During the Lumberjack 100 I found myself loving my Yeti ASR-5C more and more with every passing mile. The bike is smooth and efficient and tracks like you’re on rails. Yeti’s president calls the ASR-5C the cheater bike because of the way it climbs and descends the mountains of Colorado against longer travel bikes. Well when you transplant a Colorado Yeti into a mixture of Midwestern 29er hard trail and full suspension bikes, the ASR-5C is still a cheater bike. This bike rails the flats and the rough and bumpy terrain like a 29er does with its smooth suspension and vertically compliant stiff frame, but excels when the singletrack gets tight and twisty. I found myself hitting the brakes in the tight stuff, not because I was carrying to much speed, but because of who was in front of me. This bike is so stiff that it effortlessly corners the tight stuff.
When the trail goes up and down, this bike shows its Colorado roots. It climbs so efficiently by keeping good traction even when climbing out of the saddle. On many of the shorter steep climbs I found myself looking for the open lane passing all the people walking the climbs. On the descent the bike has so much control it just rolls through the rough stuff, even at higher speeds. It pops through the roots and rocks and keeps you on the trail. Even at high speeds this bike never feels like you are out of control. It smooths out the trail when the terrain gets rough and the suspension designs keeps your tires on the dirt.
This bike was definitely a cheater bike at the Lumberjack 100. It rolled through the flats and rough stuff like a 29er, but excelled on the climbs and descents like a Yeti always does. Plus its super light and stiff which became more and more of a benefit with each passing mile.
