Riverside ride - no, not that Riverside.

I took the new mountain bike out on an easy dirt trail yesterday after work. The wheels need to be trued, so I'm running the disc brakes extra loose until that happens, which means I'm staying away from anything too steep and rocky in the meantime.

I was jonesing for a ride all through the work day, so it was a pleasant surprise when Andrea texted me as I was driving back home asking about going for one.

I took the opportunity to keep it local and explore some of the areas of Hartford that I've been meaning to visit. After cutting through downtown to Market Street, we hit up Riverside park via the pedestrian overpass over I-91. The overpass is in need of some attention, with enough glass shards to adorn half a gothic cathedral.

Turns out there's also 8 miles of dirt trails in the northwest section of the park by the community boathouse, with one spur passing under a railroad bridge. Two diesel locomotives were crossing the river just as we arrived at the bridge, which was cool to see. We turned back at the bridge, so there's much more trail to explore at a later date.

Adriaen's Landing is a bit strange, as the paved park path connects to the city level of the Landing via a short ramp and an elevator rather than a ramp running fully up to the city level. Still, the Landing itself is good looking and abuts the Founders Bridge, which allowed our ride to extend over to the East Hartford side of the park.

I was excited to see that Adriaen's Landing is being extended to wrap around the Science Center and the Convention Center, making for more riding & walking room. Who knows, in a few years, downtown might actually be an interesting place to hang out.

The Haro V4 build is a success, I'd say. It feels solid, well balanced, and stable. I'll know more about its handling characteristics once the wheels are trued and I've taken it out to Penwood or the Reservoir a few times. It's a 26" hardtail XC/trail build, nothing fancy - just something I can start out on until I get a better picture of what I want to do.

Component list:

Haro V4 hardtail frame

RockShox Dart 2 fork

Sette Edge stem

Sette Vector handlebars

FSA Orbit XL 2 headset

Avid BB5 disc brakes / levers

Sram X.7 front derailleur

Sram X.7 rear derailleur

Sram X.7 grip shifters

Race Face Ride XC crankset 22-32-44 w/ BB

Sram 9 speed cassette

Sun Rims Single Track rims

WTB Velociraptor 2 tires

After reading a certain blog, I was thinking of converting my old, shitty, dangerous, crappy Roadmaster into a singlespeed, or at least saving up for a 29er SS.