After spending lots of time riding through the Jura on my asphalt rocket and less time on my trail bomber due to a second warranty replacement, I realized that I lacked the right horse for the region’s huge network of gravel roads. The farms, hilltops, valleys and plains are all well connected, but much of it are small non-paved roads. I’ve been pedaling across many of them on my road bike, occasionally ending up somewhere with a flat or worse with a sliced tire. Well after all, I went to explore a course with the wrong horse.
I could hop on a mountain bike, but that’d be the wrong horse once again. My mountain bikes always belonged and will always belong on single-trails that go up and go down. Flat terrain, gravel or heaven forbid pavement are not their purpose. What I needed was a bike that meets the happy medium between mountain and road. So, a few weeks ago I started to look for the perfect gravel grinder.
The first idea that popped into mind was to tear down my good old Trek Madone and to get a cyclocross frame, a fork and good set of cantilever brakes. I found Dengfu’s FM058 on Alibaba, contacted the folks in China and was extremely pleased with their quick and friendly manner to email back. I was not going to purchase anything though before selling the Trek frame, fork and a few leftover bits. Days passed without me actively trying to sell the Trek frame when I ran across the 2012 Focus Mares line of cyclocross bikes. The super sharp looking Mares CX 2.0 just looked like my kind of rig. This immediately led to a new idea - sell the Trek as a whole. I put an ad up online and within two days I found a buyer. He made an evening trip from St. Gallen to Biel, paid cash and returned home with my Trek minus the drivetrain (he’s going compact).
To find a Mares CX 2.0 I didn’t have to go far. My local bike shop carries Focus bikes and was super-happy to order one for me - their first I should mention. While a customer would occasionally pop into the shop and ask about a cyclocross bike, it’s not a category of bikes that they have actually ever been able to sell. I’m their first customer placing an order for one. Well, I’m pretty happy to have spent my money at the shop where I’ve bought many of my previous bikes and I’m looking forward to get my first cyclocrosser.
I have a few upgrades in mind like swapping the Ultegra 6700 bits for SRAM Red. Most of all though, I want to start hitting the trails on the Mares. It’ll be my exploration bike to get to know the very last corner of the Jura. Although I’ve grown up here and been riding the region for decades, there are lots of trails, roads and places I have yet to see. And the better I know each and every square-foot of this beautiful part of the country, the better I’ll be able to pick the right horse.
★ collideous-
29inch posted this
