of the way out.  This is turning out to be a HUGE performance advantage on the smoother trails and especially on climbs.  A much bigger advantage than a 29er.  I've taken it on a couple of trails rides (Dirty Bismark and Left Hand Trail/Boulder Valley trails), nothing very technical but still I have a good idea that the bike will be awesome for me.

Meet Sparky.  Lola is unimpressed but I'm very excited.

After 11 years of having a girl bike (women's specific design) I now have a boy bike.  Because the women's version of this bike is puke green and there was just no way.

And it turns out this is the only difference between the men's and women's version except maybe the saddle.  It has no women's specific geometry at all.  Nonetheless the bike fits me great, no problems with my back.  The guy at Boulder Cycle Sports spent a bunch of time making sure the geometry and suspension was set up just right for me.  And he told me to come back for more adjustments if I need them.  And they gave me a gift card to the shop so I was able to buy a better saddle for me, pedals, bottle cage  (SO excited to have a bottle cage!  There was no room on my old frame), new tires and a bunch of other stuff at 20% off and I still have $50 left. 

Had some fun with the new bike and the GoPro at Valmont Bike Park yesterday.

2014-2-28-Boulder Bike Park from colliebrains on Vimeo.

One of the Xterra's I entered this summer has some man-made features like woods bridges I guess, I don't know exactly what I've gotten myself into and the course is on private land so I can't pre-ride it until the day before the race.  So Valmont Bike Park is the next best thing.

Now if only the rest of the trails would dry out so we can get on with some spring riding.