AustinBike

In 20+ years of Austin:

1 rattler on the greenbelt on an appropriately named segment 

2 copperheads on a local private trail

more coral snakes than I can count on the GB

probably 1 water moccasin on the NWCT

plus 1 million rat snakes that made me scream like a little girl

10 hours ago, RedRider3141 said:

Since my last steel bike was from Costco and probably cost $129. Educate me, why is steel preferable?

Mostly I feel it in my back. I rode an aluminum hardtail when I got my first SS. Loved it, but it felt like I was feeling every little bump on the trail. Then I got a steel SS and it was like night and day. 

If I was a 30 year old kid the aluminum would be fine, but as an old guy that creaks in the morning, steel is my best friend. It just feels smoother when I ride. 

Interestingly, I assumed that my full suspension bike would be more comfortable for my body, but when I ride the greenbelt on a steel SS I still feel great when I am done. 

Yeah, afib is a real issue and could be more likely as most bikers tend to be pretty healthy, but afib has little to do with how healthy you are. 

The difference is pretty stark. Afib is like the wiring getting shorted out on your car, it can happen to a brand new one or one that is meticulously maintained. Other cardiac problems are the result of wear and tear, you can see them develop over time and watch their progress, like when your transmission fluid gets dirty and the car starts shifting roughly before it just stops altogether. 

Yesterday morning in Sarlat-le-Canéda, France. Loosely translated- forbidden, except bikes. Yeah, I like that. 

When I was heavier I used to max out at ~180 after a sharp climb. These days I will do a GB ride and my peak is ~135 at worst. 

It is worth knowing your numbers and tracking them, data is king. 

Steel is the way to go. Just built a Vassago Verhauen HT. If anyone wants to borrow it to get a feel for that geometry ping me. 

5 hours ago, DirtSurfer said:

I understand the signage is misleading, but I think that is to your benefit - follow me on this - even if you take OWs out of the equation, Segways are allowed, and the sign says "no motorized vehicles"  So the signage as it exists is confusing, because you have to go back to the definition of a motorized vehicle under the law - most people think that if it has a motor, then it is a motorized vehicle.  I  get that, and its a normal assumption.  

So the sign is misleading, but it helps keep out things that you don't like.  Heck, it has probably kept out a number of Segway owners, because they don't know the law, and that they are not a "motorized vehicle"  under the law.  You could add verbiage to the sign that says "except EPAMDs"  but that would open the slippery slope for people to say "I thought I was an EPAMD"  when riding a scooter, and you would probably end up with more things on the trail that you don't want.

If you can accept that Segways are allowed with the existing signage, then its not a stretch to accept that onewheels are too.  If they didn't change the signs for Segways who pushed the law into existence, then I doubt they will change them for Onewheels.  Keeping the signage keeps more things you don't like out of the park, including Onewheel owners and Segway owners who don't know the law. 

Thanks for recognizing the work we are doing, I've read a lot of your posts - and I think had I rolled up on my bike sometime, we would probably have hit it off.

I stand by my original position: the OW community needs to get with PARD and get this sorted out. 

You Interpretation does not matter. 

My interpretation does not matter. 

PARD’s official position matters. 

It would be helpful not to post with statements that say “you”, it is an unclear pronoun. I assume that the post meant “bikers” and not me specifically because the recollection of the events do not match anything that I was involved in to date.

Again, all I am saying is that there is a lack of clarity and that we really need Austin PARD to weigh in on this officially. I don’t think that bikers are the best ones to tackle this as we can be seen as having a vested interest. I’d like to see a clear directive from PARD (and hopefully signage) so that we can all coexist peacefully.

And, from a trail maintenance perspective, thanks for helping out. 

3 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

I read AB's post about the skills as a response to Mr. CatLady and not a qualifier for access. Hiking takes very little skill and I think AB would agree that they should have access.

Yes, you are correct, I was replying to the MCL post. 

Skills should not dictate access. After all, I have access and few skills. Access is driven by rights and rules, not opinions. If you want access, you need to work on the rules, not just reinterpret them for your own benefit as you see fit.

4 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

My colleague is just coming back today.  He found out some info about MTBing in Hong Kong there for the next time we're there (including how to get to HK from Shenzen).  He would have gone this time but they had some rain and opted for hiking instead.  It looks pretty nice around Shenzen.  I looked in Austinbike for China info but didn't see any.

Yeah, every time I was there it did not work out. I had a bike connection once, years ago, but have lost touch with them. There is a good urban "ride to the ride" thing going on. We were there in October and there were plenty of fully kitted riders on the streets, looking like they were going to or coming from a ride.

Good job. There is a balance between power and thinking. If you can reduce the amount of thinking you are probably increasing the power.

7 hours ago, Txduc said:

LOL that'll be me this weekend but unfortunately I'm headed to China

Nice, I took the wife there last fall. If you need any recommendations on places to eat or things to do in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong or Shenzhen, ping me. Outside of those places you are on your own.

Mountain unicycles rock. They are badass and share the same skills as mountain bikers, only they essentially are fixies on a single wheel. That is good.

One wheels and scooters (lime, bird, etc.) share the same skills as well, much of it driven by the fact that they are self propelled.

If we were to do an SAT question it would be "Mountain unicycles are to mountain bikes as _______________ is to deckless scooters." 

I am not saying that OW don't have skills, because every mode of transportation has some degree of skill, even driving a car 😉 (I just did 130Km/hour in a Citroen C4 to get here tonight.) 

From a skills level, in my simplistic Venn diagram world, mountain bikes, road bikes and mountain unicycles are in one circle and one wheels, deckles scooters and motorcycles are in another circle. The intersection of the two is eBikes. The reason that eBikes sit in the middle is that there is some degree of self propulsion (i.e. pedaling) that happens for these vehicles, so they really sit in both worlds. 

I do recognize that one wheels require skills (balance, etc.) that I don't necessarily have - I went to special gym as a kid so my coordination and motor skills are limited. I don't want to imply that they are not skilled.

Ultimately anyone getting off their ass and doing something outside instead of watching TV deserves praise. But, as the current laws are outlined, they don't all deserve a free pass on the trails. Just as there are places we are not allowed to ride that we must abide by, they fall in the same camp. They should not be allowed to interpret the laws as they see fit. The idea that they can just apply Segway rules is ludicrous at best and primarily self-serving, just as if a mountain biker showed up at a motocross-only motorcycle trail and tried to argue that "well, we both have two wheels and knobby tires so I am allowed here..."

4 hours ago, Albert said:

I need to start going to these. 

There is always an excuse not to go, but never a good excuse not to go. So you should always default to going.

51 minutes ago, Txduc said:

I heard a long time ago but can't remember where that for long flights to take baby aspirin to help with keeping the blood thinned out to avoid this.  I take long flights (10-17hrs) about 6 times a year and thus far no issues and I do make a point of moving and stretching every couple of hours.  I too have lots of hardware but luckily no issues thus far.  On a semi related note my heart CT scan came back with a score of zero so all good there.

Just landed in Toulouse, France a few hours ago. 3 of the 4 of us were in compression socks (only I, the mountain biker was in normal socks, actually pearl Izumi bike socks). Allegedly compression socks are the way to go.  

It is always at the main lot by the pool. I'll be out of town for a few weeks, so have fun.

Yeah, the biggest thing that I found is that protein gives you a ton of sustained energy, but if you are going to try to go protein/fat only you REALLY need to stay ahead of the curve and eat before you are hungry. I found out in the EB that if you wait until you are hungry you're F'ed because it takes longer to turn protein/fat into energy. Carbs convert quickly.

I know a lot of you are eating keto or at least trying to be low carb.

Last night we went to NXNW and I had the Cobb salad, with sirloin on top.

THAT, children, is how it is done. Washed it down with a couple glasses of wine. Low carb dinner.

To the people at the R&I the other night that thought it was too hard to go low carb and still have energy to ride, I'll be doing a few hours or riding today on some very steep trails, should be perfectly fine.

Try that salad.

I am so guilty of keeping a messy workbench. About every 2 months I clean it all up and put everything back in a very organized process. Then it goes all to hell in a few weeks. I'm the same with tech stuff and cables. About once I year I open the "magic closet" that I have been throwing everything into and sort it all out, rebox it and typically give stuff away. But it takes a few hours. I guess my theory is save a minute here and a minute there, then pay it all back months later.  I need to get a better discipline but at 54 it still has not happened.

If you have an LD king front wheel I can help you out with that 😉

It would be stupid to talk you out of it. I just built up a geared HT. mid 20's in weight, super fun on everything up to (and including) the greenbelt. The squishy will get less use, but I am better for it.

Build away!

I am heading out to France and Spain next week. Our apartment in San Sebastian is right next to a docked ebike rental:

https://www.dbizi.com/?lang=en

If we decide to do a day of riding I may convince the group to play on some of these. There is a really cool waterfront where we can cruise. The real problem will be that an ebike won't work off all of the pintxos calories so I may need a backup plan as well. 

Almost every mid range now has a dropper, so that adds to the cost. Mid range forks used to be 100-120mm, now they are 130-140mm, that adds to the price. And drivetrains are 11-12speed, again adding to the price.

I'd bet that if you were to build up a mid range config with the same specs as 5-6 years ago, the price would be about the same. The price inflation in my opinion is due to the spec inflation, so ultimately you are spending more than before but getting more than before as well.

Good god, that looks exactly like my old one, except for the crack that I gave it. For 300 that is a deal, very fun bike. 

13 minutes ago, Ridenfool said:

I found a crank length calculator online. Based upon inseam length it says I need a 186mm crank. 😕

Um, not sure I want to google “crank length calculator”, especially at work.