AntonioGG

wow!

https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/cedar-choppers-once-ruled-texas-hill-country/

I made quick work of the 3-body problem series.  I loved it.

I'm on the 4th book of the Hyperion series which is also very good.

You would have thought Cowboys fans had drank it all to drown their sorrows.

Yes,  It will be interesting to see how much tech they leave for that race.  I don't think anything is worse than anything at Pace Bend IMO.

I believe the day pass is $15.  Yes I saw a bunch of stuff that led me to believe you had to buy $20 annual + $15 day pass but that’s definitely not right.

I'm now a 2024 member of the Abilene bike club.  It's only $15 more than a single day fee.  This is on public land but it's administered by the club, and the bike shop Bike Town graciously handle the applications, fees, and such.  The trail is fun.  I did just under 14 miles riding everything.  It has a 3 mile beginner loop (windy on flat ground) which is a good warm-up.  The 2nd 3 miles are maybe a bit more advanced but still tame with a little more fun stuff.  The rest of it has very techy rock gardens, climbs and descents.  I was running on 4 hours of sleep and 4 hours driving, so the punchy stuff really took a lot out of me, and toward the end I played it safe and walked some of the stuff.  Probably not worth a trip, but it's on the way to Palo Duro and right off I-20 if you're heading in other directions. No bathrooms or water at the trailhead, but an awning, smoker/grill and picnic tables.  The bike shop is across town unfortunately but it is Abilene so it's not too bad. They have a filtered bottle filler there.

We have a college visit and was thinking of taking my bike.  Any comments/tips are welcome.

I have cervical stenosis too.  I have successfully treated it with therapy so far.  I have so many nerve issues not exclusive to the neck though. I also have a pinch somewhere on my left shoulder as well as ulnar compression issues and carpal syndrome.   The neck and shoulder are the most marked and also the ones that dramatically improve with posture.  My symptoms are mostly numb hands or specific fingers (left ring finger is from the shoulder, full hand is from the neck, pinky+ring is ulnar, and middle, index, and thumb are carpal.  I can pronate my arm and feel immediate relief on the ring finger, and I can do forward head posture exercises and also feel immediate relief for the full hand issue.   Any PT should be able to at least give it a try. For neck issues I've gone to Austin Sports Medicine and Texas Physical Therapists.

Windy is way too wet.  So is Church Hill.  Did not ride BMX.

In for a quick lap before sundown.

Is Walnut Dry?

21 minutes ago, AustinBike said:

I would think that any insurance company is going to set rates based on the probability of something happening. Fire in a traditional shop is probably pretty low. Fire in a shop with top line bikes is higher. Fire in a shop with any kind of bike is going to be the highest.

I'd bet that shops will also limit what they will work on based on their insurance, so if someone does buy the cheap knock off, it may be more expensive to get it repaired. I could see a shop agreeing to only work on approved platforms in order to get some break in liability insurance.

Yeah, my policy would be only UL/CSA/CE etc listed platforms indoors.  Maybe only work on the cheap bikes (mechanical stuff only) outdoors on the spot while customer waits.

1 hour ago, Ridenfool said:

Just to be all ironicalish, thought I'd post up how the rain accumulation at RHR is nearing has exceeded 2.5 inches since yesterday, with more on the way.

Paddle tires and snorkel optional... 🙄

The streets were flooding here but there was still a traffic jam on the western entrance to Old Spicewood Springs road (5 low water crossings, new fancy gate with detectors) this morning.  I hope everyone stays safe and enjoys bike wrenching time and some good tunes!

15 hours ago, Sluggo said:

 

That was the most awful earworm!  It was interesting though.  Thanks!  (dude definitely hates J Bieber)

On 1/14/2024 at 9:23 AM, The Tip said:

I think if you post your picture to the 311 app it automatically locates where the picture was taken.

This is the right answer.

1 hour ago, St.Bernardo said:

No, but a did get an order of tosted fresticles.

This is my biggest issue when cycling in cold weather.  I don't want first-hand experience with penile frostbite.  You will see me wearing baggies over bibs.  I used to wear merino underpants under the bibs but I now have padded long bibs.  I need to try them out in the 20's.

Outside, BikeReg, VeloNews, Trailforks, PinkBike and other brands been one thing for a couple of years now.  I have the Outside+ bundle mainly to get access to Velo News and TrailForks.  I like the long form articles on Outside.  They have a streaming channel but I haven’t looked in ages.

23 hours ago, GFisher said:

Yep, We have Flo and love watching 'cross!!

Peacock does have replays:

 

It's limited.  For example, for the Ol,ympics, they had replay for the Men's XCO race, but not the women's.  I didn't get to see the Swiss domination, and Jolanda's best race in years.

Good news for me at least.  It looks like Flo bikes has taken over broadcasting of the x2o badkammers and super prestige CX series in addition to the world cups!

6 hours ago, GFisher said:

Wait, it is even worse than we thought. I am 95% sure it only has live coverage, no replays or on demand. Could you even record a third party app like this these days? 😡

This is why I refuse to pay for Peacock.  If I figure a way to watch the Euro feed on demand (paying for it) I'll do that (well, for CX, XC, and road.  I watched DH b/c it was there on Redbull but will not pay extra for that).

Though there's climbing toward the end of the normal loop, it's shorter/punchy stuff, not extended hard stuff like in the beginning (mainly corkscrew).  The other thing is that mentally, it's at the end of the loop, while the beginning stuff it's 3.8 miles with a lot of climbing and in your mind you are still thinking about 12 or so more miles left.

Quit adding more trail until after Jan 13 please (EE) 😄  Just kidding.  

Let's take it back!

Since I started racing (RC nitro cars) I was always fascinated by the quest to have someone else fund your racing.  I remember talented kids and pushy (really kind of a-hole) parents vying for sponsors.  At what point does it stop being fun?  It's the same thing with auto racing. I always felt sponsors get suckered into financing top-level racing (hey, if you can get someone else to pay of it, kudos!).  In the end, those guys will ride, and we will ride, we may not get to see the top-level talent on TV.