Charlie193

I’m looking at a new bike for my wife, which will be used for mellow trails- easy parts of SATN, green trail at Reimers etc.

There are some decent looking sales on Orbea Occam and Rocky Mountain Element and Instinct at the moment. Does anyone have these (I’m looking at the cheaper alloy specs) and if so would they be overkill for mainly green trails? I’m leaning towards more travel than necessary as we won’t be doing long rides so I don’t care much about efficiency, and I think a more plush ride will get us on the trails more.

On 2/25/2024 at 4:16 PM, mack_turtle said:

For anyone interested, the bridges were torn out by the local Karen Kommission a long time ago. that was a fun place to ride. fortunately, it's still totally rideable without the bridge.

I used to like that bridge, and I think it was rebuilt then promptly destroyed again at some point. Probably by the same spiteful little turds that installed the massive gate of doom just north of there. Think this picture makes it look higher than it was, and I also might have been a little late in the game switching to wide bars.

Sneaking out before the rain arrives.

First trail in town was BCGB main-trail when I moved here in 2010, as I was renting on Spyglass Dr it was pretty much the only place I went for ages.

Coming from somewhere with roots and mud (where riding in mud is fine) I found the rocks tough going to begin with, even though the main-trail isn’t that bad in the scheme of things.

Still ride BCGB but live south now so use different trailheads, and I did eventually figure out there was more to explore there.

Escape from the heat in Cloudcroft.

I’ve also had enough of sock-burr season. Not sure what they come from, hedge parsley maybe? They’re a pain in the arse to remove but any I miss are immediately happy to transfer to my wife’s clothes in the laundry to get me in trouble.

SATN because it’s close and I prefer riding from my house to driving to ride. After that BCGB is also close, and Walnut is near my office when I’m working from there. I tend to try to keep my travel time low.

On 7/10/2023 at 4:00 PM, ATXZJ said:

In EP. House is approx 4200ft elevation so up by quite a bit😝

In all seriousness, we can hit Cloudcroft NM. Its 1.5 hrs and is easily 20degrees cooler than anything in the desert right now.

 

Have you done much riding in Cloudcroft since the move? I went a couple of years ago but ended up not taking the bike as I didn’t want to leave it on the rack at Carlsbad Caverns for a couple of hours unattended. Probably heading there again later this summer.

Old thread but I thought I would add one more to the “don’t ignore it if things feel off” crowd. I started feeling like my heart was racing while riding around Christmas, and thought it was probably because I was getting over being sick around Thanksgiving. It didn’t really improve so I got a 24hr monitor from the cardiologist my Dr. referred me to. I went out for a ride with the monitor which showed my heart rate peaked at 262 with several arrhythmias. Cardiologist freaked out a little, additional tests (stress test and echo) were normal so I was sent to an electrophysiologist who thought I either had an an extra electrical pathway (Wolff Parkinson White syndrome) or more general atrial fibrillation. I had an ablation on Thursday which hopefully treated atrial fibrillation (no evidence of WPW was found). If it worked I should be back to normal shortly. It has been a strange few months though- I’m not super fit but I’ve always been fairly active and reasonably healthy, so this wasn’t an area I was expecting to have problems with.

Just got an Outbound Trail Evo to replace an Amazon special (Victagen) on the bars, with a Lumina 950 on my helmet. Only used it once so far and it’s great. 

My kids are 7 and they both like the green trail at Reimers. I think I first took them there just before they turned 6 and they did fine. There are a couple of rocky spots in the first few minutes  but it is mainly smooth. There’s not much shade though so we don’t go in the summer.

They also ride on SATN quite often, usually starting at the Walgreens next to Bowie high school (5011 W Slaughter Ln).

13 hours ago, Chief said:

I have the same truck only not the crew cab. I like mine a lot but there are some things that I really don't like especially the stupid Sync system. Mine had a front camera issue at five months old and it took like three months to be able to get it looked at. I will say it's impressive how well the truck goes with the four cylinder engine.

Yeah, I’m liking it so far, despite the small bed/open trunk. Part of the reason for getting a truck was that I’m thinking about  getting a camper, and the 7500 lbs towing capacity was the best I could find for a mid-size truck. 
The  only irritation so far is that I’m using my hitch rack while I decide how to get all the bikes in the truck, and it triggers a warning alarm every time I reverse. I feel like someone else here had that issue, possibly @AustinBike? Anyway, hopefully I can disable that somehow.

On 1/19/2022 at 8:12 AM, The Tip said:

Are you looking for new? If so, order one. That's what I did. Turned out being cheaper (but not cheap! 😁) than the one on the lot that I considered for a minute. 

I was looking for either new or relatively low mileage used. I was looking for the more economical f150 engine, with 4x4 , and a towing package. Didn’t find anything, and my wife pointed out that I was worrying about a size issue with the Ranger that would be a problem at a point when I might have changed vehicles anyway. So I got the Ranger.

6 hours ago, ATXZJ said:

 

They don't fit in a 4 door ranger? How tall are these giants😁

They’re only 6 so not huge, but I’m about 6’4 (which is probably only tall-ish by today’s standards) and there is very little space behind me in the Ranger when I put the seat all the way back. Whatever I buy I will probably keep until it falls apart, so the space will probably be more of a problem in the future.

My F150 search at the weekend was a failure though, so I might be back to considering both again.

Well rats! I was all set to get a Ranger 4x4 and went to take a second look at one- my kids are shaping up to be pretty lanky, and they might fit in the back now but it won’t work for a vehicle I want to keep for a long time- it’s looking like I might have to get something bigger anyway.

Not sure why I didn’t notice the lack of legroom the first time. New vehicle excitement must have taken over.

Thanks everyone! My kids just got new bikes, which won’t fit in our suv trunk -unlike their old ones. I could still use a hitch rack for the adult bikes and throw the little bikes in the bed, but I’d prefer to fit the bikes all together without using a hitch rack if possible.Any issues with using a bed extender while carrying bikes? Seems like that would give me a couple more feet. 

3 minutes ago, Barry said:

Why not just get a nice tailgate pad?

https://www.bestreviews.guide/tailgate-bike-pad?origin=google&google_params

I considered a pad, but am on the fence a little. Given the advice that carbon frames use racks that hold the bike by the wheels, are they any issues with having the frame sit against the tail on the same spot over and over, and the bike being strapped around the frame? I know they’re mountain bikes, and not made of glass, but I was slightly hesitant about that. It sounded like it was pretty hard to stop dirt getting trapped under the pad and scratching the truck paint too. If those aren’t huge issues and I’m being an idiot, I’ll probably just go with a pad.

I am considering getting a mid-size truck with a 5ft bed but I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to carrying bikes in trucks. Is that likely to be irritating when it comes to carrying multiple bikes? One would be an xl, with the others being small and/or kids’ bikes. I was thinking of getting whatever you call tray racks on bed rails- but I’m not sure how much you can adjust those forwards and backwards, as my bike would have to overhang the bed. 

Best not to overdo things, it’s probably time to Transition back to bike pictures.

If you don’t want the hassle of making your own, Goat Head Bike Co sealant is $25 for 32oz:
https://www.goatheadbikeco.com/products/tubeless-tire-sealant?variant=51250349323

It came with the last set of wheels/tires I bought so I just kept using it- works fine.

On 9/24/2021 at 11:43 AM, ATXZJ said:

Got the wife's new bike out for a little shakedown run on SATN. This little commencal is a total blast.

 

 

 

 

Think I spotted this outside Torchy’s on Slaughter yesterday- nice looking bike!

1 hour ago, CBaron said:

What do things look like down there?  I heard we had a good bit of rain?

THanks
CJB

I’m at Brodie & Davis and it’s dry here. I drove home about 1pm from N Austin and it rained quite a bit on i35 until I hit 71. Not sure about all of SATN but I think the more northern section is probably dry.

It might be worth taking out a demo bike you’re interested in upgrading to, then riding it on your usual WC route and the spots you’ve been exploring at Brushy to see how much difference a new bike would make to you.

Sneaked out for a morning ride on a last minute day off. Tried to find a time when the humidity had dropped a little but it still wasn’t too hot. Didn’t work.

No pictures around of my ‘92 Giant Stonebreaker, early 2000s is as old as I could find, jumping badly (never got better really) at Aston Hill in the UK on a Klein Adept.