Get someone to run you through everything they carry for a ride, and you’ll learn something about them as a rider. An abundance of tools and spare parts may point to someone who likes to be prepared like a Boy Scout, or maybe they’ve been riding a long time and have a vivid recollection of every mechanical that had them spending 20 minutes trailside with freezing fingers, trying to force a tire back onto an old Sun-Ringlé Rhino-Lite. Bare bones carry? Could be a very experienced local who is never far from home, or has an aversion to carrying extra weight and doesn’t mind the risk of walking home when a ride meets a premature end; or maybe they’re just a total n00b. Piece by piece, you’ll learn who has snapped an inordinate amount of chains, and who thinks a chain-breaker is ballast; one group carries two tubes, a pump, and C02, another school of thought runs CushCore and eschews all forms of self-rescue in case of unplanned deflation.
[continued...]
From NSMB
Quality mountain bike editorial, photos, videos and news from a North Shore perspective.
