throet

A continuation of @Bamwa's cold night thread, which by now has been long forgotten along with those cold nights. It was a great thread though and now we have an opportunity to share music or other interests during these rainy days ahead. I'll start from one Ohioan to another - have you seen or heard of this phenom from Ohio?

5 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

I will go ahead and say just that- I migrated from a VP Vice pedal to a Chromag Contact. the Chromag is a much bigger pedal and has a concave shape that feels much better under my foot.

just take the idea to some extreme in your head. imagine standing on a 2 inch square pedal for hours. then imagine standing on a 6"x12" plank. which will cause more fatigue on your foot?

The pedals being peddled in the link from the original post are 1.5 times longer than your Chromag Contacts! I'm just wanting to know if anybody has gone to such an extreme length and can post positive results from that. Personally I like to be able to bend my shoe (heel) off the back of the pedal, either when digging in on a descent or when pulling up on rear-wheel lifts. The HT pedals that I ride are only slightly shorter than your Chromag Contacts. I also have a pair of Chromag Scarabs on another bike, which are even longer than the Contacts, but still nowhere near as long as the PI pedals. 

Getting back on topic, from all of these posts on this lively topic, I've not seen anybody say that going to a longer platform, flat or clipless, has eliminated foot pain for them. Is that fair or are others drawing a different conclusion? I think the vendor in question also claims that their platform increases efficiency, and I'd be interested to know if any flat-pedal riders have had that experience with this longer platform. How about getting lift on flat pedals - any advantage to a longer platform there? Given that these folks have been around a while and no other manufacturer seems to have adopted that longer platform approach, it must not be catching on.  

1 minute ago, Ridenfool said:

To peddle pedals preventing potentially painful podiatry problems.

Fair enough, but then then "Peddle the Pain Away" would have perhaps been a better fit than "Peddle Pain be Gone", which implies that the pain is with the peddling and not the pedaling 

8 hours ago, RidingAgain said:

And "peddle" is what you do when you are trying to sell something.

But hey... I understand... Bit over your head. 

Have to admit I'm not getting it either. So selling pedals is no longer painful because ……. why? Whatever hidden meaning was in there has perhaps gotten lost, as this has just turned into another ever popular flats vs. clipless discussion. Of course any thread that turns into hardy discussion is a good one, and there certainly is no cause for badgering about it. Just curious what the original intent was. 

13 hours ago, Ridenfool said:

Will likely look at Ride Concepts next, if I ever wear them out.

I was checking those out as well. They look really nice, especially in charcoal / orange. Looks like they won't be out until Nov. Hopefully the rubber soles are as durable as 5-10s. 

10 hours ago, Albert said:

I know, that's making me twitch.

Run-on sentence with comma splice.  

5 hours ago, TheX said:

I get up at 4 but I have an hour of classical guitar practice followed by 90 minutes at the gym.

90 minutes at the gym? Hope that includes swimming laps. I do about 30 minutes of gym work most days, which is more than enough, and get all of my cardio on the trail.  

12 minutes ago, TheX said:

NO! Got caught in a storm at Colorado Bend.

I looked even worse when I used to go caving out there in the seventies. It wasn't even a State Park back then and I'm not even sure if the cave is still accessible.  

26 minutes ago, Ridenfool said:

No, it was that nobody was posting anywhere on the forum at 0400 while I was babysitting an IT problem. I was on site for 22 hours and read the entire internet.

I've been through more of those nights than I care to recount. What always amused me (in the worst kind of way), was that 9 times out of 10 the failures were a result of a failsafe mechanism not working. The story I would get was that the system didn't fail in the right way to invoke the failsafe. Hope you had a good outcome at least. 

15 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

During the transition, did you have any close calls due to being used to being attached to the bike?  I’ve tried it and almost hurt myself a few times.

i also used clips back in the early 90’s.  Not only that, I’d cinch them tight!

The biggest thing I had to get used to was staying planted when accelerating hard up a hill. Seems I'd be fine adding thrust to gain momentum ahead of the climb, but as soon as I hit the incline a foot would go flying off the pedal. That resolved itself within a week or so. I also hadn't graduated to jumps or drops prior to switching from clipless to flats. Learning to do jumps on flats was challenging, but I suppose it was best that I learned that way vs. having my feet connected to the pedals.  

I bit the bullet and just ordered a new Renthal Carbon Lite bar to replace my 2-yr old banged up Renthal Carbon bar. I hated spending that kind of money to replace something that's technically not broken, but there seem to be plenty of solid opinions that carbon bars, especially ridden hard and crashed multiple times, should be periodically replaced. The post above regarding a ticking noise really got me concerned too, as I generally haven't paid attention to the many noises that my bike makes. It's hard for me to distinguish internally routed cable rattle from other sounds, but I was definitely hearing a distinctive ticking sound coming from the cockpit on rough terrain. I put an old aluminum bar on the bike for a couple of rides, and didn't seem to hear that same noise. Could just be that this thread has gotten in my head. Might be interesting though to slice my old carbon bars in half length-wise to see if there is any apparent damage.

Side note - on just those two rides with my old aluminum bars the harshness was quite evident. I wish there was a better selection of titanium bars on the market, which apparently are stronger than both aluminum and carbon, yet better at reducing vibrations than either of the alternatives.  

I've really only used 5-10s since switching to flats a couple of years ago. I did try the new Afton MTB shoes, but the soles tore up pretty quickly. I had bought a pair of 5-10 Sleuths on sale for like $45 a while back and just broke them out recently. They have a different sole pattern than what I was used to with the FreeRiders. The uppers are completely canvas, very minimal, and I bought them thinking I would just wear them now and again for quick rides. They have quickly become my favorite shoes though. Unfortunately I can't find them now for under $100.

I read part of the flat-pedal manifesto before making the switch to flats, but was never sold on needing a humongous pedaling platform. I've never experienced foot pain issues either though, on clipless or flats, except for the times I've smashed my feet on rocks and roots. 

38 minutes ago, CBaron said:

Your only 1 lucky aquarium for sale post away from a runaway hit over here!

Or we could beg TFS's dad to let him get back online!  

6 hours ago, notyal said:

A PC mountain bike forum exists. It's called MTBR.

The difference I think is that like Mojo before it, this site is still equipped to create true community within the broader community. I've met, rode with, and done trail work with a dozen or so folks who I've encountered through Mojo and now AMB. We can also still spread news more easily about local events, local shops, local trail conditions, etc.   

9 minutes ago, HoneyBadger said:

Today's second heavy round of rain is passing over the trails now. 😞 

I rode early this morning before any rain and finally got to check out your additions. Very nice. Trail was in great shape, although much damper than Deception and Picnic. Might have just been an accumulation of morning dew. The humidity this morning was suffocating when I started out on Double Down.   

6 minutes ago, Chief said:

Little too late for me. Next week.

We could still get lucky for tomorrow. 

5 hours ago, Chief said:

Rode this morning , but could probably ride tomorrow if anyone's game.

I'm game but not sure about 7:30am. How about 8 or 8:30 tomorrow?

3 hours ago, Morealice said:

I didn’t ride at all. Just wasn’t feeling it. Still too hot and humid. WILL move in 8 years. Guaranteed.

The evenings really haven't been that bad at all. I rode Deception the last three evenings and it felt great to be riding hard without suffering too much. Suppose that 5:30 is the new 7:30. 

On ‎9‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 6:50 AM, Chief said:

If the trails are good so am I.....maybe. Two weeks off the bike is gonna hurt:)

With Friday starting to look questionable with more rain possibly moving in tomorrow night, I'm going to get a ride in tomorrow (Thu) morning if anybody is interested in joining. I'll ride Fri morning as well if conditions permit. 

3 hours ago, Albert said:

Someone just posted on Facebook that they encountered two kids (roughly ages 12 and 14) on 50cc bikes at the splash park east of Parmer.  He's not sure if they were riding the trails or not, but he said they had a lot of mud on their bikes.  The kids claimed they hadn't been on the trails.  He didn't see any evidence that they were on the trails, but please do keep your eyes (and ears) open!

Didn't see any mini-bikers but did witness a dog taking a dump on the BCRT, which was equally disgusting. 

3 hours ago, MrMentallo said:

I never made it, but by all present accounts, it should be good to go.

Rode Snail, Rim, and all of Double Down tonight and everything was good. Somebody put the rocks back on Squeeze Play. I just left them alone since I really don't care one way or the other, but I know others have complained that they like to know whether they are there or not. 

Rode Snail, Rim, and all of Double Down tonight - all GTG. 

3 hours ago, Morealice said:

Sweet! Gonna hit today and/or tomorrow. Thanks for reports, guys!

I think we're over the hump on the horrendous heat too. Don't get me wrong - it's still hot as hell. However, I rode for 1.5 hours yesterday starting at 5pm with a fairly fast run on 1/4 Notch, and it really wasn't that bad. Going back out today around the same time and will likely tackle Double Down. 

I'm definitely riding today and tomorrow!