I love my bike! Last fall I upgraded from my Giant NRS to a Trance Advanced. Then I broke my leg. As of this writing, it has barely 300 miles on it, but I've thoroughly enjoyed every one of them.
Last weekend I went to Brown County State Park, and spent a great day riding Indiana's singletrack mecca. While Town Run Trail Park is the most convenient for most of Bicycle Garage Indy's customers, BCSP is only an hour south of town, and offers fantastic trails-- truly something for everyone. In fact, Bicycle magazine voted BCSP among the top 33 bike trails in the US. It starts with rolling climbs, and as you work your way deeper into the forest, the trails get more challenging. But never fear-- it's what's known as a "stacked loop system," and there are "qualifiers" as you move from one loop to the next-harder. (If fording the stream is off-putting, you probably won't enjoy a mile of granny-gear climbing either!) There are no surprises; instead, it just builds anticipation of the challenges to come.
...But back to the bike. My old NRS was a great bike, but the new Trance incorporates Giant's Maestro Link suspension. It lets the triangular rear swingarm float up and down with the terrain, and the rear axle moves in essentially the same path as the front. This makes the bike handle bumps extremely well.
One of the most amazing features that the Hoosier Mountain Bike Association's master trail builder, Alex Stewart incorporated into the BCSP trails is "the Waterfall," an S-shaped rock garden that you encounter at the top of the climb to Hesitation Point. Not only is it a very technical feature, but you get to it after a great big climb. My success percentage for cleaning this section has remained below 50% for the past several years.
So, here we are at the beginning of a new riding season, and I'm still not fully recovered from last December's crash. As I approached the Waterfall, I seriously contemplated a pre-emptive dismount. There was nobody nearby, so no shame. But what the heck, I'll give it a go. And 'lo and behold, I just picked my line and rode right through it! The Trance made it seem easy.
I love my bike!!
Last weekend I went to Brown County State Park, and spent a great day riding Indiana's singletrack mecca. While Town Run Trail Park is the most convenient for most of Bicycle Garage Indy's customers, BCSP is only an hour south of town, and offers fantastic trails-- truly something for everyone. In fact, Bicycle magazine voted BCSP among the top 33 bike trails in the US. It starts with rolling climbs, and as you work your way deeper into the forest, the trails get more challenging. But never fear-- it's what's known as a "stacked loop system," and there are "qualifiers" as you move from one loop to the next-harder. (If fording the stream is off-putting, you probably won't enjoy a mile of granny-gear climbing either!) There are no surprises; instead, it just builds anticipation of the challenges to come.
...But back to the bike. My old NRS was a great bike, but the new Trance incorporates Giant's Maestro Link suspension. It lets the triangular rear swingarm float up and down with the terrain, and the rear axle moves in essentially the same path as the front. This makes the bike handle bumps extremely well.
One of the most amazing features that the Hoosier Mountain Bike Association's master trail builder, Alex Stewart incorporated into the BCSP trails is "the Waterfall," an S-shaped rock garden that you encounter at the top of the climb to Hesitation Point. Not only is it a very technical feature, but you get to it after a great big climb. My success percentage for cleaning this section has remained below 50% for the past several years.
So, here we are at the beginning of a new riding season, and I'm still not fully recovered from last December's crash. As I approached the Waterfall, I seriously contemplated a pre-emptive dismount. There was nobody nearby, so no shame. But what the heck, I'll give it a go. And 'lo and behold, I just picked my line and rode right through it! The Trance made it seem easy.
I love my bike!!
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