AntonioGG

Long one but entertaining: https://youtu.be/Mq51OAXnc64

It's the 2nd reason I ride crazy long rides when I can.

My Orbea dropper is the same way with leverage causing it to stick, but frequent cleaning and slick honey really helps a lot.

This is an interesting thing to bring-up. In the Davidson river as it goes under US-64, there is at least one rope across the river with "PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESPASSING" sign on it. You can definitely navigate the Davidson and plenty of people were doing that on rafts or tubes upstream. But I wondered about who dared post that up there since navigable rivers/creeks + easement are public. The map seems to indicate this ROW along the river. I'm going back to also do some fly-fishing which I've always wanted to try.

Bridal Veil?

750mL of quad for that price is awesome!

Who’s this?

I think someone here has posted about such a thing. Maybe @mack_turtle?

“Could be” or could be?

We both got it on our trip. Made our 2nd week of vacation completely sucky. I started first. It seemed like horrible allergies at first. I tested negative and went to meet a friend for dinner. "Allergies" felt worse the next day but still felt like allergies. Then the next day I got the fever, aches, and chills. It lasted for a few hours. I still thought it was something completely different. My wife tested herself again and was negative. The next day I felt amazing and went for a short ride on the town's paved hike and bike. Then the sore throat and next-level congestion started. At this point I tested again and within 90 seconds the test was positive. My wife tested slightly positive (with no symptoms) a day later. Within 3-4 days all I had left was annoying congestion, but she got it really bad for a few days with a bad cough (she has asthma) that wouldn't clear up. We postponed our trip back 3 days and that was the right call. She's now dealing with the congestion. I had my 2nd booster in April. She's under 50 so her single booster was in December. I'm usually the one that gets any disease brought-in by kids the worst usually b/c of secondary sinus infection (return to school everyone gets sick, kids are good after 2 days, parents suffer for 1-2 weeks). The way this variant behaves, it's no wonder everyone is getting it. The number was 15% in the US had never had it about 2-2 weeks ago. I'd be surprised if we're not in the single digits now. I believe it's not if you get it, but when you get it because even people like us that take precautions to some degree are now getting it. We still go to eat out...which is no different since we've been vaccinated, and it's where I believe we got it this time. I hate being sick even for 2 days of any kind and I get really angry when I know someone is not careful (e.g. kids coughing and not covering up). For me this was like a mild flu + a horrible strep throat (worst throat pain I've ever felt, thank goodness for NC Moonshine with honey) but I don't want to get sick again. It ruined our vacation and my mountain biking trip and in the past flus have prevented me from doing the Unbound Gravel (registered, but got the flu the week before). Even pre-COVID I was already resolute to use masks before a big bike event, now that masks are normal like they have been in Asia for years, I will continue to do the same and I will get ALL the shots I can.

In the Brevard, NC area, almost no trails allow e-bikes of any kind. As I was climbing 2800ft on a forest road, I thought this would be a nice application for an e-bike so you could get more than a single run in a day. But then the hike-a-bike climb on the singletrack had me reconsider completely that. My 26lbs bike was enough of a chore to carry up the rooty and super steep (climbing straight up iso lines). I couldn't have imagined doing that with a 50lbs bike. I started to understand another reason why e-bikes may be banned in some areas. That was a 5.5hr ride for me (ride to the trail) and descent was super fun but I decided any further rides would be with climbing only on forest roads (fairly normal for the area.) Alas, that was my last off-road ride before I got COVID and was stuck suffering indoors for the next week. (two less COVID virgins)

I'll get you the info on the stuff we got if you're interested. The harness is padded and allows the seatbelt to run through it so the pup is protected in the event of a crash. The box allows him to see outside (he's only 10lbs) but he also feels very comfortable in it. I'm assuming larger dogs don't need a box to view outside, but they may like the feeling of being enclosed?

After a couple of days on the road they seem to get used to it. We are on our return trip and a Oscar has been sleeping almost the whole way in his little box.

Little Sugar, specifically Tunnel Vision is ridable in the rain. So keep that as an option for rainy days.

Just went to the bike shop and they tell me this is actually dryer than normal (got 2.7” yesterday afternoon!) and most trails should be good in the mornings. He hiked one of the normally wetter trails and it was good to go.

It’s super humid. Low 70’s in the morning. Not that comfortable. Also it rains everyday in the afternoon. I don’t have full intel on which trails to ride in these conditions.

Sorry about your injury. What’s the treatment for that? Splint? Time to upgrade!

Brevard, NC

In New Orleans for the night. Our plan to head into town was thwarted by our malchi going nuts in the room so we had to do takeout from a place in the garden district. Good food and you can takeout frozen drinks by the gallon. What else can you say?!

I've been capped for years. The rate of increase is accelerating though...10% of 200k (ca. 2003) is a lot different than 10% of $900k. I'm at $580k this year. I still can't believe I live in a 2100 sq ft $900k house.

https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/ https://abcbirds.org/threat/cats-and-other-invasives/ If they really care about the birds, they need to cull the feral cat population and outlaw outdoor cats. "Today, more than 100 million feral and outdoor cats function as an invasive species with enormous impacts. Every year in the United States, cats kill well over 1 billion birds. This stunning level of predation is unsustainable for many already-declining species like Least Tern and Wood Thrush."

Great man! Yeah for the first time in years the redfin/zillow estimate dropped $45k on our house. Finally some sanity.

So this is maybe geometrically better?

I have memories of Diego Rivera's house bench in the foyer which I was riding feeling awful while my family toured the whole place...after eating some bus station cafeteria food. I knew better but it looked so good! I've only ever gotten worse once and that was in San Antonio. Was so dehydrated my dad could not find a vein for the IV. Got sick once while in India for work but not as bad. That sucked too. Didn't keep me from touring a local palace but it did keep me from enjoying all the food for the 2nd week of the trip. My coworker told me when I got back that my problem was not drinking enough liquor. Hope you feel better soon ATXZJ!

I haven't tried Athletic Brewing's stuff. Everything else NA that I've tried that tries to emulate beer I don't like. However, Lagunitas HOP I really liked. Think of it as a hoppy seltzer. I also cut way down and will do teas at night to scratch that itch. I do like a specific kind of kombucha but it's very expensive. Someone told me I should try to make my own. I may give it a try.