The Surly Mountain Biking Thread

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

Keep sharing update Twice. Ever since I got the terminal diagnosis on the Yeti, I've been bike shopping online. The Ripley is high on my list, so I love the real world updates. 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

29 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Keep sharing update Twice. Ever since I got the terminal diagnosis on the Yeti, I've been bike shopping online. The Ripley is high on my list, so I love the real world updates. 

One thing that will be interesting.  My main riding buddy has the mid-tier carbon Tallboy.  He's about 10 years younger than I am, and probably heavier.  But he often kind of leaves me in the dust on the flat straights.  The competitive part of me has always partially blamed his better bike.  That may be more true than I thought.

I haven't tried the Ripley on some of the harder climbs on the trails I ride.  There's quite a consensus that it is a spectacular climber, but I don't really feel like I have ridden anything that reveals that, yet.  I did ride Arbor Hills last week, and that's a short, punchy little fucker and I actually did two laps, which is rather rare for me, so maybe some more subtle difference there.

One thing I think is real about the latest generation of bikes is that the 44mm offset on forks helps quite a bit with the steering on a slack frame when you actually have to steer (and not just lean).  So, if you're like me and felt like steering on slack frames was kind of a sloppy proposition unless pointed down, you may find that to be a marked improvement.  I may be kind of peculiar there because I was still riding a steep hardtail when most of you were already getting slacker, so I went from 70+ to mid-60s and it was shocking.

I assume your Yeti was bigger travel than the Ripley, so a Ripmo might be more your speed for the centex trails.  Preliminary indications seem to be that the hype on the DW-link rear is pretty real, though.

Edited March 21, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Got the fatty out on some doubletrack on county and private land that I can ride to (and did) out my front door yesterday AM. It was beautiful and I got the ride in before it got greasy.





Overnight lows look to be in the mid 20’s this weekend which should give me a chance to ride the hard tail. Ground dried out a lot this week too.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

One other observation about the Ripley and bikes in general these days.  It has longer chainstays than the Marin.  I'm not good at manualing or any of that, but I had gotten decent at unweighting the front wheel a little with the subtle weight shift.

The longer chainstays and maybe the steeper seat tubes (same effective for Marin and Ripley), shift the balance point back a little so it is harder to do that.  That may not affect you better riders as much as it does me, but it's worth noting.

[wd40 1976]

am I just bad at math and out of shape, or is Strava complete bullshit, as far as calories and power calculations?  seems to just not give you enough credit for climbing.

this was from yesterday.  

[TwiceHorn 30851]

13 minutes ago, wd40 said:

am I just bad at math and out of shape, or is Strava complete bullshit, as far as calories and power calculations?  seems to just not give you enough credit for climbing.

this was from yesterday.  

Don't know about Strava, but the thing I use, Alltrails, seems to credit distance and time more than anything for calories burned.  I also don't trust its elevation readings very much.  But they are consistent with elevation changes shown on trailforks and mtb project, which probably come from similar sources (i.e. phone gps).

Length

4.68 mi

Elevation gain

279 ft

Moving time

48:49

Avg Speed

5.8 mph

Calories

798

Total time

52:56

That's from Arbor Hills, where you at least feel the climbs a bit, but I get similar elevation numbers from trails where you don't, and bigger calorie burns based on distance and time.  But really it's all over the damn place.

And, I kind of think they may take elevation change into account over the time and distance of the ride, without accounting for the effort expended on steep grades.

That's some manly shit, right there, though.  

Edited March 21, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

9 minutes ago, wd40 said:

am I just bad at math and out of shape, or is Strava complete bullshit, as far as calories and power calculations?  seems to just not give you enough credit for climbing.

this was from yesterday.  

Every fitness app I've used gives a lot more credit for calories than Strava, although I'm not sure how they adjust for climb.

That ride you did is easily in the ballpark of 1,000 calories burned.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Al_4_ISU

[midtown 3339]

That's because strava thinks you are on a road bike.    1 hr ride at 4mph on a road bike is almost standing still and implies pretty much zero effort.  I have strava linked to myfitnesspal and I have to go in and change it from road to mtn/bmx and my calories triple

Edited March 21, 2022 by midtown

[Your Mom 4763]

Double post

Edited March 22, 2022 by Your Mom

[Your Mom 4763]

10 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

One thing that will be interesting.  My main riding buddy has the mid-tier carbon Tallboy.  He's about 10 years younger than I am, and probably heavier.  But he often kind of leaves me in the dust on the flat straights.  The competitive part of me has always partially blamed his better bike.  That may be more true than I thought.

I haven't tried the Ripley on some of the harder climbs on the trails I ride.  There's quite a consensus that it is a spectacular climber, but I don't really feel like I have ridden anything that reveals that, yet.  I did ride Arbor Hills last week, and that's a short, punchy little fucker and I actually did two laps, which is rather rare for me, so maybe some more subtle difference there.

One thing I think is real about the latest generation of bikes is that the 44mm offset on forks helps quite a bit with the steering on a slack frame when you actually have to steer (and not just lean).  So, if you're like me and felt like steering on slack frames was kind of a sloppy proposition unless pointed down, you may find that to be a marked improvement.  I may be kind of peculiar there because I was still riding a steep hardtail when most of you were already getting slacker, so I went from 70+ to mid-60s and it was shocking.

I assume your Yeti was bigger travel than the Ripley, so a Ripmo might be more your speed for the centex trails.  Preliminary indications seem to be that the hype on the DW-link rear is pretty real, though.

My speed varies by well over a mph depending when I took my last dump. It could be something other than the bike. 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

1 hour ago, Your Mom said:

My speed varies by well over a mph depending when I took my last dump. It could be something other than the bike. 

Very much same.  This, however, is a mph faster than I have ever done on that route before, whether full of shit or empty of shit, or whatever other factors are involved, in nearly 10 years of riding it.  And I really wasn't trying very hard.  Even if it was a "special day," it was faster than any other special day I have had.

Also, my very first ride, which was nothing special and on a very flat route at Katie Jackson (while seeing how it rode, bedding brakes, feeling out the setup, etc.) was quite a bit faster than any split I've ever recorded on that route (I have to compare splits, because I don't usually ride that route in the order that I did).

I'd also maybe tend to chalk it up to GPS being more accurate because the trees lack leaves, but I have ridden it several times since it froze.  And many times in winters.

Maybe it will even out and new bike enthusiasm has me going a little harder than usual.  But I also had a 2-3 week layoff due to weather, laziness, and lack of bike.  Sometimes a week will actually help me, but I think 2-3 is nothing but negative.

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[wd40 1976]

5 hours ago, midtown said:

That's because strava thinks you are on a road bike.    1 hr ride at 4mph on a road bike is almost standing still and implies pretty much zero effort.  I have strava linked to myfitnesspal and I have to go in and change it from road to mtn/bmx and my calories triple

that makes sense.  for some reason, I assumed Strava was smart enough to notice when there isn't a road where I'm riding.

anyway, it's the mileage and the climbing that I pay the most attention to.  at least now I have a rough multiplier for those calculated bits.

Thanks.

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

All cycling apps (and workout-tracking software in general) do is calculate the general physics of work, i.e., how much mass was transported at what speed over a given distance, elevation and time.

Without modifiers, these calculations are a theoretical minimum because there are always inefficiencies, from turning the cranks that engage the chainring that moves the chain that in turn rotates the cogs which then causes the drive wheel to spin, to friction and drag from tire, terrain, your general shape, your skin, how clean the bike and its drivetrain are, how wide or inflated the tires are, wind, air density, etc.

It's impossible for Strava (or any app) to know all of these variables, and unless they lump in some generic, activity-based coefficient (e.g., he went mountain biking, which is really tough and inefficient, so let's take the base equation and increase it by a factor of 1.5), they are always going to undershoot the actual amount of calories you burned doing the work.

An actual engineer or physicist could explain this much more accurately and thoroughly, so apologies in advance for any technical errors and/or redundancies.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Braff Zacklin

[TwiceHorn 30851]

8 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

All cycling apps (and workout-tracking software in general) do is calculate the general physics of work, i.e., how much mass was transported at what speed over a given distance, elevation and time.

Without modifiers, these calculations are a theoretical minimum because there are always inefficiencies, from turning the cranks that engage the chainring that moves the chain that in turn rotates the cogs which then causes the drive wheel to spin, to friction and drag from tire, terrain, your general shape, your skin, how clean the bike and its drivetrain are, how wide or inflated the tires are, wind, air density, etc.

It's impossible for Strava (or any app) to know all of these variables, and unless they lump in some generic, activity-based coefficient (e.g., he went mountain biking, which is really tough and inefficient, so let's take the base equation and increase it by a factor of 1.5), they are always going to undershoot the actual amount of calories you burned doing the work.

An actual engineer or physicist could explain this much more accurately and thoroughly, so apologies in advance for any technical errors and/or redundancies.

I think that's exactly correct.   

All the "losses" and inefficiencies associated with biking vs. walking/hiking vs. mtb vs. road, etc. are kind of fascinating.

It's pretty obvious that you do the same amount of work walking your bike up a hill as riding it, or mighty close to it.  But the time, and thus the power, expended are usually different.  I'm not sure that doing work faster actually increases the amount of calories burned.  But on a machine, increasing the speed of work might also increase the inefficiency (like say a fs mtb) and require more calories.

I think an accurate calorie counter would require a fair amount of individual tailoring.

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

4 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think that's exactly correct.   

All the "losses" and inefficiencies associated with biking vs. walking/hiking vs. mtb vs. road, etc. are kind of fascinating.

It's pretty obvious that you do the same amount of work walking your bike up a hill as riding it, or mighty close to it.  But the time, and thus the power, expended are usually different.  I'm not sure that doing work faster actually increases the amount of calories burned.  But on a machine, increasing the speed of work might also increase the inefficiency (like say a fs mtb) and require more calories.

I think an accurate calorie counter would require a fair amount of individual tailoring.

In a vacuum, I believe the amount of energy required to move mass X from point A to point B would be the same regardless of speed (assuming the energy invested to attain those speeds could be recaptured during deceleration, which probably isn't possible, so I guess this entire exercise is going to be pointless, but let's continue, anyway).

Within the confines of Earth and its atmosphere, however, the faster something moves over distance, the generally less efficient it becomes. For example, a plane will fly farther at its optimum cruising speed than it will at full throttle. So will your car.

Don't ask me to quote an actual source or anything, but I recall reading about how WWII airplanes required roughly twice as much horsepower to fly 400 mph as they did to fly 300 mph.

And if you look at naval warships from the same era, the gigantic fast battleships and fleet carriers that topped out at ~34 knots did so, in part, because because their hulls were more hydrodynamic (relatively narrower beam for a given length) but mostly because they employed massive steam turbines capable of generating hundreds of thousands of shaft horsepower instead of tens of thousands.

Off on this tangent because it always annoyed me to observe Strava estimating my caloric consumption to be lower when covering the same distance at a higher speed (and therefore shorter time) versus a slower speed (and therefore longer time).

On the bright side, if it weren't for the inefficiencies of friction, we'd never get anywhere (on foot or on bike).

[KuЯdt 248]

As a sort of follow-on to Twice's experience with the Ripley and expectations vs actual riding, I had a Revel Ranger this past weekend.  Got 3 rides in on it, and it really surprised me.  Based on its geo and the 115/120 travel, I expected kind of a boring twitchy XC bike, but it wasn't that at all. The climbing was great which I anticipated, but was also really good on the downs and in chunk.  Actually excelled at climbing chunky tech sections.
I had a ton of fun on it, and even though I didn't take it on any really hardcore terrain, it handled everything I threw at it with aplomb.
I think a lot of that is due to the CBF suspension platform which I'd read good things about, and now I understand why.  It just goes to show that it's hard to judge bikes on their numbers alone, and you need to ride them to get a true feel.

 

 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

58 minutes ago, KuЯdt said:

As a sort of follow-on to Twice's experience with the Ripley and expectations vs actual riding, I had a Revel Ranger this past weekend.  Got 3 rides in on it, and it really surprised me.  Based on its geo and the 115/120 travel, I expected kind of a boring twitchy XC bike, but it wasn't that at all. The climbing was great which I anticipated, but was also really good on the downs and in chunk.  Actually excelled at climbing chunky tech sections.
I had a ton of fun on it, and even though I didn't take it on any really hardcore terrain, it handled everything I threw at it with aplomb.
I think a lot of that is due to the CBF suspension platform which I'd read good things about, and now I understand why.  It just goes to show that it's hard to judge bikes on their numbers alone, and you need to ride them to get a true feel.

 

 

And that has some resemblance to the DW-link, too, with the spit yoke around the seat tube.

I don't know how much of any of it is due to the linkage, and I know that mechanically they can make a ton of difference, on paper, at least.  But I was skeptical that it would make such a difference with a rider of limited abilities, such as I.

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

Thanks for the info Kurdt. Now we've covered two of the three bikes on my list. Anyone want to buy a Yeti SB 115 and give me a review? 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

1 minute ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Thanks for the info Kurdt. Now we've covered two of the three bikes on my list. Anyone want to buy a Yeti SB 115 and give me a review? 

Oh, going short travel then. I thought i had you pegged as more enduro type.

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

16 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Oh, going short travel then. I thought i had you pegged as more enduro type.

Well let's just say 52 has been a reality check. Realistically, 90% of my riding is on green or blue trails, and I think modern suspension is good enough for the occasional black or day at Spider Mtn. 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

A bit rich for my blood and carbon, but the Guerilla Gravity Trail Pistol probably ought to be on your list.  They seem to be shipping bikes on a reasonable schedule, too.

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

16 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

A bit rich for my blood and carbon, but the Guerilla Gravity Trail Pistol probably ought to be on your list.  They seem to be shipping bikes on a reasonable schedule, too.

I went by their old place in Denver a few years ago when I was in town for business. Back then they were building their front triangles out of carbon in their Denver shop, but their rears were alloy, and I think imported. I've heard they moved into a new, larger facility and now they're full carbon. I believe they're direct to consumer, so it might be hard to find a demo.  

[TwiceHorn 30851]

1 hour ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

I went by their old place in Denver a few years ago when I was in town for business. Back then they were building their front triangles out of carbon in their Denver shop, but their rears were alloy, and I think imported. I've heard they moved into a new, larger facility and now they're full carbon. I believe they're direct to consumer, so it might be hard to find a demo.  

Yeah, probably so on the demo.  We barely get demos here, so not much of a drawback.

I guess the Tallboy ought to be on your list too.  It seems to be one of the best descenders on the short travel list.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Got in a ride at River Legacy, the paved trail that is painted to look like dirt.  The Ripley is not a miracle worker.  Had a fairly mediocre ride from an energy and breathing standpoint, just never really "opened up."  My time/distance wasn't remarkably good, nor remarkably bad, just kind of average.  Probably better than average considering I just wasn't "feeling it" for whatever reason.

But, the trail has one fairly challenging climb that starts from flat, so you have no momentum, except what you generate yourself, and some roots at the top that are not huge, but are seemingly perfectly arranged to stop you if you are losing momentum or don't have that oomph to get over them. You also can't see it coming, so you're reliant on memory for when to start spooling up.  It's mostly a problem of being used to it and gear selection, so if you haven't ridden it in a while it can be a dab-o-rama.  Despite not having ridden it in months, the Ripley mountain-goated its way up fairly easily, and I guess I am used to the Deore cassette now, for the most part, or any gear-selection error was compensated by its climbing ability.

Also, the funtown area has a number of fairly steep descents you can ride for shits n giggles.  I had not ridden very many descents on the bike, and even these aren't really long enough to evaluate a whole lot.  It seems to be a pretty competent/stable descender, and I think the Fox fork did a pretty good job keeping the bumps to a dull roar.

The latter part of the trail is pretty twisty, but a "flow" twisty, unlike Katie Jackson and Harry Moss.  There's room to lean your turns and the turns aren't real sharp, just a lot of them and the woods are close enough to make them pretty "blind."  Whatever the quality is, the Ripley's steering just works a whole lot better for me than the Marin's. I don't have nearly as many little annoying oversteers and understeers and little corrections.  The bars are the same width.  The stem on the Ripley is 35mm, while the Marin's was 50, and the head tube angle is the same.  I tend to think it's mostly the 44mm offset of the fork, although it could also be the stiffness of the 34mm Fox vs. the 32mm RS.  I never really noticed any flex in the Rockshox, but I think that can be a subtle thing and I'm a fairly large dude.

Also a note on flat pedals.  The Marin had Raceface Chesters, which I think are considered pretty representative of polymer pegged flat pedals for use with 5.10s, etc.  Dallas Bike Works doesn't carry Raceface, so I got Crank Brothers Stamp 1, which is a very similar pedal to the Chester, but it is a hair bigger in area, but not ginormous like some.  I like the idea of polymer pedals as they seem to take some of the shock out of strikes and don't get all mangled up looking.  Ymmv.

I like them pretty well and might recommend over Chesters if you have biggish feet (size 11), or like a big pedal.  It seems I futz around positioning my foot on them less than the Chesters.  I'm not having many pedal strikes despite the BB being lower on the Ripley and the pedals being bigger, so that's nice.

Edited March 25, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Booked a trip here in August with my brother and a couple of our childhood buddies (we all live in north Iowa/southern MN).

 

I've heard nothing but rave reviews.  Supposed to be one of the absolute MTB hot spots in the upper Midwest.  It's a few hours closer to me than the Ozarks, but definitely not developed to THAT level.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

@Pescado_Rojo This seems like a pretty good deal, and in stock.  https://www.costco.com/intense-951-trail-bike.product.100692028.html

They also have the XC, if you're serious about short travel.

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

@Pescado_Rojo This seems like a pretty good deal, and in stock.  https://www.costco.com/intense-951-trail-bike.product.100692028.html

They also have the XC, if you're serious about short travel.

Thanks man. I think I'm going to try to milk as much life out of the Yeti as possible before I invest in a new bike. I just got divorced (not even final yet) and I've spent a ton of money setting up a new household. I'll keep an eye on that little crack and hope it doesn't get any worse, and if it does this might be a good option. 

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

First hard tail ride since Xmas Eve. Lotta down trees






Love the new kiosks

[TwiceHorn 30851]

80s already.  Fuck that.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Send it north.  We're unseasonably cold.

[Your Mom 4763]

I overcame some demons today and hit some drops I'd been pulling up short on the last couple years... Snail Trail at Brushy Creek.  I hit the first one a few days ago but today was the first time to hit the second one too.  Probably need to lean the camera up more next time.  Need more speed on the second one to not case the landing zone so short, but it's hard with those turns right before.

 

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Your Mom

[TwiceHorn 30851]

5 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

I overcame some demons today and hit some drops I'd been pulling up short on the last couple years... Snail Trail at Brushy Creek.  I hit the first one a few days ago but today was the first time to hit the second one too.  Probably need to lean the camera up more next time.  Need more speed on the second one land to not case the landing zone so short, but it's hard with those turns right before.

 

 

Good work.  How big are they?  There just aren't many around here of even a foot or so to practice on.  For a while, I was dropping off a concrete basketball court onto washed-out dirt.  Maybe 15," so not really enough to get a feel for it.

That last little bit there looks pretty steep on camera, so it must be pretty damn steep.

[Your Mom 4763]

The first of the bigger ones is built to probably 3’ off the ground but it’s a sloped landing to land maybe 2’ or so below the base of the ramp. That one fucked with my head for a long time because you cannot see the landing zone until you’re committed. And it’s down in a  ravine so it always looks like it’s going to be a lot deeper than it is. The the last is maybe a foot or so higher, also to a sloped landings at a lower spot. 

As you’d expect, it was all a lot smoother than I thought it would be and fairly uneventful after the fact.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Your Mom

[wd40 1976]

Nice work, Mom!

funny, I've filmed myself doing both drops, but they've never been on the same final cut of video.

I don't like the second one, much.  it's a dirt landing, so it's smoother in that regard; but like you, I case it every time.  there is/was an alternate line to the left of the big cedar (see pic) that sort of gives you a chance at a couple extra pedal strokes of speed.  but I think it's having good fundamental jumping technique that will send you far enough to make the transition.  the ladder actually tilts up like a shallow ramp.  if you can load the bike through that, you'll make it (as long as you don't buck yourself over the top).  I seen it!

put on a fresh pair of Minion DDs, yesterday.  can't wait to hit the trail on them.

 

[sasquatch69 576]

Took a huge group of Scouts down to the Hill Country this past weekend to go spelunking (at Longhorn Caverns) and hiking.  We camped at Reveille Peak Ranch, so while the rest of the group went to the caverns in the afternoon, I stayed behind with another dad and hit the trails.  We had tried riding a little with some scouts that morning, but there was a triathlon going on and they were occupying most of the trails so we just rode on the jeep doubletracks for a couple miles, then headed back. 

For our (hot) afternoon ride we did the full beginner loop - which for a flatlander Dallasite like me felt anything but beginner.  It was great, though, and I'm really looking forward to going back and spending more time there (and hitting up Spider Mountain too, since it's 10min away).

 

[Your Mom 4763]

Reveille Peak is outstanding.  It takes a few miles to get to the really good stuff but riding on all that granite is like nothing else in this area. 

[sasquatch69 576]

50 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

Reveille Peak is outstanding.  It takes a few miles to get to the really good stuff but riding on all that granite is like nothing else in this area. 

For sure.  Even getting to the trailhead was a bit of a slog from the campground, but once up on the trails it was glorious. I just worry about the drought - everything was so dry.  On Saturday afternoon, a brush fire broke out a few miles east of where we were, and while I was out on an errand I saw tons of fire personnel rushing down 29 in that direction.  

[TwiceHorn 30851]

I'm becoming pretty convinced that I am faster on the Ripley.  Second ride at Katie Jackson after having a couple of pretty awful rides Friday and Saturday that I attribute to the heat.  And this time, the whole banana, the way I usually ride it, Red, Black, Yellow, Blue.  Recorded an mph faster than ever before.  And I wasn't flogging in particular.  Just a pretty decent ride.

Also, experiencing a kind of negative side effect of the steering that I like better.  First, other than the steering and plusher suspension, there's almost nothing about the Ripley that reminds me I'm not on my old bike.  It fits very similarly and feels very similar.  But I am cutting turns around trees a little too close.  I clipped a bar end for the first time in forever today, and also had a pedal strike on a tree.

ETA:  also, this time I paid a little more attention to the trail on the Black Loop, the root-o-rama, than the last time I rode it on the Ripley and gushed about it.  The dirt has filled back in and the roots aren't as dramatic as that loop gets from time-to-time.  So, while the Fox fork and shock are better than what was on the Marin, the difference isn't quite as dramatic as I initially thought.

Edited March 29, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Another weekend of rain and overnight lows juuuust dipping below freezing. Ain’t never gonna end at that this point.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Goodish ride at Boulder Park today, but I chickened out on the big climbout.  Made myself walk it at a brisk pace.  Also, hadn't ridden there in a year-plus.  It had not changed much, if at all, but I had forgotten the locations of the challenging bits and got caught short by many of them. Still rode them, but it was unnecessarily frightening.  Lots of "talking to the animals." And that included the climb out; as I started a couple of other pre-climbs thinking they were the beginning of the lungbuster only to be kind of let down when they weren't, which made me not want to do it when I finally got to it.

Also PSA for newb and dumbshit riders.  You guys talking about drops got me to watching drop videos.  Some random dude was talking about drops and mentioned that a fair number of people had not modified their riding style from steep XC bikes to slack long bikes.  That is, they were going too far back and unnecessarily straightening their arms, making it harder to push down drops and things.

I realized that was me.  I have been aware of this for a week or two now, but Boulder has some fairly extended, for Dallas, descents, with roots and ledges, that I could change my technique on.  So I was lower, in terms of my chest over the top tube and  head over or just behind stem, and more balanced than I had been in my attack position and with more bend in my arms so better able to push down over ledges and whatnot, also better hinged and flexy in pretty much every respect.  And, that new position made me more aware of my saddle being in the way when not dropped, so hello dropper post, finally.  It was a little weird at first being that far forward, feeling like I was going to go OTB, but you quickly figure out that the geo solves that problem for you.  

Boulder has this half or 3/4 mile stretch along a deepish creek ravine, deeply shaded by cedars that this time of year smell like gin and evergreens, that may be one of the loveliest stretches of trail in Dallas:

It looks a little bright here, but it's usually dark, shady, and coolly humid even on really hot days.  I could ride for miles on that.

Edited April 1, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[KuЯdt 248]

BCGB today. 

I wanted to make a quick edit to see how much faster the new laptop is vs my old windows box.  yeah it was quite the improvement...it rendered the video in 2 minutes, what would have taken 20+ on the old one.

 

 

 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

On 4/2/2022 at 7:10 PM, KuЯdt said:

BCGB today. 

I wanted to make a quick edit to see how much faster the new laptop is vs my old windows box.  yeah it was quite the improvement...it rendered the video in 2 minutes, what would have taken 20+ on the old one.

 

 

 

Yow.  That's so chunky it almost seems unpleasant to ride.

Speaking of drops, I discovered something new at Katie Jackson, or new to me.

For as long as I have been riding there, like 8 years or so, the "jeep road" in the background has cut through the yellow loop.  Maybe a year ago, a trail sign popped up on it that said "Mongo."  First time I saw it, I followed, and it went down the road, cut off into a dirt path, and put you back kind of near the beginning of yellow.  Thought it odd that it was given a name like "Mongo," because there was nothing mongo about it at all.

Well, for whatever reason, I decided to take Mongo today, and where there used to be just a trail coming off the jeep road, there's the above drop with a sort of gapped and sloped landing, then a ramp up to a half-log skinny, some banked turns, some jumpable rollers, etc.  So a miniature jump line that's not as intimidating as the one at Oak Cliff, or even some of the features at Gateway.  Kinda cool, not really mongo, but kinda, yeah.

I'll have to drag my riding buddy up there before I try any of it, though.

 

 

[wd40 1976]

On 4/2/2022 at 7:10 PM, KuЯdt said:

BCGB today. 

I wanted to make a quick edit to see how much faster the new laptop is vs my old windows box.  yeah it was quite the improvement...it rendered the video in 2 minutes, what would have taken 20+ on the old one.

 

 

 

nicely done.  this video's a reminder we need some cloudy days (for video purposes) and rain (for dirt purposes).  it's always fun to recognize the back trails from others' perspectives.  

that title screen is one of my favorite areas.   nice place to take a break and take in the view.  this was from some years ago, during a break in singlespeed ride.  should play in 720p.

 

[KuЯdt 248]

13 hours ago, wd40 said:

this video's a reminder we need some cloudy days (for video purposes) and rain (for dirt purposes)

 

Yep it's super dry out there.  Unfortunately I think we're heading into a 2011-type summer. 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

I am going to ask a roadbike/single speed question.  

I haven't ridden the SS in quite a few weeks due to new bike day, the weather, etc.  Took it for a ride today and on a few starts or mashes got a thunk out of the chain/drivetrain, at least I think that's what it was.  Just one clunk.  Didn't repeat, didn't happen on every start up, but just a couple of fairly big mashes.

If it was a geared bike, I'd think it was a chain jump/slip problem, but that's unpossible on a single speed.  Isn't it?  The chain tension is fine.

I have not lubed the chain in a while, and that usually makes it generally noisy, which I could hear the beginnings of today, so maybe just a link that needs some lube?  There haven't been any events that could have bent a link or anything.

Something with the freewheel maybe?  

[Austinvines 309]

Chains and rear sprockets can still wear out on a SS, right? Mashing and skipping was indicative of one or both issues. Of course, I also had that issue once when I hadn’t engaged the clutch, but that was me just being an idiot.

Trying out a morning ride today. I need to make it at least 30-45 minutes earlier to not screw up the start of my workday but I’ll work on that tomorrow.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

1 hour ago, Austinvines said:

Chains and rear sprockets can still wear out on a SS, right? Mashing and skipping was indicative of one or both issues. Of course, I also had that issue once when I hadn’t engaged the clutch, but that was me just being an idiot.

Trying out a morning ride today. I need to make it at least 30-45 minutes earlier to not screw up the start of my workday but I’ll work on that tomorrow.

Yeah, could be, I don't think it has enough miles on it to worry about that and a quick inspection doesn't show any jacked up teeth.  I'd think a skipping chain, for real, on a single speed without der taking up slack and places for the chain to go would be more dramatic than what I was experiencing.  It probably just needs some lube.

I gotta say, that ss is a workout.  I've been riding a lot since new bike day, but a 45 min ride on the ss got me feelin some type of way today, although I was pushing a little.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Great temperatures most of this week, 60s and low 70s.  Pretty good ride at Oak Cliff Nature Preserve.

Every time i hit a tree gate I think of Al.  This particular scene struck me as a little bit funny.

The standard mauled trees at bar height.

And, the piece de resistance:

Just how hard do you have to clip a tree to pull an end plug out?  I don't want to find out.

Edited April 8, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Austinvines 309]

Perfect riding weather. On one of my usual rides I got covered up in that oh so awesome fragrance of Mountain Laurel and had to stop. Wet weather creek with at least 10 native laurels strutting. My planted ones have all dropped their blooms so this was a nice surprise.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Apparently, Bentonville is experiencing an uptick in trail injuries that's stressing the fire department's ability to respond.  Waltons to the rescue.  https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-trails/walton-family-funds-a-bentonville-trail-search-and-rescue-team-to-address-growing-number-of-injuries/

This photo, of the ATV amberlamps, kind of cracked me up.