Maarat Mudfest

It was a spur of the moment kind of thing. I just texted the Globe boys yesterday to see if they're interested in doing a short Maarat ride and Mike T took the bait. "Game" was what he replied back.

We met this morning at around seven for a fun spin to "Giant". The mud was thick that we had to take a reverse chapel-nursery detour because an L300 got stuck and was blocking the road.

The ride was cool and it was fun getting all muddy. After some snacks we biked back to the parking area.

It was in today's ride that I really noticed the performance of the Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals. In my old Shimanos clipless pedals, it becomes difficult to engage and disengage once they're caked up with mud. It's a total revelation with the Eggbeaters. It doesn't matter if you can't find the cleats anymore. You clip in and it's there in a snap. Twist your ankle outwards and you're out. It was amazing. It really built up my confidence.

With all the mud building up in my IRC tires, I wasn't afraid of losing any braking power. Before, with my V-Brakes, it would be my concern. I would have a small stick stashed in my jersey pocket and stop and now and then to remove the build up of mud in the brakes and clean the rims. It's not the case anymore with the Avid Mechanical BB7's. I was cutting through puddles this morning without worrying about the getting ourt of control. For an upgrade, this definitely gets my seal of approval.

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