Big Bad Log

After two days of sniffing and fighting nasal constipations I felt like going out again and have an easy ride in the forest. My friend Roger had left his Litespeed Sewanee at my place and had asked me to give it a spin. I thought I'd give it a try even though it was a size too small for me (it's an M and I need an M/L). I put on a longer stem and fiddled with the saddle height and I got the saddle/handlebar distance to within 1.5 cm of what I normally drive. The crankarms are 170mm and I normally ride 175s' and the X0 twistshifters are not my favorites either. Another adaptation from the X0 thumbies that were mounted on the Merlin I tested last week. Roger put on some XTR pedals and these were great ! Another thing I am not fond of is the Hutchinson Python tyres, especially since it had rained a bit this morning. But the tyres, although not inspiring me with lots of confidence, turned out to be fine.
I decided to do my Meerdael Loop, the twisty first part, but in the reverse direction. I wasn't feeling super but nevertheless I managed to keep up a good rhythm throughout the ride. I had left the Fox RLC front fork the way it was and put 130psi in the Fox RP3 rear pump. From the first meters I could the feel the bike was a tad short, which made it rather nervous. Riding along on a tarmac section I could feel the suspension work quite distinctively. I had the option to lock it but didn't use that option. The little bobbing movement was not really bothering me. During the first offroad climb I was struggling a bit with the shifting - having to get used to which direction to turn the gripshifts - but the bike, which weighs about 11.5kg , was quite nimble and let me keep a good pace, even with the moderate grip of the Pythons. The suspension took the bigger whoops quite nicely on downhills and flat sections but was quite harsh on the shorter small stuff. Especially on roots and on a cobble section it really bothered me that the suspension felt harsh and quick to rebound. I could have dialled the rebound to go slower but that would have influenced the nice performance on the bigger bumps. I nearly used up all the travel but I never felt it bottom. It was quite a joy to steer around the twisty singletrack sections and I think I could feel it twitch just a little bit at the rear. Nothing bothersome and it could also have been the wheels but it did not feel as stable as the Merlin did.
I kept comparing it to that bike obviously since that was the last bike I've ridden , which is perhaps unfair since the Merlin has 4 inches - 10 cm - of travel and the Sewanee only has 2.3 inches - 6 cm. This of course makes it more difficult to tune the rear suspension and that is also what I have felt during the ride. I have the feeling it will be difficult to make it perform well on both the short shoppy stuff and the longer bouncy whoops. The way this bike was set up - rebound halfway the spectrum and 130psi for my 70kg - made it go very fast and very comfortable on the longer bouncy whoops but it nearly ground to a halt over a shoppy series of treeroots.
Still, I was pretty fast with it, especially uphill due to its light weight and good gearing. I had a nice encounter with a small Roe Deer that was feeding at the forest rim.. It halted long enough for me to take my camera out and make a few pictures. I turned around so as not to disturb it and went around it. After an hour into the ride things started to get pretty dark under the heavy coverage and I decided to call it a day.
I may have another ride on this bike later in the week.