A buddy and I rode Santiago Oaks for the first time since my accident there four months ago. I must admit I had a little fear after climbing the B’s and starting the decent, which translated into an endo (up and over the handle bar) on a sandy slope thanks to much too much front break. Sometimes when mountain biking, you have to let it roll and hit the breaks in a safe location. Steep, sandy slopes don’t qualify.

In the sections of drops where I wrecked, I rolled them (meaning I carried no speed into them and rolled down them weight back and front tire always on the ground) rather than dropping them with speed. It was nice to get through the section. Weirdly, when I hit the last drop where I am sure I wrecked (still have post concussion amnesia), I was absolutely certain it was the place like a tickling of a memory once remembered, but now forgotten.

In an effort to avoid further wrecks, it was my first ride with my All Mountain Post (AMP) seat dropper. Getting one’s seat out of the way makes a huge difference in getting one’s weight back and avoiding endos. Especially on XC bikes.  Some pics of my new seat dropper (the dark in the top right and lower left are thanks to not getting the shutter cover fully open.)

Above: Full upright position. The hardware is relative small (where the wire goes into the seatpost). I used white trash zip ties to affix to my frame, but will replace with wire mounts once I am sure I like where it is located. I really need an extra six inches of wire.

Above: Down 1"

Above: all the way down (down 4").

Above: closeup of down all four inches.

Above: Closeup of it down of it fully up.

The seatpost is actuated with the blurry level over my shifters on the top of the bar.

Closeup version from the other angle of the actuating lever. The only problem with the lever, the wire blocks the mount point for my left side light. Not a big deal in the summer, but during the dark months I need those lights for night riding…

So far, it works pretty well. Time will tell whether I really like or mostly like it.