Barry

Yeah, that list was quite sparce during my last search. Likely it's been fleshed out a lot since.

Indeed. I did get an opportunity to demo my SC 5010 in 2019. But later I bought my gravel bike just based on geo #s, and I recently put a deposit on a Ti hardtail just based on the geo #s. I do occasionally tool around on a buddy's bike that doesn't match my preferences. Almost invariably I tell them it's a nice bike...I don't like it, but it's a nice bike.

No doubt. That's why when I bought my SC 5010 in 2019, I made sure I demo'd it first. I put a Greenbelt and an RPR ride on it. I also made every effort to demo some of my runner up bikes, but I had less success securing them and ended up only doing a short demo on one of them, the Yeti SB5. But I like spreadsheets. And instead of trying to remember various points of various bikes, the spreadsheet allowed me to not constantly refer back to 2 score+ websites when I wanted to compare bikes. And it allowed me to absolutely rule out bikes that didn't come anywhere near my geo preferences. And it must have worked. The 5010 will break 16 thousand miles this week.

Indeed. I just went into Trailforks and it showed the entire old loop. But then I refreshed Texas, and it updated to match the 12.5 mile loop on ProjectMTB.

It's a bizarre turn of events for a company that literally used to be called Turner Suspension Bicycles, Inc.

Sounds like somebody really likes Phil's World!

Surely it's a good business decision to have that many cyclists lingering in their parking lot.

I've watched so much Letterkenny and Shorsey that I figure I could just move to Canada and pass as Canadian. Or maybe a de-gen at least. But nah, I love the heat too much.

Neat idea. Although I'd think some of those tools would be a bit bouncy with their vibrations, since they're attached to something that's only hinged, and not well anchored. But a simple quick-clamp should remedy that.

No, that sucks. Are you getting complaints about your speeches? Because that's 70% of the reason I show up to your events. We need to get you a teleprompter so you can script them and really shine them up. You appreciate that you're hosting the biggest regular MTB ride roll-outs in the ATX area right? Don't look for ways to mess with it.

Best laid plans ruined by a @The Tip speach.

It's a good one! Things which remind me of that are 1) Bunnahabhain 12 year. An Islay malt, but no peat added. But someone 3 campsites away is burning some peat in their campfire. And big sherry notes without punching you in the nose with it. And 2) Springbank anything. Also great but I'm not as romantic about it.

Not sure what I missed here, but I was making an Angostura Bitters joke...

Idiot kids is a slightly preferable option to malicious arsonists. Although that's not mutually exclusive either.

Good job. But I mean forget the structure...we could have lost the entire hillside! And I can't imagine how this could be any kind of an accident given there has been no lighting. So this is wildly concerning.

Last year the "A" group had a trying-to-prove-himself baller of a ride leader. But we all wanted the single speeders to keep up and keep the group together, but that first few miles is quite flat. Basically everyone was going to drop. I was on his ass for a bit (I was in 2000% better shape last year (according to Strava and my recent feel-like-I'm-going-to-die efforts), but I decided to reel him in by letting him gap me. It was working reasonably well and he was dialing back some, but then he had an unrecoverable flat. And then the ride sweep on an e-bike tried to lead the ride but that didn't work for more than 10 minutes. That all happened in about 3 miles. And then I led the group for another 17 miles, and even managed to sniff out a bunch of the new east end stuff. I will not be leading an "A" group this year! In the northeast I was comfortable driving for several hours under 30% chance of rain. But it seems that in Texas a 30% chance of rain usually means "It's gon' rain!"

For sure I know my way around. It's certainly not necessary. I was just curious about the plan.

Any local group leaders this time? Or free for all?

So yeah. Is this still on anyone's radar? Tent camping at these temps isn't going to be great.

I'd be bitter about that.

I had the same problem at Phil's World in 2020. It was a smoky mess from northern NM all the way to Cortez. I did a short ride when I hit town under a smoke grey sky with a crazy red sun. It was trippy, but the air quality was not terrible. The next day saw the wind change directions and we had the bluest sky you could want.

Indeed! Also, if you go into the Layers of Google maps, one of the options is to turn on wildfire tracking. Pretty neat, but yeah, it's a mess out there right now.

This tool always reminds me of the cartoon "Ducktails." For no particular reason.

Every time I ask a bartender to not put my stout or porter in a chilled glass, it confuses them. After I explain my position they are generally really receptive. The guy at Hopdoddy even sincerely thanked me for the education a month after our initial conversation.

Every single BiB whiskey is good. Every singe one. How low can you go? Our flask whiskey these days is Evan Williams BiB. That's about $24 for a handle (1.75L). Or you can get a Mellow Corn BiB for about $12 (0.75L).