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Any predictions on who will come out on top this year?

Are you sure? I think that part of that same event ran a couple of weekends ago, and they were still open for riding. Not sure I would want to be out there dodging bullets, but hey, when a guy's got to ride!

Much easier to tackle drops if you first learn to manual. On many drops you can get away with just having enough speed or shoving your bars forward or compressing your suspension to get some lift off the run in, but if you listen to the experts, your best bet for keeping your front wheel from diving in many situations is to manual off the edge. It makes sense and looks great on videos, but I think because it probably feels unnatural, most people just compensate using other methods. The technique is the same regardless of whether you're going off a curb or a 6-ft drop, but of course the consequences of failure vary greatly.

Definitely an interesting start to the season. Harden flops with the best of them (remember Tim Duncan - haha), but on that play Ingram just got in the way and caused the contact - simple blocking foul. Rondo needed his ass kicked for the spitting incident, which can be seen clearly on replay. Tough loss for the Rockets against the Clippers last night, especially with many of those Clippers' players having come from the Rockets. Hopefully things will start to gel for them, but they're definitely a different team from last year. It will be really interesting to see how the Spurs evolve over the season too. I didn't expect Portland to come out strong this year, but they may surprise. And what about the Nuggets?

I rode on the Regional Trail yesterday evening and got muddy even without leaving the pavement. There's no way any of the MTB trails are suitable for riding, and more rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. Thank God for RPR, at least on the weekends.

RPR was glorious today! Well worth the trip.

Hope you survived! Ping me if you want to get out to RPR this weekend.

Hmmm. Still plenty of time to register, especially for the 12-hr or 6-hr events. With a 6am start though, even the 6-hr event will require lights. I'm so desperate to ride that I might have to go buy some lights and head out there. Looks like a Sunday ride at RPR is a definite option as well though. Does anybody know if the Vanguard event taking place there this weekend has the trails closed?

Both. For comfort I'm referring to bar height relative to the saddle and for "poppiness" I'm referring to bar height relative to the BB. The method I use when making adjustments is to get out of the saddle and find a comfortable half-squat / half-pushup position. When in the saddle I try to make sure that I've got enough bend in my arms to maintain a loose grip with good steering control.

How is "front-centre" measured? Don't believe I've seen this before. I'm trying to understand the relationship between this and being able to run lower bars. I've always based higher bar height on comfort and getting more "poppiness" out of the bike, not so much fear of going OTB. What advantage do lower bars give you - better cornering and climbing? BTW I was checking out your blog post on Reach & Stack, and found that very interesting. I've got 2 FS bikes and have been playing around with the bar height on them given their different geometries. One bike has longer reach and stack and is limited in the amount of spacers on the steerer tube, which means I had to compensate with riser bars to get the desired height, even with a relatively short stem. The other one has a much more cramped cockpit, necessitating a longer stem and low-rise bars to put me in the proper position. I like riding both bikes, but definitely get more playful and daring on the bike with long reach/stack, short stem, and 1/2" bar rise.

Hopefully the Rockets' opener is not an indication of things to come. Davis is a beast though for the Pelicans - no surprise there!

Astros got robbed of a homerun yesterday that might have cost them the game. Regardless though, they need to step it up and deliver some clutch hitting. Going to take a miracle to win the series, but it's possible!

Nothing rideable of course, but anybody paying attention to what's going on with area lakes? Looks like Lake Travis has come up 20ft in the last week, primarily due to the raging Llano River. Won't be surprising if it exceeds 100% full with the continued rains. Saw something in regards to the San Gabriel flooding as well. Anybody know what's happening at Lake Georgetown? Are we at risk of having parts of the Goodwater Loop underwater? EDIT - Just saw that Travis is now at 102% full. I remember it getting to 95% or so a few years back after heavy rains, but can't remember the last time it was over 100%.

Haha can't argue with that! The latest pro sports ploy is the split screen commercial playing on one side with a live lens still on the action. Initially you think, oh how nice that they're letting you stay tuned into the game. Then you realize it's only being done to allow for more commercial time. I'm getting to the point where I just want to record everything and start watching at least an hour into the live cast. That way you can fast forward through all of the commercials and still finish near the end of the live feed.

I was afraid to learn how much damage has been done on Peddlers, but that picture tells a sad story. When I confronted a couple of guys at Brushy Creek Lake Park loading up their muddy bikes, they claimed not to know any better. I didn't even ask them which part of the trails they were on, but had to assume Peddlers given its proximity to where they were parked. After I told them that people would have to spend time to fix the damages they likely did, then one of them became remorseful and said he didn't know that. Perhaps he was sincere, although I just can't understand how anybody could think otherwise on a trail that is made up primarily of packed berms. Wish there was an easy way to make Peddlers strictly off limits under these conditions. I'd hate to think that this kind of damage is being done by any of the Brushy regulars. More than likely it's people who make a special trip out and are simply determined to hit everything they can. Who knows for sure. Also, I know some folks are just trying to be helpful, but I'd suggest not posting that East Peddlers is OK. Some people simply aren't going to differentiate East Peddlers from West Peddlers. Personally I don't ride it at all unless the entire trail is suitable for riding.

I get your point, but soccer IMO is very boring. I think American Football incorporates many skills, combined with brute strength, sheer speed, and game strategy to produce a very entertaining sport.

I have no problem spending a few hours watching a worthwhile sporting event. Time on the trails generally takes priority, but I spend quite a bit of time throughout the year watching sports, including basketball, baseball, football, golf, and tennis. Like to spend time watching good movies at home too. What I don't watch is reality TV and other crappy shit that pollutes the airwaves these days.

I rode Snail, Picnic, and 1/4 Notch early yesterday before it got hot, and the rocks on 1/4 Notch were super slick. We must have got a little bit of rain Sat night / Sun morning. I actually like riding 1/4 Notch under slick conditions now and again, as it really forces you to apply a completely different riding style. I chose not to push my luck on DD though given those slick conditions - much less margin for error there. Given the high heat and humidity later in the day, I was glad I took my chances early. Those few muddy trouble spots unfortunately are getting bigger and bigger given that there has been no time to completely dry out. And by pure misfortune or act of the Trail Gods, they all seem to be right in front of limestone features that require some level of traction!

Darn! Why'd you have to ruin it for everybody?

Yeah those were borderline WPs though. The poor guy had already been emulating a back stop for much of the game. And then there was that blown throw-out at first by Cole. Seems even that fly ball off of the wall late was catchable, but Gonzales was probably gun shy after his first missed attempt. Overall just a game to forget for the 'Stros, but plenty of home cooking coming up.

Tough loss yesterday. Damn that Green Monster! In H-Town tomorrow though - hopefully to wrap things up in 5.

Another Class of '76er here - bi-centennial! Concert scene for me was primarily Cleveland, OH.

Does that mean that you listened to too much Midnight Rambler and Gimme Shelter in the seventies?

Exactly, and while still a bummer, this irregular pattern has at least offered windows of opportunity. For me it has been a blessing to not be working during this time, which has at least afforded me the opportunity to sneak in 18 trail rides in Sep-Oct when conditions permitted. By the looks of things now though, I'll be lucky to break 20 by the end of this month. The good news is that we still have Nov-Apr to enjoy some great riding before the sweltering heat returns.

Well at least I managed to mow and winterize my entire lawn this past weekend