MrTheCatLady

The green run is called "Itsy Bitsy" and by my Garmin is 1.35 miles long. My fastest safe time 🙂 was 4m59s @ 16.4 mph avg moving speed, 23.6 mph max speed. Max speed was towards the end, 1.05 miles in. -cls

i only rode the green today. my riding is terrible in general but today i learned in particular that i don't know how to navigate sharp turns. and i'm not talking about my little swerve-and-eat-sh*t event at the bottom after my 4th run; i'm talking about every turn on the run itself. the turns on the green run are pretty sharp and most are almost 180* but they are not tight little switchbacks. they are bermed and very deep, each turn almost has a pocket, if you know what i mean. but i was still crawling through each on e of them. or that's what it felt like, at least. i look forward to going out there and practicing more. in 6-8 weeks. no rocks or jumps on the green. just turns and rollers.

i broke the end of my radius right behind my thumb. there seemed to be quite a few folks there....maybe 40-50 or so. i was able to do 4 runs in literally the time it took to ride the lift up and then do the run. there was no wait at the top or the bottom. the lift ride is slow, at least 5 mins, maybe 7-8. the lift does NOT appear to have been assembled by carnies on meth, which was something i was concerned about. it seemed very solid and quiet. half of the lift chairs have hooks on the backs. the other half have those restraint bars that swing down from overhead and run the whole width of the chair, which seats 3-4. it is arranged every-other-seat i.e bike seat, people seat, bike seat, people seat. you load your own bike at the bottom except for the first time, when they load it for you so you can see how to do it. you dont have to lift the bike too high but the hooks take some practive and i ended up grabbing my bike by the fork with my left hand and the seat stay with my right. but at the top they always unload it for you. the people up at the top were competent and really nice. -cls

Well, it was a $100 day after all. $50 to get in, and $50 for the ER co-pay after I fell off my bike at the end of my 4th run. I came in too fast to the clearing where the lift is. i was headed towards going between a group of ppl and the platform. one of the ppl moved and i swerved and lost it. Just stupidity on my part. it was fun while it lasted, though - snow and all. -cls

I'm going. -cls

Also, you may think titanium is expensive when it is outside of your body... -cls

Yeah, we all need to be reminded that we are just a bunch of flapping labia every now and then. {} -cls

Which is the lesser of two evils? The names have been changed to protect the innocent. -cls

Gonna be cold on that lift on Friday... -cls

Doesn't matter what kind of company each is. Point is, leaders cannot be said to be competent based solely on their status as leaders. Or recent financial performance/successes. -cls

Folks, You think these people are inept? You think they'll have creditors lining up at their door soon? -cls

Man, you guys are really phoning it in today. BORING. -cls

Approves.

Guys, I need some clarification on Spider Mountain pricing in order to set expectations with management. Everybody talks about the lift tix being $50 but from what I can tell from the site, you need a land pass to get in as well. Another $50. From the site: $50 - Our bike park lift ticket includes one full day of unlimited uplift access. $50 - Even if you aren't riding the lift you need to stop by the ticket office and purchase a land access day pass. That sounds like $100 to me. What got me to thinking was the pricing and verbiage around the season pass: $199 - Our bike park season pass is good for unlimited uplift access until 4/30/19. That doesn't sound like any sort of season, at least not around here. Assuming that was posted in, say, January - Jan 1 thru Apr 30? 4 months? That's an odd length of time and an odd time of year to boot. *I* interpreted it as a year pass that gets you park access (land access) AND lift access until Apr 30, then after that you can get in for free (until, say, Jan 1 2020) but you have to buy a lift ticket if you want to ride the lift. I could be wrong. It got me to thinking, though, like I said. It seems to highlight a distinction between getting into the park and getting lift access. Either that or they really are talking about a third of a year, which seems weird to me. So am I looking at this wrong? Does the $50/lift, $50/access thing mean they want to get $50 out of you to step into the park, and if you want to ride the lift then that's OK, or do they really want $100/day for the full experience? -cls

Hi All, Anybody know what the San Marcos trail situation might be like? I looked at LCRA Hydromet and Wunderground and both seem to indicate there hasn't been diddly squat for rain down there over the last month, but I don't want to drive all the way down there only to realize I looked at the information wrong. And yeah, I know it's not much to write home about as far as trails go, but then again neither is my riding. So there you go 🙂 -cls

Hi All, My wife and I might be taking a trip to OC sometime soon. We'd probably do a long weekend...fly over on a Thursday night, come back Monday, something like that. I'd like to fly my bike out there and rent a car so I could visit a decent MTB destination or two while we're there. Do any of you know of any such destinations in/around OC? I've found some stuff on Google but I wanted to see if anyone here had any first-hand experience. I am looking for more XC-type stuff probably - a good 10-20 mile greenish-blue trail system would be cool. Although gravity-type stuff would be fine too. Thanks in advance! -cls

Thanks, @June Bug. I have a couple bags of the stuff left and would rather not throw it out. I'll try diluting it more. -cls

I like Skratch Labs's hydration line of products as well, but I notice when I take a drink I want another drink really soon. Maybe it's the aftertaste, or something? Whatever it is, I end up going through my coolant supply more quickly than I actually need to. When I pack only water, though, it is much easier for me to control my intake, and only drink when I think need it. Also, I don't know if I believe there is anything is better than good ol' water. At least, not for me at my current level of (decidedly low) performance. -cls

@crankin - whoops, I should have listed 30.9. Or maybe I should have said what I was really thinking - "not 27.2". To all who have mentioned used - of course you are correct. I totally missed that one in my mind. I was stuck on "new" I guess. To all who are bashing the 820...I've never owned one...is it really that bad? Is it at least better that big-box? -cls

Hey Folks, This is not a question; this is my commentary on some vids/articles I've seen recently (links below). In a nutshell: WTF are these people thinking when they are calling a $3000 full-sus bike "budget" or "affordable" or "entry-level"? I understand that "a good, affordable, entry-level MTB" (AGAELMTB) means different things to different people, depending on their trail exposure and riding experience. ATX trails are mostly XC + tech, but everywhere else (it seems) the trails are less pedal-y and more downhill-y. But I think that there are plenty of DH-y trails out there that are completely rideable on a hardtail. So IMHO, AGAELMTB basically has to be a hardtail (not full-rigid), and not come from a big-box store. That's it. If you want to go a little nicer, then of course the sky's the limit. I'd look for a bike with: Threaded stem Tapered steerer tube Disc brakes 31.6mm seat post diameter 2x drive train IMHO these are features that set you up well for future upgradeability if you so desire. But they are in no way necessary on an entry-level MTB. To give concrete examples, I believe all of these bikes fit the AGAELMTB bill: Trek 820 ($400) Specialized Pitch ($500) Fuji Adventure 27.5 ($400) I guess the way I think about it is that the $400-$1000 range is for those who want to get into MTB on a budget, and not be immediately hampered by their bike. Anything beyond that is for folks who want specific components or types of components, like this type of drive train or that frame material, etc. But even then, $400 is a lot of money for a high-school kid who doesn't have a job. Or a college kid. Or a recent graduate. Or lots and lots of families with both adults working and N+1 mouths to feed. Or lots and lots of people in general. So I think stating that $3k is a good place to start is at best blissfully ignorant of most folks' financial reality, at worst snide and disingenuous. And I also think that if you buy a MTB from Wal-Mart, most of which clearly state "not trail-rated" on the sticker, then that's perfectly fine too, but you might spend a lot of time maintaining it, and might also find that it is not as upgradeable as you want it to be. If all you have is $100, though, then all you have is $100, and you either buy the bike you can afford or you don't. -cls Videos that triggered me:

I and a friend rode WC yesterday and I can confirm @Chardog's post. We didn't attempt Windy or BMX but from the rest of WC being exactly as indicated I'd guess Windy and BMX were still no-gos. I'll go ahead and explicitly point out that .6 was rideable, as incredible as that sounds. -cls

All, This has been the most annoying fall/winter season since I have been into MTB. The ground is staying very wet for what seems like inordinate amounts of time. While riding my road bike 🙂 I have been thinking about the situation and have realized I have never paid that much attention to how wet the ground is...my whole life. So what has been happening over the last few months has been bewildering to me. Why is the ground so wet? Is it the fact that we had apocalyptic rain in October 2018? Is the ground still saturated from that? Is the water table super-high or something? I mean, we've had rain since then, of course - has it been "just enough" to keep the ground wet? Did the apocalyptic rain have any long term effect? It's not like we haven't had sunny and/or windy days too; they just don't seem to be doing the trick. Have we all bought too many new bikes recently? Just curious. Sorry if this question has an obvious answer. -cls

This has dragged on a bit 🙂 so when the opportunity presented itself the other day to donate the items to a local bike club, I began exploring it. I currently have a feeler out in that direction and I anticipate it to come back positive. So I'm going to go ahead and close this thread. Apologies for ultimately having been a tease 😕 -cls

I don't *THINK* the shoes would be too big, but we'll see 🙂 The SS base layer will fit you fine. I am 6'0" 195 lbs and it fit me fine. Tight, but I think that's the point. I forgot I had it on once I got on the bike. I work during the day but can meet after work ( I work close to WC) or even next weekend...these items aren't going anywhere. PM me ant let me know what you'd like to do. -cls