A recent obsession with mountain bikes

I got bored, mid season cyclocross racing last year I was bored, same scene not too motivating yeah. I decided to change things up. Its been a while, in fact Kentucky since I have done some real mountain biking, I declare :-

 2011 is year of the mountain bike.

I got my shit together and decided what I wanted. Something fun, something to take a few small jumps and large bumps, yet something I could race on. A sort of of do all. Yep in most cases that means big compromise, but I think I chose a generally fun bike setup at the expense of pure speed, but FUN which is what mountain biking should be about. Ordered some stuff up and about mid Jan,

Lets build a bike
Joy, Joy, happy joy... here she is. A new MTB frame, soon to be lovely and dirty.

Add some components, wheels and a little elbow grease:-

Add a sweet fork from Fox 150mm of travel

Built up she looks like this. not yet ridden- super fun Trail bike , full suspension 5" of travel front and rear and weighs about 28lbs. Not superlight, not superheavy:-

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A nice mountain trip with bikes
A trip up Syncline with some pals. Lots of climbing and some great descent (of which I dont have photos)

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And a little snow:

I was also fortunate that last week we had a little snow in town. Just about 3" on my regular commute. Why not ride your mountain bike to work, I hear you say, well I did.