BEN’S VITUS ESCARPE 29 CRS
MONTH 8: Ben goes weak at the knees as he hits steeper terrain on the Vitus
With lockdown loosening its grip, I’ve managed to get a lot of riding in on my local trails as well as further afield. It’s always great to ride in rockier terrain and the Forest of Dean serves up a great selection of roots and rocks to test the bike, as well as plenty of steep off-piste trails to ramp up the adrenaline. Dragging the rear brake and hanging off the back of the bike on the steeper trails I noticed that I’m banging my calf muscles and the inside of my knees on the shock linkage. This is something I first noticed on the initial rides and on the good old car park test, but had completely forgotten about it, or not experienced on smoother, flatter terrain. It’s not really a problem other than some nice bruises developing around my knees. Then again, I should probably have been wearing knee-pads given how techy some of the trails are at FOD. Also I’m going to switch to flat pedals. Primarily to see if a slightly different foot position cures the knee-knocking issue, but
I also want to see if it makes me more confident and ride looser on more demanding trails.
After the stint at FOD I had some time out with the spoke key truing up the DT M1900 rear wheel. Nothing serious, just some loose spokes and no dents in the rear rim which is great news. In fact, the whole bike still looks mint, thanks to the protective frame wrap that comes fitted as standard. That said, I have needed to add a little bit of glue to the chainstay protector which had started to peel away. Other than that, the Vitus looks pristine, despite all the miles on the clock.