AntonioGG

Got my bike, got my clothes, got the foam tiles and I didn't get a ride in earlier. Now it's guaranteed to rain!

That's total length including the threads and shoulder. 158mm is for 15X110mm axle spacing.

This one? Just West of the driveway. Right next to a barbed wire fence on the south side, and the trees and a drop on the north side toward 1826 right? Start of the climb from the road view: Is there a tougher climb? This one is really short. There's a longer one farther South by the water tower that's tougher IMO, but still not too bad.

Yeah the short track stuff has my piqued my interest. I may give Dirt Remedy series a try. It's a bit like CX which turns out is a lot of fun. I've only seen the pros when they came to Flat Creek. I went to the creek area to watch the women race. That was pretty fun.

Wow! Donkeys at RHR? I love seeing the thousands of blue-green gem-like spider eyes looking back at you from everywhere.

Sometimes if it's just Nino racing or if Mathieu Van der Poel is in it, I fall asleep. But the women's was a much tighter championship fight. What I like about XC is watching the tactics on pacing, and just the sheer speed of how they climb, and how big a drops they make on XC bikes. But I just loved the end of the men's downhill at Snowshoe. That was some crazy good riding by the top 5 guys, with very different styles.

Hmm, I wasn't planning on making the R&I, and I wouldn't promise I could go (work seems to get in the way so I get I ride in whenever I can during the day...bird in the hand thing). I'll see if I can make it tomorrow (that'd mean 2 rides!) You also know where I live so you can drop by when you have some time. I just counted them, I have 20 plus 2 halves. The indentations are still healing but I'm sure they'll go back to normal in a few days or so. The ones I've using seemed to have un-dented themselves.

How about when you get a dry leaf caught in your tire and it sounds like a rattle (or at least what you think a rattle sounds like)?

Watch Snowshoe on Redbull TV. The last two races (MSA and Snowshoe) of the season were super exciting. The MSA World Championship is on NBC Sports if you have access to that.

On MTB tires, I've taken air out to get them to fit in the tire bags. On my road tires, I took a little air out. I wouldn't ship tires at max rated air pressure but I know nobody really does that anymore.

For my road biking trip, I didn't even bother with CO2. I always have the frame pump on. For MTB trips, I may just stick with the mini-pump. I think if I'm not racing, a pump is fine. In fact, I carry both, and often use the pump "to save" the CO2 cartridges. Also, have you ever had a dud cartridge? Happened to me once. @notyal, I'm living vicariously through you right now. I loved all the riding I did during my vacation. I hope you have a blast. As to your fishing question, I haven't fished in years, but on my bucket list is to do some fly fishing which I've never done. I'll probably go with a guide and rent the rods (my experience is you can get a package that has everything you need...which for a casual fisherman, I think is perfect.)

I think it's a stupid rule to not allow them, but they allow 4 cartridges if you buy a personal inflatable vest. Two on the vest, 2 spares. In the EU, they allow the cartridges, period. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/all

Good point on the CO2 cartridges. I've lost a few like that. Yeeah, derraileur... I've taken mine off and bagged and taped it to prevent issues with my old bike box. I recently bought the EVOC chain cover (for road bike) and with the bike strapped in place the derraileur seemed fairly safe and it survived without damage but I was a bit nervous. One more thing, my road bike has Di2 so out of precaution I removed the battery (Li-ion) and carried it on. If you're bringing lights, don't check the batteries in.

I think anyone with kids needing 24" and smaller bikes needs to look at these kid specific brands. What the big names are putting out weigh way too much and puts kids off. My kid hated his hotrock when he was 7. The thing weighed 30lbs! Same as his brother's 26" hardrock. My brother got his kids Woom bikes and I was shocked at how light they are and this means his kids love riding the bikes and don't struggle with them.

I have 15-20 interlocking tiles. They're blue on one side and red on the other. These were on my kids' room but they no longer need them. I already put some in my workshop area. They're great for that purpose. Let me know if you're interested and I'll take a more accurate count. I do not have the edge pieces though.

It's still not rainy season but you should bring a light jacket/sweater for the evenings. You may get rain though nothing heavy. For packing, don't overweigh you bike bag. I put only bike clothes in there and bike parts. Air Alaska charges $75 more than standard if you go over 50lbs. I took rotors off because I've had friends that had them bent. I also packed a few of the bike tools that are needed to re-assemble. Worst case, take it to a bike shop to put rotors on if you have center-lock (not practical to carry the big wrench/torque-wrench IMO). Leave a note to TSA inside the bag with your name, cell phone number, and to make sure to tighten all the straps (velcro and buckles) if they have to remove the bike for inspection. They will open your bag, and they did not re-tighten the straps on mine on my trip back so from now on I'll have to leave a note. It's easy to pack the bike in the bag. You can find a video of the process if you google it.

What are you packing it into? Bike case/bag or bike box?

RIP Ric:

My XTR pedals have about 13k miles on them since 2011. I think they're finally wearing out. I do change cleats every 2 years or so, maybe more often.

I went from 680 to 760 in 2017 and haven't looked back. I rode S16 today. I think I know the section you're talking about. What gets me are the rocks if I don't come in with speed.

I wondered if the Times had the same rock strike release problem as the Crank Brothers eggbeaters

How's that fork? Would this be a good bike for someone to dip their toes into green (maybe blue) park trails?

Sounds like a different machine. The one I had to use was like one of those bouncy baby harnesses, big weight-lifting looking rack with this contraption.

The moon machine is what I called it. I had to do treadmill wearing that harness. I hated it but got me up and walking faster. Great to hear your spirits are higher. Awesome news on the progress!

Would you do the EB on a Ripley then?