The Surly Mountain Biking Thread

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Weird ride today. Went to the area (Volga River State Park - 45 miles from home) where I rode the fat bike for the first time. There 20+ miles of multi use trails, and it is VERY popular with horseback riders.

I figured with as dry as the last two weeks have been, that the horse ruts would be dry, and conditions would be solid.

WRONG.

There were some massive horse ruts, and a shit ton of deep sand. Creek crossings were so rutted up that the first one I hit, I ended up taking my handles to the gut, and racked myself on the frame. I got so much sand and dirt in my gears that if I sat in a steep climb, they would lock up. There were some stupid grades through horse muck and deep sand.

It wasn’t all bad, though. There were sections that were like gravel highways, some awesome twin track, the weather is fucking perfect, and I hammered out 11 miles in near total solitude (outside of a couple of lesbians on horses). The fatty performed exceptionally in the sand.

There is inherent value in struggle, right?

pretty typical trail conditions

the crossing that wrecked me

fuck horses

one of the many sand pits

gravel highway through a pretty pine stand

pines

a little spring that flowed across the trail

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Geeheez.  I don't think they would open the trails around here with that muck.

Is your topcap missing from your steerer tube?

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

I’m not sure. Hadn’t noticed it, but will check when I get home. Good eye

The mucky part was contained to a relatively small area.

It was very evident that this is a horse park that tolerates bikes.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Cold front came in last night, and I don’t think we’ll break 80 today. Gonna try for 2 hours on the home trails. The Decorah system is made up of 3 separate parks that all link together. Each of the 3 parks features long climbs to the top of a prominent bluff, and I’ve never climbed all 3 parks in the same ride. Today seems like the day for that.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Pepper your angus. 

[KuЯdt 248]

I'm super jealous of Al's cold front.

I rode out at pedernales falls state park yesterday with a friend who only has one speed - fast. I felt good enough to keep pace with him the whole ride so I was happy about that. Then enjoyed a couple beers in the parking lot and some bikini-wearing girls were hanging out as well. All in all a good day.

From the high point in the park:

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

Negged for lack of pics of bikini-wearing ladies.

[KuЯdt 248]

lol I knew that response was coming. I was too busy ogling to get a pic

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

I survived. Got tired as hell in the last half hour. We got a good shot of not forecasted rain last night, and things were very slick and greasy. Because my regular shoes got soaked in yesterday’s quagmire, I left them out to dry, and they were soaked. I rode in my road biking shoes, which are clips, but function more like regular shoes. The soles are hard rubber and they were sliding all over the pedals. My control was dogshit.

I climbed to the top of all 3 parks, and got my record long ride in the books. Lessons were learned. It’s been a good, hard weekend.


Top of Palisades Park


Top of Dunnings Springs


Top of Van Peenen (not much of a view)

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Welp, I'm getting up (more accurately on the trail) earlier to beat the heat.  Managed six miles at collarbone park.  It was strange, I wasn't tired or bonked at all, and didn't start pegging the thermostat until the end, but I was a weeblin, wobblin mofo for most of the ride.  Tree gates and sharp turns would set me on kind of wild oscillations, but I managed not to hurt myself.

One thing the injury has kind of forced me to do, and that is to "listen to myself."  If I'm tired or wobbly or whatever, I absolutely will not "force" things that are even slightly challenging, even if they should be well within my skill set.

I keep intending to check out the scene of my wreck, but the way to it was swamped for some reason today (and has been on several previous occasions).

Edited August 19, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Another meh ride.  Wasn't tired, legs, mentally, or overall.  But it was 90 by the time I got started, so probably 100 heat index.  Yuck.

I rode Rowlett Creek for six miles.  This time, knox, I went from the end of 1 onto 2 instead of cutting onto 3 using the bootleg trail.  It's extra crispy out there again.  Back wheel sliding all over the place.  Huge cracks in the trail tread in the sunny parts.  Inch-deep kitty litter and sand err'where.

Since I was poking, I took some better pix of the creekside part of Loop 3.

Sort of the "long" view.

A close up of the edge of the below shot.

What you can't see is how off-camber this is, although you can get an idea from the above.

Anyway, since I was slippin n slidin all over hell and gone, I didn't ride  big chunks of this.  I didn't even feel comfortable walking some of it.  You can see in the top photo that a bootleg is starting a couple of feet up and to the right.

I have also decided that I don't like the steering of "slack" bikes.  If you do much winding through the woods, it kind of sucks.  It's unstable at lower speed and unstable when your steering has to be done with the handlebars, as opposed to leaning.

I like the long reach of them, but that can be accomplished without a slack head tube.  I may have to go to a shorter offset fork.  We don't have enough downhill around here, and even if we did I probably aint riding it, so a slack bike serves no purpose for me. YMMV.  For people in the market for a new bike, beware of slack frames.

Also, it may be extreme dry conditions or that I haven't quite figured out the pressure, but I'm not too impressed with the Rekon as a back tire so far.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Also, those cracks in the "field" sections of the trail that are bounded by grass and out in the open were crazy.  I violently dislike "longitudinal" things like roots and rock edges and whatnot that are parallel with the trail direction.  They can do crazy shit.  Most of these cracks were that way and some were big enough to swallow your tire/wheel.

So that got me to avoiding them, which got me rolling in and out of the trail "rut."  At first I thought it was funny and kind of fun/unique.  Then it started to suck, especially considering that I usually blast through those as sort of an interval.  All in all, no bueno.

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

Still better than pavement.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

34 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Still better than pavement.

True enough.  Might rain this weekend, which may fix that up.  Or I may have to scratch that trail from the rotation until fall.

Edited August 21, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

16 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

True enough.  Might rain this weekend, which may fix that up.  Or I may have to scratch that trail from the rotation until fall.

We are in dire need of some precip because our trails are pure sketch right now--kitty litter most places, moon dust in many others. Definitely requires one to stay focused---those front-wheel drifts are ... interesting ... to say the least.

On that note, I was doing a decent job of keeping things under control today up until the final descent, when tired legs got the best of me. I nearly spilled not one, not two, but three times. Managed to keep the rubber side down but too close for comfort.

Am four-fifths into a personal challenge this week. It's been hard. Legs are dead and the grundle is grumbling. One more day to go.

[Knoxtnhorn 5908]

@TwiceHorn

That first pic, if I'm thinking of the right place...  I took the "upper level" last time out and, when merging onto the main trail, almost went into the river.

I'm planning on trying a short ride tomorrow (Thursday) after school.  Not sure how well it's going to go seeing as how I lasted all of 5 minutes at this past Sunday's soccer game.  I'm tired of laying around and can just feel myself losing muscle mass.  

[TwiceHorn 30851]

54 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

@TwiceHorn

That first pic, if I'm thinking of the right place...  I took the "upper level" last time out and, when merging onto the main trail, almost went into the river.

I'm planning on trying a short ride tomorrow (Thursday) after school.  Not sure how well it's going to go seeing as how I lasted all of 5 minutes at this past Sunday's soccer game.  I'm tired of laying around and can just feel myself losing muscle mass.  

Yes!  Haha I'm glad I'm not the only one.  It has a little more of a transition worn into it now, but it's still pretty scary because that whole area is sandy-sandy, so stopping and steering is a bit unreliable.  But yeah, a few weeks ago, it looked like a well-defined bypass and then just kind of disappeared and you could go another yard or two through the weeds and drop, literally, back onto the trail.

Edited August 21, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 30851]

5 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

We are in dire need of some precip because our trails are pure sketch right now--kitty litter most places, moon dust in many others. Definitely requires one to stay focused---those front-wheel drifts are ... interesting ... to say the least.

On that note, I was doing a decent job of keeping things under control today up until the final descent, when tired legs got the best of me. I nearly spilled not one, not two, but three times. Managed to keep the rubber side down but too close for comfort.

Am four-fifths into a personal challenge this week. It's been hard. Legs are dead and the grundle is grumbling. One more day to go.

Yeah, I barely pushed any turns because rear wheel was so loose on mostly straight-line stuff, let alone front.  Besides that, I was neither generating nor carrying any speed at any given point.

I guess the ride yesterday put me in a rather foul mood, sorry for being a debbie downer.

Good luck with your challenge.  Courage to your grundle!

[Knoxtnhorn 5908]

I wonder if the sand is what did me in.  I was going at a pretty high pace when I went over the handlebars but ended up w/o any abrasions.  All the damage was on the inside of my chest and shoulder.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

45 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

I wonder if the sand is what did me in.  I was going at a pretty high pace when I went over the handlebars but ended up w/o any abrasions.  All the damage was on the inside of my chest and shoulder.

Was that where you were?  Or north of the trailhead?  

On loops 1 and 1A, it's mostly black dirt in the shade, although that's getting kitty littery.  Up on 8 and 9, by the creek again, it's a little sandy, but not as bad as 3 and 4.

There's enough roots and shit in the first .25 to .5 mile of loop 1, north out of the trailhead, to get you if you're hauling pretty good.  The trees aren't that close in there, but there are a couple of places.

[Knoxtnhorn 5908]

I don't have the map in front of me.  I went north? out of the parking lot on Castle.  I think I had just passed the spot where a left would take you to the first set of blue trails.  I generally take the next right and loop back around to the creek (rather than straight towards Firewheel).  It was somewhere around there.  

[TwiceHorn 30851]

17 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

I don't have the map in front of me.  I went north? out of the parking lot on Castle.  I think I had just passed the spot where a left would take you to the first set of blue trails.  I generally take the next right and loop back around to the creek (rather than straight towards Firewheel).  It was somewhere around there.  

Gotcha.  I'd say there's more stuff to jump up/out and grab you south of the Loop 7 exit than north, but my recall isn't perfect.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

GREAT ride this morning.  Went off the beaten path to Goat Island Preserve.  It's way the hell south in Hutchins (or Wilmer).  Nothing special as far as technical features, just unspoiled woods.  The trail was a little hard to make out and bumpy as hell for lack of ridership, but that just made it fun.  

Unlike most trails around here, no traffic noise anywhere on the trail.  Was kind of like that first trail ride ever, all new, very exploratory.  Didn't see any critters other than a yellow-bellied racer in hot pursuit of something, and some butterflies and grasshoppers, but I am relatively certain some critters saw me.

Couldn't even go real fast because I didn't know what was coming and also the bumpy ass trail.  Glad I wore the shorts with the builtin chamois.

 

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Awesome, Twice.  Looking to get 2-3 rides between tomorrow afternoon and Sunday.  Weather looks great.  Abnormal cold (highs in the 70's, low's in the 50's) is holding strong which sucks for getting  corn ready to harvest, but makes for beautiful riding.  Take the good with the bad.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Must be wild to have an interest in the weather other than performing leisure time pursuits.  

One other thing about this trail that was interesting and that was that a fire road basically runs down the middle of it.  If you aren't paying attention, you miss all the trails coming off it. Conversely, if you get tired or hurt it isn't too far to a crossing.  I know this is typical of a lot of trails around the country, but not DFW, probably because we're usually cramming a bunch of nested loops in a very few acres.

 But at the end, it's fire road back to the trailhead, which is hot, but actually kind of nice, I thought.  DIdn't have to worry about steering or negotiating any obstacles while tired, and there was even about .5 mile of 7-10% grade on the way out to keep you from being a complete piker.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

14 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Must be wild to have an interest in the weather other than performing leisure time pursuits.  

One other thing about this trail that was interesting and that was that a fire road basically runs down the middle of it.  If you aren't paying attention, you miss all the trails coming off it. Conversely, if you get tired or hurt it isn't too far to a crossing.  I know this is typical of a lot of trails around the country, but not DFW, probably because we're usually cramming a bunch of nested loops in a very few acres.

 But at the end, it's fire road back to the trailhead, which is hot, but actually kind of nice, I thought.  DIdn't have to worry about steering or negotiating any obstacles while tired, and there was even about .5 mile of 7-10% grade on the way out to keep you from being a complete piker.

It's not fun.  Especially in this day and age (NO CR).

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Just left the farm, looking like a ride is in the cards. 80 degrees, no humidity, and dry trails.

The only downside is I’ve been doing serious manual labor all day and I’m wiped. I’ll ride like a bitch for sure

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Go get em.  Acting like rain here.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Ride went better than expected. Nailed a rooty uphill treegate that I’ve always had to walk. Naturally followed it up with missing gears in a quick down/up and ended up walking lest I snap another chain. 5-6 miles I’d estimate. Definitely riding Sunday, we’ll see.

Time for burgers and beer

[TwiceHorn 30851]

In the (higher) 80s for today's ride.  But for some reason hot af.  Everyone, even hikers, just dripping sweat.  Only 57%RH.  I was chugging along pretty good, making some climbs and something stopped me, I forget what.  Decided to stop and drink some water and in the process somehow had a minor meltdown and was no good at all for the rest of the ride.

I think I mentioned this upthread, what the hell is this?

 

[wd40 1976]

just Stan's weep.  not a big deal.  just a reminder that hot weather dries it out faster, and need to refresh it.  I probably do mine twice during the summer.  maybe three tumes, if the heat comes early.

at least around here, your knobs will be shredded before you need to worry about the weepage.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

12 minutes ago, wd40 said:

just Stan's weep.  not a big deal.  just a reminder that hot weather dries it out faster, and need to refresh it.  I probably do mine twice during the summer.  maybe three tumes, if the heat comes early.

at least around here, your knobs will be shredded before you need to worry about the weepage.

Think that pattern has anything to do with tire squirm?  It only shows up when I ride, not just sitting there, and dusty trails, too.  I have been letting the rear get pretty low (around 15) and it doesn't seem to be improving traction and today I felt what I thought was the tire moving around some, plus that weird rolling noise and maybe some rim bumps here and there.  I'm probably too heavy (200+) for that kind of pressure in back.  I think I need to go up to 25 and be a bit more conservative in letting it down.  15 in front seems fantastic with a 2.6, though.  Also probably stiffer compound.

Also, at a year, I put 10 lbs "back" into my shock (it may not have lost any, I didn't know to equalize it) and back end has been harsh and traction suboptimal.  I have a lot going on back there and have been quite loose in the caboose lately.  

Edited August 24, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[wd40 1976]

you need some air, dude.  but I think anyone running <25 psi is insane, especially if they're not running procore.  I run around 28.

 I was having some intermittent squirreliness a while back, and I thought it was my shock. turns out my floor pump has gone out of cal.  I pump the needle up to around 32 now, and it feels good.  I was probably running somewhere south 25, but because the gauge said 28, I had convinced myself that the softness in the squeeze test was just my massively strong hands.

everyone's comfort zone is different.  but if I was you, I'd try Maxxis Ignitors (w/ EXO casing).  I love those.  I run them on my hardtail.  any rolling resistance you think your saving with those Rekons is cancelled out by the low psi.  you've got a full-suspension.  no need to roll marshmellows and risk your rims on a root or rock.

again.  personal taste.

and no, the patter of the weep doesn't indicate anything, that I know of.  the Nevegals I used to run were solid ooze on the sidewalls.  never had a problem there.  the knobs would wear out or tear off, or I'd get a big rock puncture in the tread that leaked even after plugging it.  that's when I'd replace the tire.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Yeah my gauge is off also, reads about 3 psi low, 1compared to shops gauge anyway, so those aren't the real pressures, neglected to mention that. Or it used to. Maybe it went weird too. But the pump gauge is about the same as it ever was.

[Knoxtnhorn 5908]

Skipping my soccer game to hit the trails today.  I'm still pretty sore, but F it.  

[Knoxtnhorn 5908]

@TwiceHorn

Were you at RCP today?  Saw a couple of trucks with Longhorn decals.

I only wrecked once today.  Nothing serious.  I looked down for a sec to check my water bottle, and my handlebar hit a tree.  

Also came across a fairly large snake on the trail.  Had to be 3 feet long.  It wasn't a rattlesnake.  Tried to take a pic, but it disappeared rather quickly.  From what I recall, it looked like an Eastern Yellow-Bellied Racer, though, I'm just going off of memory and a google search.

[Austinvines 309]

Got a SATN ride in this morning with a twist. About halfway into my ride I came across a hiker with a big German Shepherd. She asked if I saw a smaller female the way I had come, which I hadn’t. I’m back on a keto diet and haven’t quite gotten fat adapted again so was feeling weak and decided to ride the trails up and back to see if I came across her. The trails cover lots of acreage but if you follow one far enough, you will do a circuit.

Luckily, the owner always parks in the same place so I figured the dog would head back to the truck but I made several passes and never saw her. I ran back into the owner and her other dog was really starting to feel the heat. There is no water in the creek so that was a little worrying. I’ve seen rattlers in the area, too.

I made a veloway loop before heading home and never ran across the dog. I’ve had dogs dig out from our fence and been gone overnight and that is just a sickening feeling.

When I got home, I had a text from the owner saying the dog had come back to the truck so that was a good end to the ride. All in was about 13 miles with an avg speed of 8.5 mph. Now I’m kicking it on the pool deck, taking dips and thinking about an afternoon cocktail.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

3 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

@TwiceHorn

Were you at RCP today?  Saw a couple of trucks with Longhorn decals.

I only wrecked once today.  Nothing serious.  I looked down for a sec to check my water bottle, and my handlebar hit a tree.  

Also came across a fairly large snake on the trail.  Had to be 3 feet long.  It wasn't a rattlesnake.  Tried to take a pic, but it disappeared rather quickly.  From what I recall, it looked like an Eastern Yellow-Bellied Racer, though, I'm just going off of memory and a google search.

No. Not today. Doing familial type stuff.  Those racers can move.  RCP is one of the snakiest trails around going by reports,especially copperheads in the spring. I saw a run over king, cotton, or copperhead there last week. I didn't stop to identify because they give me a sad.

[Knoxtnhorn 5908]

 Well crap.  Rattlesnakes were the only one's that I were worried about.  Forgot about copperheads.

[wd40 1976]

my buds all went to Brushy for a second day in a row.  I had my mind set on this place, weather and fitness be damned.  sketchy ride today.  damp and snotty in places, hero dirt in others.  at least the wood was dry.  

tweaked my wrist very early in the ride (toward the end of the video).  really didn't even notice it when it happened, but the pain ramped up through the whole ride and was a major distraction and confidence killer.  riding solo didn't help.  skipped out on a couple of goals. trying to get more comfortable on TTFs for my upcoming trip to Bentonville.

as usual, a song stuck in my head and I had to make a video with it.  Dirtbombs, again.  1080HD.

 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

4 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

 Well crap.  Rattlesnakes were the only one's that I were worried about.  Forgot about copperheads.

I have seen a bunch, mostly juveniles.  They don't mess with you if you don't mess with them.  The only worry might be going OTB into a spot where there is one or two, but I bet they'd GTFO rather than bite.  They're beautiful critters, imho.

[Knoxtnhorn 5908]

Well, according to Naked and Afraid, juvenile snakes are more dangerous than adult snakes because they latch on longer or something.  Not sure if this is true or not, but I'm not messing with them.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

5 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Well, according to Naked and Afraid, juvenile snakes are more dangerous than adult snakes because they latch on longer or something.  Not sure if this is true or not, but I'm not messing with them.

Apparently true in some cases because younguns expel all their venom in one shot; but rarely fatal in any event.  One time, up at collarbone park, I was riding with a couple of other dudes and the lead guy slams on his brakes and we all follow suit.  There was about a foot long youngun across the trail, stretched out, just lying there.  Took us a couple of minutes to get it to move, tossing rocks and twigs.  

Mostly we didn't want to run over it, only partly because we were afraid it would strike.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

When I'm bitching about winter, I just need to remind myself how we don't have near as many snakes as you guys.  We do have timber rattlers, but I've never seen one on MTB trails (I have seen and was almost bit by one on a local paved rail trail on my roady), and we don't have copperheads which scare me more for some reason.

I'm a complete bitch about snakes, but find them fascinating.

[KuЯdt 248]

Got a ride in today at high noon.  It was hot but only 92 instead of the forecast 104.  Think I'll keep doing that for the next few weeks for weekday rides.

[KuЯdt 248]

19 hours ago, wd40 said:

my buds all went to Brushy for a second day in a row.  I had my mind set on this place, weather and fitness be damned.  sketchy ride today.  damp and snotty in places, hero dirt in others.  at least the wood was dry.  

tweaked my wrist very early in the ride (toward the end of the video).  really didn't even notice it when it happened, but the pain ramped up through the whole ride and was a major distraction and confidence killer.  riding solo didn't help.  skipped out on a couple of goals. trying to get more comfortable on TTFs for my upcoming trip to Bentonville.

as usual, a song stuck in my head and I had to make a video with it.  Dirtbombs, again.  1080HD.

 

I know of that place but never been.  A lot of the stuff there looks to be a bit above my pay grade from what I've seen.

What do you use for camera setup?  I have a GoPro that i used to make some vids with years ago  (3+ Black i think) but I was never really that pleased with how they turned out.  I used the chest mount, but they would still be pretty shaky.  Then my wife got a gimbal for hers (she does some photo/vid stuff on the side) and I used that some but it was a pain in the ass to get working correctly.

Now she has a GoPro 7 which has image stabilization built into the software.  Haven't tried it yet and I'm sure it won't be near as good as a real gimbal, but I'm thinking of giving it a shot.  I have a trip to New Mexico coming up next month and will hit a bunch of trails out there and it would be fun to get some of that on video.

[wd40 1976]

I use a Hero4 silver on the standard GoPro Chesty.  camera shake has alwaays been a problem.  I ran that thing as tight as it will go.  some trails are smoother than others.  not gato.  constant rattle.   my cheapskate solution was simply to tie a couple knots in the straps to where there's almost no stretch left.   that thing is so tight now, I either keep it in my pack or unbuckle it for sustained climbs or whenever I'm not filming.

a friend of mine recently offered to loan me his gimbal.  I'll probably take him up on it.  but you have me scared that it takes too much work.  personally, the gimbals are so smooth, it hardly looks like mountain biking.  it's a very visceral thing, for me.  I find videos that look like flight are often boring.  it's more about reliving the experience.

speaking of, rewatching the video from yesterday, I noticed the first major mistake I made on my crash:  I forgot to drop the saddle.  (the second mistake was fixating on the rock I eventually hit, instead of looking far ahead).

can't remember if I shared this one.  shorter and less shaky than the other video I made.

 

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

I was riding a trail I’ve never biked in my usual system tonight. Jammed my left pedal on top of a rock as I went down a new drop. Popped up off the seat area, and landed with the tip of my seat making a direct impact on my asshole.

I guarantee it’s bruised, but my wife won’t check it. Win some, lose some.

[wd40 1976]

I'm confused:  was the bruised anus the win, or your wife not wanting to inspect it?

Kurdt:  I should also mention that if you're armoring up to do lift-served trail in NM, wear your chest protector on the outside of your clothing.  when I did AF last year, I wore a moto jersey over the top, and it effectively lubricated the chesty over the hard plastic of the body armor.  almost all the cold early morning footage was trash.  similar slickery effect happens if you wear two layers of jersey material.  if you can feel the camera bouncing, your recording earthquake simulations.

I briefly experimented with a chin mount on my fullface helmet.  sucked.  it was smooth, but was too far forward, so no handlebars and I couldn't ever get the angle right.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

There were no wins yesterday.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Al_4_ISU