General Cycling Discussion - Got my new LHT today!!

So I got the call from the LBS last night that my 52cm LHT was delivered and assembled. Wanted to pick it up then, but I was waiting on a check this morning. Walked out the store about 4.5 hours ago. First impression -- I had no idea how much this was missing from my life. Seriously.

I'll write up a more detailed first ride report a little later (in case anyone is interested), but I just need to chill out for a bit and tinker a little :) Sure, like anyone else cares... I just want to tell everyone how totally excited I am!

Good for you. I got mine last October and after adding a front rack and fenders and storing it inside over the winter I have finally taken it out for rides. What a great bike! Today's ride was with 80% of what I'll carry on a tour and had no problems. Of course there are no mountains here in Southern Wisconsin. :)

I'll look forward to your opinions.

Cheers.

Welcome to the club of happy LHT owners! I got mine last fall and love every minute I'm on it!

I love it too. Still haven't found time to write up a first (or second) trip report. Well, I'm working on a couple, but I'm too busy riding. This bike just begs to be ridden...

The only thing about the bike I don't like is the saddle (go figure -- it's essentially a chucker. A proper Brooks is next up in the queue). Everything else is nicer than I ever would have imagined. AND I just happened to, well, happen upon the correct size for me.

I was riding a little stretch of "trail diversion", where the limestone rail-trail diverts to some dirt/woodsy singletrack for a bit, and was *just then* (really) thinking "heck, I prolly coulda fit a 54, maybe even a 56 with the 700c wheels" (buyer's remorse?) when I saw a few dragonflies. Then more dragonflies.

"Neat-o, I haven't seen this many dragonfllies since I was 12". Then the biggest swarm of dragonflies I've ever seen. Then I realised that this meant MUD! First day with the bike and I'm dealing with riding through a shallow swamp. AWESOME!! The WTB Slickasarus tires didn't handle the mud too well, and the mosquitoes sucked me dry (literally. I have about 200 bites from this ride...), but I was totally vindicated on my choice of bicycle size. My feet were totally slipping and sliding trying to keep me afoot in that mud, and I didn't injure my boys. This is why I bought this bike. Trying out unfamilliar terrain. Simple adventure. Now I am more happy than ever!! All my other bikes were just bikes. This LHT is an extension of my soul.

It strikes me as funny that WI people responded to this thread, because that's another reason I bought this bike -- for a tour to Wisconsin. In a way that scares me that every sign seems to be coming up "go. just ride". I mean, I got enough scratch to take a little trip, but where will that take me? Why did I buy this bike again?

Perhaps I should finally start blogging these rides...