Felt pretty good today so decided to make use of the cooler weather and head over to Black Forest with the 24″ GUni. I’ve ridden the trails there on a 36’er, 29’er and single speed 24 so was interested to see how it would be on the 24 GUni.

As it turned out the 24 GUni was fun, but too often the trail was inbetween – not technical enough for 1:1, not suitable for scooting along in 1:1.5. Thinking back to my other rides here, the best overall match to these trails for me is the 29’er MUni single speed, which is a relief as I was starting to wonder if there was any love left for the 29’er and whether I should sell it.

Still, today was fun and good preparation for riding the 24 GUni in the upcoming Cyclic Navigator – chances are the course route will be through much easier terrain.

For a relatively short ride there are many climbs and descents – + 520m climb within an hour of MUni and ~8km.

I managed to have one especially dumb UPD, banging the side of my leg that is still healing…. DOH!

The Black Forest includes some of the best single track in the area – a great mix of easy fast sections, intermediate terrain and a couple of plain scary bits.

This is the first time I’ve ridden the Black Forest trails in dry summer conditions  – hardpack covered with a thick layer of loose dusty dirt with a surprising low level of grip, and every now and then giant marbles! TBH I think wet winter conditions might in fact be easier and more enjoyable.

I’m digging the Five Ten Karvers, great GUni MUni shoe, and lucky socks never go astray 🙂