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I've never been a fan of the conversion kits to be honest.  I had a frame that I used a singulator on, but while it worked, it never really felt as good as a true SS setup.   EBBs tend to by creaky from what I've heard, but don't have any personal experience with them.

Steel is good and comfortable.  I really liked my El Mariachi.    I ride a SS Stumpjumper Carbon now - a bit more chatter gets through but the bike is 8 lbs lighter.

You'll probably want 32x18 around here, maybe 32x20 depending on fitness.   When I raced SS in Cat2/3SS,  I'd use 32x18 at most areas but swap out to 32x20 for Rocky Hill and Flat Creek.  32x16 for Coldspring.

I used to have a Vivoactive, but the battery wouldn't last more than 4 hours on rides with GPS going.  Swapped to the Wahoo Element Bolt and prefer it - battery lasts much longer and the navigation features are nice to have, especially on gravel events. 

Pics at the CL posting -

https://austin.craigslist.org/bik/d/austin-canfield-riot-sz/6970909173.htm

Selling my Canfield Riot (http://canfieldbrothers.com/frames/toir) full suspension bike. The bike is in excellent condition and is great for rougher trails in the area and for Spider Mountain. Size is medium.
Features
29″ All Mountain / 140mm travel
7005 series aluminum
Patented Canfield Balance Formula suspension
Short and fun 414mm chainstays
142 x 12mm rear axle
Tapered headtube
15mm pivot bearings

Build specs:
Rockshox Pike 140mm travel
DVO Topaz (excellent shock - I prefer it to the new DPX2 that Fox uses)
Shimano SLX 1x11 drivetrain and brakes
Easton Haven bars, Raceface cranks
Specialized Traverse Fattie wheels w/ Spec Slaughter (Front) and Bontrager XR4 (Rear) tires.

I also have a Canfield EPO frame that I'd include for $250 ($350 seperately) - this is a super nice carbon hardtail all mountain frame. All parts from the Riot can be transferred back and forth (originally built the EPO up then got a Riot later on).

Yeah, that drop isn't bad but I've started seeing the lines of people sliding off the trail if you hit too far to the right after you come off it.  Makes sense to rework considering the rest of the trail, as that slide off line will only get worse.

For Bentonville, camp at the Bella Vista RV park.  They have tent camping in the back if I recall correctly.   It's right on the back 40 and next to the paved trail that will take you all the way into Bentonville proper.  We stayed there in our trailer  and it was super nice being able to ride to Slaughter Pen a short distance down the paved trail and basically roll into the back 40 directly from the campground.

I also have a Brand X dropper post from Chain Reaction.  It's been solid so far and has smooth action.  So far I'm impressed, especially with the $125 price tag.   I may try a PNW next time since it can be picked up locally and isn't much more expensive.

Yep, no riding at Lost Maples except on the paved sections.   I can see why on some of the trails.  Lots of pedestrian traffic and some super nasty sections that wouldn't be rideable for 95% of the population. 

Hill Top Trails are only open certain days in Fredericksburg.  They have Sunday and Monday rides.

Here's the most recent posts on the Hill Top Trails FB group.  I think they do these every weekend.

Ride Sunday, 7/28. Gate open 10:00. Group ride 10:30 or ride on your own. Gate closes 1:00. There's not an access charge.

Monday evening ride 7/29. Gate open at 6:00. Group ride 6:30. Ride with the group or on your own, There no charge for the ride. If you would like to bring something to grill, we can fire up the grill.

There's not really much you can do, I think.  Basically to get them removed off it you'd need to flag their ride, and they can just go in and say it's valid, because it is.  It's just close enough to the other track to pick up.  

23 hours ago, tomreece said:

I love this forum because everyone is so nice and helpful.

We're clearly doing something wrong, then.

On 7/26/2019 at 3:13 PM, Ridenfool said:

There were moments a couple days ago I might have seen fit to use an e-bike ... 😅 and still, I persevered and rode (hike-a-biked) on.

In the greater scheme of things I feel more disdain toward an inconsiderate Stravasshole giving all riders a bad name by their treating a shared-use trail as their personal race track than I do toward someone riding pedal-assist in a responsible and considerate manner.

Yeah, people go far too fast at Walnut, especially during busy times like weekends.   It's far too crowded to ride fast there, especially these days.

I don't really think e-bikes make much difference there.  You're limited in speed by how well you corner through trees, so a fit rider with good handling skills will probably be able to go faster than the average joe on an e-bike.

12 minutes ago, Cafeend said:

I never rode there before,, worth the drive I assume? 

It depends on what you like.   I really like the trail - it has very little elevation change since you follow the contour lines well and lots of rock gardens.  Nothing really difficult but a few tricky sections that can get you hung up if you're not careful.  It's definitely a workout.

57 minutes ago, crazyt said:

She can do the same thing on a kickr, while saving around $1000 and getting app controlled resistance with other apps. The mountain biker will be able to use a kickr much easier than a peloton for zwift and other apps.  Kickrs are available used for about $600-$650.

(I think) Peloton digital has cadence, heart rate, and the full video library plus live classes.

I agree - just concerned as a non-cyclist she might not be as comfortable on a normal road/mtb, which I'm assuming they'll also need to buy, so that adds a little cost (assuming she doesn't fit on his).  

On 7/19/2019 at 4:47 PM, crazyt said:

you can subscribe to peloton digital without getting the bike. The bike is very overpriced vs an actual trainer. The bike doesnt do automatic power training which sucks.

 

I think peloton digital can receive cadence and heartrate data so you dont need the peloton bike anymore. Considering that you adjust resistance manually with the peloton I think it is way overpriced. Smart trainers adjust resistance automatically and can measure power output which I think is huge.

 

With a wahoo kickr you can use trainer road (or many other apps) which is good for cycling programs to develop power. I personally didnt like zwift and much prefer trainer road for training using power numbers. With the peloton bike you can use other apps, but it is missing app controlled resistance.

 

When you train for power, the software figures out your FTP then sets power numbers. The trainer automatically adjusts the resistance and you just keep up cadence. If you increase cadence, the resistance drops. When you use it with zwift in power mode, you never need to shift because you are outputting whatever power the training program says (your velocity will change). The resistance depends on your cadence, not the grade of the slope. It doesnt matter how fast you pedal you wont go faster because the power is constant for a given time period of a program.

If you dont use power mode, your power would fluctuate a lot more and the resistance would be determined by grade not how fast you pedal.

 

 

I think it really depends on what his wife wants.  It doesn't necessarily sound like she wants to train based on the post (non-cyclist), more that she just wants something to exercise on.   I agree that the Kickr is great for training, and good for general riding also, but if she just wants a spin bike to ride on for general exercise while watching a movie or something, the Peloton might lend itself better to that.

1.   Wahoo Kickr or Cyclops Hammer are the best.  I use the Kickr and like the feel.      Subscription services I use are: Zwift, Sufferfest, TrainerRoad.  I generally don't have them all active at the same time.  Most of my riding is done on Zwift.  Sufferfest and Trainer road are more winter things when I'm doing specific workouts for race season.  Even if I had all of these going at once, it'd still be cheaper than the 40/month for Peloton.

2.  Not really that I've seen.  I ride on my road bike on the trainer, so I haven't really looked at it.

3.   Haven't used a Peloton before.  Several of my coworkers who also ride have one though and like theirs.

4.  My trainer feels pretty solid.  I have no issues standing up and sprinting hard on the bike.

5.  The Kickr has several both options.  You can either free ride, using gears and such, or have it do specific workouts that do not require shifting.   For example,  I have my FTP set, and it bases the workout around that.   It'll set my target to say 180 watts, and automatically adjust resistance to that number and I just pedal.  After a bit, it goes down to 120w and adjusts for that.  

Since she's not a cyclist, that may influence your decision.   I have a road bike that fits me well, and I use that on the trainer.  I dislike most non-standard (spin) bikes that I've ridden.  I also hate spin classes in general, so I'd never use the spin class function that I think Peloton has.

When I was looking at options, the cost was a factor.  I already had a road bike.  The Kickr was 900ish (due to discount), and most apps that I use are 10ish a month.   The peloton was 2k + tax and had a 40/month subscription service, and I couldn't use Zwift or other apps (not sure if this is still the case).

Depending on what size you ride, I think Canfield has some Riot (now called Toir) frames left.  They're pretty solid and a good ride.   They were 1k for frame/shock (or 100 more if you wanted coil).  If you wanted to try one out, I have a medium built up.   A bit more expensive than you might want, but they are pretty damn solid so I wanted to mention it.

Ew.

https://www.statesman.com/news/20190625/just-in-wastewater-spill-into-brushy-creek-kills-about-2000-fish-officials-say

Saw that Josh Kato seemed to have something serious going on.  Hope he's OK.  Went to the hospital first planning on getting checked out and continuing and then posted a short update that it was a bit more serious and he was remaining in the hospital and then transporting elsewhere.

Thanks - was wondering what had happened to him.   Glad he was smart enough to turn around.

Just now, AntonioGG said:

Candid camera?

lol, we said the same thing out on the trail.  Good prank! 😛

Was someone replacing one of the bridges on suburban ninja up near peddler today?  The one on the side loop with the rock triangle indicating the turn?

We went out and crossed it, rode the 15ish minute trail on the other side, came back, and the bridge was gone.  Thought maybe we were in the wrong spot but gps confirmed it was the right spot.  Didn't think it had fallen in the water from what we could see.  Was the strangest thing!

Gotta ride down to pick up my truck from service today and thinking it might be a good idea to stop by the snowcone place on the way!  It was super humid this morning when I rode to work, but seems like that's burned off a little and is just plain hot now.

1 hour ago, AntonioGG said:

Most of the cooling in humans is not convective though, it's evaporative. (Dogs only have convective cooling, except for through their mouths, so keep your dogs home in this heat--especially the brachycephalic (pugs, bulldogs, boxers, etc.).)  One of the things I remember the most about HS Chemistry was the experiment to measure calories for evaporation vs convection.  Basically, it was measuring how much heat you could extract by adding ice, vs evaporating.  It wasn't even close!

Layers that promote evaporation make a difference as well.  The key is to make sure you're sweating.  Once you stop sweating they act like warmers.  If it's extremely humid where water doesn't evaporate, then that's a problem as well.  For me, I can ride in the dry heat better than in cooler more humid temps, as long as I have plenty of fluids.  I'll ride in the afternoon rather than in the morning for this reason.

Yeah, I really suffer in the 80s-90s when it's humid, especially on MTB rides.  I'm better off in the 90s-100s when it's just hot.   

24 minutes ago, Anita Handle said:

Short version of the T100 (40 mile) on July 27. I'm averaging 9hrs per week. I estimate that I'll be doing well if I can finish in 7 hours. But having never done anything with this much elevation (8700 feet) at this elevation I am not sure how long it will take me. I'm sorta flinging myself at this, doing my best to prepare, and just hoping to enjoy the scenery and experience of being at a race that is run by friends and course marshalled by even moar friends, perhaps learn a thing or two.

Being at elevation will be the worst part.  Not being able to breathe is always fun and exciting.   

Hope you have a good event and good luck!  I was considering doing that but am in no shape for it right now.