cody

Lucky kid! I felt lucky with my clunker in the 90’s!


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I was just hoping for a good sunglasses thread... I managed to lose my Oakley Evzero Prizm Trails that I scored on Amazon for ~$80 a few years back, but they were awesome.

My issue with most cheap cycling sunglasses is they get scratched up easily. I've bought probably 5-6 sets of interchangeable lens sunglasses on Amazon and don't love any of them. I think the Tifosi ones were the highest quality, but they also run a little higher price than most the cheap ones.

Are any lenses truly anti-fog or is that a function of the shape of them in how they capture and retain your exhaled breath?

5 hours ago, The Tip said:

Valero Loop IS a loop. At the minimum it's a six mile loop that goes under Mopac, through Sunset Valley, skirting Stephenson Preserve, onto Jane Fonda past Whirlpool Cave, up to Brush Country, back to Valero. But good point about the name.

I ride that loop regularly, but the Strava segment with that name is only the section between Valero and Brodie, not the entire loop, so I didn't realize that "Valero Loop" refers to the entire loop back to Whirlpool Cave.

Another thought about this trail, since it's being discussed: I see a lot of trash here, especially where the trail crosses under Mopac (where there have been homeless encampments). A couple of months ago, I saw a couple of workers cleaning up and thanked them for their work but forgot to ask who they are affiliated with. Is that something the city pays for, or are there any volunteer organizations that organize cleanup efforts?

9 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

This can only be one place: the "entrance" to Valero Loop. This likely means that there will be more trail in there but it might get sanitized. 

This is good news, I was a bit worried after seeing "for sale" signs on this property over the past few months, but even if it was closed for development, there is another entrance to this trail at the bridge on Brush Country.

Speaking of this trail, Valero Loop is kind of a silly name, no? I know that is the name on Strava, but it is not a loop, and that gas station is not responsible for much other than trash blowing onto the trail. I would propose Williamson Creek Trail. Maybe COA will bless it with a proper name at some point.

It's kind of mid-cycle for the mid-range Garmin and Wahoo bike computers, so I'm personally holding out for new releases, though they may be over a year off. I'm still using a Garmin Edge 520 from, like, 2016? Hoping it doesn't break before the 540 comes out. Or maybe Wahoo will come out with something better. I'm unimpressed with Garmin's handling of the ransomware incident, so trying something new sounds nice.

9 hours ago, Barry said:

Honestly I'm no major media denier. I don't rail against mainstream news. At all. I even enjoy some CNN. Shit, even a spot of MSNBC on occasion. 

But when a story is sourced by [quotes from article] "anonymous sources," or "people with knowledge of the matter, speaking to Sky News on the condition of anonymity," or "Sources with knowledge of the incident," or "Separate sources," well, then a rational man has to wonder the point of the story. 

When a major news outlet like NYT or BBC reports from anonymous sources, you can be pretty confident that they have verified the identity of the source as a knowledgable insider and are reporting facts. It's pretty basic journalistic ethics, and it would sink the reputation of these outlets substantially if they were caught reporting an unreliable or false source. I highly doubt the media is colluding with Garmin's competitors in this case. Most likely, it is a group of verified employees that don't want to lose their jobs.

I have no doubt there is corruption in news media, but it usually takes form of selective reporting and exaggeration. Very rarely do overt falsehoods get reported by the major media players.

Several months ago my Edge 520 started freezing and taking forever to step through menus and taking a long time to connect and the fix was simply to delete the ride history.


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15 hours ago, TheX said:

https://jbhandleyblog.com/home/2020/6/28/secondwave

 

The title alone raised my eyebrows, and skimming through the "facts" reinforced my intuition, so I had to Google the author. Turns out he is a major antivaxxer grifter. Please don't amplify him.

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/j-b-handleys-unthinking-persons-guide-to-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Wolftooth gets a lot of well-deserved praise but after owning both, I prefer the PNW lever. The wolftooth tore multiple pairs of gloves until I put tape over the trigger, and I had the plastic piece break while reattaching it once. The PNW is nicer looking and just as smooth.

1 hour ago, rockshins said:

How long has anyone ran a Oneup? Any issues?

I have probably 1,000 miles on a OneUp V1 170mm and another 1,000 or so on the V2 180mm over nearly 2 years. Coming from a couple of Reverbs, it seems a lot more reliable but you still need to take it apart and clean/regrease it every 6 months or it will develop some stiction (same with any dropper really). But it's much easier to take apart than a Reverb. You can take it apart for cleaning with no special tools without even removing the saddle and be done in 15 minutes. It's not slow in the cold like the Reverb. I wouldn't say it's quite as smooth as the Reverb, but it's close. I think it requires less pressure on the actuator. Only issue I had was a cartridge failure that caused it to slowly drop when my weight was applied so I had to keep popping it back up every few minutes to get back home (not quite as bad as my Reverb failures where it was stuck down). OneUp sent me a replacement cartridge free under warranty and it was a pretty easy install. Overall, I am much happier with the OneUp than I was with the (much more expensive) Reverb.

I bought a Hightower 1 as soon as it came out in spring 2016 and it's been an awesome bike; I've taken it to enduro races, all-day backcountry XC rides, downhill parks, and ultra endurance events, and the versatility is excellent. Santa Cruz has one of the best warranties in the industry, and the VPP suspension works great. I wouldn't hesitate buying another one. The Hightower 2 is a bit heavier and longer, but it might be a more comfortable climber with the steeper seat tube angle. I would be torn between the Tallboy 4 and the Hightower 2 for an all-around squishy trail bike. There are plenty of other bike brands I wouldn't rule out, but Santa Cruz bikes just look and feel good.

For what it's worth:

1. The October 26 SATN Social ride was held 2 days after roughly 3" of rain across all the SATN (according to Hydromet). At least 50% of the trails were rideable. Granted there was a lot of wind the day prior.
2. This event is held 2 days after 0.08-0.12" of rain pretty uniformly.
3. It will be sunny today with 2-6 mph winds all day.
4. My back yard near Williamson Creek (Valero) is moist but firm and "rideable."

A guarantee there will be lots of rideable trails, but I could see a few closures. I imagine the organizers will give us the lowdown tonight.

2 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

Any idea what a Plan B for this might be? Weather is looking grim.

Not sure where you are getting your info but Weather Underground has the forecast on Saturday at a high of 64 and partly cloudy with no rain. The rain yesterday and today was very light and shouldn't leave too much moisture. I think it will be about perfect!

1 hour ago, AustinBike said:

I have been running Ergon GP1's on all of my mountain bikes for years, they are great. Last forever.

I first bought the GP1s for my commuter and then got GS1s for my mountain bikes. Both are awesome but the GS1s look better IMO. They pass the Seth test too.

Milton Reimers donated the ranch that became Reimers Ranch Park, Travis County's largest parkland acquisition and home to several miles of trails and rock climbing. Thoughts and regards with the family.

https://www.statesman.com/news/20191009/milton-reimers-who-provided-travis-county-ranchland-for-public-use-dies-at-82

Thanks for sharing. Those are good deals but the 530 and 830 are both missing. My 520 has been giving me trouble for awhile, but I haven't decided what I want next. I will probably go for a 530 whenever I find a good deal.

2 hours ago, druber said:

Is there a single map with all of trails and their names?  (Obviously, I don't mean the gray-area trails.)

Trailforks has a surprising amount of SATN now: https://www.trailforks.com/trails/map/?activitytype=1&z=11.0&lat=30.20176&lon=-97.90554

FYI, I shared some GPX files for the SATN Social in the event thread. Duplicating here since it's on topic:

I rode some of the north section today and I'm impressed with the routing!

I converted the route to GPX to load on my Garmin, so I'm sharing in case anybody else needs it. Just plug in your Garmin over USB and copy the gpx files into the "Garmin/New Files" folder and they will show up in Courses.

SATN Social South.gpx SATN Social North.gpx SATN Social East.gpx

I've successfully put tube patches on the inside of the tire to seal punctures, so you might try that before throwing it in the bin.

Don't see Schwalbe locally much, I used to buy them from starbike.com or bike-discount.de which are much cheaper than buying domestically, but you have to wait a couple weeks for shipping from Germany.

Otherwise, I have at least one old Hans Dampf (29x2.35) with some miles left I'll give you if you are near southwest Austin.

Where do you all fill your water bottles/bladders on the SATN?

I see a water fountain by the pool at Bauerle Ranch park on Google street view. Any other public water fountains near the trail? I can't seem to find anything on the Austin parks website.

The Fox 34 at 120mm is a fantastic fork in Austin terrain and perfect for a light hardtail. Much better than my previous Pike. The StepCast version is one of the lightest 120mm forks that exist.

I used to use Cycle Progression for fork service until I started doing it on my own. They are good at what they do. Like mack_turtle said, it's not hard to DIY. It takes me about an hour to do a full lowers service (clean, change oil, replace foam ring, and lube seals). It's also a good way to learn how your fork works and will get you back on the trail faster.

I ran 27.5+ on a Santa Cruz Hightower for a little over a year. Several tires, all Schwalbe or Maxxis, mostly 2.8 but a few 3.0. It was a fun experiment, but I switched back to 29x2.4-2.5 about a year ago and don't see myself going back.

The main problem I had with 27.5+ was durability. The rocks around here are too prevalent to be charging them with low-pressure tires. Your mileage may vary. Somehow CBaron is having way more luck than I ever did.

I will second the suggestion to go with the OneUp dropper after using it for about 3 months. It was easy to install and has been totally solid. Like Seth said, basically no downsides.

I was on Reverbs for years and even started servicing it myself during the last year (similar procedure to fork lowers), but after a third IFP leak, I decided to try something different since it was out of warranty. The Reverb is super smooth when it's working right, but for the price and serviceability, you really should look elsewhere nowadays.

If you get a Wolftooth lever (like I did), put some gaffing tape on it or it will rip up your gloves.