The Surly Mountain Biking Thread

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Also, oddball thing.  On a fair number of rides, on different trails, I encounter a kind of musty home smell.  Not unpleasant, but smells like your grandmother's house, kinda.  It's not something you expect to encounter outdoors on a trail.  I think it might be the smell of other riders or trail users' clothes.  Maybe piles of decomposing leaves/plant matter have a similar smell, I don't know.

[KuЯdt 248]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Nearly perfect ride today.  Sixties, clear, hero dirt everywhere.

Yes, I had the same experience today.  Got out for my first decent ride in a couple of weeks and went to Pedernales Falls.  With the rain we got this past week it was absolute hero dirt out there.  Hero weather too.  Supposed to be continued nice weather this week and I have vacation days I need to burn by the end of the yea,r so I think I'll take a day or 2 and ride.  

[KuЯdt 248]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Nearly perfect ride today.  Sixties, clear, hero dirt everywhere.

dp

Edited November 18, 2019 by KuЯdt

[KuЯdt 248]

triple post, wtf.  

Edited November 18, 2019 by KuЯdt
pos board

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

The rare triple. @KuЯdt, you fucking showoff!

[TwiceHorn 32104]

Broke a rear drive side spoke today.  The head fell off.  Pretty sure I caught it right after it happened.  Wheel appeared to be still pretty true, but I took it to a shop to have em replace the spoke and look it over.  

There was a time, in the days of Schwinn steel rims, that I monkeyed with spokes fearlessly.  I no longer do so.

Hope I'm not in for a string of busted spokes and a new wheel or rebuilt one.

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Hope I'm not in for a string of busted spokes and a new wheel or rebuilt one.

Should be good unless you're using an ammonia-based sealant combined with aluminum nipples.

Ammonia's been removed from most brands that I'm aware of. Stan's used to have it, and a local shop that repaired a broken spoke cut corners with the tape job (lifted old tape up, replaced broken nipple, and slapped tape back down instead of taking a couple of extra minutes to retape the wheel), which led to a poor seal and many more broken spokes. They'd snap simply from the torque of acceleration.

I don't use that shop anymore.

[TwiceHorn 32104]

There have been a lot of sticks on the trails lately, along with the leaves.  I might bet that I tweaked that spoke with a stick and it gave today.

[wd40 1976]

12 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Should be good unless you're using an ammonia-based sealant combined with aluminum nipples.

Ammonia's been removed from most brands that I'm aware of. Stan's used to have it, and a local shop that repaired a broken spoke cut corners with the tape job (lifted old tape up, replaced broken nipple, and slapped tape back down instead of taking a couple of extra minutes to retape the wheel), which led to a poor seal and many more broken spokes. They'd snap simply from the torque of acceleration.

I don't use that shop anymore.

I switched to brass nipples after my second Al one broke.  didn't even know I had Al nipples on the (OEM) rim until I got the first one fixed.  this was before I went tubeless.  I'll never understand weight weenies, at least.

2x, if I'm reading you right, you should be able to replace the spoke without even popping the tire bead.  just gotta clamp that nipple so it doesn't slip into the rim when you unscrew it from the spoke.  agree with Braff, the wheel should be fine, short a spoke.  just twist it around a neighbor and ride until you can get a replacement, (which is probably a trip to the LBS anyway, unless you have extras around).

if you decide to replace it yourself, don't use blue loctite.  use the pink, or use real spoke prep (LBS can dip spokes for you, which is what I do when I'm fixin to build one, since it goes bad in the jar much faster than my wheel build frequency).

so...enjoy your trip to the bike shop.

 

[TwiceHorn 32104]

There's a store I go to (dallasbikeworks) that has a 50-60 year old dude running the shop, in addition to the 20 something slackers.  I trust them pretty well, especially with wheels.

They fixed it this afternoon, I'll pick it up in the morning.  Their fees are always reasonable.  

I don't remember what it was exactly that I hit, something minor, like a root or rock that I caught with the rear wheel and it popped up pretty hard and smacked me good in the ass.  When I got into smooth again, it was making a slight tinking noise so I stopped and the first spoke I grabbed to squeeze was the busted one.  Since it broke at the head it wasn't really flying around, so I rode slowly back to the trailhead.

Two things made me think maybe I had a damaged rim.  Once, on the same trail, I burped the rear tire so it went flat almost immediately and I was bopping down some limestone when it happened, but I think the tire protected for the 50 yards or so I rode on it.  I wound up changing that tire entirely and didn't eyeball anything wrong with the rim, but sometimes that eludes eyeballs.  And then my grand underpressure experiment.  I don't think I ever hit real hard while doing that, but again you never know.

Anyway, I'm thinking it was a stick.  I had to stop several times pretty quick over the last few rides because of shit in the rear wheel/chain and I didn't want to bust a der or hanger.  Drivetrain survived, but I didn't think of damage to spokes.

[TwiceHorn 32104]

Id kind of like to try building a wheel sometime just to kind of get a feel for it somewhere with a proper truing stand and spoke tension meter.  As it stands, I'm kind of afraid to take a spoke wrench to an aluminum wheel.  I can just see myself getting into a do-loop of truing:  too much, no not enough, rinse, repeat, FUCK!  Probably not that dangerous with one spoke, but still.

[KuЯdt 248]

i do most of my own wrenching, but wheel building and anything beyond tightening a couple of loose spokes I leave to the shop.  I know my limits...

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

It's not really that difficult, just takes time and patience.  I have a set I built for the last 12 years and haven't had to true it once.

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

I've heard something similar from other wheelsmiths, dingle--not that difficult, stays true forever. Definitely piques the ol' interest, a la, "Maybe I should consider taking the plunge."

Do you ride those wheels a lot and put them through the wringer?

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

In the past yes.    I'm a 200 lb dude and they were on my 29er hardtail, which was later fully rigid.  I never did huge drops or anything though.  There was a difference between those and the stock wheels I had on previous bikes, which maybe once or twice a year I had to true.   Those were the last wheels I built though, the others I sold so I don't know how those held up.  Maybe if you have a pair of used wheels sitting around, take them apart and put them back together just for practice.

[TwiceHorn 32104]

Rode Rowlett Creek yesterday and got a wild hair to do some new loops.  Found what looks like some kind of fun climby/droppy stuff.  BUT, everything was covered with leaves.  Big sycamore and oak leaves so it was hard to see the trail, hard to see things in the trail, and of course slicker than owl shit.

Made me even more tentative than my old, pussy, broken-collarbone fuct up finger ass is normally.  Will have to check out again.

[Wiler77 1630]

Spent 2 hours out at Flat Creek Crossing Ranch this morning.  What a glorious day for riding.  Did more of the XC stuff than usual and lots of uphill.  My legs are hating me this afternoon, but goddamn what a great workout.  Finished with some of the downhill runs.

Seemed rockier than usual, but they've also upgraded some of the trails because they had a race out there recently.  Also re-did the entrance road so there aren't 2 feet deep potholes every 10 feet.

[wd40 1976]

FCCR is awesome.  it's just a hike for me and my usual crew.  hard to scare up enough dudes for the time commitment.  they rarely venture south of Brushy, nowadays.  need to get back out there, for sure.

as it was, I was probably only 30 minutes away from there, today.  old school rocky ups and downs.  my legs are feeling it, too.

I did take the time to restore the tombstone on RIP, though.  my good deed for the day.  been so long, I'd forgotten where I was without it.

[Dbeasy 15613]

Finally hit Brushy Creek trail today. Just spent most of the time on concrete scoping out the various trails, figuring out which one I will attack later in the week.  I had a question on my bike. It feels like the front disc brakes rub slightly but when I look down at the calipers, I can see daylight on each side, so I'm a bit confused. Anyone have that issue?

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

You can usually hear rotor rub. If you pick the bike up (or flip it over) and spin the front wheel, do you hear any rubbing or whistling noise?

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

Maybe loosen and resecure your front wheel. If there's and slop there could be difference between when there's weight on the wheel and not.  I'd they are cable actuated maybe lube or even change the cables.  If the cables are sticky they could be slow to retract.  

[TwiceHorn 32104]

6 hours ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Maybe loosen and resecure your front wheel. If there's and slop there could be difference between when there's weight on the wheel and not.  I'd they are cable actuated maybe lube or even change the cables.  If the cables are sticky they could be slow to retract.  

Yeah, I forget if db's bike has quick-release hubs, but if so, you can fiddle with the nut on the end and have it tighter or looser and pay attention to have the axle/end caps roughly centered before you tighten it.  If it's too loose or off-center (it should be sort of self-centering, but experience shows it's not exactly), you can get some sporadic rub.

Couple of nice cool weather rides this week.  Good conditions except for all the leaves.

Edited November 27, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

Happy Turkey Day, fellow riders.

This year, I'm most thankful that nobody seriously injured his or herself (other than @wd40 trying to amputate his leg trailside).

 

[TwiceHorn 32104]

358 days and $6k ago.

 

 

Not that serious tho.

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

Eh, still pretty serious. Never good when a lawyer loses his primary method of communication ... particularly with Metroplex traffic.

[TwiceHorn 32104]

The last-knuckle droop is probably semi-permanent,  The second-knuckle just needs to loosen up from being splinted for four months.

[KuЯdt 248]

I bet the old lady appreciates it tho.


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[TwiceHorn 32104]

Ribbed for her pleasure.

D'oh.

[Ths71 472]

Bummed! Went to my brother’s for Thanksgiving planning to ride Northwoods but it rained the whole time. His house is about 5 minutes from there. We used to ride there before it was legal and it looks like they have done an awesome job with the trails.


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[wd40 1976]

bcgb today.  quick non-edit.  five minutes of heavy breathing

 

[TwiceHorn 32104]

Props man.  That's brutal.

I kept looking up at the horizon, which is always my fuck it moment.

[AUinHsv 584]

Both my ER trips were at BC. Going down Hill of Life the front wheel stuck and I flew like Superman. Landed groin first on a pointed rock. Had some really interesting colors for a week (no pics).

Edited December 1, 2019 by AUinHsv

[KuЯdt 248]

5 hours ago, wd40 said:

bcgb today.  quick non-edit.  five minutes of heavy breathing

 

Nice, dude.  I've never made it all the way up dab-free.  Best I've done is gotten up to the left turn with the big ass ledges, which looks like about the same spot you got up to.  Of course I did it years ago when I was in much better shape.  Could not do that now.  In fact I haven't ridden that main trail in a long time...these days I take one of the singletrack options off to the left.

But you've inspired me.  I'm off work tomorrow so going to hit up BCGB.

[wd40 1976]

Thanks, man.

well, here's some more inspiration (or 11 minutes you'll never get back).  the rest of today's footage.  

I really didn't know what I wanted to do with it, and I already burned the song I heard today that stuck in my head, so I ended up going with your comment about bcgb being the quintessential Austin trail.  

it's in sequence from where I started, to where I ended up before I got sorta lost trying to find Pump Station.  I let it run after the music to help remind me where to turn (during dry conditions).

btw, my HOL record isn't much better.  been years for me, as well.  usually take Taint, because I can never seem to find Hobo Hut on my own.  HOL proper has really gotten eroded and widened, since I last saw it.  I'd planned to take Dumptruck anyway, but if I'd made that crux, I'd have tried to go for the top.  I was about done anyway, spinout or no, so no complaints.

hero dirt today helped.

[TwiceHorn 32104]

Do you have to manual/wheelie to get up that stuff or just "unweight" the front wheel with a little weight shift?

I climb some rooty stuff that's probably about like that, but I kind of shut down when I see bigger ledges or stairsteps.

Pretty much in your last couple of cogs, I might assume?  Got a 50 out back?

When I do sustained climbs, I tend to downshift until I'm not mashing.  Should I consider going lower just to save some heartrate/fatigue?

[wd40 1976]

2x, all of the above, on technique.  it's a judgement call based on current speed, energy level and the obstacle.  the set up on my bike keps the front end pretty light, so wheelie-ing up is little different than just unweighting, in terms of effort.  just gotta pick a spot where I can get the front up on the ledge where it has room to roll before the next significant bump, and where I have clean traction in the back.  

watching the video again, I have little memory of what I was doing after that move at 1:25.  had to get the front tire over a boulder, and roll it along the top of a knife- edge rock to bridge up to the next boulder up before the two old ladies came down.

I generally try to go Earl up the Middle, because it's so easy to get snagged on stupid shit going around stuff at the edges.  but traffic and my energy level often dictated going wide.  there's also a lot of scree in the middle that forced me outside.

no 50T.  I'm just that slow.  30 up front, 42 in the back for my granny.  pretty sure I was in it almost the whole time.  definitely don't like to do a lot of shifting on that stuff.  tend to squirt rocks and spin out.

[Your Mom 4982]

That was awesome!  I made it up once 20ish years ago on a 26" hardtail.  These days I don't even get up the first real ledges on the lower section.  Video doesn't quite convey how hard it is getting up those ledges when you're already on a steep incline to begin with.  I've got about 3 more weeks of no riding to heal a broken elbow, then I'll be back on my flat South Austin trails again.  

[TwiceHorn 32104]

1 hour ago, wd40 said:

2x, all of the above, on technique.  it's a judgement call based on current speed, energy level and the obstacle.  the set up on my bike keps the front end pretty light, so wheelie-ing up is little different than just unweighting, in terms of effort.  just gotta pick a spot where I can get the front up on the ledge where it has room to roll before the next significant bump, and where I have clean traction in the back.  

watching the video again, I have little memory of what I was doing after that move at 1:25.  had to get the front tire over a boulder, and roll it along the top of a knife- edge rock to bridge up to the next boulder up before the two old ladies came down.

I generally try to go Earl up the Middle, because it's so easy to get snagged on stupid shit going around stuff at the edges.  but traffic and my energy level often dictated going wide.  there's also a lot of scree in the middle that forced me outside.

no 50T.  I'm just that slow.  30 up front, 42 in the back for my granny.  pretty sure I was in it almost the whole time.  definitely don't like to do a lot of shifting on that stuff.  tend to squirt rocks and spin out.

Ha, was not a comment on the speed.   And yeah, know what you mean on the unweighting thing.  I just have to raise my chest a little to pop over some things.  I'd be afraid to loop out doing much more than that, which is why I don't mess with those ledges much.  There aren't too many around here.

Currently, I'm trying to figure out how to clean this climb that's the upside of a creek crossing.  It has some big roots near the top that just stop me dead. Funny thing is, I can do it by walking to the bottom and climbing it in "rock crawler" mode, but I can't make it work in full-speed mode.  I guess I can gauge the momentum and the unweighting better at slow speed than fast..

Impressive cassette.  I'm not sure I use my granny enough.  Going back to my Schwinn days, the "right gear" seems to be just under mashing.  I have kind of broken myself of that on flats, but I should experiment with more downshifting on climbs, I think.

[KuЯdt 248]

So I finally got around to looking through some of the footage from my Ruidoso trip a couple of months ago.  Here's a quick vid from one of the runs down the trail at Ski Apache.  I was hoping that they would have added more trails and features out there but didn't look like anything new from the last time.  Not a challenging trail but it's still fun to do a few runs.

 

 

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

Fast and flowy (like at the end) is always fun, mate. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like Ruidoso suffered a huge burnout. When was that?

[TwiceHorn 32104]

I'd say keeping your shit together with all that speed is something of a challenge.  Looks like fun.

[KuЯdt 248]

3 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Fast and flowy (like at the end) is always fun, mate. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like Ruidoso suffered a huge burnout. When was that?

yeah there were  some major fires in the area about 6 or 7 years ago.   One of the biggest in NM history, I believe. 

[TwiceHorn 32104]

Good ride today at OCNP.  Finally climbed that creek crossing I was grousing about by just avoiding the now-huge roots.

Here's one of the stairsteps that I don't even hardly mess with anymore.

It's not tall, and it follows a descent, but I think it would be easier to mount with less momentum so you could kind of hop up those ledges.  The root really kind of fux you up if you try to go right or center.

At one time, there was a groove in the first ledge over to the left that made the whole thing doable if you didn't have wide bars to catch on that tree.  But the rock broke up,

[Austinvines 318]

My sons will be riding an IMBA Epic tomorrow when the varsity HS team rides the Goodwater loop around Lake Georgetown. I will be spinning around the SATN, as 26 miles is a bit longer than I’ve ever done on a MTB. They’ve been cat’d up to varsity for their senior year in NICA which is cool. If anyone here has a 6-12th grader, I cannot recommend the NICA league enough.

[TwiceHorn 32104]

That's cool.  Do yall get to ride together much?  Does he completely whip your ass?

 

Oh, the other thing I accomplished today was that I rolled, not fast, but no dab, not super slow either, that monstrous Twin Towers tree gate referenced upthread.  I usually think of @Al_4_ISU on that one, and the other more challenging gates.  I figured out that the issue with Twin Towers is really your pedals, not your bars, so go flat and you're ok.

[Al_4_ISU 12661]

That's cool.  Do yall get to ride together much?  Does he completely whip your ass?
 
Oh, the other thing I accomplished today was that I rolled, not fast, but no dab, not super slow either, that monstrous Twin Towers tree gate referenced upthread.  I usually think of [mention=1238]Al_4_ISU[/mention] on that one, and the other more challenging gates.  I figured out that the issue with Twin Towers is really your pedals, not your bars, so go flat and you're ok.

Nice! I’m always preoccupied with avoiding pedal catches on any rooty drop, which makes it harder to keep an eye on my bars. I think you’re spot on here. Get the pedals, get the gate.

I almost got to ride yesterday. Almost. Harvest from hell takes no prisoners.


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[TwiceHorn 32104]

Rode Rowlett Creek today.  Ventured out on the climbydroppy loop (loop 7) that I "tasted" last time, hoping it would be less leafy.  Rotten Bananas at TOS had said the loop beyond 7 (loop 14) was challenging to the point of dangerous and that a friend had gotten hurt pretty bad on it.

First off, it runs by this really deep and steep sided ravine:

As usual, the pix don't really do it justice, and further along the trail it gets worse in spots.

Then, I came across this very short section of offcamber leading into a nasty, but not steep part of the ravine.

I walked, rather jogged, this and was nervous as hell doing it.  Again the pix not doing it justice.  And I am referring to the steep off-camber that goes to the left out of the pic.

Well a few tens/hundred yards down, there was an extended section of this preceded by a black diamond sign.  It went on further than you could see.  And instead of that rats nest to the right, it looked like the right side of that ravine pic, because that's what it was. Yeah fuck that.  Thankfully a bypass.

And then, as it returned to the more normal climby/droppy stuff near the beginning of the loop, there was this long steep descent covered with leaves with a 90 degree right turn at the bottom.  Yeah fuck that too and not real walkable, but I found a more walkable b-line or bandit to get to the bottom.

Looking at the trail map, this isn't even on loop 14, but still on 7, which is marked blue.  Loop 14 is black. Yikes.

@Knoxtnhorn you ever go out this way?

 

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Knoxtnhorn 6312]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Rode Rowlett Creek today.  Ventured out on the climbydroppy loop (loop 7) that I "tasted" last time, hoping it would be less leafy.  Rotten Bananas at TOS had said the loop beyond 7 (loop 14) was challenging to the point of dangerous and that a friend had gotten hurt pretty bad on it.

First off, it runs by this really deep and steep sided ravine:

As usual, the pix don't really do it justice, and further along the trail it gets worse in spots.

Then, I came across this very short section of offcamber leading into a nasty, but not steep part of the ravine.

I walked, rather jogged, this and was nervous as hell doing it.  Again the pix not doing it justice.  And I am referring to the steep off-camber that goes to the left out of the pic.

Well a few tens/hundred yards down, there was an extended section of this preceded by a black diamond sign.  It went on further than you could see.  And instead of that rats nest to the right, it looked like the right side of that ravine pic, because that's what it was. Yeah fuck that.  Thankfully a bypass.

And then, as it returned to the more normal climby/droppy stuff near the beginning of the loop, there was this long steep descent covered with leaves with a 90 degree right turn at the bottom.  Yeah fuck that too and not real walkable, but I found a more walkable b-line or bandit to get to the bottom.

Looking at the trail map, this isn't even on loop 14, but still on 7, which is marked blue.  Loop 14 is black. Yikes.

@Knoxtnhorn you ever go out this way?

 

 

You know what's funny?  When I moved from Richardson to Garland for high school in the 90's, the end of my street - Palo Duro - practically ran into that canyon area.  My little brothers and I used to go play in the water and "mountain climb" that area.  I made out with more than one girl near that spot.  

When I moved back to the area (Rowlett) 2 years ago and looked up mountain bike trails, I was really surprised that they had built a spot in my old stomping grounds.  I'm pretty ballsy (and stupid) on a bike, but I'm not sure I'd ever try this part of the trail assuming we're on the same page.  I'm speaking of the part that drops off the trail towards a creak area, has loose soil, and about a 30 degree angle.  You can slide off really easily and drop off, what, 30 feet?   

I need to get back on my bike, but my back starts killing me within a few minutes.  I've got some sort of SI joint issue that I can't shake.

[Knoxtnhorn 6312]

BTW, if we're talking about the same spot, I think there's a paved trail just above the dirt trail with the steep dropoff.

[TwiceHorn 32104]

16 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

BTW, if we're talking about the same spot, I think there's a paved trail just above the dirt trail with the steep dropoff.

Yes, there's a park off to the left with a paved trail through it.  That was the bypass for the heavy-duty off-camber section.

Things for me are always worse the first time I see them, but I was very "whoa" about it today.

The dirt on those sections was pretty firm today, but I don't have much experience with extreme off-camber stuff and feared sliding (even while walking) and pedal strikes on the high side with dire results.

And, ravines of 10-20 feet are pretty common in DFW, but this one was probably 20-40 feet, on both sides. 

Having looked at the map and some elevations, the loop seems to start off mostly at creek level, with 10-20 foot climbs and drops, but then works its way up to the side of that ravine.  Then, where I mentioned that hairy-looking descent, drops back to more or less creek level.  It appears that descent is about 50 feet with a -10 to 12% grade, so that kind of confirms my depth estimates.  And, as usual since collarbone, the descent only made me a little nervous, especially with the leaves covering up roots and things, but it was the hard right in the runout that was a dealbreaker.  

Edited December 9, 2019 by TwiceHorn