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You asked if EB is too easy... why worry about how to add mileage if we can just add "trail features" like this.

Saw him sitting under 183 at the entrance to Peddlers, freshly covered in mud. I yelled politely, "do you think the trails are too muddy?". Old fart smiled at me... I really hope his nuts get stuck on the toilet tomorrow morning.

I believe you about the quick results. My commute used to be from the Domain area to 360 just south of the bridge. That hill after the bridge (and coming home, the hill on 360 approaching 183) is pretty long, and about 6%. That used to be very hard for me. After riding it a lot, even not on a super regular schedule, it became a lot easier, to where I could do it at 8-10mph in the small ring and about 5 cogs down the cassette, instead of in the granny gear at 6mph. I was very proud of that. Then that job went away, and my new commute is 2 miles - from the Domain area to right behind BSS on 183 (NOT GOOD LOL). But I still ride my old commute in the morning just to do those hills. And they have become easier again after about 2 weeks. -cls

Miiiikkkeee!!!! Miiikkkeeee!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" - Hunter S. Thompson

Will this be the final boss of the Dragon Slayer race? If so, I’m out.

https://goo.gl/maps/5XbNHJaQkBP2 https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8016959/canyon

The sun came out yesterday afternoon after what has seemed like weeks of rain, and I took full advantage by going on a road ride. I have a 20-mile route that meanders around the Great Hills area (should have been called the 'Suck-Ass Hills', amirite?) and then heads south on Spicewood Springs until the Yaupon junction, then heads north up Yaupon all the way to Oak View. I had tried it once before and failed, but last night - thanks in part to the 75*F temperature - I made it all the way without stopping. Not even at the top. That hill is tough. I think it may actually be worse than the one at the south end of Rain Creek, headed south, right before it meets Great Hills Trail. I have made it up that one multiple times...it is steeper (I think) but shorter. Anyway, just wanted to share. Do any of you ride in and around the Great Hills area? That area is fairly close to by my apartment, so it's where I do a lot of my road rides. -cls

Yeah, the trails will still be too wet so I am going to do another veggie buffet this Sunday. If anyone wants to join, I will start at Ramsey Park (https://goo.gl/maps/jCfcL7m8y7A2) at 9AM. At my pace it should take about 5 hours, so we should be back ~2 or 2:30. Route will follow the EB route to Zilker, MoPac frontage, up 360, Courtyard, City Park Road, lap around the outside of City Park, Jester, 360, Spicewood Springs to St. Ed's, Yaupon, Jollyville, Duval, S. Walnut Creek trail, then back down Shoal Creek to the start. This is not an official ride, just my training ride, but if you want to join, we'll see you there. This means I am not responsible for you, it is self paced and you are just there for the fun. If you fall behind or get lost I won't be responsible. My pace is ~10-11MPH and I will be on a mountain bike, not a road bike.

Wife and i did a turn and burn to Chattanooga over thanksgiving last year and really enjoyed the trip. The trails were very well designed and maintained and offered a little something for everyone. Raccoon mountain recreational area was blast. Fast flow trails with berms, drops and all the good stuff to put a smile on your face. Theres also some fun trails to ride about 30-45 min away in Georgia, and if you're channeling your inner Seth, Winrock is about 2hrs away. Downtown Chattanooga was clean, quiet and surprisingly modern with lots of friendly people and good food & booze to go around. Liquor stores have a taproom and can pour! Lastly, if you can, stay in the Read House historic hotel as it been renovated and had many famous quests and apparently also has a haunted room. https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8012838/raccoon-mountain PB pron https://www.pinkbike.com/video/468277/ What snaps i took:

I had Ikons on my bike and had zero issue on any of the trails. Seems like the 2.5/ 2.6 would be way more aggressive than you'd need for most of the riding out there outside of the downhill stuff at Coler.

There are few enough entrances to these trails - especially Peddlers - what about putting up construction/hazard tape across each entrance with a laminated sign saying that the trail is currently closed due to wet conditions? The assholes will still bypass it, but the clueless will at least learn that we aren't supposed to ride wet trails. Of course, it could set the standard that if you show up on a wet day and there's no tape, then it's fine to ride.

+1 on Back 40. Amazing ride - nothing really technical (other than Ledges at a intermediate level) but some amazing flow and just fun. Climbs aren't difficult either so you can really keep the pace up. Hobbs State Park had some good trail too (again, easy compared to what we usually ride) and a nice fun descent but you really had to pay for it afterwards with a climb. Coler has some great stuff but was unfortunately a little wet on the day I went which made me a bit hesitant. Lots of rocky stuff here and some fun descents - you start from the Hub at the top into some fun downhill trails. Copperhead and Rock Solid (I think that's the name) will remind you of technical riding in Austin. Slaughter Pen is easy to get to and has some fun stuff. The paved trail that goes all the way thru town is pretty good for getting around too. I rode from Bella Vista area where we were staying all the way into Bentonville on it - super nice and easy ride with little climbing. I didn't get a chance to hit Kessler when I was there. Planning on going back next spring.

Saw 2 guys entering Deception yesterday around 5:15 or so while I was on my road bike on the paved trail. Someone on a pink epic and don't recall what the other was. Didn't have a chance to say anything to them. Hopefully they realized it was too wet and turned around.

Agreed. What criteria is applied to measure "best" here? Weight? Cost? Durability? Ease of use? For comparison, consider Raxter Rack products. The Raxter rack I've owned for over a decade is lightweight, durable, easy to use, and very similar in footprint to the 1Up. With 4 bolts I can change it from a 1.25" folding mount to 2" fixed receiver mount. (after purchasing the accessory 2" mount) Raxter 2-bike rack also prices in at a significantly lower cost, and, it weighs 20% less than the comparable Heavy Duty 2 bike 1Up version. A three and a four bike version are available, and the 2-bike rack can be converted to 4-bike by bolting on the Plus-Two Extension. http://raxterracks.com/ Here's a photo from their website of a two bike version.

Low atmospheric pressure.

Since we are on the topic of hills....I think there is a group that leaves from Pourhouse on Jollyville around 6 or 6:30pm on Wednesdays to go do hills. I don't think they take the same route every time, but they regularly hit all the good stuff in the areas we've been mentioning. You can think of this ride like the old BSS Thur Hill-Rides led by our own Shredhead (& Sneezix). Chongo Loco- I group of us use to do workouts on the Quinlin Park Rd climb out of Steiner back in the day (pre-2002). Its a very nice climb, long and steady. But I was out there the other day and I don't think there's any ways I'd ride that now. Way too much development, traffic and texting. Now you mentioned Yaupon and its fine, but IMHO its a different animal than Quinlin Pk Rd. If your looking for something a tad more like, then check out my Strava link early in this thread. Its in Great Hills and contains a nice steady climb (over a mile) with a few little pitches. Later, -CJB

Thank you!

It's like the POD of MTB. You pack things up and then hook up whenever you're ready.

I added the line "Holbert:" on a new line after the "Second run down following him this time ( and a few sections and lines he didn't show) :" text, then hovered over the first video, clicked the "+" sign above the video (upper-left corner) and dragged that video above the "Holbert:" text. ..Al

https://goo.gl/maps/xF1f7UgnPyz It might have been better to just make this a Phoenix page, as there are enough stellar trails in the area to keep a rider busy for a couple of weeks... but SoMo is my personal go-to... The most well known trail on the mountain is the National Trail, which might be my personal favorite anywhere, particularly the eastern descent from the Buena Vista parking area to the Pima Canyon parking area. Other good options include (but not limited to Geronimo and Mormon, and Holbert if you really want to test your tech skills. Lots of shuttling options in the park for those who don't want to waste energy climbing. All of the trails are shown on Google Maps if you zoom in. Lot of other good AZ maps here, including SoMo: https://www.globalbikes.info/about/trail-maps-pg1338.htm Previews: Me and Ganderson on National; he just got his gimbal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB8p3cLVy1c Second run down following him this time (and a few sections and lines he didn't show): Holbert: Geronimo: The epic rest of National, heading west (Tree Magnet, Dr. D & Seths Pool):

Riding from 360 to mopac on spicewood is going south. That climb is steep but only 200 feet. The base of big view is so steep you will want a run up to it. Try not to get off the bike because unlike most hills, it mostly gets easier the further you go...kinda. Its easy to hit 50 mph on the way down. (Which is speeding) but you may want to loop it and “descend” river place BLVD. Which is rolling hills.

I thought she was saying MERT! MERT! Reminded me of this:

Just to combine this thread with the Random Bike Pictures thread AND the Ride and Imbibe thread. A random picture of a hot mtb chick in a tutu.

I don't think anyone wants to see my sausage in a tutu in public. What I do in the privacy of my own home, however... Chancho, when you are a man, sometimes you wear a tutu in your room. Just for fun.

Just go ride loops in Riverplace. Sick street descending and climbing. I think that may be the longest bottom to top climb in town at over 500 feet on Big view. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

“He’s riding over me!” “M’am, technically, I bunny hopped over you” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Should be fine, although of course anything at high-elevation is going to be subject to unpredictable snow events. When I lived up in that area I generally was riding trails from late Feb thru mid Nov, with the highest elevation stuff being best between Aug-Oct.

Holy crap that would be awesome!! Can you imagine actually contacting her and offering to pay here a 1-day appearance fee to heckle people in the middle of Thumper?!?

I ride Great Hills and NW Balcones almost exclusively when on the road bike. In fact, I rode Yaupon yesterday at lunch. https://www.strava.com/activities/1839567144 I've done repeats on Yaupon from Old Spicewood Springs to Spicebrush. It definitely makes you stronger.

Once in Portland you could hit Sandy Ridge. That's all I've had a chance to ride up there. Definitely go to https://www.lumberyardmtb.com in town. I wish we had a place like that here in Austin. Not riding, but have you gotten a tour of the Chris King factory?

Either Grand Junction or Fruita if you skip Moab. The 18 road stuff in Fruita is great that you never get too far from your vehicle so you can keep riding up and taking a different trail down til you get enough. We did a morning loop on Horsethief Bench, had lunch in town then rode 4 or 5 runs on 18 road, joe’s, Kessel run, etc. til we were all whipped. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I haven't been on a bike in almost 2 weeks, and things aren't looking great for this weekend either. Just learned from a post on another thread that RPR is closed to the public this weekend, which I confirmed on their website. Although the rains have subsided some, it seems we're getting just enough every day to keep things really wet. In the 4 years I've been riding trails in Austin, I don't recall ever seeing such a lengthy period of wetness like this.

There is always the Zen approach, where you find your inner calm while imagining their drive train and various seals disintegrating from accumulated grit and muck as you smile with the knowledge of how karma may bite them in the wallet for their inconsiderate breach of trail etiquette.

Thanks for the heads up. It does appear from their website that they are closed Sep 15-16 for a shooting event but I may call up there to see if they will be open to public riding this afternoon.

Asshole and Clueless are two different characters. A smile on a mud caked rider could mean, "wow, that was fun" not, "I know I'm wrecking the trail." So I would start a conversation with, "Do you know we are not suppose to ride the trails when muddy because it ruts them up and and causes them to erode more rapidly?" If the guy says something, "yes, but it's so fun" THEN I would light into him with, "Well then you're just an asshole, aren't you?"

Rpr is closed this weekend I think. Might want to check into that Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

Alright, I changed the maximum width of embedded videos to 750 pixels, so it's more reasonable now. As for why some videos weren't embedding, I found two things: It seems videos using shorter "youtu.be" URLs do not embed. If you open such a video on YouTube, you can then get the normal YouTube.com URL and you should then be able to embed the video. Some videos cannot be embedded because the video's owner does not allow the video to be embedded on other websites I can't do anything about #2. When you attempt to embed such a video, the forum will show a brief message stating the video cannot be embedded. ..Al

I think application has a significant impact on the failures. Seth, you seem to put some extreme loads on your equipment and you last sentence makes sense. I have a pair of carbon bars that have been used over 6 years, 50-60 races, and spend their fair share of time on the BCGB. They will never see a 4-6ft drop, and be well within the stress/strain curve, far away from the ultimate strength. As mentioned by others, I use a torque wrench on about everything, sand out the inside of brake/or stem clamps to de-flash any non-circular attributes before installation. I've had a really good history with carbon frames (Pivot usually overbuilds), wheels, cranks, and handlebars. Weight of the bike has a huge impact over a 2-3 hour XC race, and I'm by no means a pro. I've lost the podium too many times by seconds and I'm not getting any younger. Like many of you guys, I've got a mix of aluminum failures (frames, 2 XTR cranks, handlebars, wheels, Thomson seatpost) as well as carbon (RF Next crankset, rock damage to Enve wheel-both w/free replacements). I'm probably due for a new handlebar this fall and wouldn't pawn it off on any of you, even for free.

Just when you thought Thumper couldn't possibly get any worse … a gatekeeper at the culvert crossing! How awesome would this be.

More information about this here: I like how you both used the word "lunatic".

Yeah, if you can get a couple other riders and split it 3 or 4 ways, getting an Airbnb is no-brainer. There are a ton of options for $100-$150 per night. You get a whole 3/2 house with actual toilets and showers, full kitchen, everyone get a bedroom, garage to store and work on bikes, and a backyard to drink beer in. That's hard to beat.

To keep this thread going.... (I wish this could be broken off into its own unique post. Maybe beginning with Tree Magnet's question) Here are a few good videos about road riding, group riding and general riding safety when on the road. This is a pretty good video on how to save energy when in a group ride. This is very necessary for rookie pack riders because you'll almost always be over-matched at first. But it also goes hand-in-hand with learning safe 'pack skills' because they are almost one in the same. I wish this video had more than just 3 riders shown because it would make the skills (and need for safety) much more obvious. My personal add here is to be VERY CAREFUL when in a side ways echelon to not overlap wheels. [it can be done by experienced riders, but it always increases risk dramatically] General Road Riding Tips: [I do wish they'd mention that when standing up while road riding, your bike will move back about 4-5" and thus when in a pack can create problems)

Hiring someone who looked like an older version of Arnie’s woman disguise from Total Recall was always going to be a high risk strategy.

I'll be honest, I clicked into this thread with hopes of mtb babe pics. Disappointed, I am.

I have no idea what that means but I laughed my ass off at it

And in the older Mojo days, pics would be involved.

in the old Mojo days, this would have quickly escalated into a Parrotboy thread.

Damn Chinese carbon hitches!