The Tip

I've seen an internet site that everyone does this listing of their rig. But nobody ever makes weight a thing. No, "And my total weight is 70 pounds" or anything. Why is that not a thing?

This will take money of course. Please provide an address so I can mail a check.

Thanks litigious society. I stopped substitute teaching because I was scared of the possibilities. It would only take one girl saying I looked down her shirt or whatever to cause me great troubles. No hobby/past time is worth that worry.

I guess this is like my grandfather (born in Georgetown in 1899) telling me to never ask a fellow where they're from. You don't want to embarrass them if they're not from Texas, and if they are from Texas, they'll tell you soon enough anyway.

You mean a car like this? Because the original "argument (?)" was the definition of a bike being that it is pedal powered. So I thought it was a brilliant statement.

Excellent write up. Thanks for taking the time. I laughed out loud at "As I'm ascending this marvel of modern trail building I'm hearing the thunder of afternoon storms brewing over the mountain I came down..." Because I was picturing the cliche movie scenes about the poor sap hero that is having a terrible day asking, "what else could go wrong?" when, of course, it starts to rain on him.

The new segment is exactly one mile long. The strange thing is, and why there might be a way to remove the three wrong rides, is that only those three rides are being picked up. It would make sense if all 1500 of the rides were. Then it would be easy to say, "oops, the single track is too close to the road, and it won't be unique enough." But just those three. And I don't think those three times are super fast for that road segment. Pretty sure they are not in that segments top three. And they are all old times. One from 2011 for example.

Does anyone know how to get invalid segment times removed from Strava leader boards? There is a new single track segment that is close to a road. Three old times from old road rides, the top three, are showing up on the newly created segment. It is interesting that only three times are because I'm sure that the road segment has over a thousand times on it. This is of course a first world problem but it would be nice to get that new segment cleaned up. Those three riders didn't do anything wrong. They didn't cheat to get those times. It's just a glitch.

Next Bentonville trip I'm taking a spare tire. The rock there is fierce.

I was going to be the first to say this, but I just can't make that joke anymore, because I am actually pleased with the Srams on my new Giant Trance. It's still hard to believe after the nightmare I had with those damn Sram Elixirs I had on my Cannondale. I finally "fixed" those Srams (like the old joke goes) by replacing them with Shimanos.

I think it is our duty to society to preach about it. I don't try to push my believes about anything else on people (much), but since I have cracked three helmets, I KNOW that it's just a matter of time before a helmet will help someone. And all three times it saved me I wasn't attempting anything. Just out of nowhere type things. The one that I see that really gets to me is the parent without a helmet riding with their kid with one. Great lesson you're teaching their Dad! And maybe the best way to get through to the teenagers is to make a show about laughing at them. Say to your riding buddy as you go past the kid, "ha ha, did you see that DORK without a helmet?"

Onewheels are definitely NOT bicycles. But they look like a lot of fun in those trail videos. Horses are not bicycles either. But I have seen both user groups enjoying the Slaughter Creek Trail. Oranges are not apples. But I like to eat both. Depends on my taste at the moment. A marathon is usually a race with rules. But I would be willing to bet someone has had fun riding a scooter 26.2 miles at one point. Perhaps this reticence to embrace this new technology has something to do with not wanting to share the trail with even more people. If we allow them then no doubt that will result in even more use. But for me I get a lot of joy out of seeing anyone enjoying the trails. Except horses. I feel that horses damage the trails. And the poop of course. But the damage thing goes back to my major concern about ebikes.

But seriously, you are projecting your values, your "biggest pride points" on to me. One person cannot judge what gives another person joy. Maybe it doesn't matter to me how I get to the top of the hill. I just want to get to the top. But there's nothing stopping you from feeling some pride of getting to the top of the hill on human power though. I agree with the point you made about Strava times though. That aspect of Strava is not that important to me but I know it is to some people. I think that is a valid point about ebike usage. Perhaps Strava can come up with another category for them. Of course then it would depend on people being honest. But they have to be honest already by marking categories. How many people ride a bike now on trails and use the "run" category just to get a run KOM? (Do runners even do the KOM thing?)

Seriously, so true.

They actually have done this and they did it several years ago. They call it "suspension" and "shocks". It made the sport more fun and let more people do more things that, before the introduction of that technology, were not possible for them. I'm not trying to be a smart ass. I'm just illustrating that things are relative. Are dropper posts cheating? Are carbon bikes cheating? And the guy had a good point about "if you're not racing then does it matter?" I think the only real argument that can be made against mountain ebikes is whether or not they more adversely affect the trails. But these things don't have throttles. I don't think they are capable of rooster tailing a shower of dirt like motocross motorcycles can. No more so than a regular bike railing a berm can that is. And it's not a problem with them weighing more. They weigh what, 20 pounds more? I know for a fact that I weigh 20 pounds more than the majority of folks out there on comparable bikes. So that can't be an "ebikes are worse than regular bikes" argument. Don't be a weightist!

I'll strongly encourage safety glasses too. I have cracked three helmets, so I preach all the time to ALWAYS wear one. I won't ride to the mailbox without a helmet. But I think you have already got that message. But now I have to preach about safety glasses. I know they have saved me on multiple occasions but this past Thursday they REALLY saved me big time. I was hit in my glasses with a small sharp stick. It knocked my glasses off my head and then scratched my forehead. It would have been a serious injury without those glasses on.

Simple solution. I called ATX Bikes and told them about this thread and this problem. They called their property manager. The property manager didn't know about it. They said they would contact the security company and tell them that anybody with a mountain bike is welcome to use the parking lot behind ATX "as a clubhouse" if they want to. They did remind us to respect the Austin Diagnostic Clinic's parking lot and not park there. I think we MTBers have been doing pretty good with that. Crank and Drank lives!

Ditto. Jaguarundi:

Very interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a security car roll through there. I also have never seen a car back-up after seeing the group either. Maybe I'm blindish. I would have said to the security guy that I was shopping at ATX Bikes earlier and the guys said it would be fine for us to sit here after our ride. But then say, "cool" and pack up and leave and would get hold of ATX the next day. Since ATX has frequently set up their tent to encourage us hanging out after a CnD, then I would bet they might put a call in to the security to say leave their customers alone please. Orrrrr, to paraphrase our north Austin brethren, (sigh) The CnD is dead. 😉

http://www.bikemojo.com/speak/14-austin-voodoo/101112-mountain-biker-killed-today-cougar.html

The SATN hardly got any rain, if any. So we are good to go for Crank and Drank tonight.

What a beautiful and unusual trail marking sign!

A picture is worth a thousand words. My current beer cooler: