Another Season Gone, Another Season Starts!
by:
Ryan R. from Long Islnd N.Y.
Well another season ends and a new on begins! It's been a great winter season my bike hybernated very well and now she's together again. There has been some good days and some bad days thus far, I guess you could call it getting the rust off. From the way another snowboarding season started and ended it looks like it's gonna be another great season, but like anything you think is gonna be great it always has some bumps on the way to greatness. I assemble my bike and get the boards waxed up and cleaned for the season about a month ago. My winter season offically begins the 15th of November so the first week of November my bike is prepared for it long sleep till spring. My typical winter season dosen't end until the first week in April (call me sick) but some of the best snowboarding is in the spring. Nothing like a T-shirt and some good spring conditions on a nice warm day, for those of you who know what I'm talking ,YEAH! So the boards are away and the bike is ready to go, out on the trail I go to enjoy those first days of spring to go and enjoy the new weather. Well like I stated before you can't get to the good stuff before you go through the sh!t! First off I thought my bike wintered well, WRONG the first problem begins with the soultion to an old one last season let me explain. During the last season my trusty Specialized Mountain Pro Shoes decided to quit after faithfully servicing me for about three seasons. Not too bad for a pair off shoes used almost daily, so I treated myself to a brand new pair of Diadora Skorpions and I was happy with them. Near the end of the season my soles were delaminating so they were sent back to Diadora and they repalced them with the NEW 04 model, nice! Or so I thought I pull out my new shoes for the first time this season, they are brand new and I clip in and start spinning. No sooner do they start to Squeak on my Time Attac Composite's! So it's time to figure it out why, Tuns out Diadora has increased the lug height on the soles for this seson and now they are rubbing on my pedals! Strike one! Now it's either grind down my brand new shoes or get new pedals! Well I decide to go the hard way, new pedals time for a set of Eggbeaters Stainless steel, well that fixed the Squeak. Next while I'm out on the trails I notice my bike is really not shifting that well so I decide it's time for a Cable change, not uncommon so I pick up some new shifting cables and install them. Guess what? It didn't do a damn thing, Nada, Nothing! So down to my LBS for a complete bike check up, you know what it turns out to be, my rear derailluers shot! Great that should be a hoot! So now that needs to be replaced! Well I've wanted to switch over SRAM X.0 so now's the time. I was hoping to get into the season a little before this but I guess now is better than a derailluer failure on the trail! Strike Two! So I order the parts I need and start the installation. Well while I'm starting the installation I take off my shifters and brake levers and to my surprise there are cracks in my Easton Carbon Fiber Riser bars! Great, just wonderful, just what I wanted to find! Now I need new handlebars, that's just perfect! So now my bike is half disassembled and needs to be set up and now I can't even finish my shifter installation! Just Perfect, Strike Three! Now here I am needing a new set of bars before I can finish up installing my new shifters and setting up my new derailluer! Well like I said before you got to go through some sh!t before you can get to the good stuff. So where is the good stuff you ask? Well I'm going to finish up tomorrow after I make a quick stop at my LBS to see if they can help out with this handle bar problem and finish my bike setup. I'm not angry when you enjoy a sport that you pummel you equipment to a pulp your going to have part failure. It's just part of the sport, so your asking where's the good part? This Sunday I go to Mountain Creek, New Jersey! For a little downhill fun and some trail riding! Time for my first road trip of the season! Like I said you take the bad and then take the good but sometime it's worth going through a little Sh!t to get to the good stuff! At least all the repair's will be out of the way before the at the beginning of the season. Like I said before it's going to be a hell of a season, I'll write again soon PEACE!
