I remember it like yesterday.
Riding down the street, with thoughts focused on another adventure, my buddy cut in front of me and I went down hard. The left cantilever brake broke off, sheering the welded brake boss from my cherished and well used Diamond back ridge runner.
I loved that bike. The world, and trails seem to come alive on it. I first rode Hogs Hollow on that bike. My first ride up American Fork Canyon was in its saddle. It became my pathway to adventure. My next bike was a Diamond Back ascent, top of the line at the time, bought with money saved during a long summer working construction. Believing bigger was better, at only 5'9" I bought an XL. The shop manager, my uncle, tried to talk me out of it, but I was convinced I wanted the biggest and the best. I loved that bike, but it never fit me. I could never get balanced, never seemed comfortable. Hills were steeper, corners were tighter, and rides just seemed longer.
I learned my lesson. Size Matters.
25 years later and that lesson remains. I am slow to change my bike, once it fits, I stick with it. I sat, at the back of the pack mostly, and watched as other shortened their stems, widened their bars, dropped their seats and pulled farther away from me on the descents. After 5 years I finally gave in. First, a shorter stem. Next, a dropper seatpost...incredible. Third, wide bars, 750 mm to be exact.
Riding seems new again. The descents are faster and sharper. Trails seem different, more flowy, scenic and adventurous. The wild seems less, and more, wild. I wish I had done it sooner, yet I don't. Biking, Mountain biking, is about staying connected to the past, the trails, but it is more than that. It is about staying connected with myself. Change is good, bigger can be better, but with all the change we cannot lose the spirit that brought us into the sport, the reason we ride. Perhaps that is the reason I didn't want to change, I didn't want to lose that connection to the ride, that past, the reason and the desire to keep exploring one trail at a time.
