Just got back from Interbike and an integrated 2 week vacation with the wife. I was really looking forward to the Demo Days part of Interbike. However, I learned something about myself and bike riding in general. I'd never given any thought about riding someone else's bike(s) in unfamiliar terrain. I've always either jumped on someone else's bike in familiar terrain or my own bikes in unfamiliar terrain--but never both situations at the same time. Even when I've swapped bikes with a friend, it's never been for very long and usually not on the very worst parts of the trail. I just realized why.
I have always set up my brakes moto-style because of my dirt motorcycle background--front brake, right lever. Obviously every bike at Demo Days was set up in standard fashion. At the shop, working on and riding a customer's bike isn't a big deal, and you don't wind up doing a whole lot of technical stuff anyway. The Bootleg Canyon trail network was awesome, and the shuttle service deal was great. However, I noticed that I didn't have near the confidence on both a strange bike on a strange and challenging trail. I was on a Trek Session 77 for the first ride, and I could tell it was an impressive bike, but I felt like a rusty old man. Speaking of old man, I noticed on the numerous shuttles up the hill in the back of the stakebed truck that there were only young faces in the 20's and 30's present. Surely there were other geezers somewhere doing the shuttle at times, but I never bumped into any. I stepped around or over a few places that I know I wouldn't normally dismount on, but the strange bikes, unfamiliar terrain, and interesting exposure in spots caused me to chicken out more than normal.
One bike I rode, however, really did give me a dose of confidence despite the conventional brake setup and Crank Bros. Mallet pedals--I was wearing SPD shoe setup and Santa Cruz had no SPDs available. In spite of this, the VP Free and it's 888 fork were awesome. Even pedaling up steep pitchups was quite doable for an old fart in the wrong shoes on a relatively heavy bike. The further I went, the faster I went. The bike was forgiving in numerous rocky sections of the trail. Even when I screwed up a little, I could get the bike back without a lot of drama. In fact picking a line wasn't near as important as it had been on the other bikes I rode there. Honestly, this is no SC add on my part--the bike was just an awesome ride.
Being on vacation, I had brought one of my own bikes, so I decided to see just how bad I really was. At the end of the second day, I took my bike up the shuttle to get a comparison of the trail and the other bikes with one I knew how to ride. Sure enough, with proper brake setup, a personally tuned suspension, the right pedals, and two days familiarity with some of the trails, I felt a lot more at home bombing down and over some of the gnarlier sections on my Bullit. Up to that moment, however, I was seriously spooked. My hat's off to the many riders I saw grabbing these unfamiliar bikes and pulling some moves like they'd been riding them for months. I don't see how many of them do it with that kind of confidence. I'd like to have ridden that VP Free another time or two, because that thing was quite easy to get a handle on. All in all, however, there's something to be said for a familiar bike with brakes, suspension, tires, and setup that feel like an old comfortable pair of shoes.
I have always set up my brakes moto-style because of my dirt motorcycle background--front brake, right lever. Obviously every bike at Demo Days was set up in standard fashion. At the shop, working on and riding a customer's bike isn't a big deal, and you don't wind up doing a whole lot of technical stuff anyway. The Bootleg Canyon trail network was awesome, and the shuttle service deal was great. However, I noticed that I didn't have near the confidence on both a strange bike on a strange and challenging trail. I was on a Trek Session 77 for the first ride, and I could tell it was an impressive bike, but I felt like a rusty old man. Speaking of old man, I noticed on the numerous shuttles up the hill in the back of the stakebed truck that there were only young faces in the 20's and 30's present. Surely there were other geezers somewhere doing the shuttle at times, but I never bumped into any. I stepped around or over a few places that I know I wouldn't normally dismount on, but the strange bikes, unfamiliar terrain, and interesting exposure in spots caused me to chicken out more than normal.
One bike I rode, however, really did give me a dose of confidence despite the conventional brake setup and Crank Bros. Mallet pedals--I was wearing SPD shoe setup and Santa Cruz had no SPDs available. In spite of this, the VP Free and it's 888 fork were awesome. Even pedaling up steep pitchups was quite doable for an old fart in the wrong shoes on a relatively heavy bike. The further I went, the faster I went. The bike was forgiving in numerous rocky sections of the trail. Even when I screwed up a little, I could get the bike back without a lot of drama. In fact picking a line wasn't near as important as it had been on the other bikes I rode there. Honestly, this is no SC add on my part--the bike was just an awesome ride.
Being on vacation, I had brought one of my own bikes, so I decided to see just how bad I really was. At the end of the second day, I took my bike up the shuttle to get a comparison of the trail and the other bikes with one I knew how to ride. Sure enough, with proper brake setup, a personally tuned suspension, the right pedals, and two days familiarity with some of the trails, I felt a lot more at home bombing down and over some of the gnarlier sections on my Bullit. Up to that moment, however, I was seriously spooked. My hat's off to the many riders I saw grabbing these unfamiliar bikes and pulling some moves like they'd been riding them for months. I don't see how many of them do it with that kind of confidence. I'd like to have ridden that VP Free another time or two, because that thing was quite easy to get a handle on. All in all, however, there's something to be said for a familiar bike with brakes, suspension, tires, and setup that feel like an old comfortable pair of shoes.
). I have not missed a race there since our first experience in 2000(I didn't race the third race in 2003 as I was run over by a car on my motorcycle the night before but I still showed up 
