A new bike for Jon: the finished product.

by Jon on January 19th, 2008

Hi everyone,

I was planning on initially including these pictures in my first post, but I had to hand over my digital camera for a couple weeks. Since I recently got it back I can finally share the rest of the pictures I took of my new Turner Nitrous and some shots from the first couple rides on it.

The first ride that I did was with Rob out into the open space just west of our respective houses. It was, as I remember, an impressively clear day; typically heading up into those hills will only yield partial views that are obscured by the LA haze. That day, though, was different:

The first picture is a shot of the Santa Monica mountains, home of some of the favorite climbs on the road. The tall peaks on the left (east side) are the tops of Fernwood, Stunt Road, and Piuma, while the western hills are those that Mulholland highway runs between. Climbing up to a point where that kind of view is visible is quite difficult; the climbing in the hills on the dirt is brutal and long but, of course, rewarding. The second picture is from the same hill looking northeast instead of southwest. The snow covered mountains are (I think) the San Gabriels, to which I’ve ridden only once on new year’s day a while back. The more immediate hills are those that we rode through, with the scattered houses being the western most portions of Bell Canyon.

Rob and I, just after starting out, came across this small divot in a nearby trail. It looked like someone stuck a couple pounds of dynamite under the ground and let it rip; that drop must have been ten feet high. I have no idea how it came to be, but it was quite gnarly to look at.

I’ve had many more rides on the bike, and each one has been as enjoyable if not more than the last. Some shots of the complete bike, of course:

The whole shebang.

Rear end.

Front end.

Many thanks again to Rob for his help and his time, and like I said in my first post, I can’t wait to get out there with the rest of the team and get some good riding and racing in in new and different places. Take care, everyone, and happy trails!