Picked the Diamondback XSL Trail up yesterday from Mike’s house and installed the new Firex SL crankarm we got direct from Truvativ (thanks Todd!) to replace the one Carl screwed up. Threw on the Crank Brothers Egg Beaters and headed out to Peaks View Park for a ride.

The sky was looking pretty dark off in the distance when I pulled into the parking lot but I figured I would hit the trail anyway. I hadn’t gotten a chance to get out all weekend and I was gonna ride dang it!

So I was rolling along pretty good. Trying to get used to riding the full suspension XSL Trail. I’m always surprised by how much difference there is in the over all ride between a hardtail and a softie.

Anyway, I had the mp3 player cranked on some Weezer so the first thing I noticed was a slight mist and then the heavens opened up on me. I’ve heard about all the horrible things rain (and moisture in general) can do to your bike’s mechanics, so I turned around and started booking it back to the car trying to stay in the cover of trees as much as possible.

Of course I was pretty far from the car and about thirty seconds after I finally got back the rain stopped. It was to late by then to head out again so I just packed it up and went home.

The silver lining to my ride getting cut short was that the Lake MX 155 shoes I was wearing got a pretty good test. I pulled them off once I got home and, although the outside of the shoe was soaked, my socks and feet were still good and dry. That was about the only part of me that was.