AlienSP

I trail run about equal time as mountain biking, especially on the same trails in the BCGB. When you're doing it right, the pace and time is similar. The ups are faster and downs are slower when running, and technical rocky trails increase the fun-factor. I probably take harder spills running than biking.

On my bike, I usually yell to trail runners, "keep running! don't stop for me. I've got plenty of room". Yes, yes and yes..on the earbuds. They are my peeve (and uncontrollable off-leash dogs).

We've stayed here. Close to the Back 40. Empty garage and space inside to put bikes.

https://www.vrbo.com/4460920ha?adultsCount=8&arrival=2020-03-14&departure=2020-03-18  

5 minute ride to one of the trail/road crossings on the Back 40.

Chainrings, right? Then I say a 40T with a 20T cog works pretty well around here.

On 8/2/2019 at 9:56 AM, Barry said:

Hill Top Resort has a 12 mile loop just outside of Fredericksburg. You can find it on TrailForks. But I know absolutely nothing about it, nor their hours & pricing. I know they do a race there, but I can't find contact info for the place. There is a bike shop in town, so presumably they know what's up with Hill Top--may be worth a call.

I did the TMBRA marathon in the SS class back in 2018. Decent elevation and you can carry some SS speed, but it doesn't in any way compare to Comfort. Three laps will take it out of you though.

Open during selected times I believe:

https://www.tmbra.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=14192

19 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

Crowding makes people "rude" anywhere.

Now let's talk about snakes.

Texas snakes?

2 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

Read up on coral snakes. Very venomous but not very dangerous to people. Basically, you have to do something really stupid and let the coral snakes chew on you. No deaths from a Western coral snakes have ever been reported.

 Rattlesnakes, on the other hand, are scary AF.

I actually don't mind snakes and usually relocate the yard rattlers into a bucket and then drop them off at the end of the street in TC (Copperwood if you're curious). They are usually juveniles and pretty mellow. This morning I was unsuccessful because corals move pretty fast when they want and he didn't want anything to do with my rake. At least rattlers make some noise and let you know they're there.

I grew up around the Mississippi river bottoms where aggressive water moccasins and copperheads were never in short supply. The good mountain bike trails were in their environment. Sometimes we'd go down to Snake Road to watch the migrations. Cool stuff.

Third coral in three weeks. This one was 4ft away from where I was walking in my backyard.

On 6/28/2019 at 5:23 PM, JRA said:

Just posted that pic for reference, not to take a poke at TJ. He's a fucking badass with any width handlebar, still.

BMXer turned mountain bike pro.

Really nice bike and stealth graphics. Running a Fox Float X2? I love the adjustability of that shock. Got one on my Switchblade.

My wife and I were riding at Muleshoe yesterday and had a young coral snake cross our path. I usually only see one every 2 years around here anymore. And then.....this morning during our 5:30 run, we saw a larger coral snake moving along the gutter in TC. I should buy a lottery ticket.

8 hours ago, Anita Handle said:

This thread has everything... lifted Lexus, Deloreans, dog mode, intellectual property, Taliban jihadis, softball nights and Teslas...

True, but you haven't seen Sammy Hagar and his band fighting the third world in a cab. Start at 1:20.

20 hours ago, Barry said:

From the plan, page 11...a couple of cute kids drawings. But...what the shit is this?

 

 

Dynamite? A log with a snake crawling out? A tampon? It looks to me that the kid drew someone cleaning garbage, and this far away lady with the garbage bag has to pick up this seemingly unused tampon. Thankfully she has a trash picker with her.  

+1 on the tampon, with a pungent odor of canine feces quilting the humid air.

My 1939 Schwinn DX straightbar converted to 2-speed coaster brake. Sold it last year.

We have four sets of Enve rims and they have been nothing but reliable. The other two Reynold carbon sets came stock on our Switchblades and are also easy to mount tires and stay true. A few years ago, I had a nickel sized hole in the side of one of my older wheels from a rock strike and Enve replaced it free without hassles. The newer M50-60s don't have the bead hook, so they are even easier mounting with initial mounting pressures of 50psi (Maxxis Ikon 2.2 to Minion DHRII 2.4).

I'll take lower inertia wheelsets any day. Probably not noticeable in Enduro riding, but noticeable over a 2-3 hour XC race, especially in the mountains or accelerating out of 100-200 turns; just a factor among many to having a good race. I don't miss regularly truing wheels, breaking spokes and breaking nipples with the alloy rims.

To answer the OPs question: generally 30psi rear, 25 psi front.

Rock Shox Reba Race 29er fork, 100mm, 9mm QR, serviced by Push Industries. Well maintained and no scratches on upper stanchion tubes and lowers are in great condition. No leaks, dust wipers excellent condition. Dual Air, compression, rebound, lockout and gate/blowoff level adjustable. The steerer tube is 7.75” long, non-tapered which means you can use it with tapered and non-tapered frames. Weight is 1760g as shown. $160 to users on this site, just mention it in CL reply.

https://austin.craigslist.org/bop/d/austin-rock-shox-reba-race-29/6866079752.html

Great fork if your building a steel SS bike with non-tapered HT, came off my Spot Rocker SS. 

Live SW, work NW.

My German-garaged bike is a Marin Pine Mountain, and I added the PNW dropper last summer. I can only compare it to my Transfer, but it works great every time. Excellent for the price. Only downside is that it's heavy. There is a German version of the same post under a different brand and other countries sell it as Lyne.

https://www.lynecomponents.com/external-droppers

Studded tires, Flexstem, and dropbars...carbon of course.

On ‎11‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 4:28 PM, TheX said:

I just paid $2,700 for this, I guess I'll blame the rain too.

ES-175, nice! Probably 57, 57+ pups. Great choice and extra rain.

No, I wouldn't ride on those bars either.  I'd suspend the ends of the bar on something and load it up in the center to see what it will take.

Hey Seth, thank for posting this up. Looks like a blast, and nice to have this option in central TX.

I've been running carbon bars for 11 years across multiple bikes, had countless crashes, but never had one break (chips on the surface too). I may replace them every 5-6 years, but this isn't unusual for other parts on my bikes. I never considered carbon bars having a bling factor, only lightweight and functional.

It mentions in the article that both bars are designed with similar ultimate strengths (I think you used the term breaking strength), but each material has different failure modes. Clamps can deform the outer diameter of the carbon bar when overtightened and can cause the weakest area for failure. Once aluminum alloy goes through it's stress/strain proportional limit (rebounds back without deformation), it then goes through its yield strength (bending), strain hardens, and then fatigues out and breaks. The carbon fiber yield strength is so close to it's ultimate strength, the impression is that a failure happens unexpectedly and at a much lower ultimate stress than aluminum. We could go into lattice slip planes of Al, dislocations, propagation, inclusions, but that gets boring..

I think we're all set in our own beliefs and experiences. Ride aluminum. Ride Carbon.

Signed, Chuck Yeager- a weight weenie, pro wannabe, weekend warrior

42 minutes ago, JRIDER said:

I've never done a gravel grinder or ridden in this area.  What is the recommended tire pressure for a 29" ht mtb with 2.2 tires?

I'm signed up for 100k, but may have to bail out at 50k due to some other commitments. 

I'll be super general and take a stab at your weight, since it's weight dependent. 150-180lbs 25ish psi, 180-200lbs 30ish psi, 200+lbs 35psi. Rear tire 5psi over the front tire pressure.

My RF carbon cranks had a noticeable tick to it on one of the downstrokes; this was on a 3 week old Pivot Switchblade. I must have disassembled the cranks and chainring interface 3x looking for the tick. Rode through the summer, two weeks at Angelfire, and the subsequent weekend the crank arm finally gave up on my first run at the Flat Creek Enduro. Non-catastrophic failure in the end, but I should have not ignored the 5 month warning.

I've ridden the Nut on my CX bike several times. In fact, I probably have some of my fastest average speeds there on a CX compared to a mountain bike. It's almost a dirt sidewalk, so why not. If I had advice, I'd wear work gloves with a little extra padding between the thumb and index finger. It looks dorky, but cuts down on blisters when riding off-road. Switch between the hoods and drops to level load the fatigue. The main trail and S16 on the BCGB is also possible once you get the hang of it. Bunny hop hop hop.

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.