Tour de France

[Frank Pembleton]

...about the speed skating, I haven't done anything with it, yet. I still need to buy the skates. <vbg>

...that said, still riding my MTB in the snow-- and I've manage to keep my weight in check over the winter ... come spring I should be pretty fast ... may even race again.

...I bought, yes, bought a new mtb-- I went against what I said on the thread earlier and went with a brand and style of bike that's different to what I originally wanted. I did buy a full suspension bike, but what I didn't do is buy one which featured the "Horst Link" rear design.

The "Horst Link" is a term for a four-bar rear suspension which attaches the rear axle to the seatstay instead of the swingarm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_suspension#Four_Bar

I went with a much simpler single-pivot suspension system-- which is pretty much a swing-arm attached to a shock (with progressive valving).

Reason...?

With all the troubles I've had over the winter with of broken links, worn bolts and damaged bearings and all the power absorbing slack to go with it-- I was more in tune with the advice that a fully active rear suspension is more engineering than what a high mileage cross country bike needs.

I get the bike next week-- looking forward to first ride impressions, should be interesting.