Gears

Over the weekend I dug out a box containing the components that I used for a ride last August. It's mostly an XT kit but I love the shifters. Truth be told, I'd rather ride SS but this will be a tall order. So, I stripped the Salsa down, cleaned it up and built it in preparation for what's coming. After much thought, I decided to leave the Niner fork on instead of switching to a suspension fork. This may change in the next few weeks but the suspension fork sits quite a bit lower and I'm having trouble with one of the discs in my neck again and need another shot but that won't happen soon. I'm so much more comfortable with this fork but I know there will be times I'll question the decision. I was going to wait another week to build this up but the Orbea that I've been training on is sooooo stiff and the Salsa just feels sooooo good. I have a really big ride this weekend and I wanted to do it on this bike and see if it helped my comfort. If I'm more comfortable then I'll be more confident going into this. 

I've been going over ride reports, looking at topo maps, figuring out where to find water, talking to people, putting gear into piles, adding things, removing things, doing math, etc. I don't really know what to expect but I know it's going to hurt badly. I basically know what to expect out of the terrain and weather but I don't know how long it's going to take me. I'm hoping for a finish of 16-18 hours but we'll see. So psyched for a little adventure and soul searching.