Anita Handle

I wonder how many calories you would have burned doing this at the same pace but at your previous, higher weight. Interesting stuff.

My ride from Duval and 183, down 360 to 360 entrance and then back the same way but throwing in Courtyard and 2 or 3 miles of trail right near there had me at around 1600 calories as well. I suppose it all depends on your weight and pace though.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

Thomsons are/were known to break at the faceplate. I personally know of at least three. They were also once the most commonly used high end stem so statistics would bear out that you'd see a few fail. But that is the only failure mode that I know about with Thomson and I don't know of any other stems failing within the circle of people I ride with.

For those seeking vibration dampening, have you considered the Spank Vibrocore? They're aluminium with a dampening foam injected into them. Probably my next handlebar purchase.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/spank-spike-800-race-vibrocore-handlebar-review-2014.html

I rode Courtyard on an "endurance" excursion this weekend for the first time. It was not possible for me to be moving yet also keep my effort level in the endurance range. I imagine you'd want to keep those types of efforts to a minimum, or be ready for them. Lots of grunting. I need to pull a Colin Chapman and "add lightness".

The funny thing is that I'd bet that the premium for making these frames in the US/Canada vs Taiwan is less than $800. I bet there is a decent number of people who would love to buy an American made carbon frame and would pay that kind of premium to do it. 

Apparently, Ibis is moving forward with the idea of improving the production process so that a USA made frame might be viable. At least for the front triangle of their size small Ripley LS. No premium for the USA made frame, but you do have to accept a less (differently?) finished looking bike.:

Ibis Cycles starts USA production w/ small Ripley LS from Carbon 831

Quote

As the story goes, about four years ago, Ibis started their own carbon fiber lab in their Santa Cruz headquarters. The goal was initially to allow them to experiment with prototyping and product development. They didn’t create Carbon 831 with the goal of in house manufacturing, but the development process led them to consider what was possible. In order to make the operation feasible, the frames would have to be made using cutting edge techniques and processes to eliminate as much of the finishing time as possible. Ibis contends that it’s the sheer man hours needed to build and finish carbon frames that makes U.S. production so much more expensive. More expensive employees = more expensive bikes. But if you were able to cut down the amount of time that goes into each bike for things like sanding, putty, primer, etc, you might be able to make it work.

Through the use of improved frame layup and build procedure, that’s exactly what they’ve done. According to Ibis, their U.S. made front triangles use only around 100 pieces of machine cut carbon pieces, while the Asian made frames use over 350. The smaller scale allows for more precision and the result is a California-made frame that is 150g lighter and takes about 40% less time to produce. To get the full picture on Carbon 831, check out the Ibis post here.

1 hour ago, ATXZJ said:

From what I recall, Devinci just redesigned their frames to offer 100% carbon VS the 60/40 with aluminum rear triangle found on previous models. Another thing to consider is bigger travel/enduro bikes are more popular and the shocks they feature are now piggyback or more advanced also driving the price up.

  

 

Yes, my Spartan has an alloy rear end. The new Troy also has a metric, trunion shock so I'm sure that adds some cost. But the troy went up... $800? I can't find retail pricing for the previous version.

Yeti just went to lifetime warranty. Still, $3800? dang. 

Still, I think some of these frame prices are frothy. 

I noticed that Devinci jumped to 3250 for the new Troy, up from... 2400ish for the previous. The Spartan jumped a few hundred to $3k.

Yeti SB5 is $3400, the new SB100 is also $3400 and the new SB150 is $3800! Wow.  

Is that happening across the board? I've not looked at Santa Cruz or others closely.

Market demand? Pricing in tariffs? Obviously as long as people pay, prices will stick or rise but it's getting a bit crazy.

That said, I'll take one of those SB100s please. :-)

I'm already fairly optimal in every facet of my cycling so this might be the marginal gains I need to hit the next level.

this thread has a nice combination of strategy, science based training advice and gut feel training advice. a mix of successful approaches. 

4 minutes ago, Albert said:

Cool, thanks for the report.  Do people just assemble into their own groups and head out to the trail?

In my experience, don't show up expecting a coordinated group ride to be wheels down a some specific time or you will be disappointed. I would coordinate with someone here or in Facebook message-land and even then, they might leave half an hour before they said they were going to (DAWN, AUSTIN BIKE, I'M LOOKING AT YOU). 

I'm trying to make it out ~once a month. 

34 minutes ago, AustinBike said:

I am not a racer by any stretch and I don’t know jack about nutrition as it relates to biking or racing. 

What I do know is a ton of people that call beer and pizza “carb loading” and it is hurting more than helping. Most people don’t understand it and hunk just loading up on carbs the night before is the key. It isn’t. 

People should learn from the experts. Luckily that is not me. 

skinny bitch. 

We've got a dark them, now we need dank memes...

A+++++ EBAYER WOULD BUY FROM DARK DEFLECTION AGAIN !!!11!!!!JUAN!!111

Which type of yoga is best for detoxing?

What's the best way to demo a Yeti? I'd love to swing a leg over the SB100 and maybe this SB130. I've read that the SB100 has some great party geo in spite of the short travel. 

2 minutes ago, The Tip said:

I was going to say something like this. I wouldn't call "bullshit" though because I'm a non-confrontational sort. 

But I too just can't follow that logic. I have a sling shot and a rifle. Practicing the sling shot does not make me a better rifleman. 

Maybe a more apt analogy is a rifle with and without a scope. 

I swap back and forth between long travel bike with dropper and 120mm old Stumpy without dropper and at wc and bcgb I rarely find much I can't do without the dropper that I would do with it. There are a few sections but we're also comparing vastly different geometries here.

I don't drop ledges of more than ~2ft without the dropper, but that could be overcome with more practice on the short travel bike. I'm just spoiled.

The dropper certainly gives me more margin for error and lets me move around more but in a sense also let's me be more lazy with my positioning. Why get into a deep bend at the waist? Just push the button.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

How yall gonna be mad during a Bob Marley song?

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

ok, serious question (I have to preface since I make lots of jokes...), do you rely more on fat during easier efforts (think, sustainable pace, easy breathing, low-ish heart rate) and burn through carb stores during higher efforts (think, rapidly climbing heart rate, legs feeling the burn, can sustain for only 1-10 minutes)? I've read that but wondered what you people thought.

I'd guess that you need to avoid going into the "red" on a super long ride like the EB. 

As an experiment, I rode my mtb for 4 hrs on the road yesterday at a steady, easy pace. I brought a sandwich just in case I started to bonk but since I'd kept the pace pretty easy, I felt fine, calorically, with only 1 bottle of hydration drink, probably 200 calories. I did start to feel various aches and pains as I spun away for longer and longer, but didn't feel hungry per se.

I know if I'd been smashing myself on a hard trail for 4 hrs of pedalling, I'd have eaten a whole pizza.

So do people carry a tent or do you just bivy overnight for two or three nights? where does everyone sleep?

10 minutes ago, csmceuen said:

Having never even done it once, but having had it on my bucket list for 4 years now I would like it to not get harder yet lol. 

^^^what she said.

I would consider trying the EB. It is usually the same weekend or nearly the same weekend as my annual fall bike trip so I have always passed on it. Plus I'm never in the sort of condition that I'd like to be if I were to attempt something like that. But one big objection that I have, that I totally understand if no one else has, is riding up CP road. That has always seemed like a really bad idea to me. Maybe it's not as bad as it looks. but that is a really tight road, bikers are crawling while cars are gunning it up the hill, and zero shoulder at many points.

can this be mounted in my '98 Marzocchi Z2 BAM? I've got the blue springs, if it makes a difference.

On 8/22/2018 at 11:04 AM, Ridenfool said:

Glad to hear it wasn't Camel Toe overlap that led to tire contact.

yeah, was gonna suggest nut powder if it were camel toe overlap.