On Friday, I received my package from out west. The content of this large box contained everything needed to build the Ellsworth Evolve (Ellsworth’s 4″ full suspension 29er frame) for a long term review. To my surprise, I opened the box at T2 Bikes and inside was a bright pink Evolve!

I ran into a deal that I just couldn’t say no to from Mark at T2 Bikes, and I picked up a Troy Lee Designs D2 Carbon. The helmet (off the bike) is much lighter and a lot more comfortable. I am hoping that the blue and red flames on the TLD make me faster than the ghost flames on the Specy…but I am not going to hold my breath. Now I just have one more product has more bling than my riding!

As you can probably tell by now, we are starting to enjoy the Big Creek Tuesday rides more and more. This week, we ended up sessioning the freeride area over a dozen times. It is really great to see a group of cross country riders dialing in their downhilling skills.

As I have branched out and began riding more trails in the Pisgah National Forest, I can see how far my riding has improved over the years. I am still not the fastest or the most agile rider out there, but I have improved none the less. I mean my husband, Stephen, and I go out and ride, usually, the same trails every week.

On our recent ride at Raccoon Mountain, Jason had his brand new iPhone along for the trip. During the ride, he was able to take pictures, upload them to flickr.com and post them on his Twitter account with ease. Now, I thought I was ahead of the curve with the Blackberry Curve and all of its capabilities, but the new iPhone looks like it has a lot of benefits for internet junkies of all disciplines.

According to Dropmachine.com, a press release by Tenneco states that they are in the process of acquiring Marzocchi. Tenneco is an automotive based company out of Lake Forest, IL that works with General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler, PSA Peugeot, Citroen, Toyota, Honda and Nissan on their ride control, emissions control and elastomer products.

I was doing some searching around Vimeo.com the other day and found this one. It has some great amateur video footage of northern California’s West Shore singletrack. It really makes me wish that we had more of these kinds of trails locally.

These new shifters combined with the new Hammerschmidt front shifting device is bound to make it a HUGE Interbike for SRAM this year. It really seems like they are starting to think outside the box of conventional shifting. I welcome this change. Shifting has been done the same for a long time. It’s time to shake things up a little bit.

As you can see, there are serious side affects to not properly hydrating before, during and after your ride. This is why I see hydrating as the most important thing to keep in mind while on the trail. Most times, when you feel like you are dehydrated, your body is telling you that you are already behind the eight ball.