With the first singletrack ride on the Procaliber under my expanding belt on Saturday, I decided to take it out for a short twenty-six mile spin on the dirt roads north of town on Sunday. I was warned that I might not like how the bike rides on dirt roads, mostly due to its gearing, and as it turns out, I didn’t like it–I loved it and found the gearing a non-issue.
Maybe it’s all the dirt roads miles I’ve stacked up on the Fatterson, or maybe it’s the fact that I just don’t care, but I found that bike rolled at speed just fine and saw little difference between riding the Procaliber and the my old hardtail with a 44t big ring on dirt roads. Hell, there was only about a .5 MPH difference in my average moving speeds vs. the Boone!
The air was crisp, struggling to get above forty degrees and the air was thick with a heavy fog that lasted throughout the day. But the roads are still blissfully void of snow and ice and were mostly tacky dirt and packed sandy gravel so it made for fast speeds and a good time.
It felt like it had been a while since I had some quality time with the my camera, so I did make a few stops along the way for some quick shots. The main reason I use the Fatterson as much as I do for dirt road photo rambles, is that if forces me to go slower and take in my surroundings, however I also really like the stability that a flat bar mountain bike offers me when mounting my camera bag to the bike. Of course when it’s cold out, I like to move a bit faster in between shots, so the Procaliber offered me both speed and stability. With that, the Fatterson might take a well deserved rest until things get sloppy or snowy again.
For the most part, the ride was awesome! The bike felt outstanding and despite not having all that much Sunday morning mojo, I felt pretty good too. The only downer was along Denver Road when I saw a nice sized doe dead along the road. Further investigation showed that it had a large bullet hole in its side. I have nothing against hunting at all, but seeing a deer lose its life for no reason at all sucks. Not sure whether it was just a case of the hunter losing track of it after it was shot, or if it may have been shot illegally “just for kicks.” Either way, it sucks.
Here are some more of the pics from Sunday…
All photos were taken with the Fuji X-T10, shot RAW and processed in Lightroom.
Taking Monday off the bike to get crap done as well as squeeze in some strength training later in the evening.
Later.