Saturday Morning Hero Dirt...

...drew me & the Cutty outta the house early.  While the monsoon season has been sporadic, the heat has not been.  After some early storms blew through on the radar, my assumption was the dirt would tackier than usual.  Aired up the tires a bit lower than the last ride and head towards the Fraesfield Trailhead.

6:30 when I roll in, 6:46 when I roll out on Black Hills.  I had been off the bike for two days so my legs were not spinning easy... but they were sure to come around, I thought.  Cruise along, try to keep my HR in Z1,2.  I spy another rider ahead but resist the urge to chase.  As I approach Turpentine though, some oblivious dude swerves onto Black Hills in front of me... he wasn't close to hitting me but he it was clear he musta had blinders on.  He passes the other guy, scaring the bejeezus outta him... and simply waves.  Typical fuckin' lack of etiquette anymore...

Start grinding up to Granite Mountain, Trek Guy (the one who had been scared) lets me pass.  Thank him and at the intersection, I turn right.  Again, I am trying to pace it smart...not too hard but not dawdling.  Get to the top, stop to drink water... Trek Guy passes and keeps climbing the west side of Granite.  I take off and now I am using Trek Guy as a pacer.  As we get to the top, we eases off...and so do I.  I don't need to pass as he's moving pretty good... and it's kinda fun to watch someone else's wheel for a change.

Roll past the intersection where a group of four dudes on mountain bikes are standing... in the middle of the trail.  They catch on eventually, make room and we pass.  Trek Guy lets me pass again.  Make a right on Divide and let the Cutty roll a bit quicker.

If there is one big difference in the Cutty vs. the DiiVerge, it's the handling... as most anyone would expect:  2.1 mountain bike tires are gonna grip more than 700x45 file tread gravel tires.  However, the feel of the slacker head tube (69 degrees vs 70 degrees) is more pronounced than I ever suspected.  The wheelbase (1128 mm vs 1076mm) helps as well.  For comparison sake, the Mach Wu has a 1203mm wheelbase.

Stop at the intersection with High Desert to drink.  I can HEAR the four dudes coming... but the first to wheel through (onto High Desert) is Trek Guy.  The other four roll straight.  Give it a moment and take off again.  I catch Trek Guy soon enough but as we come to Stagecoach, I turn left and he keeps going straight.

My main goal for the ride was to see if this saddle adjustment works.  On the last ride, I felt the saddle hit my hamstrings... and shortly after my lower back would ache.  In my simple brain, the thought of  "why not move the saddle back and outta the way?" made sense... so I did.  And now I am heading up Cholla Mountain once again.

Ease my way into it but after that tight switchback, the pace (and my HR) kicks up.  Soon enough I am over the top and rolling down the other side.  The dirt on the east side of Cholla was drier & looser than it had been before.  The front end is skating a bit easier.  

Down Watershed and onto Whiskey Bottle.  By now the temps are rising and the clouds are GONE.  It's warm...  but I still try to hammer Whiskey Bottle down to Latigo... almost as fast as the ride before... but off by 12 seconds at the end.  Loose dirt?  Yea.  Holding back 'cause there was one more rough climb?  Yea, again.

Weave down to Fraesfield Trail and start up.  It's WARM - the temps have risen from 93 to 99 just by the clouds giving up.  Over the top, try to manage the rocks with the Cutty (not so successfully but safely) and down to the truck.

Back at home, the Cutty gets measured... then I spend a hour or so dialing in the other bikes.  The Mach Wu, surprisingly, wasn't far off but the other two drop bar bikes were.  How much was the adjustment?

The saddle was slid back about 8 millimeters and angled down slightly.  I kept the saddle height at the center the same but the nose dropped about 3,4 millimeters.  The idea is that I am placing my sit bones a little further forward on the saddle.  My reach and leg extension should be the same.  

What I "felt" happening was there were moments when I would scoot back on the saddle for climbing or descending... and when I would try make more power with my legs, there was a naggin' "bump" with the wings of my saddle hitting a certain portion of my hamstrings.  It wasn't often but over time I began to notice.

So with this saddle further back and more mindfulness on how my legs are engaging, THIS ride made more sense but admittedly it would take a bit more work.

More on that later.