And then there were 15

I few weeks ago, I took my lil' Kona (aka 24 inches of love) to a downhill race. The lil' Kona is a hardtail dirt jumper that rides down hills better than my XC bike, but its not a DH bike. I haven't raced my bike just down a hill in years. It was a little intimidating, especially since I knew I needed to keep my shoulder where it belonged. Despite my apprehensions, I had a great race and a really fun time. Mountain bikers way more awesome than triathletes. Then I got to thinking... maybe I need a downhill bike. I had recently been toying with the idea of a full suspension XC bike, but ruled that one out because I really like to stand when I climb, and my Orbea is the jamm. A DH bike seemed like a good idea for several reasons: (1) I actually live somewhere I can ride it on trails (2) I don't have one (3) Sideburnz has one that he doesn't ride much, but he should ride it more (4) Riding down hills is awesome.

Since we have a large quiver of bikes, I didn't see the sense in being hasty, so I made a strategic plan. I would have to ride my lil Kona on a regular basis to demonstrate that a DH bike would get used. I would also have to show that my lil Kona was inadequate for the terrain I wanted to ride (not sure how I was going to do that, but hopefully it wouldn't involve any ER trips). Then after several months of saving, I could buy a DH bike.

I was feeling quite logical for about 8 hours until Sideburnz starting looking on the internet for tiny DH bikes. Low and behold, someone was selling a DH bike in Honolulu, size small. The ad was about a month old, but I contacted the seller anyhow. He emailed back right away- yes the bike was still available, would I like to check it out. **Warning** Warning** This is a dangerous situation, there is a high probability of exchanging dollar bills for bicycles if you get to test ride a bike. So I went down to check it out, with the expectation that the bike would be huge like the Straight 8 and I"d never be able to ride it.

The seller was a guy not much bigger than me who had the suspension dialed for 140 lbs. This is the first time I've ever sat on a FS bike and had it sag! I took it for a test ride in downtown and rode off a bunch of cement planters. Sweet. This bike was going to be at my house in no time. Monday this week, it finally made it home and yesterday I took it to the trails next to my house. So now there are 15. The Orange was so much fun- I finally rode a few segments of trail that I can't ride on my XC bike. I thought the hike-a-bike would get old, but it didn't (note to self: bring water next time). I even launched off some rocks on my first outing. Here's number 15:



So now, all I want to do is ride downhill bikes.