Barry

I expect to have a report from tires on the ground at about 2:30.

I want an e-Surly Big Fat Dummy.

Oof.

I was all set to dismiss the possibility of Walnut being good today, but then the dirt in my yard wasn't muddy at all this morning. Tough call. Less than .1" barely gets through the trees.

In the right circumstance, I disagree. This is certainly true. Outside of a few weirdos, a fat bike's usefulness is location and conditions dependent. Ebikes will be everywhere, just with a specific user base falling into one of a few categories.

We that didn't happen. Now it looks like rain util around 3. It isn't raining hard, but conditions for later tomorrow are less certain.

I don't think they're going away. They're just going to find their segment and live there. Ebikes are not the new 29er, they're the new fat bike.

So long as the rain ends by noon, late tomorrow should be great at WC.

True. Danny+ebike makes uphills look real easy. He was smiling, riding one-handed, doing wheelies, and in no way winded at the top. That rock slab climb looked super fun though--it reminded me of climbing up Epic or the Full Commando peak at RPR. But certainly I wouldn't feel like I climbed them if the bike was doing a lot of the work. Also, damn, I have got to get to the Isle of Skye someday. Mountain biking combined with a Talisker tour? That sounds killer.

He doesn't flick it around like his 5010, that's for sure.

Definitely don't go to Big Bend without some solution. If it's too much trouble to maintain tubeless on the possibly little-use bike, you could just use Slime tubes. If you can't find the right tubes at Walmart, you can probably find them online. I didn't want to set my little-use fat bike up as tubeless, so I just got a bottle of Slime, removed the valve core, and squirted a bunch of Slime in there.

Ha, I was actually going to mention your fencing, but decided my post rambled enough.

It is a losing battle, but I've been fighting at at Walnut, Brushy, other local joints for going on 3 years now, and for 15+ years in NY before that. I haven't given up, and I know at a minimum the asshat who un-blocks the B or C line over and over is at least as frustrated as I am while I'm blocking the B or C line. To paraphrase Good Will, "because fuck 'em, that's why." Most of the ones at Walnut are just stupid. Just a cut through connecting one trail to another, when it already connected in 10 feet! Why the hell do you have to cut through instead of gong 10 more feet up the trail? And then there's the new line around any particular tree to the left instead of the right, or opposite. What. Is. The. Point? But then sometimes new lines do evolve. The middle of Outer Log Loop had a new line evolve to the left of a particular tree instead of the right, when a berm just upstream caused folks to go into the section much faster. That's fine, but now it's time to close the original line. I have accepted that I will forever be throwing sticks and stumps and leaves and such into new lines as they occur.

I stopped at the beginning when he said an ebike "definitely allows you to do more riding." Uh, no. The limited range is my primary disappointment with the concept.

Those couple of hip jumps have been there for a while. They didn't clue you in that the other direction was going to be better?

I was going to post The Mandalorian saying, "this is the way..." But actually, there are other ways than these (to paraphrase Stephen King).

As an owner of carbon wheels I can say they are absolutely worth it, at least for me in my case. I've used tons aluminum rims over the years and I don't think I've had a wheelset last me more than 1000 miles without dinging, bending, cracking or otherwise generally going FUBAR. For years my biggest maintenance and down-time issue has been replacing or rebuilding aluminum wheels. But now I've had nearly 6500 miles of cenTX rockiness on my SC Reserve 37s with little to no issue. All I've had to do is replace a few spokes. And if something does happen, I have that unlimited lifetime warranty, and a backup set of aluminum wheels to get me though for a few days. Same with the bike. I've never had an aluminum frame last more than a few thousand miles... until the SC 5010. So I don't see me going back to aluminum for a primary bike. But if an easily recyclable alternative comes along with the same benefits at a competitive price? Sure, I'm not an intentional asshole.

I think it was on MySpace.

It's kinda easier to manage when you get your fill of the same 12 miles. But when you have 90+ miles of trail over most of southern Austin, I mean, where do you begin? It seams like the Meridian Bowl was the first answer to that question, but then then it got shut down for additional trail modifications. Perhaps somewhere on Slaughter Creek between Bauere or Mary More Parks?

It looks like the answer is decidedly no. You need the driftless tool for $40, and the drift set for $80. And probably the sealed bearing extractor collete for $22.

Are the drifts and threaded rod small enough to work as a bearing press for suspension rebuilds? I'm tired of my precarious vice/socket wrench set-up.

The picture is right. The left side is quite a bit flatter than before. Still launchable, but certainly not a significant lip.

That sounds as plausible an answer as any I've heard. Alternatively though couldn't they have just held the actual events off the RV site?

I mean, sure, if you're a peasant. But true ballers go for the eleMMent Palazzo.

Flared drop-bars.