quixoft

1 minute ago, AntonioGG said:

 I always wondered how the motorcycle guys in leathers dealt with it.

Long pants and long sleeve underarmor is a godsend both to stay cool and to get the damn leathers on and off. Oh, and dunking your head into your cooler full of ice and beer in between sessions helps a ton. Keep your head nice and cool helps out a lot.

7 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

this is why my career as an electrician ended after barely six months. 10-hour days, six days a week inside a building with no AC (let alone air movement), carrying heavy tools in boots and a hard hat, standing on ladders most of the time. I would have preferred to work outdoors and enjoyed the short two week assignment when I did. I carried a gallon jug of water with me everywhere and emptied it before noon, then downed small bottle after bottle of water and eletrolyte mix until the end of the day. then I'd go home and refill my giant jug and drain it, go to bed early and not sleep because I was lying in a puddle of my own sweat all night. I could not drink enough water to keep up with that level of sweat and it got worse, mentally and physically, to maintain a basic will to stay alive, so I quit. I wish there was a magic formula for acclimating to that, but I never found it.

Well working on my grandpa's farm definitely made me want to go to college and get an office job because it did suck. Made me appreciate our farmers and ranchers that put food in our grocery stores that much more. Also taught me about hard work and all that mumbo jumbo nonsense! lol!

36 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

I grew up in the north with long, cold winters. but I've been living in Texas (with a three year diversion in Georgia, which is also hot and humid) for over 15 years. while I'd rather live here and deal with the heat than months of sub-freezing temps and snow, July – September (sometimes June – October) make me want to curl up and die rather than face the heat. I don't know how humans do this without just hibernating in air conditioned spaces. I just don't ride my bike very much at all during that time and get my own form of Seasonal Affective Disorder where I crave a atmosphere that does not complete drain every drop of moisture out of my body within ten minutes. I might need to find a way to fill a Camelback with saline solution and just mainline it into my arm. I'd consider moving if the right job became available to me in some place with a moderate climate.

 

Is this a genetic thing? I'm searching through my family history and I can't get past Pennsylvania residents into the 1700s on my mom's side (probably all Celts), but my dad's side is all Germans and Danes.

I think a lot of where you grow up matters. As I said, I was working summers on a farm in south Texas when I was younger. If you think riding a mountain bike for a couple hours in summer heat and humidity is hot and sticky, try post holing fence lines, milking cows, and baling hay all day long 6 days a week all summer. As long as you do it every day, you get used to it. If you only do it once every couple weeks and spend the rest of your time in the AC, then you aren't acclimated and it's going to suck.

I still do noon lunch rides in August and it's no big deal. Just need to hydrate.

18 hours ago, natas1321 said:

The texas heat and humidity don't bother me I just have to remember to stay hydrated and I'm good. I grew up with the cold (canada) and don't miss it and actually like our summers here.

Sent from my moto g(7) supra using Tapatalk
 

This! 100% I grew up in San Antonio and spent summers working on my grandfather's dairy farm in south Texas so I'm used to the heat. Back in my early 20s I spent a winter in Winnipeg with family and oh my holy f*** never again. So now whenever I'm out riding in the summer and it's 100+ degrees and humid, I just think back to when I was up there and it was -30. It literally did not get above freezing for like 2 months straight.

I will take the very hot summer/mild winter over the very cold winter/mild summer every day.

On 4/27/2021 at 10:39 AM, Shanerpvt said:

I’m running 20-22 lbs rear/18-20 front, and am probably 205-210 with hydration pack. 

Exact same here. Same weight range, same pressure range. I love the inserts and yes, they will get you home with no air. I've done it twice now.

On 4/29/2021 at 10:27 AM, TheX said:

I did a LOT of RideSmart days at MSRH, Cresson, TWS...Doing two days at Houston (Angleton) in August was a bitch, but we did it.

Sounds familiar! This was one of my first track days(TWS2.9 turn 10) and I had some borrowed leathers which didn't fit! Banged my knee up pretty good.

22 hours ago, TheX said:

This is a pic of my front tire from TWS on a hot day.

Looks about right. Worst thing about summer was shredding tires and more $$$ spent. I could generally get 2-3 full days out of one set of tires in the spring/fall when it was cooler but summer just tore them up.

11 hours ago, TheX said:

I'm so used to always having a backpack or larger Camelback that it feels weird without it. Even in full leathers riding sportbikes always had a backpack.

Same here; I feel weird without one. Where did you ride? I mainly did my track days at Texas World and Cresson in Dallas and Houston.  Been a few years and Texas World is closed now.

Riding a mountain bike at noon in summer is nice and cool compared to doing a full day at the track in full leathers in August. Now that was hot! So hot that the pavement actually got greasy and slippery in the heat of the afternoon. I had to wear full long sleeve and long pants under armor underneath or I couldn't get the leathers off because they would stick to my bare skin.

4 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

Camelbak Skyline LR.
lower center of gravity, very comfortable, enough pockets for tools and nutrition, somewhat cooler, a bit of a pain to fill the bladder (mainly the struggle to stuff it back in the pack).

I don’t use it for Tuesday Night rides except for maybe peak furnace conditions. But it’s a great pack for bigger BCGB days.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a Skyline LR as well along with an Osprey Raptor 10. I find myself using the Skyline more in the heat and the Osprey more in the cooler weather. 

The Osprey is slightly more comfortable fit wise in the shoulders but hotter and less water by 500mL.
The Skyline weight distribution is lower which I prefer, is cooler, and holds more water. While it still fits well, the shoulder straps aren't as nice as the Osprey.

Both are great and you can't really go wrong with either but if I had to pick one it would be the Skyline. They are both on the more expensive side being in the $130-150 range.

12 hours ago, Morealice said:

If you just stick to the right side going down it literally can roll like a smooth concrete path if you find the line. Just don’t get too far right and hook your bar on the sapling on the right like I did once because then you get to eject down the hard way without your bike. Thought I broke my hand but didn’t. But that was one time out of the hundreds I’ve ridden it. Just try the right side, you’ll see a line for tire contact the whole way down. 

Yeah that's the line I used Sunday; it's pretty easy and not nearly the puckering of just blasting off. Taking it easy moving forward after getting a plate put in on my broken clavicle back in October because I thought I was 20 again at the Walnut BMX park. I'm not 20 anymore evidently. 

I realized I like ice hockey better than mountain biking and broken bones from mountain biking keep me from playing hockey and that just isn't cool. So wheels on the ground from now on for me.

1 minute ago, throet said:

Anybody able to gauge how much rain we got last night / this morning? Trying to sneak out for a nooner today. 

It wasn't much. I'm about a mile away and not even a 1/4 inch in my gauge. It rained for all of 4 minutes for me.

Side note, I was out yesterday afternoon riding SN and around the church area. Have y'all been making new trails other than the the jump line area? I ran across one yesterday that I didn't recognize and looked somewhat new. Strava called it roller coaster and it's the blue path in the image. It was really, really fun so good job to whoever created it recently. And if it's old, shame on me for never seeing it considering I've ridden those trails a lot. But I haven't been out since June as I broke an ankle playing hockey and then once that healed I broke my collarbone at the Walnut BMX park. 
 

17 minutes ago, St.Bernardo said:

Is Brushy dry enough to ride?

I doubt it. I live about a mile from the park and it poured for quite a while this morning and the sun didn't come out until late afternoon.

2 hours ago, biga9999 said:

So just drove by, rider on Peddler. SMH. 

I see people jump onto Peddlers from the sidewalk where it crosses. Many going the wrong way. There are no chains there to know it's closed or that it's one way. At least none I've ever noticed.

Went out this afternoon and it was interesting. Had a plate put in to fix my collar bone 6 weeks ago so I've missed all the good weather riding lately as I'm just getting back out there. 

Rode Peddlers and Picnic and came across a guy and his girlfriend riding Picnic. No helmets and she was on a road bike. They were at least courteous and friendly and moved out of the way for me. He said it was her second day on the bike...

1 hour ago, WLemke said:

I would wager to guess that many of the more casual MTBers just don’t know riding wet trails is damaging.

This. 

Although to be honest riding in the mud is a hell of a lot of fun.  I won't do it on publicly maintained trails but I have a friend with some acreage with a creek out in Jonestown with his own personal ATV trails. He and I have been riding out there this week in the sloppy mud and it's been awesome. 

The ATV ruts make for some cool small features when it dries that makes dry riding fun too. 

Anyone go out this evening? I'm assuming still too wet. 

Usually in situations like today with super dry and then heavy rain, the stuff in the sun will usually be okay pretty quickly. It's the stuff in the shade that still might take a while. It'll still dry up faster but there will probably still be wet and muddy spots in gullies and very shady areas. Just be smart and check your tires. If you see mud sticking, wait another day.

Beautiful morning out at BC today. 65 degrees and no humidity when I got on the trails at 6:45. Only 72 when I was done at 8am. Almost perfect except for the leashless dog charging straight at me on Peddlers while the owner and his kid were 50 feet away. Harmless dog, just nearly made me crash. Guy just gave me a "Yeah, yeah" response when I told him that leashes were required out here. Yay. People.

6 minutes ago, throet said:

Is it time?

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/more-americans-buying-bunkers-covid.amp#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s

This reminds me of one my far far far left wing fanatic friends. For background she thinks 100% of all income should be taxed and then evenly distributed among everyone. Very anti gun and thinks all should be banned included from police and military. We were talking about end of the world type stuff a while back and she of course likes to get her shots(pun intended) in about the guns I own. She's a gardener and actually has a really good small/medium garden/farm in east Austin. She has no guns and told me I should get rid of my guns and focus on gardening and farming so I can survive the apocalypse like her. I simply said why would I do that when I can simply take yours by force? I have guns, you don't. Easy peasy.

Needless to say she wasn't happy with me. I love arguing with the extreme left and right folks. They are all crazy. 

14 hours ago, RidingAgain said:

And you’re an asshole because you just choose to be one?

8 minutes ago, RidingAgain said:

I just heard yesterday of another friend here in Austin... A late 20s, early 30s, man that's pretty fit (runs half marathons, competes in fitness competitions)... That got infected and has been having a hard time over the last couple of weeks. Not critical, but painful.

He's sick. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night.

14 hours ago, Taco Man said:

Well Garmin Connect is seriously down

https://www.explica.co/garmin-connect-is-down-for-a-possible-ransomware-attack/

Yep. You should check Garmin's twitter feed. People are absolutely losing their minds because they can't upload their exercises immediately. It's funny and sad all at the same time.

I've been riding with my hockey buddies but that's about it. Usually three or four of us.

2 hours ago, Albert said:

 Also, probably not the best idea to get COVID-19 advice from a mountain biking forum.

 ..Al

Haha! True. Especially when some of the mountain biking advice on the mountain biking forum is also questionable...