MrTheCatLady

I believe you about the quick results. My commute used to be from the Domain area to 360 just south of the bridge. That hill after the bridge (and coming home, the hill on 360 approaching 183) is pretty long, and about 6%. That used to be very hard for me. After riding it a lot, even not on a super regular schedule, it became a lot easier, to where I could do it at 8-10mph in the small ring and about 5 cogs down the cassette, instead of in the granny gear at 6mph. I was very proud of that. Then that job went away, and my new commute is 2 miles - from the Domain area to right behind BSS on 183 (NOT GOOD LOL). But I still ride my old commute in the morning just to do those hills. And they have become easier again after about 2 weeks. -cls

LOL you guys are nuts. And much stronger than I am 🙂 -cls

No, Spicewood riding south, starting at 360. -cls

What about that crazy-ass steep hill on Spicewood Springs on the immediate south side of 360? That thing looks like a monster. -cls

Nice. Rain Creek "triple bitch". Don't know that I've ever been on Lost Horizon...may have to give it a try. This looks doable, at least once 🙂 When I first saw your post I thought your hill repeat route would include the southern Rain Creek hill instead of the triple-bitch. I don't think I could climb that southern hill twice in the same 12-hour period. ☠️ -cls

The sun came out yesterday afternoon after what has seemed like weeks of rain, and I took full advantage by going on a road ride. I have a 20-mile route that meanders around the Great Hills area (should have been called the 'Suck-Ass Hills', amirite?) and then heads south on Spicewood Springs until the Yaupon junction, then heads north up Yaupon all the way to Oak View. I had tried it once before and failed, but last night - thanks in part to the 75*F temperature - I made it all the way without stopping. Not even at the top. That hill is tough. I think it may actually be worse than the one at the south end of Rain Creek, headed south, right before it meets Great Hills Trail. I have made it up that one multiple times...it is steeper (I think) but shorter. Anyway, just wanted to share. Do any of you ride in and around the Great Hills area? That area is fairly close to by my apartment, so it's where I do a lot of my road rides. -cls

That's what she said. -cls

So you're saying you used a can to fix a cast-caused cant conundrum? -cls

I'll be the 46yo white guy with a white jersey and a white helmet on a white bike because evidently I'm Roy Rogers. If you don't see me right away just wait about 20 minutes and I'll be the guy who is out of water already and bringing up the rear. -cls

For MTB I have 2 pairs of Bontrager Forays with a single boa at the top. They are OK - the metal wire tightens more at the top than at the bottom so I have to play with the wire a little to get it to even up. For road I have 2 pairs of Fizik Uomo R5b's with a single boa at the top and a decorative velcro strap at the toe. They are great - the metal wire tightens evenly all the way down the shoe. Never had any trouble with any of them, except the occasional doozy rock strike that pops the boa on the Bontys open. I'd take boa over laces any day, but I have not tried any shoes with the ratchet thingy. -cls

Signed up for the 50k fun ride. See you guys there. -cls

Pffft I'll bet those guys are all waiting for their wives to help them up, and I don't know them anyway 😛 -cls

There's a little video right here - skip to the 5 min mark for the good stuff. I don't think I'll ever buy carbon bars, cranks, stem, or seatpost for a mountain bike. I'm just too danger-prone. -cls

I figure if you want to get the seat out of the way, get it as out-of-the-way as possible. A lot of my pre-college life was spent squatting down beside one car or another with my dad; I think I am the only person I know who can squat down all the way to the floor and then stand right back up without assistance *shrug*. So the "deep drop" doesn't pose any problem. And I'd never pedal with it all the way down, which would definitely be murder on my knees. -cls

Yeah, I think I've decided to keep my dropper. Ideally I'd upgrade to one of the KS Lev CI models, and take comfort knowing I have the lightest dropper I can have. But they are super f*cking expensive, especially when you start looking at the ones with longer drop. So I'll just keep my cheapie Brand-X Ascend 120mm that weighs 550g for now. BUT I am SERIOUSLY considering buying an e13 TRS+ 170mm dropper in the not-so-distant future. Maximum drop, the reliability/serviceability of a SPRING, and 10g lighter than my current dropper. Again, thanks for all the replies. -cls

Careful...too much of this and we'll start to get "If MTB tire tracks and dirt bike tire tracks are indistinguishable, how is it that dirt bikes 'cause damage to trails and nature' while mountain bikes do not?" 😮 *braces for impact* -cls

Why go through all that trouble and expense? Buy a beater and a cheap trainer and use Strava on your existing TV. Or tablet or phone or whatever. STRAVAAAAAAA!! -cls

And here's how not to ride it on a Karate Monkey. With a dropper. This is the first time SB got me. No real damage except for my ego 🙂 (The elbow/eye was the second time.) FWIW I have managed to make it over SB without incident, believe it or not. 3-4 times on the day this video was taken even. -cls

Funny how SpongeBob keeps coming up in this thread. SpongeBob destroyed my left elbow (and took a pass at my left eye as well, see profile pic) in February 2018. I'm trying to decide if I'll ever go back. Hmmmm. I can see getting along without a dropper at WC maybe, and then rolling back up to Brushy with my light-as-a-feather rigid carbon post, taking one look at SpongeBob, and being like "NOPE". I think I see y'all's point now about droppers being more applicable to other trails around ATX. Hell, I had a dropper when I ate sh*t on SB; the seat was down but my ass was up as I was looking over the ledge thinking "That looks a lot steeper than last time".... -cls

Thanks for all the input, folks. I'm glad to know not everybody is completely sold on having to have a dropper. And the insight from the folks with multipe bikes - some with and some without - is really interesting. I'll probably give it a try later this week, and I might leave the cable installed and rattlin' around as suggested JIC. I will say that I do enjoy my dropper, and have used it a lot, and I have never had much trouble with any of them except the f*cking KS LEVs and their creaky seat mount system. In fact, the dropper I have on the Blur is the 120mm Brand-X Ascend from Chain Reaction Cycles online, which set me back a whopping $120. $1 per mm - that's $25.4 per inch, fellas, and who wouldn't pay that? 🙂 Anyway, like I said, I just have this nagging feeling that I might be able to adapt to riding without it, and I have to find out, because it is distracting. Although the one thing I can think of that may be a deal-breaker is how easy a dropper makes getting on and off of the bike. Especially getting back on after stopping on any sort of incline. Oh, and how comfortable it is to just sit on the bike with the dropper all the way down, and take a break. First world problems 🙂 -cls

On what local trails would I need a dropper? -cls

Any of you ever go from a dropper BACK to a standard post? Walnut Creek is my jam, and I ride twisty sections seated with my dropper about halfway down, and often leave it halfway down until I need to climb something. I find the pedaling "efficient enough" with the post halfway down. And although I put the post all the way down for descents (what descents there are at WC, that is), halfway down may also be "out of the way enough". And I could probably stand on climbs - the practice would do me good, at any rate. What's driving this is that I have a fairly light bike ('19 Santa Cruz Blur C, S build, 29er) and it bugs me to have the extra weight of the dropper on there. Yeah, yeah this isn't the road bike forum, but MTBers can be weight weenies too! I'll probably just take off the dropper this week and see how I like it...I never even rode the stock seatpost on my Blur so if I put it back on and just lower it a couple inches it may be just fine. Anyway, I just wondered if any of you have ever gone back to a non-dropper - or even replaced a stock dropper with a non-dropper, since many bikes come with them stock these days. -cls

Well, I mean, that's not the sort of legal action I was thinking about. I was thinking more along the lines of a (forgive the cheese, please) "sting" operation where the authorities perform the transaction, get shafted, and then go after the guy. Or something like that. I guess that's a little far-fetched? -cls

Not sure how to answer that. Legal action that would result in punishment of the "seller" for engaging in fraudulent activity/general douche-baggish-ness? -cls

I'm torn between trying to have fun with this and trying to get some effective legal action going. There is clearly a right choice, but I just don't know how effective legal action will actually be. If they get nervous, this site/scammer could fold up Internet shop and reopen in a matter of minutes and would have then more-or-less disappeared. Any advice? -cls