It’s me or the bike?
Since injuring myself back in July I’ve been sticking to mainly XC and “old skool” riding to regain both fitness and bottle. But after a partial success on Bolty’s Steps last week at the end of yet another cross country ride I felt the time had come to jump back into something a bit more challenging.
Techno tuesday ride this week looked good and so despite the rain I rolled out the Patriot 66. It’s had a bit of TLC while I’ve been playing elsewhere, disks serviced, new rotors, chainguard instead of (largely redundant) big ring and a pair of nice new 2.35 Stick E Kenda Blue Groove and Nevegal tyres.
The first climb reintroduced me to the novelty of gears and climbing on a 6 inch bike - sit back and spin, no grunting required. As soon as we pointed down it was a revelation. Despite a route with loads of slippy, greasy and rocky trails the bike was faultless, steering was bob on with hardly any hint of slippage. My confidence and speed just kept getting higher as the ride progressed so that on the last trail I finally stopped thinking about the “what if” and just focussed on the riding.
Was it me or was it the bike? It’s easy to think of the Patriot as a skill compensator, I prefer the concept of skill magnifier myself 
I think I’ve finally got my techno mojo back 