pphaneuf | Back and forth

Okay, I did see

elliptic_curve after all, as she and

sfllaw dragged me away from work and over to Kanda for the sushi buffet. Which was the perfect lining for my stomach before going to Hatters for

kyotto's birthday!

Saturday was made of a solid chunk of awesomeness.

cpirate and I went to Bromont and rented ourselves some kick-arse downhill bikes.

Oh, the riding. Oh, the speed! This was so exhilarating, I found myself actually laughing out loud during some passages! Going down some of the ski slopes, ever accelerating, there were ridges at regular intervals (seemingly for drainage?), which combined with something around 40 kph speed, led to some very nice air! I actually had to adapt to the bike's ridiculously good suspension, which would absorb most of the bump in the front, and made me jump with a high tail, landing on the front wheel (which, at 40+ kph, going down a rocky ski hill, is rather exciting!). But I got the hang of it pretty quick, and just couldn't stop smiling as I flew through the air!

The bike I had, a Rocky Mountain RMX R1, was one sweet piece of machinery, despite a slightly bent front disc. As we were leaving,

cpirate said that he always thought those downhill bikes were massively overpriced (the one I had was worth about $4500 CDN!), but that after trying them, he found that they were worth it. Having done these exact same trails with my 1998 Gary Fisher Kaitai (a very good bike when I bought it), I remember these being very intense on my body, but on these bikes, we just ate through the trails like they were nothing. But there is a downside. These are downhill bikes. They want nothing to do with anything up. Their incredible weight (I'm guessing mine was around 50 pounds, versus about 28 for my Kaitai) coupled with the very low seat (you don't want the seat in your way) made for the sight of a rise in terrain to be rather disheartening. Ahh, nothing's perfect!

Now, it so happen that I forgot to take my clipless pedals back when I returned the bike. So I have no pedals right now (duh!). This gives me the perfect excuse to return next weekend, I'm thinking... A full day, this time, I really want to find out how hard I can go with these monstrous bikes... I'll have to pick up new gloves, though, I got myself some minor blisters.

Sunday, took it easy, as my sore muscles were telling me to. I whine, but it's a good kind of sore, the good kind you get when you've got mud on your teeth because you were smiling while kicking out of a mud flat. Did run into

elliptic_curve and

sfllaw at the goth garage sale, where proper attire for a porn movie was discussed.