Leaderboard

I have been seeing advertisements for this stupid little shim tool that you use to align your brake calipers. You're supposed to put it on your disk and between your pads when you use the brake squeeze and tighten alignment method. Supposedly it does a better job of centering the pistons on the disk. I mean, who needs that? Just squeeze and tighten. Except that I've been fussing with mild pad/disk rub on both our gravel bikes for years. I've tried dozens of times to align them, and I've even used my own shims with limited results. And it's the whole reason I went to resin pads on these bikes--just to quieten the squeal. So I got this tool. And I'll be damned if I didn't work perfectly. No more noise.

My wife was DD for our date night. We went to the new Jack Allens in Cedar Park and I tried a few bourbons. Started with Eagle Rare 10y Old Fashioned. Very good and wish I’d tried it neat. For dessert I tried Treaty Oak barrel 770 paired with their blonde brownie pie (XC Ellen) Very very good. To finish I tried this stuff from Utah. It was a very different rye. At first I didn’t like it but it grew on me. Now I gotta go burn some calories off.

We are going out today to salvage picnic tables and structures from the Land of Lost Trails. We'll also be retrieving some of the trail art and features, including: the Metal Lizard and the jump ramp on the downhill run into Leaping Lizards; the multi-headed Thing on Longhorn Loop; and the Gingerbread man ("the Bunny") from Omar's Howl. New homes for these items will be found on the new loop. Expect to see some fresh new rest stops popping up on the loop, where riders can socialize and get some water. This week I'll be finishing up another 3/10 mile section that will bring Litterbox into Black Trac on the back side of the First Water Stop. A little bit of RHR history goes with this new section, as the original Black Trac used to begin at Water 1. It was a fall-line trail that eroded quickly and was abandoned a couple of decades ago. This new section crosses that original trail in two places and Black Trac will again start at the point where it did originally, only now winding its way back into the established trail. Likewise, I gave the structure at Water 1 a makeover last week. It's roof was about to collapse and the place had developed a rather uninviting cave-like atmosphere. It is much nicer now. I even uprooted some Poison Ivy next to it so folks won't be itching to return. There may also be a crop of Dew Berries on the stump there this year, watch for them. Rest Stop 2, with water, will be dubbed the "Lemonade Stand" and located at the NW corner of the property near where Lemonade hits the berm on West Fenceline, before you get to Loblolly. Rest Stop 3, with water, will be situated off the middle section of Black Trac. Placed conveniently under the pines at an overlook with a great view to the West near where Black Trac crosses what we're now calling Wellhead Road. New trail is being cut to bring Black Trac over to this new rest area before heading down to The Grind and The Wall. There will also be a picnic table placed in the shade on Karaway in the woods before the road crossing at Freeride 512 Road/Gate. No water planned for this stop. Weather is looking good, and the trails are in great shape! Come ride in the pines.

I think you are getting close but not mandatory yet. Some of the guys I ride with are down in the 13-14psi range. That said, it doesn't hurt to run them. I picked up some Rimpact for fairly cheap front Hunt Bikes online and have been happy. Alternatively, I built a jig and a bunch of my bikes are running pool noodle rim protectors.

Bikepacking.com's Friday Debrief featured this possibly handy, but fairly expensive, tool: UNIOR SCREW GRABBING PLIERS. Learn more HERE.

Forest Service prepares to welcome e-bikes Following national guidance, San Juan National Forest can allow the bikes for the first time. If you read the article, note that e-bikes are not allowed on Forest trails YET. There's an entire evaluation process that has to take place, which means it probably won't be this year. Even then, e-bikes will only be allowed on certain trails and prohibited on others. I'm confused though, because at least in the past, many Forest trails were open to motorcycles and four wheelers and e-bikes would certainly be eligible on those trails.

I’m allegedly Slovenian somewhere down the line, my Croatian roots are easier to trace. All I know is that I got hit with a photo ticket from Slovenia doing ~200K/hr in my rental car. So I have that.

I have the same one, works really well actually. Had a fancy Hayes one that I lost, but this one works just as well.

That is a really smart idea. That is the company that also makes the portable Shimano cassette tool. Need to look into their tools a bit more, they seem to have some real innovation.

Internal rim width = 40mm Tire size 27.5 x 2.8

Put some lipstick on the wall of beige that is my home. Going to remove 40+ years of coaxial and phone cables and do some painting next

@throet thanks. that helps. My doc told me I can ride, but the big bad interwebs only has horror stories that freak me out. That’s why I wanted to here from someone in a similar situation. I am a cautious rider already, so hopefully I can shake the fear and enjoy riding as much as I used to. thanks again.

dang, I missed an opportunity to share this https://whatbars.com/

Reminds me of the Stanford rapist that got off on the same defense.

I've been curious about this ever since I realized that the Huck Norris was basically a glorified pool noodle. If you settle on a ghetto solution, please keep us updated.

Another cyclist was killed closer to Beaumont, they were doing a big cross country trip. Driver not charged.