Did I mention I love my Vassago?

Twas definitely the afternoon to skip out of work early and go for a ride. What a beautiful time of year. This was my second ride on my new Vassago Optimus Ti and figured today was the day to tackle Outback on it, just to see what we could do together.



Had the bike in at the Moose to get a few things tweaked after my first ride and forgot to do a once over before jumping on it. After a few bumpy minutes I stopped to check the tire pressure. 50 psi! Thank goodness I'd brought my Lenny along to carry a pump, pressure guage, and do trail-side maintenance, lowering the pressure to 28psi. I recommend Lenny to everyone out there with moderate-to-low expectations.




Charlotte, who has been riding for three months now since buying Tanya's old Rocky Mountain, came along and looked on with rapt admiration (or mild disdain, hard to tell) at Lenny's altruism:



Charlotte (or HFT as she was known at work when I met her) is a star on the rise. Today was her introduction to Outback. As we headed in via Rockhopper, we came upon Scott, Roland, Brian, and Kari headed in the opposite direction:



One of the great things about Kari is that everyone is always happy to see her. On the other hand, one of the frustrating things about Kari is that everyone is always happy to see her. Ever try to go anywhere with this woman? It takes forever! One of my fond memories of the BC BikeRace was a walk I took with Kari from the campsites to the arena 300m away. It took 45 minutes since we stopped to talk to people every 30 seconds. We talked with people I have no idea how Kari knew. But she did. She's like the mountain biking female version of the King of Kensington . I managed to pry Charlotte and Lenny away from Kari's siren call and get going again.

The pictures paint a story of the beauty of riding through the Canadian Shield in autumn. There were a lot of smiles today:











Here's Charlotte with her first ever attempt at a V-tree. It was a great success, if you consider getting your ass wedged between two trees successful:




Aw shucks Lenny, that was a great ride. If only The Beaver had been able to join in:



So, in conclusion. I love my new bike.