took my new CX bike on a lil adventure. Went up Nate Harrison grade (dirt side of Palomar Mt). Was pretty gassed from my gearing, stayed in 36x28 whole way up (I'm going to need to switch to a 30-32T cassette). Tried to play w/ tire pressure to get off the saddle on the consistant 10+% grade but ended up pinch flatting half way up when I got to the top and running outta daylight and energy. Sleeping in and starting about 9:30 didn't help but I blessing not to have to layer up leaving that late. Temps on the grade was upper 60s and pockets warmth that the garmin read 82-84* where there wasn't much wind. Cooled down once I got to the tree line but once I flipped to the other side of the ridge the temps dropped to the low 50's plus gusty winds. That made for a pretty cold decent back down into the warm valley. Disc brakes on a 5000ft decent is darn pretty cool but not knowing how much to lean high roller knobby cx tires on the other hand was a bit scary. Brakes did a great job slowing me down enough not to lean in too much. Zero brake fad from that long decent http://www.strava.com/activities/100209044


half way up Nates pano by jsig1, on Flickr


up up and away....err more ups by jsig1, on Flickr


around 4100ft on nate harrison grade by jsig1, on Flickr


chilly above 5k ft by jsig1, on Flickr


clear views to downtown san diego from Palomar Mt by jsig1, on Flickr


Overlooking southgrade by jsig1, on Flickr