Anita Handle

57 minutes ago, Albert said:

Yes, definitely, if you want it to be high enough resolution to make it look more realistic.  Current headsets are cool, but don't have nearly enough pixels.  And I agree about cooling, this is one of the reasons I said "lighter", but sweating with one of these things on will probably be the biggest problem in implementing this. 

But, then, people are doing stuff like this while wearing a VR headset, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad. 

 

Zwift is already playing with VR, but just VR of of their own rendered worlds. I think VR of actual MTB scenery might be rad.

26 minutes ago, crazyt said:

added a shifter to my bike so I can ride outside of erg mode. What seems to work well is running a training program first and then continuing to ride in regular mode after.

What kind of power are people getting? It seems like Im around an FTP of 180, but I can hold 250 for 3-4 minutes. What do I need to be able to generate to ride up jester/yaupon/courtyard at not a snails pace?

 

I feel like a roadie, but at least Im getting some ride time in. I also appreciate how the roadies monitor power, heart rate, and cadence to optimize fitness. 

SO, for example, this loser named Howard Grotts made it up Courtyard at 10.7 mph and averaged a little over 400 watts for 3 min 45 seconds. Not sure what he weighs though.

4 minutes ago, Albert said:

That would be pretty awesome.  Once VR headsets get light enough, are wireless, and are sufficiently high resolution (4K or 8K).

yeah, plus had some sort of cooling built in, or minimal blocking of a fan. I'm not experienced with VR, do you think it really needs to be that high with the screen so close to your eyeballs? I can't imagine you could discern a pixel at 4k with that small of a screen.

Someone needs to make a Zwift but with actual MTB scenery and a VR headset. I might could get into something like that.

I imagine it would depend on your weight.

6 minutes ago, crazyt said:

What kind of power are people getting? It seems like Im around an FTP of 180, but I can hold 250 for 3-4 minutes. What do I need to be able to generate to ride up jester/yaupon/courtyard at not a snails pace?

yeah, some organization is good, more can be added organically as the need becomes obvious.

Like, maybe a main "General" forum. This is already "austin mountainbiking" dot com so I think anything that we austin mountainbikers feel like chatting about could go in there.

perhaps road bike, cross, and gravel rides, events, routes, bikes, tech, etc could go in a "skinny tire" forum. 

A Ridgeriders forum.

bike stuff for sale forum.

non-bike stuff for sale forum.

I like the ride destination forum.

a trail, park, and jumps building forum.

If the jumpy types want one for themselves, a DJ/DH/Skills/Enduro forum.

A politics/shitposting forum. But be careful to not squash chatting amongst biking friends. We all discuss stuff in real life that isn't related to bikes. 

Do women riders need or want their own forum? RLAG, woman specific geometry bikes, reviews by ladies for ladies. 

I can see how on a very large site, that you'd need to split out some of the conversations into their own forum, by topic, but there's like 4 of us here rattling around in a mansion. Perhaps it could be driven by having evaluating as you go. You might get a very focused conversation about mountain bikes but this will probably squash lots of other topics since you've got to see if the thing you want to talk about or look into is in some other corner.

Maybe it's just me but it feels tedious to have to monitor various levels of the forum hierarchy for ride calls, events, riding my mtb on the road, etc... Bikemojo had all these focused forums that were hardly used. 

I do think that the destination forum could be useful in the way it was seeded with specific topics. 

Thoughts?

In that same corner of town, I have this loaded onto my Garmin. Will do it soon. Well, as soon as I nut up for some pain.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28601632?privacy_code=iK9QJJKdbbHsuxEE

I also occasionally do loops in the Great Hills area, or at least connect through them. There is a sweet little ass kicker if you head away (northeast?) from 360 at the Bluffstone intersection (right by Spicewood Springs) that was more spicy that I realized it would be. Also, if you are riding up Yaupon and want even more bloodshed, take a right onto Greyfeather, then hook left when it turns left at the bottom of the hill (yes, you climbed part the way up Yaupon only to descend back down and up an even steeper section).

The pic shows those two sections, pointing along the direction you would take.

Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1843969850

You guys, this is a great resource for Tuscon area riding!!

23 minutes ago, cxagent said:

There is a homeless camp near the entrance to Outer Log Loops. The guy is acting like a real nut job. No - he is not screaming MMMMIIIIKKKKEEEE but is is claiming he is the "son of God" and for you to get off his lawn. OK, I made the lawn part up.

The City has been notified. They plan to have him removed on Thursday. While he is still there I suggest people stay in groups as they pass his tent.

You can work wonders with the elevation of a hill side and some contour cut trail. The flatter, the more likely it will not drain well. The clay filled soil around here makes it worse. 

1 hour ago, Bamwa said:

Two the interracial kitted up brodudes heading to Walnut yesterday on Parkfield...........too wet. you suck.  Same for you guy in black pickup headed to the nut from Lamar and Breaker around 4:00. Busted. I saw your ass too.

I passed through Walnut but only on the hike and bike path. Went south on Parkfield from there and did a loop through town. Maybe they were mtb'ers riding some urban?

White mesa GPX:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxp7mh7tjqhfyvn/White_Mesa_awesomeness_.gpx?dl=0

My Strava activity:

https://www.strava.com/activities/384271303

Yeah, that takes you right through the heart of the Rockies, probably more high passes than the route I mentioned. 

If you go through ABQ, there is a fantastic trail there called White Mesa that I can point you towards. Our ABQ guy gave us a nice tour and I have the GPX on Strava somewhere.

I've usually driven to Albequirky then Durango then through Silverton and Ouray to GJ. Between Durango and GJ is some seriously beautiful driving but it's possible to get a dusting at the end of October. Is that how you would get to GJ? 

Fruita/GJ should be perfect in late October. We've been in mid-October and you might run into snow in the mountains on the way to GJ but the high desert should be great. 

Devil's Den or Devil's creek state park between Fayetville and Bentonville looks really nice. There are a couple of state parks in that area. You'd be out of the town, proper, but between Kessler and the bentonville stuff. 

1 hour ago, RedRider3141 said:

I too dipped my toes in the water that is MTB'ing by riding for a year on my wife's bike that she got when she turned 15. 12 years later it was practically new and hanging in her parents garage. It was a classy Mongoose MGX. It was a great way to try it without dumping money I didn't have into a new bike. I kept it for a few years as a buddy bike/ exercise bike until I upgraded it to my Ghost. My one regret is spending money on a CL fork. It was a good upgrade, but prolonged the inevitable. 

 

 

you were already married to your wife when she turned 15? are you taliban or something?

1 hour ago, TAF said:

That's a nice looking cake - where do I get one?

Tous Les Jours on Lamar has some amazing looking cakes and other pastries.

<-- Stravasshole

22 minutes ago, FJsnoozer said:

Nice ride! You are 150? That energy estimate on courtyard is pretty interesting. Is that for just 360 - CP road?

I did a simlar ride this weekend on the Mountain bike. Strava estimated my calories at 4000 which is aggressive.  This was a much flatter route without any widowmaker climbs. It was much easier to keep HR low than the ride you did(which was harder).  

Preride: PEC Breakfast Taco and black coffee

During: 64 OZ gatorade + water mix, some extra salt, Redbull at mile 40, 300 Calories of Cliff Gu blocks

• Distance

  68 mi
• Elevation Gain

  2,635 ft
• Time

  4h 28m

   

 

you did 18 more miles in the same 4.5 hours so I would think that would compensate for the reduced elevation per mile. at roadie speeds, with upright mtb positioning, I'd think that wind resistance becomes a larger and larger burden.

IMO, City Park is already getting ridden by motos when its wet. This, again IMO, is what has led to the growth of large puddles. But this also means that you are not likely to cause any further issues. I'd ride there on a day like today rather than risk the greenbelt. 

I installed a Chrome plug-in called Stravistix, it gives extra info fields on the Strava website but it also has it's own charts that it can make. I thought this chart comparing my annual hour accumulation was was pretty cool. So, as of today,

• I've ridden 163 hrs total, which is 50 hrs more than at this same point in 2017,
• 7 more than the same point in 2015 and
• 120 more than 2013.

I didn't realize 2017 was such a drop off. I don't really feel in any better shape than in 2017 but maybe I am. I think in 2015 and 2016 I did a decent amount of commuting.

What other cool plug-ins or tools are there for your Strava data?

2 hours ago, AustinBike said:

I don't have any of my older stats. Last year, I did it at roughly 5 pounds under my current weight. I burned 6700 calories for the day and a typical non-workout day is ~100 calories per hour. With ~11 hours on the bike that means I probably burned 1300 calories (more or less) before and after the ride. Back that out and you get a 5400 calorie burn for the ride. But it is Fitbit so this is less than a science. Garmin, for instance, called my 2014 ride ~4370 calories. Today it said ~2400 where Fitbit said ~1800. I trust Fitbit because it has a heart rate monitor, I gave up on that strap with my Garmin so it is just guessing.

Bottom line: a hell of a lot easier when you aren't carrying a second bike on your body. In 2014, my first one, I was probably 185-195, and today I was 159.

Strava is probably estimating your caloric expenditure based on an estimate of your wattage from the known elevation profile, your weight, pace, etc. Calories ~= power * time (joules * time). Heart rate, imo, is not a good way to estimate your caloric output due to pedalling. Same exact efforts on two different days, one at 70F and the other at 100F will result in vastly different heart rates. Also, if you ride at the same exact sustainable power output, your heart rate will drift upward over time.

all of which is to say, I'd go with the Strava number over the fitbit number. At least for the ride duration.