fontarin

Apparently he learned something from this guy:

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/apd-identifies-bank-robbery-suspect-who-used-e-scooter-for-getaway/1726367092

Size - nevermind, see it now.

Haven't been out there yet, but probably take my Canfield Riot (now Toir) out there when I go. 

http://canfieldbrothers.com/frames/toir

I find more value in it when I'm looking at improving times on whole tracks, like a full named section of trail.   I pretty much ignore PRs/times these days unless I'm comparing actual race courses or big efforts like hills, and even then it's usually 'oh look, I climbed this faster 5 years ago when I was in shape and weighed 30 lbs less, who would have thought?'.   I just use it to keep track of miles and where I ride.   I really like the individual heatmap feature that shows me where I've ridden and I can compare years.

Yeah, it's buggy sometimes on really short segments like this depending on how often the GPS samples.  See the same thing with the short climb up the dam at Walnut. 

Trails were in great condition today - super dry and no muddy spots or even ruts on the trails I rode. 

I have a compressor, but also have one of the new pumps with a tank.   Makes it pretty easy generally and as Kyle said, easily transportable.    

This is what I have: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/air-tool-blast-tubeless-tire-setter/p/156624?color=232984-156624

Saw this today also.  Nope.

Yeah, I was planning on riding but called it.   Riding super slick rocks is no fun and just a recipe to get hurt being stupid.

33 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

I always hear about demos, and it seems like those are very few and far between. Or are they more often than I think?

 

Bicycle World is hosting a Rocky Mtn Bikes one soon, I think.

http://www.bikes.com/en/dealers

 

You also have to keep an eye out for them - sometimes they're not well advertised.   This year has also been hit or miss on them having one due to rain:

Scott demo back in Dec at Walnut, but had to be cancelled.   

Giant demo mid-Dec, also had to be cancelled due to wet trails.  

Pivot demo in early Jan at Flat Creek which I think they had.   

Yeti demo back in the fall months, don't recall what happened there.  

Rocky Mountain having a demo at Spider Mountain soon I think I saw?

In general, I'd much rather just pay for a demo from a shop so I can take the bike out to different trails and spend as much time as I want testing things out.  At the events, the bikes aren't always in the best shape (given that it's 1-2 guys responsible for driving on a tight schedule AND keeping the bikes up, I don't really blame them too much), and there will always be someone who will take the popular bike out for an entire ride (2+ hours) instead of a short 30-45 minute test so others actually have a shot at testing.   There was one particular model bike I wanted to try at one of them and I was next in line, and I hung around for 2.5 hours for it to come back before I finally left.  

6 minutes ago, CBaron said:

Trek Stache, one of the most versatile and fun hardtail you can own, especially so if its going to be your primary bike,

-CJB

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention this one.  It's an amazing bike too.  

19 minutes ago, crazyt said:

I love my canfield epo. A little slack, short chainstays, moderate reach, moderate STA (74.5). Similar geo to a kona honzo.  They closed them out a few years ago and the price was as low as $800 for a carbon frame.

Yep!  I'm currently selling mine for 400 if anyone is interested.  Wishing I could get it built back up, but I think I'm on FS for the foreseeable future.

I've got a Canfield Epo (slack but not particularly long) HT w/ a 140 fork that I really enjoyed.   It's really poppy with short chainstays.   Unfortunately moved the parts over to another bike for now - back issues making HT riding rough on me.   

Here's the EPO geo (I ride a med):

Yep, Primer is another awesome bike.  

For TX riding in general, assuming you ride a big variety of terrain, here's what my short list would be *based on bikes I've ridden*, in no particular order:

Shorter travel (100 travel) Yeti SB100, Pivot 429 (though this is more XC right now - I imagine they'll redesign this year or next), Turner Czar (only had a super short demo but felt very similar to Pivot 429)

110-130 travel: Giant Trance 29, Stumpjumper 29 (ST version), SC Tallboy, Intense Primer, Yeti SB4.5, Ibis Ripley (though I haven't ridden the latest version)

I've had the chance to ride a bunch of different types of bikes, and I keep coming back to a 120ish travel 29er for most CenTx riding.   Unless you're riding really rough stuff all the time, I find it to be a good 'do-it-all' for Austin.

Currently on a Giant Trance 29er and it's working out very well.  An SB100 was my top pick but I got a really good deal used on the Trance.  So far I'm digging it, in the 4-5 rides I've actually got on it in the past 2 months. 

Yep, I think I'll stick to road tomorrow, but making one last effort to check it out just in case.  

Anyone heard about the conditions out here?  Trying to make a final call on going to the race tomorrow.

Based on above comments, I'm guessing that more trails will be unrideable than rideable tonight?  Just confirming for a group ride that was planned.

1 hour ago, olddbrider said:

Can't argue with that.  There was very little standing water, which was surprising.  Looks like Burnet got less than 1/2 an inch of rain Saturday night, so in addition to RPR draining well, it got less rain than a lot of other spots in the area.

Seems like they are in the process of bulldozing some new roads out there in the vicinity of several of the enduro lines.  Does anybody know what they are up to?  I was hoping maybe they were creating roads to make it possible to shuttle people up the enduro runs.  Seems like with Spider Mtn opening (eventually, probably), RPR would be smart to capitalize on the increase in gravity riders that will be heading out that way...

Probably for the Rattler 100 that was recently moved from Rocky Hill to there.

Hell, even at 2-3k I'd probably buy used.  You can get an absolutely solid full squish bike with high mid-range components at that price.  I scanned craigslist here in town real quick and see several bikes in that range with 1x12 and nice parts.

If I were wanting to spend 500 on a bike, I'd probably go to the used market.   You can get quite a bit more if you're patient.

Yeah, scenery is kinda meh, but it's a decent place to camp when Austin is wet since the rocky trails dry pretty fast.  There are lots of trails, but once you get deep in the park some of them were kinda overgrown.  

Yeah, people should know when to cancel.  I had a group ride out there scheduled to do deception tonight and called it off - it was very obvious it was going to be too wet.

I might have an XT M8000 crankset.  It's boost I think, unsure of crank arm length.  I will double check - hit me up in PM if I don't respond tonight cause it'll mean I've forgotten.

56 minutes ago, Albert said:

Sounds to me like the trail should still be avoided until it dries out further.  Thanks for the report!

Probably so unless you just want to do Paved - > Log Loops - > Chardog/Dam - > Tangle - > Powerline down and repeat that loop.