The Tip

53 minutes ago, Albert said:

What is a "G-out drop"? 

Where your bike is starting to go back up the other side of the ditch while gravity is still pushing your body downwards. 

Edited to say that I took my medication and I think I can stop now.

1 hour ago, Ridenfool said:

Is it safe to say with that volley you got all remaining puns over the net?

Perhaps not, but you gotta love how this derailment has taken this into foul territory.

Oops! It's not my fault that you lost because you reused a word. But I won't judge you on that. And that's not just some cheesy line either.

I also apologize to you non-punners. You are all probably wondering what the deuce is going on here. Sorry.

Y'all have some balls punning about tennis. Don't string us along though, I'd love to have them all out in the Open right now. I'm dead set on that.

1 hour ago, mack_turtle said:

I don't even want to touch this topic, but I don't think anyone is "deciding to swap genders for a competitive edge." 

Yes, maybe not for competitive mountain biking. But if a man that was pretty good at tennis or golf thought that he could make millions by switching genders I would guess there would be someone that would do it. Not me of course. OK, probably not me. But the motive is not ATXZJ's concern. It's more about the results.

Renee Richards sued and won to be able to compete in tennis as a woman. So there is already court precedence in this matter. Although, "Richards has since expressed ambivalence about her legacy, and came to believe her past as a man provided her with advantages over her competitors, saying "Having lived for the past 30 years, I know if I'd had surgery at the age of 22, and then at 24 went on the tour, no genetic woman in the world would have been able to come close to me. And so I've reconsidered my opinion."

10 minutes ago, Chardog said:

  Looking forward to riding some of the stuff ARR Trail Crew recently built

THOSE guys are GREAT!  lol

5 hours ago, RedRider3141 said:

 

The park I started riding at (Duthie Hill in Sammamish, WA)

 

In Washington? Wow. Looking at the flora I kept expecting a monkey to jump out. Or maybe even a velociraptor. Very cool. 

And yes, it just demonstrates how easy the dual line concept is to accomplish. 

I totally agree with Ridenfool. Also agree with the concept lachrimae spelled out. That one is not always so easy to accomplish though.

Whenever we have the B line discussion I always use golf courses as an example, Golf courses have multiple tees to accommodate multiple skill groups. The golf course designer never just builds the course to only pro level abilities and says to the other 90% of the golfers, "Screw you losers. Get better." And I think that the golf course analogy works even better when remembering that there is only so much land available for both golf courses and our mountain bike trails.

Sure you can say "get better so you can ride the TTF that's there," but impractical. How can somebody get good enough to clear a 3' ledge when there is no progressive learning opportunities? You know, like a 1' then a 2' ledge? 

It is a problem how often dumbing down happens though. I feel people are so strange that even if there is a B line right there they will end up "helping" by sanitizing the TTF.

I don't mind the "anybody have a..." requests. I'm assuming that the requests are coming from "givers" so their karma is not altered by asking. And by them asking for something that might enable somebody else to enjoy the pleasure of giving. "Hey, I've got one of those in the garage that I'll probably never use, so why not." 

Just my opinion.

8 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

Also, the "bonus section" of Bauerle has a lot of potential, but the route is hard to follow. Lots of natural and human-made features out there but connecting it all is confusing.

I was confused by that too until I was taught that there is not one specific way to do it. The bonus bonus section is like a clover leaf. You do one section, that comes back to a point, where you then do the next section, etc. After doing the three short loops you return back to the regular bonus section. That part has a defined way to do it. Clockwise to take advantage of the features.

What the hell? I've been out of town. The last time I rode was Tuesday. I got out yesterday and apparently a vegetation bomb has gone off since then. Greenery everywhere! Sure it's pretty and all, but all I see is trail encroachment problems. Time to start ride the sides of the trail to knock that stuff back. It was already a problem starting to happen on the Inner Canterbury Loop. It no doubt needs a weed eating now. sigh. And so it begins.

Forget the what kind of bike do I need. Let's talk what kind of helmet do you need. Does everyone have a full face helmet in their closet too?  Watching the videos it seems like most people have one on.

8 hours ago, Morris said:

 looks like a fun device. Not a bike

Bikes aren't fun?

8 minutes ago, Teamsloan said:

I'm pretty sure you just confirmed what MackTurtle is saying.

REAL snow skiing people HIKE to the top of the mountain, like the old days, before lifts. How can those lift riding pussies enjoy a real skiing experience by using that modern technology? 

37 minutes ago, notyal said:

It would be pretty easy for an experienced MTBer to rob a bank and disappear into SATN or some other spiderweb type of trail system with the heat on. 

Policeman: "Note to self; keep notyal's address on file."

Ha! Y'all know what I meant. 

16 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

"real" mountain biking? 

Meaning gravity only.

I'm pretty sure that they'll catch on and soon be everywhere. Why do I say that? Because of reviews like this one:

He's just a kid, but like everyone that has ever gotten on one, he starts laughing with joy as soon as he takes off on it. A big selling point for him is being able to get to the top of the mountain with ease. No need for a lift, just power up the hill, then enjoy "real" mountain biking down.

2 minutes ago, Cafeend said:

And? Quit leaving me hanging all the time geeez

 

No kidding. After the last entry's build up I'm not exactly "hanging." 

16 minutes ago, zrx24 said:

Back on the electric bike topic, my brother was heavy into road bike racing not long ago and was telling me how cheaters on the circuit would use small concealed electric motors.  Now THAT would be something to loathe and look down upon.  I'm not a fan of cheaters when it comes to competition.  👎

Which leads back to my initial thought about the article about the e-bike race. How in the world would they regulate that? It would be like the classes of race cars. They are always catching cheaters that get their engine just a little bit bigger than the regulated size.

So, yeah, that would be dumb I think.

Electric golf carts didn't kill golf like they surely were predicted to by all the traditionalists when they first came out.

I would guess that E-bikes won't kill mountain biking. I do agree that the access problem is a major issue though. It's ALWAYS a major issue.

It was interesting in the article about how the results of the survey were different when the respondents' were divided by age. You youngsters tune's of "I'll never own one" will change when you get to a point in your life where you envision the end of your "acoustic" (unplugged) pedaling abilities. It sucks having the thought during a ride, "Am I temporarily out of shape or is this an irreversible getting old thing now?"

The times they are a changing. IMBA changing their tune:

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a20033561/imba-supports-e-mountain-bikes-on-some-trails/

2 hours ago, eporter68 said:

I'm looking for another route around the swamp west of La Crosse Avenue. Any suggestions?
 

The Hielscher Tract Greenbelt.

There are three east-west trails through there. Phoenix North, Phoenix South, and Digo's Shortcut.

Phoenix North is on the north side of the small creek and three retention ponds. It runs past Clayton Elementary School on the west end. 

Phoenix South runs along the south side of the creek. Both of these trails have a water dispersion system that dumps water on their west ends causing swamp like conditions. Long after rain events.

Digo's Shortcut is the most southern route. This is on higher ground that is right behind the houses. It will also get too wet to ride, but it is the first to dry out, but you still have to look for puddles.

Crank and Drank went through there Tuesday. We took Phoenix South. It was soft but okay. 

Austin Diagnostic Clinic is in the building behind ATX Bikes. They are open 7 days a week. They are concerned that we mountain bikers are parking down close to their building during their business hours which impacts their business. They are asking us to please park further away from their building. This should not be a problem for us to do.