Rebuilt 2004 Porsche Bike X first ride!

It has been a long month awaiting decent weather to ride the recently rebuilt 2004 Porsche Bike X for the first time. Today I drove the two hours to Sacramento from Truckee, both in California, to find good winter weather. Sacramento had little wind, light clouds with sun and near 60 degree temperatures. Prefect for riding.

I headed to my favorite Sacramento bike ride starting point at Discovery Park. This park is near downtown Sacramento and beginning your ride here you can start at mile "0" marked on the paved bike path. Great for tracking your miles along the trail.

As I started turning into the Discovery Park parking lot, I ran into a big "closed" sign across the road. Just beyond I could see why. The entire area was STILL flooded from the last series of storms. I had hoped that had all evaporated. Nope.

So I drove up to Nimbus Dam closer to Folsom and decided to ride toward downtown Sacramento, opposite from my normal route.

With my drive going from 2 hours to 2.5 hours and part of the bike path flooded, I knew I wouldn't get in the 50 miles I had planned.

But the real reason for this trip was to take the Porsche Bike X for it's first ride. After a month of rebuilding it, I needed to go for a test ride.

I pulled the Bike X from the back of the Cayenne S to immediately feel the warm weather. After a few months of Truckee winter, the 50 plus degree Sacramento winter felt HOT!

Jumping on the rebuilt Porsche bicycle, I rode the slight downhill on the paved bike path along the American River toward downtown Sacramento. This bike path is amazing. Beautiful scenery, great access points, happy bike riders nodding and waving and little in the way of going fast.

Heading out, the Bike X instantly felt good. The narrow 700c Continental Gatorskin tires pumped up to 100 psi rolled effortlessly. The carbon fiber Quantec fork absorbed the slight bumps well and really made a difference in the bike's handling around corners. All the changes I made equaled a well balanced and better performing bike.

I felt good so I went all out riding along the river. Great views to be had, but I can get a little too focused and pushed hard. My Adidas GPS app was telling me I was frequently over 20 miles per hour. I was still hoping to get in 50 miles, when I ran into a flooded area across the bike path (photo below) and was forced to turn around at just about mile 20.

Pushing hard back toward the parked Cayenne I was only passed by one guy. This guy was screaming along in a road racing bike and was near me at the 20-mile turnaround point, but it took him 11 miles to catch and pass me. So I felt the bike and I performed well on this first outing.

Looking back, I rode this same route about a year ago with the 1996 Porsche Bike S. I averaged 16 miles an hour then, this ride today I averaged 17 miles an hour. I was hoping for better than a one mile an hour improvement. So, even though the bike felt good and rode well, I still have some work to do.