2nd Ride on the Ardents

After a busy couple of days full of garage sales and roofing I loaded up the D.U.F.F. and headed to Custer. I was planning on Yankee with some of the Wolf Pack, but thankfully they were not able to make it and I headed to the flat land instead.

As I hit Augusta the roads were steaming after a surprising rain. It was partly cloudy but it appeared it had rained quite a bit just before I hit town. That was very helpful on the trails. Everything in southwest Michigan has been crazy dry. 

I was stocked when I saw a just barely wet trail. The rocks were already drying and the trail was perfect. I wasn't pushing hard. I was just riding. I was making sure that I was getting traction before I decided to push a bit. Still not the fastest, but I was feeling pretty comfortable. 

I am really starting to like the new tires. Granted, it is only 2 rides but I had a lot more trust on these tires. So much so that I actually power slid a corner and kept control. It was on the Green at Custer. I have been trying to learn how to corner faster by leaning forward vs. leaning back. Might sound strange but have you ever heard the saying "drive the bike into the corner"? I alway have heard that, but I have always been a "float into the corner" kind of rider. Meaning, I tend to sit back on the bike and let the front wheel float around the corners. Floating is much slower than driving. By simply keeping my weight forward on the bike I have learned to corner faster. This comes with some semblance of trust to the traction of the tires. I was trying to learn on my last set of tires and was gaining speed. Then I switched tires. lol.

Anyway, because these new tires are 2.35 I am even more confident in the traction I get. I was pushing pretty hard and found myself leaning forward on a downhill corner. It has a sharp turn at the bottom and as I went thru the corner I had the urge to kick the bike to the left. When I did, the rear tire slid and then connected, rocketing me out of the corner. It was a whole new thing for me. I was fairly surprised with myself.

Overall, a solid 15 miles on tacky and still dry trails at Fort Custer. Had a solid gym session tonight and I am feeling pretty good. Gotta keep it rolling.