Nobody really wrote anything about this, but Root, JT, and\u00c2\u00a0I went on a CroMo hardtails-only ride on Sunday, 02 March 2008 at Ditch.\u00c2\u00a0 Root showed up with his 10th Anniversary Fat Chance, JT had his Bridgestone XO-1, and I had my drop-handlebar Bridgestone MB-1.\u00c2\u00a0 The climbs were so nice on bent-over, lightweight bikes, but the horsey-print trail surface made for some punishing conditions with no suspension and skinny, high-pressure tires.\u00c2\u00a0 Aside from the inevitable monkey-butt, there was some good neckache from craning to look ahead, and vibro-itch on the jiggly parts of the arms.\u00c2\u00a0 We rode out to the end of Ditch then came back and did the inner loop.\u00c2\u00a0 We actually rode all the steeps, but didn’t do much of the stuff in the rock garden.<\/p>\n
The MB-1 climbed amazingly well with the drop bars. I guess it put my body weight more centered between the wheels and lowered my upper body angle for more pedaling efficiency.\u00c2\u00a0 It ripped up hills that are otherwise a grind.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m sure the overall weight helped too.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The steering geometry was\u00c2\u00a0nice and quick, so threading precise lines wasn’t a problem.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll definitely take this bike off-road\u00c2\u00a0in this configuration again!\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n